Memoirs of Ralph Vansittart

Foreword To Second Edition

The first edition of this work issued from the press more than twenty years ago, and the publishers think a new edition may be favourably received by the reading public, as the period under consideration has an abiding interest for students of Canadian History.

The method adopted by me for setting forth the story of these early days is, I know, a novel one and possibly open to adverse criticism. However, beyond the autobiographical form of the narrative, there is nothing stated as fact, which has not for its support the newspapers of the period in question, or the personal recollection of the writer.

The most vivid impression which it is possible to obtain of an historical personage is, I think, to reproduce what he said, and describe what he did, under circumstances of vital interest and importance, and where the details of conduct and action, may afford the best means of judgment, in any final analysis of the man’s character.

The publishers have added as a frontispiece a copy of a painting, now in the National Gallery at Ottawa, of the Fathers of Confederation in which will be found portraits of most of the personages who prominently appear in these pages.

Ottawa, July 1st, 1924.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. My Antecedents 1

II. A Calvinist Divine 9

CHAPTER I. My Antecedents

IT was the month of May, 1861. Spring in all her beauty was upon us. And where is spring more charming than in Canada? A week of rain had been followed by a week of southerly winds and cloudless skies, and now the trees and fields were decked in their richest livery of green. The vulgar dandelion dotted the meadows, as if some fairy over-night had passed along with bounteous hand, and sewn the fields with golden guineas. The maple woods at the back of the farm were all aglow with red and white trilliums, with the delicate and graceful claytonia, and the hepatica and violet, earliest of all the woodland flowers, while here and there, in some low-lying and secret recess, the careful seeker after nature's jewels, might find a clump of orchids — the lady's slipper, and all her family.

Our story opens on a farm of some 200 good acres of arable land and woodland, sloping on its

l front down to the broad valley of the River Thames, some ten miles or thereabouts from the city of London, in the then Province of Upper Canada. The old homestead had been built by my grandfather a third of a century earlier, was made of good limestone blocks roughly hewn; was square in shape, with a broad piazza along its front, from which one could see the cars of the Great Western Railway flitting by on the far side of the river, and still farther away the northern slope of the valley, about two miles distant. I had returned home about a month previous, from a year's travel in Europe, which my father thought a necessary complement to the degree of Bachelor of Arts that I had received from our provincial university. Whatever stirrings of ambition I had were turned towards the department of learning which I had pursued in Toronto University, and a professor’s chair seemed the goal most congenial with my tastes and habits.

My father, however, had different views, and although he had not pressed his wishes upon me to any extent since my return, I knew his ambition was to see me seated in my country’s legislative halls. To-day, however, he broached the matter to me with great earnestness, and showed me a letter he had just received from the Attorney General West — the Honourable John A. Macdonald — expressing his warm approval of my candidature, of which my father had written him without my knowledge. Our family had always been Tories of the old-fashioned type, and although, as you will

MY ANTECEDENTS find, my views became much modified in later years, at this time I was firmly of the opinion that although, perhaps a Reformer, or Grit as he was sometimes called, might be a loyal subject of Her Majesty, and a good citizen, yet the chances were strongly against it, and the safer course was to assume he was not until the contrary had been proven. My grandfather had obtained his farm about 1822, at a time when good King George the Fourth thought it well for the Empire, that such of the retired officers of his army as could be induced to do so, should settle in Canada, and by their number and influence help to make the colony a loyal dependency of the Crown. My grandfather, with a number of other officers, took advantage of this opportunity, and settled on farms in this fine township of Walpole. My father had taken part, under Sir Allan McNab, in stamping out the embers of rebellion which were smouldering in our neighbourhood during the troubles of 1837, and never since could look upon a Reformer as other than a rebel if the skin were scratched.

Living near us was my uncle. Colonel Ralph Vansittart, for whom I was named. He was a bachelor of about 50 years of age, and had been induced, through his affection for my father, to purchase the adjoining farm, when he retired from the army after the Crimean war. When a young man, and before entering the army, he had an old-fashioned tutor, passionately fond of botany, who found in my uncle an apt pupil, and even before entering at Woolwich had made of him a fair field botanist, familiar with all the common English flowers, and, indeed, the flora generally of his neighbourhood. His army life for a long period put an end to his favorite pursuit, but once he settled down upon a Canadian farm, his old pastime was taken up with renewed avidity. No sooner had the warm spring rains and south winds driven off the winter frost and snow, than my uncle, in an old suit of corduroy, could be seen, with knapsack on shoulder, trudging over the fields and through the woods after the first floweret that pushed its gentle head above the ground.

Upon the conclusion of the interview with my father, above mentioned, I set out for my uncle’s place to discuss this new development in my affairs, and found him gloating over a plant he had found that morning, which he declared was hitherto unknown in Canada — a species of tropical yam, which he called Dioscorea Villosa — and the seed of which must have been brought from the Southern States by one of our migratory birds. Had he not seen a thoughtful expression upon my face, he would, as usual, have made some sport of my ignorance of the practical side of a science in which I was supposed to be an adept, but he permitted me to unburden my mind, and I soon found my father and he were of one opinion. “In this world,” he said, “we have a duty to perform, as well as the right to the pursuit of happiness which our American neighbours have considered important enough to embalm in their Declaration of Independence, although the cannon that lately roared at Fort Sumter do not indicate

MY ANTECEDENTS they have taken the most direct course to their goal. I know you have planned for yourself a quiet studious career, but I doubt very much if you are adapted for it, and would not find a life devoid of excitement pall on you in a short time. Besides, you have an opportunity of doing something for your country if you have the desire. We are entering, I fear, upon troublous times. The agitation for increased representation in the legislature by the people of this part of the province, is bound to lead to a disruption of the union between the two provinces, unless something is done to allay the dissatisfaction. But, in my mind, more serious by far is this unholy conflict upon which they have entered across the line. Seward, (the Secretary of State), has all along had his eyes upon Canada as a mouthful which might satisfy the ravenous jaws of those who are urging on the war. He evidently thinks if he can induce the South to unite with the North in a raid on Canada, he may divert the storm clouds settling over his own land. And even if this should not come about at once, can there be any doubt, as soon as the war is over, and half a million northern soldiers have nothing else to do, some excuse will not be found, or some grounds discovered, for picking a quarrel, so that Canada may be the unfortunate lamb which the wolf shall claim has fouled the water he wished to drink. We are living in troublous times. Times when Canadians who are loyal to England, and loyal to their own country, are required in the legislative halls.

We want gentlemen to whom the sordid greed for wealth and office has no attractions, but who will be actuated only by a desire for the good of their country, and the welfare of the British Crown. ” This conversation, added to my father’s wishes, very soon convinced me of the propriety of the course which they had decided upon for me, and I at once began to consider the questions at issue in the country, and to make preparation for the election, which was no doubt soon to be upon us. In the first place, my proposed constituency was generally looked upon as a safe Tory seat. Most of the townships had been settled by the late Colonel Talbot, who never, if he knew it, allowed a homestead to be taken up by any other than a loyal supporter of the English rule, and, therefore, a Tory. There was, however, in one or two of the back townships, a considerable element of Scotch Presbyterians, Quakers and Yankees, who had received grants from the Canadian Government direct, and not through Colonel Talbot, and the opposition vote was generally pretty strong in their locality. I had, however, I thought, a strong card in my hand, in that my mother’s sister was married to one Duncan McGregor, one of the most intelligent merchants in the village of Glammis, the chief place in this radical section. I shall have to refer to my mother’s family later on, and this, perhaps, is as good a place as any to describe my mother’s father, Col. John Axford. Uncle John, as he was familiarly called, was a type of the best this Canada of ours can produce of physical and moral excellence, unimproved by the adventitious aids of

MY ANTECEDENTS education, culture and refinement, all of which are frequently found in a nature profligate and depraved. Full 6 feet 2 inches in his stocking feet, large boned, broad shoulders, yet sparely built; strong mouth and chin, but cheeks now somewhat sunken and hollow, with lines extending downwards; hair iron gray, thick, almost bushy, but eyes that were kind and winning, indicating the warm and generous heart that beat under a more or less rugged exterior. He was now over 60 years of age, but stalwart as an Indian, and able to work as long a day as any of his men. His farm was a small one about a mile from ours, and had been hewn out of the forest practically by his own hands. He was descended from a U. E. Loyalist, who left New Jersey a few years after the close of the American War of Independence. His ancestor had found life so unpleasant, the hatred of his neighbours so inveterate, that he decided to sell off his slaves and other chattels as best he could, and leave. He packed up his most precious heirlooms, and with his wife and family, in a covered wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and followed by two cows tied to the hind axle of the conveyance, set out with some others similarly situated, to make their way to Canada. They travelled up the valley of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, cutting their way through the primeval forest in many places, and crossed the Niagara River at Buffalo. Proceeding westward, they looked for the land of promise, which seemed ever to fade in the horizon, until finally they settled on the shore of Lake Erie, in what is called the

Long Point country. Here these loyal, lionhearted men made homes for themselves in the forests. They lived for some years largely on game, which abounded in their neighbourhood; but in the course of a few years saw themselves as comfortably situated as the circumstances of the country would permit. Needless to say, such antecedents produced a strong Tory crop in the next two generations, and the rebellion of ’37 was the proper fuel to feed the flame of this ultra loyal spirit. When Sir Allan McNab raised a cavalry regiment to put down the rebellion in this very county, Major John Axford was one of the first to bring to his colors a troop of loyal dragoons from Middlesex and Elgin, and the memorials of this campaign, at the time we are now writing of, could be seen in his bedroom, where, on the wall, rested his long-tailed officer’s jacket, and alongside it his buckhorn-handle sword, which, from its appearance, was made in forges much nearer home than those of Toledo. His farm was carried on by just such primitive methods as might be expected from a man who was satisfied to follow in his father’s footsteps. He never went to a blacksmith’s shop, because he kept a forge on his own place, and could blow the bellows and turn a horseshoe as well as another. Neither did the shoemaker grow rich at his expense. Once the shoes were purchased, all repairs, until the article fell to pieces, were done by himself, with his cobbler’s bench and tools.

CHAPTER II. A Calvinist Divine

MY aunt had, as I have said, married this village merchant* McGregor, and I had some hope of his influence in the coming contest. At the same time I did not permit myself to become too sanguine. I had had an experience of his strong religious and political convictions some years before, which, unless the domestic tie should count, promised little hope of assistance from that quarter. It is true the question of Roman Catholic separate schools in Upper Canada was a more absorbing topic in the last election than I expected it would be in the one approaching, but it was hard to say what propaganda might not be inaugurated as soon as Parliament was dissolved. It will, perhaps, illustrate the public sentiment on the question which was abroad in the land if I relate a former experience I had with Mr. McGregor and his friends. It was January, 1859. My mother had been visiting her sister, and the time had come for her return. I, therefore, started one afternoon to drive the thirty miles which intervened, intending to return next day, and bring her home. There had been a heavy snowfall for some days, with at times a high wind, and as a result the roads were badly drifted, in some places the snow being five feet deep. The morning’s traffic had broken a way and tramped down a kind of path, but serious was the predicament, when a team travelling the opposite direction, had to be passed. The rule of the road was that the nigh horse retained the right hand path and the unfortunate off horse of both sleighs had to flounder as best he could through the abyssmal depths. Happy was the driver who accomplished this encounter without having an upset or his horse thrown. After many difficulties and delays the village was reached, and pleased indeed was I to get within the hospitable home of my uncle, which was in the upper story of the shop in which he retailed his wares. In the morning the good merchant had finished his breakfast, and had gone to his work, about an hour before I followed him down stairs, and by this time I found a small circle of friends surrounding the large iron stove, some five feet in length, into which, from time to time, one of the clerks pushed a cordwood stick. On one side of the store was collected an assortment of all the dry goods that the gentler sex are supposed to require; on the other was a varied collection of boots and shoes and groceries, while down the middle, from the stove to the front door, were ranged in square towers, rolls of cloth suitable for male garments. On each side, and back of the stove, there was a comfortable space, in which half a score of persons might stand or sit. As I approached I remarked to myself that something of interest must be on, for the clerks were apparently very busy with duties that required their attendance within earshot of the speaker, who was holding forth to those around him.

I had never seen him before, but the Reverend Doctor Mungo McNish was well known in the community, and was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in the village. He had been trained for the ministry in Glasgow, where his mind assimilated the harshest and most uncompromising Calvinistic doctrines as readily as a child does his mother’s milk. Total depravity of man, eternal torments of the wicked, predestination to heaven or hell, and similar teachings of the Geneva divine, were as real and certain truths to him as the gospel of Christ itself. His views respecting the Church of Rome were as narrow and intolerent as anywhere could be found amongst the Puritans of 200 years ago, and his Scripture exegesis of the Book of Revelations, to a devout Roman Catholic, might well be considered blasphemous. He was fearless in his denunciations of sin, whether in elder of the Kirk or in the bar-room loafer. He was a God-fearing man, and, in truth, he need be, for he feared neither man nor devil. His figure was thickset, and long, stiff, bristling eyebrows gave a somewhat ferocious aspect to his face, but this sternness was relieved by a kindly mouth, drawn up into corners in which dwelt the elves of humour and good nature.

Of those assembled, the most intelligent layman, aside from McGregor, was Kay, the village cooper, popularly known as Cooper Kay. As I drew near the group I could observe in the doctor’s hands the “Daily Globe” of the preceding day, which, owing to the long stage journey from London, only arrived late the night before, and just now had been brought from the post office. The little group was collected to hear the minister read the news particularly the strong meat George Brown served up daily to his hungry followers. The reverend doctor looked over his spectacles at me as I approached, but ignoring my presence, began to read the editorial, pouring forth his words in loud and sonorous tones: —

The Exertions of the Hierarchy.

“Not alone in Canada, but in other portions of the British domains, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is girding up its loins for a contest with the friends and advocates of free education. The order seems to have gone forth, from the head of the church, to the priests spread throughout England and her colonies, to make a desperate effort to regain that power over the rising generation, which, happily with us, they have long since lost. We cannot but render a tribute of admiration to the way in which they go about their work. Isolated as the various parts of the Romish Church are, no sooner is the word given for them to press forward to the attainment of a certain end, than with one will they all obey. Varied as are the difficulties they have to encounter, they still preserve their skill in intrigue, and that utter remorselessness in the pursuit of their purpose, which has led them to so many victories against the greatest odds. Physical force, dire anathemas, superstitious tales and subtle logic they use, as the circumstances of each case require. When the aid of the Alcade may not be summoned, as in Spain, to tread out reviving freedom, they have recourse, as in Canada, to the lowest arts of the politician and of the priest combined, to lay the foundation of a power which shall to the full work their will.”

What better means, under present circumstances, present themselves for the accomplishment of such an object than that now adopted, the obtaining of the complete control over the education of youth.”

“The Catholic clergy probably have twenty thousand Upper Canada voters under their control, and do not hesitate to use them for the benefit of the hierarchy. It is the priestly power which is the greatest obstacle in the way of Canadian progress. It is to obtain the votes of the slaves of the Church that Upper Canada politicians abandon representation by population, and promise the extension of the separate school system.”

Here the doctor stopped, and made the following comments on the editorial : —

“Anti-Christ again is raising its head; the war will not cease until Christ, our Great Captain, shall himself appear. Then shall Antichrist be destroyed even as the prophet John says.” (With this he whipped from his breast pocket a small testament, and turning over the leaves rapidly, read) “Revelations xix and 19: And I saw the Beast and the Kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army, and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image; these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Cooper Kay here interjected, that in the meantime Antichrist seemed to be having much its own way in Canada.

“Of course,” replied the doctor,” the Scriptures must be fulfilled — see Revelations xiii and 7.”

“And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kinds and tongues and nations.”

“Is it perfectly clear, doctor,” continued the cooper, ‘that by the Beast here is meant the Romish Church?”

“Beyond question. Read Revelations xvii and 3, and following verses: —

“So he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman set upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints. And the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.”

“Who can doubt these Scriptures refer to Papacy, the great Antichrist. The city of Rome has been known through all ages as “The City on the Seven Hills.” Even the early Romish Fathers,

St. Jerome and St. Augustine, admit that Babylon here means Rome.”

“Surely, doctor, they don’t admit that their own church is the scarlet woman?” enquired the cooper.

“Of course not, but you must remember those early fathers lived before Rome became the corrupt church she is to-day. They, therefore, could only refer these words of the prophet to pagan Rome as it was in their time. But that Rome was Babylon, the City of Seven Hills, they never doubted. It was only during the Reformation days that the eyes of the world were open to the fact that these terrible denunciations were intended for Papacy. These words “the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth” are the key to the interpretation of the whole prophecy. This key being found, see how easily the Scripture unfolds itself. The verse says “arrayed in purple” — the purple has always been the kingly robe of empire — “scarlet,” dyed with blood. These two colours, purple and scarlet, have always been the characteristic of the Romish Church, especially in the dress of the hierarchy. How symbolic this scarlet dress of the blood of the martyrs with which the woman has been drunken in Spain and Holland — aye, in England and Scotland, too. And now, in this Canada of ours, this same Antichrist would get its bloody hands upon our school system. God forbid ! Our forefathers in Scotland took up arms rather than prelacy should be forced upon them, and if we cannot drive back this wave of idolatry and superstition rolling in upon us, by reason of the weak-kneed, truckling politicians, of which there are so many in this province, traitors to their God and their country, we can still draw a sword to protect our children and our institutions, even as did the martyrs of old."

This outburst was received with exclamations of approval. “That's so, doctor; you have hit the nail on the head." When quiet was restored the doctor continued. “But what else has the “Globe to say on this subject": —

“And truly the British Empire has well earned their hate. For many years past their wrath has beaten against it, but as vainly as the waves against the Dover cliffs, or the rocky shores of our Gaspe. Still it stands forth in its freedom and greatness as the incarnate protest of humanity against priestly government in whatever form or shape."

The doctor again stopped his reading. “Even so. Here we have the fourteenth verse exemplified :

“And they shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful."

“Who, my friends, are the called and chosen and faithful who fought with the Lamb against the Beast, but England, the bulwark of Protestantism, against the waves of Romanism. As England does her part across the ocean, so must we on this side, although married against every law, human and divine, to the papists of Lower Canada. We must break the shackles that have held us in slavery for twenty years, and the first step must be to throw overboard the traitors who have gone to Parliament as our representatives, but, Judas like, have betrayed both us and the country.” Plaving disposed of the political news to his entire satisfaction, the learned divine subsided, to read at his leisure the less interesting parts of the journal, with here and there a comment, until one by one the gathering broke up.

The information gained by this morning's experience was not readily forgotten. I became unalterably convinced that in such settlement as Aidborough and Southwold, a system fed on this sort of diet would have no use for the candidate who saw practical difficulties in the way of governing the country without the Roman Catholic vote, and desired to find a middle course. Such an one would probably receive the treatment of the Loadicians by the Apostle Paul, of whom he said, “Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

It was necessary, however, to face the situation, and I promptly drove out to Glammis a few days after my decision to run had been taken, but had little satisfaction for my pains. The best Mc- Gregor would promise was not to engage actively against me, and this he frankly admitted, was much against his inclinations, and only to satisfy his wife, who was my loyal supporter.

CHAPTER III. The Political Issues

IT became necessary now that I should familiarize myself with the political issues which were likely to be agitated during the approaching election, namely: The separate school question, and representation by population.

I found that prior to the Act of Union in 1841, the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were entirely separate and distinct, each having its own representative chamber, the Legislative Assembly; and its own upper chamber, appointed by the crown, the Legislative Council. Intense dissatisfaction had existed from the fact that the Governor ruled both provinces through an executive council of his friends, chosen by him from the most prominent men of British extraction in the country, but scarcely any of them were members of the Legislature, so that although in name both provinces had representative institutions, the people had no control over public affairs. Matters were bad enough in the upper province, but the executive council there at any rate were of the same race as the people; but in the lower province, although four-fifths of the inhabitants were of French descent, not a single member of the executive council was of that nationality, and all the public offices and the emoluments attending the same were in the hands of an alien race. The dissatisfaction arising from this state of affairs culminated in the rebellion of 1837, and was much more serious in the lower province than in the upper, but the strong arm of the military crushed out all open revolt. So widely spread and universal was the insurrectionary movement, that the English Government deemed it unsafe to intrust to the Legislative Assembly the little authority or power vested in that body by law, and suspended the constitution. As a result, when Lord Durham came out to investigate affairs, he found the people of Lower Canada, removed as they were from all actual share in the government of their country, brooding in sullen silence over the memory of their fallen countrymen, of their burnt villages, of their ruined property, and of their humbled nationality. To the English oligarchy at Montreal, who controlled their affairs, they ascribed their wrongs, and nourished against them an indiscriminate and eternal animosity. At this time the population of Lower Canada was about six hundred thousand, of which three hundred and fifty thousand were of French extraction, while the population of Upper Canada was less than four hundred thousand. When the Act of Union was passed by the British Parliament, upon the report of Lord Durham, and one legislature was provided for the two provinces, it was thought necessary to preserve British institutions, and to prevent French control of the House of