Opposition to the Founding of the Elgin Settlement

OPPOSITION TO THE FOUNDING OF THE ELGIN SETTLEMENT WILLI/• H. Pr, xs•./•r• J/•g H. P•./•sg N 1829 t,,he Ohio Black Code,,,inoperative formany years, was revived.If theactisenforced, commented a Cincinnati Negro, "we,the poorsons of Aethiopia, musttakeshelterwherewe can find it.... If we cannotfind it in America,where we were born and spentall our days,we mustbegit elsewhere. "• The plightof the northernfree Negrowasthusepitomized; and, particularlyafter 1850, noNegro feltfree,nofreedman safe, untilhehadescaped the reach oftheFugitive Slave Law.Just howmanyAmerican Negroes fledtheirmasters in theSouthortheiroppressors in theNorthisnot known, butbetween twentyandfortythousand ofthemturned their faces towardCanada, thesymbol andrealityofalongsought release frombondage anddiscrimination. Upper Canada,or CanadaWest, to which nearly all of these refugees went,wasindeeda placeof freedom. UnliketheNegroin thenorthern UnitedStates, the Negroin Canadaknewthat thelaw rigorously protectedhim in that freedom,and the veryfoundingof the Elgin andsimilarsettlements testified to the fact that, by and large,the Negro'sfaith in the provincewas not misplaced. The problem,however,involvedmorethansimplelegalisms andsettlements ;for evensomeCanadians responded to the presence of the Negromuchasdidresidents oftheNorthern UnitedStates. Thestream of Negroimmigration, especially to western areas of upper Canada,createdinevitableopposition. Commenting on a groupof Cincinnatirefugees of 1830,the AfricanRepository-with perhaps somesmallaxeto grindfor Africancolonization-observed that "theyarealreadyviewedasunwelcome intruders, andneither the Government, thepeople,northe climateof Canada,arefavourabletotheirwishes ?AndtheHouseofAssembly ofUpperCanada, thoughremarking thatit wishedto helpthe fugitive,observed that "yet,the sudden introduction of a mass of BlackPopulation, likely to continue withoutlimitation,isa mattersodangerous to thepeace andcomfortof the inhabitants, that it nowbecomes necessary to preventor check,by someprudentrestrictions, this threatened •Cincinnati Advertiser, March27, 1829,quotedin RichardC. Wade,"The Negro in Cincinnati,1800-1880,"Iournal of NegroHistory,XXXIX (Jan., 1954), 48-57. •African Repository, VI (March,1880),27-8. 202 Vol.XXXVIII, no.3, Sept., 1957 OPPOSITION TO THE ELGIN SETTLEMENT 205 evil? In the mid-1830's, the inhabitantsof the WesternDistrict of theprovince petitioned the government to retaintheAmherstburg garrison because of"theCivilauthority oftheFrontierpartsof the District being insufficient incase ofanemergency tocontrol thevery numerous & troublesome blackpopulation daily cominginto the District from the SlaveStates,& who are of the mostdepraved& reckless description generally speaking; andwhoarealmost daily violating thelaws &even threatened toputcivilauthority at defiance ?In 1840themagistrates of theWestern Districtthemselves appealed tOthegovernment that"some legislative check mightbe placed upontherapidimportation ofthisunfortunate race,such as haveof late inundatedthisdevotedsectionof the province, to the greatdetriment totheclaims ofthepoorEmigrant fromthemother country uponourconsideration? Whethersuchanti-Negro expressions weretheproductof genuine racial prejudicein Canadaor whetherthey mirrored,in part, a naturaltendency to transferto a minoritygroupunrestengendered byunconnected domestic problems, thefactremains thattherewas noticeable anti-Negro feeling.In the caseof the foundingof the Elginor BuxtonSettlement, in 1849,that sentiment, the productof several factors, wasespecially marked. The Elgin Settlement was the mostcarefullyplannedand the mosthighlyorganized of anyof theNegrocommunities established in UpperCanada.The settlement itselfwasorganized anddirected by theReverend WilliamKing,a formerslaveowner anda minister oftheFreePresbyterian Church, andby a corporation knownasthe Elgin Association. The aim of the settlement, asKing himselfexpressed it, was"toplacethem[Negroes] onland [,] givethem aninterest in thesoil,andprovidethemwith a Christian education? A mission for the settlement,calledthe BuxtonMission,was sponsored directly by theFreePresbyterian Churchof Canada. Sohigh a degreeof organization, togetherwith the fact that the sponsors weremostly whiteCanadians, mightdoubtless createconsiderable antipathy among rank-and-file citizens whofelt themselves affected. Andto givetheirantipathy direction, these citizens hadastheir SQuoted inibid.,28-9. 4Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa.UpperCanadaStatePapers, Q 887 Pt. II, 314-15. This anti-Negro petitionwasintroduced apparently despitethe fact that therewereNegroes serving at the same timein Canadian armedforces. 5Quoted in Thomas Rolph,Emigration and Colonization: Embodying the Results o[ a Mission to GreatBritainandIreland,Duringthe Years1839, 1840, 1841,and 1842 (London, 1844), 313-14. 6P.A.C.,KingPapers, WilliamKingto Clerkof the Toronto Presbytery, June21, 1848. 204 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW unofficialspokesman an especiallyvocal and vitriolic crusader, Edwin Larwill, residentof Chatham,local official,and memberof theprovincial legislature. Thepublicorganization oftheElginexperiment didnotactually beginuntilthespringof 1849,although Kingwasseeking landfor it in 1848. Anopenmeeting heldat Toronto in Marchappointed a committee of leadingTorontocitizensto assist him in his undertaking .Thenexttwoandahalfmonths KingtouredUpperCanada, selling hisideaandobtaining promises of financial support. Having "succeeded in obtainingthe subscription of stockto the amount needed," theofficers calleda stock-holders' meeting in Toronto for June 1,"toorganize the[Elgin] Association. "7Bythemiddle ofJuly thesiteforthesettlement hadbeendecided upon,and,onOctober 22,1849, theElginAssociation bought itsfirstblock ofland-4,$00 acres inRaleigh Township. BytheendofNovember orthebeginning ofDecember thefirstsettlers hadmoved intotheElginSettlement; and,ninemonths later,onAugust10, 1850,the ElginAssociation was formally incorporated asastock company byactoftheCanadian legislature. The barechronology of settlement, however,overlooks...