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or north side, was pronounced better; and on this side, with due resolve, Mr. Wright determined to plant his settlement.

About a mile from the portage landing, on a rocky plateau, and right opposite and alongside the Chaudière Falls, Mr. Wright said, "Here will be our village, and we shall call it Hull!" for this was the name of the locality from which he and his followers came in the State of Massachusetts. And so the hard work commenced!

The history of all settlements is much the same; it is generally made up of great and continuous labor and much privation. The difficulty of traveling, the distance to Montreal, which was their only and nearest market, rendered the settlement of Hull—or Wrightstown, as it was sometimes called-peculiarly hard. Unlike most new settlements, it had none other near it; and there was only one as late in existence as itself, a French seigneurie, between it and Montreal; and this one was some fifty miles away down the river. Still Mr. Wright's settlement extended along and backward from the old portage road of the Indians and fur traders: still can be seen old frame-houses and barns of this era in the last stages of tottering consumption here and there along this road, now smoothened off into the dignity of a Macadam, a poor portage no longer. Scarcely a settler would for years enliven the solitude of the opposite or southern side of the river. That quarter was evidently condemned to eternal sterility and quiet.

Mr. Wright and his followers, in their steady advance of settlement, did not, however, condemn all the trees to fire and ashes. They lumbered, and in consequence became dealers in pine and farmers at the same time, as all their successors on the Ottawa yet continue to be.

Thus an impetus to the great timber trade of Canada was given in this quarter. Rafts of square pine were floated through manifold dangers to Quebec every spring, and with the return of the lumberers, after the timber was disposed of, came necessaries for the settlement, and for the trade, gradually springing into strong existence. With the growth of the trade and of the settlement came luxuries, came rum, and came immigrants; and the township of Hull was a fact in its way as fixed as the State of Massachusetts which the settlers had left.

of the settlement, that his village of Hull was destined, at all events in his time, to be a town of consequence.

The lumber trade was not now confined to him. Every day brought voyageurs bent upon cutting down pine, supplied with necessaries for its manufacture by merchants in Quebec and Montreal. They did not even confine themselves to his township, but getting to the end of the old portage road-commonly called "The Head," and even yet so denominated by the old inhabitants-they pushed up Lake Deschènes, as this part of the Ottawa was and is called, and commenced their operations. With them came quiet French Canadians, wild Irishmen, Englishmen, and Scotchmen, and by degrees Hull settlement lost its peculiar Yankee character.

The war of 1814-'15 between Britain and the United States was over, and military men swarmed in the frontier towns and villages of Canada. Now and then disbanded sons of Mars made their appearance in Hull, for it was in those days an out-of-the-way place; and if they were inclined to work, got it. More pretentious soldiers, or rather officers, the war being over, got grants of land wherever they thought land worth taking, and finally a military settlement grew up on the south bank of the river, opposite the end, or rather "The Head," of the portage road of Hull. All, however, seemed to shun the condemned land beyond the precipitous hills below the Chaudière.

Still

Still these hills towered up from the Ottawa in sullen dignity, as if they looked with contempt upon all around; and the Chaudière foamed, and hissed, and roared as loud as usual. down went the trees before the restless white man, and the light of civilization took the place of the forest gloom, and the Ottawa country became gradually pretty well known through Canada.

The village of Hull increased with the growth of the country, and became the principal, or rather the only mart of this part of the province. In its streets could be heard at a certain season of the year-about the fall, when the lumberers and raftsmen were on their periodical voyages up to "make timber"-the English language, spoken in a variety of ways. In the nasal of the "Down-Eastern," in the brogue of the Irishman, and in small bits chopped finely by the French Canadian. Here could be heard, indeed, various English, French, Gaelic, Irish, and occasionally Dutch. Here rum was cheap and all had credit, for cash was scarce; and, availing themselves of the credit, many a poor raftsman

Mr. Wright had early obtained a grant of large tracts of land, on both sides of the river, from the Canadian Government of the day. Land was cheap, and easily got in those times. Although not appreciating the soil on the south-exhausted his prospective wages. Scarcity of ern side beyond the grave precipices, he secured a large quantity there. It might be useful at some time or another, he thought; but the north side was, par excellence, to be the locality of any future greatness that might inadvertently drop on this part of the world; and Mr. Wright, like every settler that has knocked down a tree in the wilderness, had his hopes of the importance of the spot he had selected. He had made up his mind, from the recent and increasing growth

cash was a prevailing vice in Hull, and the working men of Mr. Wright-or of the Wrights, for there was a strong clan of this name-were paid generally in any of three ways: in "store pay" or goods, in "rum," or in "land.” Three-fourths availed themselves of the first two, and the prudent one-fourth of the other.

One fine day Mr. Wright had a settlement of accounts with one of his men who owned the lively name of Sparks. Mr. Sparks, although

f

an Irishman, was not of a lively turn of mind;
he was rather of the plodding cast, a "good
worker," and a first rate ox-teamster, and had
wrought for some years for Mr. Wright, tradi-
tion says, without any settlement taking place
between them. The balance was now, however,
struck, and Mr. Wright was found to be in
debt to Mr. Sparks some two hundred dollars or
thereabout. Cash was out of the question.
Even Mr. Sparks had no idea that he would ob-
tain all his balance of wages in that useful and
convenient medium.

"You will have to take land for this," said
Mr. Wright.

"And where is the land?" asked Mr. Sparks. "Let me see," said Mr. Wright, arranging all the huts and their occupants in the township in his mind; "now all the land is taken up between here and 'The Head,' unless you would go back of the Gateneau," a river at the rear of Hull.

"Well," said he, "I won't go to the Gateneau or up the lake, and as I can't do better, I suppose we'll have to settle."

He got the

And the settlement took place. land near the rapids, and all he liked to take beyond the precipices, and the yoke of oxen. The hills he would have nothing to do with; the swamps beyond might be useful for cedar for fencing purposes, and even the sand might be of some avail. All these were granted, and Mr. Sparks departed for his property, and Mr. Wright ceased to be his debtor.

A bright idea got into the heads of the Canadian authorities immediately after the close of the war of 1815. And this was to find a channel in the interior for the conveyance of the munitions of war to the upper lakes, the St. Lawrence being too exposed to the assaults of the American enemy. And so the grand scheme of the Rideau Canal was inaugurated. Surveyors were set to work, and after a time the bright

"Well, I won't go back there," said Mr. idea was developed in plans, and practically carSparks, doggedly.

ried out at an expense of some two million pounds sterling, from which the British Government,

"Or up the lake," suggested Mr. Wright. "How the d-l could I live up there," remon-who were the builders, never reaped one farthing's strated Sparks, "not a living soul widhin miles profit. There is a river called the "Rideau" in av me?" Canada. It has its source from various lakes "Well, then," said Mr. Wright, "what do to the north and east of Lake Ontario, and aftyou say to the land across the river?"

Mr. Sparks, it is said, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, burst out of the office, and there was no settlement on that day. Nor was there a settlement for several days. History records that Mr. Sparks was in a very disconsolate mood, indeed, for some time after this. He looked upon his wages as absolutely lost, and all his hard work gone for nothing.

er a straggling, wide-spreading, zigzag flow, as if it hadn't made up its mind as to the particular course it ought to run-in a neat little Niagara

falls into the Ottawa River below the precipices which Mr. Sparks would not take for love or money. A gorge among these precipices and Lake Ontario were designed as the termini of the Rideau Canal; and the Rideau Canal was built, and sluggishly exists at the present day.

About the year 1823 the work was commenced, and one bright day Mr. Sparks, to his astonishment-upon the highest and most central of the precipices which looked down upon the Ottawa, and also upon the gorge alluded to

He crossed the river, however, and examined the land up and down beyond those grave-looking hills, and found-what he expected to findplenty of rock, plenty of sand, and plenty of swamp. Higher up the river, however, he thought that something might be made out of a piece-beheld a motley crowd of engineers, laborers, of soil on the banks, and near to one of the upper rapids; but lower down, and near those diabolical precipices, he looked upon as utterly valueless.

"Did ye make up yer mind yet what land I am to get?" demanded, not blandly, the latter gentleman.

66

and soldiers. In fine, the hill was taken possession of, and also an adjacent one, as the ordnance property of the British Crown. The gentleman in charge of the construction of the canal

Mr. Wright was in his office, and Mr. Sparks and the appendant works bore the abrupt, dissoagain appeared before him. nant, and monosyllabic name of Br. The work went on. Laborers increased, and so did their shanties. And in the train followed the usual appurtenances of the white man's set'Unless you take some near the Gateneau, tlement; to wit, grog-shops, blacksmith-shops, or up the lake, as I offered you before," said and shops for vending all things. They sprang Mr. Wright, "I have no other except-hem-up at both ends of the circuit of the two hills outacross- He saw that Mr. Sparks stood his ground this time, and he took courage and continued, "And I'll tell you what I'll do besides, Sparks; I'll give you a yoke of oxen in, and I'm sure, in spite of all they say, that you'll get

on well."

"They" meant general opinion.

Mr. Sparks had made up his mind before he entered the office; but he was determined on another trial, and was unexpectedly pleased when the offer of the yoke of oxen fell upon his ear. VOL. XXIII.-No. 136.-F F

side the Government line of demarkation with Mr. Sparks-with long vacancies between-and extended at least a good long mile. By way of a joke, they called one end "Upper," and the other "Lower Town."

In a year or two the straggling place, named in playfulness Upper and Lower Town, got a united designation, and, in compliment to the chief-engineer, was called By-Town-a poor name, as far as sound was concerned; but a title of promise and hope to the man who own

ed nearly all the land beyond the fall of the hills inward. In the mean time a rude bridge had been thrown across the face of the Chaudière, connecting Wrightstown, or Hull, with Bytown; and as the latter increased in shanties and population, the former became more and more stationary. The star of one was rising; that of the other setting.

real abused Quebec. Kingston abused both, and Toronto abused them all; it was really a jolly scramble, and a lively one!

Still the despised precipices of old in the new city looked as quiet and as serious as ever. At length the Parliamentarians came to an issue. They would refer the matter to her Majesty for arbitrament and final settlement. And her Majesty quickly and definitely settled it. The grave and dignified hills were to sustain the Parliament buildings of United Canada! Ah, Mr. Wright! Ah, Mr. Sparks!

Years passed away-nearly as many as would change a stripling into a full-grown man-and the modest Bytown, growing in prosperity, all of a sudden got ashamed of its name, and by Act of Parliament had it changed to the name Not long ago that agreeable and promising of the noble river that roared and flowed at its young man, ALBERT EDWARD, heir to the Britbase. In the mean time Mr. Sparks, it is prob- ish throne, in the course of his tour over the able, ceased personally to direct the movements American continent, and as a part of his busiof the yoke of oxen obtained in his bargain withness, laid the foundation stone-which, in deep Mr. Wright, and retired to good and large quar- indentations, records the fact; and no doubt, in ters in the town. He also went into good and a year or two, the finest architectural pile on this large business, as money flowed in upon him for continent will raise itself on this majestic summit. building lots on the despised rock, sand, and Still the hill looks as seriously grand as ever swamp of a few years before; and yet did the-as it did fifty or sixty years ago to the eyes of old and once lively Hull become more fixed-the wondering voyageur. The Chaudière rushlike the long, steady glare of a dying man's eyes -and more stationary. Hull, the place of early promise, was dead. His town was swelling with vitality.

Canada was vexed. From Sandwich to Gaspé it was angry. Angry was the country, but mad were the towns. The Houses of Parliament shook with furious declamation. Politicians agreed on many points, but on one they could not agree. Quebec abused Montreal, and Mont

es, boils, and roars as of old; and Hull shows some signs of revivication. Mr. Wright has passed away, and is succeeded by others of the same name. His humble workman, who was forced to take the ground of the City of Ottawa, the capital of Canada-a yoke of oxen being his principal inducement-is alive yet, and worth some half million of pounds.

And this is the history of the Capital of the Canadas.

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IN

WINFIELD SCOTT, 1827, ET. 41, MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. A.

WINFIELD SCOTT IN THE WAR OF 1812.*

the "new camp" of the United States Army near Natchez, established in the autumn of 1809, was a young Virginian, a graduate of William and Mary College, a law disciple of the eminent Benjamin Watkins Leigh, and then a captain of Light Artillery, only twentythree years of age. He was very tall and muscular, frank and generous in disposition, bold in courage, and ardent in temperament. He could "speak and write and fight," and by these intellectual and physical qualities, combined with a lofty sense of honor, unflinching integrity, and simplicity of manner, he had become endeared

The pictures illustrating this article are from Lossing's "Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812," now in course of preparation, and to be published by Harper and Broth

ers.

to the best officers and men in the Army of the Southwest. He had been with Wilkinson in the fatal camp on the plain of Chalmette, below New Orleans; and was now under General Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, who had fought nobly with Marion, Sumter, Lee, Pickens, and others, in the old war for independence.

The young captain had attracted the special notice of both Wilkinson and Hampton, but neither of them could win his personal attachment, nor command even his genuine respect. He well knew that Wilkinson had, for ten years, as far as circumstances would allow, been a sometimes active and sometimes passive instrument in the hands of Sebastian and other secessionists of the Mississippi Valley; and had been intimate with Burr during the earlier months of

his career while planning the dismemberment of service. The repeated insults offered to the the Union, as a part of his scheme for establishing American flag by Great Britain, through her an independent empire in the far Southwest. cruisers, at length produced the legitimate reThese schemes had failed, and efforts to convict sults. When self-respect would no longer allow the actors of treason had also failed; yet, while forbearance, the United States defied British .those men assumed an attitude of injured inno- power, and declared war against the British cence, they suffered the blight of public distrust. Government and all the vast interests of the Having incurred the displeasure of Wilkinson, realm. The proclamation thereof was promuland been subjected to his petty annoyances, the gated in June, 1812, and in July Scott received young captain used great freedom of speech con- the commission of Lieutenant-Colonel in Izard's cerning the conduct and character of his former Regiment, Second Artillery; and, with the comcommander. "I never saw but two traitors," panies of Towson and Barker, hastened to the he said, at a public table, "and these were Wil- Niagara frontier. He took post at Black Rock, kinson and Burr." For these, and other equal- near Buffalo, charged with the duty of protectly severe words, he was soon called to account ing the little Navy-yard there. before a court-martial on a charge of unofficerlike conduct, in speaking disrespectfully of superiors. He was found guilty, and sentenced to suspension from rank, pay, and emolument for one year. Many of the army officers and leading citizens soon gave to the youthful captain the compliment of a public dinner, in testimony of their appreciation of his character.

Such was the beginning of the long military life of WINFIELD SCOTT, the Commander-in-chief of the Armies of the United States. Because of his expressed abhorrence of those who then sought the dismemberment of the Union, he was reviled and persecuted. After a lapse of fully fifty years he is now subjected to like reproaches from those who are striving to effect a similar object, because he again stands in their way. And now, as before, he receives the plaudits of all true and loyal Americans.

The war was just kindling upon the Northern frontier, at points remote from each other. Startling events were beginning to stir the hot blood of young soldiers. The United States Government had been tardy in informing the commanders of distant posts of the declaration of war, while British merchants in New York, at their own expense, had sent swift couriers with the intelligence to Montreal, Kingston, York, and Queenston. The consequence was that the American posts in the far Northwest were surprised. Michilimackinac, in the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, was taken by a British party at the middle of July, the little garrison stationed there being perfectly ignorant of the causes of the hostile movement. Two days afterward a British squadron of five vessels entered Sackett's Harbor, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The Americans there were on the Apparent misfortunes are often mercies in alert. It was a warm, bright Sabbath morning. disguise. It was so in the case in question. Signals summoned the people of the surrounding The year of his official degradation was em- country. An old iron 32-pounder lying upon ployed by Scott, under the roof of Mr. Leigh, in the shore, half-covered with mud, and called the earnest study of the military art; and he be- The Sow, was dragged to a rocky promontory at came thoroughly prepared, theoretically, for the the foot of the Main Street, placed upon a mound, performance of those great and important duties and greeted with derisive laughter by the eneto which his life has been devoted. Very soon my. That laughter soon ceased. For two hours after the expiration of his sentence there were she "blazed away" at the ships, and they at the omens in the political firmament of an impend- town and people. On shore "nobody was hurt." ing storm, when all his skill would be called into On the ships several bodies were hurt.

A shot

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