Part 7

A notice of Mr. Baby occurs in Sibbald's _Canadian Magazine_ for March, 1833. The following is an extract: "James Baby was born at Detroit in 1762. His family was one of the most ancient in the colony; and it was noble. His father had removed from Lower Canada to the neighbourhood of Detroit before the conquest of Quebec, where, in addition to the cultivation of lands, he was connected with the fur-trade, at that time, and for many years after, the great staple of the country. James was educated at the Roman Catholic Seminary of Quebec, and returned to the paternal roof soon after the peace of 1783. The family had ever been distinguished (and indeed all the higher French families) for their adherence to the British crown; and to this, more than to any other cause, are we to attribute the conduct of the Province of Quebec during the American War. Being a great favourite with his father, James was permitted to make an excursion to Europe, before engaging steadily in business; and after spending some time, especially in England, rejoined his family. * * * There was a primitive simplicity in Mr. Baby's character, which, added to his polished manners and benignity of disposition, threw a moral beauty around him which is very seldom beheld."

In the history of the Indian chief Pontiac, who, in 1763, aimed at extirpating the English, the name of Mr. Baby's father repeatedly occurs. The Canadian _habitans_ of the neighbourhood of Detroit, being of French origin, were unmolested by the Indians; but a rumour had reached the great Ottawa chief, while the memorable siege of Detroit was in progress, that the Canadians had accepted a bribe from the English to induce them to attack the Indians. "Pontiac," we read in Parkman's History, p. 227, "had been an old friend of Baby; and one evening, at an early period of the siege, he entered his house, and, seating himself by the fire, looked for some time steadily at the embers. At length, raising his head, he said he had heard that the English had offered the Canadian a bushel of silver for the scalp of his friend. Baby declared that the story was false, and protested that he never would betray him. Pontiac for a moment keenly studied his features. 'My brother has spoken the truth,' he said, 'and I will show that I believe him.' He remained in the house through the evening, and, at its close, wrapped himself in his blanket and lay down upon a bench, where he slept in full confidence till morning." Note that the name Baby is to be pronounced Baw-bee.

Mr. Macdougall was a gentleman of Scottish descent, but, like his compatriots in the neighbourhood of Murray Bay, so thoroughly Lower-Canadianized as to be imperfectly acquainted with the English language to the last. He was a successful merchant of the town of York, and filled a place in the old local conversational talk, in which he was sometimes spoken of as "Wholesale, Retail, Pete McDoug,"--an expression adopted by himself on some occasion. He is said once to have been much perplexed by the item "ditto" occurring in a bill of lading furnished of goods under way; he could not remember having given orders for any such article. He was a shrewd business man. An impression prevailed in certain quarters that his profits were now and then extravagant. While he was living at Niagara, some burglars from Youngstown broke into his warehouse; and after helping themselves to whatever they pleased, they left a written memorandum accounting for their not having taken with them certain other articles: it was "because they were marked too high."

That he was accustomed to affix a somewhat arbitrary value to his merchandise, seems to be shown by another story that was told of him. He was said, one day, when trade in general was very dull, to have boasted that he had that very morning made L400 by a single operation. On being questioned, it appeared that it had been simply a sudden enlargement of the figure marked on all his stock to the extent of L400.

One other story of him is this: On hearing a brother dealer lament that by a certain speculation he should, after all, make only 5 per cent., he expressed his surprise, adding that he himself would be satisfied with 3, or even 2, (taking the figures 2, 3, &c., to mean 2 hundred, 3 hundred, &c.)--We shall hear of Mr. Macdougall again in connection with the marine of the harbour.

Of Yonge Street itself, at which we now arrive, we propose to speak at large hereafter. Just westward from Yonge Street was the abode, surrounded by pleasant grounds and trees, of Mr. Macaulay, at a later period Sir James Macaulay, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a man beloved and honoured for his sterling excellence in every relation. A full-length portrait of him is preserved in Osgoode Hall. His peculiar profile, not discernable in that painting, is recalled by the engraving of Capt. Starky, which some readers will remember in _Hone's Every-Day Book_.

Advancing a little further, we came in front of one of the earliest examples, in these parts, of an English-looking rustic cottage, with verandah and sloping lawn. This was occupied for a time by Major Hillier, of the 74th regiment, aide-de-camp and military secretary to Sir Peregrine Maitland. The well-developed native thorn-tree, to the north of the site of this cottage, on the property of Mr. Andrew Mercer, is a relic of the woods that once ornamented this locality.

Next came the residence of Mr. Justice Boulton, a spacious family domicile of wood, painted white, situated in an extensive area, and placed far back from the road. The Judge was an English gentleman of spare Wellington physique; like many of his descendants, a lover of horses and a spirited rider; a man of wit, too, and humour, fond of listening to and narrating anecdotes of the _ben trovato_ class. The successor to this family home was Holland House, a structure of a baronial cast, round which one might expect to find the remains of a moat; a reproduction, in some points, as in name, of the building in the suburbs of London, in which was born the Judge's immediate heir, Mr. H. J. Boulton, successively Solicitor-General for Upper Canada, and Chief Justice of Newfoundland.

When Holland House passed out of the hands of its original possessor, it became the property of Mr. Alexander Manning, an Alderman of Toronto.

It was at Holland House that the Earl and Countess of Dufferin kept high festival during a brief sojourn in the capital of Ontario, in 1872. Suggested by public addresses received in infinite variety, within Holland House was written or thought out that remarkable cycle of rescripts and replies which rendered the vice-regal visit to Toronto so memorable,--a cycle of rescripts and replies exceedingly wide in its scope, but in which each requisite topic was touched with consummate skill, and in such a way as to show in each direction genuine human sympathy and heartiness of feeling, and a sincere desire to cheer and strengthen the endeavour after the Good, the Beautiful and the True, in every quarter.

Whilst making his visit to Quebec, before coming to Toronto, Lord Dufferin, acting doubtless on a chivalrous and poetical impulse, took up his abode in the Citadel, notwithstanding the absence of worthy arrangements for his accommodation there.

Will not this bold and original step on the part of Lord Dufferin lead hereafter to the conversion of the Fortress that crowns Cape Diamond into a Rheinstein for the St. Lawrence--into an appropriately designed castellated habitation, to be reserved as an occasional retreat, nobly-seated and grandly historic, for the Viceroys of Canada?

We now passed the grounds and house of Chief-Justice Powell. In this place we shall only record our recollection of the profound sensation created far and wide by the loss of the Chief-Justice's daughter in the packet ship _Albion_, wrecked off the Head of Kinsale, on the 22nd of April, 1822. A voyage to the mother country at that period was still a serious undertaking. We copy a contemporaneous extract from the _Cork Southern Reporter_:--"The _Albion_, whose loss at Garrettstown Bay we first mentioned in our paper of Tuesday, was one of the finest class of ships between Liverpool and New York, and was 500 tons burden. We have since learned some further particulars, by which it appears that her loss was attended with circumstances of a peculiarly afflicting nature. She had lived out the tremendous gale of the entire day on Sunday, and Captain Williams consoled the passengers, at eight o'clock in the evening, with the hope of being able to reach Liverpool on the day but one after, which cheering expectation induced almost all of the passengers, particularly the females, to retire to rest. In some short time, however, a violent squall came on, which in a moment carried away the masts, and, there being no possibility of disengaging them from the rigging, encumbered the hull so that she became unmanageable, and drifted at the mercy of the waves, till the light-house of the Old Head was discovered, the wreck still nearing in; when the Captain told the sad news to the passengers, that there was no longer any hope; and, soon after she struck. From thenceforward all was distress and confusion. The vessel soon went to pieces, and, of the crew and passengers, only six of the former and nine of the latter were saved." The names of the passengers are added, as follows: "Mr. Benyon, a London gentleman; Mr. N. Ross, of Troy, near New York; Mr. Conyers, and his brother-in-law, Major Gough, 68th regiment; Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Americans; Madame Gardinier and son, a boy about eight years of age; Col. Prevost; Mr. Dwight, of Boston; Mrs. Mary Pye, of New York; Miss Powell, daughter of the Honourable William Dummer Powell, Chief-Justice of Upper Canada; Rev. Mr. Hill, Jamaica, coming home by the way of the United States; Professor Fisher, of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Gurnee, New York; Mr. Proctor, New York; Mr. Dupont, and five other Frenchmen; Mrs. Mary Brewster; Mr. Hirst, Mr. Morrison, and Stephen Chase."

The _Weekly Register_ of York, of June 13, 1822, the number that contains the announcement of the wreck of the _Albion_ packet, has also the following paragraph: "Our Attorney-General arrived in London about the 22nd of March, and up to the 11th of April had daily interviews of great length with ministers. It gives us real pleasure to announce,"--so continues the editorial of the _Weekly Register_--"that his mission is likely to be attended with the most complete success, and that our relations with the Lower Provinces will be put on a firm and advantageous footing. We have no doubt that Mr. Robinson will deserve the general thanks of the country." A family party from York had embarked in the packet of the preceding month, and were, as this paragraph intimates, safe in London on the 22nd of March. The disastrous fate of the lady above named was thus rendered the more distressing to friends and relatives, as she was present in New York when that packet sailed, but for some obscure reason, she did not desire to embark therein along with her more fortunate fellow townsfolk.

After the house and grounds of Chief-Justice Powell came the property of Dr. Strachan, of whom much hereafter. In view of the probable future requirements of his position in a growing town and growing country, Dr. Strachan built, in 1818, a residence here of capacious dimensions and good design, with extensive and very complete appurtenances. A brother of the Doctor's, Mr. James Strachan, an intelligent bookseller of Aberdeen, visited York in 1819, soon after the first occupation of the new house by its owners. The two brothers, John and James, had not seen each other since 1799, when John, a young man just twenty-one, was setting out for Canada, to undertake a tutorship in a family at Kingston; setting out with scant money outfit, but provided with what was of more value, a sound constitution, a clear head, and a good strong understanding trained in Scottish schools and colleges, and by familiar intercourse with shrewd Scottish folk.

As James entered the gates leading into the new mansion, and cast a comprehensive glance at the fine facade of the building before him and over its pleasant and handsome surroundings, he suddenly paused; and indulging in a stroke of sly humour, addressed his brother with the words, spoken in grave confidential undertone,--"I hope it's a' come by honestly, John!"

On his return to Scotland, Mr. James Strachan published "A Visit to the Province of Upper Canada in 1819," an interesting book, now scarce and desired by Canadian collectors. The bulk of the information contained in this volume was confessedly derived from Dr. Strachan.

The bricks used in the construction of the house here in 1818 were manufactured on the spot. One or two earlier brick buildings at York were composed of materials brought from Kingston or Montreal; recalling the parallel fact that the first bricks used for building in New York were imported from Holland; just as in the present day, (though now, of course, for a different reason,) houses are occasionally constructed at Quebec with white brick manufactured in England.

We next arrived at a large open space, much broken up by a rivulet--"Russell's Creek,"--that meandered most recklessly through it. This piece of ground was long known as Simcoe Place, and was set apart in the later plan for the extension of York westward, as a Public Square. Overlooking this area from the north-west, at the present day, is one of the elms of the original forest--an unnoticeable sapling at the period referred to, but now a tree of stately dimensions and of very graceful form, resembling that of the Greek letter Psi. It will be a matter of regret when the necessities of the case shall render the removal of this relic indispensable.

At the corner to the south of this conspicuous tree, was an inn long known as the Greenland Fishery. Its sign bore on one side, quite passably done, an Arctic or Greenland scene; and on the other, vessels and boats engaged in the capture of the whale. A travelling sailor, familiar with whalers, and additionally a man of some artistic taste and skill, paid his reckoning in labour, by executing for the landlord, Mr. Wright, these spirited paintings, which proved an attraction to the house.

John Street, which passes north, by the Greenland Fishery, bears one of the Christian names of the first Governor of Upper Canada. Graves Street, on the east side of the adjoining Square, bore his second Christian name; but Graves Street has, in recent times, been transformed into Simcoe Street.

When the Houses of Parliament, now to be seen stretching across Simcoe Place, were first built, a part of the design was a central pediment supported by four stone columns. This would have relieved and given dignity to the long front. The stone platform before the principal entrance was constructed with a flight of steps leading thereto; but the rather graceful portico which it was intended to sustain, was never added. The monoliths for the pillars were duly cut out at a quarry near Hamilton. They long remained lying there, in an unfinished state. In the lithographic view of the Parliament Buildings, published by J. Young, their architect, in 1836, the pediment of the original design is given as though it existed.

Along the edge of the water, below the properties, spaces and objects which we have been engaged in noticing, once ran a shingly beach of a width sufficient to admit of the passage of vehicles. A succession of dry seasons must then have kept the waters low. In 1815, however, the waters of the Lake appear to have been unusually high. An almanac of that year, published by John Cameron, at York, offers, seriously as it would seem, the subjoined explanation of the phenomenon: "The comet which passed to the northward three years since," the writer suggests, "has sensibly affected our seasons: they have become colder; the snows fall deeper; and from lesser exhalation, and other causes, the Lakes rise much higher than usual."

The Commissariat store-houses were situated here, just beyond the broken ground of Simcoe Place; long white structures of wood, with the shutters of the windows always closed; built on a level with the bay, yet having an entrance in the rear by a narrow gangway from the cliff above, on which, close by, was the guard-house, a small building, painted of a dun colour, with a roof of one slope, inclining to the south, and an arched stoup or verandah open to the north. Here a sentry was ever to be seen, pacing up and down. A light bridge over a deep water-course led up to the guard-house.

Over other depressions or ravines, close by here, were long to be seen some platforms or floored areas of stout plank. These were said to be spaces occupied by different portions of the renowned canvas-house of the first Governor, a structure manufactured in London and imported. The convenience of its plan, and the hospitality for which it afforded room, were favourite topics among the early people of the country. We have it in Bouchette's _British North America_ a reference to this famous canvas house. "In the spring (_i. e._ of 1793)," that writer says, "the Lieutenant-Governor moved to the site of the new capital (York), attended by the regiment of the Queen's Rangers, and commenced at once the realization of his favourite project. His Excellency inhabited, during the summer, and through the winter, a canvas-house, which he imported expressly for the occasion; but, frail as was its substance, it was rendered exceedingly comfortable, and soon became as distinguished for the social and urbane hospitality of its venerable and gracious host, as for the peculiarity of its structure," vol. i. 80. After this allusion to the home Canadian life of the first Governor, the following remarks of de Liancourt, on the same subject, will not appear out of place:--"In his private life," the Duke says, "Gov. Simcoe is simple, plain and obliging. He inhabits [the reference now is to Newark or Niagara] a small, miserable wooden house, which formerly was occupied by the Commissaries, who resided here on account of the navigation of the Lake. His guard consist of four soldiers, who every morning come from the fort [across the river], and return thither in the evening. He lives in a noble and hospitable manner, without pride; his mind is enlightened, his character mild and obliging; he discourses with much good sense on all subjects; but his favourite topics are his projects, and war, which seem to be the objects of his leading passions. He is acquainted with the military history of all countries: no hillock catches his eye without exciting in his mind the idea of a fort which might be constructed on the spot; and with the construction of this fort he associates the plan of operations for a campaign, especially of that which is to lead him to Philadelphia. [Gen. Simcoe appears to have been strongly of the opinion that the United States were not going to be a permanency.] On hearing his professions of an earnest desire of peace, you cannot but suppose, either that his reason must hold an absolute sway over his passion, or that he deceives himself." _Travels_, i. 241.

Other traits, which doubtless at this time gave a charm to the home-life of the accomplished Governor, may be gathered from a passage in the correspondence, at a later period, of Polwhele, the historian of Cornwall, who says, in a letter addressed to the General himself, dated Manaccan, Nov. 5th, 1803:--"I have been sorely disappointed, once or twice, in missing you, whilst you were inspecting Cornwall. It was not long after your visit at my friend Mr. Hoblyn's, but I slept also at Nanswhydden. Had I met you there, the _Noctes Atticae_, the _Coenae Deorum_, would have been renewed, if peradventure the chess-board intervened not; for rooks and pawns, I think, would have frightened away the Muses, familiar as rooks and pawns might have been to the suitors of Penelope." _Polwhele_, 544.

The canvas-house above spoken of, had been the property of Capt. Cook the circumnavigator. On its being offered for sale in London, Gov. Simcoe, seeing its possible usefulness to himself as a moveable government-house purchased it.

Some way to the east of the Commissariat store-houses was the site of the Naval Building Yard, where an unfinished ship-of-war and the materials collected for the construction of others, were destroyed, when the United States forces took possession of York in 1813.

It appears that Col. Joseph Bouchette had just been pointing out to the Government the exposed condition of the public property here. In a note at p. 89 of his _British North America_ that officer remarks: "The defenceless situation of York, the mode of its capture, and the destruction of the large ship then on the stocks, were but too prophetically demonstrated in my report to headquarters in Lower Canada, on my return from a responsible mission to the capital of the Upper Province, in the early part of April. Indeed the communication of the result of my reconnoitering operations, and the intelligence of the successful invasion of York, and the firing of the new ship by the enemy, were received almost simultaneously."

The Governor-in-Chief, Sir George Prevost, was blamed for having permitted a frigate to be laid down in an unprotected position. There was a "striking impropriety," as the Third Letter of _Veritas_, a celebrated correspondent of the Montreal _Herald_ in 1815, points out, "in building at York, without providing the means of security there, as the works of defence, projected by General Brock, (when he contemplated, before the war, the removal of the naval depot from Kingston to York, by reason of the proximity of the former to the States in water by the ice), were discontinued by orders from below, [from Sir George Prevost, that is], and never resumed. The position intended to have been fortified by General Brock, near York, was," _Veritas_ continues, "capable of being made very strong, had his plan been executed; but as it was not, nor any other plan of defence adopted, a ship-yard without protection became an allurement to the enemy, as was felt to the cost of the inhabitants of York."

In the year 1832, the interior of the Commissariat-store, decorated with flags, was the scene of the first charitable bazaar held in these parts. It was for the relief of distress occasioned by a recent visitation of cholera. The enterprise appears to have been remarkably successful. We have a notice of it in Sibbald's _Canadian Magazine_ of January, 1833, in the following terms: "All the fashionable and well-disposed attended; the band of the gallant 79th played, at each table stood a lady; and in a very short time all the articles were sold to gentlemen,--who will keep 'as the apple of their eye' the things made and presented by such hands." The sum collected on the occasion, it is added, was three hundred and eleven pounds.

Where Windsor Street now appears--with its grand iron gates at either end, inviting or forbidding the entrance of the stranger to the prim, quaint, self-contained little village of villas inside--formerly stood the abode of Mr. John Beikie, whose tall, upright, staidly-moving form, generally enveloped in a long snuff-coloured overcoat, was one of the _dramatis personae_ of York. He had been, at an early period, sheriff of the Home District; at a later time his signature was familiar to every eye, attached in the _Gazette_ to notices put forth by the Executive Council of the day, of which rather aristocratic body he was the Clerk.