By John Francis Maguire, 1868
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CHAPTER VI.
Upper Canada--Number of the Irish--How they came and settled, and how they got along; illustrated by the District of Peterborough--Difficulties and Hardships--Calumnies refuted--What the Settlers did in a few Months--Early Trials--Progress and Contrast -- Father Gordon--Church-building in the Forest--An early Settler--A Sad Accident--A Long Journey to Mass--A Story strange but true--The Last Grain of Tea--Father Gordon on the Irish and their Love of the Faith
THE Irish form fully half the population of what still, Confederation notwithstanding, may be designated as Upper Canada. Of these the Catholics may be said to be nearly one half. Fortunately for the Irish in Canada, they have generally adopted the kind of industry best suited to their knowledge and capacity, and do not, as it is too much the habit of their brethren in the States, crowd into the large towns, for which, by habit and education, they are not suited. They are scattered over the land in great numbers, either in settlements, in groups, or singly; but in whatever manner distributed over the face of the country, they are, as a rule, doing well. The Catholic Irish are in many instances to be found in almost exclusively Catholic settlements; but they are also to be met with in the midst of Scotch and English, and mixed up with their Protestant countrymen, who have mostly come from the north of Ireland. There are Catholic settlements of every date--from six, ten, and twenty years, to thirty and forty years, backwards--generally in a . flourishing condition, and in every one of which are to be seen extraordinary examples of courage, energy, and endurance, such as may well make an Irishman proud and hopeful of his race.
It would not serve any useful object were I to ask the reader to accompany me through various counties or townships of Canada; my purpose is rather, by the aid of an occasional sketch, to show how and in what manner the humbler and poorer Irish emigrants have succeeded in making a home for themselves in their adopted country. In order to appreciate what they have done, it is necessary to afford some idea of the difficulties that lay in their path. That they have succeeded in rendering themselves independent, and in laying the foundation of a prosperous future for their descendants, is undoubtedly true; but we may profitably glance at the past, to see how all this has been accomplished. I prefer rather to deal with those who came out poor, without capital, depending for their daily bread on the labour of their hands, than with those who, emigrating under more favourable circumstances, were never called on for the display of the qualities essential to the rude pioneer, whose chief capital consisted in a strong arm, a keen axe, and a bold heart. I cannot better commence than with a brief sketch of the settlement of one of the most prosperous districts in Canada--Peterborough.
In the year 1825, now forty-two years since, a considerable number of emigrants, consisting of 415 families, or 2,000 individuals, sailed from Cork Harbour on their way to Canada, where, under the auspices of the Government, they were to establish a home for themselves in what was then a forest wilderness, the abiding place of the wolf and the bear. These 2,000 people were all from the south of Ireland, genuine Irish in birth and blood. Let us follow the footsteps of those humble people, and learn how they battled with the difficulties of a new and trying position, and what they accomplished for themselves and the country of their adoption.
The voyage across the Atlantic was wonderfully prosperous. Heaven seemed to smile upon the poor exiles, and give them courage for what they had soon to meet. In a few weeks after their arrival at Quebec, they were found encamped on the shores of Lake Ontario, near Cobourg, waiting for means of transport to their intended settlement, in what is now the rich and fertile county of Peterborough, then mostly a verdant wilderness. These people were the pioneers of civilisation, for their future home was fully forty miles distant from the frontier settlement of that day. There was not then even the semblance of a track through the wooded country which they had to traverse, and a kind of road had to be cut from Lake Ontario to Rice Lake, a distance of twelve miles through the tangled forest. Rice Lake had then to be crossed, and the rapid and turgid Otanabee, for the distance of twenty-five miles, was to be ascended by this little army of settlers.
In order to cross the lake and ascend the river, three boats were constructed, and propelled on wheels over the rough track from the one lake to the other; but when this part of the difficulty was got over, and the baggage and provisions were brought so far in safety, it was found that, owing to the dryness of the season, and the consequent shallowness of the waters of the Otanabee, it was impossible to proceed without additional means of transport; so a great boat of light draught, sixty feet in length, by eight feet in width, had to be at once constructed, and with the aid of stout rowers, frequently relieving each other, this vessel was steered through the rapids, and got somehow over the shallows. After difficulties and hardships enough to fill the poor adventurers with despair--which difficulties and hardships were aggravated by fever and ague, that alike unsparingly attacked the robust and the delicate, the strong on whom the weak relied, and the weak who were thus rendered still more helpless--they arrived at what is now known as one of the most beautiful and prosperous towns in Canada, and was then but a trackless wilderness. Those who arrived first commenced immediately to put up rude huts, or wigwams, made of great strips of bark, branches of trees, and sods; and as batch after batch of emigrants arrived, after successfully passing the rapids and shallows of the river, the landing-place presented an animated appearance, which gave some idea of a new home to the exiles, and cheered their drooping spirits. Here they remained encamped until they proceeded to settle on the lands in the neighbourhood. The proportion of land granted to each family of five persons was 100 acres; but each grown-up son was also allowed the same quantity for himself. Soon the temporary huts made their appearance here and there in groups, as the attractions of friendship or acquaintance induced families to seek each other's neighbourhood, or as greater facilities for shelter or comfort suggested; and it was not long before this Irish camp assumed the air of a place of business.
The novelty of the present and the uncertainty of the future must have deeply impressed the most thoughtful and observant of the settlers; but that which gave them the greatest uneasiness was the absence of a spiritual director and comforter--of the priest, to whose guidance and ministrations they had all their lives been accustomed. They embraced the first opportunity of appealing to the Governor-General of the Province to supply this great want; and in their memorial, which is touching in its simple earnestness, they display their traditional love of education and devotion to their faith. They say: `Please your Excellency, we labour under a heavy grievance, which we confidently hope your Excel-lency will redress, and then we will be completely happy, viz. the want of clergymen to administer to us the comforts of our Holy Religion, and good schoolmasters to instruct our children.' What a comment is this on a comical absurdity which I heard uttered in no less important a place than the House of Commons--that the Irish were rushing to America in order to get rid of their priests!
Calumny and slander had followed these poor exiles across the ocean, and tracked them to their new home in the wilderness. When first the people in the frontier settlement--for the most part immigrants themselves, or the sons of immigrants from the United States, who refused to abandon their allegiance to the British Crown at the time of the American Revolution--heard of the arrival of these 2,000 `Irish Papists' in the neighbourhood, they became alarmed for their property, and even for their personal safety. This alarm and prejudice were caused by stories circulated by those who, unhappily, had brought the old unnatural hatred with them to a new country. However, such was the order maintained in the colony, and such the excellent conduct of the settlers, that it became quickly apparent that these stories were false and unfounded. A person then residing near the colony bears testimony to their industry, energy, and good conduct, in a letter dated January 1826, a few months after their arrival. The letter is written to a friend:--
I am here in the very midst of them; from twenty to thirty pass my door almost daily. I visit the camp frequently, and converse with them on their affairs, and find them happy and contented. In general, they are making great exertions in clearing land, and their efforts have astonished many of the old settlers. Not one complaint has been made against them by any of the old settlers, and it is the general opinion that when so large a body of people are brought together none could conduct themselves better. When we heard of their coming amongst us, we did not like the idea, and immediately began to think it necessary to put bolts and bars on our doors and windows. All these fears are vanished. These fears, I must acknowledge, were in consequence of stories that were put in circulation before their arrival in that part, which have all turned out to be equally false.
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