History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay QuintéCanniff, William
History
History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay Quinté
Canniff, William
Ontario -- History; Quinte, Bay of (Ont.)
eyes are blinded to the fact that a noble band, possessing equal rights
with the rebels, loved England, notwithstanding all her faults, and for
that love sacrificed their all of worldly goods. The citizens of the
United States would prefer to have it said in history that the U. E.
Loyalists, in every instance, voluntarily left their homes during the
war, or at its close. The loyalists are thereby, no doubt, made to
appear more devotedly attached to the British Crown. But it is right to
have it distinctly stated that American writers mostly make themselves
guilty of _suppressio veri_. The latest instance of this is seen in a
report to the Hon. Hugh McCullough, Secretary of the Treasury, prepared
by E. H. Derby, Commissioner of the Treasury Department, dated January
1st, 1866, who, in remarking upon the British Colonial policy from 1776
down to 1830, takes occasion to say that, “at first there was little
fellowship between the United States and the Provincialists, many of
whom were descended from the loyalists who _followed_ the British troops
from our shores.” The fact is, however, that many of them were driven
away. The tories were not loyal without sense; and when the fortune of
war had turned against them, they would, in great numbers, have made the
best of their changed condition, and have lived to become true citizens
of the new-born nation. But this was not to be. The loyalists were to be
made feel that they were outcasts. It is the same ignoble and
unstatesmanlike course which is now being pursued toward the subdued
South. They must needs be made to know they are rebels. It is a
shortsighted policy, even as the former was. The former led to the
establishment of a nation to their north, which will stand, even after
the Union lies in fragments; the latter fosters a feeling of alienation,
which will speak upon the first opportunity, in the thunder tones of
war.
If a comparison is instituted between the rebels of 1776, and those who
were conservators of peace, the contrast is found to be very great. It
is charged against the loyalists that all office-holders were tories;
but is this more worthy of remark than the fact that many became rebels
because they could not obtain office. Nay, the latter is infinitely more
heinous in its nature. If we look at the two parties, with respect to
education and, it may be added, religion, it is found that the great
bulk of the educated and refined, the religious classes, especially the
clergy, the leading lawyers, the most prominent medical men, were all
loyalists. It was not because they were office-holders, it was because
they possessed a moral and elevated mind, educated to a correct
standard. Then, again, there was a large class of citizens who loved
retirement, and who begged to be allowed to remain neutral, but who were
actually compelled to take sides with the rebels or be driven away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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