Читать книгу The Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Canada and Ontario, 1792-1899 - D. B. Read - Страница 12
ОглавлениеTHE HONORABLE PETER RUSSELL, PRESIDENT.
Mr. Russell, who succeeded Governor Simcoe as Administrator, was of the Irish branch of the family of Russell, of which the Duke of Bedford was the head, and therefore connected with one of the most aristocratic families of England. Lord John Russell, Premier of Britain in after years, was of that family.
Peter Russell, son of Captain Richard Russell, formerly of the 14th Regiment of Foot, according to his own statement, had the misfortune to be descended from ancestors who, studying only to enjoy the present, never thought of making provision for the future. He was educated for the Church, but, as he says, imprudently chose to follow the profession of his father, and entered the army under the patronage of General Henry Braddock and Lord Albemarle. After two years' service as ensign—without pay—he purchased a lieutenancy of a man three months after he was dead, according to the peculiar system of purchase then existing, and ultimately, after twenty-six years of service in all parts of the world, attained a captaincy. He was soon after received into the family of Sir Henry Clinton as one of his secretaries, acting in that capacity to the end of Sir Henry's command during the Revolutionary War. Previously to coming to America with Sir Henry, in 1772, he sold his company in the 64th Regiment. He made this sacrifice for the best of motives—to raise money to relieve his then aged father of a load of debt and to make some provision, in case of his fall, for his sister, Elizabeth, to whom he was devotedly attached. The close of the Revolutionary War found him back in England without employment, and we find him in 1789 applying to Clinton for influence to obtain the command of Landguard Fort. In this project he failed, but soon after he succeeded in obtaining a position under Major-General Simcoe, then appointed to the Government of Upper Canada, and came with him to this country as his Inspector-General in 1792.
There was no other person in the Province at the time of Governor Simcoe's surrender of the government on whom his mantle could so suitably have fallen as on the Honorable Peter Russell. He came over from England with Governor Simcoe as Inspector-General of the Province, and had an intimate acquaintance with the plans and designs of the first Governor. Hence he knew of Major-General Simcoe's determination to fix the permanent capital of the Province at York, although Simcoe's Chief Justice, Elmsley, strongly protested against the seat of government being established there; alleging as his reason, not only that he would be unable to get a jury in York to fill up the complement of his court, but because there was no accommodation in the embryo capital for the members of parliament. Both these reasons failed to satisfy Governor Simcoe, and evidently had no weight with Mr. Russell who succeeded him in the administration of affairs.
Mr. Russell, immediately on Governor Simcoe selecting York (the present city of Toronto) for his future capital, left Niagara, visited Toronto, and built for himself a house near the bay shore on Palace Street, at the foot of Prince's, now called Princess Street. Early in 1797 this house was destroyed by fire, when Mr. Russell built a house on the same site, generally known as "Russell Abbey." This was a frame structure, not extraordinarily large—in fact, a rather small house of one storey, with a main body and two wings. It would not pass at the present day as a house of any great pretensions, but in the days of President Russell it was, no doubt, one of the mansions of the western colony, and worthy of its somewhat imposing name. This house, the residence of the President, was afterwards sometimes called the "Palace." This may have been because of its being situated on Palace Street, or because of its being opposite the new Parliament Buildings; or it may have been so called by reason of its being the residence of the Governor; or, more probably because it was for some time the residence of Bishop Macdonnell. Be that as it may, the mansion served for many years to house the chief executive officer of the Province, who never took unto himself a wife, and was content to pass his days in this small but convenient building.
President Russell was not a man of a grasping nature, although circumstances which occurred during his administration, and the gossip of the time which has been carried down to us as history, would almost make one believe that he was a land speculator or land jobber in a high place. The wags of the day and those who were jealous of his acquisition of large tracts of land used to make fun of the conveyance of those lands or land grants as made by Peter Russell to Peter Russell—"I, Peter Russell, grant to you, Peter Russell," etc.
It was looked on as a good joke on the President, and afforded no end of amusement to certain individuals in York who were very glad to have a thrust at any one in authority. The trouble was that these grants were necessarily made in this form owing to the position Mr. Russell held, that of Governor or acting Governor and grantee at the same time. The British Government authorized the President to grant six thousand acres of Crown lands to each of the members of the Executive Council, and its president had no alternative but to put his name to the grant to himself as well as to those to the other members of the Executive Council of the Government.
Mr. Russell was what might be called an Irish gentleman of the old school, and to maintain his dignity sought to make himself proprietor of a considerable estate. No doubt in his view no Irish gentleman should be without large landed estates. His opportunities were great, and he in fact did become a large landowner. But there was nothing in his acts in acquiring these acres which in any way reflected upon his character as a public man. The Crown lands were at that time wild forest lands of little value. His ambition was to be considered a large landed proprietor, but far from the land being of any profit to himself, those at least outside of the limits of York, were rather an encumbrance. On his death his real estate in the Province passed to his sister, Miss Elizabeth Russell, as his heiress-at-law, who had lived with him in his house at the foot of Prince's Street. Miss Russell was a very charitable lady, with a large Irish heart, and was greatly esteemed by all who knew her. She survived her brother many years, and died in Russell Abbey.
As soon as installed in the office of administrator of the Province, the President set about making preparations for calling together the second Parliament of the Province at York, in accordance with instructions which Major-General Simcoe had given to that end. In accordance with these instructions the Parliament met at York, the new capital, on the first day of June, 1797. This was the first session of Parliament of the Province convened in York, the sessions of the previous parliaments and the first session of the second having been held at Niagara.
The buildings in which Parliament met were two modest one-storey 40 × 25 frame buildings, at the foot of Berkeley Street, one for the Assembly and the other for the Legislative Council. These buildings were one hundred feet apart; they were projected in 1794, and proceeded with and finished in the period intervening between Governor Simcoe's departure from the Province in 1796 and the assembling of Parliament in 1797. Many Acts of Parliament were passed during the three years of the administration of the Honorable Peter Russell, well calculated to solidify the structure of government commenced under the paternal care of Governor Simcoe. It was President Russell's plan to follow in the footsteps of Simcoe in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the Province. Hence we have Acts of Parliament passed during his administration to "secure the Province against the King's enemies;" "for securing titles to land in the Province;" "for regulating the militia of the Province;" Acts relating to the division of the Province into counties; the education and support of orphan children; and the further introduction of the Criminal Law of England.
There were other Acts not less important, though of a local character, all tending to develop the resources of a new country and to heighten the energies of its people.
President Russell, familiar with the policy of the British Government in its treatment of the Indians, was ever watchful of their interests. On one occasion, when the Indians complained to him that depredations had been committed by some lawless persons on their fishing places and burial grounds, he speedily issued a proclamation announcing that such practices must cease, or the parties offending should be prosecuted with the utmost severity and a proper example made of them.
Some writer has imputed it as a fault in the Honorable President that he owned and sold slaves. This arises from an advertisement which appeared in the Gazette and Oracle newspaper in February, 1806, in which His Honor offered for sale "a black woman named Peggy, aged 40, and a black boy, her son, aged 15." What had been imputed as a fault was no fault at all, as those slaves were brought with him when coming to the Province, and were as much his property as any other property owned by him.
The Act of the Parliament of the Province passed on the 9th of July, 1793, did not absolutely abolish slavery in the Province; it only made illegal the future importation of slaves and declared the emancipation of those then held at a certain period. The second section of the Act of 1793 provided that "nothing in the Act contained should extend or be construed to extend to liberate any negro or other person subject to slave service, or to discharge them or any of them from the possession of the owner thereof who shall have come or been brought into this Province in conformity to the conditions prescribed by any authority for that purpose exercised, or by any ordinance or law of the Province of Quebec, or by proclamation of any of His Majesty's governors of the said province for the time being, or of any Act of Parliament of Great Britain, or shall have otherwise come into the possession of any person by gift, bequest or bona fide purchase before the passing of this Act, whose property therein is hereby confirmed."
Not only was the President not violating any law existing at that time in the transaction of the sale of his negro slaves, but if his advertisement received a response and an actual sale made, it can in no way be made to sully his fame as administrator, as the sale, if made, was not till several years after he had ceased to be administrator of the Province.
Mr. Russell remained in office as administrator till the arrival of Governor Hunter, in 1799, when he handed over the government to that gentleman. The Honorable President's name is perpetuated in Toronto by more than one landmark. Russell Square, on which old Upper Canada College was built, owes its name to President Russell. Russell Hill, in North Toronto, was named after him and given that name in memory of the Russell Hill estate in Ireland, which was the name of the estate of the Irish branch of the family. Peter Street, Toronto, is named after President Peter Russell. Russell Abbey is no more; like most of the first buildings in York and Toronto, its perishable frame walls were doomed to submit to the inevitable hand of time. It was a notable building in its day, and the residence of the President of the Council was a centre of attraction to visitors to York. Mr. Russell occupied the Abbey till the time of his death on the 30th September, 1808.
There was great intimacy in the days of President Russell between himself and his sister and Dr. William Warren Baldwin and his family, who were connected with the Russell family by marriage.
After Mr. Russell's death Mr. Baldwin occupied Russell Abbey for a time, and on the death of Miss Russell, in 1821, he and his family, under the will of that lady, became beneficiaries of what had been the Canadian estate of Administrator Russell, or so much of it as remained undisposed of at her death. This bequest of Miss Russell's has always been supposed to have laid the foundation of the fortune of the Baldwin family.
Mr. President Russell was buried with military honors, and was followed to the grave by many sincere mourners, the principal of whom was Francis Gore, at that time Governor of the Province.
