6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 Gentry, consisting principally of the Youth, residing in this Place, and it's Neighbourhood, formed a small Corps of Volunteers under the Command of Mr. Samuel Mackay, and took Post at St. John's; the Indians shewed as much Backwardness as the Canadian Peasantry. The Consternation in the Towns and Country was great and universal, every Individual seemed to feel our present impotent Situation, for tho' in no Danger of internal Commotions, we are equally unprepared for Attack or Defence; Not six hundred Rank & File fit for Duty upon the whole Extent of this great River, not an armed Vessel, no Place of Strength; the ancient Provincial Force enervated and broke to Pieces; all Subordination overset, and the Minds of the People poisoned by the same Hypocrisy and Lies practised with so much Success in the other Provinces, and which their Emissaries and Friends here have spread abroad with great Art and Diligence; had it not been for those few Troops, three hundred Rebels might have procured all the Arms, Ammunition, and Provisions, this Province can afford, and have kept Post at St. John's with great Security. We are at present fortifying a Post there and at Oswegatchie, tho' there are other Avenues into the Province, I hope the above may be made sufficiently strong to resist any sudden Attack of this Sort; a considerable Force here might not only secure ourselves, but assist General Gage in extinguishing the Flames of Rebellion in the other Provinces more speedily, I fear he has none to spare, and it may be too late in the year to have them from Europe, however I shall see what in our present Situation is further practicable for The King's Service. Within these few Days the Canadians and Indians seem to return a little to their Senses, the Gentry and Clergy have been very useful upon this Occasion, and shewen great Fidelity and Warmth for His Majesty's Service, but both have lost much of their Influence over the People; I propose trying to form a Militia, and if their Minds are favourably disposed, will raise a Battalion, upon the same Pian as the other Corps in America, as to Numbers and Expence, and were it established, I think, it might turn out of great public Utility; but I have many Doubts whether I shall be able to succeed. These Measures, that formerly would have been extremely popular, require at present a great Degree of Caution and Circumspection; so much have the Minds. of the People been tainted by the Cabals and Intrigues, I have from time to time given Your Lordship some Information of, I am as yet uncertain whether I shall find it advisable to proceed in the aforementioned Undertaking; to defame their King and treat him with Insolence and Disrespect, upon all Occasions to speak with the utmost Contempt of His Government, to forward Sedition and applaud Rebellion seem to be what too many of His British American Subjects in those Parts think their undoubted Right. For my Part since my Return to this Province, I have seen good Cause to repent my having ever recommended the Habeas Corpus Act and English criminal Laws; these Laws, now used as Arms against the State, require more public Virtue, and greater Fidelity to their Prince, than is generally to be met with amongst the set of People here, that take the Lead upon all Occasions; To render the Colony of that Advantage to Great Britain, it certainly is capable of, would require the reintroducing the French Criminal Law, and all the Powers of it's Government. Our Communication with the other Provinces being entirely stopped, we run a Risk of being at a great Loss for Money, to defray the ordinary and extraordinary Expences, the Service here must be attended with, The Money Contractors, as well as Trade, as this Time of the Year, being used to procure large Supplies of Cash from New York and Philadelphia, with which Places We have at present no Intercourse; if fifteen or twenty thousand Pounds were sent here as soon as possible, it would be of great Use to Government, which must lose considerably by the present low course of Exchange, likely to fall every Day; could it be procured in Dollars, and some Part in small silver, SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 the same would prove highly beneficial to this Country, where that species is become extremely scarce. P. S. Since I wrote the above, I find the Rebels are returned, and have taken Post near to St. John's, and there have The King's Sloop and Major Skene's Schooner well armed, with several Bateaus; tho' I have not as yet been able to procure exact Accounts of their Numbers or Intentions, I have Reason to believe from the imperfect Information already received, they are more in Number than upon their former Incur sions. G. C. CRAMAHÉ TO DARTMOUTH. QUEBEC 21 Sep 1775. My Lord! I am sorry to transmit to Your Lordship the disagreable account of a disagreable Business, some time in the Beginning of this Month, upon News of the Rebel Army approaching, General Carleton set out for Montreal in great Haste; the 7th instant the Rebels landed in the Woods near St. John's, and were beat back to their Boats by a Party of Savages incamped at that Place; in this Action the Savages behaved with great Spirit and Resolution, and had they remained firm to our Interests, probably the Province would have been saved for this Year, but finding the Canadians in General averse to the taking up Arms for the Defence of their Country, they withdrew, and made their Peace. After their Defeat the Rebels retired to the Isle aux Noix, where they continued till lately, sending out some Parties, and many Emissaries, to debauch the Minds of the Canadians and Indians, in which they have proved too successfull, and for which they were too well prepared by the Cabals and Intrigues of these two last years; We knew of their being reinforced, and very considerably, I suppose, as they appeared in Numbers near St. John's last Sunday Evening; where or when they landed, or the Particulars since, we have but very imperfect Accounts of, all Communication with the Forts of St. John's and Chambli, being, as far as I can find, entirely cut off. No Means have been left untried to bring the Canadian Peasantry to a Sense of their Duty, and engage them to take up arms in Defence of the Province, but all to no Purpose; The Justice must be done to the Gentry, Clergy, and most of the Bourgeoisie, that they have shewen the greatest Zeal and Fidelity to the King's Service, and exerted 1 Canadian Archives, Q 11, p. 249. This and the succeeding letter from Chief Justice Hey give two other versions of the quite unexpected sequel to the Quebec Act. In the meantime Lord Dartmouth was fully relying upon Carleton's previous assurances of what could be expected from Quebec in support of the British interests on the continent, if only the French laws and system of government were re-established and the noblesse and clergy restored to their former ascendancy. Hence, when the crisis was precipitated at Boston, he wrote to Carleton, July 1st, 1775, saying that the King relies upon the Loyalty & Fidelity of His Canadian Subjects for their Assistance to suppress Rebellion, and it is His Majesty's pleasure that you do, if you see no objection, immediately upon the Receipt of this Letter take the proper Steps for raising a Body of 3,000 Canadians in such form & manner as you shall judge most proper, to act as Light Infantry, either in a separate Corps, or in conjunction with His Majesty's other Troops, as shall, upon consulting Gen Gage, be thought most expedient." Q 11, p. 152. On receiving still worse news from Gage, Dartmouth writes again to Carleton, on the 24th of July, "and it having been judged proper, upon a consideration of these Despatches that the number of Men to be raised in Canada, should be double what was first proposed, It is His Majesty's Pleasure that instead of 3,000 men which you were authorized to raise by my Letter of the 1st of July, the number to be raised be 6,000, and I have accordingly given directions for an additional supply of Arms, Clothing, & Accoutrements in proportion." Q 11, p. 182. 6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 their best Endeavours to reclaim their infatuated Countrymen; some Troops, and a Ship of War or two, would in all likelihood have prevented this general Defection. Some of the King's old Subjects have joined the Rebels, and it were to be wished all of them, inclined to that Cause, had done the same, we should be the safer for it, the Copy of an intercepted Letter from one of them is herewith inclosed ;' some Canadians, I understand, are with the Bostonians upon every Road. As the ship this goes by sails to morrow very early, I have not time to enter into particulars, Lt. Col. Maclean with about eighty of his new raised Corps, and twenty of the Fusileers, besides a Militia composed of the Inhabitants of the Town, is all that we have to repair it's Breaches, and defend it; General Carleton, who is still at Montreal, has not received a Line from Your Lordship since the 15th of April, or from General Gage since the 3rd of July last. I have the Honor to be with great Respect, My Lord! Your Lordship's Earl of Dartmouth My Lord CHIEF JUSTICE HEY TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.2 QUEBEC Aug. y 28th 1775. Since I had the honour of writing to your Lordship soon after my arrival here, by Captn. Brash, The affairs of this Province are so far in a better train as the apprehensions of any decisive invasion from the Garrisons of Crown Point and Ticonderoga seem to be removed by the lateness of the season, and an appearance of less alacrity on their Part for a business of that sort than they shewed a month ago, or when I dispatched my other Letter to your Lordship. Whether this arises from the fears which the Congress may have entertained of opening the wound they have given the Mother Country too wide to admit of being closed by treaty, or from those of Individuals in the danger of the attempt, I am at a loss to determine, & can only say, that, from some cause or other, the Expedition appears to be suspended, if not wholly abandoned, & unless they mean to take advantage of the winter when they may pass the Lake upon snow shoes, I should think the latter the most probable. I could hardly expect to find credit with your Lordship for what I asserted of the backwardness of the Canadians when the situation of things here, made it necessary for Gen Carleton to declare Martial Law, and call upon the Militia to turn out in defence of the Province; unhappily! every day furnishes too many instances of it, and gives me an Idea of the real character of the Canadians very different from what I used to entertain, and constantly represented to your Lordship whenever I had occasion to speak of them. Your Lordship will remember how much has been said by us all of their Loyalty, obedience & Gratitude, of their habitual submission to Government, & their decent civil & respecfull demeanour to those who had the conduct of it, but time and accident have evinced that they were obedient only because they were afraid to be otherwise & with that fear lost (by withdrawing the troops) is gone all the good disposition This letter, which was in French, was signed by Jas. Livingston, who had come originally from New York State and who was a grain merchant living on the Sorel. See Q 11, p. 252. 2 Canadian Archives, Q 12, p. 203. 3 This Proclamation was issued on June 9th, two days after his despatch to Dartmouth given above. The Proclamation is given in Maseres' "Additional Papers concerning the Province of Quebeck," It authorized the raising of the whole militia of the Province. 170. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 18 that we have so often an 1 steadily avowed in their names & promised for them in ages to come. Yet I am sometimes willing to think that fear, joined with extreme ignorance and a credulity hardly to be supposed of a People, have been overmatched by the subtilty & assiduity of some Colony agents who were very busy here last winter, & that they are not at bottom an ungenerous or disobedient People. That temperate management and gentle methods of persuasion and instruction may yet bring them to a sense of their duty & indeed their interest, & when they are made to understand that the true point of fear should be that of sitting still & not putting themselves into a state of defence, they will take arms not only for their present defence, but when supported by a body of the Kings troops be ready for any offensive service that the times may demand; which in my poor opinion who pretend to nothing less than military knowledge, would strike more terrour into the Colonies than Gen Gage's army doubled or trebled at Boston, where from the nature of the Ground & a thousand other circumstances there can be little hopes of making any decisive impression. But be that as it may, your Lordship who has indulged me in a freedom of expressing my thoughts with respect to this country upon points of less importance will forgive me upon one. which appears to me so essential, tho it should happen to be a little out of my Line & fall more immediately within that of another to whose circumspection however & Judgement I pay the utmost deference, I mean the Governour's. It appears to me that while England has a firm hold of this Country, which a good Body of troops & nothing else will give her, her cause with the Colonies can never be desperate 'tho' she should not have an inch of ground in her possession in any one of them, from this country they are more accessible, I mean the N. England People, (Paradoxical as it may seem) than even from Boston itself, & I believe it to be as true as any thing can be that has not been reduced to absolute proof that the Colonies without the assistance of England, would have been reduced from North to south by this Province in the last war. They thought so themselves, & the Pains they have taken to keep the Canadians quiet which a good appearance of troops from England would soon remove, convince me that they are in dread of it at this hour, and I do most firmly believe that if the army at Boston was removed here ready to begin its operations from hence in the spring & the fleet continued (if that could be done) to block up their ports & prevent their trade, it would have a better effect & produce terms of accomodation more likely to be received than any other method that could be adopted, except that of pouring in the whole strength of G. Britain by sea & land & carrying destruction & Ruin thro' every accessible part of the Provinces. If this be so & there is any thing like truth in this observation what a melancholy thing it is to reflect in what a precarious situation this province stands by being deprived of the few Regiments we had here before these troubles broke out, so much so that the very preservation of it in the interest of the Crown depends more upon our Enemies than ourselves. we have hardly 500 men at St. Johns the most obvious pass to defend & are obliged to leave many others intirely neglected, & from what we have had occasion to see of the Canadians very little dependance is to be had upon them. They are terrified or corrupted to a degree that your Lordship can have no Idea of, & are impressed with the strangest ideas that ever entered into the minds of men. Sometimes they believe they are to be sent to Boston and nothing can persuade them that a few trans-ports which are waiting for Provisions, are not lying in wait to recieve them, at other times they are told that the People of Boston are fighting merely to prevent the return of the stamps, which they seem to think a matter of great Politeness & do not wish to see them disturbed in so good a work. Some amongst them believe they are sold to the Spaniards (whom they abominate) & that Gen. Carleton has got the money in his Pocket, in short such a mixture of ignorance fear credulity perverseness & Prejudice never yet I believe took possession of the human mind or made it more difficult to know what to do with them. in this situation it will readily occur to your Lordship that our only object at present is to keep these Ruffians from invading us in the course of the winter, & wait 'till better & more sober times for the Establishment of the Country under the new Act of Parliament. And yet something of that sort at least in a temporary way must be done and is indeed in agitation at present, in the course of which 6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 as far as it has gone it is wonderfull to observe as great an instance of folly & strange infatuation amongst the Canadians as in the article of the Militia. what will be your Lordships astonishment when I tell you that an act passed for the express purpose of gratifying the Canadians & which was supposed to comprehend all that they either wished or wanted is become the first object of their discontent & dislike. English officers to command them in time of war, & English Laws to govern them in time of Peace, is the general wish. the former they know to be impossible (at least at present) & by the latter if I understand them right, they mean no Laws & no Government whatsoever-in the mean time it may be truly said that Gen. Carleton has taken an ill measure of the influence of the seigneurs & Clergy over the lower order of people whose Principle of conduct founded in fear & the sharpness of authority over them now no longer exercised, is unrestrained, & breaks out in every shape of contempt or detestation of those whom they used to behold with terrour & who gave them I believe too many occasions to express it. And they on their parts have been and are too much elated with the advantages they supposed they should derive from the restoration of their old Priviledges & customs, & indulged themselves in a way of thinking & talking that gave very just offence, as well to their own People as to the English merchants. The little I have seen of them in Council gives me no Idea of their Abilities or moderation inflexible to any arguments either of expediency or Justice they will admit no alteration in their antient Laws particularly in the article of commerce which I insist upon, & believe shall carry in favour of the English merchants, with whom almost the whole trade of the country lyes, & which without them was & without them will continue except in a very few articles & those to no extent, a country of no trade at all in short & to relieve your Lordship from this unpleasant prospect of things in detail, Let me say in general that this country affords as gloomy an one in point of security & in the ill humours & evil dispositions of its inhabitants, to one as anxious as I hope I am for the prosperity of my own deeply interested in this, as can be imagined. For the share I have been made to take in it, tho' the most distant from my wishes I repent not but on the contrary will much rejoyce if I shall be found to have been an instrument in preventing a still more ruinous state of things, or may be made the means of restoring them to a better. That is at present all my consolation in an office to which I find myself as little equal as I am inclined, & from which I will expect of your Lordships bounty (I had all most said Justice considering the great weight your Lordships recommendation had in sending me a second time hither) an honourable & decent retreat. in your Lordships own department I neither expect nor desire it, such of the Employments in your Lordships disposal as require legal ability to fill them I am unequal to in every light, & to those that do not, there must be so many that have better Pretensions to your Lordships favour, indeed there can be none that have less, I do not presume to request. I will hope however for your Lordships general Protection & Countenance & will trust that you will concurr with the rest of his Majestys Ministers in thinking that ten years honest, however imperfect, Endeavours to serve the Crown in an unpleasant & something critical situation deserve to be compensated with moderate & reasonable means of Retirement which I should prefer to the first office of distinction or Profit that the Crown has to bestow. In this hope I take my Leave of your Lordship desiring your Lordship will be so good as present my best respects to Lady Apsley & Miss Bathurst, & believe me with most perfect Esteem & Gratitude My Lord Y' Lordships most obliged & most W. HEY. P. S. It is I hope unnecessary for me to say that I would have executed your Lordships commission with respect to the Nut trees if I could have found an opportunity, but they are not the growth of this Province & your Lordship knows we have no communication with any other. I am told Lord Gage has trees of them of all sorts sent many years ago by his Brother the General from New York. |