When Patterson arrived in London, he found the friends who had formerly used their influence in his favor extremely cool; and thus all hope of his restoration to the governorship was blighted. The large sums he had expended in the election of a house favorable to his views, and the impossibility of saving any part of his annual income (five hundred pounds sterling), without sacrificing the becoming dignity of his post, added to the circ.u.mstance that his wife and family had to be maintained in England during the whole period of his inc.u.mbency, rendered his means extremely limited. Being pressed by his creditors, his extensive and valuable property in the island was sold-under hard laws, which had been enacted under his own administration-at nominal prices. It need therefore excite no surprise that he never returned to a scene invested with so many painful recollections.
But the question occurs: what became of the escheated lands which were ordered to be restored to the original proprietors? After the proceedings already recorded, no determined effort to obtain the property was made by the original holders, with regard to whose claims to rest.i.tution no doubt could now exist. The a.s.sembly did, indeed, pa.s.s an act in 1792, by which the old proprietors were permitted to take possession of their property; but eleven years having elapsed since the sales took place, and complications of an almost insuperable nature having in consequence ensued, the government deemed it inexpedient to disturb the present holders, more particularly as not a few of them had effected a compromise with the original grantees, which ent.i.tled them to permanent possession. Hence the act referred to was disallowed, and thus a subject which had for years agitated the community was permitted to remain in continued abeyance.
CHAPTER III.
Proprietors indifferent to their engagements-Extent to which settlement was effected-Complaints of the People of nonfulfilment of engagements-Character of the Reply-The influence of the Proprietors with the Home Government-The Duke of Kent-Proposal in 1780 to name the Island New Ireland-The name adopted-Formation of Light Infantry, and Volunteer Horse-Immigration of Highlanders-Memoir of General Fanning.
As proof that the great body of the proprietors were utterly indifferent to the engagements they contracted when they obtained their lands, it is only necessary to state that in only ten of the sixty-seven townships into which the island was divided were the terms of settlement complied with, during the first ten years which had elapsed since possession was granted. In nine townships settlement was partially effected, and in forty-eight no attempt whatever at settlement seems to have been made. In 1797, or thirty years after the grants were issued, the house of a.s.sembly, sensible of the necessity of taking action for the more effectual settlement of the island, pa.s.sed a series of resolutions,-founded on a deliberate and painstaking investigation of all the townships,-which were embodied in a pet.i.tion to the home government, praying that measures should be taken to compel proprietors to fulfil the conditions on which the land had been granted. The a.s.sembly drew attention to the following facts: That, on twenty-three specified townships, consisting of four hundred and fifty-eight thousand five hundred and eighty acres, not one settler was resident; that on twelve townships the population consisted only of thirty-six families, which, on an average of six persons to each family, numbered in the aggregate two hundred and sixteen souls, who thus const.i.tuted the entire population of more than half of the island. On these and other grounds, it appeared to the house that the failure of so many of the proprietors in implementing the terms and conditions of their grants was highly injurious to the growth and prosperity of the island, ruinous to its inhabitants, and destructive of the just expectations and views of the government in its settlement. The house contended that the long forbearance of the government, towards the proprietors who had failed to do their duty, had no other effect than to enable them to speculate on the industry of the colony. The house was of opinion that the island, if fully settled, was adequate for the maintenance of half a million of inhabitants, and it prayed that the proprietors should be either compelled to do their duty, or that their lands should be escheated, and granted to actual settlers.
The pet.i.tion embodying these views was forwarded to the Duke of Portland,-the colonial secretary at the time,-and the force of its facts and arguments seems to have been felt by the government, for a despatch was sent to Governor Fanning, intimating that measures would be adopted to rectify the grave evils enumerated in the pet.i.tion. The process of escheat was not, however, acceptable to the proprietors who had done their duty by settling their lands, for the obvious reason, that in the event of free grants being made of the forfeited property, the tenants on the already-settled laud would prefer to give up their farms and become proprietors. In conformity with the promise made by government, Governor Fanning, in his speech to the a.s.sembly in November, 1802, said that he had the satisfaction to inform them, on the highest authority, that the public affairs of the island had been brought under the consideration of His Majesty"s ministers in a manner highly favorable to the late humble and dutiful representations made on behalf of the inhabitants, respecting the many large, unsettled, and uncultivated tracts of land in the island. In order to give effect to the measures which had been adopted by His Majesty"s ministers, it would be necessary that the government of the island should be prepared to adopt, when circ.u.mstances should render it advisable, the requisite and legal steps for effectually revesting in His Majesty such lands as might be liable to be escheated. The house, in their reply to the address, requested a more explicit statement from his excellency as to the information which he had received on this important subject; to which his excellency replied, that he had already presented all the information which it was in his power to furnish. It does indeed seem strange that the governor should have been instructed to refer officially to measures which "_had been adopted_" by the home government for the rectification of an admitted evil, and yet was apparently unable to explain the character of these measures for the guidance of the a.s.sembly in a branch of legislation which they were unequivocally invited to adopt. Such mysterious reticence was in direct opposition to ordinary governmental procedure in similar cases. But the local government, never dilatory in business connected with escheat, prepared a bill ent.i.tled "An act for effectually revesting in His Majesty, his heirs and successors, all such lands as are, or may be, liable to forfeiture within this island," which was pa.s.sed by the a.s.sembly and a.s.sented to by the governor on the second of April, 1803. It did seem a mockery of the a.s.sembly when that bill was, contrary to the expectations of the people, disallowed by the home government, without any reason a.s.signed. A committee on the state of the colony accordingly drew up a strong and spirited remonstrance, in which they boldly said:
"It appears to the committee, and they have the strongest reason to believe, that the royal _a.s.sent_ to the said act for reinvesting His Majesty with such lands as are or may be liable to forfeiture within this island, has been graciously approved by His Majesty." They then expressed their conviction, which was well founded, that the formal royal allowance had been withheld by means of unfounded representations of interested individuals in England. The committee sent these resolutions to William and Thomas Knox, the agents for the island in London, with instructions to use their utmost efforts to give effect to the remonstrance; and the house of a.s.sembly also presented an address to the lieutenant-governor, complaining of the efforts that had been made to render His Majesty"s intentions abortive, requesting him to transmit their pet.i.tion and resolutions to Lord Castlereagh, and duplicates to the Earl of Liverpool, president of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations. The house also appointed a committee, consisting of Holland, Macgowan, Stewart, Palmer, and Macdonald, to draw up a new bill, substantially the same as the former, which was duly pa.s.sed. Nothing was wanting on the part of the a.s.sembly to neutralize the influence brought to bear in London in order to frustrate their intentions; and if the British government had not on this occasion lost its usual character for consistency and adherence to principles, so explicitly enunciated, the royal intentions, as intimated by the lieutenant-governor, would have been honestly carried out. The period was one of great political excitement in London. Lord Hobart, through whom the governor had received a solemn promise that the evil complained of would be rectified, had given place in the colonial secretaryship to the exciteable Castlereagh, and the solemn obligations of office appear to have been forgotten in the political fermentation of the moment. It would be difficult to point out, in the history of the British colonial administration, another instance where the dictates of political consistency and honor were so flagrantly disregarded as in the case under review.
The influence exerted on government by the proprietors resident in London seemed irresistible, and was such as no government of our time could tolerate. The key to their power seems to be found in the circ.u.mstances that they were, for the most part, men in intimate social relations with parties in office, and, moreover, mainly consisted of officers who were supposed to have rendered good service in time of war, and whose complaints or representations, therefore, commanded at all times the royal consideration and sympathy. The proprietors, besides, cultivated the good-will and friendship of the under-secretaries, and other secondary government officials, who kept them informed of what was going on, and contributed in many indirect ways to promote their views.
Mr. Stuart, in his letters to Governor Patterson,-who was by no means distinguished for the _suaviter in modo_,-frequently urged him to write certain persons in the government offices in a conciliatory and friendly manner, as he was convinced that they could exert no small influence in behalf of his interests. The proprietors not only succeeded in preventing the resolutions commended by the Duke of Portland from leading to any practical result, but also in obtaining, in 1802, an important reduction in the quitrents which remained unpaid, and which now amounted to the large sum of fifty-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-two pounds sterling; the sum due on some of the townships being actually more than their estimated value. In order to discriminate between the proprietors who had exerted themselves to carry out the terms of their grants, and those who had not, the government divided the commutation into four cla.s.ses, requiring from the proprietors who had on their property the necessary number of settlers only five years"
quitrents, instead of thirty-two years",-namely, from 1769 to 1801,-and making a proportionate deduction in the case of the four other cla.s.ses.
But as evidence of the determination of many of the landowners not to conform to the law, and their confidence in their own power to set the regulations of government at defiance,-as they had hitherto systematically done,-it may be here stated, that even the reduced amount does not seem to have been paid; and it was mainly in consequence of such daring and long-continued violation of obligation that the people, from time to time, in paroxysms of just indignation, demanded the establishment of courts of escheat.
In 1794, Prince Edward-afterwards Duke of Kent, and father of Her Majesty the Queen-arrived in Halifax. In that year two provincial companies were raised for the protection of the island, and when His Royal Highness became commander-in-chief of the forces in British North America, he ordered new barracks to be erected at Charlottetown, and defensive works for the protection of the harbor to be constructed. The Duke never visited the island, but its inhabitants were duly sensible of the practical interest he took in its welfare; and having determined that its name should be changed, on account of the mistakes incident to other towns bearing the same designation, a local act was introduced in 1798, which changed the name to Prince Edward Island, which act received the royal allowance on the first of February, 1799. We find that in the year 1780, an act for altering the name of the island from Saint John to that of New Ireland was pa.s.sed in the a.s.sembly with a suspending clause.
In a letter addressed by Mr. Stuart to governor Patterson, dated the third of March, 1781, he says: "Your pa.s.sing an act to change the name of the island is considered as a most unprecedented instance of irregularity. The reasons you give why it should be changed are admitted to be of some force, but they insist upon it that you ought, in common decency, to have set forth those reasons in a pet.i.tion to the King, instead of pa.s.sing a presumptuous act which is neither warranted by law nor usage." This act was, of course, disallowed; but the governor did not lose sight of the hint as to pet.i.tioning, as appears from a pa.s.sage in another letter from Stuart to Governor Patterson, dated, October, 1783, in which he says: "I am not unmindful of your pet.i.tion for changing the name of the island, but I keep it back till we shall have carried points of more importance. When they are accomplished, I shall bring it forward." Had the first application been made by pet.i.tion to the King, it is extremely probable that the proposed change of name would have been adopted.
Besides the two companies mentioned, a light infantry company and three troops of volunteer horse were formed in the island, who were handsomely clothed and mounted at their own expense, and armed at the expense of the government; at this time every man from sixteen to sixty years of age was subject to the militia laws. These wise precautions prevented any hostile descent on the island during the war, and tended to infuse a spirit of self-reliance and patriotic ardor into the community.
If the reduction of the quitrents failed as an inducement to the proprietors to pay what was now really due to government, it did not fail to lead to brisk business in the sale of property, for from the commutation to the year 1806, nearly a third of the entire land in the island had been transferred by purchase to persons, many of whom were really determined, by industry and strict regard to law, to make the venture permanently profitable.
The year 1803 was remarkable in the history of the island for a large immigration of highlanders from Scotland. The Earl of Selkirk brought out to his property about eight hundred souls. They were located on land north and south of Point Prim, which had been previously occupied by French settlers, but a large portion of which was now again covered with wood, and thus rendered difficult of cultivation. Many of his lordship"s tenants became successful settlers.
Lieutenant-General Fanning"s connection with the island, as governor, terminated in 1804. During his administration the island did not make any remarkable progress in its various interests; but Mr. John McGregor,-a native of the island, and of whom we shall have more to say by-and-bye,-in his work on British North America, has hardly done the general justice, in representing him as of very "obscure origin, and owing his future to circ.u.mstances, the advantages of which he had the finesse to seize." General Edmund Fanning was a native of America, and was born in the Province of New York, on the twenty-fourth of April, 1739. He was the son of James Fanning, a captain in the British service, and of his second wife Mary Smith, daughter of Colonel William Smith, who for some time administered the government of New York, and was sole proprietor of Smith Town, on Long Island. The paternal grandfather of General Fanning came to America, from Ireland, with Earl Bellemont, in 1699.
Captain James Fanning, having disposed of his commission while in England, returned to New York in 1748, when his son Edmund, then in the ninth year of his age, was sent to a preparatory school, and thence removed to Yale College, New Haven, where, after going through the regular course of collegiate studies, he received the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts; and in 1774 he was honored by the University of Oxford, England, with the degree of Doctor of Civil Law.
From college he proceeded to North Carolina, where, after studying two years under the attorney general of that province, he was, in 1762, admitted to the bar. He was successful in his profession; but the troubles of the eventful period in America which followed the pa.s.sing of the Stamp Act by the British Parliament, induced him to enter the civil and military service of his country. In 1765 he was appointed by Governor Tryon of North Carolina one of the Judges of the Supreme Court in that province in the room of Mr. Justice Moore, who was dismissed from office upon the supposition of his favoring the public commotions at the time existing in North Carolina. In 1768 he raised, at the request of Governor Tryon, a corps of eight hundred provincials to oppose and put down a body of insurgents who styled themselves regulators, whose object was to rescue from trial and punishment leading rebels. In 1771 he was again called upon by Governor Tryon to raise and embody a corps of provincials to suppress an insurrection in North Carolina, and was second to Governor Tryon at the battle of Allamance, in which action, the insurgents, to the number of twelve thousand, were totally defeated.
In the year 1773 Colonel Fanning went to England, strongly recommended to His Majesty"s ministers for his services in North Carolina. Having applied for the office of Chief Justice of Jamaica, he received a letter from Lord Dartmouth, then secretary of state for the American department, stating that it was impossible in this case to comply with his wishes, but that he should have the first vacant post that might be deemed worthy of his services. Having received this a.s.surance, he returned to America. Two months after his arrival at New York, he was appointed to the office of surveyor general of that province, the annual fees of which were said to be worth two thousand two hundred pounds sterling. But in the following year Colonel Fanning was driven from his house in New York, and took refuge on board the Asia, ship of war. He afterwards served in the army, having raised a regiment called "The King"s American Regiment." During the war he was twice wounded. There is ample proof that he discharged his military duties with courage and ability.
On the 24th of February, 1783, Colonel Fanning was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, an appointment which he accepted with a promise from Lords Sydney and North that it should lead to something better. Subsequently John Parr was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, and, as previously stated, Governor Fanning was ordered to relieve Governor Patterson, of Prince Edward Island, which he did in the confident expectation that he should succeed to the government of Nova Scotia on the retirement or death of Parr. In 1791 Fanning was informed of the death of Parr by a letter from Richard Buckeley, president of the council of Nova Scotia, who concluded by saying, "as the government of this province, by His Majesty"s late instructions, devolves on you, as senior lieutenant-governor, I accordingly give you early notice of the vacancy." This information was received too late in the autumn to admit of Governor Fanning"s proceeding to Halifax, and while making preparations for going thither, he was informed that the position was conferred on Mr.
Wentworth,-intelligence which caused him great disappointment, as he had well-founded expectations of succeeding to the government of Nova Scotia. The governor applied immediately for leave of absence, but was politely refused, on the ground that his absence might, in time of war, prove dangerous to the island. After repeated applications, he at last received a letter from Lord Hobart, dated the 6th of May, 1804, granting him liberty to return to England after the arrival of Colonel DesBarres, and informing him that His Majesty had directed that, in consideration of his long and faithful services, a provision at the rate of five hundred pounds sterling should be made for him yearly in the estimates of the island. Addresses were presented to the governor before his departure, by the council, the respective counties, and the grand jury of the Island. In 1816 General Fanning closed his accounts at the audit office, when His Majesty"s ministers, to mark their approval of his administration of the government of the island, directed a retrospective increase of his salary from the period of his appointment to the colony, in 1786, to that of his retirement. General Fanning died at his residence in Upper Seymore Street, London, on the 28th of February, 1818, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
Here we introduce to our readers the Rev. Theophilus DesBrisay, who, by royal warrant, dated the twenty-first day of September, 1774, was appointed to "the parish of Charlotte." Mr. DesBrisay was the son of the gentleman who has been mentioned as administrator of the island during the absence of Governor Patterson. He was born in Thurles, in the County of Tipperary, Ireland, on the ninth of October, 1754, arrived in the island in the year 1775, and was rector of Charlotte Parish till his death, which occurred on the fourteenth of March, 1823. He was the only protestant clergyman on the island till the year 1820; was a man of sterling character, and a faithful servant of the Divine Master. Like Bishop McEachern and others, he was subjected, in the faithful discharge of his sacred duty, to privations of which the present generation have no adequate conception. [G]
CHAPTER IV.
Colonel F. W. DesBarres, successor to General Fanning-His character as a Governor-Succeeded by Charles Douglas Smith-His character as displayed in his opening address-Proclamation of immunity from Proprietory conditions-Oppressive measures in regard to Quitrents-John McGregor, Sheriff-Public meetings called in the Counties-Tyranny of the Governor exposed-Arrival of Colonel Ready, and departure of Smith.
In July, 1805, Colonel Joseph F. W. DesBarres arrived in the island for the purpose of succeeding Governor Fanning. He was a man well advanced in life, and had held for some time the position of Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Breton, when that island was a separate province. His administration was notable for the occurrence of three important events, namely, the official announcement to the a.s.sembly that the act of 1803, which was intended to invest in the Crown the lands on which arrears had not been paid, was disallowed; the pa.s.sing of the important resolutions of the a.s.sembly, to which reference has been already made, condemning the disallowance as grossly unjust, and in direct opposition to a settled and declared imperial policy; and the declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain. Colonel DesBarres is said to have been a man of cultivated mind, who, during his administration, strictly adhered to the official line of duty; and if he did not originate, during the eight years he was in office, any measure which could be regarded as of striking public utility, he gave no evidence of a selfish or tyrannical disposition, which is more than could be affirmed of his successor, Charles Douglas Smith,-a brother of Sir Sydney Smith,-who succeeded DesBarres in 1813. The a.s.sembly met in November of the same year. The address which the governor delivered on that occasion was such as indicated the temper of the man: it was dictatorial and insolent in its tone. He prorogued the house in January, and indicated his estimate of the utility of the popular branch of the legislature by not again convening it till July, 1817. Its proceedings in that year were not satisfactory to the governor, who was determined to shackle the members and prevent them from adopting any measures which did not accord with his own notions of propriety. His excellency accordingly dissolved the house, and a new one was convened in 1818, which, proving quite as refractory as the previous one, was also suddenly dissolved, and another elected in 1820.
On the eighth of October, 1816, the governor had published a proclamation in which he intimated that the King had graciously resolved to extend to the proprietors of land in the island immunity from certain forfeitures to which they were liable by the conditions of their original grants, and also to grant the remission of certain arrears of quitrent, and fix a scale for future payment of quitrent. But the governor, before the amount of quitrent to be exacted had been determined by the home government, directed the acting receiver general to proceed, in January, 1818, to enforce payment of the arrears which had occurred between June, 1816, and December, 1817, on the old scale.
Much distress was occasioned by these proceedings; and on the matter being represented to the home government, orders were issued to discontinue further action, and to refund the money exacted above the rate of two shillings for every hundred acres. It was at the same time intimated that the new rate would be rigidly exacted in future; but the years 1819, 1820, and 1821 pa.s.sed over without any public demand being made. Several proprietors, during that period, had offered payment to the acting receiver general, by whom they were informed that he had no authority to receive it. The impression was therefore prevalent that no further quitrent would be demanded, more especially as payment was not exacted in the neighboring provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
But on the twenty-sixth of June, 1822, the following notice was posted up in Charlottetown by John Edward Carmichael, the receiver general: "This office will be kept open from the first to the fourteenth of July, ensuing, for the payment of all arrears of quitrent due and payable within this island. Office hours, from ten till two o"clock." This demand not being peremptory in its terms, was disregarded by many who saw it, and the great body of proprietors in the country never heard of the notice.
In December, 1822, the acting receiver general posted up another notice, intimating that payments must be made by the fourteenth of January; but no steps were taken to give due publicity to the notice throughout the island, neither was any warning given to the proprietors as to the consequences of nonpayment. In January a distress was taken on the lands of two of the princ.i.p.al proprietors on townships thirty-six and thirty-seven. Immediately after doing this, the officers proceeded to the eastern district of King"s County, which was one of the most populous on the island, and astonished the people by demanding instant payment, or promissory notes payable in ten days, on pain of having their land and stock disposed of by public sale. This district was inhabited by highlanders, who spoke no other language than their native Gaelic. Men who would have faced an open foe in the field, with the courage characteristic of the Celtic race, had a profound respect for law, and dread and horror of the bailiff; and, in order to pay the demand so suddenly and unexpectedly made, many of the poor fellows loaded their carts with such produce as they could collect, and began a journey of from fifty to sixty miles to Charlottetown, in the depth of winter, in order to redeem the notes which they had given to the heartless myrmidons of the law. The sudden influx of grain into the market thus produced, caused a great decline in prices. This, with the suffering occasioned by the long journey, roused public indignation, and the people resolved to hold meetings in the respective counties, and take measures for their own protection against the tyranny to which they were subjected. At this time, John McGregor, subsequently Secretary to the Board of Trade in London, and M.P. for Glasgow, was high sheriff of the island, and a requisition was immediately drawn up and presented to him. It began in the following terms: "We, His Majesty"s loyal subjects, freeholders and householders in different parts of this island, in the present alarming and distressing state thereof,-threatened at this time with proceedings on the part of the acting receiver general of quitrents, the immediate effect whereof cannot fail to involve a great part of the community in absolute ruin,-feel ourselves irresistably impelled-when the island has been nearly three years deprived of that const.i.tutional protection and support which might be expected from our colonial legislature-to call upon you, as high sheriff of the island, to appoint general meetings of the inhabitants to be held in the three counties into which this island is divided, that they may have an opportunity, according to the accustomed practice of the parent country, of consulting together for the general benefit, and joining in laying such a state of the colony at the foot of the Throne, for the information of our most gracious Sovereign, as the present circ.u.mstances thereof require." The requisition was signed by forty individuals, and the sheriff appointed the meetings to be held at certain specified dates at Charlottetown, St. Peter"s, and Princetown.
This very legitimate procedure on the part of the people did not accord with Governor Smith"s notions of propriety, and he deemed it proper to remove Mr. McGregor from the office of sheriff, and to confer it on his late deputy, Mr. Townshend. On the eighteenth of February, the Hilary term of the supreme court commenced, and Mr. Townshend, at the request of the governor, struck out the name of John Stewart from the panel.
During the term, pet.i.tions were presented to the grand jury, complaining of the conduct of the acting receiver general and his deputies, and true bills were found against the latter; but no trial took place in consequence of the interference of the governor.
On the sixth of March, the first meeting called by the sheriff took place at Charlottetown. Considering the deep snow on the ground and the state of the roads, it was numerously attended, and the proceedings were conducted with the utmost order and regularity. A number of resolutions were pa.s.sed, which were embodied in an address to the King, containing grave charges against the governor. It was said that, though he had resided on the island for ten years, he had only been once absent from Charlottetown, when he ventured to drive eighteen miles into the country, thus failing to make himself acquainted with its actual condition. He was charged with illegally const.i.tuting a court of escheat in 1818, and, in violation of his own public proclamation of the 8th of October, 1816, hara.s.sing by prosecution the tenants of township number fifty-five. He was charged with refusing to receive an address from the house of a.s.sembly in answer to his speech at the opening of the session in November, 1818, though he had appointed an hour for that purpose. In addition to this public insult, he was accused of sending a message, on the fifteenth of December, to the a.s.sembly, requiring both houses to adjourn to the fifth of January following; and before the business in which they were then occupied was finished, and when the lower house was on the point of adjourning, in accordance with the said message, it was insulted by Mr. Carmichael, the lieutenant-governor"s son-in-law and secretary, who, advancing within the bar, addressed the speaker loudly in these words: "Mr. Speaker, if you sit in that chair one minute longer, this house will be immediately dissolved," at the same time shaking his fist at the speaker; and while the house was engaged in considering the means of punishing this insult, the lieutenant-governor sent for the speaker, and, holding up his watch to him, said he would allow the house three minutes, before the expiration of which, if it did not adjourn, he would resort to an immediate dissolution; and this extraordinary conduct was soon after followed by a prorogation of the legislature, in consequence of the house having committed to jail the lieutenant-governor"s son for breaking the windows of the apartment in which the house was then sitting. The lieutenant-governor was also charged with screening Thomas Tremlet, the chief justice of the island, from thirteen serious charges preferred against him by the house. He was also accused of degrading the council by making Mr. Ambrose Lane, a lieutenant of the 98th regiment, on half pay, and then town major of Charlottetown, a member of it, without having any claim to the position, save that of having recently married a daughter of the lieutenant-governor. Another member was a Mr. William Pleace, who came to the island a few years previously as a clerk to a mercantile establishment; from which trust he was dismissed, and then kept a petty shop of his own, where he retailed spirits. These were some of the charges brought against the governor, and the address concluded with the following words: "That your Majesty"s humble pet.i.tioners regret much the necessity they are under of approaching your Majesty"s sacred person in the language of complaint now submitted to your paternal consideration, and humbly trust, on a full review thereof, your Majesty will be satisfied that the further continuance of Lieutenant-Governor Smith in the command of your Majesty"s island must be distressing to its inhabitants, and, by preventing the usual course of legislative proceedings, greatly impede its prosperity." The addresses, adopted by the other counties were similar to that of which we have just given a sketch.
One of the accusations brought against the governor, which has not yet been mentioned, was, that he permitted, as chancellor of a court over which he himself presided, heavy and vexatious additions to the fees since the appointment of Mr. Ambrose Lane as registrar and master. On the fourteenth of October, the lieutenant-governor, on pretence that this charge was a gross libel and contempt of the court of chancery, commenced proceedings before himself-on the complaint of his son-in-law-against the members of the committee appointed by Queen"s County to manage the address to the King, who were all served with an attachment, and subsequently committed to the custody of a sergeant-at-arms. The object of these proceedings was evidently to get hold of Mr. Stewart, in order to prevent him from going to England with the pet.i.tions,-of which the lieutenant-governor had determined to get possession. Mr. Stewart only got notice of the governor"s intentions two hours before officers arrived at his house on purpose to take him into custody; but he escaped to Nova Scotia with the pet.i.tions, and thence proceeded to England. Had Stewart been taken into custody, there would, doubtless, have been a rebellion in the island, for the people were exasperated. Chagrined beyond measure at Stewart"s escape, the lieutenant-governor determined to lay a heavy fine on the other members of the committee, and sequestrators were appointed to enter upon their property and secure the amount; but being now alarmed at unmistakeable symptoms of a popular tumult, he prudently ordered proceedings to be delayed till his judgment could be enforced. The defence was ably conducted by Messrs. Binns and Hodgson.
On Sat.u.r.day morning, the twenty-sixth of July, 1823, appeared the first number of the _Prince Edward Island Register_, printed and edited by James D. Haszard, in which newspaper all the proceedings to which we have alluded were published. For the publication of these, Mr. Haszard was served with an order to appear at the bar of the court of chancery, being accused as guilty of a contemptuous libel against the court and the officers of the court. Mr. Palmer was agent for the prosecutor. Mr.
Haszard was asked if he would disclose the authors of the publication complained of,-which he agreed to do. The parties were Messrs. Stewart, McGregor, Mabey, Dockendorff, Owen, and McDonald. Addressing himself to Mr. Haszard, the chancellor said: "I compa.s.sionate your youth and inexperience; did I not do so, I would lay you by the heels long enough for you to remember it. You have delivered your evidence fairly, plainly, clearly, and as became a man; but I caution you, when you publish anything again, keep clear, sir, of a chancellor! Beware, sir, of a chancellor!" And with this solemn admonition, Mr. Haszard was dismissed from the bar.
But the rule of the chancellor was destined not to be of much longer duration; for on Thursday, the twenty-first of October, 1824, His Excellency Colonel Ready, accompanied by Mr. Stewart, arrived in a brig from Bristol, after a pa.s.sage of twenty-eight days. "He was loudly cheered on landing by a great concourse of spectators, and was received on the wharf by a guard of the 81st regiment and a number of the most respectable inhabitants." A public meeting of the inhabitants, called by the sheriff, Mr. William Pope, was held for the purpose of voting an address to the lieutenant-governor. Colonel Holland, Mr. Hodgson, and Mr. Binns were appointed to prepare it. "We feel," said the inhabitants, "the utmost confidence that the harmony which ought always to exist between the government and the people is perfectly established, and that your excellency will believe that loyalty, obedience to the laws, and a love of order is the character of the inhabitants of Charlottetown. We cannot omit on this occasion to express our unfeigned grat.i.tude and thanks for the attention which His Majesty has been graciously pleased to pay to the interests of this colony, in confiding its government to your excellency"s hands, and to add our most fervent wishes that your administration of it may be long and happy." The town was illuminated in the evening, and, to the credit of the inhabitants of Charlottetown, the exuberance of joy and festivity on the occasion was not marred by any impropriety, or insult to the man who had exercised his functions with a harshness and tyranny which made him the most unpopular governor who ever ruled on the island. The new governor was entertained at dinner in the Wellington Hotel. John Stewart was chairman, and the Honorable George Wright croupier. It is only fair to say, that an address was presented to the late governor, previous to his embarkation for England, signed by the members of council, princ.i.p.al officers of government, and two justices of the peace. Considering the character of Governor Smith"s administration, there is a spice of humor in the following portion of his reply: "I a.s.sure you I must ever feel a high interest in the prosperity of a colony whose welfare, it is well known to many of you, I have unceasingly watched over. It is my confident hope, as well as my fervent wish, that the island may continue to flourish under my successor, aided as he will be by the same support and advice from which I have myself so much and so generally benefited."
CHAPTER V.
Governor Ready desires to govern const.i.tutionally-Energetic legislation-George Wright, Administrator-Change in the mode of paying Customhouse Officials-Fire in Miramichi-Pet.i.tions of Roman Catholics to be relieved from civil disabilities-Proceedings of the a.s.sembly touching the question-Dispute between the Council and a.s.sembly-Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation-The Agricultural Society-Death of George the Fourth-Cobbett on Prince Edward Island-Colonel Ready succeeded by A. W. Young-The Census-Death of Governor Young-Biographical Sketch of him.
Governor Smith delighted in autocratical rule, and had not called an a.s.sembly together since 1820; but Governor Ready, wishing to govern the island in a more const.i.tutional manner, summoned, on his accession to office, a new house, which met in January, 1825, and proceeded to business with some degree of spirit and earnestness. Acts were pa.s.sed for the encouragement of education, for regulating juries and declaring their qualifications, for regulating the fisheries, for limiting and declaring the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, for empowering the governor to appoint commissioners to issue treasury notes to the extent of five thousand pounds, and for increasing the revenue by taxation.
Another session of the house was held in October of the same year, when the house displayed equal energy and diligence in transacting the public business. John Stewart was speaker, and the members elected for Charlottetown were Robert Hodgson and Paul Mabey. Mr. Samuel Nelson was an unsuccessful candidate for the town. He had been accused of not signing the address to the King, praying for the recall of Governor Smith. In his reply to that charge, Mr. Nelson stated a fact which shows the inherent meanness of the late governor in his treatment of the people. "Governor Smith," said Mr. Nelson, "never did anything for me.
On the contrary, he broke me as a captain in the militia, and when I was putting a porch to my door he _sent a peremptory demand to pull it away_."
The governor returned to England towards the close of the year, on private business, and during his absence the government was administered by the Honorable George Wright.
The officers of customs received in this year official instructions from the lords commissioners to discontinue the exaction of fees after the fifth of January ensuing, as fixed salaries were to be granted to them,-a regulation which extended to all the colonies.
In this year, eighteen vessels arrived at the island from Great Britain, and one hundred and twenty-eight from the British colonies. There were imported fifty-four thousand gallons of rum, two thousand five hundred gallons of brandy, three thousand gallons Geneva, and two thousand gallons of wine, which, for a population of about twenty-three thousand, was a large supply. The imports were valued at 85,337, and the exports at 95,426.
In the autumn of 1825 an extensive and most destructive fire took place in Miramichi, which swept over an immense area, destroying timber, farm steadings, and cattle. Many of the unfortunate inhabitants perished in the flames, and hundreds were left dest.i.tute. A liberal collection was made in the island for the relief of the suffering, and a vessel chartered to convey produce to the scene of the disaster.
The governor returned from England towards the close of the year 1826, and again a.s.sumed the reins of government. The house met in March following. In his opening address, the governor congratulated the house on the improvements recently made in the internal communications of the country,-the western line of road being completed up to Princetown, and surveys having been made for extending the line to Casc.u.mpec and the North Cape. His excellency also referred to the advantages which would accrue from the establishment of an agricultural society. Among other useful measures pa.s.sed during the session was one for ascertaining the population of the island, and for authorizing the formation of a fire engine company for Charlottetown.
During the last session a pet.i.tion was presented by the Roman catholics of the island, praying that they should be relieved from those civil disabilities under which they suffered. Consideration of the important subject was at that time deferred on account of the advanced period of the session. The subject was now brought up by Mr. Cameron, in a temperate and sensible speech, in which he stated that, notwithstanding the predictions of persons hostile to the prayer of the pet.i.tioners, not a single pet.i.tion was presented to the house against the proposed change. Mr. Cameron concluded by proposing the following resolution: "_Resolved_, that it is the opinion of this house that the right of voting at elections of members to serve in the general a.s.sembly ought to be extended to His Majesty"s subjects of the Roman catholic religion within the island, and that the election laws should be altered conformable to this resolution." A long and animated discussion took place, in which the attorney general, Dr. McAulay, Mr. Hodgson, and others supported it; and Mr. Campbell, Mr. McNeill, and Mr. Montgomery led in opposition. On the question being put, the votes were equal; but the speaker, Mr. Stewart, gave the casting vote against the resolution, on the ground that the question had not been settled in England. The speaker was one of the most enlightened men in the a.s.sembly, and his decision on this occasion cannot be said to have been in accordance with his general character. Had the resolution pa.s.sed, the a.s.sembly would have had the honor of being in advance, on this question, of the parliament of Great Britain. As subjects of the Crown, the Roman catholics, in asking to have a voice in the election of the legislature,-whose laws they were bound to obey in common with protestants,-claimed no favor, but a right which ought never to have been withheld, and the subsequent concession of which experience has proved to be as satisfactory in practice as it is equitable in principle. On the presentation of the pet.i.tion in 1825, a voluminous and very able correspondence was carried on in the columns of the _Register_, in the conduct of which the best talent in the island, on both the catholic and protestant sides, was enlisted. Theological questions, that had no bearing on the subject in dispute, were, unhappily, imported into the controversy; and, whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the discussion in its religious aspect, there can be none as to the fact of every argument advanced against the Roman catholic"s right to be put on an equal footing with the protestant in all matters appertaining to civil and religious liberty, being completely demolished by the accomplished advocates of the Roman catholic claims. While the elaborate communications to which we have referred were imbued on both sides with considerable bitterness, yet, to the credit of the island combatants, it may be truly said that such bitterness was sweetness itself compared with the venom characteristic of similar controversies, as carried on at this period in other places.
Fidelity to historical accuracy, at the same time, constrains us to state that, while on the part of catholics, as the aggrieved party, whose rights were tyranically and persistently disregarded, paroxysms of irritation were the natural result of oppression, no such apology can to the same extent be offered in behalf of their opponents.
In October, 1825, the council pa.s.sed a resolution to the effect that they would not in future be disposed to give their a.s.sent to any bill for appropriating money, unless the sums and services therein contained should be submitted in separate resolutions for their concurrence. This resolution was not agreeable to the a.s.sembly, who claimed the sole right of originating all money bills, and who denied the right of the council to alter or amend them. This difference of opinion led to a protracted controversy. In May, 1827, the council sent a message to the a.s.sembly, in which the question was elaborately argued, to which the a.s.sembly returned an equally elaborate reply. The dispute resulted, in 1827, in the council agreeing to the two princ.i.p.al bills of supply, and rejecting an _ad valorem_ duty bill; but in the following session-that of 1828-the appropriation bill was rejected by the council, which obliged the governor to confine the expenditure of the year to purposes of necessity. In meeting the house, in 1829, the governor expressed the hope that the unfortunate dispute of the last session would be brought to an amicable adjustment, and recommended a system of mutual compromise as the most effectual mode of securing that object. Although the council had resolved to transact no further business with the a.s.sembly until the latter body expunged a previous resolution from their journals containing certain imputations on the council, yet the house had refused to do so. Business communication was, however, resumed, and continued as if nothing had happened.
On the sixth of January, 1825, died Benjamin Chappell, late postmaster of the island, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He and his brother William emigrated from England in the year 1775. They owned one of the first packets that sailed between Charlottetown and the mainland. He saw the country in its rude and wilderness state, and was an attentive observer of all the vicissitudes it underwent in its gradual progress towards improvement, and few took a deeper interest in its prosperity.
He was a man of sterling piety, actively devoted to the cause of religion, and may with truth be considered the founder of the present Methodist establishment of the island. He was personally known and beloved by John Wesley, who was in the habit of corresponding with him for many years; and it afforded Mr. Chappell much delight to detail to his friends many interesting anecdotes that grew out of his intimacy with that great and good man. He was brought up to the millwright business, and was well acquainted with machinery in all its extensive branches. He was a man of intelligence and strong mind, and, with a perfect knowledge of his own business, possessed a great deal of useful information. If a life of consistent piety, as expressed in the virtues that dignify human nature, can endear a man to society, the memory of Benjamin Chappell will be long and affectionately cherished in the island.
In the session of 1829 a select committee of a.s.sembly, for preparing a specific plan on which a bill might be founded for promoting cla.s.sical education, presented their report, recommending the establishment of a cla.s.sical academy in Charlottetown, to be designated the "Central Academy," vesting the management in a patron and nine trustees. Two masters were to be employed, each to receive a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds a year; and no religious test was to be permitted. A bill in conformity with these recommendations was accordingly introduced and sanctioned.