Stranica 27 [27]
from the city to Lachine, and thus avoid the
dangerous rapids at and below that place.
The batteaux did the principal business until
supplanted by the Durham boats
latter continuing in use until some time after the
Even on calm water, the average time
war of 1812.
É of these unigue vessels, on which our grandfathers
4
in 1809, the
Hi took passage, was only two and a-half miles an
‘ hour, including stoppages.
2 announcement was made “that an elegant ‘ passage
rt boat’ would leave Brockville every tenth day” for
7 Montreal.
In 1830, the important
The following are lines, of an old date, written on
hearing Canadian batteaux, with their usual
songs, enter the harbor at Kingston from the St.
Lawrence :
Hark! o’er the lake’s unruffled wave
A distant solemn chant is sped ;
Is it some requiem at the grave?
Some last kind honor to the dead.
"Tis silent all—again begun ;
It is the wearied boatman’s lay,
That hails alike the rising sun,
And his last soft departing ray.
Forth from yon island’s dusky side
The train of batteaux now appear,
And onward as they slowly glide,
More loud their chorus greets the ear.
But, ah! the charm that distance gave,
When first, in solemn sounds, their song
; Crept slowly o’er the limpid wave,
Is lost in notes full loud and strong.
Row! brothers, row, with songs of joy,
For now in view a port appears ;
No rapids here our course annoy,
No hidden rocks excite our fears.
Be this sweet night to slumber given,
And when the morning lights the wave,
We'll give our matin songs to Heav’n,
Our course to bless, our lives to save.
: CHAPTER VI.
THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS.
GOURLAY says: “To put a mark of honor, as it
is expressed in the Orders of Council, upon the
families who had adhered to the unity of the
empire, and joined the royal standard in America,
_ before the treaty of separation, in 1783, a list of
"ak such persons was made out and returned, to the
>. end that their posterity might be discriminated
from the then future settlers. From the initials of
. two emphatic words, the Unity of the Empire, it was
*, Pine st
. Styled the U. E. List; and they whose names were
entered on it, were distinguished as U. E. Loyalists,
= we ag
. adistinction of some consequence, for, in addition
ara li =
I
|
a
to the provision of such loyalists themselves, it was
declared that their children, as well those born
thereafter as those already born, should, upon
arriving at the age of twenty-one years, and females
upon their marriage within that age, be entitled to
grants of two hundred acres each, free from all
expense. As the sons and daughters of those whose
names are on the U. E. List become of age, they
petition the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, stating
the facts, and verifying by their own oath and
affidavit of one witness; and, upon such petitions,
obtain orders for land, which they locate in some
of the new townships, and then take out their
More than a century has elapsed since the " King’s
Men, with a fortitude having in history few
parallels, refused to take up arms against the
Crown. Republicanism and democracy possessed
no charms for these sturdy pioneers, who had just
succeeded in carving out of the forest, homes for
themselves and children. The tocsin sounded to
arms at Lexington; they heard the battle-cry, and
thousands of those noble-hearted sons of the “ Old
Land” responded. They flocked to the Royal
standard, amid the curses and execrations of former
They were branded as
Familes were rent in twain—
the patriotic and noble espousing the cause of the
King ; the peace-seeking and ignoble preferring the
retention of property to the duty they owed to their
friends and neighbors.
Tories and outlaws.
country. That there were many sincere Revolu¬
tionists, we do not deny, but noble men, who were
swept into the continental ranks, wished to preseve
the connection with England. John Adams, years
after the peace, said:
during the Revolution when I would not have gtven
“ There was not a moment
everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of
things before the contest began, provided we could have
had a sufficient security for tts continuance.”
The Loyalists, who separated themselves from
home and kindred, becoming outlaws and wan¬
derers, have left few memorials behind them from
which to compile a history of their hardships ; hence
their heroism has in many instances been forgotten,
and their immediate descendants are ignorant of the
fact that they owe their all to the untiring industry
of forefathers who carved out of the wild woods,
homes and a patrimony. Ignorance and bigotry
upon the part of American writers, have done much
to blacken the reputation of these martyrs for the
flag of their country; and it is high time that the
ashes of hatred were brushed from off their tombs,
and a monument, in unison with their greatness.
erected to commemorate their fidelity and their
bravery. We know of no object to which a grant