A while back I was quite dismissive of Canada's Prime Ministers. Stories like this is why.People are lead to forget that this nation was built by ordinary people like ourselves, and credit to these navies and others that came before and after them is pointedly forgotten.
The story alluded to the 1837 rebellion in both Upper and Lower Canada. It should be noted that there was a law and order hysteria for years afterwards, where even verbal criticism of the government of the day could land one in jail.
I ran into this while doing a bit of research on a part of London that included the Pond Mills cemetary. One of the early settlers in Pond Mills spent some time behind bars for uttering a criticism of the government, circa 1840.
This tory riegn of terror wasn't fully arrested until Lord Elgin arrived to examine the situation and instituted reforms, which I believe didn't happen until the 1850's.
The savagery of those putting down the strike could likely be traced back to this hysteria, and also the ubiquitous anti-Irish bigotry of the day.
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posted 14 June 2003 02:14 PM
