The Loyalists of America and Their Times

The Loyalists of America and Their Times.

by Egerton Ryerson.

VOL. I.

PREFACE.

As no Indian pen has ever traced the history of the aborigines of America, or recorded the deeds of their chieftains, their "prowess and their wrongs"--their enemies and spoilers being their historians; so the history of the Loyalists of America has never been written except by their enemies and spoilers, and those English historians who have not troubled themselves with examining original authorities, but have adopted the authorities, and in some instances imbibed the spirit, of American historians, who have never tired in eulogizing Americans and everything American, and deprecating everything English, and all who have loyally adhered to the unity of the British Empire.

I have thought that the other side of the story should be written; or, in other words, the true history of the relations, disputes, and contests between Great Britain and her American colonies and the United States of America.

The United Empire Loyalists were the losing party; their history has been written by their adversaries, and strangely misrepresented. In the vindication of their character, I have not opposed a.s.sertion against a.s.sertion; but, in correction of unjust and untrue a.s.sertions, I have offered the records and doc.u.ments of the actors themselves, and in their own words. To do this has rendered my history, to a large extent, _doc.u.mentary_, instead of being a mere popular narrative. The many fictions of American writers will be found corrected and exposed in the following volumes, by authorities and facts which cannot be successfully denied. In thus availing myself so largely of the proclamations, messages, addresses, letters, and records of the times when they occurred, I have only followed the example of some of the best historians and biographers.

No one can be more sensible than myself of the imperfect manner in which I have performed my task, which I commenced more than a quarter of a century since, but I have been prevented from completing it sooner by public duties--pursuing, as I have done from the beginning, an untrodden path of historical investigations. From the long delay, many supposed I would never complete the work, or that I had abandoned it. On its completion, therefore, I issued a circular, an extract from which I hereto subjoin, explaining the origin, design, and scope of the work:--

"I have pleasure in stating that I have at length completed the task which the newspaper press and public men of different parties urged upon me from 1855 to 1860. In submission to what seemed to be public opinion, I issued, in 1861, a circular addressed to the United Empire Loyalists and their descendants, of the British Provinces of America, stating the design and scope of my proposed work, and requesting them to transmit to me, at my expense, any letters or papers in their possession which would throw light upon the early history and settlement in these Provinces by our U.E.

Loyalist forefathers. From all the British Provinces I received answers to my circular; and I have given, with little abridgment, in one chapter of my history, these intensely interesting letters and papers--to which I have been enabled to add considerably from two large quarto ma.n.u.script volumes of papers relating to the U.E.

Loyalists in the Dominion Parliamentary Library at Ottawa, with the use of which I have been favoured by the learned and obliging librarian, Mr. Todd.

"In addition to all the works relating to the subject which I could collect in Europe and America, I spent, two years since, several months in the Library of the British Museum, employing the a.s.sistance of an amanuensis, in verifying quotations and making extracts from works not to be found elsewhere, in relation especially to unsettled questions involved in the earlier part of my history.

"I have entirely sympathized with the Colonists in their remonstrances, and even use of arms, in defence of British const.i.tutional rights, from 1763 to 1776; but I have been compelled to view the proceedings of the Revolutionists and their treatment of the Loyalists in a very different light.

"After having compared the conduct of the two parties during the Revolution, the exile of the Loyalists from their homes after the close of the War, and their settlement in the British Provinces, I have given a brief account of the government of each Province, and then traced the alleged and real causes of the War of 1812-1815, together with the courage, sacrifice, and patriotism of Canadians, both English and French, in defending our country against eleven successive American invasions, when the population of the two Canadas was to that of the United States as one to twenty-seven, and the population of Upper Canada (the chief scene of the War) was as one to one hundred and six. Our defenders, aided by a few English regiments, were as handfuls, little Spartan bands, in comparison of the hosts of the invading armies; and yet at the end of two years, as well as at the end of the third and last year of the War, not an invader's foot found a place on the soil of Canada.

"I undertook this work not self-moved and with no view to profit; and if I receive no pecuniary return from this work, on which I have expended no small labour and means, I shall have the satisfaction of having done all in my power to erect an historical monument to the character and merits of the fathers and founders of my native country."

E. RYERSON.

"TORONTO, Sept. 24th, 1879."

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.--TWO CLa.s.sES OF EMIGRANTS--TWO GOVERNMENTS FOR SEVENTY YEARS--THE "PILGRIM FATHERS"--THEIR PILGRIMAGES AND SETTLEMENT.

In proceeding to trace the development and characteristics of Puritanism in an English colony, I beg to remark that I write, not as an Englishman, but as a Canadian colonist by birth and life-long residence, and as an early and constant advocate of those equal rights, civil and religious, and that system of government in the enjoyment of which Canada is conspicuous.

In tracing the origin and development of those views and feelings which culminated in the American Revolution, in the separation of thirteen colonies from Great Britain, it is necessary to notice the early settlement and progress of those New England colonies in which the seeds of that revolution were first sown and grew to maturity.

The colonies of New England resulted from two distinct emigrations of English Puritans; two cla.s.ses of Puritans; two distinct governments for more than sixty years. The one cla.s.s of these emigrants were called "Pilgrim Fathers," having first fled from England to Holland, and thence emigrated to New England in 1620, in the _Mayflower_, and called their place of settlement "New Plymouth," where they elected seven Governors in succession, and existed under a self-const.i.tuted government for seventy years. The other cla.s.s were called "Puritan Fathers;" the first instalment of their emigration took place in 1629, under Endicot; they were known as the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay Company, and their final capital was Boston, which afterwards became the capital of the Province and of the State.

The characteristics of the separate and independent government of these two cla.s.ses of Puritans were widely different. The one was tolerant and non-persecuting, and loyal to the King during the whole period of its seventy years' existence; the other was an intolerant persecutor of all religionists who did not adopt its wors.h.i.+p, and disloyal from the beginning to the Government from which it held its Charter.

It is essential to my purpose to compare and contrast the proceedings of these two governments in relation to religious liberty and loyalty. I will first give a short account of the origin and government of the "_Pilgrim_ Fathers" of New Plymouth, and then the government of the "_Puritan_ Fathers" of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay.[1]

In the later years of Queen Elizabeth, a "fiery young clergyman," named Robert Brown, declared against the lawfulness of both Episcopal and Presbyterian Church government, or of fellows.h.i.+p with either Episcopalians or Presbyterians, and in favour of the absolute independence of each congregation, and the ordination as well as selection of the minister by it. This was the origin of the Independents in England. The zeal of Brown, like that of most violent zealots, soon cooled, and he returned and obtained

During their twelve years' _pilgrimage_ in Holland they were good citizens; not an accusation was brought against any one of them in the courts; they were honourable and industrious, and took to new trades for subsistence. Brewster, a man of property, and a gentleman in England, learned to be a printer at the age of forty-five. Bradford, who had been a farmer in England, became a silk-dyer. Robinson became noted as a preacher and controversialist against Arminianism.

Bradford, the historian of their colony and its Governor for eleven years, gives the chief reasons for their dispute in Holland and of their desire to remove to America.[3]

As to what particular place these Pilgrims should select for settlement in America, some were for Guiana, some for Virginia; but they at length obtained a patent from the second or Northern Virginia Company for a settlement on the northern part of their territory, which extended to the fortieth degree of North lat.i.tude--Hutchinson Bay. "The Dutch laboured to persuade them to go to the Hudson river, and settle under the West India Company; but they had not lost their affection for the English, and chose to be under their government and protection."[4]

Bancroft, after quoting the statement that "upon their talking of removing, sundry of the Dutch would have them go under them, and made them large offers," remarks: "But the Pilgrims were attached to their nationality as Englishmen, and to the language of their times. A secret but deeply-seated love of their country led them to the generous purpose of recovering the protection of England by enlarging her dominions. They were restless with the desire to live once more under the government of their native land."[5] It appears from Bradford's History, as well as from his Letter Book, and other narratives, that there were serious disputes and recriminations among the Pilgrim exiles and their friends in England, before matters could be arranged for their departure. But only "the minor part [of Robinson's congregation], with Mr. Brewster, their elder, resolved to enter upon this great work." They embarked at Delft Haven, a seaport town on the River Maeser, eight miles from Delft, fourteen miles from Leyden, and thirty-six miles from Amsterdam. The last port from which they sailed in England was Southampton; and after a tempestuous pa.s.sage of 65 days, in the _Mayflower_, of 181 tons, with 101 pa.s.sengers, they spied land, which proved to be Cape Cod--about 150 miles north of their intended place of destination. The pilot of the vessel had been there before and recognised the land as Cape Cod; "the which," says Bradford, "being made and certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful."[6] But though the Pilgrims were "not a little joyful" at safely reaching the American coast, and at a place so well known as Cape Cod; yet as that was not their intended place of settlement, they, without landing, put again to sea for Hudson river (New York), but were driven back by stress of weather, and, on account of the lateness of the season, determined not to venture out to sea again, but to seek a place of settlement within the harbour.

As the Pilgrims landed north of the limits of the Company from which they received their patent, and under which they expected to become a "body politic," it became to them "void and useless." This being known, some of the emigrants on board the _Mayflower_ began to make "mutinous speeches," saying that "when they came ash.o.r.e they would use their own liberty, for none had power to command them." Under these circ.u.mstances it was thought necessary to "begin with a combination, which might be as firm as any patent, and in some respects more so." Accordingly, an agreement was drawn up and signed in the cabin of the _Mayflower_ by forty-one male pa.s.sengers, who with their families const.i.tuted the whole colony of one hundred and one.[7] Having thus provided against disorder and faction, the Pilgrims proceeded to land, when, as Bradford says, they "fell upon their knees and blessed the G.o.d of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element."[8] Of the manner of their settlement, their exposures, sufferings, labours, successes, I leave the many ordinary histories to narrate, though they nearly all revel in the marvellous.[9]

I will therefore proceed to give a brief account of the Plymouth government in relation to religious liberty within its limits and loyalty to the Mother Country.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: From the nature of the facts and questions discussed, the following history is largely _doc.u.mentary_ rather than popular; and the work being an _historical argument_ rather than a popular narrative, will account for repet.i.tions in some chapters, that the vital facts of the whole argument may be kept as constantly as possible before the mind of the reader.]

[Footnote 2: Burke's (the celebrated Edmund) Account of European Settlements in America. Second Edition, London, 1758, Vol. II., p. 143.]

[Footnote 3: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, pp. 22-24.

Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Collection, 4th Series, Vol. III.]

[Footnote 4: History of Ma.s.sachusetts, Vol. I., pp. 11, 12.]

[Footnote 5: History of the United States, Vol. I., p. 304.]

[Footnote 6: Many American writers and orators represent the Pilgrims as first finding themselves on an unknown as well as inhospitable coast, amidst shoals and breakers, in danger of s.h.i.+pwreck and death. But this is all fancy; there is no foundation for it in the statement of Governor Bradford, who was one of the pa.s.sengers, and who says that they were "not a little joyful" when they found certainly that the land was Cape Cod; and afterwards, speaking of their coasting in the neighbourhood, Bradford says, "They hasted to a place that their pilot (one Willm.

Coppin, _who had been there before_) did a.s.sure them was a good harbour, which he had been in." (History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 86.) They did not even go ash.o.r.e on their first entrance into Cape Cod harbour; but, as Bradford says, "after some deliberation among themselves and with the master of the s.h.i.+p, they _tacked about_ and resolved to stand for the _southward, to find some place about Hudson river for their habitation_." (_Ib._, p. 117.) "After sailing southward half a day, they found themselves suddenly among shoals and breakers" (a ledge of rocks and shoals which are a terror to navigators to this day); and the wind s.h.i.+fting against them, they scud back to Cape Cod, and, as Bradford says, "thought themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night overtook them, and the next day they got into the Cape harbour, where they rode in safety. Being thus arrived in a good harbour, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the G.o.d of heaven,"

&c.

The selection, before leaving England, of the neighbourhood of the Hudson river as their location, showed a worldly sagacity not to be exceeded by any emigrants even of the present century. Bancroft designates it "the best position on the whole coast." (History of the United States, Vol. I., p. 209.)]

[Footnote 7: The agreement was as follows:--"In the name of G.o.d, Amen.

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of G.o.d, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., having undertaken, for the glory of G.o.d and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of [then called] Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of G.o.d and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furthermore of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, const.i.tute, and frame such just laws, ordinances, acts, const.i.tutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most mete and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the 18th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620." Mr. John Carver was chosen Governor for one year.

This simple and excellent instrument of union and government, suggested by apprehensions of disorder and anarchy, in the absence of a patent for common protection, has been magnified by some American writers into an almost supernatural display of wisdom and foresight, and even the resurrection of the rights of humanity. Bancroft says, "This was the birth of popular const.i.tutional liberty. The middle ages had been familiar with charters and const.i.tutions; but they had been merely compacts for immunities, partial enfranchis.e.m.e.nts, patents of n.o.bility, concessions of munic.i.p.al privileges, or the limitations of sovereign in favour of feudal inst.i.tutions. In the cabin of the _Mayflower_ humanity recorded its rights, and inst.i.tuted a government on the basis of 'equal laws' for the 'general good.'" (History of the United States, Vol. I, p.

310.)

Now, any reader of the agreement will see that it says not a word about "popular const.i.tutional liberty," much less of the "rights of humanity."

It was no Declaration of Independence. Its signers call themselves "loyal subjects of the King of England," and state one object of their emigration to be the "honour of our King and country." The Pilgrim Fathers did, in the course of time, establish a simple system of popular government; but from the written compact signed in the cabin of the _Mayflower_ any form of government might be developed. The good sense of the following remarks by Dr. Young, in his _Chronicles of the Pilgrims of Plymouth_, contrast favourably with the fanciful hyperboles of Bancroft: "It seems to me that a great deal more has been discovered in this doc.u.ment than the signers contemplated. It is evident that when they left Holland they expected to become a body politic, using among themselves civil government, and to choose their own rulers from among themselves. Their purpose in drawing up and signing this compact was simply, as they state, to restrain certain of their number who had manifested an unruly and factious disposition. This was the whole philosophy of the instrument, whatever may have since been discovered and deduced from it." (p. 120.)]

[Footnote 8: Bradford's History of the Plymouth Plantation, p. 78. "The 31st of December (1620) being Sabbath, they attended Divine service for the first time on sh.o.r.e, and named the place _Plymouth_, partly because this harbour was so called in Capt. John Smith's map, published three or four years before, and partly in remembrance of very kind treatment which they had received from the inhabitants of the last port of their native country from which they sailed." (Moore's Lives of the Governors of Plymouth, pp. 37, 38.)

The original Indian name of the place was _Accomack_; but at the time the Pilgrims settled there, an Indian informed them it was called _Patuxet_. Capt. John Smith's Description of New England was published in 1616. He says, "I took the description as well by map as writing, and called it New England." He dedicated his work to Prince Charles (afterwards King Charles II.), begging him to change the "barbarous names." In the list of names changed by Prince Charles, _Accomack_ (or Patuxet) was altered to _Plymouth_. Mr. Dermer, employed by Sir F.

Gorges and others for purposes of discovery and trade, visited this place about four months before the arrival of the Pilgrims, and significantly said, "I would that Plymouth [in England] had the like commodities. I would that the first plantation might here be seated if there come to the number of fifty persons or upward."]

[Footnote 9: See following Note:--

NOTE _on the Inflated American Accounts of the Voyage and Settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers_.--Everything relating to the character, voyage, and settlement of the Pilgrims in New England has been invested with the marvellous, if not supernatural, by most American writers. One of them says, "G.o.d not only sifted the three kingdoms to get the seed of this enterprise, but sifted that seed over again. Every person whom He would not have go at that time, to plant the first colony of New England, He sent back even from mid-ocean in the _Speedwell_." (Rev. Dr. Cheever's Journal of the Pilgrims.)

The simple fact was, that the _Mayflower_ could not carry any more pa.s.sengers than she brought, and therefore most of the pa.s.sengers of the _Speedwell_, which was a vessel of 50 tons and proved to be unseaworthy, were compelled to remain until the following year, and came over in the _Fortune_; and among these Robert Cushman, with his family, one of the most distinguished and honoured of the Pilgrim Fathers. And there was doubtless as good "seed" in "the three kingdoms" after this "sifting" of them for the New England enterprise as there was before.