Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years: An AutobiographyThompson, Samuel
History
Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years: An Autobiography
Thompson, Samuel
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ontario; Thompson, Samuel, 1810-1886; Toronto (Ont.) -- Biography; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
In the course of the years 1835, '6 and '7, I made many journeys to
Toronto, sometimes wholly on foot, sometimes partly by steamboat and
stage. I became very intimate with the Todd family and connections,
which included Mrs. Todd's brother, William P. Patrick, then, and long
afterwards, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly; his brother-in-law, Dr.
Thomas D. Morrison, M. P. P.; Thomas Vaux, Accountant of the
Legislature; Caleb Hopkins, M. P. P., for Halton; William H. Doel,
brewer; William C. Keele, attorney, and their families. Nearly all these
persons were, or had been, zealous admirers of Wm. L. Mackenzie's
political course. And the same thing must be said of my friend Mr.
Drury, of Bradford; his sister married Edward Henderson, merchant
tailor, of King Street west, whose father, E. T. Henderson, was well
known amongst Mackenzie's supporters. It was his cottage on Yonge Street
(near what is now Gloucester Street), at which the leaders of the
popular party used often to meet in council. The house stood in an
orchard, well fenced, and was then very rural and secluded from
observation.
Amongst all these really estimable people, and at their houses, nothing
of course was heard disparaging to the Reformers of that day, and their
active leader. My own political prejudices also were in his favour. And
so matters went on until the arrival, in 1835, of Sir Francis Bond Head,
as Lieutenant-Governor, when we, in the bush, began to hear of violent
struggles between the House of Assembly on the one side, and the
Lieutenant-Governor supported by the Legislative Council on the other.
Each political party, by turns, had had its successes and reverses at
the polls. In 1825, the majority of the Assembly was Tory; in 1826, and
for several years afterwards, a Reform majority was elected; in 1831,
again, Toryism was successful; in 1835, the balance veered over to the
popular side once more, by a majority only of four. This majority, led
by Mackenzie, refused to pass the supplies; whereupon, Sir Francis
appealed to the people by dissolving the Parliament.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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