XXXVII. 1838. wrapt in flames, and their brave defenders driven out CHAP. at the point of the bayonet. An hundred of the insurgents, including Chenier, were killed, and an hundred. and twenty made prisoners. Girod, having been taken prisoner in the course of his flight, shot himself. On the following day Colborne advanced on St Benoit, where the chief body of the insurgents was understood to be posted; but on entering it, the town was found to be deserted except by two hundred insurgents, who laid down their arms, and were dismissed to their homes. Unfortunately, such was the state of exasperation of the Loyalists in the British army at the state of proscription in Colborne's which they had been long kept by their enemies, that they Desch set fire to the village, which was in great part consumed 1837, Lonbefore the flames could be extinguished by the soldiers of zette; Ann. the Royals, 32d, and 83d, who had been engaged in this 11-13. brilliant affair.1 66 1 Sir John Despatch, don Ga Reg. 1838, 84. sults of 'Thus," said Lord Gosford, with justifiable pride, in his despatches, "have the measures adopted for putting Great redown this reckless revolt been crowned with success. these sucWherever an armed body has shown itself, it has been cesses, completely dispersed; the principal leaders and instigators have been killed, taken, or forced into exile; there is no longer a head, or concert, or organisation among the deluded and betrayed habitans; all the newspaper organs of revolution in the province, the Vindicie, Minerve, and Liberal, are no longer in existence, having ceased to appear in the commencement of the trouble; and in the short space of a month, a rebellion which at first wore so threatening an aspect, has, with much less loss of life than could have been expected, been effectually put down." It was not at first known what had become of Papineau, the leader of the insurrection, but it was ere long ascertained that he had reached New York in safety, having made his escape in the very commencement of the conflict. His conduct in heading it was the more inexcusable that he was well aware of the XXXVII. 1 Lord Gos CHAP. advantages which had accrued to Canada from the English connection, and had himself expressed them in the 1837. most emphatic terms.* It would be unaccountable, did we not recollect that he was a Catholic who at that time was directing the Romish movement in Ireland, and that 1837; Ann. it was by the aid of the Romish members in the House 11-13. that the feeble and tottering Administration was retained in power.1 ford's Des patches, Dec. 18, Reg. 1838, 85. of the insur Upper Nov. 29. While these important events were occurring in Lower Commence- Canada, the upper province was also, though in a much rection in lesser degree, the theatre of convulsion; and the confidence of Sir Francis Head in the loyalty of the inhabitants was put to the severest test. Although the vast majority of that province were firm in their attachment to Great Britain, and devoted in their loyalty to their sovereign, yet there were some malcontents, chiefly Irish, who, if unresisted, were in a situation, for a time at least, to do very considerable mischief. It has been already mentioned that Sir Francis had sent all the regular troops out of the province, and even declined the aid of some battalions of volunteers, who tendered their services to guard a depôt of six thousand arms at Toronto, its capital city. The result soon proved that this conduct, though bold, and in one view wise, was foolhardy. No sooner was the intelligence of the rising in * 66 Compare," says Papineau, " our present happy situation with that of our fathers. From the day on which the British dominion supervened, the reign of law succeeded to that of violence. From that day the treasures, the navy, and the army of Great Britain are mustered to afford us an invincible protection; from that day the better part of her laws became ours, while our religion, property, and the laws by which they are governed, remain unaltered."—PAPINEAU on the English Government, 1820; Ann. Reg. 1838, p. 49. +"Considering the invasion with which we are still threatened, I conceived it to be absolutely my duty, by any means in my power, to lay before the American people the incontrovertible fact, that by the removal of her Majesty's troops, as also by the surrender of six thousand stand of arms to the civil authorities, the people of Upper Canada had virtually been granted an opportunity of revolting, and consequently, that as the British constitution had been protected solely by the sovereign will of the people,' it became, even by the greatest of all republican maxims, the only law of the land."-Sir FRANCIS HEAD'S Explanatory Memorandum to Lord GLENELG; Parl. Paper, 21st May XXXVII. 1837. the lower province received in Toronto, than a proclama- CHAP tion appeared, headed "Provincial Convention," and signed by "W. L. Mackenzie," the editor of a Radical newspaper, summoning the Convention to meet there on the 21st December. This was soon followed by a proclamation, calling on the people at once to take up arms, and expel their tyrants.* Armed meetings were at the same time held in different parts of the province, in which the most violent and treasonable language was used; but still the Governor, relying on the loyalty of the people, and thinking that the danger should be met by moral, not physical strength, took no visible steps to avert it. At length, on the night of the 3d December, Mackenzie, at the head of five hundred rebels, advanced towards Toronto, and on the way murdered Colonel Moodie, Head to a distinguished Loyalist, who was passing Montgomerie's Lord GlenTavern, their headquarters, on horseback. Blood," said 1837; Anu. Mackenzie, "has now been spilled; we are in for it, and 14,15. have nothing left but to advance." 1 66 1 Sir F. elg, Dec. 19, Reg. 1838, the rebels. They advanced accordingly, and soon reached Toronto, 86. where the Governor, according to his own admission, was Advance of "in bed and asleep." Roused by the intelligence of the Dec. 4. rebels' approach, he hastily rose, and hurried to the townhall, where the arms were deposited, to prepare for a sudden defence. The first man he met was the lord chief-justice of the province, with a musket on his shoulder. He was soon followed by a crowd of brave men, half dressed, and many of them unarmed, who hurried on the first alarm to what they knew would be the point of attack. Sir Francis hastily disposed these gallant men * "Canadians! do you love freedom-do you wish for perpetual peace, and a government founded upon the eternal heaven-born principle of the Lord Jesus Christ? Then buckle on your armour, and put down the villains who oppress and enslave our country, in the name of that God who goes forth with the arms of His people, and whose Bible shows that it is with the same human means whereby you put to death thieves and murderers, that you must put down, in the strength of the Almighty, those governments which, like bad individuals, trample on the law, and destroy its usefulness. W. L. MACKENZIE.” --Ann. Reg., 1838, pp. 12, 13. VOL. VI. Y XXX VII. 1837. CHAP. at the windows of the town-hall and adjoining houses; and scarcely had he done so, when the rebel column, headed by Mackenzie, approached. Seeing the windows occupied, however, by armed men, and being ignorant of their strength, the insurgents halted, and did not venture on an immediate attack. This hesitation, as is usually the case in such instances, proved fatal to the insurrection. In the interval, despatches were sent to COLONEL ALLAN M'NAB (now Sir Allan M'Nab, Bart.), who commanded the militia, to claim their support, and that intrepid man and his faithful followers made their appearance at daybreak. Three hundred armed men were soon assembled, which increased in the course of the day to five hundred; and the "fiery cross" was despatched to all the parishes and townships, which soon roused the whole of the inhabitants to arms. Meanwhile Mackenzie and his followers committed every species of enormity; with his own hands he robbed the mail, and set fire to Dr Horn's house.1 1 Sir F. Head to Lord Glen elg, Dec. 19, 1838; Ann. Reg. 1839, 14, 15. 87. Their entire defeat. Dec. 7. Finding that all attempts at an accommodation with the rebels were nugatory, as they demanded, as an indispensable preliminary, that a convention should be assembled, Sir Francis proceeded to reduce them to submission by force of arms. On the 7th, Colonel M'Nab marched out of Toronto, and attacked them in their position at Montgomerie's Tavern, whither they had retired, after the failure of their attempt to surprise the capital. The insurgents, being strongly posted in the Tavern and adjacent buildings, and all armed with rifles, made a stout resistance; but the militia and volunteers, headed by M'Nab, pushed forward with a vigour worthy of veteran troops, carried all their defences, and drove them out at the point of the bayonet. A total rout ensued. Mackenzie, in the utmost agitation, ran off, and reached Buffalo in New York in disguise; while the flag of the rebels, bearing the words "Bidwell and the glorious minority, 1837-a good beginning," fell into the hands 1 XXXVII. 1837. Head's Des of the victors. Their triumph was complete the insur- CHAP. gents were all dispersed; a great number of prisoners were taken, who were immediately released, and dismissed to their homes; and but for the efforts of the American Sir F. "sympathisers" to rekindle the flames of civil war, the patches, upper province was entirely tranquillised. This great 1837; Ann. success was achieved by the Loyalists without the loss of 15, 16. a single man.1 Dec. 19, Reg. 1838, 88. conduct of in the up vince. If the narrow escape which the Governor made from being surprised in the first outbreak of the insurrec- Glorious tion, showed a want of due precaution in the beginning, the militia the conduct of the Canadians in the upper province per proproved that he had not miscalculated in reckoning upon their loyalty and patriotism. No sooner was intelligence received, which it was with extraordinary rapidity, of Mackenzie's attack upon Toronto, than the militia everywhere flew to arms, and, setting out in the snow in the depth of a Canadian winter, marched with alacrity to the defence of the capital. From Niagara, Gore, Lake Simcoe, and many other places, brave men, armed and unarmed, rushed forward unsolicited to the theatre of conflict. The Scotch Highlanders from Glengarry evinced a spirit worthy of their descent; they mustered at once nine hundred strong when the news arrived, and had marched one hundred miles through the snow, every man carrying his arms and provisions, before they were stopped by advices of the suppression of the insurrection. The whole upper province was in motion and in arms. The excitement was universal and indescribable. was the concourse of armed men who hastened to the support of the government, that within three days ten thousand were assembled at Toronto and its vicinity, and Sir Francis was enabled to issue an order the day after Head's Mackenzie's defeat, announcing that there was no further Despatches, occasion for the resort of the militia to Toronto, and 1838; Ann. Reg. 1838, directing that of Bathurst, Johnston, Ottawa, and the 16,17. eastern districts, to the lower province.2 From this out So great 2 Dec. 19, |