issue the execution, which was therefore refused. A sheriff, again, dare not apply for his fees; nor the printer sue for the money voted him by the Assembly for printing their journals; nor the public surveyors press their claims for services rendered in laying out new townships. Such was the condition of matters when Mr Thorpe, a respectable English lawyer, arrived in Canada West as one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, and whose upright conduct tended to allay the irritation now beginning to spread itself among the people.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF FRANCIS GORE, ESQ.

1806.

Mr Hunter having been recalled, after a brief interregnum by Alexander Grant as President, Mr Gore arrived from England to take charge of the province, as Lieutenant-Governor. This gentleman stood high in point of personal worth; was of a manly and generous though easily influenced disposition; and, no doubt, desired to govern the province justly. The faults which subsequently distinguished his administration were evidently owing to his ignorance of the country, in the first place; to a subservient Legislature, and a too great proportion of arbitrary power, in the second, and which power unfortunately he soon resigned into the hands of the oligarchy. As might naturally be expected, he was almost immediately surrounded, on his arrival, by the leaders of the Tory party, and was speedily influenced in their favour. Compared with these courtly gentlemen, who composed, in a measure, the best society of the little capital, and enlivened the soirees of the Governor by the wit and polished manners they had acquired in refined circles in the mother country, the frieze-coated farmers had not the remotest chance of obtaining ministerial influence.

Still, the people did not stand the less sturdily up for their rights. An impartial administration of justice had made Judge Thorpe already popular, and when he went on circuit the several grand juries intrusted their grievances to him, to be laid before the Governor. The latter soon became prejudiced against the judge, and when a constituency almost unanimously invited him to represent them in Parliament, (for in those days judges were eligible for the office,) every Government engine was set at work to defeat him. Thorpe never solicited a vote; still he was elected. The solitary newspaper was now loud in its abuse, and denounced the people's favourite in no measured terms. This led to the establishment of an independent journal, the Upper Canada Guardian; so the war between the rival parties had fairly com

1807.

menced. Thorpe, however, fell a victim to his popularity. The representations of the Governor procured his recall by the Secretary of State. He subsequently sued Mr Gore in England for libel, got a verdict in his favour, was discarded by the ministry on the first opportunity, and in old age and infirmity consigned to poverty and neglect.‡

The first session of the Provincial Parliament convened by Mr Gore, was distinguished by a very liberal appropriation of £800 for the purpose of paying the salaries of masters of grammar schools, in each of the eight districts into which Upper Canada had by this time expanded. The patronage was vested in the Government. The sum of £100 a year was an object to a half-pay officer, or some other reduced gentleman; so the greater part of the masterships were given to this class of persons, who, from their previous habits, and ignorance of the principles of tuition, were every way unfit for the office. Other acts passed this session continued laws about to expire, the most important of which was that handing over the customs' duties to the Crown for a period of two years longer.

While we have been thus careful to trace, as accurately as possible, the rise of political parties in Canada, and the origin of those causes which subsequently led to serious evils in the state, we do not desire to convey the impression for a moment that the people at this period were dissatisfied with the fundamental principles of the Constitution. Responsible government was a question of much later origin. Whatever dissatisfaction at this time was felt by the public was chiefly directed against the arbitrary conduct of the executive, the extortions of law officers, and individual acts of oppression. The great bulk of the people continued to be steadily attached to Great Britain; and although several desired to connect themselves

* Willcocks, the editor of this paper, was an Irishman of respectable parentage. He had been sheriff of the Home District, but was deprived of his office in 1806, for voting against the wishes of the Governor at Thorpe's election. He soon became popular with the people, was elected to serve in the Assembly, which speedily thrust him in the Toronto jail, then a miserable log-hut, for making too free with their affairs. Released from this, he became still more popular, and for a while was at the head of the majority in the Assembly. The troubles of 1812 forced him to give up his paper, when he shouldered a musket and fought as a volunteer against the Americans at the battle of Queenstown. Still, Government treated him harshly, and at length, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, he deserted to the enemy, taking a body of Canadian militia over with him. The Americans rewarded his treason by making him a colonel. He was afterwards killed at the siege of Fort Erie while planting a guard.

+ Jackson's Pamphlet on Canada, 1809.

Gourlay, vol. ii. p. 335. Bonnycastle's Canada as it Was, &c., vol. i. pp. 51, 52.

1

with the United States, and whose representations led in a measure to the invasion of the province in 1812, this treasonable feeling was by no means general. There was no desire, as a rule, to cure existing evils by superseding the monarchical institutions of the colony with a republic. A purer administration of justice, a milder and more impartial sway on the part of the executive, were all that were necessary to secure the loyalty of the great mass of the people. Owing to the agitation connected with the election of Thorpe, the exposures made by the opposition press, and other occurrences favourable to liberty and free inquiry, concessions of this character were made about this time, and public matters progressed more smoothly. During the course of the year, Judge Powell, who figured so prominently in the affairs of Canada West, became a member of the Executive Council.*

1809.

Meanwhile, the province had continued to prosper steadily. New settlements had spread themselves out in every direction into the interior, and the population had increased to about seventy thousand souls. The commerce of the country had progressed in proportion. By an arrangement with the lower province, goods for Canada West were now entered at Couteau du Lac, and the amount collected on these, for the year ending January 5th, exceeded £4000 currency. There was also a considerable importation by way of the United States, and the public revenue from customs' duties alone was now nearly £7000. The tariff was very low. The duty on liquors, exclusive of a small impost levied by the Imperial Government, for the support of the civil administration of the province, was sixpence per gallon; on wine, ninepence; on teas, from twopence to fourpence per lb. The importations chiefly embraced groceries, as the bulk of the inhabitants manufactured their own wearing apparel.

No civilised country in the world was less burdened with taxes than Canada West at this period. A small direct tax on property, levied by the District Courts of Session, and not amounting to £3500 for the whole country, sufficed for all local expenses. There was no poor-rate, no capitation tax, no tithes or ecclesiastical rates of any kind. Instead of a road tax a few days of statute labour annually sufficed. Nowhere did the working man find the produce of his labour so little diminished by exactions of any kind. Canada West literally teemed with abundance; while its people, unlike the early French and American settlers, had nothing to apprehend from the red man, and enjoyed the increase of the earth in peace.†

*Seventh Grievance Report, p. 303. + Gourlay, vol. i. pp. 217-223.

The chief check to the greater prosperity of the country at this period, was the want of a paper currency, there being no bank in Canada. Gold and silver were the only circulating medium; and as the exports did not balance the imports, the little money brought into the colony by settlers, or paid out by the Government, was insufficient to meet the increasing wants of the community. A system of barter was thus originated between the merchant and farmer, highly prejudicial to the latter, and which frequently led him into debt. Nor were the public morals as much calculated to advance the welfare of the country as could be desired. Intemperance was a very prevalent vice; the rough backwoodsmen, too, were often quarrelsome in their cups, and pugilistic encounters very frequently took place. Murders, however, unlike a former period, were now of rare occurrence. The mass of the people may be described as a rough, home-spun generation; with little religion,* still less education; but honest in their general demeanour, sturdy yet simple in their manners, and exceedingly hospitable in their homes.t

During this year little of moment occurred. The Legislature met on the 1st of February. To judge from the tenor of their 1810. proceedings no apprehension was entertained of a war with the neighbouring States, to which, however, events were now rapidly tending. The sum of £2000 was granted for laying out new roads and building bridges, by one act; another was levelled against forgers of bills of exchange and foreign notes and orders. These were the most important acts out of thirteen. During the summer of the ensuing year Mr Gore received leave of absence, 1811. being desirous to visit England. He proceeded thither shortly after, leaving the gallant Major-General Brock in temporary charge of the administration.

* In 1809 there were only four ministers of the Church of England in Canada West, and comparatively few of other Protestant denominations.

† Gourlay, vol. i. pp. 247–256.

CHAPTER XIII.

CAUSES LEADING TO THE SECOND AMERICAN INVASION OF CANADA.

N°

OTHING could be more natural than that the American people, after the long and bloody struggle which won their independence, should cherish a feeling of bitter animosity towards the British nation, while they evinced a corresponding proportion of gratitude with respect to their allies, the French. They totally lost sight of the fact that the British Parliament were not by any means the British people, the great majority of whom sympathised with the struggle of their relatives in America for constitutional liberty, and bitterly deplored the miseries it produced. This feeling intermingled itself with the popular poetry of the country; and many a mournful ballad, set to the pathetic strains of Celtic melody, commemorated, among the Highlands of Scotia and the vernal valleys of Erin, the deplorable events of the American revolutionary war. But the leaders of the Revolution were not actuated by the hostile feeling which had taken such firm hold of the undiscerning masses. Their aim was to overturn a pernicious system-to achieve their own independence; not to crush a people whose interests, laws, religion and language were identical with their own. They felt America was merely an elder daughter of the ancient British family; and that, although she had commenced housekeeping for herself, and had considerable difficulty in escaping from parental tutelage, a vast amount of mutual benefit must still result from friendly intercourse. Hence, the student of American history will readily understand why the whole efforts of the great Washington and his friends, up to the period of his retirement from public life, in 1796, were directed towards repressing the anti-British spirit which pervaded the democracy of their country, and laying the foundation of a lasting peace with Great Britain. Yet, so strong were the sympathies o! the American people with France and revolution, that in 1793 it appeared as if the current of popular opinion would sweep even