Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the CanadasLizars, Robina
History
Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the Canadas
Lizars, Robina
Canada -- History -- Rebellion, 1837-1838
Then the poor old mother sickens, and he knows her time has come. He
makes every effort to be allowed to see her, and when he has given up
hope writes her a truly beautiful letter of farewell. In it he thanks
her for all she had done for him, all she has been to him, and that if
the wealth of the world were his he would give it to be at her side.
“But wealth I have none, and of justice there is but little here.” He
tells her of his hopes to put, with his coming liberty, the rest in
comfort, but “sorrow fills my heart when I am told that you will not
have your aged eyes comforted by the sight.” The majesty of the law,
for offence against which he was suffering, was invoked to get him
freedom for the desired interview. Under the shadow of a writ of Habeas
Corpus _ad respondendum_, a court at which he was required to appear as
a witness was held in his house, and accompanied by his gaoler he was
allowed to attend. The magistrate was late in arriving, conveniently
cold when he did come, and protracted his sitting so that the desired
interview between the dying mother and distressed son might have no
interruption, while the sheriff and gaoler waited in the room adjoining
the bedroom. The mother summoned all her fortitude, pronounced her
last farewell, bade him trust in God and fear not. She never spoke
afterwards, and from the windows of the gaol the political prisoner, in
an agony which any can understand, with which all can sympathize, saw
her funeral pass.
Mackenzie’s consideration towards women did not extend beyond the
members of his own family. But an alert providence arranged that he
should usually be well met. Some hours after Anderson had been shot,
a rebel named Pool called at the house of Mr. James Scott Howard, in
Yonge Street, to inquire the whereabouts of the body. Immediately
after he left, the first detachment of the rebel army, about fifteen
or twenty men, drew up on the lawn in front of the house, wheeled at
the word of command, and went away in search of the dead man. The next
to be seen were three or four Loyalists hurrying down the road, who
said there were five hundred rebels behind them, and as the morning
wore on more men were seen and the sound of firing was heard. At eleven
o’clock, or thereabouts, another detachment of rebels appeared, headed
by the afterwards well-known figure stuffed out with extra coats to
be bullet-proof, on a small white horse. To enable the pony to enter
the lawn the men wrenched off fence-boards, after which the stuffed
man, Mackenzie, entered the house without knocking, took possession of
the sitting-room, and ordered dinner for fifty. Mrs. Howard said she
could not comply with such an order. Mackenzie took advantage of Mr.
Howard’s absence in town to indulge in much abuse of the latter, saying
it was high time someone else held the postmastership. Mrs. Howard at
length referred him to the servant in the kitchen, and Mackenzie went
to see about dinner himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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