Part 7 (1/2)

To His Excellency, Sir George Arthur, K.C.H., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, etc.

The Pet.i.tion of the McNab Sheweth:

That since it appears to your Pet.i.tioner there are some difficulties entertained by Your Excellency and the Executive Council as to granting him a Trust-Deed for enforcing the terms of his agreement with his settlers for the present, and duly appreciating the motives, he humbly hopes there can be no objection to ordering him his patent-deed, for the Five-thousand acres granted this Pet.i.tioner originally for settling the Towns.h.i.+p. And your Pet.i.tioner shall ever pray, etc.

(Signed) ARCH. McNAB.

Toronto, June 28th, 1838.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, 29th June, '38.

Referred to the consideration of the Honorable, the Executive Council.

By Command, (Signed) JOHN MacAULAY.

IN COUNCIL, 29th June, 1838.

Recommended the Patent issue for 5,000 acres, free of expense.

(Signed) R. B. SULLIVAN, P.C.

(Signed) GEORGE ARTHUR.

GOV'T HOUSE, 7th July, 1838.

Referred to the Surveyor-General to report thereon for the information of the Honorable, the Executive Council.

By Command, JOHN MacAULAY.

[COPY.]

The lots selected by the Laird of McNab to cover his grant of 5,000 acres made to him in Council, 29th June last, are princ.i.p.ally those lots located in the names of his followers. I was therefore under the necessity of withholding the description until the pleasure of Your Excellency could be had thereon.

(Signed) J. RADENHURST.

Sur.-General's Office, 20th July, '38.

IN COUNCIL, 11th Oct., 1838.

The Council cannot recommend a location to the Laird of McNab of lands located to his settlers.

(Signed) R. B SULLIVAN.

(Signed) G. A.

This was a wholesome scheme of vengeance as flagitious and vindictive as it was heartless and unprincipled. The Laird had, when marking out the lots to be patented to him, inserted in the diagram of the Towns.h.i.+p that some of the original locatees were dead; others had fled to the United States; and others again had abandoned their lots and gone to reside in a neighboring county; and he was believed. The nefarious intrigue was frustrated by a mere accident. The hand of Providence had interfered to save the poor and oppressed settlers from utter ruin. Mr. T. M.

Radenhurst, of Perth, was in Toronto on the 12th July, 1838, attending to some law business, when in a casual conversation with his brother, Mr. J. Radenhurst, of the Surveyor-General's office, the affairs of the Towns.h.i.+p of McNab came upon the carpet, and Mr. T. Radenhurst informed his brother that the settlers represented as dead and absconded were living upon the lands located to them by the Chief, and for which lots he had applied to be covered by his patent. Immediately upon hearing this intelligence, Mr. J. Radenhurst forwarded to the Lieut.-Governor the remonstrance dated the 13th of July, 1838. All further action in the matter was stayed until inquiries should be made.

In August of the same year Lord Durham appointed a commission to investigate the affairs of the towns.h.i.+p. It sat in Toronto. Not a single settler was examined. The archives of the Crown Lands Department were alone searched into. Discrepancies were discovered between the original a.s.signment of the towns.h.i.+p for settlement and the manner in which McNab had carried on the business of his agency. The Chief was condemned. The Commission recommended the immediate deprivation from the Chief of all further power, and that the original grant should be carried out in all its integrity. That these settlers who came to the country at their own expense should receive their lands free, and that those brought out by the Laird should pay for their lands at a valuation, and the proceeds be handed over to the Chief. This report was made in October. Immediately upon its substance being communicated to the Government of Upper Canada, the order for the patent to the Chief on the located lands (that is the lots of the settlers), was rescinded, as appears by the Hon. R. B.