BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF HISTORY AND
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE IN QUEEN'S
UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ONTARIO, CANADA.
NO. 28, JULY, 1918
SIR GEORGE ARTHUR AND HIS
ADMINISTRATION OF UPPER CANADA.
BY
WALTER SAGE
The Jackson Press, Kingston
SIR GEORGE ARTHUR AND HIS ADMINISTRATION OF UPPER CANADA.
The last Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada before theUnion of 1841 was Sir George Arthur. To most Canadiansof to-day he is little more than a name, but still he playedan important part in the stirring events of our political lifefourscore years ago. He lacked the picturesqueness of thatextraordinary personage, his predecessor in office, Sir FrancisBond Head, and he was overshadowed completely by both LordDurham to Poulett Thomson, better known as Lord Sydenham,who were in succession as Governors-General placed inauthority over him. None the less he lives in Canadian historyas the man who refused to reprieve Lount and Matthews, andwho made common cause with the Family Compact against theReformers. Although nominally he was Lieutenant-Governorof Upper Canada from his appointment in 1837 until the Actof Union went into force, his real term of office lasted only alittle more than a year and a half, from March 23rd, 1838,until November 22nd, 1839. After that time he was directlysubordinate to Sydenham. During that brief period SirGeorge Arthur proved himself an energetic if not alwaysmerciful governor.
It was unfortunate that Arthur come to Upper Canada ata time when Mackenzie's rebellion had just been crushed andwhen party feeling was still running very high. Sir FrancisBond Head left Toronto on the very day that Sir GeorgeArthur arrived and so the new Lieutenant-Governor wasunable to obtain much information from his predecessor. Thereis reason to believe, none the less, that Sir Francis put in agood word for his old friends the Family Compact and thatArthur from the beginning of his term of office favoured thatparty. In his first official despatch to Lord Glenelg datedMarch 29th, 1838, Sir George makes mention of the "largepreponderating party looking to the Executive Government toput down treason by energetic measures," as opposed to "theparty styling themselves Reformers" who were "hoping forthe most lenient course."[1] These phrases, written whenArthur had been only about a week in Upper Canada, stampthe new governor at once as an opponent of reform. Iffurther proof is needed it can readily be found in Arthur's replyto a congratulatory address from seven hundred and fiftycitizens of Toronto upon the occasion of his arrival in thatcity. In that address reference was made to the fact that "inthe promotion of public order, and the adoption of measuresfor the pacification of the country" Arthur would have "theprompt and energetic support of the loyal, patriotic andconstitutional reformers of the Province." In his reply SirGeorge Arthur regretted that "any portion of the inhabitantsof this city should have felt it necessary at the moment topresent themselves under the character of reformers, as adistinct class of the people of this Province." Such a statementwas not likely to secure for Sir George Arthur the whole-heartedsupport of all the well-disposed citizens of Toronto.The execution of Lount and Matthews further alienated themore moderate men in the Province.
When Sir Francis Head arrived in Toronto he was greetedby placards which designated him as "a Tried Reformer."[...