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46 - Canada- The Empire of the North by Agnes C. Laut · Canada- The Empire of the North

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  Speaker 1: Section number forty five of Canada The Empire of the North.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Linda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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  Speaker 1: The Empire of the North by Agnes c. Lot from
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  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty to eighteen sixty seven, Part two. Richmond's death
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  Speaker 1: was as unusual as his life. Two accounts are given
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  Speaker 1: of the cause. One states that he permitted a pet
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  Speaker 1: dog to touch a cut in his face. The other
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  Speaker 1: account has it that he was bitten by a tame
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  Speaker 1: fox at affair in Sorrel. And the date of Richmond's
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  Speaker 1: death late in August of eighteen nineteen, exactly two months
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  Speaker 1: from the time he was bitten at Sorel, which is
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  Speaker 1: the length of time that hydrophobia takes to develop in
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  Speaker 1: a grown person, would seem to substantiate the latter story.
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  Speaker 1: He was traveling on horseback from Perth to Richmond on
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  Speaker 1: the Ottawa and had complained of feeling poorly. A small
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  Speaker 1: stream had to be crossed. The sight of the stream
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  Speaker 1: brought the strange water delirium to Richmond when he begged
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  Speaker 1: his attendants to take him quickly to Montreal. It needs
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  Speaker 1: scarcely to be explained here that hydrophobia is not caused
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  Speaker 1: by lack of water, but by contagious transmission. The feeling
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  Speaker 1: passed as the first terrors of the disease are usually spasmodic.
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  Speaker 1: And the governor was proceeding through the woods with his
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  Speaker 1: attendants when he suddenly broke away, deliriously, leading them a
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  Speaker 1: wild race to a farm shed. There he died during
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  Speaker 1: the night, crying out as the lucid intervals broke the
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  Speaker 1: delirium of his agonies. For shame, for shame, Lennox Richmond,
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  Speaker 1: be a man? Can you not bear it? Public affairs
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  Speaker 1: are meanwhile passing from bad to worse. William Lyon Mackenzie
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  Speaker 1: has become leader of the agitators in his newspaper The
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  Speaker 1: Advocate of Toronto. A band of young vandals, sons of
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  Speaker 1: the ruling clique, wreck his newspaper office and throw the
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  Speaker 1: type into Toronto Bay. But Mackenzie recovers three thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: damages and goes on agitating. Four times he is publicly
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  Speaker 1: expelled from the house, and four times he is returned
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  Speaker 1: by the electors. What they are asking these agitators branded
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  Speaker 1: as rebels, expelled from the Assembly in some cases, cast
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  Speaker 1: in prison by the counselors, in others, threatened with death.
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  Speaker 1: Control of public revenues, reform in the land system, municipal
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  Speaker 1: rights for towns and cities, the exclusion of judges from Parliament,
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  Speaker 1: that the Council be directly responsible to the people rather
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  Speaker 1: than the crown. Since eighteen eighteen, the reformers have been
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  Speaker 1: agitating to have wrongs righted, and for nineteen years the
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  Speaker 1: clique has prevented official inquiry, gaged the press, bludgeoned conventions
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  Speaker 1: out of existence, and throne leaders of opposition in prison.
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  Speaker 1: Mackenzie now makes the mistake of publishing in his papers
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  Speaker 1: a letter from the English radical Hume advocating the freedom
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  Speaker 1: of Canada from the baneful domination of the mother country.
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  Speaker 1: At once with a jingle whoop. The loyalty cry is
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  Speaker 1: omitted by the family Compact. It is not this what
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  Speaker 1: they have been telling the governor from the first. These
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  Speaker 1: reformers are Republicans in disguise. By trickery and manipulation, they
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  Speaker 1: swing the next election so that Mackenzie is defeated. From
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  Speaker 1: that moment Mackenzie's tone changed. It may be that, losing
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  Speaker 1: all hope of reform, he became a Republican. If this
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  Speaker 1: were treason, then the English ministers, who were advocating the
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  Speaker 1: same remedy were guilty of the same treason. With Mackenzie
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  Speaker 1: secretly and openly our host of sympathizers, doctor Rolph Tom
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  Speaker 1: Tabot's old friend come up from the London district to
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  Speaker 1: practice medicine in Toronto. And Van Egmund, who has helped
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  Speaker 1: to settle the Huron Tract of the Canada Company founded
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  Speaker 1: by John Galt, the novelist, and some four thousand others,
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  Speaker 1: who names Mackenzie has on a list in his carpet bag.
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  Speaker 1: All the autumn of eighteen thirty seven, Fitzgibbons, now commander
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  Speaker 1: of the troops in Toronto, hears vague rumors of farmers
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  Speaker 1: secretly drilling, of workmen extemporizing swords out of skies, of
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  Speaker 1: old soldiers furbishing up their arms of the eighteen twelve war.
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  Speaker 1: What does it mean? Sir Francis bond Head, the new
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  Speaker 1: Governor of Ontario, refuses to believe his own ears. Neither
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  Speaker 1: does the family compact, realize that there is any danger
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  Speaker 1: to their long tenure of power, they effect to sneer
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  Speaker 1: at those poor patriots of the plow, little dreaming that
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  Speaker 1: the rights which those poor patriots of the scythe swords
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  Speaker 1: are burning to defend will by and by be the
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  Speaker 1: pride of England's colonial system. The story of plot and
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  Speaker 1: counterplot cannot be told in detail here it is too long.
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  Speaker 1: But on the night of Monday, December fourth, Toronto wakes
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  Speaker 1: up to a wild ringing of college bells. The rebel
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  Speaker 1: patriots have collected at Montgomery's tavern outside Toronto and are
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  Speaker 1: advancing on the city. Poor Mackenzie's plans have gone all awry.
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  Speaker 1: Four thousand patriots have pledged themselves to assemble at the
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  Speaker 1: tavern on December seventh, but doctor Rulph or some other
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  Speaker 1: friend in the city sends word that the date has
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  Speaker 1: been discovered. The only hope of seizing the city is
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  Speaker 1: for them to come sooner, And Mackenzie arrives at the
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  Speaker 1: tavern on December third with only a few hundred followers,
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  Speaker 1: who have neither food nor fry arms. And I doubt
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  Speaker 1: much if they had even definite plans of such. There
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  Speaker 1: are no records before van Egmann comes from sea forth.
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  Speaker 1: Doubt and dissension and distrust of success depress the insurgents,
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  Speaker 1: and it doesn't help their spirits any to have four
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  Speaker 1: Toronto scouts break through their lines in the dark and
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  Speaker 1: back again with word of their weakness, though they plant
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  Speaker 1: a fatal bullet neatly in the back of one poor Loyalist.
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  Speaker 1: If they had advanced promptly on the fourth, as planned,
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  Speaker 1: they might have given Sir Francis bond Head and Fitzgibbons
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  Speaker 1: a stiff tussle for possession of the city. For Toronto's
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  Speaker 1: defenders at this time numbered scarcely three hundred, but during
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  Speaker 1: the days Mackenzie's followers delayed north of Yung Street. Alan
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  Speaker 1: mc nabb came up from Hamilton with more troops. By
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  Speaker 1: Wednesday the sixth, there were twelve hundred Loyalist troops in Toronto,
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  Speaker 1: and noon of the seventh outmarches the Loyalist army by
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  Speaker 1: way of young street bands, playing flags, flying horses, prancing
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  Speaker 1: under Fitzgibbons and mc nab. It was a warm sunny day.
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  Speaker 1: From the windows of young street women waved handkerchiefs and
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  Speaker 1: cheered at street corners. The rabble shouted itself horse, just
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  Speaker 1: as it would have cheered Mackenzie had he come down
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  Speaker 1: Young Street victorious. Mackenzie's sentries had worn the insurgents of
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  Speaker 1: the Loyalist coming. Mackenzie was for immediate advance. Van Egman
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  Speaker 1: thought its stark madness for five hundred poorly armed men
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  Speaker 1: to meet twelve hundred troopers in pitched battle. But it
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  Speaker 1: was too late now for stark madness to retreat. The
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  Speaker 1: Loyalist bands could be heard from Rosedale, the Loyalist bayonets
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  Speaker 1: could be seen glittering in the sun. Mackenzie posted his
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  Speaker 1: men a short distance south of the tavern in some
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  Speaker 1: woods one hundred and fifty on one side, on the
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  Speaker 1: road west of Yung Street, one hundred on the other side.
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  Speaker 1: The rest of the insurgents, being without arms, did not
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  Speaker 1: leave the rendezvous. In the confusion and haste, the tragic
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  Speaker 1: mistake was made of leaving Mackenzie's carpet bag with the
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  Speaker 1: list of patriots at the tavern. This gave the Loyalist
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  Speaker 1: a complete roster of the agitator's names. Fifteen minutes later
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  Speaker 1: it was all over with Mackenzie. The big guns of
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  Speaker 1: the Toronto troops shelled the woods, killing one patriot rebel
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  Speaker 1: and wounding eleven four fatally. In answer, only a clattering
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  Speaker 1: spatter of shots came from the rebel side. The patriots
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  Speaker 1: were in headlong fight with the mounted men of Toronto
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  Speaker 1: in pursuit. It was over with Mackenzie, But as the
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  Speaker 1: sequence of events will show, it was not all over
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  Speaker 1: with the cause. A book of soldier's yarns might be
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  Speaker 1: told of hair Breadth escapes the aftermath of the rebellion.
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  Speaker 1: Knowing his side was doomed to defeat, Doctor Rolph tried
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  Speaker 1: to escape from Toronto. He was stopped by a loyalist sentry,
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  Speaker 1: but explained he was leaving the city to visit a patient.
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  Speaker 1: Farther on, he had been arrested by a loyalless picket,
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  Speaker 1: when luckily, a young doctor who had attended Ralph's medical lectures,
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  Speaker 1: all unconscious of Mackenzie's plot, vouched for his loyalty. Riding
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  Speaker 1: like a madman all that night, Ralph reached Niagara and
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  Speaker 1: escaped to the American frontier. A reward of one thousand
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  Speaker 1: pounds had been offered for Mackenzie, dead or alive. He
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  Speaker 1: had waited only till his followers fled. When he mounted
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  Speaker 1: his big Bay horse and galloped for the woods. Pursued
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  Speaker 1: by Fix Gibbons's men, the Big Bay carried him safely
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  Speaker 1: to the country, where he wandered openly for four days.
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  Speaker 1: It speaks volumes for the staunch fidelity of the country
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  Speaker 1: people to the cause which Mackenzie represented, that during these
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  Speaker 1: wanderings he was unbetrayed, spite of the one thousand pounds reward. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: he too succeeded in crossing Niagra. Then Egmund was captured
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  Speaker 1: north of Yung Street, but died from disease contracted in
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  Speaker 1: his prison cell before he could be tried. Lount, another
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  Speaker 1: of the leaders, had succeeded in reaching long Point Lake Erie.
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  Speaker 1: With a fellow patriot, a French voyageur, and a boy.
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  Speaker 1: He started to cross Lake Erie in an open boat.
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  Speaker 1: It was wintry, stormy weather for two days and two nights.
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  Speaker 1: The boat tossed a plaything of the waves, the drenching
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  Speaker 1: spray freezing as it fell till the craft was almost
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  Speaker 1: ice logged. For food, they had brought only a small
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  Speaker 1: piece of meat, and this had frozen so hard that
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  Speaker 1: their numb hands could not break it, wheakening at each
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  Speaker 1: oar stroke. They had at last saw the south shore
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  Speaker 1: of Lake Erie rise on the skyline. But before the
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  Speaker 1: close muffled refugees had dared to hope for safety on
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  Speaker 1: the American side, a strong south wind had sprung up
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  Speaker 1: that dove the boat back across the lake towards Grand River.
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  Speaker 1: To remain exposed longer meant certain death. They landed, were
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  Speaker 1: mistaken for smugglers and thrown into jail, where Lunt was
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  Speaker 1: at once recognized. In West Ontario, one doctor Ducom had
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  Speaker 1: acted as Mackenzie's lieutenant, Alan mc nab had come west
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  Speaker 1: with six hundred men to suppress the rebellion. Realizing the
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  Speaker 1: hopelessness of further resistance to come, had tried to save
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  Speaker 1: his men by ordering them to disperse to their homes.
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  Speaker 1: He himself, with his white horse, took to the woods,
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  Speaker 1: where he lay in hiding all day and it was
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  Speaker 1: a Canadian December, and forged at night for berries and roots.
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  Speaker 1: Judge Ermetchner gives the graphic story of Ducombe's escape. Starvation
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  Speaker 1: drove him to the house of a friend. The friend
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  Speaker 1: was out, and when the wife asked who he was,
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  Speaker 1: d come laid his revolver on the table and made answer,
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  Speaker 1: I am to come, and I must have food. Here
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  Speaker 1: He lay disguised so completely with night cap, night dress
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  Speaker 1: and all as the visiting grandmother of the family, that
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  Speaker 1: Loyalists who saw his white horse and came in to
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  Speaker 1: search the house, looked squarely at the recombent figure beneath
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  Speaker 1: the bedcloths and did not recognize him. To come. At
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  Speaker 1: last reached his sister's home near London. Don't you know me,
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  Speaker 1: he asked, standing in the open door, waiting for her recognition.
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  Speaker 1: In the few weeks of exposure and pursuit, his hair
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  Speaker 1: had turned snow white. His friend suggested that he crossed
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  Speaker 1: to the American frontier dressed as a woman, and the
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  Speaker 1: disguise was so perfect, curls of his sister's hair bobbing
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  Speaker 1: from beneath his bonnet, that two Loyalist soldiers gallantly escorted
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  Speaker 1: the lady's sleigh across unsafe places in the ice. To come.
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  Speaker 1: Waited till he was well on the American side and
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  Speaker 1: his escorts on the way back to Sarnia. Then he
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  Speaker 1: emitted a yell over the back of the cutter, go
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  Speaker 1: tell your officers, you have just helped doctor to come across.
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  Speaker 1: Having lost the fight for a cause which events have
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  Speaker 1: since justified, it is not surprising that the patriots on
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  Speaker 1: the American frontier now lost their heads. They formed organizations
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  Speaker 1: from Detroit to Vermont for the evasion of Canada and
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  Speaker 1: the establishment of a republic. These bands were known as Hunters, Lodges,
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  Speaker 1: Rolph and de cam repudiated connection with them. But Mackenzie
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  Speaker 1: was head and heart for armed invasion from Buffalo Space.
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  Speaker 1: Forbids the story of these raids, they will fill a
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  Speaker 1: book with such throwing tales as made up the border
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  Speaker 1: Wars of Scotland. The tumultuous year of eighteen thirty seven
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  Speaker 1: closed with the burning of the Caroline. Mackenzie had taken
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  Speaker 1: up quarters on Navy Island in Niagara River. The Caroline,
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  Speaker 1: an American ship, was being employed to convey guns and
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  Speaker 1: provisions to the insurgents camp on the Canadian side of
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  Speaker 1: the river. Camp Allan mc nab with twenty five hundred
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  Speaker 1: Loyalist troops, Looking across the river with field glasses, mc
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  Speaker 1: nab sees the boat landing field guns on Navy Island
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  Speaker 1: for Mackenzie, I say, exclaims the future Sir allan, this
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  Speaker 1: won't do. Can't you cut that vessel out? Drew, addressing
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  Speaker 1: a young officer. Nothing easier, answers, Drew, do it, then
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  Speaker 1: orders mc nab. In spite of the fact nothing was easier.
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  Speaker 1: Drew's men came near disaster on their midnight escapade. The
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  Speaker 1: river below Navy Island was three miles wide and only
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  Speaker 1: a mile and a half from the rapids above the falls,
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  Speaker 1: with a current like a mill race. Secretly, seven boats
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  Speaker 1: with four men in each, set out at half past eleven.
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  Speaker 1: A few friends on the river bank wishing Drew God's speed.
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  Speaker 1: Out from shore, Drew draws his boats together and tells
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  Speaker 1: the men the perilous tasks they have to do. If
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  Speaker 1: anyone wishes to go back, let him do so. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Not a man speaks. Half way across, Firing from the island,
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  Speaker 1: drives two of the boat's back. The rest get under
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  Speaker 1: shadow from the bright moonlight and go on. The roar
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  Speaker 1: of the falls now become deafening, and some of the
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  Speaker 1: roarers call out they are being drawn down the center
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  Speaker 1: of the river. Astern Drew fastens his eyes on a
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  Speaker 1: light against the American shore to judge of their progress.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment though the men were rowing with all
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  Speaker 1: their might, the light ashore and the boats in mid
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  Speaker 1: river seem to remain absolutely still. Finally, the boats gained
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  Speaker 1: an oar's length, then a mighty pull, and all forge
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  Speaker 1: a head a strip of land and hides approach to
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  Speaker 1: the caroline. The Canadian boatmen lie in hiding till the
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  Speaker 1: moon goes down, then glide in on the caroline. When
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  Speaker 1: Drew mounts the decks, three unarmed men are found on
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  Speaker 1: the shore side. Drew orders them to land. One fire's
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  Speaker 1: point blank, Drew slashes him down with a single saber cut.
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  Speaker 1: The rest of the crew are roused from sleep and
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  Speaker 1: sent ashore. The Caroline is set on fire in four places.
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  Speaker 1: She is moored to the shore. Ice axes chop her free.
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  Speaker 1: She is adrift. Drew the last to jump from her
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  Speaker 1: flaming decks to his place in the small boats. The
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  Speaker 1: flames are seen from the Canadian side, and huge bonfires
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  Speaker 1: light up the Canadian shore by their gleam. Drew steers
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  Speaker 1: back for mc nabb's army and is welcome with cheers
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  Speaker 1: that split the welkin. Slowly, the flaming vessel drifted down
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  Speaker 1: the channel to the falls suddenly the lights went out.
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  Speaker 1: The caroline had either sunk on a reef or gone
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  Speaker 1: over the falls. One man had been killed on the decks,
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  Speaker 1: as the vessel was American and had been raided in
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  Speaker 1: American ports. The episode raised an international dispute that might,
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  Speaker 1: in another mood, have caused war Lot and Matthew's pay
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  Speaker 1: for the rebellion on the Gallows, upon which the Imperial
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  Speaker 1: Government expressed regret that the Toronto Executive found such severity necessary. Later,
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  Speaker 1: when the Hunter's lodges, Rade Prescott and Van Schultz, the
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  Speaker 1: Polish leader, with nine others, is executed at Kingston, a
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  Speaker 1: great revulsion of feeling takes place against the Family Compact.
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  Speaker 1: The execution of the patriots did more for their cause
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  Speaker 1: than all their efforts of twenty years. The Canadian people
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  Speaker 1: had supported the agitators up to the point of armed
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  Speaker 1: rebellion that gave British blood pause for the Britisher revers
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  Speaker 1: the law next to God. But when the governing ring
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  Speaker 1: began to glut its vengeance under cloak of loyalty, that
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  Speaker 1: was another matter. After the execution of Lount and Matthews,
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  Speaker 1: the Family Compact could scarcely count a friend outside its
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  Speaker 1: own circle in Upper Canada. It is worth remembering that
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  Speaker 1: the young lawyer who defended Van Schultz in the trial
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  Speaker 1: at Kingston was John A. Mac donald, who later took
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  Speaker 1: foremost part in framing a new constitution for Canada. End
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  Speaker 1: of Section forty five recording by Lynda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver,
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  Speaker 1: b C.