THE TRIUMPHS OF A TRIED REFORMER.
While the public excitement continued unabated, the Lieutenant-Governor
resolved upon a step which was little calculated to allay it. This step
was the dissolution of the existing Parliament. He and his advisers,
sworn and unsworn, believed that the time was opportune for a general
election. If the numerical majority of the Opposition in the Assembly
were reversed, the Government could afford to laugh at what they called
"low-bred democracy." Such a reversal, it was thought, might now be
effected. The disloyalty cry might safely be trusted to do its work, not
only by clearing the Assembly of the chief members of the Opposition,
but by giving the Government party an easy working majority. In order,
however, that his Excellency might seem to be following public opinion
in this matter instead of guiding it, the official party caused
petitions to be sent in from various quarters, praying that a
dissolution and a general election might take place. This not only
served the intended purpose of misleading the public as to the designs
of the Executive, but also afforded Sir Francis an opportunity of
pouring out oceans of words in the form of replies. The concluding
sentence of his reply to an address from certain electors of the Home
District is eminently characteristic of the man. Portions of the
already-mentioned letter from Papineau to Bidwell had seemed to point to
a possible invasion of the Province by inhabitants of the United States.
This idea was eagerly seized upon by Sir Francis, as indicative of
concerted action between the hypothetical invaders and the Upper
Canadian Radicals. "In the name of every regiment of militia in Upper
Canada," said he--"_Let them come if they dare!_"[236] Nothing but
actual perusal of his despatches will afford any accurate idea of his
blatant self-confidence at this time. It is quite evident that he
regarded the above-quoted reply as a master-stroke of vigorous
diplomacy. He drew special attention to it in a communication to Lord
Glenelg, in the course of which he made use of language which must have
almost stunned the conventional and decorous Colonial Secretary. "I am
aware," he wrote, "that the answer may be cavilled at in Downing Street,
for I know it is not exactly according to Hoyle. _Mais, man seigneur,
croyez-vous done qu'on fasse des revolutions avec de l'eau de
rose?_"[237] The tone of his despatches is from first to last
extraordinary. It would seem as if they ought to have told their own
miserable tale of superficiality and unfitness to the Colonial
Secretary. In announcing the probability of an early dissolution of the
Provincial Parliament, Sir Francis requests his Lordship to send him no
orders on the subject, but to allow him to work the matter in his own
way.[238] The Opposition are constantly referred to in such phrases as
"the republicans in the House of Assembly," and "the revolutionists of
Upper Canada."[239] His Lordship is warned that if the demands of the
Opposition be complied with in the matter of Executive responsibility,
"democracy, in the worst possible form, will prevail in our
colonies."[240] "In South America," he remarks, "truth and justice
carried me through difficulties even greater than those I have now to
contend with, and I have the firmest reliance they will again be
triumphant."[241] In another despatch[242] his Lordship is notified that
Robert Baldwin, who is referred to as an agent of "the revolutionary
party," is about to start for London. "It is stated," writes Sir
Francis, "that he goes there for the recovery of his health, but it is
acknowledged by his party that he will be prepared to answer any
questions which the Government may feel disposed to put to him." This
intimation is followed by the expression of a confidence that his
Lordship will discountenance "the system of sending agents from the
British North American colonies, and their being received by the
Government." A hope is expressed that should Mr. Baldwin directly or
indirectly communicate with the Colonial Office during his stay in
England, he may be effectually sat upon, and that he may receive "that
style of answer," a copy of which may be transmitted to Sir Francis, and
published in the Canadian papers, as a means of deterring further
"left-handed attacks upon the constitution." It may be added that the
expression of confidence above referred to was justified by the result,
as Mr. Baldwin, during his stay in England, was not admitted to an
interview with Lord Glenelg, though a written statement of his views was
received by his Lordship, and submitted to the Cabinet.
The Reformers, moderate and radical, were brought closer together by the
agitated state of the public mind, and by the efforts of the official
party to destroy their influence. Several weeks before the dissolution
actually took place it became known that such a step was imminent, and
quiet preparations were made for the general election which was to
follow. The formation of the Canadian Alliance Society by the Radicals,
towards the close of 1834, has already been referred to.[243] Neither
the platform of this society nor the mode of conducting it was such as
to commend it to Reformers generally, and it was now deemed advisable to
organize a new association on a broader basis, with a special eye to
cooeperation with Reformers who resided in the rural districts. This was
accordingly done under the auspices of some of the leading Reformers of
Toronto. In contradistinction to the British Constitutional Society
mentioned towards the close of the last chapter, the new association was
called the Constitutional Reform Society. Dr. Baldwin accepted the
Presidency, and Francis Hincks, who was then engaged in commercial life
in Toronto, was appointed Secretary. Steps were taken to counteract the
misrepresentations of the official party, and generally for the
efficient maintenance of the impending election campaign. The Reformers
seem to have greatly underestimated the efforts of their opponents. As
the event proved, they were also hopelessly astray in gauging the public
opinion of the Province, for they looked forward to the approaching
contest with the utmost confidence in the result. The new society, it
was thought, would accomplish wonders in the way of thorough
organization, and it was confidently believed that the existing Reform
majority in the Assembly would be fully maintained, if not increased.
The efforts of the official party to spread a belief prejudicial to the
patriotism of the Reformers were laughed to scorn. So also was the
attempt of the Lieutenant-Governor to imbue the inhabitants with a
belief in the probability of a foreign invasion. Upon the promulgation
of the challenge to the imaginary invader, a number of the Toronto
Reformers, with Mr. Hincks at their head, amused themselves by
perpetrating a practical joke. Having taken counsel together, they
formed themselves into a deputation, and called upon his Excellency in a
state of well-assumed perturbation. In a formal address they expressed
much solicitude on the subject of the contemplated invasion. They
professed to re-echo his unbounded confidence in the Provincial militia,
but begged to be informed of the quarter whence the attack was
anticipated. "We do not doubt," said they, in their Address, "the
readiness with which would be answered upon any emergency your appeal to
the militia, which appeal we are satisfied would not have been made
without adequate cause. In a matter so seriously affecting the peace and
tranquillity of the country, and the security of its commerce, we beg to
learn from your Excellency from what quarter the invasion is alleged to
be threatened." To this not unreasonable demand the Lieutenant-Governor
was unable to make any definite reply. The absurdity of his challenge
was for the first time fully brought home to him. According to the
testimony of eye-witnesses, he "did not sit, but stood with that
personal oscillation which you witness in a man so situated as not well
to know what to say or what to do."[244] When at last his reply came,
it proved to be the briefest and most sensible of all his replies.
"Gentlemen," said he, "I have no further observations to make to you on
this subject." The deputation, struggling with suppressed laughter,
withdrew.
The Provincial Parliament was dissolved on the 28th of May, and as it
was thought desirable to strike while the iron was hot, the elections
were hurried on with unseemly haste. They began on the 20th of June, and
all the returns were in during the first week in July. The issue was an
exciting, but not a doubtful one, for the official party entered upon
the contest with loaded dice and a determination to win. Numerous
attempts have been made to explain and excuse their conduct during this
eventful epoch; but it is impossible to blink the fact that the result
was a foregone conclusion from the very moment of the issue of the
writs. The whole weight of the Government was put forward to ensure the
return of Tory candidates, and this was done in the most direct and
shameless manner. The Lieutenant-Governor openly made himself a party to
the contest. His replies to the various addresses which he had himself
promoted were one and all set to the same tune.[245] The issue was
presented in such a light that no inconsiderable part of the population
were led to believe that the maintenance of British connection depended
upon the result of the contest. Owing to the representations of
Government emissaries, backed by the Tory press, and reinforced by the
inflammatory speeches and addresses of the Lieutenant-Governor, it was
widely believed that should the Reformers succeed there would be a
speedy uprooting of cherished institutions, followed by separation from
the mother country and ultimate annexation to the United States. The
indiscreet language of Mackenzie and some other Radicals had been such
as to lend colour to misrepresentations of this nature, and the spirit
thereby aroused was decisive of the result. Not only professed Tories,
but most of the moderate-minded of the population, rallied to the side
of the Lieutenant-Governor, to uphold British connection, and to oppose
the encroachment of republican and revolutionary ideas. Loyalty was
rampant, and patriotic fervour was aroused to a height which it had not
reached in Upper Canada since the War of 1812. "Down with democracy!"
"Down with republicanism!" "Hurrah for Sir Francis Head and British
connection!" Such were the legends inscribed on the dead-walls in the
principal towns of the Province.[246] Tory votes were manufactured by
wholesale, and Tory funds were squandered with reckless profusion. For
the first time in the history of Upper Canada, Government agents were
sent down to the polling-places armed with patents for land, to be
distributed among the electors. It is open to doubt whether some of
these were not conferred upon persons who had no title to them.[247]
Reform votes were rejected by partisan returning-officers upon the most
frivolous pretexts. Gangs of ruffians were stationed at the polls to
intimidate those who ventured near to record their votes in favour of
anti-Government candidates. In at least one instance, the
Lieutenant-Governor presented himself in person at the polling-place
while the contest was at its height, and remained there for some time on
horseback, in close proximity to the spot where votes were
recorded.[248] As for the Reformers, they were soon aroused from their
dreams of confidence. But their rude awakening, early as it was, came
all too late. They perceived that the seed had been well sown, and that
the crop would have to be reaped. They found themselves looked upon with
suspicion and dislike among their neighbours and others from whom they
had been accustomed to receive confidence and respect. They needed all
the courage of their opinions to support them against the obloquy which
official slander had aroused. The courageous among them faced the polls
in the spirit of a forlorn hope. The more timid quietly remained at home
and refrained from voting, rather than subject themselves to certain
insult and probable physical violence.
It may perhaps be urged, in reply to some of the foregoing allegations,
that a Committee of the Assembly subsequently inquired into the various
matters complained of, and that their report acquitted the Governor of
all culpability. But anyone who is familiar with the proceedings of
election committees in those days, and even in times much more recent,
will not need to be informed how much--or how little--weight should be
attached to a verdict from such a source. In the case under
consideration, the proceedings were conducted with exceptional disregard
to propriety, and the verdict of acquittal cannot be considered as of
any value whatever. Only one member of the Committee heard the whole of
the evidence upon which the report was based. Three of the members
declared that the report was adopted without their knowledge or consent.
Of the other five members who prepared the document, one attended only
two meetings out of fourteen; while another attended four, and another
five. A fourth member attended twelve meetings, and one only of the five
attended all the fourteen. The inquiry was from first to last conducted
in a spirit of partisanship, and the report, in the language of Dr.
Rolph, was "the offspring of untempered zeal, insufficient evidence,
hasty conclusions, and executive devotion."[249] As a general rule, it
is a difficult matter to convict a Government of actual, direct
interference with the freedom of election. But in the case of the
general election of 1836, there is unfortunately no room for doubt. That
patents were issued in great numbers by the Commissioner of Crown Lands,
and despatched by the hands of trusted agents of the Government to the
polling-places, to be used by the voters, is as well established as is
the fact of the election itself. Nay, the fact is admitted by Sir
Francis Head in the supplemental chapter to his "Narrative," as well as
by the Committee appointed by the Assembly to investigate the matter,
and the attempts to explain it away are of the weakest kind. The number
of patents issued was so great as to require a special staff of extra
clerks to get them ready by the time they were wanted. In some cases the
patents covered only a quarter of an acre of wild, uncultivated land,
upon which no buildings had been erected. Many of them were issued
between the date of the dissolution of Parliament and the close of the
election a month later,[250] and in some instances they were issued
after the actual opening of the poll. They were distributed openly at
the places where the elections were held, to persons who had not applied
for them, and who, at least in some instances, received them without
paying the usual fees, merely that they might thereby be enabled to
vote. Whether the issue of the patents affected the result of the
election in any single instance is altogether beside the question. It
would be absurd to pretend, in the face of such tactics as these, that
there was any real freedom of choice offered to the people in the matter
of Parliamentary representation. Freedom of election was paralyzed.
Reform voters were literally overwhelmed, and their franchise rendered
of no avail. All this was done with the cognizance and assent of the
Lieutenant-Governor, who thereby wilfully violated the instructions
which he had received from the Home Office.[251]
The result of an election contest conducted on these lines was such as
to fully realize the expectations of Sir Francis and his advisers. Not
only were all the old Tory members returned--and this, in several cases,
without any opposition--but a number of new adherents of that side found
seats. Hagerman was returned for Kingston by acclamation, McLean was
returned for Stormont, George S. Jarvis for the Town of Cornwall, Jonas
Jones and Ogle B. Gowan for Leeds, A. N. MacNab for Wentworth, W. B.
Robinson for Simcoe, Mahlon Burwell for the Town of London, Henry
Sherwood for Brockville, and William Henry Draper for Toronto. The
last-named gentleman, known to later times as Chief Justice Draper, now
entered public life for the first time. He was a very decided
acquisition to the ranks of Upper Canadian Toryism, and was destined to
exert a wide and far-reaching influence upon successive representatives
of the Crown in this colony. But the triumphs of the official party were
not confined to mere numerical successes. They wrested some important
constituencies from the hands of their opponents. The Reformers were not
only left in an insignificant minority, but nearly all their ablest
members were defeated in what had long been regarded as safe Reform
constituencies. Bidwell and Perry suffered defeat in Lennox and
Addington; Lount underwent a similar fate in Simcoe; and Mackenzie was
signally worsted in the Second Riding of York by a man of no political
standing. Gibson, Morrison and Mackintosh gained their respective
elections in the other three Ridings of York, but none of them possessed
much Parliamentary ability, or was to be depended upon in any great
emergency. The one significant gain to the Reform party arose out of the
election of Dr. Rolph. The Doctor, after having allowed himself to be
talked into accepting a seat in the Executive Council whose resignation
had been the beginning of the contest between the Reformers and the
Lieutenant-Governor, had not felt himself at liberty to reject the
overtures of his friends. He had been put in nomination for the County
of Norfolk, and his candidature had been successful. He was a host in
himself, and his return was the one streak of bright light which
appeared in the Reform horizon at the close of the campaign.
Perhaps the most unsatisfactory feature about the whole unsatisfactory
business, from the Reform point of view, was that the ignominous
discomfiture of the Reformers had been brought about by defections from
their own ranks. Moderate-minded Reformers had come to think, with the
Conservatives, that even Family Compact domination was preferable to the
ascendency of such men as Mackenzie. The publication of the baneful
domination letter, followed, as it had been, by Tory misrepresentation,
had led thousands of persons to believe that the Radicals secretly
favoured the separation of the colony from Great Britain. The Wesleyan
Methodists, a numerous body, were doubly impelled to oppose Mackenzie
and all who favoured his cause. The quarrel between Mackenzie and the
Rev. Egerton Ryerson has already been referred to.[252] Mr. Ryerson was
in those days one of the most prominent figures in Upper Canadian
Methodism, and in conjunction with his brothers, exerted a predominant
influence among the members of that body. At the time of the general
election of 1836 he was absent from the Province on a mission to
England, whither he had gone to obtain a charter for the Upper Canada
Academy, and to solicit subscriptions for the establishment and
maintenance of that institution, which subsequently developed into the
University of Victoria College. But the reverend gentleman's arm was
far-reaching, and stretched across the broad expanse of the Atlantic. In
common with a large and respectable portion of the Upper Canadian
population, he cherished a feeling of personal contempt for Mackenzie,
whose character he thoroughly despised, and whose projects he regarded
as prejudicial to the welfare of the colony. The publication of the
baneful domination letter had convinced him that rebellion and
separation were among the cherished schemes of the Radicals. To all such
schemes he was prepared to oppose his firmest resistance, for his
loyalty was of the perfervid order, and his dislike of Mackenzie
probably imparted additional zeal to his opposition. As has been seen,
Mackenzie, with the aid of Hume, Roebuck and other British statesmen,
had succeeded in creating in the minds of the English public
considerable sympathy for Canadian Reform. To counteract this influence
Mr. Ryerson, under the signature of "A Canadian," contributed a series
of letters to the London _Times_. They were vigorously written, and
attracted much attention, not only in England but in Canada, where they
were republished in the columns of the Tory newspapers, and where they
were circulated in pamphlet form as a campaign document. Mr. Ryerson
also wrote to leading members of the Methodist body in Canada, urging
them to cast all their influence for Government candidates, and against
the revolutionary policy of the Radicals. His appeals served their
purpose, and the great bulk of the Wesleyan Methodists of Upper Canada,
who had theretofore supported Reform members, went over to the side of
the Government. In many constituencies--notably so in Lennox and
Addington--they held the balance of power, and their secession from the
Reform cause decided the fortunes of the candidates.[253] A few remained
unaffected by Mr. Ryerson's lucubrations, and some even went so far as
to denounce his conduct and reply to his arguments, but these were too
few in number to affect the general result. Some of the successful
candidates were compelled to pledge themselves in advance to the
Methodists and other Nonconformists to take immediate steps for the
settlement of the Clergy Reserves question, but the pledges were
neglected or forgotten during the turbulent epoch which ensued.
It will thus be seen that, as is clearly pointed out in the Report of
Lord Durham,[254] the contest which had been commenced on the question
of a responsible Executive Council had afterwards been adroitly turned
by the official party, and had been decided on very different grounds.
The question of a responsible Executive, as well as the question of the
Clergy Reserves, had for the time sunk out of public notice. All other
matters had given way to a resolve to return candidates who would "rally
round the throne." The triumph of the Government went far beyond what
several members of it had ventured to anticipate. On the 8th of July,
Sir Francis was able to report to Lord Glenelg that "the
Constitutionists"--by which name he designated the official party and
all who supported them--had a majority of twenty-five,[255] whereas in
the preceding Assembly they had been in a minority of eleven. In the
same despatch he availed himself of the opportunity to malign Mr.
Bidwell, whom he characterized as the "twin or Siamese companion of Mr.
Speaker Papineau." He descanted upon the powerful reaction which had
been brought about, and exultingly informed his Lordship that of the
four candidates who had contested the constituency of Lennox and
Addington Mr. Bidwell had polled the fewest votes.
The Colonial Minister must have been sore puzzled to know what to make
of this gushing and galloping Lieutenant-Governor, who was so evidently
devoid of the peculiar qualifications supposed to be requisite for one
in his station, and who framed his official despatches upon the model of
a sensation novel. Here was a man who had been selected for an elevated
and honourable post because be had been supposed to be an adept in the
science of politics, but who, as it now turned out, was utterly
unacquainted with the principles and practice of Government; who was
ignorant of the proprieties and amenities of official intercourse; who,
in what were intended for grave official despatches, indulged in
extracts from French vaudevilles, and referred to certain methods of
procedure as not being _according to Hoyle_! By all known theory and
precedent, the accession to office of such a man ought to have been
attended by immediate and ignominous failure. Yet, so far as could be
judged, he had by no means failed. Nay, he actually appeared to have
scored a marvellous success, and to have brought about what men of
greater ability and wider experience had been utterly unable to
accomplish. Such a success was an inscrutable mystery to the official
mind, and Lord Glenelg, after the first few weeks, appears to have
abandoned all attempts to penetrate it. The entire demeanour of this
unconventional Lieutenant-Governor was incomprehensible. He had
expressed his total dissent from the policy of the Commissioners of
Inquiry in Lower Canada, who had reported in favour of a responsible
Executive.[256] He had even gone so far as to tender his resignation in
consequence of his inability to concur in the liberal measures of Reform
advocated by the Commissioners.[257] But the Home Government had by no
means been disposed to accept his resignation just at that time. They
had no available person to put in his place, and it had been thought
desirable that he should be permitted to try his hand a little longer.
And now this news as to the result of the elections seemed to fully
justify their determination to retain him in office. If he had really
inaugurated a new and improved order of things in Upper Canada, it was
only fair that he should enjoy the prestige of his success.
But the ill effects of Sir Francis's superficial and disastrous policy
were already beginning to be apparent to those whose eyes were keen
enough to look below the surface of things. The Reformers felt that they
had been out-manoeuvred. That they could have borne, for they had
often been compelled to bear a similar infliction in past times. But
they considered that they had been cheated out of their rights by one
whose especial duty it was to watch over and preserve those rights
inviolate. They had endured much at the hands of a Gore, a Maitland and
a Colborne. But Gore, Maitland and Colborne had not presented themselves
before them in the garb of tried Reformers. They had been the Tory
emissaries of Tory superiors beyond sea, whose instructions they had
generally carried out. All this had been changed; but the change, so
far as Upper Canada was concerned, had been for the worse. The Reformers
of the Province felt that the man who had been placed at the helm of
State--the man who had been sent over by an ostensibly Liberal
Government to redress the accumulated wrongs of the past--was in some
respects far more dangerous than any of his predecessors had been.
Carlyle had not then delivered his celebrated discourse on fools, but
the idea that a fool may sometimes be far more dread-inspiring than a
wise man is sufficiently obvious, and had presented itself in vivid
shape before the minds of a good many of the Reformers of Upper Canada.
They had by this time come to know something of Sir Francis Head. They
had brought themselves to regard him as not only a fool, but a fool
devoid of right feeling or principle; a fool who would stop at no
injustice or iniquity the perpetration whereof would conduce, in however
small a degree, to his own glorification. He evidently regarded his
personal interference in the elections as a thing upon which he ought to
plume himself. Such a state of things was not to be borne. It was clear
that life, for Canadian Reformers, would very soon be not worth living.
They despaired of the future, which, to their depressed vision, seemed
to be overhung by a sky of unrelieved blackness. Their despair was
accompanied by a smarting sense of defeat and injustice proportionate to
the circumstances. Such feelings were not confined to defeated
candidates and their immediate friends, but were participated in by
Reformers generally. Some of them began to weigh the advantages and
disadvantages of removal from the Province. Others, after the first
effervescence of disappointment had expended itself, determined to
endure in patience and to hope for the best. A comparatively small
number, yielding to the influence of mingled despair and exasperation,
began to contemplate armed resistance to authority as among the
possibilities of the near future. Constitutional resistance, they
thought, had had a fair trial. Might it not be worth while to try a more
drastic remedy?
Conspicuous among the personages who were strongly influenced by such
thoughts as those last indicated was William Lyon Mackenzie, who, as
previously mentioned, had lost his election in the Second Riding of
York. It might have been supposed that if any constituency in the
Province was beyond the reach of Tory influence, the Second Riding was
entitled to that distinction. It was notoriously the most Radical
constituency in the colony. It had stood loyally by Mackenzie all
through the troubled epoch of the successive expulsions. Yet it had now
thrown him overboard on behalf of a political nobody. The explanation is
to be found in the fact that the Riding had been the scene of some of
the moat scandalous abuses committed during the campaign. The Tories had
resolved that Mackenzie should be defeated at any cost, and had resorted
to the most reprehensible means to secure that end. To elect a professed
Tory would have been an impossibility, so the person fixed upon to
oppose him was one whom the author of "Middlemarch" might have had in
her eye when she described Sir James Chettam as "a man of acquiescent
temper, miscellaneous opinions and uncertain vote."[258] His name was
Edward William Thomson, and he professed to be a moderate Reformer. His
moderation was acceptable to a considerable proportion of the electors,
many of whom were tired of Mackenzie. The official party, however, did
not choose to rely upon legitimate means for defeating the Radical
candidate. Money was spent freely, and brawny bullies were hired for
purposes of intimidation. Good votes were rejected on one side, and bad
ones accepted on the other. Patents were sent down to the polling place,
certain recipients whereof voted for Thomson. Sheriff Jarvis attended,
and by his language and demeanour did what he could to discourage
Mackenzie's supporters. Not a stone was left unturned to effect the
desired object. Such means as Mackenzie had at his command were
altogether insufficient to counteract the devices employed against him.
He was beaten, and by a majority of a hundred votes.
This result took Mackenzie completely by surprise. It came upon him in
the form of a revelation. He had not permitted himself to entertain any
doubt of his success, and the conviction that he had lost his
popularity cut him to his inmost soul. He retired to the house of one of
his supporters in the neighbourhood, where he completely broke down, and
wept with a bitterness which evoked the active sympathy of those
present. But this mood did not last. It was succeeded by a sullenness
and stolidity such as had never before been observed in him. He knew
that he had been beaten unfairly, and resolved to petition against the
election. Meanwhile his rage against the party which had been concerned
in his defeat was ungovernable, and must have vent. He resolved that he
must again have control of a newspaper. He accordingly established _The
Constitution_, a weekly paper, the first number of which made its
appearance in Toronto on the sixtieth anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence of the United States--namely, the 4th of July, 1836. Its
tone was such as might have been anticipated from the mood of its
editor. It was more outspoken than the _Advocate_ had ever been under
his management, and might from the first have been styled a
revolutionary organ. In its columns every phase of discontent found
utterance, and some of its editorial articles were marked by a spirit of
bitterness and implacability such as had not commonly been supposed to
belong to Mackenzie's nature. Means would doubtless have been taken for
its suppression, had not the Government felt that they had achieved a
signal triumph, and that they could afford to ignore its attacks.
Many others of the Radicals felt little less rancour towards the
Government party than did Mackenzie. Indeed, the conduct of the party in
power had been such as to make temporary Radicals of not a few persons
who had theretofore been known as moderate Reformers. It may be said
indeed that nearly all the moderates had either made common cause with
the Government party for fear of the Radicals, or had coalesced with the
Radicals from a sense of official tyranny and injustice. Public meetings
were held, at which the Lieutenant-Governor and his myrmidons were
subjected to the most vehement denunciations. At a meeting of the
Constitutional Reform Society Dr. Baldwin, George Ridout, James E. Small
and others referred to his Excellency's conduct in terms which public
audiences had never before heard from their lips. An official address
issued by the Society on the subject of the resignation of the
Executive Councillors also contained some severe but well-merited
strictures. The Lieutenant-Governor marked his condemnation of the
language employed by promptly dismissing the three gentlemen above named
from certain offices which they held.[259] As will hereafter be seen,
this proceeding eventually led to serious complications between the Home
Office and Sir Francis. Meantime, the latter was permitted to have his
own way, but not without stubborn attempts at resistance on the part of
some of his opponents. A number of the most pronounced Radicals resolved
to make a strong representation of election and other abuses to the
British House of Commons, and to that end sent Dr. Charles Duncombe to
England. Dr. Duncombe had been re-elected for Oxford, but had had to
contend against similar influences to those which had been employed in
other constituencies, and was thus able to speak of the partisan conduct
of the Lieutenant-Governor's emissaries from personal observation. He
prepared a statement of the case against Sir Francis, which was laid
before the House of Commons by Mr. Hume. The Colonial Secretary
despatched a copy of it to Sir Francis for explanations. It is unlikely
that Dr. Duncombe's mission would have been a successful one under any
circumstances, but he made the mistake of protesting too much. The
greater part of the indictment could easily have been substantiated
before any impartial tribunal, but it also contained charges which,
whether true or not, the prosecutor was unable to prove. As mentioned on
a former page[260], the matter was referred to a Committee of the
Provincial Assembly, by whom the Lieutenant-Governor was completely
exonerated. A further reference to the matter will be made in connection
with the proceedings of the following session.
The Lieutenant-Governor was meanwhile engaged in a voluminous
correspondence with the Colonial Secretary. The subjects dealt with
therein were many and various. Perhaps the most important of all was
the Lower Canadian Commission of Inquiry. The Commissioners had made a
report in which they had recommended the concession of Responsible
Government, and other much-needed Reforms. As previously mentioned, Sir
Francis had no sympathy with these views, and distinctly repudiated the
policy thus recommended. The idea of a responsible Executive was utterly
repugnant to him. He erelong perceived that the Imperial Government
would sooner or later yield to the imperative demand made on behalf of
the different British North American colonies, but he determined to
fight against it as long as opposition was possible, and his despatches
teem with what he doubtless regarded as arguments on the negative side.
He predicted the most serious results if the policy of the Commissioners
was adopted. The language of the Ninety-two resolutions of the Lower
Canada Assembly he pronounced to be not only insulting to the British
Government, but traitorous. He proposed various measures for
establishing the power of the Crown in the Canadas on a firm basis.
Among these were the repeal of the Act surrendering the revenue, the
annexation of the District of Gaspe to the Province of New Brunswick,
and the annexation of Montreal to Upper Canada. It may safely be assumed
that these ideas were not his own, and nobody who has read "Canada and
the Canada Bill,"[261] published several years later, will entertain
much doubt as to the individual from whom he derived his inspiration.
FOOTNOTES:
[236] Sir Francis afterwards denied that this challenge was addressed to
the Americans. See his despatch to Lord Glenelg dated 6th November,
1836, embodied in his _Narrative_, chap, vi. But it is quite evident
that the denial, as well as the construction there sought to be put upon
his language, was an after-thought. If, as he there asserts, "the
Americans had no more to do with the subject than the Chinese," there
was no appropriate significance whatever in his doughty defiance.
[237] See despatch of May 28th.
[238] See despatch of 21st April.
[239] _Ib._
[240] _Ib._
[241] Despatch of May 28th.
[242] Of April 28th.
[243] _Ante_, p. 281.
[244] See Dr. Rolph's _Speech to the House in Committee on the Report of
the Select Committee on the Petition of Dr. Charles Duncombe to the
British House of Commons_, delivered on Monday, January 30th, 1837.
[245] It was afterwards urged by Sir Francis that his replies to
addresses were made before, and not during the election. The plea will
not bear a moment's examination. The mischief was done by the
inflammatory and menacing tone of the replies, and the mere question of
the time of their delivery in of no importance whatever. An English
writer thus effectually disposes of this attempted defence: "Surely he
[Sir F. B. Head] must have some glimmering perception that this is not a
question of time, and that, if promises or threats are addressed to the
electoral body with regard to their exercise of the electoral franchise,
it is a matter of no importance whether this is done before or at the
time of the election. Illogical as he has proved himself, we cannot
suppose him to be so utterly destitute of the reasoning faculty as a
sincerity in this defence would imply; and we must therefore believe
that he knows the charge to be well founded, and has recourse to this
shuffling evasion in pure despair."--See _London and Westminster
Review_, vol. xxxii., No. 2, article vi.
[246] During the contest people on the hustings actually demanded of the
candidates: "Do you vote for the House of Assembly or for Sir Francis
Head?"--a question which, as Sir Francis himself remarks, amounted in
plain terms to this: "Are you for a republican government, or are you
not?"--See _Memorandum on the Present Political State of the Canadas_,
in _Narrative_, chap. vi.
[247] Lord Durham, reasoning from such evidence as he had before him,
proceeds upon the assumption that no patents were issued except to
persons entitled to the land. But, as his Lordship admits, the granting
of patents at all under such circumstances was an act of official
favouritism which no Lieutenant-Governor with a proper sense of his duty
would have permitted. See _Report_, U.C. folio edition, p. 51.
[248] This was at Streetsville, while the contest for the Second Riding
of York was in progress between William Lyon Mackenzie and Edward
William Thomson.
[249] See his speech in the Assembly on January 30th, 1837.
[250] From official returns it appears that 1,478 patents passed the
Great Seal between the 20th of April (the date of the prorogation) and
the close of the contest in June. Of this number 1,245 were issued in
pursuance of Orders in Council made prior to Sir Francis Head's arrival
in the Province. Between his arrival and the close of the election 233
were issued, whereof only 150 were issued under Order in Council on his
authority. But that the entire 1,478 were passed under Sir Francis's
regime within a very brief period; that a special staff of clerks was
employed for the purpose; that for the first time in the history of the
Province these patents were distributed at the polling-booths by
Government agents who were strong adherents of the official party, and
who were moreover dependent upon the Government for their
situations--these are circumstances which admit of but one brief
explanation. The only one of these agents whom the Committee of Inquiry
ventured to summon before them was Mr. Welsley Richey, of Barrie, who,
on his examination, deposed that he mentioned to the Lieutenant-Governor
that the persons who wanted their deeds were entitled to them, and that
_he thought they would vote for Constitutional candidates_; that Sir F.
B. Head strictly commanded witness not in any manner to interfere as
Government agent, or to use any influence which his situation gave him
at the election; that out of a number not exceeding 130 patents which
persons residing in the County of Simcoe were entitled to, and which
were in witness's possession for them, only about thirty were called
for, and only part of that thirty voted. This is mere petty evasion. As
pointed out in the text, the extent to which such tactics as these
affected the result is not the chief question to be decided. The mere
fact that they were employed is sufficient to settle the question of
culpability. Richey was directed not to interfere with the elections as
_Government agent_. How was it possible for an official known to be
connected with the Government to divest himself of the influence
inseparable from such a connection, more especially when his strong
political bias was well known, and when he presented himself at the poll
as a distributor of deeds among the voters? The mere fact of a
conference on such a subject between the head of the Government and a
subordinate is in itself a suspicious circumstance.
[251] In Lord Goderich's despatch to Sir John Colborne, dated 8th
November, 1832, referred to _ante_, p. 246, the following language is
employed: "His Majesty expects and requires of you neither to practise,
nor to allow on the part of those who are officially subordinate to you,
any interference with the rights of his subjects to the free and
unbiased choice of their representatives;" and, as previously
mentioned, Lord Glenelg had expressly instructed Sir Francis Head to
adopt that despatch as a rule for the guidance of his conduct. See
_ante_, p. 301.
[252] _Ante_, p. 272.
[253] Sir Francis Hincks, who, as previously mentioned in the text, then
resided in Toronto, and was identified with the Reform party, has, in
his _Reminiscences_, recorded his views on this subject, and as they are
founded upon personal experience and recollection they are worth
quoting. "Bearing in mind," he writes, "that there are exceptions to all
general rules, I think that I am not wrong in my belief that the members
of the Church of England and the Presbyterians generally voted for the
Tory candidates, while the Roman Catholics and the Baptists,
Congregationalists, etc., voted as uniformly for the Reformers. The
Wesleyan Methodists held the balance of power in a great many
constituencies, and I believe that it has been generally acknowledged
that the elections in 1836 were carried against the Reformers by their
votes." Again: "I believe that I am correct in asserting that Sir
Francis Head carried the elections in 1836 against the Reformers mainly
through the influence of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, who, though
absent from Canada at the time, had, by his published impressions,
induced those who confided in him to abandon the Reform
cause."--_Reminiscences_, etc., pp. 17, 18.
[254] U.C. folio edition, p, 49.
[255] The House contained in all only sixty-two members, so that a
majority of twenty-five constituted what might be called absolute
control. The actual majority was twenty-six, as there were but eighteen
Reform representatives as against forty-four supporters of the
Government.
[256] See his despatch of 1st June.
[257] _Ib._
[258] This language aptly characterizes Mr. Thomson, for afterwards, in
the Assembly, it was impossible to predict how he would vote on any
conceivable question. His "Reform" principles must have been very
"moderate," for he frequently supported the measures of the Compact. His
votes seem to have been dictated by chance or caprice, rather than
political conviction of any kind.
[259] Dr. Baldwin was Judge of the Surrogate Court of the Home
District. His dismissal was probably due quite as much to the fact
that he was President of the Society as to his remarks about the
Lieutenant-Governor, or to the official address. Mr. Ridout was Judge of
the Niagara District Court, Justice of the Peace, and Colonel of the
Second Regiment of East York Militia. He was dismissed from all three
offices, although he was not a member of the Reform Society. Mr. Small
was Commissioner of the Court of Requests in Toronto, and also
Lieutenant-Colonel of the First East York Militia.
[260] _Ante_, p. 330.
[261] Written by Chief Justice Robinson, in opposition to the project
for uniting the two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.