Part 14

The society in Upper Canada, with the exception of the small French settlement at Detroit, presents a very different aspect. A great majority of the inhabitants consists of emigrants recently arrived from Ireland, Scotland, and England, who have not yet made much change in their original ideas and habits. Those established at successive periods during the previous half century, are not represented by Mr. Howison, Mr. Talbot, and other writers, under a very favourable light. The tone, especially in the western districts, appears to have been in a great measure given by such Americans as came, not from the civilised portions of the Union, but from the back-wood tracks, breathing rather the spirit of Kentucky than of New England. Disbanded soldiers and sailors were not well calculated to improve the breed; and even the voluntary emigrants were not always composed of the respectable classes, who, under the pressure of the times, have lately embraced this resource. The removal of the ordinary restraints of society, and the absence of religious ordinances and ministration, concurred in giving to them a reckless and unprincipled character. Intoxication, encouraged by the cheapness of spirits, is indulged to a lamentable degree, and is often productive of general ill conduct and ruin. Little regard is paid to the sabbath and other sacred institutions; and the ear of the stranger is wounded, not only by abusive language, but by swearing to an odious and disgusting degree. Pugilistic contests are carried on with a violence rivalling those of Kentucky, and have not always been unaccompanied by the savage practice of gouging. Mr. Talbot, though he admits that he met with many respectable females, charges a large proportion of the sex with a disregard and even insensibility to their first duties. Although a _spry_ lass, as she is termed, is certain of repeated offers, and is sure of being early united in the bonds of matrimony, she may frequently before that event have given birth to one or two children. Our author was in company with a lady, who volunteered to the company the information, that “her Betty” had been two years old at her marriage. The correcter feelings, on this subject, of females from the old country are contemned as ridiculous. Nay, where so little delicacy prevails, and the children are so valuable a possession, the bringing two or three into the world in this irregular manner, instead of being a bar to marriage, proves, it is said, an additional attraction, by making the young lady a species of heiress. After marriage, she makes an active and industrious wife, but expects from her husband much deference, and even that he should wink at occasional frailties. These faults are described by Mr. Gourlay as rapidly disappearing, though Mr. Talbot, and even Mr. Shirreff, found them still too prevalent; but the increased means of instruction, and the example of respectable emigrants, will, it may be hoped, gradually effect a thorough reform.

No people in the world live better than the inhabitants of Upper Canada. The abundance of produce, and the low price at which it can be sold, naturally inclines them to take the full use of it. Three copious meals, often of twelve or fourteen dishes each, are daily served up, called breakfast, dinner, and supper, but consisting generally of the same component parts; among which are specially enumerated green tea, fried pork, honeycomb, salted salmon, pound-cake, pickled cucumbers, stewed chickens, apple tarts, maple-molasses, pease-pudding, gingerbread, and sour crout. They are not very social in their daily habits, to which, indeed, the almost impassable state of the roads opposes great obstacles; but they are fond of large parties, and, in a favourable season, five or six families often unite, and, without any notice, drive to visit another at the distance of ten or twelve miles. Such an arrival would not always be very opportune in an English household; but, “in this land of plenty,” the flour-barrel, the pork-tub, and the fowl house, afford at all times materials for meeting such an emergency, and the board is soon spread with a plentiful meal. The dance is an amusement of which they are passionately fond. No inn is considered worthy of the name, unless it be provided with a spacious ballroom, which is called into requisition as often as convenience will permit. Intellectual recreations have not hitherto attracted all the attention which they merit. Mr. Talbot, during a residence of five years, never saw above two individuals with books in their hands; and, in one case, it was a medical treatise consulted for health. The sources of improvement already enumerated, however, have already made a great impression, and will, we doubt not, ere long wipe off this reproach from the Canadian people.

There remains yet undescribed a small but interesting portion—the remnant of the Indian nations. It has appeared mysterious how tribes, once so powerful, without war or bloodshed should have silently disappeared, and only a handful survive. The occupation of their hunting grounds by European settlers, the introduction of destructive diseases, particularly small-pox, and the free use of intoxicating liquors, have no doubt materially thinned their numbers. Our researches, however, have led us to suspect that the diminution has not been nearly so great as is supposed; in other words, that the original numbers were much exaggerated. We have had occasion to observe, that the Iroquois, the most powerful people in America, and occupying a territory extending several hundred miles in every direction, were not estimated by the French to include more than 3,000 warriors. Yet they enjoyed a better climate, and were not so entirely ignorant of cultivation as the tribes northward of the St. Lawrence.

The Indians, under British protection, are dispersed in small villages and settlements in different parts of Upper and Lower Canada. The charge made by Mr. M^{c}Gregor, that they have not been kindly treated by our government, seems scarcely well founded, for not only do they remain peaceably under her sway, but they have repeatedly taken up arms in her cause against the “Big Knives,” as they term the Americans. In consideration of their services, and in compensation for the encroachments made on their domain, each individual, on repairing to a fixed station, receives a certain amount of goods as an annual present; and this grant affords the means of estimating the number residing within the provinces. In Lower Canada, in 1828, it amounted to 2,922, exclusive of about 450 Micmacs, or wandering tribes, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The number in Upper Canada to whom, about the same time, donations were made, was 12,919; making in the two provinces 15,841. The estimate thus obtained, however, is not quite so accurate as could be wished. Several thousands came from beyond the western frontier, a distance in some cases of four or five hundred miles, and even from the territory of the United States; but in consequence of the signal services rendered by them during the last war, pledges had been given, which Britain must now fulfil. On the other hand, in the immense forest territory which the hand of cultivation has not yet approached, there are doubtless very considerable numbers who retain their wild independence, and hold no relation whatever with Europeans. We may notice, in particular, the vast tracts to the east and north of Quebec, whence no mention is made of any resort to the stations of distribution.

The Indians of Lower Canada have been converted to the catholic religion, and their spiritual concerns are superintended by five missionaries, who receive salaries of from 40_l._ to 70_l._ per annum. They appear much attached to these instructors, and show a deep sense of their religious duties; yet they have admitted scarcely any change in their original habits, or made any progress in industry. Their husbandry, as formerly, is on a small scale, of the rudest description, and carried on entirely by women and old men. “The Indian tribes,” said the late Lord Dalhousie, “continue to be warlike in their ideas and recollections. Insignificant as are some of the tribes now in Lower Canada, civilized and accustomed to social life, there is not one of them that does not boast of the warlike days of their chiefs and warriors; even now, the word warrior is assumed by every young man; he is trained up to it, and has a higher idea of the approbation of his chief, or the consideration of white men in that character of an active hunter or warrior, than he has of any other object or use of his existence.” The missionaries, though they execute their spiritual functions with zeal and diligence, not only take no pains to instruct them in reading or writing, but effectually oppose any efforts for that purpose, at least when made by protestant teachers. We even suspect that they indulge rather than check the warlike spirit of their flocks; since it appears, that, on the annual religious festival called the grand _fête de Dieu_, the Indians are in the habit of marching to church in military order, headed by their chiefs, bearing arms, and amid the music of drums and fifes.

A few miles northward from Quebec is the Huron settlement of Loretto, consisting of sixty-seven men, sixty-five women, and forty-seven children. This poor remnant of a race once so powerful, holding only forty acres of land, derive a precarious subsistence from hunting, fishing, and some trifling articles made by their females. They recently preferred a claim to the fief of Sillery, a fine tract extending a league along the St. Lawrence, near Quebec, in virtue of a grant made to their ancestors in 1651. The case being brought before the courts, it was argued by the crown lawyers that the grant had been made to the Jesuits in general terms, for the purpose “of assembling the wandering nations of New France, and instructing them in the christian religion;” that, in 1699, these missionaries, representing that the Indians had quitted the spot on account of the soil being exhausted, requested and obtained a grant of it for themselves; and that it remained in their possession till the extinction of their order in 1800, when it devolved on the British government. On these grounds the judges decided against the Hurons. We cannot help referring, however, to certain facts in our historical narrative, founded on authorities which we incline to believe were unknown to either party in this contest. It there appears that the grant immediately followed the destruction of the Huron nation by the Iroquois, when the Jesuits, as the only means of saving the remnant of the tribe, removed to Quebec. The date, and the name of the principal settlement, seem to show, that, however general the terms may have been, the grant was made virtually for the benefit of these unfortunate fugitives, and to the Jesuits only as their trustees. If this be admitted, we know not how far their quitting it at one time for another spot, without any formal relinquishment, could be considered as vacating their title. On the loss of their cause, they sent two deputies to London, who very earnestly solicited an interview with their great father. Sir George Murray evaded this demand, but received them kindly; and though he could not reopen a legal decision, offered them grants of crown lands in other quarters; but they replied, that an arrangement which would separate them, and require a complete change in their mode of life, could not be felt by them as any real advantage.

In the vicinity of Three Rivers are 82 Algonquins, and near St. Francis and Beçancour, on the opposite side, 359 Abenaquis. These tribes inhabit rude villages, composed of very poor bark huts, though somewhat better than the ordinary wigwams. They once possessed a considerable extent of land, the greater part of which has been wrested from them under various pretences by designing individuals; and to prevent such frauds, it is proposed that no alienation of property by these untaught tribes shall be held valid until it has been sanctioned by government. Farther down the river are three settlements of Iroquois, one at Sault St. Louis and Caughnawaga, amounting to 967; another at St. Regis of 348; and a third, of 282, at the Lake of the Two Mountains. This tribe, once powerful, and even intelligent, are now indolent, wretched, and despised by their own countrymen. Those of Sault St. Louis possess some land, though, from mismanagement, it produces little; and a late claim for an addition, founded on minute boundary questions, was fruitless, though they also sent two deputies to London to enforce it. At the Lake of the Two Mountains are likewise 355 Algonquins and 250 Nipissings. These have no land to cultivate, but by their activity in hunting, and supplying Europeans with furs, they have placed themselves in a more comfortable condition than any other Indians in Lower Canada. They complain much, however, of the extended colonization on the Ottawa, by which their hunting grounds are greatly narrowed.

In Upper Canada, along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, the Mississaguas are the leading tribe. Those of Kingston and Gananoqui, only 82 in number, are described as worthless and depraved; but such as dwell on the Bay of Quinté and Rice Lake, amounting respectively to 143 and 317, have been converted to Christianity, and are much improved. On the Bay are also 319 Mohawks, many of whom have applied themselves to agriculture, and even adopted in some degree the European dress, though mixed in a grotesque manner with their native attire. On the river Credit, which falls into the western part of Ontario, are 180 of the same nation, who have been greatly civilized by their conversion. Around Lake Simcoe and its vicinity, about 550 Chippeways reside under their chief, Yellow-head. These also have expressed a strong desire for instruction and the knowledge of religion, but have not yet experienced those benefits in an equal degree. The banks of the Grand River, which falls into Lake Erie, to the extent of six miles on each side, were, by a proclamation of General Haldimand, set apart for the Mohawks and Six Nations, who occupy it to the amount of about 2,000. Some part of these lands has been sold with the consent of government, and the proceeds lodged in the British funds, yielding an annual revenue of 1,500_l._, which is distributed among them in goods. They still hold 260,000 acres of an excellent soil, over which they have spread themselves in small villages, and many of them attempt the simpler modes of farming. Farther west are the Munseys on the Thames, 445 in number, and 309 Hurons, connected with the French settlement on the Detroit, and converts to the Catholic form of worship.

With the last exception, all the tribes in Upper Canada, till within these few years, remained in their primitive state of rudeness and ignorance. They are now, however, willing converts to the Christian faith, receiving instruction in reading and writing. Their morals are greatly improved; and, in short, the way is paved for their adopting generally the habits of civilized life. This good work has been almost entirely accomplished by teachers from the United States, belonging to the “Canada Conference Missionary Society,” auxiliary to that of the Methodist Church of New York. The Indians have always shown themselves desirous to be instructed. In 1827, the tribes, when receiving presents at the remote station of Drummond Island, intimated to the agent that there was at Michillimakinac a school or place where the natives were taught to live as the whites do, “to mark their thoughts on paper, and to think the news from books (read and write).” It was in their power to send their children thither “to get sense;” but not being partial to the Big Knives, and hearing that their great father at York was teaching their brethren to “cut up the ground, and be beloved of the Great Spirit,” they would rather be instructed by him. In the same year the Chippeways at Gwillimburg, through their chief, Yellow-head, delivered successive strings of wampum, importing that they wished to be settled together, to pursue agriculture, and “to worship that God which is known to the whites in the good book.”

The work of conversion and civilization was already proceeding, through the exertions of the New York missionaries. Their first success was on the River Credit, in the Home district, where they were greatly aided by Mr. Peter Jones, alias Kakkewaquonaby, the son of a Welsh father by an Indian mother, and thoroughly acquainted with their customs and language. They formed themselves into a village, where Sir Peregrine Maitland built for them twenty houses; they added fifteen for themselves, with a mill; and the Methodist Society aided them in erecting a chapel, schoolhouse, and workshop. They now renounced the “firewaters” (spirits), the effects of which had been so pernicious; and, without giving up hunting, combined with it the culture of the ground and the rearing of cattle. According to the report of the Rev. Mr. Magrath, they had, in March 1828, brought thirty-five acres into cultivation, and possessed nine yoke of oxen, twelve cows, and six horses. The adults were taught to get by heart the most essential doctrines of religion; but for the children of both sexes schools were established, attended by thirty-five boys and thirty-six girls. The Mississaguas, near Belleville, soon followed the example of their brethren; and, with the aid of the Society, formed a village on Grape Island, in the Bay of Quinté. Finding this position too limited, they applied for more land, and were allowed to select the requisite number of vacant lots in the Midland district. This salutary process was soon afterwards extended to the Mississaguas on the borders of Rice Lake and of Mud Lake, northward of Cobourg. They occupied, by right, the islands on the former; and, on the petition of their teachers, were allowed besides 1,200 acres of waste land. Improvement was next extended to the Chippeways, near Lake Simcoe. They were entitled to three islands; but Sir John Colborne thought it more for their benefit that they should be located on its north-western shore, and on the road to Lake Huron. In these objects about 3,000_l._ were spent, chiefly saved out of the annual presents. Another establishment has been formed at Munseytown, on the river Thames; and it appears that much has been done among the Six Nations, particularly the Mohawks, on the Grand River. In short, there seems no room to doubt that the whole of this savage race will soon be brought within the pale of Christianity and civilization.

Vehement objections have been taken against the religious body by whom this change has been effected. They are accused of propagating the political creed of their own country, accompanied with sentiments of hostility to the established church. It does not appear, however, that any disloyal or turbulent proceedings have resulted; and when they are doing so much good, it would certainly be very inexpedient to obstruct their operations, until some efficient substitute shall be found. Sir John Colborne expressly says, “that the established clergy have not effected any Indian conversions;” and the worthy bishop of Quebec candidly observes that, whoever were the instruments, the effect must be a source of satisfaction; and that the hand of God seems to be visible in it. The Society allow 40_l._ or 50_l._ a-year to their missionaries, and maintain ten schools, attended by 251 pupils.

The Indians, as already observed, have certain fixed stations, to which they resort for the purpose of receiving their annual presents. These are, in Lower Canada, Quebec, to which, in 1827, there came 652; St. Francis, 541; Caughnawaga, 967; Lake of Two Mountains, 887; and St. Regis, 348. In Upper Canada, they are, Kingston, 859; York, 781; Fort George (Niagara), 1857; Amherstburg, 5906; and Drummond Island, 3516. The expense became very large during the war, when their services were so valuable. Between 1813 and 1816, it averaged 150,000_l._ a-year. Since that time it has been reduced to about 16,000_l._, which, with 4,400_l._ for management, raises the Indian department to 20,400_l._ a-year. This, in Upper Canada, is estimated at 18_s._ 9_d._ to each individual, for which slender remuneration some travel 500 miles. References have been made from the Colonial Office, to ascertain whether this sum might not be still further reduced, and paid in money, by which the estimates could be formed with greater precision. To the first point, it has been replied by the governors, that the donation is one to which we are bound by the faith of treaties, made in return for important services; and its discontinuance would excite the deepest indignation, and provoke an hostility which might be attended with disastrous consequences. Probably like all rude nations, the Indians, instead of viewing these gifts as in any degree humiliating, pride themselves upon them as testimonies of respect, perhaps even as a species of tribute. As to the payment in money, it was deprecated in the strongest terms by almost all the chiefs, and those interested in their welfare; because the immediate consequence would be its conversion into spirits, thereby causing a serious injury instead of a benefit. The principle articles presented to them in 1832, were 35,700 yards of different kinds of cloth, the prime cost varying from 1_s._ 1_d._ to 3_s._ 4_d._; 4,200 yards of linen; 33,800 yards of cotton and calico, 7_d._ to 1_s._ 7_d._; 84,500 yards of gartering, of scarlet, green, and fancy colours, ¾_d._ per yard; 20,000 yards of blanketing, 1_s._ 11_d._ to 5_s._ 9_d._; 9,260 pairs of combs; 6,700 shoemaker’s awls; 8,740 butcher’s knives; 870 kettles; 18,160 sewing needles; 240 guns, 12_s._ 9_d._ to 30_s._; 16,200 lbs. of lead ball; 46,300 lbs. of shot; 20,000 flints; 3,450 lbs. of carrot tobacco, 17_l._ 10_s._ per cwt.

Since the diffusion of civilization, many of the Indians have consented, and even desired, to exchange these presents for houses, implements of agriculture, and other useful objects. A considerable number have even begun to wish for money, which happily they no longer abuse as formerly, but rather find the most convenient instrument in procuring whatever they may happen to want. Asance, a chief, said that at York, “he found it convenient when hungry to be able to put his hand into his pocket, and find something jingling there for which he could get bread.” It may be observed, that the Indians in Upper Canada are entitled to the annual pay of 5,107_l._ current (4,426_l._ sterling), for land ceded by them to government, who give the value in goods. As the crown obtained in exchange nearly 5,000,000 acres of fertile land, we do think that this slender annuity ought not to exhaust the kindness of the British ministry towards this unfortunate race. They receive also 1,267_l._ sterling for property sold to private individuals, the greater part of which is lodged in the funds. This sum is paid in money to the chiefs.