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Later events in Canada part 6 · Canadian Scenery

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  Section fifteen of Canadian Scenery Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Ephan Canadian Scenery Volume one by Nathaniel
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  Parker Willis. Meanwhile, an event occurred which, while a weakened insurgents,
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  excited a strong fermentation among their adherents. A small steamer named the Caroline had
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  been purchased, or at least was regularly employed by them between forts closer on
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  the American Shore and Navy Island, conveying to the latter troops and stores.
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  Captain Drew was instructed by Colonel m Nab to intercept her return. He did
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  not succeed, but seeing her in the channel more to the American shore,
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  determined to attack. He approached undiscovered to within twenty yards, and, being
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  then asked the counter sign, promised to show it. When on deck.
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  The Caroline immediately opened the fire, but the British boarden and in two minutes
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  were masters of her. Those who resisted were killed or made prisoners, while
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  others who appeared to be peaceful citizens were put on shore. The vessel itself,
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  which the strength of the current made it inconvenient to tow. A cross,
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  was set on fire and abandoned when the stream hurried rapidly to the brink
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  of the Great Cataract, down which the flaming mass was precipitated. The wild
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  and picturesque character of the scene acted strongly on the imagination, and the Americans,
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  resolutely, though it would appear without reason, asserted that unoffending persons had
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  been involving the massacre, and several even hurried down the awful abyss. The
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  loss of the Caroline was soon followed by the rival of General Scott, who
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  took vigorous and effective measures to prevent any supplies or recruits from reaching Navy Island.
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  Meantime, the force of the assailants was continually augmented. Two companies of
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  regulars with a train of artillery had been sent from Lower Canada, and a
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  tremendous cannonade was commenced. The insurgents, seeing their position becoming every day more
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  desperate, determined to evacuate it, an object which they effected. On the
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  fourteenth of January, Van Rensselaire and Mackenzie were arrested by the American authorities admitted
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  to bail Sutherland with a party of the fugitives, hastened to the extreme west,
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  where, being reinforced by some adventurers in that quarter, the attempted an
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  establishment on Bois blanc An Island in the Detroit Channel. A body of troops,
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  however, was soon dispatched again them, and the vessel, containing not
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  only supplies but several chiefs dignified with high military titles, was captured. Finding
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  it impossible to maintain themselves there, they sought an asylum on Sugar Island,
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  which belonged to the United States. General Scott meanwhile was hastening to the place,
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  but Mason, the local commander, addressed to refugees, and by mere
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  dint of remonstrance, prevailed upon them to disperse. Attempts were made at other
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  points to form tumultuary assemblages for invading Canada, but under the alter circumstances,
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  these did not excite any serious alarm. Meantime, intelligence of the first insurrectionary
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  movements reached Britain, where it excited the strongest sensation. A few of the
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  popular leaders exulted in the event itself and in the anticipation of its triumphant issue,
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  but the nation in general, by no means shared the sentiment. The
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  Tories, though they accused Government of having, by want of energy, prepared
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  this convulsion, expressed their cordial concurrence in all the means suggestive for suppression.
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  As the House was about to rise for the Christmas holidays, ministers proposed that
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  instead of postponing their meeting as usual till the beginning of February, they should
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  fix it for the sixteenth of January, when, according to the course of
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  events, suitable resolutions might be adopted. Parliament had no sooner reassembled. The
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  information arrived, which left no room to doubt that the rebellion would be suppressed
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  without having assumed any formidable character. The aim of the government were therefore directed
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  towards reorganizing the executive on such a footing as without suppressing Canadian liberty might secure
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  future tranquility. But it was considered indispensable for the President at least to suspend
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  the constitution of the lower province. A council was to be made by the
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  Queen, which with the Governor, might exercise the functions now performed by the
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  two legislative bodies, but their powers were not to last beyond the first of
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  November eighteen forty nor were any of their enactments, unless continued by the proper
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  authority, to be valid beyond the first of November eighteen forty two. Sir
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  John Coburn, then acting as provisional Governor of Lower Canada, was instructed to
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  carry these measures into immediate execution. The Ministry, however, had determined upon
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  a farther step, with a view to the ultimate settlement of the province.
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  The Earl of Durham was solicited and prevailed upon to undertake its government, as
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  well as that of all British America, and also to turn his attention towards
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  an improved plan for its future management. His lordship's high reputation as a statesman
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  and the liberality of his views on political subjects seemed to afford the security that
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  he would act with vigor and at the same time with the strict regard to
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  national freedom. He was empowered to form a species of representative council composed of
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  thirty members from each province, but to use them merely as the advisors,
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  and to call and dismiss them at pleasure. On the twenty ninth of May
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  eighteen thirty eight, his lordship arrived at Quebec, where he was received in
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  the most cordial manner, for all parties seemed to unite in expecting from him
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  a settlement of those dissensions which had so greatly distracted the country. In his
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  subsequent progress to other districts and to Upper Canada, as far as Niagara,
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  he met similar expressions of confidence and congratulation. He was, soon, however,
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  called to decide upon a delicate and difficult question which Sir John Colbert had
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  thought it expedient to reserve for his determination. Wolfriend, Nelson, Bouchet,
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  Fije, and other individuals of some distinction were lying in the jail of Montreal,
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  charged with high treason. Some strong punishment was necessary to mark their crime
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  and deterred from its repetition. Yet an impartial jury could not be expected for
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  their trial, which besides, would have reopened all those party animosities which it
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  was the object of his lordship to appease. Under this view, he adopted
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  the following course. The prisoners, having been induced to make a confession of
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  guilt or sentenced, to be deported to Bermuda and to be there kept in
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  strict surveillance. If they should ever return to Canada without leave from the Governor,
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  they were to suffer the penalty of death. The same was awarded to
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  Papanu and others implicated in the Late Rebellion, but who after its disastrous issue,
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  had fled the country. As soon as this ordinary was known in Britain,
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  it created an unusual excitement in the legislature. Lord Brougham, in the
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  House of Peers, made a motion declaring it illegal as condemning to death without
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  trial and to transportation to a colony which was not within the jurisdiction of the
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  Governor General, but under the peculiar circumstances of the case. He proposed a
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  grant of indemnity. This vote, though strenuously opposed by Lord Melbourne, was
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  carried in the Upper House by a considerable majority. Ministers, then, having
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  received from law officers of the Crown and unfavorable report at least as to the
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  last particular, considered it impossible to make any further resistance. They annualed the
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  ordinance, but at the same time conveyed to Lord Durham expressions of the regret
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  of their general approbation of his measures and of the unaltered confidence with which they
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  regarded his administration. His lordship, however, was not of a character to
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  brook this interposition. He had, it is true, passed the limits of
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  strict law, but he maintained that these were scarcely applicable in the critical and
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  convulsed state of the province. That the sentence was lenient, and on the
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  principle of volenti new love fit injuria, the party's concern could not be wrong
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  by decision in which they had cheerfully acquiesced. In short, there being no
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  substantial injustice inflicted, Lord Durham thought he had reason to complain that his scheme
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  was not allowed a fair trial. He had perhaps an equal ground of dissatisfaction
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  in reference to the hostile interference of the opposition lords, and more especially because
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  the ministers his employers did not resist it to the utmost. Yet it would
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  certainly have been more magnanimous on his part, had he endeavored, under every
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  discouragement to have done his best to accomplish his undertaking. He yielded too far
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  to passion and pride, when, even before receiving the official accounts he publicly
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  announced his intention of throwing up the administration. He did not even follow the
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  established course of requesting Her Majesty's permission to resign and waiting till he received it.
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  In announcing two the disallowance of the ordnance, he commented on the decision
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  with the severity, which was considered irregular, intending to compromise the royal authority.
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  On the first of November, his lordship set sailed from Quebec, and
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  on the twenty sixth arrived at Plymouth. Meantime, a fresh storm of rebellion
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  brooded over the province in the course of the summer, Even amid apparent quiet,
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  the burning of a steam vessel called the Sir Robert Peel in the Saint
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  Lawrence, and the acquittal of the murderers of char Trod in the face of
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  the clearest evidence, showed that the spirits of the disaff infection was still deeply
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  cherished. By the beginning of winter, arrangements have been made for the general
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  rising of the habitat, supported by a numerous body of American citizens, who,
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  under the title of sympathizers, have vehemently espoused their cause. Arms and
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  ammunition have been clandestinely introduced, and the species of association, bound by secret
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  oaths and science have been formed along the whole frontier. Lord Durham imputes this
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  movement to the proceedings at home, which has shaken the confidence in his authority
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  and raised the hopes of the disaffected, But Sir John Coburn considers that these
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  preparations have been actively pursued ever since the preceding June. The government of the
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  United States, though they had no adequate power to prevent the part taken by
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  their subjects, show the good disposition by given the first intimation of what was
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  going on to mister Fox, the British and Bastle to that Washington. The
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  tidings were soon confirmed from other quarters, and Sir John Coburn lost no time
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  in putting the province in the state of defense and procuring an additional force from
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  Nova Scotia. On the night of the third of November, a concerted rising
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  took place in all the southern counties of Montreal District, but owing to some
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  failure of arrangement, the stations along the Richilieu were not found supply with arms
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  according to appointment, so that most of the inhabitants there dispersed and returned to
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  their homes. The Chief seat of insurrection was now further west, between the
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  river and the Saint Lawrence. There are three arch rebels, Doctor Robert Nelson,
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  Cote and Gannon had collected about four thousand men and established their headquarters at
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  Nepierville. The first object was to open the communication with their friends in the
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  States, for which purpose four hundred men were detached to the frontier. A
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  body of British volunteers as brave as loyal has stationed themselves by whom the rebels
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  were attacked and obliged to retreat with great loss. To retrieve this disaster,
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  Doctor Nelson, with upwards of nine hundred men, marched against the Loyalists,
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  the latter only two hundred strong, took post in Odell Town Chapel, on
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  which the enemy commenced a brisk attack, but after two hours and a half
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  were obliged to retreat with the loss of one hundred killed and wounded. The
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  defenders had an office and fine men killed and nine wounded. Meantime, Major
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  General Sir James M. Donnell, under orders from the Governor, with seven
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  regiments of the line, crossed the Saint Lawrence and marched upon Nepierville. The
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  rebels discouraged by former losses. After vain attempt to unite, their forces dispersed
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  in every direction without firing a shot. They still retained a posts at Bouharnois,
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  but Colonel Carmichael, with a detachment of regul and a thousand Glengarry militia,
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  drove them out, though with the loss of two men killed and the
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  same number wounded. Mister Elise and a party of friends who had been made
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  prisoners by them at the outset, were allowed to return to Montreal on the
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  eleventh, a week only after the first movement, and Donald could announce that
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  the insurrection was completely at the end, without the rebels having been able to
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  open any communication with their supporters beyond the frontier. We must now turn to
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  Upper Canada, where even before the former outbreak, Sir Francis Head had resigned.
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  The immediate cause was the disapprobation expressed by Lord glenag for his removing Judge
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  ride Out on account of his democratical principles and his refusing to obey an order
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  to raise to the bench mister Bidwell, late Speaker of the Assembly and then
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  Opposition leader. He at the same time, in no measured terms condemned the
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  City of Conciliation, hitherto pursued in the Colonial Office, whose members he even
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  branded as republicans, insisting that a stern, uncompromising maintenance of the monarchial principle
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  and the exclusion from office of all opposed to it, was the only basis
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  on which Canada could be governed. Ministers unwillingly accepted his resignation, while the
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  loyal inhabitants, among whom he had rendered himself highly popular, expressed on occasion
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  deep regret and discuss. Colonel Sir George Arthur, who had previously held a
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  similar situation in Van Diemen's Land, was appointed to succeed him. The new
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  governor soon found himself involved in difficult circumstances. For early in June, bands
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  to the number of one thousand or thousand two hundred Americans crossed the Niagara Channel
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  and endeavored to excite the people to insurrection. They attacked a party of fourteen
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  lancers posted in the Inn, and by setting it on fire, obliged them
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  to surrender. But no sooner did they learn that Sir George had arrived at
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  Niagara and that the country was rising against them. That they hastily recrossed the
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  frontier, leaving about forty prisoners. Among them were Moral and White, the
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  first and second in command. In the end of June, a smaller party
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  passed the Saint Clair and invaded the Western District, but finding themselves unsupported and
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  the militia advancing, they returned after losing a few of their numbers who fell
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  into the hands of the pursuers. The summer now passed in comparative quietness,
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  though the great movement at the beginning of November continued to be deeply felt along
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  the upper frontier. Almost simultaneously with the rising in Montreal District, a body
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  of about four hundred sailed from the vicinity of Sacket's Harbor and landed at Prescott
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  on the thirteenth. Colonel Young, with what horse he could muster, and
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  aided by Captain sandom with an armed steamer, compelled a large proportion of them
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  to disperse, while the rest took refuge in the windmill and an adjacent house
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  built of stone, whence they could not be dislodged. Eighteen British were here
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  killed and wounded in the course of the day. Colonel Dundas arrived with four
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  companies from Kingston, but considered the buildings, the walls of which were three
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  or four feet thick, too strong to be reduced without cannon. A few
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  guns and some additional troops were brought up. An attack was commenced on the
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  sixteenth, when the party within the stone building, after some stand sought to
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  escape among the brushwood, but were all captured, upon which those in the
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  mall displayed a white flag and surrendered at discretion. The whole number of prisoners
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  was one hundred fifty nine. The militias, among whom some lukewarmness had been
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  suspected, showed the utmost zeal And mustered to the extent of five thousand.
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  The Niagara Frontier was found by the enemies so well guarded that no attempt was
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  made there. But early in the morning of the fourth of December, about
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  three hundred fifty organized at Detroit landin near a sandwich, set fire to a
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  steamer and to the barracks, and killed several individuals in cold blood. Being
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  as cowardly as cruel, they were no sooner attacked by party of militia,
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  and they fled either to the woods or to the American shore. The even
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  twenty six killed and twenty five prisoners. The captives on the former occasion had
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  been treated with extraordinary legnity, but this forbearance not having produced its due effect,
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  and being loudly complained of by the inhabitants, it was judge necessary to
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  exercise greater rigor on the present occasion. A considerable number of ringleaders were accordingly
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  put to death, and the rest condemned to severe or ignominious punishments. And
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  of Section fifteen irregular Irregular