History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,) with special reference to the Bay Quinté. William Canniff
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a tree till life was almost gone. This was frequently done with the object of extracting information as to the whereabouts of a father or a brother, or as to the place where money and valuables were concealed. The tales of cruelty the writer has heard related concerning the treatment the loyal party were exposed to, would harrow up the soul of any one possessing feelings of pity and commiseration.
The loyalists who immediately suffered, that is, while the war was in progress, were many. Military forts were established here and there, to which many fled precipitately from the several States.
It is a matter of extreme astonishment how men who set up the standard of revolt under the sacred name of liberty, could so far ignore the principles of liberty in the treatment of innocent old men, women and children, as we find stated by honest witnesses. The darkest tales of savage dealing come to us from our fathers. Families, whose sole offence consisted in being unwilling to rebel, and in being desirous to remain faithfully neutral, were the objects of the rapacious prey of a brutal soldiery. Their substance when not available for the rebel horde, was scattered to the winds. Devouring fire was cast into peaceful homes. How gross the hypocrisy, how base the motives that actuated very many of the adventurers in rebellion. The most hellish means were adopted at times, to force away persons of property, that the so-called “Sons of Liberty” might enjoy their substance and homes. Attending these scenes of desolation and refined cruelty, their imprisonments and torture, were incidents of thrilling interest, of fearful suffering, of hairbreadth escapes, of forlorn rescues.
The lower classes of those who rebelled were men of bold and lawless nature: whether we pass along the shores of New England, among the fishermen, or travel thorough the woods of Maine and New Hampshire, and become acquainted with woodmen of the forest, or as they were called “Loggers and Sawyers.” The spirit that animated the merchants of Boston and Salem, in their extended operations of smuggling, lived, also, in the reckless fishermen and woodmen; and for years before the rebellion really commenced they had been resisting, even by physical force, the revenue officers, who were often expelled from the woods by what was called “swamp law.” Men with such nature, finding that their lawlessness had become popular, and that steps were being taken to resist the government on a general plan, were not slow to act their part. One result of the rebellion was a determined and systematic course of retaliation upon those who had recognized the majesty of the law. A continued and uncompromising persecution was entered upon toward them.
No history can parallel the deeds of atrocity enacted by the villainous “Liberty men.” Said an old lady, on the verge of the grave, and with voice tremulous in remembrance of fiendish acts she had witnessed, “The Rebels, on one occasion entered a house and stripped it of everything, even the bed on which lay a woman on the point of confinement. But a single sheet was left to cover the woman upon a winter’s night, who, before morning became a mother.” In 1776, there arrived at Fort George, in a starving state, Mrs. Nellis, Mrs. Secord, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Buck and Mrs. Bonnar, with thirty-one children, whom the circumstances of the rebellion had driven away. Talk about the cruelty of Indians and of Tory oppression. The unprincipled rebels did well to try to hide their ignominious deeds behind the fabrications respecting the doings of Butler’s Rangers, and the noble-minded Brant. May we not cease to wonder that the descendants of the rebels in the year 1866, endeavour to hound on a pack of thieves and murderers to possess themselves of the homes our fathers sought out for us. The self-applauding writers of the revolutionary war, found it convenient to forget the doings of the “Sons of Liberty” and of Sullivan, while they laid to the charge of Butler’s Rangers and the Indians, acts of inhumanity (which we are informed on good authority are unfounded, Butler having never abused woman or child.) In the same manner, Secretary Seward found it desirable to falsify dates, by saying the Fenians invaded Canada on the 6th of June, that it might appear he had vindicated promptly their neutrality laws; whereas they actually crossed, and engaged in battle, on the morning of the 2nd. But as time will fully bring out the facts connected with the first American rebellion, and place them face to face with one-sided history, so will faithful history record the whole truth of the infamous invasion of our country by a band of American citizens with United States arms in their hands. Those deeds of blood, enacted by men under the hypocritical cry of liberty have not been forgotten by the United Empire Loyalists, but have been handed down to us, to place on record against the cruel actors.
Hostilities ceased 19th April, 1783, and on the 20th September, the independence of the United States was acknowledged.
The recognition of independence by Great Britain, was the death knell to the cherished hopes of the loyalists. Many had escaped into the provinces, and many were in the army, and not a few were in England. Although the majority of them had been driven away, a few still remained in those places, yet held by the British forces, as New York. “When the news of peace became known, the city presented a scene of distress not easily described. Adherents to the Crown, who were in the army, tore the lapels from their coats and stamped them under their feet, and exclaimed that they were ruined; others cried out they had sacrificed everything to prove their loyalty, and were now left to shift for themselves, without the friendship of their king or country. Previous to the evacuation, and in September, upwards of 12,000 men, women, and children, embarked at the city, at Long and Staten Islands, for Nova Scotia and the Bahamas,” and for Canada. “Some of these victims to civil war tried to make merry at their doom, by saying they were bound to a lovely country, where there are nine months winter and three months cold weather every year, while others, in their desperation tore down their houses, and had they not been prevented, would have carried off the bricks of which they were built.” The British had possessed New York since 15th September, 1776, and on the 25th November, 1783, yielded it up to the Americans. This is “Evacuation day.”
When Cornwallis surrendered he vainly tried to obtain a promise of protection for the Loyal Americans, who, in part, formed his army. Failing in this, he sent an armed vessel away with a large number.
At this time beside the many who had become refugees, there were some loyalists scattered through the States. Many of these remained in the now Independent States, and many of them would have returned, to become faithful citizens under the new order of things, had they been allowed so to do. But the young Republic knew not how to be magnanimous to those whom the fortunes of war had left in great distress—whom they had conquered, and the United Empire Loyalists were made aliens from their native homes. Their property must be confiscated, and many being large land owners, rich prizes were thus secured. While the conflict continued to rage there was some excuse, but when war had ceased, and everything had been accomplished that the most craving rebel could wish, it was a ruthless, an ungenerous, nay, a base proceeding on the part of the revolutionists, to force away their very brethren, often related by the ties of consanguinity. But it was a spirit as unprincipled as this, which instigated the rebellion, and which characterized the vast majority of those who fought under the sacred name of liberty, and such was the spirit of the conquerors.
The successful rebels determined to possess themselves of the lands and property of the loyalists, even in violation of treaty. The action of Congress was sufficiently high-handed and wanting in generosity; but the proceedings of the State Legislatures, with a few exceptions, were execrable—characterized by ignoble and vindictive passion.
The Legislatures of each state took early steps to punish the adherents of Britain, to dispossess them of their property, and to banish them. Massachusetts took the lead in dealing severely against the loyalists. A rebel magistrates’ warrant was sufficient to banish one. Hundreds of Massachusetts Loyalists were prohibited from returning on penalty of imprisonment and even death. And the other States were active in “attainting” and confiscating, often without the form of trial. Each State carried on its function as a government, and trials ought to have been granted, in common justice to every one. But the Whigs were intolerant, hot-headed, malevolent, unforgiving. It has been said that “if it be conceded that rebellion against England was right, then every step necessary to success was justifiable.” If we grant all this there remains the fact that after success had crowned rebellion, persecution and confiscation continued. New York, on the 12th May, 1784, passed “An act for the speedy sale of the confiscated and forfeited estates within the States.” The powers consisted in the appointment of “commissioners of forfeitures.” Among those who lost their land was