Reminiscences of Charles Durand of Toronto, barrister

Front matter

XT

CHARLES DURAND, At 80 Years.

REMINISCENCES

Preface

My children and grandchildren, and many estimable friends, have frequently suggested to me that as I have spent a long life in Canada, and have passed through many interesting scenes and trials, that I should put in print “ My Reminiscences ” of such things. As my mind and body, at my great age, are still vigorous, and my memory good, for which I feel thankful to God and His kind providence, this suggestion and request have been complied with by their getting this volume, which, although I am aware it may contain defects, will interest and amuse them.

It refers to the formation of the Government of our Province, Ontario, then Upper Canada, in 1792 ; briefly to some scenes in the War of 1812; our political

VI

PREFACE.

troubles ; many eminent men ; the failure, at first, to get Responsible Government, but finally its success.

It refers briefly to the Rebellion of 1837, my sufferings (although innocent) in it, and the progress of our country since.

Author.

Dated March 31, 1897.

Chapter I. Page

His childhood — Youthful days — His impressions of life — School-days and maturer years in Canada — With reference to his late father, James Durand, an early pioneer. - - - - - - 9

CHAPTER IX.

Early school-days at Dundas — Names of my school-teachers — Appearance of the village —Names of some of its then residents— What my father was doing — Some curious incidents that happened— Primitive habits of the people. 40

Chapter III

Commencement of my clerkship with Mr. Berrie, November, 1829- Boarding at Mr. Hamilton’s and A. K. Smith’s — A great change from home — Kept a diary — Wrote for the political and literary press — Wrote books on birds and trees — Sir Peregrine Maitland, Upper Canada’s Governor, visits Hamilton— Great assemblage of people in 1825 at Burlington Heights — My father acted as chairman— I and my brothers there— My sister Harriet was married, to Peter H. Hamilton in 1824 — My brother James, to Miss Rolph, at Dundas, in 1825— Was its chief merchant — Remarks on the Rolph Family — Marshall S. Bidwell — Rev. James Richardson — Rev. Egerton Ryerson in 1828-30 — The Christian Guardian edited by the former— Loss of our homestead by fire — Narrow escape of my brother Henry — My dog Keene burnt —Incidents of this— Lost in the woods — Terrible feeling — Great pine .forests on our farm— Curious incident of the woods happened to me — Long ride on “ Pink,” and lost in 1832. - - 74

Chapter IV

Methodism in Upper Canada, as it was and is — The Church of England— Gladstone’s errors — My first visit as a student to York, January, 1831 — The people— Lawyers, students — Blake, and others I saw — A mild January in old muddy York— Oxen stuck in the mud — Many members of the old Legislature all now gone — My name put on the book — Spent two weeks there — Some account of the old stage lines, and the travelled roads — Some remarks about Mr. Bidwell. - - - - - - 110

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Chapter V. Pagb

Going back a little— Intercourse with brother Harry — Sister Helen — What was done on the farm in the woods -Work and incidents in a farmer’s life — Kindness of Dr. Strachan to my sister in life and at death — 1832, an emigrant year in Canada - Also the cholera year — Who were then in Hamilton — An editor’s death — Some strange emigrants whom I knew — Cutting grain in hot weather — Driving oxen — The flight of summer birds — A letter — My father wanted to go to Chili in 1826. - - - - 144

Chapter VI

The war of 1812 — Remarks on it— Causes of it — Napoleon determined to crush England — Erock’s proclamation — The Bee, a paper owned and published by the late James Durand, sen., at Niagara, in 1812, inserted this proclamation as it reads below — The population of the western district and of Upper Canada — The taking of Detroit and Hull — The Battle of Queenstown — The bravery of the Indians under Tecumseh. - - - , - 1 63

Chapter VII

Marshall Spring Bidwell — His illegal banishment from Canada in 1837 — The meanness of Sir Francis Bond Head then, and in New York — Mr. Bid well’s eminent Christian and legal character —

His father Rev. Egerton Ryerson’s conduct to him — Dr. Rolpli and Mr. Bidwell life friends — Their letters to Mr. Durand —

The tragic death in 1833 of James Durand, senior — A few words about his father and family — Solemn observations on religion — Hamilton’s old people. - - - - - - - - 186

Chapter VIII

This is one of the most important — Attempt to establish Responsible Government by Baldwin— The Family Compact disloyally stops it — Sir Francis Bond Head a mere tool — It ends and old rule goes on — How things stood in 1836, and prior — A synopsis — Sketch of W. L. McKenzie’s life — A rebellion forced on Upper and Lower Canada by wdcked men. ------ 209

Chapter IX

Thoughts on 1837 — Turning back a moment to 1 825-6-7 — Sleeping in hay mows or barns — A wakened by cock-crow ing — Singing of birds — Skating — Riding down hills — Sleigh-bells and sleigh-rides in the country— Snowbirds : Their flight to the north — Pleasures in w inter — Presbyterian progress in Canada — It existed very early at Niagara — A short history of the Ryerson family — Land grants of old in Canada. - - - - - - 226

CONTENTS.

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Chapter X. Page

In the last Chapter there was much said about sleigh -rides. In this I give an account of an act momentous to me — My first acquaintance with my first wife — Miss Sarah Bostwick in March, 1836, in Hamilton — On a sleigh-ride — Remarks on W. L. McKenzie : his wrongs very great— My first Barrister trial with Allan Mc- Nabb, in April, 1836 — John Sandfield Macdonald — My marriage in 1837 — The comforts of a lovely home - More remarks on our judges. 249

Chapter XI

My journey on business to the law courts of Toronto, on the 4th December, 1837, first alluding to the cruel acts of the Tories on reformers ; then to me and wife — My experiences in Toronto — What I saw of the rising in Toronto — Conduct of Dr. Rolph and Robert Baldwin — My stay there, and attempt at return to Hamilton on the 6th December, and my arrest on the way back — Going up Yonge Street 5th December, 1837, to my mother-in-law’s, at dark — Meeting Col. Jarvis — Conversation with him a few minutes, then meeting McKenzie and Lount and their regiment — Great surprise — Challenged — Battle of Yonge Street — Firing from the fields and in the roads — One man killed, several wounded — Sudden retreat of both parties — Danger of my life twice that night — On two occasions — My going next day by stage to Hamilton — The Governor in great fright. - 280

Chapter XII. A Romance Of Prison Life In 1837’8 In Toronto

My long imprisonment —The cruel and wicked conduct of Hagerman, the Attorney-General, and the executive authorities in refusing great bail offered — My sickness and that of others — Had to go to the hospital — Want of exercise and unsanitary rooms — 40 persons— Doctors, mechanics, farmers, merchants among them — The history of David, the priest of Sharon, and his people — Many of them there — How we communicated with persons in the gaol — How we received news from outside — It came in stuffed geese, fowls, pies, puddings — A youthful courtship — An elopement contrived — Generals Theller and Sutherland, one an Irishman, one an American — Curious way to telegraph — Ministers of the gospel who attended — Dr. Strachan attended — Governor Arthur came — His cruel and insulting conduct — Col. Chisholm — 25 guards below and in yard — Confinement — We made boxes as mementoes — I wrote and read much; made poems : one on my child, one on my wife — The loss of my dear child on the 16th August — Arrival at Buffalo — Stay there in 1838-9 — Journey to Albany to see the Judges — Saw the great L. I. Papineau and his wife — The Judges there. 313

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CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Page

My trial before Judge Robinson — My defence and speech — Great Battle of Lundy’s Lane — The arrest of Lount and Matthews — Beautiful landscapes. --------- 346

Chapter XIV

Journey to Chicago — My stay there — What I saw — My admission to practice — Stayed there 5 years — Description of the people — Incidents there — Some account of the death of my daughter in the gaol in Toronto, and poetry — My return in 1844 by the consent of Mr. Baldwin, under the Queen’s pardon. - 372

Chapter XV

My petitions for bail in vain in 1838 — Sick in hospital — My wife at the point of death — Head superseded — Arthur’s arrival in March,

1838 — Lord Durham came in June — Baldwin invites me to return on my petitions — My position in the West — My letter to Baldwin — Dr. McKenzie’s letter to me— My crime in letters on Respon sible Government — Constructive treason — Bench of Magistrates examine my box — Remarks on the sons of Judge Robinson — Battles of 1812 — Rev. James Richardson’s strange mistake in history in the Educational Department — Will Christianity last ? — Niagara town, the Indian Problem — Captain Brant — Benedict Arnold — Lights and Shadows — Spirits — Are presentiments true ? Lord Cecil’s conversion — Strange presentiment about Dr. Hare — Strange appearance at a death - Strange incident to myself— Mr. Rorke, the Quaker— Elijah in Mount Horeb — The judges of Canada — A mystery at Ancaster — Our modern judges. - - 403

Chapter XVI

My journey from Chicago to Toronto in June, 1844- How I found parties in Toronto — How Judge Robinson and Hagerman behaved — My office near Capreol’s auction room — Blake’s office opposite —

My residence at first — Buying a lot on Yonge Street — Built a cottage there — Capt. Elmsley and his wife — Gifts of land to the priests — The papers in Toronto -The Sparrow nuisance — Union of the Canadas — First of the Brown family — Geo. Brown’s ambition —

The Examiner newspaper — Noble Jas. Leslie — McKenzie party — Francis Hincks— Election contest of Dunn and Buchanan against Monroe and Jarvis — Compact killed — Lafontaine elected — Ryerson supported Draper — Visit to Hamilton — Saw McNabb— My first paper — Poetry on the Robin and spring birds— Slavery in Canada. ----------- 433

CONTENTS.

XI

Chapter XVII. Going Back A Little Into 1837

PAGE

The arrest and abuse of my wife at Hamilton by Tory ruffians in 1837 — Curious history of a pine box — Its travels — Women ought to be exempt from wanton insults — The conduct of the Hamilton people, it is hoped, is an exception — The suspense of the wives at the Montgomery Hill battle — The Tory injustice to Gourlay of old, like that to me in 1838. - 449

Chapter XVIII

The death of my wife — Her mother and relatives present — Her funeral — Strange death — Strange sights — Son of Temperance, paper published by me -The Order of Sons of Temperance and my connection with them — The House of Assembly of 1835 — My brother in it — Its composition — Baldwin’s attempt to form a system of responsible government — Its failure by the misconduct of Governor Head and the Family Compact — Head forms an old-fashioned one — Sullivan, Allan, Elmsley (all Tories) in it — It is carried on in the interest of the Compact - Conduct of Elmsley — Change of his religion — W. L. McKenzie and Charles Buncombe — McKenzie’s defeat in Western York by fraud and violence. - 463

Chapter XIX

The Draper Administration did not endure. Baldwin came into power again — Responsible Government carried the day — A nobleman, Lord Elgin, came into power from England — He was gladly upheld ; in order to protect him they walked in a procession of 500 (I was one of them) to his house, where the Central Presbyterian Church now stands — There were terrible transactions in Montreal — The Parliament buildings had been burnt— Who caused it, and who were conspicuous in the affair? — One of them was Allan N. McNabb — George Brown’s career was commenced — Great meetings of the people in Upper Canada to sustain Lord Elgin. - 475

Chapter XX

The Blake and Sandfield Macdonald Government embroglio — Macdonald’s conduct as Premier - Goldwin Smith’s opinion of him —

My appointmeut — What is treason ? — Col. Talbot and Dr. Dunlop— Egerton Ryerson ard Joseph Hume — Macdonald’s Cabinet — Blake as a politician — The Pope’s act — Benedict Arnold. - - 485

Chapter XXI

Accounts of the Canadian Governments from 1852 to 1863 — McNabb, Hincks, Dr. Rolph, Malcolm Cameron and J. A. Macdonald — J.

B. Robinson’s conduct to me in suit, “Mercer v. Marshall” —

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CONTENTS.

PAGE

Lawyer Eccles acted as my friend — Judge Sullivan and the Benchers thought it unfair — Reversed in a year — McNabbs, Hincks and J. A. Macdonald’s characters as politicians — The Confederation movement — Mr. Laurier alluded to — Baldwin’s popularity — Col. Thomas Taylor — Mollie Brant — Col. Swaize — Farm life — Grievances of 1837. 501

Chapter XXII

Manitoba Schools — Wrong to go to Rome about this — Reference to various Governments from 1855 to 1872 — J. A. Macdonald supplants McNabb — Navy Island invasion by W. L. McKenzie foolish — Americans chance to conquer Canada — Correspondence of Col. Fitzgibbon and Walter McKenzie — Primitive Christian Brethren — Monuments to public men — Abraham Lincoln — President Washington — T. DeWitt Talmage — Dangerous positions of myself in old times — Mean conduct of Americans to W. L. McKenzie, Dr. Rolph and Bidwell — Ryerson and Hume their quarrel — My last words to my country. - - - - - 513

Chapter XXIII

Some mistakes rectified — My father’s expulsion — His conduct justifiable and honorable — Elected again immediately — Mr. Kirby’s pamphlet, “The Annals of Niagara,” very interesting — Lord John Russell’s bad conduct — His coercive resolutions ; Gladstone, then 26, supported them, also Stanley and Labouchere — They were the cause in part of the rebellion in Lower Canada, and were contrary to England’s promise made by Governor Simcoe —

The Ancaster mystery explained — Col. John Prince’s cruelty —

The aristocrats and kings of Europe ; they want another Napoleon to wake them up — Moral on future events in Canada — The end. 526

REMINISCENCES OF

OF TORONTO, BARRISTER.

Chapter I

His childhood — Youthful days — His impressions of life — Schooldays and maturer years in Canada — With references to his late father, James Durand, an early pioneer.

My children have often expressed a wish that I should write these reminiscences ; and many intimate friends have expressed the same desire.

I may say I have grown up with the growth of Ontario, once Upper Canada, and my father, coming before my birth some ten years, gave me also much informatior. Before I was born he had lived, since the year 1802, or thereabouts, in the then wild but beautiful county of Norfolk, at the locality where the town of Simcoe stands, and carried on a store, possessed a large farm, and was given much to hunting the abundant game of that region. He then was married to an English lady, not my mother, whom he had married in 1797, in London, England, and brought out with him to Canada about the year 1804, leaving three of his children to be educated in London, who afterwards came out, in 1810, after the birth of my brother George, and the tragic death of his first wife by a fall in coming down the then dangerous mountain at Hamilton. He had bought, in about the year 1805, a beautiful farm in Hamilton, hereafter alluded to, and built a house in which I was born, hereafter also described, preparatory to settling there. In Norfolk a clerk named Peter HesJardin acted for him in attending to the store. Pie had a colored woman who was an apprenticed slave, for by law in Upper Canada a sort of semi-slavery was allowed then. George, my half-brother, a child about a year old, born in 1805, was in care of this colored woman — on horseback, and Peter HesJardin (afterwards known in Hundas) was also on horseback. My father and his then wife were in what was called a two-wheel-curricle, and in coming down the mountain, by an accident she was thrown out on the rocks and injured so that she died. This was the first tragic accident that had so happened, and there was no cemetery in existence. She was buried, and her tomb existed for many years on this farm, which I have often seen in my after years. The father of the now venerable Hr. William Case was sent for to attend on this unfortunate lady, who died almost immediately.

I allude to this misfortune of an early date in Hamilton as one connected with my father incident to my family, and my brother George, a child, thus was brought up with us as one of the children afterwards. People of this day can little imagine the condition of the wild, unsettled state of Upper Canada then, especially as to roads and the dangers in going down the Hamilton mountain. Indian paths alone guided people in their travels in many places, and the town, as we call it, of Hamilton was all farm land. Many of the oldest families of Upper Canada lived in Norfolk then — such as the Ryersons, Rolphs, Salmons, Walshes, etc.

OF TORONTO, BARRISTER.

My narrative begins, naturally, by asking: What is a child’s memory in infant years, and what interest can anyone have in it ? I am about to trace my memories of an infant mind, which are, at my great age of four score and five and a-half years, quite distinct, although at the time I was only two and a-half years, at most three years, old. At the latter age, in 1814, I remember with distinctness the announcement to me one morning, while standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor and my mother’s apartments, in our then stone house under the mountain’s brow, situated at the upper end of John Street, the news of my brother Alonzo’s birth, when one of my sisters said, “ Charlie, you have got another little brother.”

It will now be asked : And when was you born, and where ? As I am the only surviving child of my father’s once large family, and all the memories of the dear ones composing it are passed to the grave — the grave that claims, and will claim, us all — I can only tell the past. We, of course, like all families, had a family record, and talked about such things. I was born on the ninth day of April, 1811, in the rural locality of Hamilton — now consisting of the beautiful city of Hamilton — then only a series of half-cultivated farms, one of which my father owned. It was in April, my favorite month, just as the flowers were springing up in the woods, and the birds were commencing to come from the south to greet us with gentle songs and whistlings in the sunny air. What birds ? you will say. Why, the phcebe, with its plaintive cry of “ Phoebe ! Phoebe ! ” about our houses and barns, and the red-breasted robin, and the blue-bird, with its cerulean blue back and red breast, with sweet notes in the air, as it flew about our gardens and fields. Sweet and lovely spring birds, when the snow leaves us, come again to their former haunts to cheer us, and how we love them I From hearsay I know the flowers were out then in the woods, for I had two sisters, recently brought out from England — Maria, aged twelve, and Harriet, aged about ten, who had gone on the day of my birth to the mountain’s woody sides, and plucked from the fallen leaves, just as they were peeping up to get the sun, some lovely little daisies, and had brought and laid them near me on my mother’s bosom. My father’s house was surrounded with lovely forest trees. My sister Maria, in her old age often told me about this incident, but she has departed this life some six years ago at the great age of ninety-two years. She had a wonderful memory, not only of events in Hamilton, but of London, England. I was her favorite child in infancy; she used to nurse me, and during her life often spoke of gathering these April flowers.

How beautiful it is to watch the budding trees and flowers ; much more so the budding of the human mind. I have had a great many children, more perhaps than any man in Toronto or Hamilton, and have watched their little minds, and even now, when old, I delight to do so. I will try to bring up in memory what my young mind thought, and the many striking incidents presented.

This incident of the birth of my youngest brother, and the situation of the hall and stairway, are still remembered, as well as the words in substance spoken to me. I have met others who can recall their memories at the age of three years, or earlier perhaps.

I was born a year and some months before the war of 1812 in Canada, and, naturally, soldiers would be about my father’s house. The close of this war was, nominally, in 1814; it commenced in August, 1812, but the fiercest battle in it was fought at New Orleans, in January, 1815, between General Andrew Jackson, the American, and

OF TORONTO, BARRISTER.

General Pakenham, on the British side. This war, it was supposed in Canada, would continue longer, and among the articles greatly needed in those early days was salt. My father understood that he could carry on salt works at a place (Smith’s Creek) near Belleville, and also carry on his store. For this reason, and others, he determined to sell his farm at Hamilton, and go to Belleville. My father was much given to changing his local residence. He had no office to depend upon, which he had afterwards in 1816-18. Besides, the locality of Belleville and the Bay of Quinte, or Canty, as it is vulgarly called, is peculiarly lovely, central, and was well settled in the early days of Canada by U. E. Loyalists.

His determination to sell the Hamilton farm was made, and he did so, to the late Mr. George Hamilton, an estimable man, one of the large family of Hamiltons, of Niagara district. I knew Mr. Hamilton well for many years in Hamilton, where he was the Treasurer of the counties of Wentworth and Halton. He was also once a representative in the Provincial Legislature, superseding my father about the year 1822. It may be as well here to speak of this valuable farm, sold to Mr. Hamilton. It consisted, as before said, of about one hundred acres, the boundaries running from the mountain top to King Street North, to James Street on the west side and to Wellington Street in the east, mostly under culture, which would now take in most of the valuable property of Hamilton, including the Court-house and wholesale stores, now existing. He sold it for $3,000, at that time considered a good price. Remember, there were no houses on it except the stone house spoken of. The appearance of Hamilton (not called so then) was always beautiful from the effects of the forests on the mountain, the rich land, and the beautiful bay in front of it.

It may be well, before again referring to my young memory, just to say something about my father and mother, and their families. They were both, in an eminent sense, especially my father, pioneers in Canada. My father was an emigrant English gentleman who came to Canada first as ear]y as 1800, or 1801, and my mother came to Hamilton with her father and mother from the State of New York, near Lake Cayuga, about the same period. She was originally, I believe, from the State of Massachusetts, where her father, Hugh Morrison, became a volunteer in the army of George Washington, in the American revolutionary wars. He had a large family of boys and girls ; she was not the youngest child, but was born in 1791. My father was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1775. His town-birthplace was Abergavenny, where his father’s regiment was stationed at the time. I was told, in the lifetime of my late brother, James Durand, of Kingston, that the stone or brick house in which our father was born still stands there — said to be claimed by no one. 1 need not here give more than a general statement of the respective families of my parents, whose memories are dear to me, but will just say that my father had two brothers, and I believe as many as four sisters, and that his father was a British officer of high rank, and a well-educated man.

Our family was originally, over two hundred years ago, French, having been forced to leave France owing to the persecution of the Huguenots (to which great party it was attached) by the wicked papal party after the St. Bartholomew massacre and subsequent persecutions, particularly under the influence of Mary De Medici, the Italian Papist queen of the king of France, who drove the Protestants out of France.

I cannot divest this history of myself from that of my

OF TORONTO, BARRISTER.

father in many respects, and will have often to refer to his history and some of my brothers. My father s mother was a Welsh lady named Julia Waters, a descendant of the Llewellyn family, and married my grandfather in Wales, who, my sister Maria said, was a noted London beauty in her day. This sister lived with her, was present when she died, early in this century.

My dear mother (we love our mothers, for they generally take great interest in their sons) was a very amiable woman, and died very young (being only thirty-seven). Her tomb and that of my father, one brother, George, one sister, Maria (the aged one), can be seen in the once famous town of Ancaster, which is now so dilapidated, erected in the old English Church cemetery there. My mother had many sisters, one of whom I shall presently refer to as one of my infant nurses in 1812. Their names were Jane, Charlotte, Sarah, and my mother’s name was Kezia. One of Job’s beautiful daughters had that name. Her brothers were Alexander, Reuben, Hugh and Ephraim. Her aged mother was a very pleasant New England woman, of a family name! Henderson. Her father was a strong manly New EnglanBnan, over six feet tall, one of the hardy, men who composed General George Washington’s army. This army at one time had to march and fight barefooted ; I think my maternal grandfather told me so. His name was Hugh Morrison. I will again refer to this matter in a future chapter. I had a brother James who talked a great deal to me whilst sitting on his knee, of our intended journey to the beautiful Bay of Canty — (Quinte) — in the coming winter of 1815, and of all the great things to be seen. He spoke of a well-known family of McDougall, probably of Oakville, one of whom was called Dugald McDougall. The name is distinct in my memory, also my brother’s talk to me about the journey.

Before proceeding, I must mention a few matters that occurred in my father’s home in Hamilton. If what I say be a superstition, a fancy, as it were, or not, is for others to judge, but I think it is real. I have always been under the belief, and am still so, that a special Providence, from infancy up, has guarded me from death. Many instances of it in this history of my life will be given. I will now give one. My father had a large farm, as mentioned, covering the chief part of the now southern part of Hamilton, and had a herd of cattle, amongst them a vicious bull. The bull was a terror to many of the neighboring farmers. The venerable Dr. William Case, of Hamilton, now over ninety-live years old, told me some years ago, that he remembered this bull as a boy then ten years old. My Aunt Sarah, sister of my mother, was part of the time my nurse when a child, and once was walking in the barnyard with me in her arms — when I was about a year old. She did not notice the bull. He came upon her suddenly as she was standing near a high fence with me in her arms, and caught her up on his horns and threw her over the fence on the opposite side, where he could not reach her, bellowing in anger. Over she went, holding me firmly and safely, unharmed, and was not herself much hurt. The bull could not follow up his angry intention, which he might have done if she had been thrown on his side of the fence. What might have happened to her and me may be imagined. This herd of cattle was mostly killed, and ravens and crows were numerous in consequence, some of which were shot. A wounded one was brought home and hopped about the yard. I recollect chasing it about, as a little child, and driving it under the house.