1836 AND 1837--IMPRISONMENT OF THE M'INTYRES--DISAFFECTION OF THE
SETTLERS.
This year opened with disputes between McNab and the people, about the
road money. At the town meeting Duncan McNab resigned his
commissionership, and Angus McNab was elected in his stead.--Before the
town-meeting had terminated its business, the Laird made his appearance,
told the people he had the money, pulled our a large roll of bills, and
openly defied the commissioners. If the money was not laid out where he
wanted it, they would not have the satisfaction of expending it at all.
He said he would return it to the Treasurer with instructions not to pay
it over without his order. Accordingly he returned L100 to Mr. McKay,
who was then County Treasurer; the remainder he kept in his own hands.
The commissioners could not go on with improvements. The bridge at
Johnston's Rock (Burnstown), had to be postponed; legal advice was
taken, and a suit, under the management of the late T. M. Radenhurst,
was commenced against the Chief. While this was going on the Chief had
procured a _ca. sa_ against John McIntyre and his son Peter. In the dead
of winter, in the latter end of January, 1836, the officers of the law
made a raid into the Flat Rapid settlement, arrested and carried off the
two unfortunate victims of the Chief's anger. The old man, John
McIntyre, was then seventy years of age, and his son Peter was in the
prime of manhood. Their wives accompanied them to Kennell. The old man
was not allowed an overcoat to keep the cold from his attenuated frame.
He was not permitted even to go to the house for a change of clothes,
for fear of a rescue. Peter McIntyre was one of the persons who, in
company with John Buchanan, had assisted the Chief to fly from his
unrelenting creditors at home; and these were his thanks, and this the
Chief's gratitude! Forgetting former kindness and former assistance in a
pressing emergency, in thus gratifying his vengeance and appeasing his
mortified pride the poor McIntyres were made to suffer. He had not spent
a shilling of his own money in bringing them out. Dr. Hamilton and his
sister, Mrs. Fairfield, had paid all the settlers' expenses, and had
they known that McNab would thus use the power vested in him by the
bond, they would have cancelled all the obligations it imposed, and made
the settlers a present of the consideration. The McIntyres were brought
to Perth. Peter McIntyre's wife's friends in Beckwith went security for
the amount, and he was speedily liberated. Donald McIntyre, sr., was
also arrested, but his sons paid the amount, and demanded the patent.
Old Mr. McIntyre remained in the debtors' prison in Perth. He would
allow no one to go security, or pay the amount. His feelings had been
cruelly outraged. He, who had so gallantly fought for his country, was
now imprisoned for no offence, but for the sake of his own philanthropy.
He had assisted Miller, and thus provoked the sleepless enmity of the
Laird. When pressed to take bail the noble old man rose immovable as a
statue, his white locks hanging over his shoulders in profuse masses
like a patriarch of old, and exclaimed, "I will have no one suffer for
me. My earthly pilgrimage will soon be over; and if I end my life here,
no one will be the worse. I will not undertake to do what I cannot
perform. It was a weary day for me when I left Scotland. I have suffered
trials and hardships ever since."
The old man remained imprisoned for three months, receiving the
allowance of five shillings per week. One morning it was fortunately
forgotten, and Mr. McIntyre was released. He went to a desolate home,
and were it not for exertions of his two sons, John and Daniel, Mr.
McIntyre would have perished from sheer inanition. He never got over it;
he lingered for three years, and then died broken-hearted. The Chief had
taken everything he possessed, and left him without a cow, or even a
solitary hen. A burst of indignation went through the whole township
against the Chief; and even his most intimate friends and subservient
toadies could not defend him. Instead of this transaction being a
warning to others, it proved the contrary. It called forth an universal
feeling of sympathy for the poor sufferers, and a determination of the
settlers to resist further encroachments. The report of the Buchanans,
that McNab was only an agent, about this time spread through the
township like wildfire, and it was generally believed that whatever the
Chief might do with those who had signed the bond in Scotland, he could
not pretend to harass those who came out at their own expense. The old
settlers, with these four or five exceptions, endeavored to pay their
rent regularly, although the majority determined to use every legal
means to get rid of it. Some even offered to pay up the passage-money,
with interest; but it was refused, the time for doing so having expired.
Serfs they were, and serfs they must remain. The Laird became aware,
through his spies and tale-bearers (in whom he took great delight), of
this general feeling of dissatisfaction. He resolved to punish the whole
township. Accordingly, in March, he and Mr. Richey, a brother-magistrate
from Fitzroy, having been appointed by the Quarter Sessions to do the
road business, sat to apportion the statute-labor. The Chief wanted a
new road from White Lake to Bellamy's Mills; consequently, all the
statute-labor on the east side of the Madawaska was ordered to be laid
out on the road. The place of labor was about ten miles distant from
some of the settlers' homes. The labor on the west side of the Madawaska
was ordered to be expended between Arnprior and the 2nd concession line,
bringing some of the settlers away from their own roads, which very much
needed a large amount of work.
This apportionment the commissioners determined to oppose as unjust and
unreasonable. They ordered the pathmasters to lay out the statute-labor
in their own divisions, irrespective of the magisterial fiat. The same
thing occurred next year--1837. The Laird now resolved to punish both
pathmasters and commissioners; the pathmasters by forcing them to go to
Perth at their own expense to give evidence, and the commissioners, to
indict them before the Grand Jury. Accordingly, he procured a criminal
subpoena from the Deputy Clerk of the Crown, Mr. Sache, summoning John
McLachlin, James McKay, Duncan McNab, and ten other pathmasters to give
evidence against Angus McNab, Donald Mohr McNaughton and, Jas.
Carmichael. The poor pathmasters, dreading the consequences, obeyed,
travelled to Perth a distance of between fifty and sixty miles, in the
very middle of harvest (August, 1837), were detained there four days,
and on the fourth were examined by the Attorney-General, Mr. W. H.
Draper, (afterwards Chief Justice), and dismissed without a
penny--dismissed without even going before the Grand Jury,--because Mr.
Draper found there was no case to submit to the Grand Inquest. Thus,
fourteen poor settlers and three commissioners, in the midst of their
harvesting labors, were forced to go to Perth at their own expense, and
when they applied to the Chief for compensation, his reply was, "My men,
it is a Queen's case. I have nothing to do with it; every man is bound
to obey the Queen's summons." In the meantime the commissioners had
obtained judgment against the Laird for the money granted by the House
of Assembly. It was sent to the Chief. He had retained L100 in his own
hands. The other L100 was in the County Treasury. The Chief immediately
gave an order for the money in the Treasury and told Mr. Radenhurst he
would pay the remainder when the bridge over the Madawaska was
contracted for.
While these road disputes were going on, and the settlers were
increasing in their disaffection and efforts of resistance, another act
of injustice was perpetrated which never could have taken place under
any other _regime_ than that of the Family Compact--an act so gross, so
cruel, so unjust in its consequences, as to shake the confidence in the
integrity of the Government. Sir F. B. Head was then Lieut.-Governor of
Upper Canada. Every measure calculated to promote the happiness and
welfare of the people was frowned down, and every means used to build up
and foster a small party clique at the expense of the people, met with
his cordial approbation and support. A majority of the House of
Assembly, led by Mackenzie, Baldwin, Bidwell and Rolph, was against him
and his government. He ignored the acts of the majority. C. H. Hagerman
bullied, or attempted to bully, the independent members of the House. He
did the dirty work of a dirty and oppressive government. These were the
men who were then the bosom friends of the Chief. Sir F. B. Head and the
Laird of McNab were similar in some traits of their character. Bond Head
was pompous, vain and important; the Laird excelled him in these
characteristics. The Lieut.-Governor had the airs of a dancing-master,
and the braggadocio of a Gascon; McNab possessed the same admirable
qualities. Head was tyrannical and vindictive to all who opposed his
measures: the Chief vied with him in these peculiar attributes. Sir
Francis was a clever writer, speaker and politician. Here there was a
dissimilarity, for McNab in a great measure lacked these qualities. They
were boon companions and swore eternal friendship. McNab asked for a
patent of all the timber on the unlocated lots of the township. It was
granted without hesitation; and now we will revert to the facts of the
particular case that the writer is about to relate.
One Duncan Anderson was located by the Chief on Lot No. 14 in the 4th
concession. Duncan McNab (Islay,) was located on Lot No 18 in the 1st.
The latter was a good place of business and rather poor for agricultural
purposes; the former was a splendid lot of good arable land. Anderson
wished to engage in business, having made a good land speculation in
connection with McNab upon a lot they jointly sold to Michael Roddy, as
will hereafter be seen in the report of the late Francis Allan, Esq.
Duncan McNab wanted a good lot for farming. They exchanged lots, and
assigned location-tickets. D. McNab went to reside in the 14th of the
4th and Anderson took possession of D. McNab's land. The Chief at first
sanctioned the agreement. It was nothing to him. His interests did not
suffer by the transfer. A few months afterwards Duncan McNab had given
some offence to the Laird. He served a notice upon poor Duncan to quit
the place, as he disapproved of the arrangement, and intended to take
out the patent for himself. Six weeks afterwards he applied to his
friend, Francis; and although a copy of the location ticket was filed in
the Crown Land office, and Duncan McNab's name substituted for
Anderson's in the diagram of the township, the patent was at once
ordered to issue to the Chief. He immediately commenced proceedings in
ejectment. Poor Duncan did not know who John Doe and Richard Roe were.
He went to Perth and consulted Mr. Radenhurst, who undertook the
defence. In August, 1837, the case was brought down to trial at _Nisi
Prius_, and a verdict entered for plaintiff at one-shilling damages.
The Hon. Jonas Jones tried the case; said it was a great hardship, and
openly recommended it to be referred to _Chancery_--saying that the
courts of law could give no relief to Duncan McNab. The Judge had made
an error at the trial in not allowing the patent to be proved in the
ordinary way. Mr. Radenhurst took advantage of this _lapsus_, and moved
for a new trial in _term_, which he obtained. Leaving this matter for
the present, as its termination belongs to the record of a subsequent
year, we now revert to stirring events in the township and in the
province.
In the fall of 1836, George Buchanan failed. The steamboat which he had
built had just received its engine, and the _George Buchanan_ had made
one trip to the Chenaux. The whole estate and business was transferred
to Messrs. Simpson, Gould & Mettleberger. Mr. Buchanan went to his
property on Victoria Island, at the Chats, where he had constructed a
slide for the passing of timber, and which proved a lucrative
speculation. The old company carried on the business at first briskly,
but gradually declined in their operations till 1837 they ceased doing
anything in the lumber line. They could get no logs from McNab without
paying too dearly for the privilege. Mr. Rogerson, (brother-in-law of
Mr. William Fraser, afterwards the esteemed Treasurer of the County of
Lanark) still remained at Arnprior collecting the debts due to the
Buchanan estate, and winding up the business. This was the state of
affairs at Arnprior at the close of 1837.
Towards the end of the year the commissioners gave out the contract of
constructing the bridge at Johnson's Rock (Burnstown), to Mr. Duncan
McNab (Auchessan), a lumberer, for L200. Mr. McNab set to work with
skill and energy. He took into partnership Mr. Duncan Carmichael, and
before the first of January, 1838, the new bridge--the long-talked of
and disputed structure--was at length completed. This was now the only
bridge on the Madawaska: that at Arnprior had been swept away by the
spring freshet, and was not rebuilt till many years afterwards, when the
Board of Works of the Province erected the White Bridge at Arnprior,
further up the stream.
The Laird of McNab was now roused to fury. The repeated and successful
acts of opposition to his will and his plans maddened him. The
construction of the bridge had roused all his passions, and he resolved
to punish the commissioners individually. He selected Mr. Donald Mohr
McNaughton as his first victim. This gentleman, now the leader of the
settlers in their efforts of resistance, had been, in Scotland, head
gamekeeper to Lord Panmure, and was a person of some education and
intelligence. In person he was robust, tall and athletic. Measuring 6ft.
4in. in height, he towered above his fellow-settlers in physical height,
as well as in physical courage and moral resolution. He had emigrated a
few years previously, believing the Laird of McNab to be a gentleman
equal to the Earl of Panmure, and settled in the township of McNab. For
some years he paid regularly (3 barrels of flour for 200 acres); but
when the haughty and overbearing disposition of McNab became apparent in
his dispute with the commissioners, and also when he became convinced
that the Chief was only an agent of the government, he determined to
risk the result, and refused to pay any more rent. McNab could not sue
for rent or passage money, as Donald Mohr had come to the country at his
own expense, bringing a small capital with him which he partly expended
in clearing and improving his farm. He devised another scheme as deep as
it was malicious. Procuring the signature of twelve freeholders from
Fitzroy and Pakenham to a requisition calling upon Manny Nowlan (since
dead), a road-surveyor residing at Carleton Place, to run a road from
White Lake to Muskrat Lake, he caused Mr. Nowlan to come to White Lake,
(where the Chief had now taken up his permanent residence), in October,
1837, to commence operations.
Having given him full instructions how to run the road, the party
started early on the following morning, consisting of two axemen, the
Chief and the writer, who was then a youth of fifteen. The road was
marked out and surveyed properly till they reached the lot of Donald
McNaughton, Sr., which lay adjoining that of his gigantic namesake. Here
a divergence was made; they made a turn at right angles, so as to go
straight through both lots of the two McNaughtons. The poor old man
McNaughton came to the Chief, bonnet in hand, and begged him not to
spoil his land. The Laird scornfully laughed at him, and ordered the
surveyor to proceed. Nowlan continued his survey till he came to the
division line of Donald Mohr's lot. The Chief, seeing things progressing
properly, according to his views, returned home. Scarcely, however, had
the luckless Manny Nowlan crossed the side-line, when Mr. McNaughton,
foaming with rage and just indignation, appeared in sight making
gigantic strides towards him. The axemen flew in one direction. Manny
Nowlan trembled in his shoes.
"What are you doing here, ha?" exclaimed Big Donald, in the thundering
tones of a gorilla.
"Surveying a road," was the reply, "and beware how you oppose me."
"Be off! away from my land! if you come one step further (clapping his
hands) I will send you to eternity," roared McNaughton.
Nowlan shook with terror, and fled, and did not recover his equanimity
till he was safely housed in the Chief's stone cottage at the lake. The
Laird vowed vengeance; the whole terrors of the law were to be invoked.
The surveyor was deforced.--Ignorant of the consequences McNaughton had
violated the law in defence of his property. The mode to oppose the
survey was to appear before the Quarter Sessions. This Big Donald did
not know at the time; and if he did, his passion and just indignation
got the better of his discretion, and he thus fell into the trap and
laid himself open to the Chief's vengeance. Accordingly, at the next
meeting of the Quarter Session, Nowlan appeared to pass his road, and go
before the Grand Jury. The road was constituted to the very spot where
he was stopped, although opposed by Mr. McNaughton. A presentment was
made against McNaughton, the usual process was moved for and a bench
warrant issued. McNaughton was arrested, and the bailiff left him on the
road while he went down, to the cottage to see if the Chief would take
bail.
"Do not bring the fellow here," said the Laird, knitting his brows; "I
smell the air foul already; let not this house be contaminated by his
presence. Take him to McVicar, and give him this letter."
The Chief wrote to Mr. McVicar to accept none for bail except
freeholders. Now there were no freeholders in the township, and he
thought if Mr. McVicar would follow his instructions, McNaughton would
be sent to prison. Not so, however; Mr. Alex. McVicar, of Pakenham, was
a decent, upright, and benevolent man; he accepted the sureties of Mr.
Duncan McLachlin and Mr. Donald McNaughton, Sr., and the prisoner was
liberated. They were not freeholders, but Donald Mohr's next
neighbor--settlers like himself, who had not received their deeds. The
trial was fixed for the ensuing March (1838), and McNaughton and his
friends returned home in safety and triumph. The result will be narrated
in its proper place.