IN THE DAYS . OF THE GANADA GOMPANY 1825-1850 C N^ÐA COMPANy. X ", :'; ;II II' - .: !ililf , '::' .'1,'" .' I" é> :J ! '-". ,:1:: ,Ü\ ::J'J 'l - }: . ; 41: I:' Li '::r "'. ,; \ i '\ i .III! r:t I -)1;":"- \ ::(ØA 'I' fl"III; l . I ' II ; ; jll'jl/' " - : n . :\'\4. r ' :;Iii \. . 'Iii>":.%i' ,,'" 1 ,. ..:.-.. L::._ ROBINA AND KATHLEEN 1\'1. LIZARS if ..I. , 11' .. . '. 1 .. l ..... ..) ... ..I. ........ ., .. , iI if. í" . ,.,.{ 5J. _, ... . of. . , ... . -,ill ,. t: .. . .f .....-- f, "'!. .. . ....... " ., .. . -....} , --. 11' tr. a .J..I f. ; .. J ,. ;. jI, -. """ ....... .. .'. :"",J .. J .- .'" . , i ..... ..L ..:* !. J .. J --.J · ;r "" ... .-, rI' . It. w # r,. .. I .. , -'- .. ".( 'Þ .,.J... iI 4<- . ... w Jff It ... 'Ie 'r I J "". -4, L. ..-1 . "- ..c. . .. It -40þ('\.< ')0 ;. "......11 .., .. .-, ".0_ 1 .ßf u .... -J,,-...(. . .., i'''':.î" :r * ::'/- .,< 0./ -.{... J .1 f"' .. ,;...... - ;' .-, '.-- -+ ..J.,. . ". ',' ..,.J. j. ....I.... ,, -r 4t' .".. 'I ,.. .J ... ....... 0{ .!r, , . .. 1""'. .. .. 1; t, '\. '. , .. .... . 4.. .. . . .. "1 : -> .. ....J. ... -rJf.t ..... -- ..... . ..:I .. r ..... -, .. \ ..r ., '" 1 'fj '. . ..'WI , . .. It .. .. r-.# "II' ...... ... , . .. . "t i- ;,.r ... .- tlo< \ .., ,L ' , - .,.J... .. +c: \' t '* .. . j i. J : '.t ' . \ 'iii . . \. . '\ t . ) \\ \ ,-'..., ", ;.... ...:J , .... . 'j," \;,\ \ _J t. , , . ., \ .. ù:: -< ;;) " .\ 1. ' "t.\ ) ,'. i:::. \ 4If-.. I. < '-" ... ... . "' 1.. - \ Ie \ . . 1 _ P ,, .. . 1'"l" '-,_ f _--., ' :=: Sã .. -..-- = ... f\. .. IN THE DAYS OF THE CANADA CO:\/IPANY: THE STORY OF THE SETTLE IEXT OF TIlE IIURO TR.\< T AND A YIE\Y OF THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PERIOD. 18 5 -185U. BY ROBI A AXD K.-\ TIILEE L-\CF.-\RL.\XE LIlAR . 'VIT H -\.N IXTROD1:CTIOX BY G. :\1. G RA T, D.D., LL.D., PrilU'ipal QI/( II'S Ullil'( I'. ity. Kii/!I8toll. IVITH PORTRAITS Al\'D ILLUSTRATIOA"S. TORONTO: VV ILL I A:\-l B RIG G S, WFSLEY BU ILDI GS. MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. H,\LIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS. 545Gb MORTH YORK PUBLIC USWI MAIN Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninet .-8ix, by K,UJlLEES 1oIAn,\RL.\NE LIZARf', at the Department of Agriculture. TO THE AIElVEOR Y OF Ube U\VO 160}1S, "RÒBINSON CRUSOE IN HAND," WHO CAME IN 1833-3 . AND WHOSE KEEN :\IEMORIES AND EXHAUSTIVE REPLIES TO TROUELESO\IE tant functions to private individuals; but the Government of Canada, in 1824, was not responsible to the people, and it was a good thing that it con- <;;ented to the formation of the Company. At any rate, as regards colonization, 1'011,(1 and hri(lge-huilding, and the equitable partition or sale of the public domain, things fOl> some time had been so had, a pLIOI' H.obpJ>t (}lIUl'lay, '\Villiam Lyon :\fackenzie and others proved to their own hurt, that they could hardly be worse. The alTival of Ualt made them better, and had he heen sustained by thp directomtp in Lundon, who represented the shareholders, tht' Company would pmbably ha\ e won for itself as honourable a name, on its own smaller scale, as history accords to the Hudson's Bay and the East India Companies. nut he was too big a man for his milstprs, and London was too far away ft>um the HUl'on Tract to , I INTRODUCTION. administer details satisfactorily. The London Board had to utilize Galt's services, but they were unwilling- to trust him, even to the extent of permitting him to take a clerk from London, though thf' duty of dealing with a million sterling and of settling twu and a half millions of acres of fprtile lands a]1 oyer Upper Canada had tlJ hf' left to his sole management. Like most corporations of wealthy or of poor men, tlwy demanded immediate returns on their in ,.estecl capital, and it was poor satisfaction to them to have Galt point out that they could not e:x pect rent for a housp until it was huilt. They had undertakpn to efl'pct gl'eat puhlic impI'ovements, a a condition of getting tlwir chat.ter, and he would not let them forget it, his reputation as well as theirs being invoh"ed in keeping faith with the Crown. Perhaps the chif'f troublp with Galt, and the mainspring of their distrust, was t.hat which constituted his happiness all through life. Ian can have (JIlly one paraclisf' on earth, hut Galt aimed at having half a dozen simultaneously. He had so many irons in the fire that men douLted whether hp Cllulò attend properly to the one in which they were interested. Besidt-'s, the average practical man is apt at. a]1 times to Le sceptical of the husiness capacity of a nm"elist. Galt was poet, biographer, historian, critic, essayist, politician, as well as novelist. How could a man of letters, so full and free, be trusted as a man of atlairs? Of course, the reply is obvious, that unless the Company had made up their minds to trust him, they should not have appointed him Commis- sioner and sent him out to a new world as their agent and )'t-'pre- sentative. In justice to Galt, it ðhould he added that e,-en the immediate future verified his forecasts, and proved that what was freely called extravagance was really judicious investment. His chief apparent monuments are the City of Guelph, founded hy him with feelings and ceremonial appropriate to a poet, and thp roa(1 thl'Ough the Huron Tract, the first oyerland communication hetwepn tlw sweet water seas of Ontario and Huron. In the:.,;e unòertaking;; and in organizing the business of the Company, in attracting desirall1f' immigrants to the Province, and in making thoughtful provision for their necessities, he proved that a literary man could be immeasur- ably supf'rior to the average immigration agent who is obliged tn work by t11f' rule of thumb. His resources seemed to 11(' as infinite IXTHODGCTIOX. Vll as his ('nergy. Hf' was as Protean in wrestling with nature as in his literary lahoUl's; "now hent on the ùiscovery of an indelible ink, now on the damming of a river, now on the construction of a bridge, now on thf' cutting of a canal, now on the felling of a forest, now on the draining of a swamp, now on the invention of ."1, hydraulic machine, now on the endowment of an hospital, now on the formation of a Company, and now un the founding of a city." He was a man of ideas, and it is appointed unto all such men to suffer. To-day, Wf' could affonl to pay a good price for a John Galt to lead and guide the colonization of our North-"'Test, hut whether we would engage him if he were to he had is another question. The salary demanded might he obstacle enough. .A railway will- in ly pays fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year for a first-class managing director. The Dominion, which spends millions annuany un puhlic works, grudges one-tenth of the sum to a responsible head, and ends hy ha,'ing no one responsihle. A proposal to pay a competent head his market salary would destroy any Govern- ment. \ High Commi'5sioner in London is considered dear at :710,000, anù a GO\?ernor-General ruinous at 850,000, though the one 01' the othPl' is in a position to save or destroy not only millions hut the honour of the country. \Vhat of that Scores of politicians ewe ready at a moment's notice to unòertake the job for half the money. Perhaps tlw best thing that Galt did for Canada was to lwing to it settlers of the right stock. T mmigrants, like other peÇ>ple or things, should be weighed rather than counted, though it is difficult to do the weighing. Comparisons are always odious, and in this case time is needpd for making tf'sts or arriving at well- established l"onclusions. {}alt had the pal' of the educated classes in Britain, and in his day there were-for more reasons than one -numbers of people possessed of some capital who were eager to emigrate. They saw little hope of a future for their children in the old land, and Galt and Dunlop described Canada so as to touch theÜ' imaginations. Some of these, after enjoying the fish- ing and the shooting, became hitterly dissatisfied with their lot and with the men who hacl attracted them from the old easy ruts in which they had moved at home. Others struggled manfully, in some cases heroically, again<;t the difficulties of "the bush" and VIII I TRODL'CTIOX. the climate; against wulves and bears, and the more terrible black- fly and mosquito. And, as one of them, J.\Lljor Strickland, testifies, they had their reward. lIe, at any rate, accepted the conditions of the new life and soon learned to love the new land, Indeed, it took him captin' from the first. ,\Yhen the inland ocean of Huron first burst on his sight, from the wooded heights which overhung the mouth of the )laitland, where the town of Guderich was planted, he says, "1 thuught Canada then-and I have neVP1. ehanged my opinion-the most beautiful country in the world." Elsewhere* he says, "A man of education will always possess an illfluence even in bush society; he may be poor, but his value will not be tested by the low standard of money, and he will be appealed to for his judgment in many matters, and will be inducted into several offices more honourable than lucrative." That is the style (If man to lay the foundations and build the walls of a country. His testimony is abundantly confirmed by the lives of men widely different, like Philemon '\\ right in Hull township, Colonel Talbot on Lake El'ie, the Highland Chief McX ab on the Ottawa. and many a nüble old Loyalist from the States. It is interesting to find that e' en at the early stage ,in om' history when the Canada Company began its reign, our fathers had gl"Own into a distinct type of humanity. \Ve do not ,\,ondel. that our French-speaking fellow-countrymen- - sometime1S rather a11surdly called French-should be Canadians pure and simple. They ,we the early core of the Canadian people. '\nla,l do they know of }'rance or of any other land but their own (( }i'or genera- tions their furefathers have dwelt on the banks of the mighty t. Lawrence, and they love it as the Swiss love their mountains. But it was othen\ ise in Upper Canada. The various nationalitie... '" ho settled it had --at the time I speak of-little more than one generation in which to becume one peoph . Yet Galt's immigrants. in describing tlwlU-sumetimes in sketches not flattering to our family pride- after the manner of outspoken Britons when sketch ing peuple who are not English, call attention to the singularly complete process of unification which had already taken place. " They deemed it sonlPwhat remarkable that the Canadian popula- ..." T"(,llt Years' Experience in Canillla ".cst."" IXTRODlTTIOX. IX tion, at that tilll{, drawn from all Europe and P\"ery tate in the 1T nion, should exhibit uch small variety in manners, custums. dress, or mode of life. n-ermans, Highlanders, Fl"pllch, English and Irish soon fused and he came 'Canadian.'" Pmbably the war of 181 -13 is in good par.t the explanation nf this: not merely because gallant resistance to successive wave of inntsion had awakened a national pirit, hut also because the high prices then paid fOl" pmduce of evpry kind had stimulated industr} a far into the hackwoods as population had pxtended. )len whu knew nothing of the horrors of the war, and who had no dread of its penetrating to their remote hamlets or clearings, rejoiced to et three dullars a bu"hel for wheat. l\I r. Philemon \\ t>ight" in giving to a committee of the Housp of Asspmhly a detailed account of hiR experiences, fmIll 1800 to 18 3, in settling HuH, refers only once to the war, and his reference is entirely along this strictly pecUt iat>.Y line of personal advantage. Here it is: "lxl: . At the finishing of threshing the wheat, we measured 3,000 bushels: these :3,000 hushels cost me 2,000, for which I wa uA-prod :0-;9,000, three dollars per hushel l)f'ing at that tillle the common pricp, OIL account of thp war. I must say it was the most ad vantageou:- undertaking I ever engaged in sincp I cOlllmenced the spttlement. Ha\'ing a clear profit of ï,OOO, I continued to exppnrl upon the farm." U ndpt. such circumstances thp a vprage farmer understood that loyalty paid. So matter where he had been horn, he was ..;ure to be an enthusiastic Canadian, and sure to enter.tain a kindly feeling for the Old l\Iother Country that poured out hpt' sovpreigns ft'eely a<; water, The war might be justifiable ot' very much tilt' t"everse, in his eyes, but it wa quite clear that the good prices t-'nabled him to pay his lahuurers and improve hi pmperty. Is it \\ onderful that, when word came of peace having been made, a loyal Englishman nalyely wrote of it as "appalling news " Interesting, too, is it to learn that the founder of the Canada Company dreamed of that X orth - \Vest Passage by land which Canada has at last madf' good. In the little office at York, Ill' and his trio of trusted officer c1iscus:,;pd plans for the present amI dreamed drf'ams of the future. "Therp was an experimental farm: a \\ ay t.o utilize rapids for powpr; and, mo",t glorious dream of all, to go by canal from (Juebec to upf'rior, pass the notelH's of t IH' x IXTRODl:CTIOX. Hock)' )Iountains, and lock down the Columbia. to the Pacific; and with a steam packet line between London and Quebec, we may come and go between China and Britain in about two month!:;. . . . Can this be called a foolish prophecy, an idle dream 7 By no means; it is perfectly practicablp." 'Ve are reminded by this forecast that some idle dreams of yesterday are commonplace realities to-day. Already, the mails from Yokohama to London, 'ria Yancouver and Montreal, have been deli,'ered in twenty days, nine hours, m' about one-t.hin) of the time prophesied. I abstain hom saying here all that I feel concerning the author ' work, because those who read the Preface are sure to read the book, and they will judge for themselves. Enough to say that to me it has heen an unmixed delight to read the proof. Their racy descrip- tions give vivid glimpses of the good old times, and many Canadians \, ill join with me in thanking them for allowing us to sit beside one uf the cradle"! of our national life-incanabuln. nostrap genti. -and hear some of the first attempts at speech of tllP sturdy infant., G. )1. U RAKT, KI (;STO , ....,'pptembn., 18flfj. P R : F Â. C l . J x this book there is no attempt made at historical writing; that will be a matter for the future, after condensation of many similar works. If in the meantime it proyiùes pleasant reading for those interested in the story of the Huron Tract, the wish and aim of the authors are gratified and justified. The book, with all its faults of omission and commission, is offered tu that public which so constantly through the press demands historical data. Professor Hamsay "\Vright, in his circular of 1893, says: "Historif's of individ ual families should therefore be collected, and the accoun ts of various local f'nterprisf's carefully noted. Information should be obtained from individual recollection of events, traditions, private and public letters, manuscl>ipt letterlS and diaries, old newspapers and pamphlets, grants anù commissions, printed 01' engravf'd." Tn the subjoined letter of thank anò table of referencps will be found authorities for the matter herein contaiuf'd. Although history is the cyclic poem written by time upon tht" memories of men, recollections, like colours, fade, and these collops of literature, letters, journals, etc., being heritable and private property, are nut always procurable. Difficulties, however, all reckoned, the mass acquired is so great that it would delight the German professor who died lamenting he had squandered his life upon the whole noun instead of confining himself to the dative cast-' ; so great that the five hundred pag-es here allowed might as easily have been one thousand. XII PREFACE. Lack of proper se maps and innun1Prahle documents of use and interest. TllP chief wOl'ks which have been consulted are: "The Backwoodsman." Dunlop. The various writings (If trickland and Bonnyca tlp. )[cTaggart's " rr'hree Years in Upper Canada." " 'Vestern \Vanderings." Kingston. " Six Years in the Canada-s." Talbot. ,. \Vinter Htudies." l\Irs. Jamesoll_ )IcGrath's " Letters." " The Emigrant." Francis Bond Head. Dent's " History of the Last Forty Years." "Noctes Ambrosiana'." \Vilson, et al. " Life of LOl>d Edward Fitzgera]rL" "loon'. Ualt's " Autohiography and :\Iiscellany." "Toronto of Old." cadding. Together with old numbm's of FrltSer's and Bhtf.kwood'8, and files of newspapers. NTHATFORD, OctolJer 18t, 18fJ(j. . CONTE TS. ('HAPTER. 1. rAG!' 17 :-\pirit uf the Times . CHAPTER II. The Father uf the Company . 24 CHAPTEr: III. Canada as the Company Found It . 5 CHAPTER IY. The Face of the Land . 65 CHAPTEH ," From Champlain to Uoodillg . 8 "' ( - CHAPTER YI. The King of the Canada Company 102 CHAPTER YII. The Colhorne Cli(lue. 117 CH \PTER '"III. Gairhraid . 15l CHAPTER I " LUllderstnll un CHA PTER X. )Ieado\\ lands 2')') ('HAPTER XI. The Canada Cumpau,\ r, . The People . :!55 CHAPTER XII. The People '"'''. The Canada Company . :!f1H CHA PTER XIII. A ::;ocial Put PnUlTi . 2!}6 CHAPTER Xl\'. The Bonnie Ea thopcs 41)0 CHAPTER XY. The Cairn A PPE IIIX I ])EÅ 4ôO 481 4H.-) LIST 01; IL.LlTsrrRA]'IO S. TUE CASTU HILL, ÚODERICH F"ollti' l)Ù-'C(-. .foIl);" GALT, THE "FATHER OF TII}O l'(nIPA ' " 24 PLA OF "TIlE Tow 0J0> ( rEIÆ" [ IR2i "2i YU:W OF ( rELl'1I I IS30 ::?S PL,\ OF THE Tow:'\ ())' f ODEmCH, IS29 68 '-IEW OF BE )Iu.J.ER S(i "A P_\RTHTLARLY T'ICTrRES(jeE POT" }:! LWHTIwrsE -\ D OLD PIER, GODERH'H I Iti THE COI.nOR E BRIDl E TO-IHY US TIlE 1>1':'\1.01' DOOR-PLATE 131 SKETCH OF THE YILL.-WE O}' f -\JRBlL\Jl) Hi.::; l'APT.US })CSLOP AXD \Yn>E .\'1" n \Yn.LlAl\[ Dna,ol' 1';.; DR. Dr LOP'S SILVER (TI' 184 SHERIFF HY InL\ 19l \- [EW OJo' 1E \DOWJ..\ D 232 COt:"RT HorsE, ( ODERICH - 241 D-\SIEL LIZARS 2,')-l FA'l'HER SCH EIDER 2i-l .ft;Dla: ACLA D :2 7 "LOOKI u RACK O THOSI DAYS" : .)l FACSBIILE OJo' LETTER WRITTE llY 'l'HE J)rKE 1J}o' \YELI.I"C:TO : 60 .\ WI TER WRECK OX LAKE HeRo, 367 VIEWS OF nODERH'H H,\RHOl'R :r;ï CAPT.\I CLARK 3i3 CHARLES nIRVI , \YILLIAM ïvC::"\I , Rom:R1' GIJmo s, jP,JOHX IoRRh 37.') :-;E.\L OF THE COr TY OF H(TRO : iH KETCU OF TilE HeRo" DI TRII"l' 3i!1 A CLOCK WITH A HISTORY :JSs D.\ VID CL.\RKE - :JH:! \T IEW OF TIlE CITY OJo' :-;TRATHHW -lOO A IImlE I DrSTRY OF BYGO E D,\ YS 40-l O E OF THE FIRST DW}O;LLI G-H(U-SES .\::"\D ITS 01 'I'{;P,\ "1' -lIt; TilE FIRST L-\c I Tilt: ETTLK\lE"T 41 '; .J. C. W. D-\LY 121; TUK t'IRS'l' CHooL-HorsE, STR.\'rFURD -l3 1 ST. JA IES' A nLICA CHURCII, TR.\TFORD 441 FIRST COURT HOGSE .-\ D COr TY nUII.[)J (:S, TR.\TFORl' 4.")3 SEAL OF TIlE COr TY OF PERTH -l5'; A TYPICAL R'LRAL S('E E 45S COLLEGIATE l STITeTE, HTR\TFOfW - 4.i9 \\TILLlA?l1 DL""LOP 474 'I'll E C UR so IN THE D.A.\TS OF rI'HE CANADA COl\IPANY. CHAPTEH 1. SPIRIT OF THE TI1IES. "Canada i, a giant in ifl3 c1"adle." I 1791 the Reign of Terror had begun, and Britain felt the reflex agitation. There the trial of "Tarren Hastings held public attention; and while France was declare({ a republic, Constantinople was (lesolated by an unparalleled fire, and Egypt lm"t a million of her people by the plague. The guillotine be- came the death-bed of a Royal family and of hundreds of the nobility: the King of Sweden fell by the hand of an assassin; Europe was in a turmoil: hut the English Goverllluent had time to think fur the intere:-.;ts of the colony which then was beginning to claim attention from the .:\Iother Country. It, too, vast as was its territory and scattered its sparse population, felt the strain arising from the animosities of race and local faction. In 1811 took place the bitter st)"uggle between the HwIson's Bay Company and its opponents. Lord Selkirk, energetic, persever- ing and indOluitable, with his hardy Countess, formed his settle- ment of Highlander:-.;, anI] Kildonan the ew hecame the scene of a fresh conflict. Even on the fiftieth parallel of north lati- tude there was war and commotion-a struggle for land and power; and (Iisputed titles. enthusiasm. philanthropy, and COlll- plexions red amI white, made one more slide in the panorama of the world's battle. 2 18 IY THE DAYS OF THE CANADA CO:\fPAKY. The Canadians of these early times were full of a well- founded pride. It arose from the vast natural advantages of their own country; from pride of descent, which gave them a reflected glory from all British renown: but, best of all, from prille of their own prowess and martial exploits in that ever green page of Canadian history, the year 1812. The Scottish Highlanders, especially, had brought from the old to the new wilds the loyal ardour, fen-our and elevotion which distin- guished them wheresoever de:-;tiny drove them. The restless- ness which urged them into forest recesses in quest of indepen- dence, their love of freedom and enterprise, their capacity for illliustry, all marked these Canadian pioneers as forces con- trolled by that spirit of dcmocracy which impel:-; civilization to seek ncw homes amid savage SUITounl lings. They were not victims to that controlling power, local attachment, which made the Frenchman content on his two-acre lot, the sub-division coming to him like a "portion" in one of his native wine pro- VInces. rrhanks to Mr. Pitt we then had our heginning, even if in the excess of his zeal he meflitated the mistake of rewarding Fnited Empire loyalism with the Dukedom of iagara: forthe belief was" Niagara must be consillered the utmost limit west- ward capable of cultivation." In a word, the country had so far bE'en consiflerE'd only fit to produce peltries amI pine masts. This wish to recompense the losses sustained lJY those colon- ists who harl so faithfully served the parent Government took active form in the inception of the Canada Company. Popular assemblies and ardent patriots are not always good judges of what will benefit industry. 'V orks which promise the over- coming of vast oh.;tacles awl the connection of distant points arouse enthusiasm and are themes for oratory. The humbler work of detail, an,l the choice of men who understand it suffi- ciently to direct and jUflge of it when complete, are other affairs. Here was an opportunity for the pamphleteer, for the CO'11:)any organizer, and one not neglected. The enthusiast, SPIRIT OF THE TIl\mS. 19 too, was early on the scene, his wish for excitement often being father to the rôle of colonizer, his ambition fired by the highly wrought pictures of the pamphleteer; or the sight of vast rivers, plains and forests setting his brain on fire with schemes whereby his philanthropic leanings might be gratified in providing homes for the thousands who were starving else- where; and the most intensely human impulse of all, possible fortune to himself. The British officers who returned after the war had told those at home that although description hall been true in call- ing the colony a "nlst Rolitude," it was by no means "a hope- less wilderness." It is true, so late as 1804, Upper Canada had County Lieutenants, awl a Domesday Book which contained recor(ls of gl'ant of land from the beginning of the organiza- tion of that province in 1792. The still fau1Ïliar name of Baby figured there as County Lieutenant for Kent. It was compute(l that Britain might annually lose from fifty to sixty thousand of her inhabitants with advantage to those remaining behiwl, and that superfluous capital might advan- tageously be invested in colonial improvements. 'Vhat remained to be proved, anI I coul(l alone be proved by experience, was which would be the class of persons most fitted for the new life. Also, would not the new object of investment be as chimerical, in many cases, a:.; the South ea Bubble itself. As to the class of emigrants, the bulk of them promised to be labourers or those who sought support among the middle classes, a support which yearly became wore difficult from a number of causes. Towards 1825, the year of the organization of the Canada Company, the reduced Hcale of the Army anù :Navy and the economy introduced into all departments, with- drew many sources of income. .:\Ianufactures awl trade were ()Illy advantageous when carried on upon a large scale, with low profits upon extensive capital. There remaine(l only the learned professions, with clerkshipH in banks, insurance com- panies and similar establislunents. For these pursuits an increased population, and the rapid growth of education, caused 20 IN THE DAYS OF THE CANADA COMPANY. a keen competition. This secured for national purposes a great- degree of talent: but the pressure on the middle classel:3 grew yearly heavier. There were many who possessed small capital -from five hundred to one thousand pounds-but it was not everyone who possessed the judgment and industry required for a life in the bush. As an octogenarian (a wealthy man who came to the country as a lad in service and saw his master and his master's friends disappear, their means dissipated, and the world and themselves no better for their having been) has said, "Sure they all had money; but few of them had any sinse, and none of them knew how to work." In 1825 Galt had put the final words to the "Last of the Lairds," and set sail for Canada with his grant of 1,100,000 acres of land in his pocket, and his brain busy with emigra- tion schemes. That year was famous in London for schemes and company-making. It was a time, famous still, for bUl y brains of many kinds, and the nursery life of tho::;e who were to make the succeeding years remarkable in the world's history. l\liss Nightingale was a school girl; the Duchess of Kent was giving her life to the formation of that character which has been England's happiness e\Ter since; and a little girl, whom the world was to know under the masculine name of George Eliot, was drinking in the learning and the wisdom to appear aftenvards in her closely written pages. Grey, Brougham, Peel, Lyndhurst and :l\Ielbourne, were speechifying, and Disraeli and Gladstone were the youths who listened to them; Burns and Byron were warm and palpitating memories; while Scott, Moore and Wordsworth were furnishing feasts for a youth nameù Tennyson; Croker, Maginn, Ellis, Gifford, and a host of others, were making things lively in the reyiews; Harriet l\Iartineau had begun to write; Fanny Kemble was delighting audiences from the north of Englanù to the south; Crusty Christopher, Hogg. Galt, Dunlop and Alan Cunningham were enjoying their Noctes A m,brosÜtnæ; while the memory of Nelson, and the living presence of the Iron Duke, were as an afterglow of peace upon victory. The :l\Iexican mountains SPIRIT OF THE TUXES. 21 ,delivereù up their ingots of gold and silver; the pearl oyster ,yawned in urprise at the diving-bell; ùiamonds and gold dust were brought from Africa; and travellers, tempted abroad by so many yaried attractions, pileù the booksellers' stalls with tales hard to be believed. The air, too, was alive with scientific discovery: the railroad, the steamship, the photograph, were about to be given to a world which was half wondering, half credulous, soon to be wholly belieying. And in spite of all this progress, Canning and Castlereagh, and others less famous, were fighting duels, or pretending they were ready to do so. Canada was remote from the new birth, but even she felt the quickening; for Britain was about to send a new class of emigrants to jolt over her corduroys and thread bridle-paths through her 'woods. In Irelan!], Lord Ed ward Fitzgerald, though dead, lived in the hearts of the people; the rough-coated, down-trodden Celt had a long memory and a keen wit; he sighed for a "patch" and a log cabin, with a cow and other things desirable in life. To the Huron Tract he came, leaving hehind him the bleak mountains of Clare dotted over with forsaken lllud hovels, the reclaimed bogs of "farm" rented at exorbitant prices, and the peat stack which heM the keg of poteen. This, then, was the Britain to which Galt, Dunlop, Strick- land, Don, Hyndman, Haldane, Luard, Lizars, Jones and a host of others, belonged. The pamphlets of the Canada Company had fallen among them, and into the depths of the Huron Tract they carried their knowledge, their tastes, their habits, and their enthusiasms. But for everyone such as these there were dozens from the three sister countries whose minds were made receptive to ,yords which promised a liying in any land, which spoke of a home as a possibility. It was then that men had to give way to the red deer, and in every clachan about Braemar and Glen -Glunie there were heaps of stones and green patches which marked what were once cottages anù gardens. The Scotchman, like the Irishman, looked his last upon the desolation of his 22 IN THE DAYS OF THE CA ADA CO IPA Y. nati ve hills and turned his face westward. It was then th prophecy was made that soon the Highlander would live only in history and in Sir \Valter Scott. The departing piper shrilled H a til mi tulidh, " 'Ve return, we return, no more, no more; ,,. and deckloads of men and women, throwing off despair and embracing hope, turned their faces towards the sunset, thinking" that somewhere in that glowing west for them the word Home was written. These Celts of two nations were of the race of stone, strong as their own Druidical monuments, and firmly believing" Stronger than the laird are the vassals," and "A country is stronger than a prince." "" The upheaval consequent upon 'Vaterloo had scarcely yet subsided. Revelation was searched for prophecy concerning- times felt to be so wonderful, and sig-ns were sought for and found. A child was shown in public upon whose eyelids were marks deciphered as being" Napoleon-Empereur." The times were Napoleonic; and as many who were destined to lead in this march to western Canada were military and na\<-almen, it is not wonderful that their aims were high anf} their schemes gigantic. Dunlop, Van Egmond, Vansittart, Talbot, and others whose record of labour, mistake and success is written upon the face of our peninsula, dreamt dreams and saw viRions. But they were tired of the Moloch of 'Val' set up in every European land, and their minds were busy with the themes of Adam mith. Attention had been directed from wealth, as wealth, to labour as the means towards it. Eyes made ophthalmic by too long sight of blood longed for the green of the fields; and " labourage et pcît1trage sont les 'fIw/melles de l' êtctt " became the first tenet of the tired soldier and 'would-be emigrant's creed. Labour was the basis of the new doctrine; so that land which then echoed only to the yell of the Indian or was silent with the brooding of coming change, and the money of the capitalist, were to form that grand pioneer of empire, the Canada Com- pany. But what was to make the increased wealth of the land, what was to contribute the revenue? The work of the SPIRIT OF THE TIMES. 23 men who came to it; the work of their hands, be the hands gentle, mechanic, soldier or horny. The spirit of the times, warlike and progressive, stirred in them and gave them strength for the great work before them. All of the contingent, poor and rich, high and low, were more or less the same. It was a time of hatreds. Dunlop hated a Frenchman as deeply as did Nelson; the Tips and the Downs came ready to battle in the intervals of ploughing; and once settled in the Huron Tract, friendship and feu were to be taken up on Old Country lines, to so continue until a common danger made men brothers, to fight in 1837 side by side. Old settlers tell how, like the banqueters of ancient Gaul, their meetings seldom ended but with a fray. With the Gaul the thigh-bone of the pieCe cle resistance of the feast became the perquisite of the bravest. Here there was no such invidious choice. Each man got his axe-handle, and courted his foe with gesture and gibe. or were the fair ones wanting in valour. The Irishwoman who" walked," calmly sat down on the road- side when things promi ed to be too much for her friends, drew off boot and stocking, put a stone in the latter, and, bellicose dame that she was, threw her missile into the barbarian chaos. The main body of the Huron people was Tory, but some of those composing it were to find out that history and common- sense tend to change opinion. The last travelled as slowly as did the passengers of the time, over corduroy; but destinations were reached, nevertheless. How they were reached, and the stirring stories of the time when the Canada Company and the Colborne Clique strove for mastery, it is hoped the follDwing pages will tell. CHAPTER II. THE FATHER OF THE COMPANY. " Who or 'lI'hat on earth that is !food for anything i8 not as, ailed by ignorallCt, stupidity or malice." GALT was ill no hurry to come to Canada, the scene of so many of hiB subsequent trials and mortifications; and he fain would have postponed his departure, the preliminary business having sadly interfered with his efforts at composition.. In 1823, tired of his roving life and anxiow-i as to the education of his three sons, he settled at Eskgrove, near ::\Iusselburgh. But scarcely had he taken root there when, through the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was led to take charge of an enquiry into the state of Upper Canada.'s resources, out of which enquiry the Canada Company grew. To )11'. Galt, solely, it owed its origin, and on its formation he was appointed Secretary. Of the five Commissioners sent out he was the only one who assumed the responsibility of the upper provinces; and although his duties were performed faithfully, hi troubles then began. That they never ceased we know. * Among Galt's numerous works are: "Battle of Largs,"" Life of Benjamin \Vest," "Historical Pictures," "The \Vandering Jew," "The Earthquake," "Letters from the Levant," "Commercial Travels," "Ayrshirc Legatees," "Annals of the Parish," "The Provost," "The foiteamboat," "Sir Andrew \Vylie," "The Entail," "Last of the Lairds," "Chronicle of Dalmailing," "Ringan Gilhaize," "The paewife," "Rothelall," "Lawrie Todd," " Southellnan," "Life of Byron," "Lives of the Players;' "Bogle Corbet, 01' The Emigrants," "The Iajolo," " tanley BUÀton," "Ehen Erskine," "The Stolen Child," " The Ouranologos," " Autobiography," " Stories of the tudy," " Literary risccllanics," etc., etc. ....... JOIlX GALT. C' THE FATHER OF THE C031PANY. 25 Any student of Canadian history knows the place held in -colonial estimatiOli by this great COlllpany-a company the prime mover of which was actuated by true zeal, but whose fellow-workers on occasions baw fit to misinterpret his high motives. Nor were some onlookers less jealous, while at the same time the motive for some of the misrepresentations com- plained of was traced to certain of the utterances of his Scottish reVIewers. lr. Galt has been accused of extravagances: but if extra- vagance there was, it was an authorized extravagance. His actions have been blamed as high-handed and short-sighted; for the first, he was under direction from a Board not in touch with the circumstances; and for the secoml, he was far-sighted enough for his sons, in their maturity, to have been able to see in Canada many things which he had hoped for during their youth. Thomas lcGrath, good, worthy man, when speaking of those "excellent and honourable men, who will conscientiously do their -duty:' who were sent to supersede )Ir. Galt, thinks that" they may naturally reap the advantages of Mr. Galt's wisdom and exertions." He writes to his Dublin correspondent that "\Y e have a very spirited manager of the Canada Company in this neighbourhood-)Ir. Galt-whose yarious publications bear strong evidence of his literary powers, and whose foresight amI perseverance, acting upon a great scalE;, would eventually have produced a wonderful improvement, in ad,-ancing most impor- tant intcrest of this country." McTaggart open:-: his remarks on Galt with the parenthesis of "the celebrated novelist." Further on, he says: ".Mr. Galt deserves great credit for the in,'ention and management of the Company. In this he has shown a genius that is rarely excelled. He organized the whole management of business, .anù displayed all that tact and diplomacy which his superior talents qualify him for in such an eminent degree." Contradic- tory testimony this to that arlvanced by those persons who con- gidered him over-bearing and tactless. In Dr. Scadding's work 26 I THE DAYS OF THE CANADA COMPANY. on Toronto we find. with the account of the celebrated ball at Franks', that Ir. Galt is said to have laid the foundation of the Company wisely and well. \Yith him originated the idea of making roads before the settlers went on the ground; he accom- plishe(l the carrying out of this idea, but not without first, to a certain extent, antagonizing the Government. 1\11'. Galt, it may be mentioned, would have liked to deal 'with all governments in what he considered their true character-" as committees of the people;" and when he met with (lirectors of a country who considered that a government should be autocratic, friction ensued. As to the Lally Mary \Villis ball, Mr. Galt. it would appear, did not endeavour to increase his popularity. For the time and place it waR a gorgeous affair. People who now-a-days describe Mr. Galt as extravagant and short-sighted in his management would no doubt in his own time have been members of the coterie of secret enemies who overlooked no occasion on which to work to his disadvantage. \Vhile wishing to procure his discharge in a manner disgraceful to him, they were not able to sufficiently understand the nobility of a spirit which made him feel aH a disgrace the lack of appreciation his Company had for him. Had their vision been a little keener they might have been satisfied at an earlier date than they were. The incidents of the Guayra starving emigrants and the public dinner at Guelph, with other matters which followed closely in their train, in all cases .1\11'. Galt being grossly misrepresented, led to a state of mind which made him feel it necessary to send in his resignation to the Chairman. It was not then accepted, and he was once more with a com- paratively free hand. Another vindication of the 'wisdom of his expenditure is contained in Lord Dalhousie's letter of August 31st, 1 33; and :1\11'. Galt himself says, in the closing pages of his "Autobiography": "The fact of the Canada Com- pany being one of the most flourishing concerns in London is the vindication of my scheme and plans." In the making of Guelph he took a great pleasure, and we- THE FATHER OF THE CO:\[PÅ T. 27 have a souvenir of him there in the shape of " The Priory," the log structure put up especially for him, and which, as the years went on, grew picturesque in the eyes of Canadians-now pre- served, as far as the times will allow, by the Canadian Pacific Railway. In a moment of facetiommess, once when the house x '" . A?i1 J /11 \"\:<. 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I, I ,,_ .f' THE FATHER OF THE COl\IPAKY. 29 Long afterwards, when speaking of the various companies in which he was interested, he says: "The Canada Company was the best and greatest colonial project ever formed, but which, I do conceive, was ne\ er fully understood by those who had the supreme management. It has, however, in the scope of the arrangements, been improved upon in my second company, the British American Land Company." Perhaps land com- panies in nm,'" countries were not 1\11'. Galt's forte, after all; for even some of those who were kindly disposed to him are found saying that in his bush work he made what has been demonstrated a grave mistake, namely, appointing persons to oversee the work who were in no way qualified for the, task. For this last there is perhaps a partial excuse. He was not a man easily daunted by adverse circumstances; but even with his powers of grasping a situation, he felt himself sorely handicapped in the admini tration of the affairs of a concern which had a capital of one million pounds or more, while the Board denied him the indulgence of bringing out e\ en one clerk to assist him in petty details. The Accountant who was sent out, without 1\11'. Galt's pre- vious knowledge, to oversee not only the accounts but the Superintendent himself and his doings, made the latter's path . a rough and thorny one: and when, matters ha'Ting grown more than he could stand, 1\11'. Galt determined to go to England to lay a personal request before the Directorate for investigation, the Accountant took an a(h antage of him hy leaving for home, without warning, thus laying upon the- Superintendent the necessity of remaining on the ground to take up the ends of the Accountant's work as well as to con- tinue his own. One result of the Englishman's return was a notification from the Board to the Bank at York to cease to honour 1\[1'. Galt's drafts. Could a high-spirited man suffer a greater indignity? His expedient for salvation was accepted by the Governor, and, as Mr. Galt says, "the bill was accord- ingly drawn, the honour of the Company saved." :Major trickland adds his quota to the kindly opinion jO IN THE DAYS OF THE CANADA COMPANY. expressed by those who knew Galt best, his own being that "Galt (besides suffering misrepresentations before the home authorities) was ill-used by the Canadian Government." Granting that he was not in a hundredth degree deserving of the ill reports he suffered, :Mr. Galt himself depicts a character with which it might, on occasions, be difficult to deal. His spirit of self-reliance was particularly shown in his attempts to form his second company entirely on his own responsibility, and in his mortification at being, in the end, forced to call a public meeting-" thus cOllniving in a mode of proceeding which took tlw initiatory of all proceedings out of my own hands." We hope, too, that he merely availed himself of the poetic license in which he sometimeFi indulged, when he said that "he never scrupled for a great good to do a little wrong." His wrongH, surely, were very little. The man's intentness of purpose cannot be better shown than by referring to his own description of a visit he paid to a Turkish fort: "In passing, I lande(l and measured the size of an enormous piece of brass or(lnance; the circumference of the calibre was sixty-five inches. The innocent Turks belonging to the garrison gathered round, and it never occurred to me, until I was again at some (listance from the place, the foolishness of the action. I wonder what 'would be said were a Turk to land on the fortifications of Portsmouth, and measure the !';ize of the gum; in th midst of the soldiers. But it quite escaped me that the TurkiHh soldiers had any- thing to do with the matter." He surprises us somewhat when he says, "I did not feel myself entering seriously the arena of life till I undertook my second mission to Canada. Absurd .tS the expression may seem, it is nevertheless just. \Vhatever I had done before, or encountered, seemed mere skirmishing to what then awaited me." \Vhen he left Britain a second time for Canada, he " took a lover's farewell of the :IHuses," intending to give himself to business cares solely. That, however, he was never able to do, THE FATHER OF THE C01IPAXY. 31 his regrets and disappointments, as readily as his ambitions and hopes, finding their way to paper. But many works claimed his attention, and he was at all times proud of his road through the Huron Tract, the first overland communica- tion between the great lakes, Huron and Ontario. On one of his earlier journeys hy water, when he intended to double Cabot's Head, " the Good Hope of Canada," he did not forbear to set down some of his poetic thoughts as they came to him while his vessel sailed by "the houseless shores and shiples seas of Huron;" but the "predestinarianism" to which he owns he was almost a martyr, had fast hold of him. and the troubles and vexations, almost amounting to persecutions even then, with .which he was beset, brought out all his Scottish imagination; when" a \-ast moth as big as a bird flew over the boat in perfect silence, in course and appearance not like any creature of the element, my imagination exalted it into an imp of darkness flying homeward." Open Galt's poems haphazard and one will find portrayal of morbid anticipation, the senti- ment of the line "O'er every birth a star of fate presides," prevailing-the :-;tar too often being an evil one. On this trip to Cabot's Head 1\11'. Galt was occasionally surprised and, if the truth were known, a little disgusted, at the number of neg-roes to Le met in the Huron Tract. But, just. as ever, he seems to think the negroes entitJed to consideration for the thrift which they were endeavouring to practise. .Mixed with solicitude for his emigrants is a certain home- sickness which he does not seek to hide. In Uctober, 182b, after adverse reports, circulated hy tongues malicious to his interests, had almo t succecIled in breaking down the Company, he writes that he "has no time to think of any matter, but only of emigrants, and the tribe and train of vexations which they bring along with them." In the same letter he speaks of having sent" the boys" to school in the Lower Province, and concludes with, "I need not say that a gm.;siping letter is here an article above all price, and there is no chance of a glut in 32 IN THE DAYS OF THE CA ADA CO: [PA Y. the market. :Mrs. G. desires her kindest regards to you and all lusselburgh friends." And at another time he asks for a "chit-chatting" letter as the most welcome kind he could receive. But, after all, he took chief thought of emigrants. A philanthropic care for the well-being of all settlers brought directly or indirectly to his notice, an intense delight in Cana- dian scenery, a healthy liking for the occupations of the country, and a never-ceasing endeavour to better the condition of the hard-working home-seekers who toiled HO bravely in the new world, all went to the making of the les!' troubled side of Galt's sojourn in Canada. But the time came when he felt he must leave the country finally. He was then doubly anxious that his accounts should be audited and his transactions fully inspected, with the result that two of the best qualified men in the Unitecl States to so act reported upon his doings in terms of powerful and efficient vindication. From the time of his first "isit to Albany Mr. Galt enter- tained a warm liking for mauy Americans; and during a later visit to Buffalo he was confirmell in his respect for them. In Albany he had ùeen dined by De 'Vitt Clinton; but the atten- tion, he thought, was chiefly due to :Mrs. Clinton's admiration for" Micah Balwhidder." The lady herself appealed strongly to l\Ir. Galt's regard, as he "recognized at once a very striking likeness to my mother." In Buffalo, where a distressing state of health and much mental disquietude could not obscure his humorous appreciation of events as they paBsed before him, we find him describing the hotel as one that" beats the \Yaterloo Tontine or the Regent Bridge of EJinburgh (as the Yankees would say) to immortal smash." On the same visit he was accorded an honour on entering the theatre at which no man coulel fail to feel a thrill of gratification, the orchestra striking up a Scottish air to welcome him; ùut his loyal spirit was more truly pleased when, out of compliment to the naval friends who were with him, the orchestra played "Rule Britannia." and " God Save the King." His teHtimony agrees with that of other writerH of his time, aIHI even later, that the names of the King THE FATHER OF THE CO IPA Y. 33 and Canning were treated with respect and regard by the Americans. )Iuch interest would have been a(lded to our reading of Galt's life hall those persons who thought it worth writing about seen fit to give us a clearer picture of the domestic side. Certainly he himself gives little prominence to the episode of his marriage: but his letters bear witness to the love, even when shielded by Scotch restraint, and anticipation which he put into his home-making at "The Priory" and" The Iountain." Of the former residence he writes, in October, 1 2R: "About a month ago, after sending the boys to chool in the Lower Province, I brought lrs. Galt to this city, for now it begins to be worthy of the name, where, all things consillered, we are not uncomfortable. Our house, it is true, is but a log one, the first that was erected in the town; but it is not with- out some pretension to elegance. It has a rustic portico formed with the trunks of trees, in which the constituent partR of the Ionic order are really somewhat.ïntelligibly rlisplayeJ. In the interior we have a handsome suit of public rooms, a library, etc. But we have only oae associable neighLour. . . . It is not entirely void of truth that I have some intention of sending home, in the spring, a quire or two about Canada. . . . I expect, also, in the long quiet winter nights, to prepare another volume for Blackwood." )Irs. Galt, who was the daughter of an eJitor-Galt's goo(l friend, Dr. Tilloch-had little cause to love her life in Canada: but, such as it was, her husband gave to the welfare of his family llue thought. 'Yith all his absorption in affairs, )11'. Galt ne\-er fails to be interested in the doings and sayings of his children, and he devotes a telling paragraph to a description of the playen- gaged in by his two boys with some young Inllians-a kind of wild animal never before seen by these two lads fresh from England, but instantly approache( 1 with that noble spontaneous- ness which was one of the great and natural weapons of the Galt family when dealing with unknown dangers. On another occasion, when the father wonderell "when men cease to be 3 34 IN THE DAY OF THE CANADA COl\IPANY. children," his son J olm, a Solomon of three years, sagely remarked that" Papa is the biggest boy I ever knew." In spite of the difficulties which beset him, Mr. Galt long retained the feelings of his boyhood, his heart remaining young. In after time, when he felt impelled to settle himself definitely, his decision was made because "the Loys were coming fast for- ward." " You will be surprised that I take no interest in the Reform question: but the hoys are fierce Tories. By the way, the tale in Bogle Corbet is a joint composition of Tom and Alexander, with scarcely a word altered. I have preserved the 1\IS, from which it is printed, and they are engaged on another which is still better. The manners of the trio are somewhat singular, for the whole party have not one companion of their own age, but all their friendships are among their elders." On the 25th April, 1833, he writes: "John and Thomas have sailed for Canada, and you cannot imagine how much this event disconcerts me. John, poor fellow, goes with my full concurrence, though I cannot say the same of Thomas; but I submit. He is himself in the meantime pleased, but the Canada Company have not acted towards his father so as to give me the slightest hope." The sadness of this letter is completed in its last :sentence; "but I am so helpless, and so many troubles perplex me that require a stouter health to withstand." After that the time was spent in suffering under and fighting his maladies, while he still looked forward to going with his J 7 0ungest SOIl to Canada, "where the boys are." But Alexander was suddenly ordered off, and the father in discussing what ultimate effect this move will have on his determination, says: " As yet I am only sensible of his absence." \Vhen asked to take up the work of forming still another company, he is made to feel his" inability only more acutely," and is "still a little fiattish in parting with Alexander." Some works of reference in noting "Galt, the celebrated Scottish novelist," credit him with two sons only. In the light of lr. Galt's own letters, this is a mistake not to be excused. THE FATHER OF THE CO}[PAXY. 35 J"ohn Galt the younger, with his handsome face and kindly -courtesy of minel and manner, waR not a man to be lightly for- gotten by those who had the privilege of his friendship. His too early death was truly mourned; and had he lived, his character showed that he could not have been kept from reach- ing as prominent a place in the records of Canada as that held by each of his brothers. Of his father Ir. Galt says little, but that little comes from the heart ,when he writE's that" )Iy father was one of the best, .as he was one of the hawlsomest men." Of his mother we know much more. During his eàrly years of delicacy, when his time was given to gardening and verse making, music and mechanics, she watched him, as he then thought, too closely and -carefully, and when all his whims were swallowed up in his love for books she feared his lack of constitutional strength, and also hesitated to increase his unbusiness-like proclivities. Afterwards, with deep regret, she deplored her resolute oppo- sition to his passion. Her influence was felt by her SOIl throughout his life, and his" Autobiography" contains an affect- ing account of her death. At a time when Mr. Galt's mind was stretched on the rack of apprehension, fearing that even yet the Canada Company might burst and thus injure many friends whom he had induced to participate in the concern-during the period when the great -controversy between the three powers concerned was pending -he composed" The Omen," considered by his biographers to be one of the most beautiful and most elaborately finished of his productions. The melancholy tone of the motive received additional food from his surroundings at that time; and one touch calculated to complete hi \voe was supplied in the manner of the death of his mother. A man of deep feeling and strong attachment, Galt was at all times' a devoted son. One of his biographers takes occasion to remark that Galt owed his chief part,; to his mother, if, indeed, "genius and talent are to be considered at all as hereditary." 36 IN THE DAYS OF THE CA ADA CO)IPA Y. The Superintendent was invariably interested in the face of :N ature, 'whether at home or abroad, and he never lost sight of the beauties to be found on his Canadian trips, even when he was, as usual, single-minded for the furtherance of the good of the Company. Of the day on which he gave their names to pointR on the Grand River, he thus writes: "The day was bright and bcautiful, and thp trees seemed pleased to see themselves in the clear flowing water. I do not now recollect all the names we gave to the different points. One pcninsula, however, that was an island when the snow lllcited, we called Eldon's Doubt; another bold bluff promon- tory, overlooking a turbulence in the stream, we called Can- ning's Front; and a violent rapid was hail ù, in honour of one I could not but consider accessory to our being in such wilds, as Horton's Hurries. But it would seem the name was not well taken, for in sailing over it a rock in a most spiteful manner damaged our scow, so that she was more than half full before ,ve could get the ladies landed in a little bay, where the water at the brink was only eight fe t deep. By this time it was sun- set, and we had to traverse the forest for some distance before reaching the clearing. At last we got to a farm-house of one "\\-r alter Scott, who came, of all places in the world, from Selkirk. \Ye stayed with him that night, and as there is a shallow in the Grand River near his house, we called it Abbots- ford. \Ve thence proceeded to Brantsford, the Indian village, and thence into the purlieus of civilization, from which, by the pretty, l'reezy town of Ancaster on the Bay, I went alone to York. . . . This descent of the Grand River furnished me afterwards with the idea of that similar excursion, which I have described in 'Lawrie Todd.''' Long afterwards, when an bmÚness projects had failed him, 1\11'. Galt went to' his desk with a dogged determination to make his pen stand by him to the end of life; and it was at this time, while labouring under all the morbid introHpection which then clouded his mind, that. " Lawrie Todd," perhaps his most popular work, was produced. This book received its THE FATHER OF THE CO IPAXY. 37 starting point at a meeting with .:\11'. Grant Thorburn,. of New York, when that person furnished lr. Galt with his autobio- graphy. To Little York Galt was not very complimentary, describing it in short terms a a place" provocative of blue devils." For Quebec he had almost an affection, and when speaking of Malta as "the kindliest place I was ever in," he qualifies the praise with "sa ve Quebec. in Canada." Some of his few happy Canadian memories were associated with the old capital; for when, on his second coming to this country, he found he was to undergo all the trials to which at home he had felt himself predestined-" At length the Demon of his Destiny bade Fortune frown, as with a sudden blight,"-the mil';repre enta- tions made to Sir Perpgrine Maitland on his arrival folIo-w- ing :Mr. Galt in their baleful effect throughout the remainder of his colonial career, a temporary mitigation of the Super- intendent's position was provided by the kindliness of the Governor-in-Chief and his lady at Quebec. "Thile there his spirits recovered sufficiently to allow him to write a farce, a very successful production, which was performed by the mem- bers and friend of the garrison. " In the course of this time the gentlemen of the garrison got up an amateur theatre, and I engaged to write for them a farce, in which the peculiarities of the inhabitants \yere to be caricatured. It was not, howe\-er, all mine. N"o less than thirty-three contributors gave jokes and hints to the composition, and some of the characters were outlined by the performers themselves. It was admirably acted; and what was as good, it yielded fifty pounds to the Emigrant Society of the city, and left a considerable balance, nearly as much, to be appropriated to the expenses of fitting up the theatre. Their Excellencies the Governor-in-Chief and Lady Dalhousie came in state, and as everybody was resolved * During our Paul Pryish peregrinations in New York we dropped in on the identical Lawrie Todd, and found him husy sweeping out the boards of his store with a broom, the handle of which tower;:ed far above the head of the dust dis- turbing hero."-D. Wilkie's" Summer Trip to ....Yew York and the Canada. ," 183i. 38 IN THE DAYS OF THE CA ADA COMPANY. to be pleased nothing could go better. . . . By the way, I should not forget that Dunlop the I Backwoodsman,' better known as the 'Tiger,' performed the part of a Highland chief- tain. For those who know his appearance and grotesque man- ner, I need not ay how; the rest of the world cannot conceive a moiety of his excellence. Of lIlY friend I cannot give a more descriptive character than a gentleman once gave of him to me. He said Mr. Dunlop was a compound of a bear and a gentleman. I did not know that bears 'were so good natured." The names of Galt and Dunlop have a connection earlier than the days of the Canada Company. An ancestor of the former, one John Galt, when banished-for no crimp-to Carolina, found in the same ship the Rev. 'Yilliam Dunlop (afterwards . Principal of Glasgow University), who deemed it prudent to absent himself from home at that time. His lineal descendant, :Mr. Galt's coadjutor, had no claim to the title of reverend. But,. if not reverend, he was a true man; and it was a constant, if unspoken, gratification to the much-harassed Superintendent to have so closely associated with him one who followed his. thoughts and appreciated his actions, the clannish friendship which exists between two Scotchmen hailing from the same neighbourhood clinging to each man. As to Doctor Dunlop's. assumed uncouthness, in another connection Mr. Galt says it was more his own habit" to look at God's creatures than at the works of the tailor or milliner;" and in the saying we miss the " Thou fool" which another Scotchman has loved to hurl at inoffensive little tailor-made souls. Ir. Galt himself was. never other than the "plain gentleman." " I was, doubtless, not born in the hemisphere of fashion, but I have lived in it as. much as a plebeian should do who had any respect for himself." There is no mob clot on the Galt brain. '\Vhile giving his best thought to his duties, this poetical company inceptor had always time for a second glance at the face of ature. Once, when caught in a spring flood in a valley of the :l\1ohawk, he described it, as " an elegant extract from the universal deluge. What have the Yankee poets to do with THE FATHER OF THE COMP AXY. 39 ti'anslcäing European descriptions? There was more origi- nality of poetry in the llusiness of that morning than in all the rhyme they had yet published." He tells us of "that rare and visionary reflection of land in the water, of which no one has given any satisfactory explana- tion," and he revels for four hours in the sight afforded him when his yessellay off Cabot's Head. In his tales of journey- ing with "singing boatmen, a race fast disappearing," he and Bonnycastle, Bond Head, Strickland and McTaggart make Us think that the poetry of travel which disappeared with the advent of steam can never he made up to us by present speed and comforts. Mr. Galt's literary career began before infancy was left behind. 'Vhen six years of age we find him putting together some couplets inspired by the death of two pet larks; and later on, when he read Pope's Iliad, his young brain was so wrought upon that he fell upon hiR knees, praying that some day a like power might be his. His school days were scattered-days and weeks of dreaming over his mechanical contrivances, or spent in hunting out old crones who could tell him tales of older times, taking up much of his early boyhood; anfl the life tlHl:-; led, with its consequent lack of healthy boyish occupation, fostered his originally vivid imagination. Chief of his old cronies was the mother of young Gueliland, a gallant flag-officer to N elf:on. She told a stirring tale of her son'R death at Trafalg'ar, and the little Galt spent many an hour in her cottage. He was long enough at school, however, to make some frienclshipH which were terminated only by death, one being with 'Villiam pence, the future author of " A Treatise on Logarithmic Transcendents," the other and chief affection being given to James Park, who in process of time became Galt'H literary mentor. Another friend whose Rubsequent movements were of interest was Eckford, the future architect of the American Xavy. But throughout Galt's life he turne!l to Park for counRel or appreciati n, and Park never failed him. Their corre:-;pondence shows that the tie between 40 IN THE DAYS OF THE CANADA CO:\IPANY. them was strong enough to stand a friendly candour. 'Vhell Park replied to Galt's request for criticism on "The Life and Administration of Cardinal \V olsey," he wrote that "the digni- fied declamatory style has certainly its advantages, but the worst of it Ü; that it is apt to tire by its monotony," adding a line or two pointing out weakne ses; but the general tone of the letter is laudatory both to the man and his work. Galt himself says that 1efore he went abroad his style was declama- tory, anù that on his return he found it changed to the senten- tious. In another letter, Park makes a descriptive comparison: "\Yere we words instead of men, you 'would be a verb active, with a strong optative mood." He further reminds Galt that " an author, by the frequent perusal of his MS., comes to lose his tact entirely, and may he benefited by the criticism of the very printers' devils." \Vithout doubt, lr. Galt had laid to heart Seneca's ideas on precept and good counsel. " Schemes" indulged in by lads of the present day would have been translated into" high emprise" by these Greenock boys. 1\11'. Galt gives us a description of their ardent doings, when, at the time of the breaking out of the second Revolu- tionary 'Yar, they formed themselves into a corps, and full of patriotism and military ambition offered themselves to their country, which did not properly appreciate the gift. Then their energies turned to the forming of a literary society, which, to their' credit be it said, had a somewhat lengthy existence. Mr. Galt says that they met once a month" to read all sorts of essays on every kind of subject," characterizing his own as "rigmaroles;" but he had older real leI's, who declared the frothy manuscript held the mark of a noble soul which was destined to develop. From ordinary school days and Jays afield when he and Park studied land surveying, from the Customs House at Greenock and the mercantile office of l\Iiller & Company, it is a long step to the point he early tried to reach in the society of the Muses. Often they would have none of him, scorning his rough Scotch wooing. either they nor Fortune smilecl upon him, even 'when . THE FATHER OF THE CO)IPAXY. 41 he carried his pursuit to London. There, he says, he had neither friend nor acquaintance, "as forlorn an adventurer as -could well be." \Vhen he had rid himself, anonymously, of his " Battle of Largs," he once more took up mercantile life. But a few years of struggle, intensified by the longing of his soul for a different groove, made him turn to the Bar. At the time that he became a member of Lincoln's Inn there were few better read young men of his age to be found: and his researches on hi "Life of \Y olsey" opened some libraries to him which were a source of never-ending delight and instruction. A dweller in many cities, his months of sojourn in individual spob.. made him, in his extensive travels, fill his naturally receptive mind with a store of information which turned to his advantagp when he found himself forced to authorship in his,time of desperate need. lr. Galt, candid in all things, owns that his "ruling passion is love of fame;" and" the high faith in his own powers when young" did not desert him through the sorrows of later life. A certain part of the fame he sought to attain now seems to be his, and Canada contains many a testimonial to his correct prevision. The Illan of whom a Look of referE'nce says, "In 1834 he came back to Scotland poverty-stricken and broken in health, and after suffering repeated shocks of paralysis, died at Greenock, April 11, 1839," is the Ulan who did for western Scotland what cott did for the east; and it is good to know that this fact is not forgotten in these days of appreciation of ., A 'Yimlow in Thrums," and" Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush." rrhere were some friends who asserted that Galt's name would live. To :Mr. Blackwood Galt owed much. The great editor, ever acute and far-seeing, recognized the little-known writer's forte, and \11'. Galt did not hesitate to affirm that it was to Blackwood's he owed his first success, with an encouragement to go on and prosper. The self-confidence thus gi, en him by one qualified to know whereof he spoke freed .:\11'. Galt's hand in his sub- sequent work. 42 IX THE DAYS OF THE CA ADA COl\IP AXY. The friendship which then began between the two men afterwards underwent a coolness for a very common cause-a woman-an imaginary female, it is true, but nevertheless too real for 1\11'. Blackwood. As at that time )11'. Galt was harassed by Canadian concerns, in addition to feeling- all the throes of composition upon him without opportunity for a proper out- let, he felt in double measure the cessation of confidence result- ing from :Mr. Blackwood's too candid criticism of 1\1rs. Soorocks in "The Last of the Lairds." In effect the criticism was the highest praise, for he spoke as if she had been a real being, and in a letter written by lr. Galt on the ] st of October, 1b26, he says he wants no Letter proof of having succeeded in his conception. In 1834, when both men were in Edinburgh, Mr. Blackwood, laid on that sick hed from 'which he was never to rise, and Mr. Galt, shattered and feeble, endeavouring to give attention to the publication of his "Literary Miscellanies," although separated by not more than one hundred yards be- tween their residences, they were destined not to meet. It was, however, a source of mutual gratification that many kindly messag-es passed hetween them, their intercourse at the close of life resuming- the friendIineHH of former years. Many of :Mr. Galt's mental disturbances date from the issue of his" Life of Byron." In an article which appeared in Edinburgh, in .May, 1839, soon after his death, its writer, after enumerating Galt's good qualities as an author, balances the reluctantly given praise hy asserting that he was too frequently (lry and tedious in detail: and it characterizes his "Life of Byron" as erroneous, absurd 3-nd incompetent. Read in the light of 1\11'. Galt's explanation, it does not appear so incom- petent. His personal knowledge of Byron dated from the day of his arrival at Gibraltar, when setting out on his travels; and by the time Malta was reached, :Mr. Galt had discovered the littleness of the great poet. " All the passengers except Byron and Hobhouse being eager to land, went on shore with the captain. Byron let out the secret of his staying behind to me, an expected salute from the THE FATHER OF THE CO)lPASY. 43 batteriel:), and sent ashore notice to Bir Alexander Ball, the Governor, of his avatar, but the guns evinced no respect of persons, so that the two magnates were obliged to slip into the town at the heel of the evening, unnoticed and unknown." Between the time of Mr. Galt's return to London and the date when his family joined him there, he applied such a steady pen that his literary labours added much to his mental distress; and his secluded life naturally brought about a deplorable physical state. At this desperate juncture he was effectually roused by Iessrs. Colbourn & Bentley's request to write a life- of Byron; and scarcely was this task accepted and begun when Lockhart & )Iurray begg'ed him to accept the editorship of The Cou'I'ier. A true friendship was begun at that time with Lock- hart, which was broken only by death. Mr Galt, thinking himself qualified for something more use- ful than "stringing blethers into rhyme or writing clishma- clavers in a closet," accepted the editorship. "It did not appear that there was any particular craft requisite to conduct a newspapçr." For once his perceptions failefl him. However, ignorant as he was of those things which go to the making of an editor's succe s, he thought he found out "that no species of literature affords so wide a scope for annoyance, or calls for less knowledge, than the editorship of a newspaper." In a letter penned in July, 1830, he complains that the editor's chair is by no means a comfortable one for a man of his tastes and bias; so he accordingly "begged otf." In the same letter he speaks of his" Life of Byron," and the way in which he was tracing- the poet's various motives. "You will be surprised to see how little invention has been used, and yet how, by the mere force of genius, he should have rendered matters of fact so poetical." Confirmed ill-healt11 was now upon 1\11'. Galt, and he "could no longer equivocate to himself that the afternoon of life was come, and the hour striking," while he knew he " was overpast the summit of his strength." This was not a fa\?ourable time in which to write his biography of the poet, a work which is known 44< IK THE DAYS OF THE CANADA CO:;\IPANY. to ha\Te done its author much harm, but which did not deserve the lashing it received at the hands of Hobhouse and l\loore. For whatever Mr. Galt advances he gives his reasons; and in his "Literary Life" he states explicitly the foundation on which he built hiR pro(luction. In a letter to a literary friend he says, "I did not expect that my account of Byron would provoke adversaries among those who did not know him." Later he writes: "X otwithstanding all the clam our, however, being on one side, the book is already in a third edition, nearly ten thousand copies being sold. I am (staying) with an old friend of his lordship: and his com;;in, )It. H-n, seems to think I have chosen the only proper course in treating of his waywardness." Besides being a widely informed man on general subjects and specially versed in many, we find Mr. Galt to be slightly conversant with a few which a man of narrower range might easily have missed. At Palermo, where he was so much inter- ested in those "few giblets of antiquity," he added to his store. And during successive period/:) of his life we find him g ving his views to the public on all subjects, from the timber trade to printers' ink, frOlll alchemy and mechanics to witchcraft and predestination; the history of sugar and the bullion question to casuistry ana heraldry. Of music, too, he prided himself upon knowing somewhat. He once set two airs which he in- tended to appear in "Rothelan;" but the printer was also musical, and a substitution was the result. "Courteous reader, sympathize 1 Instead of my two fine airs, with an original inflection that had been much admired by a competent judge, I beheld two that surely had been purchased at the easy charge of a half-penny apiece, from a street piper." Some musical instruments had been part of his boyish mechanical contrivances, but the two airs in question were his chief feats in the art of mm;Ïc since. His knowledge of those "giblets of antiquity" merely whetted his appetite for something more than giblets, and he gives UR a racy account of the rape of the Elgin marbles. This THE FATHER OF THE CO \[PAXY. 4.5 man of many works was within an ace of adding the thou- sandth to his number, by procuring the treasures in his own name. That he failed was due to the waking of Lord Elgin not to his own nodding. It has been said, by those who affect to know, that the secret of lr. Galt's lack of worldly success lay in the multiplicity of his resources. His stort's of learning were not of a kind to stand him in practical steall: the very grasp and comprehen- siveness of his mind led him into a speculati\Te groove whence it was sometimes difficult to emerge. There seems to he but one opinion as to his position in the literary world, although Home authorities do not arri\Te at their conclusion with ease. "For some yearR he tried his hand at almost e\"ery kind of literary composition," as Alden's Univer- sal Literature not too elegantly expresses it. One reference which offers itself as a gui(le deRcribes him as deficient in com- mercial caution and in deference to government and home authorities alike. A more painstaking person states that like all voluminous writers he was exceedingly unequal: but in his rich humour, genuine pathos nd truthful representation of nature, he is not surpassed even by Scott; that his humour is broader and more contagious than Scott's, and that his pictures of the sleepy life in old Scottish towns are unrivalle(l in litera- ture: that it would be difficult to overrate the immense services which he has rendere(l alike to the history of the manners and to the history of the life of the Scottish people. Alan Cun- ningham adds an opinion as to Galt's variety of tools, and his capability in using them: but for more definite prai e we may turn to the effect created by the appearance of his writings and the testimony which some of them received from Scott. His tale, "The Omen," waf{ honoured ùy the greater writer's praise; and as the real author was for long not suspected, )11'. Galt had the pleasure of hearing it ascribed to first one anù then another of his contemporaries who held a much higher place in the literary world than he. t( Annals of the Parish" was composed years before the 4ü I THE DAYS OF THE CANADA COMPA T. appearance of "\V averley" and "Guy Mannering," although some of his detractors tried to prove that they inspired it. 'Yhen it was refused by the publishers as something entirely too Scotch, and therefore not likely to take, it was thrown aside and forgotten until his success in Blcwlí;'Wood's made him remcmber his neglected JUS. The reception which his" Chronicle of Dalmailing " received put the finishing touch at that period to the esta blishment of 1\11'. Galt's reputation as an author. At the same time it was considered that his work bore too great evidence of hurry. 1\Iany of his first thoughts as given to the world he would have surely cancelled on a :-,ober review; but it is claimed for them that underlying all crudities could be discerned the vigor- ous and searching intellect and original thought which de- veloperl in later time. His friends thought that his works might have better stood the criticism of succeeding generations had he given a little care to re-reading: but always his inclina- tion, and later his circumstances, made him think it wise to write and print almost simultaneously, his copy often not being more than a page in advance. This habit is responsible for some of the phrases which, with his love of elegance, he would otherwise have polished out of existence. " The Entail," lauded Ly Byron and said by some critics to be Galt's best work, is worthy of record as having been read thrice by Scott and by Byron. "The Spaewife" was drama- tized by Thomas Dibdin, and when played before George IV. that monarch was so well pleased that he sent his congratula- tions to the author; but the most valuable acknowledgment came from :l\Iiss E(lg-eworth, while Galt was in Carmda, in the form of a critical letter. "Ringan Gilhaize" was the only no" el ever recommended from a Scottish pulpit-a kind of criticism much appreciated by the author. In "The Lives of the Players" he claims no literary merit for the book itself, but he asks for the players a more percep- tive regard than the world had hitherto given them. For him- . THE FATHER OF THE CO)IPAXY. 47 .self he says, "X 0 composition with which I was eyer engaged was so pregnant with instruction, or taught the necessity of being more indulgent towards the alJerrations of mankind." "The Ayrshire Legatees" published anonymously and rank- ing ill Scotland much as "Humphrey Clinker" in England, was credited with no lower a paternity than ,y a\ erley. 'Yith his "Battle of Largs" he wa,,; fairly satisfied, saying "the reviewers were endurable for a young writer, not then ac- quainted with how small a modicum of knowledge is required to enable a cri,tic to begin business." Another critic, Disraeli, gratified him with an appreciation of "The Life of 'Y olsey ; " Lut about the appearance of a later work, "Bogle Corbet," he was not so happy. .c It is another proof, if one 'were wanting, that booksellers step from their line when they give orders like to an upholsterer for a piece of furniture." :\11'. Galt regained some of his interest in the outside world when he heard of the great Liverpool company which intended to make .New Brunswick the scene of its operations, and he used his best efforts to form a counter company on what .appeared to him better lines. ot succeeding in this, he attempted to bring the two companies into one; hut that design was a failure, and at length he found himself unanimously elected provisional secretary of the company which by his efforts he had formed. During this busy time he had continued to write; but his works of that period are not those on which to base his reputa- tion as an author. "Stanley Buxton" is a difficult book to criticize and at the same time to gi\Te its author due considera- tion for his intention; while" The .Member" and" The Radical," vidently turned off from the hand of an artist, received little attention in Britain. In France, however, they attracted more notice than any of his other productions. " Eben Erskine" is rated as a clever book and one most suggestive of the changes which took place in .Mr. Galt between the times of the penning of his earlier and his later works; and further it is supposed to contain glimpses of the history of his own youth. 48 I THE DAYS OF THE CAXADA COMPAXY. Of such alteration he says: ":\Ien are like the chameleon; they take a new colouring from the objects they are among; the reptile itself never alters either in shape or substance." 'Yhile he gives us that sentiment he is at the same time depicting the changes of character which overtook him. His pen pictures of the Scotland of his day make the reader wish he had given equal attention to the life and times he found in his wanderings abroad. But even when abruad, his" visita- tions of infirmity" were upon him, and writing was often a labour. \Yhcn ill at Athens, he employed himself in "the un- profitable industry of poem-making;" his "excuse for such foolishness was that verses were things of small bulk, easily carried about and, if lumber, were not heavy." 'Vhen he engaged in "the not very gentlemanly occupation" of writing his own life, he llid so while much depressed from circumstances and broken in health. But even in his cxtremity of pain his sense of humour did not desert hiUl, and we find him declaring that" although a man who has wrestled eleven times with paralysis cannot hide his weakness, his imbecility need not be shown too oLviously." In criticizing some of his own sentences, in a lett r to Park he says" 'They showed how green I must ha,'e been in my knowledge of the world not to think ignorance anù folly had as much to do with human affairs as interest." He was not always complimentary to his own poetry, although, when the critics had agreed he was not at his happiest in verse, he says, in 1833, " As to my poems, I begin to think they are not so bad." But once, when looking back at some of his lines, he exclaims, "Good God! to think that one was ever so young as to 'write !-mch stufI"!" In 1834 he apologizes for the number of his poems, saying that" it is easier to compose verses in bed than evcn to (lictate prose." Of his general authorship he says: " X otwithstanding I have put together so many books and have become so variom; an author. it has been rather in con- se