Stranica 35 [35]
OCR
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. Lawrence. 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 accomplished 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 recompense 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 compelled 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, particularly as the clergy made no attempt to settle and cultivate the tracts thus set apart. The magnitude 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 barristers; 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, purchased 1,500,000 acres, at one shilling an acre; subsequently securing 700,000 acres, the latter costing 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, according 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 practically 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 Parliament 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
