Oldal 35 [35]
a stout young man. He often took the late Mr. Justice Sherwood
ing, while the boats were being drawn up the rapids. The boys
used to call Czsar, ‘Scippio.’ Czesar was sold to a half-pay officer,
Mr. Bottom, who settled about six miles above Prescott. After
twenty years’ service, Mr. Bottom gave Cesar his freedom. Cesar
then married a free colored woman, and settled in the Town of
Brockville, where he lived many years, and died. Daniel Jones,
Esq., father of the late Sir Daniel Jones. of Brockville, had, at one
time, a female colored slave. There were also a few more slaves
residing in the District, but so far from my residence that I can give
no account of them from personal knowledge.
“The first Lodge of Free Masons that I am aware of, was held
in the Township of Elizabethtown, near Brockville. Iam unable
to give the precise date. The members consisted principally of
half-pay officers, who were located along the bank of the St. Law¬
rence. I understood that they met under a travelling warrant. It
was some years after the settlement of the Province that the regular
organization of the fraternity took place. I believe it was accom¬
plished by Mr. Jarvis, who came out as Secretary of the Province,
and acted under the appointment of the Duke of Sussex, then Grand
Master; Mr. Jarvis assuming the duties of Provincial Grand Master,
and issuing the necessary warrants.
(Signed,) "ADIEL SHERWOOD.”
CHAPTER VIII.
CLERGY RESERVES—LAND GRANTS—LAWS—JUDGE
DuNCAN—A SEVERE SENTENCE—ANCIENT NAMES
—CHURCH BUILDING.
In 1791, the celebrated Clergy Reserve Act
passed the Imperial House of Commons. This
Act set apart one-seventh of the unsurveyed lands
of the Province “for the support of a Protestant
clergy ; " authorized the Governor of either
Province to establish rectories, and endow them.
Private speculators also bought up extensive tracts
of wild land, while thousands of acres were held by
half-pay officers, who had drawn them as a recom¬
pense for services rendered the Crown. The mode
of reserving the Crown and Clergy Reserve lots
also increased the evil, which in time grew to giant
proportions. Many of the lots held in reserve were
situated in the frontier townships, thus preventing
the settlement of the country. Settlers were com¬
pelled to make roads opposite their own lots, and
also in front of the non-resident lands. One of the
evils very justly complained of by the people, was
that, in later years, “The Government reserved in
the first concession the 5th, t5th, and zoth lots;
and the clergy, the 3rd, roth, 17th, and 22nd. In
the second concessions the Crown reserved the 4th,
11th, 21st, and 23rd; and the clergy, the znd, oth,
and 16th. Thus in every two concessions, the
Crown would have three lots in one and four in
the other, or seven in all; and the clergy the same ;
and
2I
or fourteen lots reserved in every forty-eight, or
nearly one-third of the land in each township.”
As the wild lands paid no taxes, the system was
inimical to the best interests of the country, par¬
ticularly as the clergy made no attempt to settle
and cultivate the tracts thus set apart. The magni¬
tude of the evil was clearly brought out in the
report of Lord Durham, in which he stated that,
“In Upper Canada, 3,200,000 acres have been
granted to United Empire Loyalists ; 700,000 acres
to militia men; 450,000 acres, to discharged soldiers
and sailors ; 225.000 acres to magistrates and bar¬
risters; 136,000 acres tO executive councillors ;
50,000 acres to five legislative councillors; 36,900
of the Army and the Navy; 500,000 acres for the
endowment of schools; 48,520 acres to Colonel
Talbot ; 12,000 acres to the heirs of General Brock ;
12,000 acres to Dr. Mountain; making altogether,
with the Clergy Reserves, nearly half of all the
surveyed land in the Province.”
Among the great land-jobbers of Canada, were
the following: Sir William Pullency, in 1791, pur¬
chased 1,500,000 acres, at one shilling an acre;
subsequently securing 700,000 acres, the latter cost¬
ing eight shilling per acre. Mr. Hamilton, a
member of the Legislative Council, secured 100,000
acres. Chief Justices Emslie and Powell, and
Solicitor-General Gray also purchased from 20,000
to 50,000 acres each.
LAWS.
The first settlers of Upper Canada were, for a
time, compelled to live under “martial law,” the
execution being left to the captain having the
supervision of any particular locality. In Grenville
and Dundas, a Captain Duncan, who established
his headquarters at Maria-town, that place being
named after his only daughter, J/aria, was, accord¬
ing to Croil, Judge, Police-Magistrate, and Justice
of the Peace. Whatever may have been the proper
title of this dignitary, it is evident, from the records
preserved, that his discretionary power was practi¬
cally unlimited.
“A civil court, with all its accompaniments of
Sheriff, Judge, and Jury, was held at the inn of
Richard Loucks, on September 14th, 1790.” The
jurisdiction of this court extended over the entire
District of Lunenburg. The late Judge Jarvis, of
Cornwall, gave his opinion, “that this court must
have been under the authority of the Act of Parlia¬
ment of England, 14 Geo., 3rd Chap. 83 (1774),
usually known as the Quebec Act, by which the
Governor and Council thereby constituted, must
have erected the jurisdiction. The Court of King’s