Stranica 27 [27]
OCR
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 Revolutionists, 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 wanderers, 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
