POLITICS AT THE CAPITAL.
But more was destined to burgeon into blossom than the flowers of
spring. Allan Dunlop's fame as a politician had grown concurrently
with the growth of his love. In the Legislature he had won for himself
a prominent position, and was known as a sagacious counsellor, a
persuasive speaker, a ready and effective debater, and a good steady
worker on Committees. No name carried more weight in Parliament than
his, and his influence in the country was as marked as was his
influence in the House. This was as readily conceded by his political
opponents as it was claimed by his friends. He had, moreover, a
prepossessing manner, a comely presence, and a countenance which, when
animated, was not wanting in expression or fire. He was, withal, the
most modest and lovable of men; and had he not sat on the Opposition
benches he would have been courted by the Tory supporters of the
Government and been fawned upon by the leading members of "The Family
Compact."
Allan Dunlop had, however, entered the House as a radical, but of a
moderate type; and though he dealt the Executive many trenchant blows,
and did yeoman service in advancing the cause of Reform, he was too
loyal a man to rank with the "heated enthusiasts" who were threatening
to overturn the Constitution and make a republic out of the colony,
and too judicious and right-minded to affirm that the Administration
of the Province was wholly evil and corrupt. On the contrary, while he
insisted that the Executive should pay more deference to the voice of
the Parliamentary majority, and so avoid the ever-cropping-up
conflicts between the Administration and the popular Chamber, he
recognized the fact that the evils complained of had their origin in
defects in the Act which gave the Province its Constitution; and being
engrained in the paternal system of government that had long been in
vogue could not possibly be at once and satisfactorily remedied.
It was true that in none of the other Provinces was power so firmly
centralized in the hands of a dominant and exclusive class, as was the
case in Upper Canada. But this state of things, Allan Dunlop conceded,
was a legacy from the period of military rule which followed the
Conquest, and the natural consequence of appointing members to seats
in the Executive and Legislative Councils _for life_. Dunlop was also
well aware that the social condition of the Province, at that early
period, tended to centre power and authority of necessity in the hands
of a few leading men. All the public offices were in their gift; and
the entire public domain, including the Crown and Clergy Land
reserves, was also in their hands. Hence it was that through the
patronage at their disposal the "Family Compact" were enabled to fill
the Lower House with their supporters and adherents, and, in large
measure, to shape the Provincial Legislation, so as to maintain their
hold of office and perpetuate a monopoly of power. That the ruling
oligarchy used their positions autocratically, and kept a heavy hand
upon the turbulent and disaffected, was true; but their respect for
British institutions, and their staunch loyalty to the Crown, at a
time when republican sentiments were dangerously prevalent, were
virtues which might well offset innumerable misdeeds, and square the
account in any unprejudiced arraignment.
But though Allan Dunlop possessed a mind eminently fair and judicial,
and, Reformer as he was, could dispassionately discuss the "burning
questions" of the time, there were abuses connected with the mode of
governing which he stoutly strove to remedy, and injustice done to
loyal settlers in the iniquitous land system that prevailed which
roused his indignation and called forth many a bitter phillipic in the
House. These trenchant attacks of the young land-surveyor were greatly
feared by the Executive, and were the cause of much trepidation and
uneasiness in the Legislative Council.
For a time Commodore Macleod, who had now returned to his accustomed
duties in the Upper House, took pleasure in replying to Dunlop's
attacks in the Lower Chamber; but the young Parliamentarian, though he
treated his opponent with courtly deference, had so effective a way of
demolishing the Commodore's arguments and of genially turning the
shafts of his invective upon his adversary, that he soon abandoned the
attempt to break a lance with his young and able antagonist. Dunlop's
temper was habitually sweet and always under command, and this gave
him a great advantage over his sometimes irascible opponents. His
manner, however, was at times fiery--especially when exposing cases of
hardship and injustice, when his arraignment of the Executive was
vehement and uncompromising. But the "Family Compact" was at the
period too firmly entrenched and buttressed about by patronage for
Allan Dunlop to effect much reform in the system of government, though
his assaults were keenly felt in the Upper House, and they made a
powerful impression in the country, which heartily endorsed the young
land-surveyor's strenuous appeals for the redress of long-existing
abuses, and the concession of Responsible Government.
"What a noble fellow that young Dunlop is!" said Lady Sarah Maitland
to her escort in the House, as the youthful tribune closed an
impassioned appeal on behalf of settlers from the United States, who
had been subjected to great hardships and outrage by the tools of the
Government.
"A pestilent rascal!" was the testy rejoinder of the old Commodore,
who, with his daughter Rose, had accompanied her Ladyship on the day
in question to the House of Assembly.
"Nay! you shall not say that of him, Commodore, for I mean to invite
him to accompany us to Stamford Cottage at the close of the Session,
if he will give me that pleasure," said Lady Sarah, warmly.
"Sir Peregrine will have something to say to that, Madame," was the
Commodore's blunt reply, "and Mr. Attorney-General, here," he added,
"ought to arrest you for wishing to consort with seditious agitators
and evil-disposed persons."
"I think I ought to take you both into custody," interposed
Attorney-General Robinson, "for spoiling with your quarrel the effect
of young Dunlop's speech. It was admirable, both in tone and matter,
and I shall at once look into the grievances he complained of. Don't
you think, Miss Macleod, that your father is unreasonably prejudiced
against the member for your section of the Home District?"
"I think him everything harsh and unpaternal when politics is the
subject of conversation," replied that young lady guardedly.
"Ah! politics is an unclean game," observed the courtly leader of the
House; "but it would be vastly sweeter and cleaner were all our
politicians of the type of Dunlop. I think him a grand fellow--but, I
agree with you, Commodore, that he should be on the other side."
"Or we should be on _his_ side, Mr. Attorney-General," said Lady
Sarah, with a meaning glance at Rose Macleod.
At this juncture, the Attorney-General, having to address the House,
took leave of the ladies, and the Government House party rose and left
the Chamber.
Later in the day, the Attorney-General took occasion to refer to
Dunlop's speech, and to commend its temperate and courteous tone,
though the matter his young friend brought to the notice of the
Government, said the Attorney-General, if true, severely reflected on
the management of one of the Departments, which, the speaker added,
he would take care at once to inquire into.
Other matters occupied the attention of the House for the remainder of
the afternoon, and when the Speaker rose to retire a buzz of
conversation ensued on the stirring topics to be brought up at the
evening's sitting. Two of these topics related to matters which, at
the period, convulsed the community, and threatened to overthrow the
fabric of society in the colony, if not the Constitution itself. One
was the case of Captain Matthews, a member of the Assembly, who was
charged with disturbing the tranquillity of the Province by requesting
the orchestra, at the theatre of York, to play sundry seditious tunes
at the close of an entertainment, and thus inferentially to pay
disrespect to His Majesty's crown and person. The other was the
escapade of a number of young people in York, of respectable standing,
who had committed a gross breach of the peace in breaking into and
ransacking the printing-office of Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, smashing the
presses of that martyr to Reform, and throwing into the lake the type
which had been used in setting up some pungent articles against the
Government.
"Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" the moralizing
bystander of the period might have observed, as he took note of the
electrical condition of the political atmosphere of York, and, indeed,
of the whole Province--the result of the indiscretion of one man, and
the partisan frolic of half a dozen lads, who had inherited, with the
bluest of Tory blood, the prejudices of their fathers. The wrecking of
the Mackenzie printing-office was, of course, a serious conspiracy
against the peace of a youthful and law-abiding community. But it will
occur to the modern reader of the transaction, that the act was
scarcely so heinous as to bring it before the country's legislature,
and become the subject of a grave Parliamentary inquiry.
The act has to be viewed, however, in the light of preceding events,
and with a knowledge of facts in the thrilling drama of Reform, at the
time being enacted on the political stage of Upper Canada. Society in
the Province was long wont to poise itself between two opinions, as to
the degree of justification for the course which Reform took at the
time of the Gourlay agitation, and which, in Mackenzie's day,
culminated in rebellion. The issues of the conflict have, however,
settled that point; and though Tory bias loves still to stand by the
"Family Compact," the popular sympathies are with the actors who were
whilom outlawed, and on whose heads the Crown did them the honour, for
a time, to set a high value.
Chief among these actors, at the time of which we are writing, was he
whose printing-presses had just been ruthlessly demolished, and whose
fonts of type youthful Torydom had gleefully consigned to the deep.
The provocation had been a long series of intemperate newspaper
criticism of the Government, numerous inflammatory appeals to the
people to rise against constituted authority, and much scurrilous
abuse of leading members of the "Family Compact," who wished, as a
safeguard against revolution and chaos, to crush the "patriot"
Mackenzie, and drive him from the Province. But though thorny as was
then the path of Reform, and galling the insult and injury done to its
martyrs, Mackenzie did not shrink from pursuing the course he had cut
out for himself; and his intense hatred of injustice, and sturdy
defiance of those whom he held responsible for the maladministration
of affairs, gained him many adherents and sympathizers. The outrage
that had just been committed on his property vastly increased the
number of the latter, while popular indignation compelled the
Government to disown the act, and to make it, as we have seen, the
subject of Parliamentary inquiry. From the Parliament the matter went
to the Courts, and there the scapegraces, who had been concerned in
the outrage, were mulcted in a large amount, which their parents, high
government officials, had ruefully to pay over to the aggrieved
printer and incipient rebel. Thus ended one act in the drama of these
distraught times. How shall we keep our countenance and deal with the
other?
Let us first tell the story, as we gather it, in the main, from the
Journals of the House. For some time previous to the meeting of the
Legislature, in 1826, partisans of the Administration had got in the
habit of noting defections from the loyal side among men of substance
and position in the colony, and particularly among members of the
representative Chamber, where the cry for Responsible Government was
waxing loud, and where sullen protests were almost daily heard against
the system of official patronage and favouritism that prevailed in the
government of the Province. The Administration being now in the
minority in the popular Chamber, and "the long shadows of Canadian
Radicalism" having begun to settle upon the troubled "Family Compact,"
it became important to note the increasing defections, real or
fancied, in the Legislative Assembly, so that, if possible, the
"bolters" might be coaxed or bribed back, or, failing that, that they
might, in some way, be jockeyed out of the House and made to suffer
for their defection. Among those who had recently taken the bit in
their teeth was a Captain Matthews, a retired officer, in receipt of a
pension, who represented the county of Middlesex, and had of late gone
over to Democracy. For this act he was "put upon the list," and became
a marked man on the mental tablets of the myrmidons of the Executive.
About this time there came to York a company of strolling actors from
the neighbouring Republic, whose fortunes were at a low ebb, and whose
dignity had very much run down at the heels. To revive their fortunes,
they gave an entertainment in the extemporized theatre of the town,
under the kindly proffered patronage of the members of the Legislature.
It was New Year's Eve, and the fun--the age was still a bibulous
one--waxed fast and furious. At last the curtain dropped, and the
modest orchestra struck up "God save the king!" Hats were at once
doffed, and from among the standing audience came a loud but unsteady
voice, calling upon the orchestra to "play up" Hail Columbia! or
Yankee Doodle.
The sober section of the play-house was stunned. Was it possible that
Democracy could go to such lengths--within sight of the "royal arms,"
over the Lieutenant-Governor's box, and with the decaying notes of the
national anthem in Tory ears?
It was but too true. Again and again rose the shout for the seditious
tunes. Abashed loyalty sought to escape from the house, but the crowd
jostled and intervened. The scene now became uproarious. Affrighted
Conservatives were seen to jam their hats on their heads--the only
mark of disapproval possible--and glare defiance at those who impeded
the exit. The Tory member for Stormonth--it was afterwards admitted in
evidence--stripped his coat and threatened to knock any two of the
opposing Radicals down. Meanwhile the orchestra, unable to accomplish
the higher flight of "Hail Columbia!" struck up the commoner and more
objectionable tune; and three grave legislators, it is said, danced
while "Yankee Doodle" was played. The Democratic orgie at last spent
itself with the music, and after a while all breathed the outer,
communistic air of heaven.
After the racket comes the reckoning; and Captain Matthews, whose
share in inducing the play-house fiddlers to discourse republican
music to monarchical ears was reported with due exaggerations and
aspersions on his loyalty, to the military authorities, speedily found
himself the victim of an infamous plot. Distorted accounts of the
scene at the theatre had been sent to the Commander of the Forces, at
Quebec; and the member for Middlesex was specially singled out as the
seditious rioter on the occasion, and the leader in what was termed "a
disloyal and disgraceful affair." Presently there came an order for
Capt. Matthews to report himself to the military authorities at
Quebec, and at that port to take ship for England, where he was to be
tried by court-martial. To enable him to obey the summons it was first
necessary to obtain leave of absence from the Legislature; and the
motion that was to come up in the Assembly that evening, was, whether
the House, on the evidence before it, would agree to release the
incriminated officer from his Parliamentary duties so as to face the
frivolous charge at the "Horse-Guards" in London.
The discussion opened by the presentation to the House of the report
of the Committee of Inquiry that had sat upon the matter--a report
which exonerated Captain Matthews from the charge preferred against
him, and relieved him from the scandalous accusation of disloyalty.
The report closed with a protest against the tendency, on the part of
the Government, to resort to espionage and inquisitorial measures, in
endeavouring to rid the Province of those obnoxious to the ruling
faction, and in attempting to undermine the independence of the
Legislature by scandalizing its members and awing them into political
subserviency. The conviction was reiterated that there was no ground
for the charge against Captain Matthews, the malignity and falsity of
which was due to political hostility to that gentleman.
A lively debate ensued on the motion to receive the report, members of
the Government fiercely objecting to its reception by the House, and
the Opposition as warmly insisting on its acceptance. The temper of
the Government was not improved when young Dunlop rose, and, in a few
quiet and well-chosen words, asserted the right of Parliament to
protect its members from officious military arraignment on frivolous
and vexatious pretexts. It was the duty of the Government, remarked
the young tribune, to calm, not to augment, the fever of popular
excitement by acts of an arbitrary and autocratic character,--such as
instigating ridiculous prosecutions, and casting doubt on the loyalty
of men who had long and faithfully served the Crown, and whose only
fault was to set their country above their party.
That the existence of Upper Canada as a colony of the Crown--Dunlop
continued--was imperiled by paying some exigent actors from the other
side of the line the compliment of calling for a national air dear to
republican hearts and ears, he did not for a moment believe. He was,
at the same time, he affirmed, keenly sensitive to the beguiling
effects of enlivening music, and--falling into a lighter vein--he
confessed that he did not know what might be the consequence if the
members of the Government organized themselves into a well-trained
minstrel troupe and entered the neighbouring Republic singing the
pathetic airs of the Old Dominion, artfully interspersed with the
soul-stirring strains of the "British Grenadiers" and "Rule Britannia."
He thought, moreover, that if the grave and reverend seigniors of the
"Family Compact" would blacken their faces as they had blackened their
hearts, and "star" it through the lowly hamlets of the Province,
singing, say, the Jacobite airs of a previous generation, it would do
more to cement the attachment of Canada to the Crown than all the
efforts of the combined army of officials, placemen, and henchmen of
the Government _plus_ the Judges, the Sheriffs, the Recorder, the
Incumbents of fat Clergy Reserves, the Gauge's, Tollmen, Hangmen,
Customs Officers, Turnkeys, and Landing-Waiters.
Seriously, Allan Dunlop added,--and he had no apology to make for
indulging in levity in discussing this frivolous matter--it was
beneath the dignity of the House to occupy itself with the further
consideration of the charges against the honourable member for
Middlesex. These charges were so trivial and ill-founded, and they
originated in such a trumpery fear lest the Crown should suffer
indignity where indignity was in no wise offered to it, that he begged
the House to dismiss the matter forthwith and refuse Captain Matthews
leave to absent himself from his Parliamentary duties. After a
scattering fusilade of small talk from both sides of the House, the
report of the Committee was received, leave was refused, and the
disturbing question was laid at rest.
Those who have followed, it may be with interest, this veracious piece
of history, and are curious to learn the fate of the honourable member
for Middlesex, will find the story graphically told in Mr. Dent's
"Canadian Rebellion," Vol. I., chap. 6. The authors take the liberty
of appending Mr. Dent's closing paragraph: "But though Captain
Matthews," says the historian, "had been cleared by the Legislature,
he had still to run the gauntlet of the military inquisition. They
could not compel his attendance during the existence of the Parliament
then in being, but they possessed an effectual means of reducing him
to ultimate submission. This power they exercised; his pension was
stopped--a very serious matter to a man with a large family and many
responsibilities. He continued to fight the battles of Reform with
dogged courage and pertinacity as long as his means admitted of his
doing so, but he was soon reduced to a condition of great pecuniary
distress, and was compelled to succumb. Broken-hearted and worn out,
he resigned his seat in the Assembly, and returned to England, where,
after grievous delay, he succeeded in getting his pension restored. He
never returned to Canada, and survived the restoration of his pension
but a short time. Thus, through the malignity of a selfish and secret
cabal, was Upper Canada deprived of the services of a zealous and
useful citizen and legislator, whose residence among us, had it been
continued, could not have failed to advance the cause of freedom and
justice."