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[Illustration: (signature) E. Ryerson]
THE
LOYALISTS OF AMERICA
AND
THEIR TIMES:
FROM 1620 TO 1816.
BY EGERTON RYERSON, D.D., LL.D.,
_Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada from 1844 to 1876._
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS, 80 KING STREET EAST;
JAMES CAMPBELL & SON, AND
WILLING & WILLIAMSON.
MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS.
1880.
ENTERED, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
One thousand eight hundred and eighty, by the REV. EGERTON RYERSON,
D.D., LL.D., in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
PREFACE.
As no Indian pen has ever traced the history of the aborigines of
America, or recorded the deeds of their chieftains, their "prowess and
their wrongs"--their enemies and spoilers being their historians; so the
history of the Loyalists of America has never been written except by
their enemies and spoilers, and those English historians who have not
troubled themselves with examining original authorities, but have
adopted the authorities, and in some instances imbibed the spirit, of
American historians, who have never tired in eulogizing Americans and
everything American, and deprecating everything English, and all who
have loyally adhered to the unity of the British Empire.
I have thought that the other side of the story should be written; or,
in other words, the true history of the relations, disputes, and
contests between Great Britain and her American colonies and the United
States of America.
The United Empire Loyalists were the losing party; their history has
been written by their adversaries, and strangely misrepresented. In the
vindication of their character, I have not opposed assertion against
assertion; but, in correction of unjust and untrue assertions, I have
offered the records and documents of the actors themselves, and in their
own words. To do this has rendered my history, to a large extent,
_documentary_, instead of being a mere popular narrative. The many
fictions of American writers will be found corrected and exposed in the
following volumes, by authorities and facts which cannot be successfully
denied. In thus availing myself so largely of the proclamations,
messages, addresses, letters, and records of the times when they
occurred, I have only followed the example of some of the best
historians and biographers.
No one can be more sensible than myself of the imperfect manner in which
I have performed my task, which I commenced more than a quarter of a
century since, but I have been prevented from completing it sooner by
public duties--pursuing, as I have done from the beginning, an untrodden
path of historical investigations. From the long delay, many supposed I
would never complete the work, or that I had abandoned it. On its
completion, therefore, I issued a circular, an extract from which I
hereto subjoin, explaining the origin, design, and scope of the work:--
"I have pleasure in stating that I have at length completed the
task which the newspaper press and public men of different parties
urged upon me from 1855 to 1860. In submission to what seemed to be
public opinion, I issued, in 1861, a circular addressed to the
United Empire Loyalists and their descendants, of the British
Provinces of America, stating the design and scope of my proposed
work, and requesting them to transmit to me, at my expense, any
letters or papers in their possession which would throw light upon
the early history and settlement in these Provinces by our U.E.
Loyalist forefathers. From all the British Provinces I received
answers to my circular; and I have given, with little abridgment,
in one chapter of my history, these intensely interesting letters
and papers--to which I have been enabled to add considerably from
two large quarto manuscript volumes of papers relating to the U.E.
Loyalists in the Dominion Parliamentary Library at Ottawa, with the
use of which I have been favoured by the learned and obliging
librarian, Mr. Todd.
"In addition to all the works relating to the subject which I could
collect in Europe and America, I spent, two years since, several
months in the Library of the British Museum, employing the
assistance of an amanuensis, in verifying quotations and making
extracts from works not to be found elsewhere, in relation
especially to unsettled questions involved in the earlier part of
my history.
"I have entirely sympathized with the Colonists in their
remonstrances, and even use of arms, in defence of British
constitutional rights, from 1763 to 1776; but I have been compelled
to view the proceedings of the Revolutionists and their treatment
of the Loyalists in a very different light.
"After having compared the conduct of the two parties during the
Revolution, the exile of the Loyalists from their homes after the
close of the War, and their settlement in the British Provinces, I
have given a brief account of the government of each Province, and
then traced the alleged and real causes of the War of 1812-1815,
together with the courage, sacrifice, and patriotism of Canadians,
both English and French, in defending our country against eleven
successive American invasions, when the population of the two
Canadas was to that of the United States as one to twenty-seven,
and the population of Upper Canada (the chief scene of the War) was
as one to one hundred and six. Our defenders, aided by a few
English regiments, were as handfuls, little Spartan bands, in
comparison of the hosts of the invading armies; and yet at the end
of two years, as well as at the end of the third and last year of
the War, not an invader's foot found a place on the soil of Canada.
"I undertook this work not self-moved and with no view to profit;
and if I receive no pecuniary return from this work, on which I
have expended no small labour and means, I shall have the
satisfaction of having done all in my power to erect an historical
monument to the character and merits of the fathers and founders of
my native country."
E. RYERSON.
"TORONTO, Sept. 24th, 1879."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.--TWO CLASSES OF EMIGRANTS--TWO GOVERNMENTS FOR SEVENTY
YEARS--THE PILGRIM FATHERS, THEIR PILGRIMAGES AND SETTLEMENT.
PAGE
The writer a native Colonist 1
Massachusetts the seed-plot of the American Revolution 1
Two distinct emigrations to New England--the "Pilgrim
Fathers" in 1620, the "Puritan Fathers" in 1629; two separate
governments for seventy years; characteristics of each 1
Objects and documentary character of the history, which is
not a popular narrative, but a historical discussion (in a note) 2
The "Pilgrim Fathers;" their pilgrimages and settlement in
New England 2
Origin of Independents 2
Flight to Holland, and twelve years' pilgrimage; trades and
wearisome life there 3
Long to be under English rule and protection 3
Determine and arrange to emigrate to America 3
Voyage, and intended place of settlement 4
Landing at Cape Cod; constitution of government; Messrs.
Bancroft and Young's remarks upon it 5
Settlement of "New Plymouth" 6
What known of the harbour and coast before the landing
of the Pilgrims 7
Inflated and extravagant accounts of the character and
voyage of the Pilgrims (in a note) 7
Results of the first year's experience and labours;
a week's celebration of the first "harvest home"--such a
_first_ harvest home as no United Empire Loyalists
were ever able to celebrate in Canada 9