

CANADA. 



at the head of the armed riti/.e.ns. Twenty-five 

 of the rebels were killed, while not a loyalist was 

 even wounded. Mackenzie fled to the town of 

 Buffalo, nnd excited considerable eiithusiiisin in his 

 cause. With a small body he took possession of 

 Navy island, situated on the Niagara, where he was 

 joined by volunteers, many of whom belonged to 

 the United States, till the number of his force 

 amounted to about a thousand. The island was 

 fortified with thirteen pieces of cannon, and Van 

 Ransselaer, Sutherland, and others acquainted 

 with military service, took command in the arma- 

 ment. A small steamer, called the Caroline, was 

 employed by the insurgents in conveying troops 

 iiinl stores from the American shore to Navy 

 1-i.iiul. Captain Drew, under instructions from 

 Colonel M'Nab, resolved to attack her. She was 

 accordingly, on the 28th Dec. 1837, boarded by 

 the British, while lying on the American side of 

 the river, seized, set on fire, and committed to the 

 rapids, which soon hurried her down, a flaming 

 mass, over the falls of Niagara. It was alleged by 

 the Americans, that several citizens were involved 

 in her destruction, but the British assert, that all 

 on board, who had not been killed in the ren- 

 contre, were first put on shore before she was 

 set adrift. A heavy cannonade was afterwards 

 opened upon Navy Island, by two companies of 

 regulars, with a train of artillery who had arrived 

 from Lower Canada, and the insurgents were 

 obliged to evacuate it on the 14th Jan. 1838. 

 Sutherland, with a party of fugitives, hastened to 

 the extreme west. On the 3d of March an en- 

 gagement took place between her majesty's troops 

 and the insurgents on Point Pele island, within 

 forty miles of the western extremity of the lake 

 Erie, near the western boundary of the British 

 possessions. This island was occupied by the 

 insurgents in great force, when Colonel Maitland 

 marched against it on the night of the 2nd, with 

 some companies of the 32d and 83d regiments, 

 two six pounders, and some volunteer cavalry. 

 The march was made over the ice of the lake, and 

 at daybreak the insurgents were attacked. As 

 the island is about seven miles long, and covered 

 with thicket, the action assumed the character of 

 bush fighting ; but the enemy ultimately were 

 driven to flight, leaving among their dead Colonel 

 Bradley, the commander in chief, Major Howd- 

 ley, and Captain Van Ransselaer and M'Keon. 

 Sutherland was taken prisoner. Most of the 

 killed and wounded turned out to be citizens of 

 the United States. Twenty-eight men of the 

 32d regiment were wounded, and two killed. 



Meanwhile the British government considered 

 it indispensable, for the present, to suspend the 

 constitution of Lower Canada ; and the Earl of 

 Durham was solicited and prevailed upon to under- 

 take its government, as well as that of all British 

 America. He was empowered to form a sort 

 of representative council, composed of members 

 from each province, but to use them merely as ad- 

 visers, and to call and dismiss them at pleasure. 

 He arrived at Quebec on the 27th May, 1838. 

 Four days after, a band of pirates from the United 

 States and refugee Canadian rebels, seized upon 

 and burned the Sir Robert Peel steamer, lying 

 peaceably at anchor in the river St Lawrence or j 

 Lake Erie, at a distance of seven miles from ' 

 French Creek. Lord Durham, in his progress 

 through the Canadas, was received cordially by 

 all parties. Generals Sutherland and Theller, ! 



Colonel Dodge, and seven other state prisoners, 

 were sent to England. Wolf red Neilson, Bou- 

 chatte, Viger, and others of some distinction, were 

 detained at Montreal by Sir John Colborne, on 

 the charge of high treason; but as an impartial 

 jury could not be counted on for their trial, and as 

 lord Durham's object was not to rekindle party 

 animosities, he ordered the prisoners, on confes- 

 sion of their guilt, to be deported to Bermuda, 

 under penalty of death should they return. The 

 same penalty was to be incurred by Papineau 

 and others who had absconded, should they be 

 found at large within the province. This ordin- 

 ance was brought before the house of peers by 

 lord Brougham, who made a motion, declaring it 

 to be illegal, as condemning to death without trial, 

 and to transportation to a colony not within the 

 jurisdiction of the governor, but, at the same time, 

 under the peculiar circumstances of the case, pro- 

 posing an act of indemnity. This motion was 

 carried against ministers; and, having consulted 

 the law officers of the crown, they annulled the 

 ordinance, but at the same time conveyed to lord 

 Durham expressions of their general approbation 

 of his measures and of their continued confidence 

 in his administration. Lord Durham, on hearing 

 of his implied condemnation by the act of in- 

 demnity, declared his intention to resign and re- 

 turn immediately to England. The news reached 

 Quebec on the 20th of Sept., and on Saturday the 

 22d his lordship publicly announced his purpose 

 to resign, to the delegates from the provinces of 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward 

 island whom he had invited to Quebec for consulta- 

 tion on the project of a union of the five provinces. 

 He did not even wait for the official accounts, 

 nor for her majesty's permission to resign, but con- 

 sulting his own hurt feelings rather than the pub- 

 lic service, he at once broke up his administra- 

 tion, and on the 1st Nov. set sail for England, 

 reaching Plymouth on the 26th. Lord Brougham 

 was burned in effigy in the presence of an im- 

 mense concourse of citizens at Quebec, but be- 

 yond this ceremony, no violence was committed. 



Two days after Lord Durham's departure, an at- 

 tempt was made to seize and burn the steamer Vic- 

 toria, which had carried some artillery for Montreal. 

 The-vessel escaped, but the rebels possessed them- 

 selves of the town of Laprairie without opposition, 

 and compelled the inhabitants to leave it. On the 

 following day, they attacked the village of Beau- 

 harnois, and after a sharp conflict obtained posses- 

 sion of it. They captured Mr Edward Ellice, M.P. 

 and several others, whom they sent to Chateauquay, 

 but who were afterwards set at liberty. They 

 established their head quarters at Napierville, and 

 their force amounted at one time to the number of 

 8000 men, generally well armed. They spent 

 successive days at this town in the indulgence of 

 the wildest excess. Martial law was proclaimed 

 by Sir John Colbourne on the 4th Nov. 1838, and 

 on the same day a tribe of Coughnawagas Indians 

 attacked and defeated a numerous body of rebels, 

 making 75 of them prisoners. On the 8th, colonel 

 Taylor and a body of British settlers defeated at 

 Odellton a large body of rebels on their way to 

 join the main body at Napierville. On the 9th 

 the rebels broke up from Napierville, and on the 

 10th and ifth Beauharuois and Laprairie were re- 

 taken. Sir John Colbourne concentrated his 

 troops on the 12th at Napierville and Chateauquay, 

 and executed, according to the Montreal journals, 



