hands of some who had been the advisers of his predecessors: and was by them led into some little difficulty with the Assembly by an application of the funds under their control without an appropriation for the purpose.

As this was the the first occasion in Upper Canada of a clash between the representative of the Crown and the House of Assembly, it may be worth while to state the circumstances somewhat fully. While the Home Administration paid the Civil List of Upper Canada, their payroll covered only those appointed by that Administration: and when the Colony had been equipped with Houses of Parliament, there was no provision for the payment of the necessary expenses, clerks, ushers, stationery, &c. The Legislature in 1793 laid a duty on imported wines and imposed a fee on licence for a public house or for the retail sale of liquor: in 1794, a duty was laid on stills-these were modified from time to time; and the Parliament had other revenues.

The Lieutenant Governor was authorized to lay out one thousand pounds on opening and improving roads, making bridges, etc., but there was no authority to pay the printer, the usher of the King's Bench, etc. Hunter had used some of the Parliament's money for paying such items, and the House had not objected.

Grant naturally followed Hunter's example; and as soon as Parliament met there was an uproar. It is hard for us to understand the very great excitement which ensued, unless we remember that at that time the Province had a number of men who were disloyal to British connection-some had been United Irishmen, some were republicans, and these and some others made of the unwise but innocent act of the Administrator, a shameful violation of the rights of the people.

The House of Assembly made a formal Address to the Administrator stating that the "first and most constitutional privilege of the Commons had been violated" which was "more than painful" to them, that studious as they were "to abstain from stricture", they hoped that he would "more than sympathize in so extraordinary a circumstance"-they asked him to refund the £613.13.7 and to direct that no more moneys should be issued without the assent of Parliament.

Grant consulted Powell as to his course and Powell advised him to state frankly to the Commons that he had followed precedent in good faith, and that the money would be replaced. The Administrator did not act at once upon this advice in full, and, indeed, the Permanent Under Secretary, Edward

Cooke, characterized the advice as something which would justly expose any lawyer in Westminster Hall to disgrace: Grant simply told the Commons that he had followed precedent and laid the whole matter before the Home Authorities: the result was that the new Lieutenant Governor Francis Gore on the opening of the next Parliament (1807) in his Address informed the Assembly that he had given instructions for the replacement of the money taken out of the Treasury without Parliamentary authority. This operated as a sedative; and Mr. Justice Thorpe who had succeeded William Weekes as the leader of the discontented faction could muster but one supporter in his opposition to a motion to waive the return of the money correspondingly paid out by Hunter without authority.1

11

In the meantime, Allcock had become seriously indisposed and had received (1804) leave of absence to go to England, so that for more than a year Powell had to do all the Term work in his Court without assistance.12

Allcock did not return to the Upper Canada Court, but was appointed Chief Justice at Quebec in the Summer of 1806, being followed in this Province as Chief Justice by Thomas Scott, the Attorney General.1

13

In July, Powell received news which for a long time caused him to forget his dreams of promotion: his son, Jeremiah, was a prisoner in South America and condemned to an ignominous death.

J'

CHAPTER XIII

THE EPISODE OF JEREMIAH POWELL

EREMIAH POWELL was the fourth son, born in Boston, in 1784, and educated in part under his father's eye. He was taken to England by his mother in 1791; there he comwas taken to England by his mother in 1791; there he completed his education under the roof of her brother at Norwich; his father when he went to England to clear himself of the charge of treason, left him at school to qualify him for commerce but he was so roused by the military spirit of the nation that he had abandoned his studies in order to enroll himself in a volunteer corps. Then Powell endeavored with the assistance of his old friend and patron Lord Dorchester to place him in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich to take his chance of obtaining a Commission in the Artillery or Engineers.1 But these efforts failed and in 1801 he came to this Continent. The following year, he was placed by his father in the counting house of Lenox & Maitland in New York where he remained three years.

He then (1804) went to Hayti on a venture of his own, and there he entered into a new arrangement. His friend, R. B. Forbes, a member of the firm Grant, Forbes & Company, was at that time in Port au Prince; the Negro GovernorGeneral, afterwards Emperor Dessalines, gave him such assurances of protection that he made up his mind to establish a house of commerce in the Island. He suggested to young Powell to take an interest in the scheme, and the result was that Jeremiah, who had expected to clear about $3,000 by his private venture and to return at once to New York, was induced to form a partnership with one Windsor who had come out with him in the "Sampson" from New York. The new firm, Windsor & Powell, was to be a commission house at Port au Prince to sell goods consigned by them by Grant, Forbes & Co. Although both his father and mother strongly disapproved of the scheme (the father wrote him a sharp letter still extant and his mother hastened to New York to meet him when he was expected to return, intending to urge him to give up the West Indies altogether) there is nothing to indicate that he might not have been very successful in making money,

had it not been for circumstances for which he was not responsible and which he could not foresee or control.

A considerable proportion of the goods consigned to the new firm consisted of military ornaments, epaulets, swordknots, lace, etc., all invoiced as gold. These to the amount of $3,000 were sold to Dessalines, both vendors and purchaser believing them to be gold. Two days after the purchase the Governor-General left St. Marc where the sale took place, and upon his return six or eight weeks after, he refused to pay for the articles alleging them to be "false gold." The Collector of Customs at St. Marc, one Langlade, had bought the remainder of the "gold" ornaments; and he also refused payment for the same reason. The commission firm had the goods complained of tested and they turned out to be brass gilt; they therefore received back the goods from Langlade, but made another effort to get payment from Dessalines. The answer was a threat strongly implied if not expressed.2

Jeremiah Powell came to the American Continent in the spring of 1805; arriving in May, he went into the matter of the "gold" ornaments, and it turned out that they had been sold to Grant, Forbes & Co., for "sur-doré." He returned to Hayti in August, 1805, ridiculing the idea of personal danger, but taking the precaution of executing in the presence of his uncle, George Murray of New York, at that place, a conveyance of his land in Burford Township, Upper Canada to his mother and sisters.

Dessalines had become Emperor and had lost all self-control; naturally cruel and now armed with absolute power, he committed the horrible deeds which have condemned him to perpetual infamy. The young Canadian did not escape his memory, the innocent misrepresentation of the articles sold him was made a crime, and he did not hesitate to threaten death as the punishment for deceiving an autocrat.

Just at this juncture, on February 18, 1806, there arrived at Jacmel, a port on the south coast of Hayti, the ship Leander having on board Miranda and his expedition for Venezuela which had left New York more than a fortnight before.

Francisco Antonio Gabriel Miranda, generally known as Francisco de Miranda, was born in Venezuela, served for a time in the Spanish Army, but was suspected of treason; he lived in England for a period and received a pension from the British King. He expected assistance from Britain in severing Venezuela from Spain; and there can be no doubt that his aspirations were rather encouraged. He at length in 1805 after

living in England for seven years, left, and came to the United States.

It would seem that the Government of the United States was not wholly ignorant of his project, but took no part in it. He, through friends, procured the ship Leander, loaded it with military stores, induced a large number of men in New York to embark with him, concealing however, his object from most of them, and set sail for Jacmel in Santo Domingo in February, 1806, with the intention of freeing Venezuela from the Spanish yoke

The handsome young Canadian attracted the attention of Miranda, who represented (not without some foundation for the assertion) that Britain approved of his project. He, moreover, held out before the eyes of the young merchant an alluring prospect of profitable trade, when the South American Colony should be free. Threatened on the one hand by the black Emperor, flattered on the other by the hope of serving his country and the expectation of pecuniary advantage, it is not to be wondered at that the persuasion of Miranda proved effective--Powell joined his expedition and received a Commission as Major in the Revolutionary Forces.3

The expedition sailed from Jacmel, March 27, 1806, Miranda having acquired two small schooners in addition to the Leander. After remaining for a few days in the Island of Aruba, they set sail for Venezuela. The Spaniards had received warning of the proposed invasion, and were ready; when the "patriots" attempted to land near Porto Cavallo, April 28, two Spanish coast guard vessels attacked the schooners in which were Powell and some others, very inefficiently armed, Miranda, who with all his knight-errantry had a yellow streak, left his followers in the lurch, and fled with the larger ship Leander and so escaped.

The lot of those in the schooner was unhappy; after a gallant resistance they were all taken prisoners, bound and taken to Porto Cavallo. They were speedily tried and found guilty of piracy, rebellion and murder; ten were sentenced to death by hanging, and thirteen to ten years' imprisonment at Porto Rico, sixteen (or nineteen) for eight years at Boca Chica near Carthagena, and fifteen for ten years at Omoa in Nicaragua; three who were mere boys were reserved for the King's pleasure. Powell had had the presence of mind, when he saw capture was inevitable, to destroy his Commission; his youth and apparent subordinate position saved his life, and he was one of those sentenced to imprisonment at Omoa. Those sentenced