The Father of British Canada: a Chronicle of CarletonWood, William
History
The Father of British Canada: a Chronicle of Carleton
Wood, William
Canada -- History -- 1763-1867; Canada -- History -- 1775-1783; Dorchester, Guy Carleton, Baron, 1724-1808
So far, so good. But the third conspicuous new arrival,
John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada,
who had come out the year before, was a great deal less
to Carleton's liking. Simcoe was a good officer who threw
himself heart and soul into the work of settling the new
province. He won the affectionate regard of his people
and is gratefully remembered by their posterity. But he
was too exclusively of his own province in his civil and
military outlook and was disposed to ignore Carleton as
his official chief. Moreover, he was appointed in spite
of Carleton's strongly expressed preference for Sir John
Johnson, who, to all appearances, was the very man for
the post. Sir William Johnson, the first baronet, had
been the great British leader of the Indians and a person
of much consequence throughout America. His son John
inherited many of his good qualities, thoroughly understood
the West and its problems, was a devoted Loyalist all
through the Revolution, when he raised the King's Royal
Regiment of New York, and would have been second only to
Carleton himself in the eyes of all Canadians, old and
new. But the government thought his private interests
too great for his public duty--an excellent general
principle, though misapplied in this particular case. At
any rate, Simcoe came instead, and the friction began at
once. Simcoe's commission clearly made him subordinate
to Carleton. Yet Simcoe made appointments without consulting
his superior and argued the point after he had been
brought to book. He communicated directly with the home
government over his superior's head and was not rebuked
by the minister to whom he wrote--Henry Dundas, afterwards
first Viscount Melville. Dundas, indeed, was half inclined
to snub Carleton. Simcoe desired to establish military
posts wherever he thought they would best promote immediate
settlement, a policy which would tend to sap both the
government's resources and the self-reliance of the
settlers. He also wished to fix the capital at London
instead of York, now Toronto, and to make York instead
of Kingston the naval base for Lake Ontario. Thus the
friction continued. At length Carleton wrote to the Duke
of Portland, Pitt's home secretary, saying: 'All command,
civil and military, being thus disorganized and without
remedy, your Grace will, I hope, excuse my anxiety for
the arrival of any successor, who may have authority
sufficient to restore order, lest these insubordinations
should extend to mutiny among the troops and sedition
among the people.' That was in November 1795. The
government, however, took no decisive action, and next
year both Carleton and Simcoe left Canada for ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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