in Montreal in connection with a lodge in Vermont, for the sole object of carrying out a traitorous correspondence with the disaffected.

It was not to be looked for, that the sympathy for France evinced in the United States by the boisterous welcome extended to Genet, together with the hostility to England

temps de renverser un trône où s'est long temps assise l'hypocrésie & l'imposture. Ne craignez rien de Geo. III., de ses soldats en trop petit nombre pour s'opposer avec succès à votre valeur. Le moment est favorable et l'insurrection est pour vous le plus saint des devoirs.

Rappellez qu'étant nés Français vous serez toujours enviés, persécutés par les rois Anglais, et que ce titre sera plus que jamais, aujourd'hui un motif d'exclusion de tous les emplois.

Aussi quels avantages avez vous retiré de la constitution qui vous a été donnée depuis que vos representants sont assemblés, vous ont-ils fait présent d'une bonne loi? Ont-ils corrigé un abus? Ont-ils eu le pouvoir d'affranchir votre commerce de ses entraves? Non! et pourquoi? Parce que tous les moyens de corruption sont employés secrètement et publiquement dans vos élections pour faire pencher la balance en faveur des Anglais.

On a osé vous imposer un odieux véto, que le roi d'Angleterre ne s'est reservé, que pour empêcher la destruction des abus, et pour paralyser tous vos mouvements voilà le présent que les vils stipendiés ont osé vous présenter comme un monument de bienfaisance du gouvernement Anglais.

Canadiens, armez-vous, appelez à votre secours vos amis les Indiens. Comptez sur l'appui de vos voisins, et sur celui des Français.

Resumé des avantages que les Canadiens peuvent obtenir en se délivrant de la domination Anglaise.

Io. Le Canada sera un êtat libre et indépendent.

20. Il pourra former des alliances avec la France et les Etats-unis.

30. Les Canadiens se choisiront un gouvernement; ils nommeront euxmêmes les membres du corps législatif, et du pouvoir exécutif.

40. Le véto sera aboli.

50. Toutes les personnes qui auront obtenu le droit de citoyen du Canada pourront être nommés à toutes les places.

60. Les corvées seront abolies.

70. Le commerce jouira de la liberté la plus étendue.

So. Il n'y aura plus de compagnie priviligiée pour le commerce des fourures; le nouveau gouvernement l'encouragera.

90. Les droits seigneuriaux seront abolis, les lods et ventes, droits de moulins, de péage, réserves de bois, travaux pour le service du seigneur, etc., etc., seront également abolis.

100. Seront également abolis les titres héréditaires. Il n'existera plus, ni lords, ni seigneurs, ni nobles.

IIo. Tous les cultes seront libres. Les Prêtres Catholiques nommés par le

1793]

WAR THREATENED.

389

shewn in the legislature, and the countenance given to privateers, manned to injure British commerce, which were encouraged by men in prominent stations, could remain without their influence in Canada. The newspapers of the republican party which sustained the threatening attitude towards Great Britain presented a strong reflex of the animus. Dorchester, early after his return to Canada, was impressed with the change that had taken place. He was made sensible that, owing to advocacy of the French cause, the common impulse in the United States was to bewilder the passions of the people and to misrepresent unceasingly every act of Great Britain as unfair and unjust. Virginia and the south were foremost in this attempt. The indebtedness in the south to England was of immense amount. Jefferson estimated that of Virginia alone as ten millions, and every possible attempt was made to keep the countries in hostility, so that steps should not be taken to enforce payment.

The supposed embarrassment of Great Britain, owing to the war with republican France, led to the belief that she would be unable to resist aggression in America; hence the desire of the party who had accepted these opinions to force on an alliance with France. A great number who were carried away by this spirit could not conceive the serious calamities to which it must lead in their own homes. But there was also a numerous party willing to run all lengths, provided that the views they advocated could prevail. The leaders were the men in opposition to Washington's government, and their hope was to bring it into such discredit that at the next election they would rise into power. On the other hand, with large numbers, and as events proved, the great majority, there was a powerful feeling that the attempt to plunge the peuple comme dans la primitive église jouiront d'un traitement analogue à leur utilité.

120. Il sera établi des écoles dans les paroisses et dans les villes; il y aura des imprimeries; des institutions pour les hautes sciences, la médecine, les mathématiques; il sera formé des interprètes, qui reconnus de bonne mœurs seront encouragés à civiliser les nations sauvages, et à étendre par ce moyen le commerce avec elles."

country into war to aid France, would bring the greatest disasters on commerce and all enterprise, and that it would entirely destroy the prosperity of the country so rapidly advancing, especially in the matter of the manufactures, many of which had been lately established. Its strength is best shewn by the fact that it prevailed. It is not an exaggeration to say that, speaking generally, this class embraced the intelligence and wealth of the country, comprised within the phrase of those who had anything to lose. There were, moreover, no few imbued with strong republican principles, who honestly believed that the United States were presenting a new era in the government of the world, and that they should abandon all the old forms and traditions, and revert to a primitive simplicity of manner and of life, to change the conditions of human association. This class may be described as being without education in the higher sense, without personal experience, and without that historical reading and knowledge which, with an acute mind, to a great extent supply these deficiencies. Consequently, those so thinking sneered at all ceremony and system as "monarchical," anti-republican, and, for this reason, reprehensible. They conceived their natural ally was the sister republic so gloriously established in France, and that any failure of recognition of her claims would be a national crime.

From the conviction that Canada was drifting into war, forced upon her by the hostility of the party in the United States which, owing to its noise and tumult, could be regarded as dominant, and as possessing strength to enforce the policy it proclaimed, Dorchester felt that hostilities must inevitably result. During this uncertainty, in February, 1794, a deputation of the Miamis waited upon him to ask his aid in establishing for them the territory they claimed. Dorchester replied in a speech which, for its plain speaking, caused much excitement. He spoke to the Indians of meeting them before his departure from Quebec, when he engaged to represent to the king the complaint of their grievances suffered from the United States. He had flattered himself, that when the peace

1794]

ADDRESS TO THE MIAMIS.

391

was signed the line of the demarcation of their territory would have been drawn in an amicable manner. He had been disappointed. Since his return, the people of the United States had so acted that he would not be surprised if Canada were at war with them during the present year. In that case, the line must be drawn by the warriors. The tribes could bear witness that in Canada they had acted in the most peaceable manner, but their patience was almost exhausted.*

The speech became known, an official copy having been taken by the commanding officer at Montreal, and, coming into the hands of those having relations with the United States, was transmitted to parties there. It was shortly afterwards published in the United States papers. Attention being thus directed to the matter, Randolph, then secretary of state, having succeeded Jefferson, and, like Jefferson, constantly thwarting the policy of Washington, addressed

From the importance at the time attached to this address I append the following extracts. [It can be referred to in Can. Arch., Q. 67, p. 109.]

"You remind me on your part of what passed at the Council Fire held at Quebec just before my last departure for England, when I promised to represent their [the Indian deputies] Situation and wishes to the King, their Father, and expressed my hope that all the grievances they complained of on the part of the United States would soon be done away by a just and lasting peace.

I remember all very well. I remember that they pointed out to me the Line of Separation which they wished for between them and the States and with which they would be satisfied to make peace. I have waited long and listened with great attention, but I have not heard one word from them (the States).

Since my return I find no appearance of a line remaining, and from the manner in which the People of the States push on and act and talk on this side, and from what I learn of their conduct towards the Sea, I shall not be surprised if we were at war with them in the course of the present year, and if so a Line must then be drawn by the Warriors.

You ask for a passport to go to New York; a Passport is useless in Peace; it appears, therefore, that you expect we shall be at war with the states before you return. You shall have a Passport that whether Peace or War, you may be well received by the King's warriors.

What further can I say to you?

You are Witness that on our parts we have

acted in the most peaceable manner and borne the language and conduct of the People of the United States with Patience, but I believe our Patience is almost exhausted."

a letter to Hammond, in which he characterised Carleton's words as "hostility itself." Hammond, as in duty bound, forwarded the despatch to England.

On the receipt of this letter, Dundas addressed Dorchester in a tone which it is not possible to consider in any light but that of official censure. He pointed out that Dorchester could not fail to have been impressed by the wish of the ministry for the preservation of peace, and the desirability of the avoidance of anything like hostility in the disputes concerning the treaty line. He took exception to the message to the Indians and the re-establishment of the fort of the Miamis, as not within the limit of the post of Detroit, as more likely to provoke hostilities than to prevent them, adding that "all that was called for was the immediate (sic) protection of the posts."

"*

Dundas' letter was one of the many examples in Canadian history of despatches written by British ministers from the standing point of imperial politics and with but secondary thought of Canada. When Dundas wrote, on the 5th of July, Jay had been nearly a month in England, having arrived on the 8th of May. His meeting with lord Grenville had been friendly and satisfactory. Dorchester's address, undoubtedly, had become known in the United States by its publication in the press, but it was only a reflex of the utterances by United States public men and of the manifold attacks on Great Britain in the republican press. More importance was attached to it from Dorchester's character and status. It was also known that he had only returned from England the preceding September, and it was inferred he spoke by authority. Accordingly, it had been accepted as a proof of the hostile intentions of Great Britain, and thus suggested the probability of hostilities. Dundas,

*"I should not deal fairly and candidly by your lordship if I were not to express my apprehensions that your answer to the message from the Indians of the upper country, and your proposing to Colonel Simcoe to occupy nearly the same posts in Miamis River, which was demolished after the Peace, may not rather provoke hostilities than prevent them." Dundas to Dorchester, 5th of July. [Can. Arch., Q. 67, p. 175.]