526 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



Among the aphorisms given is this one: ''Issuers of paper-change, are entitled to thanks 

 from the Public for the great accommodation such change affords. They might render the 

 accommodation more extensive were they to emit a proportionate number of half-penny bills.'' 

 At one place the query is put, " When will the beard be worn, and man allowed to appear with 

 it in native dignity ? And if so, how long before it will become fashionable to have it greased 

 and powdered?" In the almanac for 1815, towards the end, the following paragraph appears : 

 "York supernatural prices current: Turnips 1 dollar per bushel : Potatoes long at 2 ditto: 

 Salt 20 ditto : Butter per lb. 1 ditto : Indifterent bread 1 shilling N. Y. cy. per lb. : Conscience 

 a contraband article." 



In Bennett's time the Government press was, as we have seen, set up in Mr. Cameron's 

 house on King Street. But at the period of the war in 1812 Mr. Cameron's printing oface was 

 in a building which still exists, viz., the residence of Mr. A. Mercer on Bay Street. During the 

 occupancy of York by the United States force, the press was broken up and the type dispersed. 

 In the possession of Mr. Mercer may still be seen a portion of the press which on that occasion 

 was made useless. For a short period Mr. Mercer himself had charge of the publication of the 

 York Gazette. 



In 1817 Dr. Home became the editor and publisher. On coming into his hands the paper 

 resumed the name of Upper Canada Gazette, but the old secondary title of American Oracle was 

 tlropped. To the official portion of the paper, there was nevertheless still appended abstracts 

 of news from the United States and Europe, summaries of the proceedings in the Parliaments 

 of Upper and Lower Canada, and much well-selected miscellaneous matter. The shape con- 

 tinued to be that of a small folio, and the terms were four dollars per annum in advance ; and 

 if sent by mail, four dollars and a half. 



XXIX.— QUEEN STREET, DIGRESSION AT CAROLINE STREET : HISTORY OP THE 

 EARLY PRESS CONTINUED. 



In 1821 Mr. Charles Pothergill (of whom we have already spoken) became the Editor and 

 Publisher fof the Gazette. Mr. Fothergill revived the practice of having a secondary title, 

 title, which was now The Weekly Register ; a singular choice, by the way, that being very nearly 

 the name of Cobbett's celebrated democratic publication in London. After Mr. Fothergill came 

 Mr. Robert Stanton, who changed the name of the private portion of the Gazette slieet, styling 

 it " The U. E. Loyalist." 



About the year 1820 Mr. John Carey established the Observer, a folio of a very rustic, unkempt 

 aspect, the paper and typography and matter being all somewhat inferior. It gave in its 

 adherence to the government of the day, generally : at a later period it wavered. Mr. Carey 

 was a tall, portly personage who, from his bearing and costume might readily have been mis- 

 taken for a non-conformist minister of local importance. The Observer existed down to about 

 the year 1830. Between the Weekly Register and the Observer the usual journalistic feud made 

 its appearance, which so often renders rival village newspapers ridiculous. "With the Register 



a favorite sobriquet for the Observer is " Mother C y." Once a correspondent is permitted 



to style it " The Political Weathercock and Slang Gazetteer." Mr. Carey ended his days in 

 Springfield on the River Credit, where he possessed property. 



The Canadian Fretman, established in 1825 by Mr. Francis Collins was a sheet remark- 

 able for the neatness of its arrangement and execution, and also for the talent exhibited 

 in its editorials. The type was evidently new and carefully handled. Mr. Collins was his own 

 principal compositor. He is said to have transferred to type many of his editorials without the 

 intervention of pen and paper, composing directly from copy mentally furnished. Mr. Collins 

 was a man of pronounced Celtic feature?, roughish in outline, and plentifuUy garnished with 

 hair of a sandy or reddish hue. Notwithstanding the colorless character of tlie motto at the 

 head of its columns " Est natura hominum uovitatis avida"— " Human nature is food of news," 

 the Freeman was a strong party paper. The hard measure dealt out to him in 1828 at the 

 hands of the legal authorities, according to the prevailing spirit of the day, with the revenge 

 that he was moved to take— and to take successfully— we shall not here detail. Mr. Collins 

 died of cholera in the year 1834. We have understood that he was once employed in the office 

 of the Gazette ; and that when Dr. Home resigned, he was an applicant for the position of 



