Henry Samuel Chapman

“ That, while in accordance with these principles we have sympathised with the Greeks, the Poles, the patriots of South America, and the reformers of Canada, we owe it to the character of our institutions, the policy of our government, and the sacred obligations of neutrality, to repudiate and disavow any and every attempt to disturb the friendly relations subsisting between two countries, allies by commerce, by mutual interest, and a common language. ”

“ If we had been asked in what part of the United States the insurgent patriots of Canada had been least likely to find sympathy and succour, we should certainly have named New York beyond all places. New York is overrun with a bad class of British commercial adventurers — ignorant, intolerant, and vulgar-minded, whose only means of distinction is pretended admiration of every thing that is aristocratic, according to their narrow notions, and "British." ”

“ The more intense the dislike, the more loud the complaints, the more marked the indignation which the suspension of the constitution shall excite in the breasts of the Canadian people, the more decided will be the proof that they value the blessing of representative government. ”

“ The punishment of the general leaders, however gratifying it might be to the English inhabitants of the province, would not make either so deep or so durable an impression on the great body of the people, as the sight of a foreign farmer on every local agitator's land, and of the comparative destitution of his widow and orphans — living and lasting proofs of the folly and wickedness of rebellion. ”

“ As the representative of our most gracious sovereign, I now most solemnly address myself to the inhabitants of this province, but more especially to the misguided and inconsiderate population on the river Richelieu, in the district of Montreal. I address myself to your good sense and your personal experience of the benefits you have received, and of the tranquillity you have so long enjoyed under the British government. You possess the religion, the language, the laws, and the institutions, guaranteed to you nearly seventy years since. You know not the burthen of taxes ”

“ A war annuls all treaties, — a rebellion destroys all compacts or pledges. The French Canadians stand before the world, rebels against the British Government; they have made war against England, and are again a conquered people — let them be treated accordingly. ”

“ It is to be hoped, for the honour of human nature, that but few persons can be found in Canada, or elsewhere, who will respond to the brutal sentiments of Dalton, the editor of the government paper at Toronto, His ferocity knows no bounds when directed towards the reformers of Canada, in whose ranks he once was. Human sympathy and a sense of justice have alike departed from him, and he exhibits a fiend-like blood-thirstiness that would disgrace a savage. ”

“ Three times as many armed peasantry ought to have been sufficient for a similar purpose. The effect of this would have been, to enable the undoubted sympathy of the state of Vermont, and that part of New York bordering on Canada, to manifest itself in the shape of aids of arms, ammunition, provisions, clothing, and above all, of men, which, in such a case, could enter Canada without difficulty by the open path of the Richelieu.
With regard to the rising at Grand Brulé, an equally obvious course presented itself. ”

“ It did not seem to me credible, that in the bosom of this peaceful country, where every one was enjoying the protection of equal laws, and reaping the fruit of his labours almost undiminished by taxes, any number of persons could be found willing to assail the lives, plunder the property of their unoffending fellow-subjects, and to attempt the destruction of a government from which they had received nothing but good. ”

“ On the return of the troops to Montreal, it is painful to state that ample evidence is said to have been exhibited that the village had been plundered. Watches and other portables of value were exposed for sale without disguise, and the amount of plunder which fell to the share of some of the men is said to have been considerable. The French Canadians are in the habit of keeping money in their houses. Being a simple agricultural people, and not familiar with the habits of a commercial community, they have, what we should consider a strange and unaccountable prejudice, against paper money ”

“ It is obvious that as a nation we have no right to intermeddle with the constitution of any neighbouring powers; while, as republicans, we prefer that form of government under which it is our happiness to live, a decent regard for the opinion of others will prevent all dictation as to the form of their government. ”

“ If they meet with one success, a second becomes at once more probable, and at every subsequent stage, thousands declare themselves in favour of a change in the existing order of things, who, in the event of a failure, would either hold their tongues, or, perhaps, even be loudly loyal.
Thus, then, in Upper Canada there was, at the end of November, a body of reformers, of all degrees, in a state of discontent more or less intense, amounting certainly to a very large minority of the people, and, possibly, to a majority. ”

“ If the lessons taught by our revolution have been forgotten in England, that government will assuredly lose its Canadian provinces. The Tory presses in Canada are thirsting for blood. ‘The gallows,’ says a Toronto paper, ‘is impatient for its prey, and will speedily have carrion in abundance.’ Should the government venture to try and hang for treason, its power to wreak such vengeance will be short lived. The moment the royalists condemn citizens to the 'gallows' for political offences, a warfare will be commenced which must terminate in the independence of Canada. ”

“ We have two adverse political parties, both complaining of the constitution of the judiciary, the one because a jury would certainly be in favour of the insurgents, and the other because a jury would as certainly be against them — the latter backing their opinion by declining to trust themselves to that which the magistrates declare to be certainly in their favour. This conflict of adverse opinions leads us to infer, that a jury in Canada is as uncertain a matter as a House of Commons' Election Committee. ”

“ Everything depended on a surprise, for they could not conceal from themselves, that if the authorities should obtain a knowledge of their design, their force was insufficient to attempt the attack. The governor, they would naturally feel assured, would distribute so many of his 4000 stand of arms among the well-aifected, as he could find bearers for, when any attempt on the part of 200 ill-armed men with an incumbering crowd of some hundred more waiting for arms, would be utter madness. ”

“ Another piece of evidence of the want of preconcerted plan, is to be found in the nature of the warfare. All the leading men in Canada are well acquainted with the history of the American struggle. It is an interesting period to them, for it is not to be denied, that they may one day or other have to enact it. Now, if the present had been deemed the time, they would certainly have taken some lessons out of the book of that history. What is the most conspicuous of these lessons ? evidently that an undisciplined peasantry should never meet the regular troops. ”

“ The duty of the Americans as a nation is stated — all "national interference" is deprecated, and then individuals are reminded that they ought not to do that which their government must not — cannot do.
It is generally admitted that the laws of the United States on the subject under notice are a dead letter. This was proved in the case of Texas. The Mexican province of Texas did precisely what the British province of Canada is doing; and American citizens interfered without the least disguise; arming, equipping, raising money, and marching in considerable bodies to aid the insurgents. ”

“ The due influence and purity of all our institutions have been utterly destroyed. Our governors are the mere instruments for effecting domination from Downing-street; legislative councillors have been intimidated into executive compliance, as in the case of the late Chief Justice Powell, Mr. Baby, and others; the executive council has been stript of every shadow of responsibility and of every shade of duty; the freedom and purity of elections have lately received, under Sir Francis Head, a final and irretrievable blow ”

“ Now every person, whose sentiments are known, is willing and anxious that a certain degree of clemency may be extended to all who may have been mere tools ; but we cannot admit that the 'leaders,' and so forth, are accurately described as 'a few evil-minded and designing men.' It is not the execution of the six or eight demagogues, to whom his Lordship manifestly alludes, that can restore and preserve the tranquillity of the province. Every local agitator, of every disturbed parish, must be tried, and, if convicted, must he deprived of all his property, and hanged. ”

“ Upwards of 10,000 men immediately marched towards the capital; and in the depth of a Canadian winter, with no clothes but those they stood in, without food, and, generally speaking, without arms, reformers as well as constitutionalists, nobly rushed forward to defend the revered constitution of their ancestors, although the rebel who had dared to attack it was offering to his adherents 300 acres of our land,140 and the plunder of our banks. ”

“ Leaving out of the account our wars in favour of legitimacy, and against the spread of liberal opinions, we need only remind the reader of our attack upon the Turks at Navarino; of our army of occupation sent to Portugal, and lastly of our recent sanction of the expedition of the British legion. Let us not marvel, therefore, if the American authorities content themselves by preventing only "national interference." If they were to attempt more, they would certainly fail. ”

“ It is possible that the people of Canada will submit to it in sullen silence, but it is impossible, after the political education we ourselves have given them, that they should not feel the degradation most keenly. ”

“ I consider that this evidence will be of immense importance, as it at once shows the conduct of Lower Canada to be factious; whereas, could it, under colour of a few radical meetings here, be asserted that the two provinces were on the brink of revolution, it would, as you know, be argued as an excuse for granting the demands of M. Papineau. 1 consider it of immense importance, practically, to show to the Canadas that loyalty produces tranquillity, and that disloyalty not only brings troops into the province, but also involves it in civil war. ”

“ In war, we may treat them as enemies; but in peace, they are to be regarded as friends. In the present posture of affairs our duty is manifest — that of strict neutrality — neither lending such aid to either, as would be inconsistent with that character, nor denying the right of hospitality to either, so long as they are within our borders, and maintain the character of quiet and peaceable citizens. ”

“ Let us act as high-minded, honourable men should act in view of the delicate position in which we are placed, with a country on one side resisting oppression, and enlisting all our warm and holy sympathies in its favour, and on the other a powerful nation, with which we are at peace, and towards which we are bound to act according to the most friendly treaties. ”

“ It appears to us, that the representative system is at least as dear to the French as to the British. Indeed, we had an impression, and we can see nothing to remove it, that it was more so, for the assembly representing the majority, has been for some years attempting to apply the representative principle to the Second Chamber or Legislative Council, an extension of the system which the constitutional party have to the last opposed. However, the representative system has been destroyed — deeply do we regret that it has been so — but being so, the constitutionalists must "brook" it. ”

“ The insurrection having ceased in the country watered by the Richelieu, such a measure of conciliation, nay, of clemency, would have strengthened Lord Gosford's government more than any course of coercion. It would have been a true conquest of the Assembly ; and, although we are convinced that no government but one which is purely elective in its character, can ultimately succeed in America, the immediate effect would have been the generation, to a certain extent, of a yielding disposition on the part of the Assembly. ”

“ Who are too proud to dig (almost the only road to wealth and independence in a new country) but who, to beg, are not ashamed. It is fearful to contemplate the extent of demoralization in Upper Canada arising from this single use. One single office may stand as a bait for a score of hungry expectants.
The next source of corruption lies in the credit and instalment system of disposing of waste lands. ”

“ The population of the Home District is now, perhaps, about 51,000, exclusive of the city of Toronto.
It is now necessary to state, that the evidence on which we have to depend for the details of the revolt in Upper Canada, is of a most scanty, unsatisfactory, and even suspicious nature. The Upper Canada papers being for the most part of a very inferior character, are scarcely noticed by those of New York; hence, their statements do not find their way into the London papers so constantly as those of Lower Canada do. ”

“ Whatever might be the wishes, whatever might be the legislative enactments of our government, we know, by what we have witnessed in the Texian war, that the young men of the west and north could never be prevented from marching by thousands to the aid of the Canadians. Lures would be held out by those people to entice them into their service. The Canadian papers have more than once alluded to the important assistance they would derive from the rifles of the backwoods-men in case of a rupture with England. ”

“ The American correspondents of the London papers are equally mischievous as guides to the state of opinion in America. They have a purpose to serve at home, and by neither Whig nor Tory is democracy likely to be pictured in colours too attractive. The only correspondent who strikes us as giving generally a fair view of American politics is that of the Times who calls himself "a Genevese traveller."
Notwithstanding this apparently unfavourable soil, a very enthusiastic demonstration was however made in New York in favour of the "suffering people of Canada." ”

“ That we sympathize with, and approve the steady, peaceable, yet patriotic conduct of our brother reformers of Lower Canada, and believe it necessary at this crisis to adopt a rigid economy, and to abstain as much as possible from all articles which are subject to duties and taxes for the support of a government not responsible to the people. We regret that past experience has not yet sufficiently taught the lesson, that opposition to reformation generally ends in revolution. ”

“ Our law-writers tell us that martial law should not be resorted to in time of peace, when the regular courts are open to all persons, to receive justice according to the laws of the land. Now, although Lower Canada has but recently ceased to be in a state of civil war, it is admitted that peace is restored, hence the ordinary courts should be again thrown open. ”

“ No one can have observed the state of opinion in America, without perceiving that the ejectment of kingly government from that continent is one of their most dominant wishes.
The powerful interest they take in the boundary question, has less reference to the few "acres of snow, somewhere towards Canada," of which Voltaire spoke, than to the greater question of the navigation of the St. Lawrence, and to the still greater question of elbowing monarchy off the continent.
The Texas question has an intimate bearing on that of Canada in more ways than one. ”

“ Every American nurse has a choice collection of tales relative to the conduct of the troops, during the revolutionary war, — the burnings in Canada will doubtless be added to the list. In order to keep the neutrality of America unimpaired — to keep in abeyance the sympathy of the people of the United States, these burnings should certainly have been avoided. ”

“ Earnestly is it to be hoped that neither judicial slaughter nor confiscation will be resorted to. In political strife, it is a poor weapon compared with clemency. The blood of political martyrs cannot be wiped out ; it is calculated, sooner or later to re-arm a tranquillised population. ”

“ There is one course pursued by Sir Francis Head, which is not pretended to be denied, a course which is certainly not within the fair province of a Governor, who ought to desire that a general election should be a fair expression of the opinion of the country, but which an aristocratic government will assuredly look upon as a venial offence, or, perhaps, even as a justifiable coup d'etat. ”

“ The interest which the Americans have in promoting the independence of Canada is obvious enough. Territory they do not certainly want. The vulgar European idea of conquest is at present, and may it ever be unknown to them ; what they want is to get rid of European influence, and European opinion, and therewith remove the many latent causes of dispute and quarrel which the present proximity of the colonies entails upon them. ”

“ Not only was no demonstration in favour of the Canadians to be expected from these persons ; but as all their aspirations would naturally be in favour of the dominant party in the colonies, composed in part of the same class of persons, all their efforts would therefore be directed to the suppression of anything like a public exhibition of sympathy.
The Americans of New York, too, are not very prone to side with the popular party in any country. To hear a New York mercantile man talk of the people, you may suppose yourself listening to a London shopkeeper. ”

“ That the present circumstances of our sister province of Lower Canada cannot fail to attract the attention, and awaken the sympathies, of all civilized men throughout the world, but, in a more especial manner, such of this province, who, being under the same government, must partake largely of the same evils which are threatened upon them, if the home government persist in the prosecution of the measures lately resolved noon by the British Parliament, which course, we fully believe, will only tend to the further distractions of that province, and the final dismemberment of the empire. ”

“ The public sympathy and the popular feeling are with the patriots. These cannot be repressed. And yet our relations with England are of a character so amicable as to impose the strictest neutrality upon us. With these views we have thus far pursued a course dictated by convictions of duty. We cannot promise, however, to remain long indifferent, if the royalists continue their sanguinary mode of warfare. Defenceless villages may not be burned with impunity. ”

“ The English parliament has interfered with our internal affairs and regulations, by the passing of grievous and tyrannical enactments, for taxing us heavily without our consent, for prohibiting us to purchase many articles of the first importance at the cheapest European or American markets, and compelling us to buy such goods and merchandise at an exorbitant price in markets of which England has a monopoly. ”

“ That, recognising the right of the people in every country to adopt and establish such forms of government as are in their judgment best suited to their wants, we naturally sympathise with those of every clime who seek to achieve their independence. ”

“ The right was conceded to the present United States at the close of a successful revolution, to form a constitution for themselves; and the loyalists, with their descendents and others now peopling this portion of America, are entitled to the same liberty without the shedding of blood — more they do not ask; less they ought not to have. ”