give it here. The modern reader will be able to form from this specimen
an idea of the extent of the Government requirements in 1805 in regard
to printing and the cost thereof. We give also the various attestations
appended to the account:--
York, Upper Canada, 24th June, 1805.
The Government of Upper Canada,
To John Bennett, Government Printer.
Jan. 11. 300 copies Still Licenses, 1/2 sheet foolscap, pica type 0 16 6
March 30. Printing 20 copies of an Act for altering the time of issuing
Licenses for keeping of a House of Public Entertainment,
1/4 sheet demy, pica type 0 3 4
April 5. Inserting a Notice to persons taking out Shop, Still or
Tavern Licenses, 6 weeks in the _Gazette_, equal to 41/2
advertisements 1 16 0
April 16. 1,000 copies of Proclamation, warning persons that possess
and occupy Lands in this Province, without due
titles having been obtained for such Lands, forthwith
to quit and remove from the same, 1/2 sheet demy,
double pica type 4 18 4
April 22. 100 copies of an Act to afford relief to persons entitled to
claim Land in this Province as heirs or devisees of the
nominees of the Crown, one sheet demy, pica type 3 6 3
Printing Marginal notes to do 0 5 0
May 14. Printing 1,500 copies of the Acts of the First Session of
the Fourth Parliament, three sheets demy, pica type 45 0 0
Marginal Notes to do., at 5s. per sheet 0 15 0
Folding, Stitching and Covering in Blue Paper, at 1d. 6 5 0
--------
Halifax currency L63 5 9
Amounting to sixty-three pounds five shillings and nine-pence
Halifax currency. Errors excepted.
(Signed) John Bennett.
John Bennett, of the Town of York, in the Home District, maketh
oath and saith, that the foregoing account amounting to
sixty-three pounds five shillings and ninepence Halifax
currency, is just and true in all its particulars to the best of
his knowledge and belief.
(Signed) John Bennett.
Sworn before me at York, this 20th day of July, 1805.
(Signed) Wm. Dummer Powell, J.
Audited and approved in Council 6th August 1805.
(Signed) Peter Russell,
_Presiding Councillor_.
(_Examined_)
(Signed) John McGill,
_Inspector Genl. P. P. Accts._
[A true copy.]
John McGill,
Inspector Gen. P. P. Accts.
Bennett published "The Upper Canada Almanac," containing with the matter
usually found in such productions the Civil and Military Lists and the
Duties, Imperial and Provincial. This work was admirably printed in fine
Elzevir type, and in aspect, as well as arrangement, was an exact copy
of the almanacs of the day published in London.
A rival Calendar continued to be issued at Niagara entitled "Tiffany's
Upper Canada Almanac." This was a roughly-printed little tract, and
contained popular matter in addition to the official lists. It gave in a
separate and very conspicuous column in each month "the moon's place" on
each day in respect to a distinct portion of the human body with
prognostications accordingly. And in the "Advertisement to the reader"
it was set forth, that "in the calculation of the weather the most
unwearied pains have been taken; and the calculator prays, for his
honour's sake, that he may have not failed in the least point; but as
all calculation may sometimes fail in small matters," the writer
continues, "no wonder is it that in this, the most important, should be
at times erroneous. And when this shall unfortunately have been the case
with the Upper Canada Almanac, let careful observers throw over the
error the excess of that charity of which their generous souls are
composed, and the all-importance of the subject requires; let them
remember that the task, in all the variety and changes of climates and
seasons, is arduous beyond that of reforming a vicious world, and not
less than that of making a middle-sized new one."
In the number of the _Oracle_ for September 28th, 1805, which is in
mourning, we have the following notice of the character of Governor
Hunter, who had deceased on the 23rd of the preceding August at
Quebec:--"As an officer his character was high and unsullied; and at
this present moment his death may be considered a great public loss. As
Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, his loss will be severely felt; for by
his unremitting attention and exertions he has, in the course of a very
few years, brought that infant colony to an unparalleled state of
prosperity." An account is then given of the procession at the funeral.
The 49th and 6th Regiments were present; also Lieut.-Col. Brock,
Commanding. At the grave one round was fired slowly and distinctly by
eleven field pieces, followed by one round of small arms, by regiments;
then a second round of artillery, followed in like manner by the small
arms; and, lastly, a third round of artillery, and a third round of
small arms. The mourners were, the Hon. Thomas Dunn, President of the
Province (Lower Canada). Col. Bowes, Major Curry, Hon. Mr. Craigie, Col.
Green, Major Robe, Capt. Gomm and Mr. William Green.
In 1813, during the war with the United States, Cameron is the printer
of the official paper, which now for a time assumed the title of _The
York Gazette_. Mr. John Cameron also published "The Upper Canada
Almanac," from which we have already had occasion to quote, but it put
in no claim to an official character. It did not contain the Civil
Lists, but, as stated in the title page, "some Chinese sayings and
Elegant Aphorisms." It bore as a motto the following lines:--
"Ye who would mend these wicked times
And morals of the age,
Come buy a book half full of rhymes,
At three-pence York per page.
It would be money well outlaid,
So plenty money is;
Paper for paper is fair trade:
So said "Poor Richard Quiz."
Among the aphorisms given is this one: "Issuers of paper-change, are
entitled to thanks from the public for the great accommodation such
change affords. They might render the accommodation more extensive were
they to emit a proportionate number of half-penny bills." At one place
the query is put, "When will the beard be worn, and man allowed to
appear with it in native dignity? And if so, how long before it will
become fashionable to have it greased and powdered?" In the almanac for
1815, towards the end, the following paragraph appears:--"York
supernatural prices current: Turnips 1 dollar per bushel; Potatoes,
long, at 2 ditto; Salt 20 ditto; Butter per lb. 1 ditto; Indifferent
bread 1 shilling N. Y. cy. per lb.; Conscience, a contraband article."
In Bennett's time the Government press was, as we have seen, set up in
Mr. Cameron's house on King Street. But at the period of the war in 1812
Mr. Cameron's printing office was in a building which still exists,
viz., the house on Bay Street associated with the name of Mr. Andrew
Mercer. During the occupation of York by the United States force, the
press was broken up and the type dispersed. Mr. Mercer once exhibited to
ourselves a portion of the press which on that occasion was made
useless. For a short period Mr. Mercer himself had charge of the
publication of the _York Gazette_.
In 1817 Dr. Horne became the editor and publisher. On coming into his
hands the paper resumed the name of _Upper Canada Gazette_, but the old
secondary title of _American Oracle_ was dropped. To the official
portion of the paper there was, nevertheless, still appended abstracts
of news from the United States and Europe, summaries of the proceedings
in the Parliaments of Upper and Lower Canada, and much well-selected
miscellaneous matter. The shape continued to be that of a small folio,
and the terms were four dollars per annum in advance; and if sent by
mail, four dollars and a half.
In 1821 Mr. Charles Fothergill (of whom we have already spoken) became
the Editor and Publisher of the _Gazette_. Mr. Fothergill revived the
practice of having a secondary title, which was now _The Weekly
Register_; a singular choice, by the way, that being very nearly the
name of Cobbett's celebrated democratic publication in London. After Mr.
Fothergill came Mr. Robert Stanton, who changed the name of the private
portion of the _Gazette_ sheet, styling it "_The U. E. Loyalist_."
In 1820 Mr. John Carey had established the _Observer_ at York. The
_Gazette_ of May 11, 1820, contains the announcement of his design; and
he therein speaks of himself as "the person who gave the Debates"
recently in another paper. To have the debates in Parliament reported
with any fulness was then a novelty. The _Observer_ was a folio of
rustic, unkempt aspect, the paper and typography and matter being all
somewhat inferior. It gave in its adherence to the government of the
day, generally: at a later period it wavered. Mr. Carey was a tall,
portly personage who, from his bearing and costume might readily have
been mistaken for a non-conformist minister of local importance. The
_Observer_ existed down to about the year 1830. Between the _Weekly
Register_ and the _Observer_ the usual journalistic feud sprung up,
which so often renders rival village newspapers ridiculous. With the
_Register_ a favourite sobriquet for the _Observer_ is "Mother C----y."
Once a correspondent is permitted to style it "The Political Weathercock
and Slang Gazetteer." Mr. Carey ended his days in Springfield on the
River Credit, where he possessed property.
The _Canadian Freeman_, established in 1825 by Mr. Francis Collins was a
sheet remarkable for the neatness of its arrangement and execution, and
also for the talent exhibited in its editorials. The type was evidently
new and carefully handled. Mr. Collins was his own principal compositor.
He is said to have transferred to type many of his editorials without
the intervention of pen and paper, composing directly from copy mentally
furnished. Mr. Collins was a man of pronounced Celtic features, roughish
in outline, and plentifully garnished with hair of a sandy or reddish
hue.
Notwithstanding the colourless character of the motto at the head of its
columns "Est natura hominum novitatis avida"--"Human nature is fond of
news," the _Freeman_ was a strong party paper. The hard measure dealt
out to him in 1828 at the hands of the legal authorities, according to
the prevailing spirit of the day, with the revenge that he was moved to
take--and to take successfully--we shall not here detail. Mr. Collins
died of cholera in the year 1834. We have understood that he was once
employed in the office of the _Gazette_; and that when Dr. Horne
resigned, he was an applicant for the position of Government Printer.
The _Canadian Freeman_ joined for a time in the general opposition
clamour against Dr. Strachan,--against the influence, real or supposed,
exercised by him over successive lieutenant-governors. But on
discovering the good-humoured way in which its fulminations were
received by their object, the _Freeman_ dropped its strictures. It
happened that Mr. Collins had a brother in business in the town with
whom Dr. Strachan had dealings. This brother on some occasion thought it
becoming to make some faint apology for the _Freeman's_ diatribes. "O
don't let them trouble you," the Doctor replied, "they do not trouble
me; but by the way, tell your brother," he laughingly continued, "I
shall claim a share in the proceeds." This, when reported to the Editor,
was considered a good joke, and the diatribes ceased; a proceeding that
was tantamount to Peter Pindar's confession, when some one charged him
with being too hard on the King: "I confess there exists a difference
between the King and me," said Peter; "the King has been a good subject
to me; and I have been a bad subject to his Majesty."--During Mr.
Collins' imprisonment in 1828 for the application of the afterwards
famous expression "native malignity" to the Attorney-General of the day,
the _Freeman_ still continued to appear weekly, the editorials, set up
in type in the manner spoken of above, being supplied to the office from
his room in the jail.
In the early stages of society in Upper Canada the Government
authorities appear not only to have possessed but to have exercised the
power of handling political writers pretty sharply. In the Kingston
_Chronicle_ of December 10th, 1820, we have recorded the sentence
pronounced on Barnabas Ferguson, Editor of the Niagara _Spectator_, for
"a libel on the Government." Mr. Ferguson was condemned to be imprisoned
eighteen months; to stand in the pillory once during his confinement; to
pay a fine of L50, and remain in prison till paid; and on his liberation
to find security for seven years, himself in L500, and two sureties in
L250 each. No comment is made by the _Chronicle_ on the sentence, and
the libel is not described.
The local government took its cue in this matter from its superiors of
the day in the old country. What Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer says in his
sketch of the life of Cobbett helps to explain the action of the early
Upper Canada authorities in respect to the press. "Let us not forget,"
says the writer just named, "the blind and uncalculating intolerance
with which the law struggled against opinion from 1809 to 1822. Writers
during this period were transported, imprisoned, and fined, without
limit or conscience; and just when government became more gentle to
legitimate newspapers, it engaged in a new conflict with unstamped ones.
No less than 500 venders of these were imprisoned within six years. The
contest was one of life and death."
So early as 1807 there was an "opposition" paper--the _Upper Canada
Guardian_. Willcocks, the editor, had been Sheriff of the Home District,
and had lost his office for giving a vote contrary to the policy of the
lieutenant-governor for the time being. He was returned as a member of
parliament; and after having been imprisoned for breach of privilege, he
was returned again, and continued to lead the reforming party. The name
of Mr. Cameron, the publisher of the _Gazette_ at York was, by some
means, mixed up with that of Mr. Willcocks, in connection with the
_Upper Canada Guardian_ in 1807, and he found it expedient to publish
in the _Gazette_ of June 20, the following notice: "To the
Public--Having seen the Prospectus of a paper generally circulated at
Niagara, intended to be printed in Upper Canada, entitled the _Upper
Canada Guardian or Freeman's Journal_, executed in the United States of
America, without my knowledge or consent, wherein my name appears as
being a party concerned; I therefore think it necessary to undeceive my
friends and the inhabitants of Upper Canada, and to assure them that I
have no connection with, nor is it my most distant wish or intention in
any wise to be connected with the printing or publication of said paper.
John Bennett."--When the war of 1812 broke out the _Guardian_ came to an
end; its editor at first loyally bore arms on the Canadian side, but at
length deserted to the enemy, taking with him some of the Canadian
Militia. He was afterwards killed at the siege of Fort Erie.
The newspaper which occupies the largest space in the early annals of
the press at York is the _Colonial Advocate_. Issuing first at Queenston
in May, 1824, it was removed in the following November to York. Its
shape varied from time to time: now it was a folio: now a quarto. On all
its pages the matter was densely packed; but printed in a very mixed
manner: it abounded with sentences in italics, in small capitals, in
large capitals; with names distinguished in like decided manner: with
paragraphs made conspicuous by rows of index hands, and other
typographical symbols at top, bottom and sides. It was editorial, not in
any one particular column, but throughout; and the opinions delivered
were expressed for the most part in the first person.
The _Weekly Register_ fell foul of the _Advocate_ at once. It appears
that the new audacious nondescript periodical, though at the time it
bore on its face the name of Queenston, was nevertheless for convenience
sake printed at Lewiston on the New York side of the river. Hence it was
denounced by the _Weekly Register_ in language that now astonishes us,
as a United States production; and as in the United States interest.
"This paper of motley, unconnected, shake-bag periods" cried the Editor
of the _Weekly Register_, "this unblushing, brazen-faced _Advocate_,
affects to be a Queenston and Upper Canadian paper; whereas it is to all
intents and purposes, and radically, a Lewiston and genu-wine Yankee
paper. How can this man of truth, this pure and holy reformer and
regenerator of the unhappy and prostrate Canada reconcile such barefaced
and impudent deception?"
Nothing could more promote the success of the _Colonial Advocate_ than a
welcome like this. To account for the _Register's_ extraordinary warmth,
it is to be said that the _Advocate_ in its first number had happened to
quote a passage from an address of its Editor to the electors of the
County of Durham, which seemed in some degree to compromise him as a
servant of the Government. Mr. Fothergill had ventured to say "I know
some of the deep and latent causes why this fine country has so long
languished in a state of comparative stupor and inactivity, while our
more enterprising neighbours are laughing us to scorn. All I desire is
an opportunity of attempting the cure of some of the evils we labour
under." This was interpreted in the _Advocate_ to mean a censure upon
the Executive. But the _Register_ replied that these words simply
expressed the belief that the evils complained of were remediable only
by the action of the House of Assembly, on the well-known axiom "that
all law is for the people, and from the people; and when efficient, must
be remedied or rectified by the people; and that therefore Mr.
Fothergill was desirous of assisting in the great work."
The end in fact was that the Editor of the _Register_, after his return
to parliament for the County of Durham, did not long retain the post of
King's Printer. After several independent votes in the House he was
dismissed by Sir Peregrine Maitland in 1826, after which date the
awkwardness of uniting with a Government Gazette a general newspaper
whose editor, as a member of the House of Assembly, might claim the
privilege of acting with His Majesty's opposition, came to an end. In
1826 we have Mr. Fothergill in his place in the House supporting a
motion for remuneration to the publisher of the _Advocate_, on the
ground that the wide and even gratuitous circulation of that paper
throughout Canada and among members of the British House of Commons,
"would help to draw attention in the proper quarter to the country."
Here is an account of McKenzie's method in the collection of matter for
his various publications, the curious multifariousness of which matter
used to astonish while it amused. The description is by Mr. Kent, editor
of a religious journal, entitled _The Church_, published at Cobourg in
1838. Lord Clarendon's style has been exactly caught, it will be
observed: "Possessed of a taste for general and discursive reading,"
says Mr. Kent, "he (McK.) made even his very pleasures contribute to the
serious business of his life, and, year after year, accumulated a mass
of materials, which he pressed into his service at some fitting
opportunity. Whenever anything transpired that at all reflected on a
political opponent, or whenever, in his reading, he met with a passage
that favoured his views, he not only turned it to a present purpose, but
laid it by, to bring it forward at some future period, long after it
might have been supposed to be buried in oblivion."
The Editor of the _Advocate_, after his flight from Canada in 1837,
published for a short time at New York a paper named _McKenzie's
Gazette_, which afterwards was removed to Rochester: its term of
existence there was also brief. In the number for June, 1839, we have
the following intelligence contributed by a correspondent at Toronto: a
certain animus in relation to the military in Canada, and in relation to
the existing Banks of the country, is apparent. "Toronto, May 24th: The
93rd Regiment is still in quarters here. The men 660 strong, all
Scotchmen, enlisted in the range of country from Aberdeen to Ayrshire: a
highland regiment without highlanders: few or none of Englishmen or
Irishmen among them. They are a fine-looking body of men: I never saw a
finer. I wished to go into the garrison, but was not permitted to do so.
Few of the townspeople have that privilege. ---- has made the fullest
enquiries, and tells me that a majority of the men would be glad to get
away if they could: they would willingly leave the service and the
country. He says they are well-informed, civil and well-behaved, and
that for such time as England may be compelled to retain possession of
the Canadas by military force, against the wishes of the settled
population he would like to have this regiment remain in Toronto. ----
tells me that a few _soups_ have been kept at Queenston during the
winter, because if they desert it is no matter: the regulars are all at
Drummondville, near the Falls, and a couple of hundred blacks at
Chippewa watching them. The Ferry below the Falls is guarded by old men
whose term of service is nearly out, and who look for a pension. It is
the same at Malden, and in Lower Canada. The regiments Lord Durham
brought were fine fellows, the flower of the English army.
"The Banks here tax the people heavily, but they are so stupid they
don't see it. All the specie goes into the Banks. I am told that the
Upper Canada Bank had at one time L300,000 in England in Commissariat
bills of Exchange: their notes in circulation are a million and a
quarter of paper dollars, for all of which they draw interest from the
people, although not obliged to keep six cents in their money-till to
redeem them. All the troops were paid in the depreciated paper of these
fraudulent bankrupt concerns, the directors of which deserve the
Penitentiary: the contracts of the Commissariat are paid in the same
paper as a 10 per cent. shave: and the troops up at Brantford were also
paid in Bank notes which the Bank did not pretend to redeem; and it
would have offended Sir George [Arthur], who has a share in such
speculations (as he had when in VanDieman's Land), had any one asked the
dollars. Sir Allan McNab, who has risen from poverty to be president _de
facto_, solicitor, directors and company of the Gore Bank, ever since
its creation, is said to be terribly embarrassed for want of money. He
is not the alpha and omega of the Bank now. He has quarrelled with his
brother villains. The money paid to Canada from England to uphold troops
to coerce the people helps the Banks."
In the same number of the _Gazette_ published at Rochester we have an
extract from a production by Robert Gourlay himself, who in his old age
paid a final visit of inspection to Canada. In allusion to a portion of
Gourlay's famous work published in 1822, the extract is headed in
_McKenzie's Gazette_ "Robert Gourlay's 'Last Sketch' of Upper Canada."
It is dated at Toronto, May 25th. Having just presented one gloomy view,
we will venture to lower the reader's spirits a particle more, by giving
another. Let allowance be made for the morbid mental condition of the
writer: the contrast offered by the Canada of to-day will afterwards
proportionably exhilarate.
"What did Upper Canada gain," Gourlay asks, "by my banishment; and what
good is now to be seen in it? Cast an eye over the length and breadth of
the land" he cries, "from Malden to Point Fortune, and from the Falls to
Lake Simcoe: then say if a single public work is creditable, or a single
institution as it should be. The Rideau Canal!--what is it but a
monument of England's folly and waste; which can never return a farthing
of interest; or for a single day stay the conquest of the province. The
Welland Canal!--Has it not been from beginning till now a mere struggle
of misery and mismanagement; and from now onward, promising to become a
putrid ditch. The only railway, of ten miles; with half completed; and
half which cannot be completed for want of funds! The macadamised roads,
all in mud; only causing an increase of wear and tear. The province
deeply in debt; confidence uprooted; and banks beleaguered!