The Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion, Volume 1Dent, John Charles
History
The Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion, Volume 1
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- History -- Rebellion, 1837-1838; Ontario -- Politics and government
When Upper Canada was set apart as a separate Province, in 1791, the
field of operations was considerably extended. Indeed, the Upper
Province soon came to be regarded with special favour by intending
aspirants to office, as it was in all respects an English colony;
whereas Lower Canada, in spite of all attempts to Anglicize it, remained
much more French than English. Lower Canada, indeed, remained in some
respects more French than any other part of the world, not even
excepting France itself, for in that country the Great Revolution had
swept away many effete institutions which were still retained in all
their decrepitude among the Frenchmen of the New World. Now, the French
Canadians, though most of the avenues to power and office were closed to
them, composed a vast majority of the population. They did not take
kindly to the British colonists, and declined to fraternize with them.
The latter could bear this isolation, as they were comforted by the
spoils of office, but their lives were rendered much less agreeable than
they would have been in a colony where no such disturbing elements were
known. Upper Canada was precisely such a colony. No part of Britain was
more British in sentiment. In no part of the world would an expatriated
Englishman find himself more entirely in harmony with his environment,
from a purely patriotic point of view. What wonder, then, that Upper
Canada was regarded by place-hunting emigrants from England with
wistful eyes? What wonder that an appointment to a public office in
Upper Canada should have been regarded by such persons as a thing
greatly to be coveted? Such aspirants were regarded with but little
favour by Governor Simcoe. His great object was to launch the Province
successfully on its career, and to lay the foundations of good
government. He brought with him his own staff, selected by himself with
a single eye to their fitness for the positions which they were
respectively intended to fill. During his day there was little or no
favouritism in public appointments, and but little, if anything, to find
fault with in the conduct of the administration. His demission of office
was almost immediately followed by a relaxation of discipline, and by a
looseness in the management of the public business. As the years passed
by, the Province became the resort of numerous office-seekers from
beyond sea--half-pay officers and scions of good English, Scotch and
Irish families, who sought to better their fortunes by expatriation. As
they were, generally speaking, men of some education, and of manners
more polished than were ordinarily found among the colonists, they
naturally assimilated, and were drawn towards each other. They likewise
coalesced, to some extent, with a few United Empire Loyalist families of
exclusive pretensions, in whose veins the blood was supposed to possess
an exceptionally cerulean tint. Several persons who had rapidly gained
wealth by trade and speculation, and who had thereby acquired influence
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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