the tenth Earl of Dundonald, whose brilliant naval career is second only to that of Nelson, and who has been justly termed the greatest naval commander of the 19th century. His wonderful genius brought victory upon victory to the navies of Britain, Chili, Brazil and Greece, in all of which he held, at various times, the chief command. Admiral Sir John Duckworth, who, in 1799, with his single ship captured and brought to port eleven Spanish vessels laden with gold and silver, is commemorated in Duckworth Street. Kempenfeldt Street which is really a continuation of Dunlop Street to the east derives its name from the same sailor as our Bay. In Blake Street, we have the name of him, who divides with Nelson the honour of being the greatest of all British admirals, Admiral Robert Blake, whose success is without a parallel in naval warfare. Given command of the fleet by Cromwell, he sailed out against the Dutch who appeared in the Downs, with 45 ships of war under their great admiral, Van Tromp. Blake had only 20 ships of the line, but, by able seamanship defeated them. Next year (1653) Van Tromp wishing to retrieve his defeat appeared off the south coast of England with a fleet of 100 battleships. Blake put to sea with 70 vessels to meet him, and there was fought one of the greatest naval actions in the world's history, lasting three days, contested with the utmost courage and stubbornness by both sides but ending in a complete victory for Blake. Later on he waged incessant and equally successful war against the Spaniards, the inveterate enemies of Britain in those days. The sea is the element on which British glory has ever ridden in triumph and in Rodney and St. Vincent Streets we recall the brilliant genius of Admiral Rodney, who in the reign of George III swept almost from off the seas in succession the hostile fleets of Spain, France and Holland, and of Admiral Sir John Jarvis, Earl of St. Vincent, who utterly defeated a Spanish fleet of twice his strength, off Cape St. Vincent in 1797. The next street east on Blake Street is Cook Street, so named after the celebrated Captain Cook, R.N., explorer and navigator. In Codrington Street we have remembered Admiral Codrington, the hero of Navarino. In this, one of the great naval battles of the nineteenth century, Codrington with 24 ships under his command defeated more than twice that number and in fact utterly destroyed the entire combined navies of Turkey and Egypt. Napier Street is named for a famous British admiral, Sir Charles Napier. In 1807, Napier, then a junior captain, in his one little vessel captured three French men-of-war, one of which was of 74 guns. To this latter he was appointed captain and it became a British man-of-war. He served in the war of 1812-14, on the Atlantic Coast Squadron in 1813. In Vancouver Street and Puget Street, we have the names of two well known navigators and officers in the Royal Navy. In Monk Street, we have the name of Cromwell's greatest general, who was afterwards Admiral Monk, successfully filling the highest rank in both branches of the service. Collingwood Street, Nelson Street and Nelson Square, recall the greatest naval battle in the history of the world, the battle of Trafalgar, when the fleets of these two admirals destroyed the combined navies of France and Spain and thus gave to Britain the title of the Mistress of the Sea, which she still holds undisputed for more than a century. The history of both of these great seamen is so well known that we will not touch on any other of their great deeds. Three streets in the extreme eastern portion of the town are named after officers of the Royal Navy who lived in Barrie or its neighbourhood in its early days. Oliver Street, called after Captain Oliver, R.N., who first owned the Raikes' farm, and later the town plot of Barrie. Steele Street was named for Capt. Elmes Steele, R.N., who was member of Parliament for Simcoe County, 1841-44. O'Brien Street was named after Capt. Robt. O'Brien, R.N., afterwards Admiral O'Brien, who lived at Tollendal and owned a sawmill there about 1832. He left there about 1836, to rejoin the navy. Nor are Britain's Arctic explorers from the Royal Navy forgotten for in the east we have Parry Street, and Davis and Back Streets named after Captain Parry, Captain Davis and Lieutenant Back. In the west end we have Ross Street running from Bayfield Street westward. This street was one of the earliest named in the town, and so called from Sir John Ross, R.N., the Arctic explorer. Franklin Street (once called John St. West) was named in honour of the most celebrated of Arctic explorers, Sir John Franklin, R.N. Franklin passed through Barrie on his second Polar expedition in the spring of 1825. His party camped on the spot now covered by the King Block, near the G.T.R. Station, afterwards walking over the "Nine Mile Portage to the Nottawasaga River, &c. On this journey he was accompanied by Lieutenant Back R.N., above mentioned. Thus we have run over the names of about thirty-five of the streets of Barrie, telling for whom they were named and briefly stating something about each of these men. As I walk along our streets and see these illustrious names I always think very kindly of our unknown friend who so fittingly named them, for we must acknowledge that it was the British Navy that not only largely made the British Empire of to-day but also that the British Navy alone made such an Empire possible. And we all believe, as Alfred Austin writes:— "Across the trenches of the deep And Britain's stalwart sailors keep Though all the world together band Not all the legions of the land Can ever wrest from England's hand The sceptre of the sea." I think a fitting close to this article is found in a short poem printed in Blackwoods Magazine many years ago, as it expresses the feeling of every true Canadian and also brings in the names of many of our streets : "If e'er that dreadful hour should come-but God avert the day, "If ever other prince than ours wields sceptre o'er that main, "If ever other keel than ours triumphant plough that brine Where Rodney met the Count de Grasse and broke the Frenchman's line, And, oh, what agony it were when we should think on thee, I shall not name thine honoured name, but if the white-cliffed isle XVI. A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE REBELLION IN UPPER CANADA, 1837. BY THE LATE GEORGE COVENTRY, Esq., WITH NOTES BY THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, LLD., F.R.S.C., ETC., INTRODUCTION. The following History of the Rebellion of 1837 is from a manuscript left by the late George Coventry of Cobourg who died in 1870. The manuscript was procured for me through the kindness of Andrew J. Hewson, Esq., of Cobourg, who takes a deep interest in the early history of this Province. The style is reasonably clear, though affected; it displays the pen of a ready writer, which, indeed, Coventry was. I have added a number of notes to clear up and explain certain points, and I have been favoured with information by Mr. A. F. Hunter, Secretary of the Ontario Historical Society, which will be found at the proper places. Coventry's vituperation is characteristic of the language almost universally used by the Loyalists of the "Rebels." A somewhat diligent student of the constitutional history of our own and other English-speaking communities, I may be allowed to say that it is time such language should cease and Mackenzie recognized as an honest (if mistaken) lover of his country. No one, however, who knew Coventry will doubt his perfect sincerity. Osgoode Hall, September 29, 1919. GEORGE COVENTRY. William Renwick Riddell. George Coventry was born at Copenhagen Fields House, at Wandsworth Common, Surrey, July 28th, 1793, in the house "at the corner near the city road" and "within the sound of Bow Bells." His father was a ward of Baron Dimsdale, of Thetford, and was placed by his guardian with Jones, Havard & Jones, merchants, in London. His mother was Elizabeth Thornborrow, from Lupton Hall, Westmoreland, who was visiting Sir Joshua Reynolds, when she was won by Coventry. Coventry, Senior, afterwards was a member of the firm of Janson & Coventry, and seems to have been a man of considerable ability and literary tastes. The son had the misfortune in early life to lose his mother, who died of cancer when he was three years old. The lad was then placed in a Ladies' School, at Peckham, Surrey, kept by Mrs. Freith and her three daughters, one of whom the elder Coventry afterwards married. George Coventry was then sent to a Boys' Boarding School at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, kept by Mr. Blaxland, where he stayed for about three years. On the death of Mr. Blaxland, his undermaster, Mr. Payne, started a school near Epping Forest, which young Coventry attended until his fourteenth year, when he was sent to Dover, where he completed his education. He afterwards engaged as an employee in his father's firm, and in that capacity travelled over the greater part of Great Britain. He also visited France, where he thinks he saw at Fontainbleau some flowers, the offspring of certain plants which he had seen leaving Dover, a present from the Queen of England to the Empress Josephine. He came to Canada in the fourth decade of the 19th century, was an eye-witness of some of the occurrences of the rebellion of 1837, and returned to England in 1838. Returning to this Province he lived for a time in St. Catharinees; afterwards he was in Cobourg, then in Picton as editor of a paper there, then he returned to Cobourg, and made that his home for the remainder of his life. He died at Toronto, February 11, 1870, and was buried in the St. James' Cemetery, Cobourg. He left at his death a considerable mass of manuscripts, one being "A Concise History of the Late Rebellion in Upper Canada." Coventry also left a considerable mass of poetry, more or less good; amongst the manuscripts is one seemingly based on Chaucer, which purports to be a fishing and hunting party at Rice Lake; it brings in a great many persons who were well-known in Cobourg, Port Hope, and the township of Hamilton, and each one of these is made to tell a story. At the present day the stories are rather vapid and of little interest to anyone except those who were acquainted with the persons to whom they are attributed. (I knew most of them by sight and all by name.) He also left a manuscript, “Reminiscences," which contains an account of his life up to the end of the second decade of the last century. He gives an interesting story of John Wesley, and also the following: "I was at Vauxhall the night that George IV died. Everyone was in full black dress, which gave the Gardens a most remarkable appearance. Such a sight will never be seen again, for they are now abolished." Coventry was employed by the Government of Canada to collect material for the History of Canada, and it was through his efforts that the Simcoe Papers" were obtained. According to my recollection, Coventry was a man of fine presence and dignified bearing and with the courtesy of an English gentleman. Mr. A. F. Hunter has kindly furnished me with the following notes concerning Coventry. From the Biography of the Hon. Wm. Hamilton Merritt, M.P., by J. P. Merritt, St. Catharines, 1875, I glean these items regarding the life of George Coventry: P. 186. In 1838 Coventry assisted in the inspection of the Grand River with a view to the sale of the Welland Canal to the Government. P. 191. In 1838 he was clerk for Mr. Merritt in the milling business at St. Catharines, and late in the same year he visited his friends in England. P. 214. He was clerk on the Welland Canal in 1840. P. 252. Coventry drew up the memoirs of W. H. Merritt's father, Thos. Merritt, who died in 1842, to be deposited in the Archives of Upper Canada. P. 380. The Appendix to the Journal of the Assembly for 1851 has an 80-page history of the water communications of the country, nominally Merritt's, but probably Coventry's (at least partly). P. 398. A pamphlet of 48 pages--"Historical Record of the Welland Canal" (1852)-also probably Coventry's compilation, in part at least. P. 424. The Coventry documents in the Parliamentary Library at Ottawa contain 10,000 folio pages of manuscripts. It is interesting to note on the same page that W. H. Merritt, in 1858, interested himself in the historical material of Upper Canada, and in view of the work done by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1860 attended a meeting in Toronto to establish a Historical Society, probably the first serious attempt of the kind in Ontario. P. 429. When at Port Hope in 1862, W. H. Merritt visited Coventry there, or in the vicinity, by this time. |