The records of all the provinces show the great influence exercised on
their material, political, and intellectual development by this devoted
body of immigrants. For more than a century they and their descendants
have been distinguished for the useful and important part they have
taken in every matter deeply associated with the best interests of the
country. In New Brunswick we find among those who did good service in
their day and generation the names of Wilmot, Allen, Robinson, Jarvis,
Hazen, Burpee, Chandler, Tilley, Fisher, Bliss, Odell, Botsford; in Nova
Scotia, Inglis (the first Anglican bishop in the colonies), Wentworth,
Brenton, Blowers (Chief Justice), Cunard, Cutler, Howe, Creighton,
Chipman, Marshall, Halliburton, Wilkins, Huntingdon, Jones; in Ontario,
Cartwright, Robinson, Hagerman, Stuart (the first Anglican clergyman),
Gamble, Van Alstine, Fisher, Grass, Butler, Macaulay, Wallbridge,
Chrysler, Bethune, Merritt, McNab, Crawford, Kirby, Tisdale, and
Ryerson. Among these names stand out prominently those of Wilmot, Howe,
and Huntingdon, who were among the fathers of responsible government;
those of Tilley, Tupper, Chandler, and Fisher, who were among the
fathers of confederation; of Ryerson, who exercised a most important
influence on the system of free education which Ontario now enjoys.
Among the eminent descendants of U. E. Loyalists are Sir Charles Tupper,
long a prominent figure in politics; Christopher Robinson, a
distinguished lawyer, who was counsel for Canada at the Bering Sea
arbitration; Sir Richard Cartwright, a liberal leader remarkable for his
keen, incisive style of debate, and his knowledge of financial
questions; Honorable George E. Foster, a former finance minister of
Canada. We might extend the list indefinitely did space permit. In all
walks of life we see the descendants of the Loyalists, exercising a
decided influence over the fortunes of the Dominion.
Conspicuous among the people who remained faithful to England during the
American Revolution was the famous Iroquois chief Joseph Brant, best
known by his Mohawk name of Thayendanegea, who took part in the war, and
was for many years wrongly accused of having participated in the
massacre and destruction of Wyoming, that beauteous vale of the
Susquehanna. It was he whom the poet Campbell would have consigned to
eternal infamy in the verse
"The mammoth comes--the foe, the monster, Brandt--
With all his howling, desolating band;
These eyes have seen their blade and burning pine
Awake at once, and silence half your land.
Red is the cup they drink, but not with wine--
Awake and watch to-night, or see no morning shine."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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