Part 3

Eight years after the occupation of the country by the English, a considerable traffic was being carried on at Toronto. We learn this from a despatch of Sir William Johnson's to the Earl of Shelburne, on the subject of Indian affairs, bearing date 1767. Sir William affirms that persons could be found willing to pay L1,000 per annum for the monopoly of the trade at Toronto. Some remarks of his that precede the reference to Toronto give us some idea of the commercial tactics of the Indian and Indian trader of the time. "The Indians have no business to follow when at peace," Sir William Johnson says, "but hunting. Between each hunt they have a recess of several months. They are naturally very covetous," the same authority asserts, "and become daily better acquainted with the value of our goods and their own peltry; they are everywhere at home, and travel without the expense or inconvenience attending our journey to them. On the other hand, every step our traders take beyond the posts, is attended at least with some risk and a very heavy expense, which the Indians must feel as heavily on the purchase of their commodities; all which considered, is it not reasonable to suppose that they would rather employ their idle time in quest of a cheap market, than sit down with such slender returns as they must receive in their own villages?" He then instances Toronto. "As a proof of which," Sir William continues, "I shall give one instance concerning Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Notwithstanding the assertion of Major Rogers," Sir William Johnson says, "that even a single trader would not think it worth attention to supply a dependent post, yet I have heard traders of long experience and good circumstances affirm, that for the exclusive trade of that place, for one season, they would willingly pay L1,000--so certain were they of a quiet market--from the cheapness at which they could afford their goods there."

Although after the Conquest the two sides of Lake Ontario and of the St. Lawrence generally were no longer under different crowns, the previous rivalry between the two routes, the St. Lawrence and Mohawk river routes, to the seaboard continued; and it was plainly to the interest of those who desired the aggrandisement of Albany and New York to the detriment of Montreal and Quebec, to discourage serious trading enterprises with Indians on the northern side of the St. Lawrence waters. We have an example of this spirit in a "Journal of Indian Transactions at [Fort] Niagara, in the year 1767," published in the documentary History of New York (ii. 868, 8vo. ed.), in which Toronto is named, and a great chieftain from that region figures--in one respect, somewhat discreditably, however. We give the passage of the journal to which we refer. The document appears to have been drawn up by Norman M'Leod, an Indian agent, visiting Fort Niagara.

"July 17th, [1767.] Arrived Wabacommegat, chief of the Mississagas. [He came from Toronto, as we shall presently see.] July 18th. Arrived Ashenshan, head-warrior of the Senecas, belonging to the Caiadeon village. This day, Wabacommegat came to speak to me, but was so drunk that no one could understand him."

Again: "July 19th. Had a small conference with Wabacommegat. Present--Norman M'Leod, Esq.; Mr. Neil MacLean, Commissary of Provisions; Jean Baptiste de Couagne, interpreter. Wabacommegat spoke first, and, after the usual compliments, told that as soon as he had heard of my arrival, he and his young men came to see me. He then asked me if I had any news, and desired I should tell all I had. Then he gave four strings of wampum. I then told them--Children, I am glad to see you. I am sent here by your father, Sir William Johnson, to take care of your trade, and to prevent abuses therein. I have no sort of news, for I suppose you have heard of the drunken Chippewas that killed an Englishman and wounded his wife very much, above Detroit; they are sent down the country by consent and approbation of the head men of the nation. I am sorry to acquaint you that some of your nation that came here with Nan-i-bo-jou, killed a cow and a mare belonging to Captain Grant, on the other side of the river. I am persuaded that all here present think it was very wrong, and a very bad return for the many good offices done by the English in general towards them, and in particular by Captain Grant, who had that day fed the men that were guilty of the theft. I hope and desire that Wabacommegat and the rest of the chiefs and warriors here present, will do all in their power to discover the thief, and bring him in here to me the next time they return, that we may see what satisfaction he or they may give Captain Grant for the loss of his cattle. [I gave seven strings of wampum.] Children, I am sorry to hear you have permitted people to trade at Toronto. I hope you will prevent it for the future. All of you know the reason of this belt of wampum being left at this place. [I then showed them a large belt left here five or six years ago by Wabacommegat, by which belt he was under promise not to allow anybody whatever to carry on trade at Toronto.] Now, children, I have no more to say, but desire you to remember and keep close to all the promises you have made to your English father. You must not listen to any bad news. When you hear any, good or bad, come to me with it. You may depend upon it I shall always tell you the truth. [I gave four strings of wampum.]

"Wabacommegat replied: 'Father, we have heard you with attention. I think it was very wrong in the people to kill Captain Grant's cattle. I shall discover the men that did it, and will bring them in here in the fall. We will allow no more trade to be carried on at Toronto. As to myself, it is well known I don't approve of it, as I went with the interpreter to bring in those that were trading at that place. We go away this day, and hope our father will give us some provisions, rum, powder and shot, and we will bring you venison when we return.' I replied, it was not in my power to give them much, but as it was the first time I had the pleasure of speaking to them, they should have a little of what they wanted."

In the January previous to the conference, two traders had been arrested at Toronto. Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Gen. Gage, writes thus, under date of January 12, 1767. "Capt. Browne writes me that he has, at the request of Commissary Roberts, caused two traders to be apprehended at Toronto, where they were trading contrary to authority. I hope Lieut.-Gov. Carleton," Sir William continues, "will, agreeable to the declaration in one of his letters, have them prosecuted and punished as an example to the rest. I am informed that there are several more from Canada trading with the Indians on the north side of Lake Ontario, and up along the rivers in that quarter, which, if not prevented, must entirely ruin the fair trader." In these extracts from the correspondence of Sir William Johnson, and from the Journal of transactions at Fort Niagara, in 1767, we are admitted, as we suspect, to a true view of the status of Toronto as a trading-post for a series of years after the conquest. It was, as we conceive, a place where a good deal of forestalling of the regular markets went on. Trappers and traders, acting without license, made such bargains as they could with individuals among the native bands frequenting the spot at particular seasons of the year. We do not suppose that any store-houses for the deposit of goods or peltries were maintained here after the conquest. In a MS. map, which we have seen, of about the date 1793, the site of the old Fort Rouille is marked by a group of wigwams of the usual pointed shape, with the inscription appended, "Toronto, an Indian village now deserted."

[Sidenote: 1788.]

In 1788 Toronto harbour was well and minutely described by J. Collins, Deputy Surveyor General, in a Report presented to Lord Dorchester, Governor-General, on the Military Posts and Harbours on Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron. "The Harbour of Toronto," Mr. Collins says, "is near two miles in length from the entrance on the west to the isthmus between it and a large morass on the eastward. The breadth of the entrance is about half a mile, but the navigable channel for vessels is only about 500 yards, having from three to three and a half fathoms water. The north or main shore, the whole length of the harbour, is a clay bank from twelve to twenty feet high, and rising gradually behind, apparently good land, and fit for settlement. The water is rather shoal near the shore, having but one fathom depth at one hundred yards distance, two fathoms at two hundred yards; and when I sounded here, the waters of the Lake were very high. There is good and safe anchorage everywhere within the harbour, being either a soft or sandy bottom. The south shore is composed of a great number of sandhills and ridges, intersected with swamps and small creeks. It is of unequal breadths, being from a quarter of a mile to a mile wide across from the harbour to the lake, and runs in length to the east five or six miles. Through the middle of the isthmus before mentioned, or rather near the north shore, is a channel with two fathoms water, and in the morass there are other channels from one to two fathoms deep. From what has been said," Mr. Collins proceeds to observe, "it will appear that the harbour of Toronto is capacious, safe and well sheltered; but the entrance being from the westward is a great disadvantage to it, as the prevailing winds are from that quarter; and as this is a fair wind from hence down the Lake, of course it is that which vessels in general would take their departure from; but they may frequently find it difficult to get out of the harbour. The shoalness of the north shore, as before remarked, is also disadvantageous as to erecting wharfs, quays, &c. In regard to this place as a military post," Mr. Collins reports, "I do not see any very striking features to recommend it in that view; but the best situation to occupy for the purpose of protecting the settlement and harbour would, I conceive, be on the point and near the entrance thereof." (The knoll which subsequently became the site of the Garrison of York, is probably intended. Gibraltar point, on the opposite side of the entrance, where a block house was afterwards built, may also be glanced at.)

The history of the site of Fort Toronto would probably have differed from what it has been, and the town developed there would, perhaps, have assumed at its outset a French rather than an English aspect, had the expectations of three Lower Canadian gentlemen, in 1791, been completely fulfilled. Under date of "Surveyor General's Office [Quebec], 10th June, 1791," Mr. Collins, Deputy Surveyor-General, writes to Mr. Augustus Jones, an eminent Deputy Provincial Surveyor, of whom we shall hear repeatedly, that "His Excellency, Lord Dorchester, has been pleased to order one thousand acres of land to be laid out at Toronto for Mr. Rocheblave; and for Captain Lajoree, and for Captain Bouchette seven hundred acres each, at the same place, which please to lay out accordingly," Mr. Collins says, "and report the same to this office with all convenient speed."

We may suppose that these three French gentlemen became early aware of the spot likely to be selected for the capital of the contemplated Province of Upper Canada, and foresaw the advantages that might accrue from the possession of some broad acres there. Unluckily for them, however, delay occurred in the execution of Lord Dorchester's order; and in the meantime, the new Province was duly constituted, with a government and land-granting department of its own; and, under date of "Nassau [Niagara], June 15, 1792," Mr. Augustus Jones, writing to Mr. Collins, refers to his former communication in the following terms:--"Your order of the 10th of June, 1791, for lands at Toronto, in favour of Mr. Rocheblave and others, I only received the other day; and as the members of the Land Board think their power dissolved by our Governor's late Proclamation relative to granting of Lands in Upper Canada, they recommend it to me to postpone doing anything in respect of such order until I may receive some further instructions."

We hear no more of the order. Had M. Rocheblave, Captain Lajoree and Captain Bouchette become legally seized of the lands assigned them at Toronto by Lord Dorchester, the occupants of building-lots in York, instead of holding in fee simple, would probably have been burdened for many a year with some vexatious recognitions of quasi-seignorial rights.

On Holland's great MS. map of the Province of Quebec, made in 1791, and preserved in the Crown Lands Department of Ontario, the indentation in front of the mouth of the modern Humber river is entitled "Toronto Bay"; the sheet of water between the peninsula and the mainland is not named: but the peninsula itself is marked "Presqu'isle, Toronto;" and an extensive rectangular tract, bounded on the south by "Toronto Bay" and the waters within the peninsula, is inscribed "Toronto." In Mr. Chewett's MS. Journal, we have, under date of Quebec, April 22, 1792, the following entry: "Received from Gov. Simcoe a Plan of Points Henry and Frederick, to have a title page put to them: also a plan of the Town and township of Toronto, and to know whether it was ever laid out." We gather from this that sometime prior to Governor Simcoe's arrival, it had been in contemplation to establish a town at Toronto.

The name Toronto pleased the ear and took the fancy of sentimental writers. We have it introduced by an author of this class, in a work, entitled "Voyage dans la Haute Pensylvanie et dans l'Etat de New York, par un Membre adoptif de la nation Oneida;" published at Paris in 1801, but written prior to 1799, as it is inscribed to Washington. The author describes a Council pretended to be held at Onondaga, where chiefs and sachems speak. They discourse of the misery of man, of death, of the ravages of the small-pox. Siasconcet, one of the sages, relates his interview with Kahawabash, who had lost his wife and all his friends by the prevailing malady. Siasconcet exhorts him to suffer in silence like a wise man. Kahawabash replies, "Siasconcet! n'as-tu pas souvent entendu les cris plaintifs de l'ours, dont la compagne avoit ete tuee? N'as-tu pas souvent vu couler les larmes des yeux du castor qui avait perdu sa femelle ou ses petits? Eh bien! moi, suis-je inferieur a l'ours ou au castor? Non: je suis homme, aussi bon chasseur, aussi brave guerrier que tes sachems: comment empecher l'arc de s'etendre quand la corde casse? La cime du chene ou la tige du roseau de ployer, quand l'orage eclate? Lorsque le corps est blesse, Siasconcet, il en decoule du sang; quand le coeur est navre, il en decoule des larmes: voila ce que je dirai a tes vieillards; je verrai ce qu'ils me repondront."

In the reply of Siasconcet, we have the reference to Toronto to which we have alluded, and which somewhat startled us when we suddenly lighted upon it in the work above-named. "Eh, bien!" Siasconcet said: "eh, bien! Kahawabash, pleure sous mon toit, puisque ton bon genie le veut, et pour plaire au mauvais, que tes yeux soient secs quand tu seras au feu d'Onondaga." "Que faut-il donc faire sur la terre," rejoined Kahawabash, "puisque l'un veut ce que l'autre ne veut pas?" "Que faut-il faire?" answered Siasconcet, "considerer la vie comme un passage de Toronto a Niagara. Que de difficultes n'eprouvons-pas nous pour doubler les caps, pour sortir des baies dans lesquelles les vents nous forcent d'entrer? Que de chances contre d'aussi freles canots que les notres? Il faut cependant prendre le temps et les choses comme ils viennent, puisque nous ne pouvons pas les choisir; il faut nourrir, aimer sa femme et ses enfans, respecter sa tribu et sa nation; jouir du bien quand il nous echeoit; supporter le mal avec courage et patience; chasser et pecher quand on a faim, se reposer et fumer quand on est las; s'attendre a rencontrer le malheur puisque on est ne; se rejouir quand il ne vient pas; se considerer comme des oiseaux perches pour la nuit sur la branche d'un arbre, et qui, au point du jour, s'envolent et disparaissent pour toujours."

Familiar with the modern two-hours' pleasure-trip from Toronto to Niagara, we were, for the moment unprepared for the philosophic sachem's illustration of the changes and chances of mortal life. We forgot what an undertaking that journey was in the days of the primitive birch canoe, when in order to accomplish the passage, the whole of the western portion of Lake Ontario, was wont to be cautiously and laboriously coasted.

The real name of the author of the "Voyage dans la Haute Pensylvanie" was Saint-Jean de Crevecoeur.

To the narrative just given is appended information, which, if superfluous, will nevertheless be read locally now, with some curiosity. The note explains that Toronto and Niagara, are "postes considerables de l'Ontario: le premier, situe a l'ouest de ce lac, est forme par une baie profonde et commode, ou le Gouvernement Anglais a fait construire un chantier, et une ville a laquelle on a donne le nom d'York; le second, situe au sud-ouest, est forme par l'embouchure de la riviere Niagara, a l'est de laquelle est la forteresse du meme nom, et a l'ouest la pointe des Mississagues, sur laquelle on construit une nouvelle ville, destinee a etre la capitale du Haut Canada."

The annotator speaks, we see, of the town on Mississaga point and the other new town on the opposite side of the lake in the same terms: both are in process of construction; and the town on Mississaga point, he still thinks is destined to be the capital of Upper Canada.

[Sidenote: 1796.]

The language of the note recalls the agitation in the public mind at Niagara in 1796, on the subject of the seat of Government for Upper Canada--a question that has since agitated Canada in several of its sub-sections. The people of Niagara in 1796, being in possession, naturally thought that the distinction ought to continue with them. Governor Simcoe had ordered the removal of the public offices to the infant York: there to abide, however, only temporarily, until the West should be peopled, and a second London built, on a Canadian Thames. Lord Dorchester, the Governor-in-Chief, at Quebec, held that Kingston ought to have been preferred, but that place, like Niagara, was, it was urged, too near the frontier in case of war. In 1796, Governor Simcoe had withdrawn from the country, and the people of Niagara entertained hopes that the order for removal might still be revoked. The policy of the late Governor, however, continued to be carried out.

[Sidenote: 1793.]

Three years previously, viz., in 1793, the site of the trading post known as Toronto had been occupied by the troops drawn from Niagara and Queenston. At noon on the 27th of August in 1793, the first royal salute had been fired from the garrison there, and responded to by the shipping in the harbour, in commemoration of the change of name from Toronto to York--a change intended to please the old king, George III., through a compliment offered to his soldier son, Frederick, Duke of York.

For some time after 1793, official letters and other contemporary records exhibit in their references to the new site, the expressions, "Toronto, now York," and "York, late Toronto."

[Sidenote: 1795.]

The ancient appellation was a favorite, and continued in ordinary use. Isaac Weld, who travelled in North America in 1795-7, still speaks in his work of the transfer of the Government from Niagara to Toronto. "Niagara," he says, "is the centre of the _beau monde_ of Upper Canada: orders, however," he continues, "had been issued before our arrival there for the removal of the Seat of Government from thence to Toronto, which was deemed a more eligible spot for the meeting of the Legislative bodies, as being farther removed from the frontiers of the United States. This projected change," he adds, "is by no means relished by the people at large, as Niagara is a much more convenient place of resort to most of them than Toronto; and as the Governor, who proposed the measure, has been removed, it is imagined that it will not be put in execution."

[Sidenote: 1803.]

In 1803-4, Thomas Moore, the distinguished poet, travelled on this continent. The record of his tour took the form, not of a journal in prose, but of a miscellaneous collection of verses suggested by incidents and scenes encountered. These pieces, addressed many of them to friends, appear now as a subdivision of his collected works, as Poems relating to America. The society of the United States in 1804 appears to have been very distasteful to him. He speaks of his experience somewhat as we may imagine the winged Pegasus, if endowed with speech, would have done of his memorable brief taste of sublunary life. Writing to the Hon. W. R. Spencer, from Buffalo,--which he explains to be "a little village on Lake Erie,"--in a strain resembling that of the poetical satirists of the century which had just passed away, he sweepingly declares--

"Take Christians, Mohawks, Democrats, and all, From the rude wigwam to the congress-hall, From man the savage, whether slav'd or free, To man the civilized, less tame than he,-- 'Tis one dull chaos, one unfertile strife Betwixt half-polished and half-barbarous life; Where every ill the ancient world could brew Is mixed with every grossness of the new; Where all corrupts, though little can entice, And nought is known of luxury, but its vice!"

He makes an exception in a note appended to these lines, in favour of the Dennies and their friends at Philadelphia, with whom he says, "I passed the few agreeable moments which my tour through the States afforded me." These friends he thus apostrophises:--

"Yet, yet forgive me, oh! ye sacred few, Whom late by Delaware's green banks I knew: Whom known and loved thro' many a social eve, 'Twas bliss to live with, and 'twas pain to leave. Not with more joy the lonely exile scann'd The writing traced upon the desert's sand, Where his lone heart but little hoped to find One trace of life, one stamp of human kind; Than did I hail the pure, th' enlightened zeal, The strength to reason and the warmth to feel, The manly polish and the illumined taste, Which, 'mid the melancholy, heartless waste, My foot has traversed, oh! you sacred few, I found by Delaware's green banks with you."

After visiting the Falls of Niagara, Moore passed down Lake Ontario, threaded his way through the Thousand Islands, shot the Long Sault and other rapids, and spent some days in Montreal.

The poor lake-craft which in 1804 must have accommodated the poet, may have put in at the harbour of York. He certainly alludes to a tranquil evening scene on the waters in that quarter, and notices the situation of the ancient "Toronto." Thus he sings in some verses addressed to Lady Charlotte Rawdon, "from the banks of the St. Lawrence." (He refers to the time when he was last in her company, and says how improbable it then was that he should ever stand upon the shores of America):

"I dreamt not then that ere the rolling year Had filled its circle, I should wander here In musing awe; should tread this wondrous world, See all its store of inland waters hurl'd In one vast volume down Niagara's steep, Or calm behold them, in transparent sleep, Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed; Should trace the grand Cadaraqui, and glide Down the white rapids of his lordly tide. Through massy woods, 'mid islets flowering fair, And blooming glades, where the first sinful pair For consolation might have weeping trod, When banished from the garden of their God."