TENANTS AND TROOPERS

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land farmers took matters into their own Poor Doucette . . . his sooty forge shall never again . . . resound to the music of the hammer By Peter McGuigan hands, dismissing traditional associa- and the anvil These harmonious sounds will tions with Liberals or Conservatives. never more... gladden the wife's heart; and the The germ of a new movement was helpless family, within whose circle peace and planted in local meetings such as that plenty once reigned, will be cast upon the cold In 1767, 66 of the Island's 67 townships charity of the world. had been lotteried to people with claims held in the small schoolhouse at Stur- Charlottetown Herald, on the Crown's largess. For various geon, Lot 61, during Christmas 1863, 31 January 1866 reasons — some valid, some not—most and the Tenant League of Prince Edward had failed to develop their properties or Island was formally constituted in f all the protests against the in- live up to the terms of their grants. By Charlottetown during the spring of 1864. Ojustices created by Prince Edward 1860, much of the colony was still held by Its members pledged to withhold their Island's notorious "Land Question" "proprietors" and occupied by tenant rent and to support others who refused duringthe colonial period, none was more farmers. Although by now the whole to pay. Local committees would also be radical than the Tenant League during leasehold system was widely condemned, formed to negotiate "fair" purchase prices the mid-1860s. Frustrated by the inability numerous expedients had failed to pry with individual proprietors. Significantly, — or unwillingness — of officialdom to the land from the landlords' grasp. in an era of bitter religious and ethnic force large-scale proprietors to dispose of During the 1830s and '40s, while "Es- divisions, the League exhorted that their holdings to the tenantry, thousands cheat" supporters argued that proprie- "Scotchmen, Englishmen, Irishmen and of Islanders embarked on an organized tors should forfeit their land to the gov- Frenchmen be one on this question." campaign of civil disobedience. Almost ernment for re-sale to the tenantry, there The League had some initial success in inevitably, passive resistance turned to had been widespread resistance to rent purchasing land from the more liberal bloodshed in a series of incidents that collection in some parts of the colony. landlords, and, encouraged by these vic- reached their climax with farmers from Escheat ultimately failed, but, of course, tories, the movement swept the colony the Hazel Grove Road in the summer and the Land Question persisted. Punitive like wildfire. By the end of the year, it fall of 1865. taxation could not goad proprietors to had a reported 11,000 members. sell out. Voluntary land purchase acts could not force them out. A royal com- The Question of Land mission in 1860 could not persuade the Hazel Grove British authorities to buy them out. An By 1864, when the Tenant League was overseas delegation in 1863-64 could not The Hazel Grove Road was the shortest formally constituted, the Land Question negotiate them out. Disenchanted with and least hilly route between New had been festering for almost a century. failed political solutions, disgruntled Is- Glasgow and the main, or Princetown,

22 <4 A traveller halts his horse and buggy secondly that the present union of tenants want of sufficient food to sustain them along an Island road in this ca.-1860s is the only scheme yet adopted, likely to through our long winters." During the photograph from theDu Vernet Album. relieve usfrom proprietary tyranny, [so] 1875 land commission hearings, Hazel we will join the Union and from Grove physician John MacKay would tes- henceforth pay no rent or arrears of rent tify that the soil in the area was not only road. Its route crossed the divide between light and stony, but also that the land was Lots 22 and 23 and, generally speaking, until the present agitated land question be settled on just and equitable terms." "remarkably hilly." The Irish in Millvale, separated the Irish Catholics to the west he added, faced even worse conditions. from the British Protestants to the east. The meeting then adjourned with the For such people, the Tenant League's By mid-1865, two branches of the traditional three cheers for Her Majesty. promised solution to the Land Question Tenant League had been established in The families from this area in north- must have held a powerful attraction. the area of Hazel Grove Road, one at west Queen's County had, perhaps, more New Glasgow and another northwest of reason than most for joining the move- Hazel Grove in Lot 21. At the founding of ment. Recently, some of them had been The Gathering Storm this latter group, the following resolu- served with writs by their proprietors, tion was passed: including Sir Samuel Cunard (Lot 21), As the Tenant League became strong, but particularly the Hon. Laurence Whereas no government of this Colony the Island government grew worried. By Sullivan (Lot 22), and the executors of the committing themselves to withhold rent, has yet done anything calculated to Rennie Estate (Lot 23). Their land was relieve the tenantry from the leasehold the estimated 11,000 Tenant Leaguers also poor. In his 1861 census report, Lot had agreed to break the law. And while system under which we are groaning 22 resident Jeremiah Simpson stated that and whereas the Tenant Union seems the movement's leaders, people such as the Scots at the rear of the township George F. Adams of Vernon River, were to have the good of the Colony at heart, seemed to lack agricultural skills, had "Therefore be it Resolved, First that committed to passive resistance, the but small farms, and lost "very consider- membership gradually moved from something must be done to extirpate able numbers of cattle and sheep ... for from our land the leasehold system, and words to blows.

The area around Hazel Grove in 1859. The Hazel Grove Road branches off to the right just before the Old Princetown Road reaches BagnalVs Inn on its way west.

23 On 17 March 1865, Deputy Sheriff Chief Justice Robert Hodgson (1798- James Curtis foolishly tried to arrest 1880), a former land agent, administered Sam Fletcher, a tenant farmer from the colony during the absence ofLieutenant Alberry Plains, for arrears of rent as he Governor Dundas in the second half of marched in a large demonstration by 1865. Knighted in 1869, Hodgson became Tenant League supporters. In the ensu- the Island's first native-born lieutenant ing melee, Fletcher escaped, and a farci- governor in 1874. cal attempt by a large posse comitatus of local citizens three weeks later ended in muddy failure.* Then, in late May, John and a very loud commotion about a mile Archibald Macdonald of Glenaladale, Lot away across the New Glasgow River. 36 (grandson of the redoubtable Captain Curious, Dickieson decided to find its John MacDonald) had two of his barns source. After a hard ride, he caught up to burned after successfully serving writs the posse and its unwanted escort near against known Tenant Leaguers in his Wheatley River, where h e found his neigh- area. A substantial £500 reward was of- bours and friends "wildly protesting" at fered, but there were no takers. Curtis's seizure of Proctor's property. The mood in the countryside dark- Shortly afterwards, as the group ened as the cold, rainy summer came on, reached Crooked Creek, James Proctor and in July, there was a bloody confron- arrived on the scene with another of tation between the League and the law. Charles' brothers, Andrew. According The incident occurred at Milton Bridge, to Curtis, Proctor requested that he be about nine kilometres west of Charlotte- allowed to offer security in exchange for town. Escorted by his bailiffs—Jonathan sented later in court, Curtis at once or- the return of his property. The deputy Collings, Henry Chowan, and Henry dered Collings to "make no answer or sheriff agreed, but rejected Andrew Swan — Deputy Sheriff James Curtis reply," and the lawmen were able to cross Dickieson as co-signer, accepting instead left his home in Lower Milton on the the bridge, still followed closely by the Proctor's alternative, Wheatley River morning of 18 July. He carried writs crowd of Leaguers, who were yelling and merchant Alexander MacMillan, who "against the goods" of James Proctor, blowing their trumpets. was not present. Proctor pledged to bring who lived on the Hazel Grove Road and Charles Dickieson's version, as MacMillan to Curtis' home the next day. * "against the body" of Charles Dickieson passed down in his family, is quite differ- At this point, the confrontation ap- of New Glasgow, both for arrears of rent. ent. He emphatically denied that he was peared to end. The Tenant Leaguers left While travelling up the Hazel Grove Road at the New Glasgow bridge that day. He the half-deafened lawmen at the old from the Princetown Road, the posse was, he said, at his brother James's farm, Rustico Road, and Curtis and company was spotted by a local resident, John quarrying stone, when he heard horns proceeded to Milton, where they en- MacLean, who began wildly blowing on joyed "ten minutes of refreshments" at a tin trumpet or horn, the League's trade- the Curtisdale Hotel. As they emerged, mark. Curtis later testified that he "at however, eight or ten men galloped past once suspected that MacLean was giv- and blocked the bridge in the hollow ing some signal and this suspicion was with a horse and cart. Several times, confirmed by hearing the signal an- Curtis later claimed, he rode down and swered from farm to farm. demanded passage, but they refused Undeterred, the lawmen pressed on. unless he released Proctor's goods. Arriving at Proctor's home, they found When the deputy sheriff attempted to only his wife, Ellen (Welsh), at home. move the blockade, he was subjected to, After waiting "for a length of time," Curtis in Collings' words, "a murderous attack." seized a horse and wagon as well as a Someone, later identified as Charles saddle and harness. The foursome then Dickieson, threw a stone that left Curtis's drove toward the New Glasgow bridge, face covered with blood. Another man, where they discovered about 20 horse- later identified as blacksmith Joseph men blocking their path and blowing their Doucette, then smashed the deputy with horns, with reinforcements "coming in and joining them every moment." There was a verbal confrontation between Bail- *In later testimony, Curtis and Collings differed on several minor points. Collings maintained that iff Collings and an unknown farmer (later Proctor offered Charles, not Andrew, Dickieson as identified by the lawmen as Charles his guarantor. Curtis also swore that, after Proctor Dickieson). According to evidence pre- had successfully negotiated the return of his property, Charles Dickieson rode by, screaming, "You buggers, I will see that you shall take bail!" Collings, on theother hand, testified thatDickieson rode past the posse without bothering to speak to *Ian Ross Robertson recounts this famous incident Lt. Gov. George Dundas warned tenants them, and hurled his abuse from inside the gate of in Number 24 (Fall-Winter 1988). against resistance, but when the crisis "an Acadian's" farm. came he was absent.

24 a fence rail, breaking his arm. Collings to do with Dickieson. "It was obviously joiced — but only temporarily. Sheriff (by his own account) leaped from Proc- necessary," the Island's Administrator, Dodd immediately stepped forward and tor's wagon and grappled with the stone- Robert Hodgson, wrote his English su- re-arrested Dickieson on the original thrower, but while he was thus occu- perior, Edward Cardwell, on 2 Au- charge of not paying his arrears of rent! pied, the Leaguers "liberated" Proctor's gust, "in order t o prevent Dickiesonfrom Dickieson's return to the jail was quite unguarded belongings/When one of being brought up by a Writ of habeas differentfromhiscomingfromit. Pressed them advanced on Collings to free corpus and immediately discharged, that on all sides by an enraged and, evidently, Dickieson, the bailiff opened the side of he should be taken before the magis- liquor-fueled mob, the constables the Leaguer's face with his gun butt. As trate on the 25 July." However, Queen's wielded their billy sticks with crushing the enraged mob prepared to rush him, County Sheriff Thomas Dodd was con- effect. At least one shot rang out, appar- Collings cocked his pistol and threat- cerned about a possible rescue attempt ently an accidental discharge from one ened to shoot the first man who came while the prisoner was being transferred of the special constables' pistols. De- near. This "seemed to frighten them," from the jail to the courthouse. He asked spite this use offeree, the escort barely and they retreated as the bailiffs loaded for 25 special constables armed with managed to get Dickieson back to his Curtis and their prisoner (who had suf- truncheons and pistols; however, in cell; 50 more yards, Dodd later claimed, fered a split lip during his arrest) into the agreeing to arm the constables, the gov- and he would have lost the prisoner. Deputy Sheriffs wagon. ernment cautioned Dodd to "exercise The role of the Tenant League leader- At this point, the lawmen finally dis- the utmost forbearance in case of their ship during this altercation provided covered that their prisoner was actually being attacked." another point of debate between John Charles Dickieson, one of the two men Ross and Edward Whelan. Whelan they had set out that day to serve writs claimed in the Examiner that "one, at against. Curtis berated him as a fool who least, of the leading members of the had begun with a £37 warrant on his League . . . wildly vociferated, 'Rescue body and now was in very serious trou- him, rescue him.'" Ross's Weekly coun- ble. With that, the New Glasgow farmer tered that several members of the Ten- was taken off to jail in Charlottetown. •;' ant League actually were "endeavoring in every possible way to quietthe excited feelings of the people." Ross even His Day in Court complimented Sheriff Dodd for his for- bearance. The Tenant League's semiofficial organ, Two weeks later, Ross took the offen- Ross's Weekly, was not amused with the sive, dismissing the whole episode as a rank and file's reported behaviour. In "pretended assault," and defending the 27 July issue, publisher John Ross Dickieson's earlier actions. Not only did stated, "We cannot believe that [the] Dickieson believe that he had the right general public will hold the Union in any to make Curtis take bail, but also, his way responsible for the proceedings of. community had offered the Rennie Es- . . Dickieson." While admitting that he tate 15 shillings per acre for the pur- had only heard the official version of the chase of their farms.* story, Ross held Dickieson "highly to blame" and threatened to withdraw his patronage from the League if it in any The Military Solution way supported such actions. Sheriff Thomas Dodd inherited the In the same issue, Ross began a de- thankless task of enforcing property rights Immediately after the Milton riot, Dodd bate with Edward Whelan, the Liberal in the Island countryside. had advised his superiors that, "I am publisher of the Examiner, by repeating completely powerless to execute any rumours that Dickieson was in "one of Early on the morning of the trial, "num- writs placed in my hands." The riot at the lowest dungeons" of the local jail, bers of persons known to be connected Charlottetown finally convinced the and that no one was allowed to visit him with the Tenant League" began filtering Island government to act. On 1 August under any circumstances. Writing four into the sleepy little capital. By early after- 1865, the Executive Council unanimously days later, Whelan retorted that he had noon, a crowd of 250 to 300 people (the agreed to request that British Army visited this "lowest dungeon" and found government later estimated the crowd at regulars be sent from Halifax to restore it to be a "spacious room, well ventilated 1,000) had lined the streets leading from order.** Five days later, two companies and fairly lighted," where visitors had the jail on Pownal Square to the court- of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the free access to the prisoners, eight hav- room in the City Hall on Queen Square. ing been received in the last few days. The crowd followed along after Whelan, still smarting from the Tenant Dickieson and his escort and waited out- *The average rent per 100 acres was £5-10 per League's rejection of his political party, side while he had his day in court. After a annum at this time. (There were 20 shillings in a sarcastically described Dickieson and hearing lasting about two hours, his bail pound.) another Tenant League prisoner a s "plain was set at £400. This amount, which was **The Island's British garrison had been farmers, of just about average intelli- far beyond the means of an average permanently withdrawn during the Crimean War a gence for their class, with none to spare." farmer, was speedily produced and decade earlier. The authorities now considered what Dickieson was set free. The prisoner re-

25 16th Bedfordshire Regiment of Foot — much hesitation and reluctance," now resistance from club-swinging Acadians, 129 officers and men — landed from the seemed unsure what to do with his sol- and they had already captured Doucette steamer Merlin at Charlottetown amid diers now that he had them. He claimed and slipped away before the Tenant great excitement. For the time being, that the troops' mere presence in the League horsemen came thundering to they took up quarters near the city pump colony would be enough to cow the the rescue. on Spring Park Road, but later that fall League; but, learning of the spate of On 2 October, the action finally shifted work would begin on a more permanent desertions, the British commander in to Hazel Grove itself. Deputy Sheriff barracks on Brighton Road. Halifax, Major General Sir Charles Hast- Curtis, now evidently recovered from ings Doyle, soon demanded that the Is- his beating at Milton, set out to serve a land government either use the regulars large number of writs in Lots 21 and 22. to enforce the law or see them recalled. Accompanying him were Bailiffs Jonathan Collings, Andrew Cranston, and Montague Irving. After travelling to Into the Countryside the junction of the Princetown and East Line Roads, Curtis and Cranston rode As the troops marked time in Char- south along the latter towards Jewell's lottetown and Hodgson dithered, Mills, carrying writs against John unwilling to release the hounds into the Stevenson, Alexander MacLeod, Alex- countryside, the legal authorities went ander McKenzie, and Donald McGregor about their business. On 18 July, Sheriff at the suit of their landlord, Laurence Thomas Dodd set out to capture the Sullivan. Soon the lawmen were har- This brick powder magazine, just inside Acadian accused of breaking his deputy's assed by a crowd of about 25 men, in- the entrance to the modern-day Brighton arm. Knowing that he would get no help cluding, they later claimed, James and Compound, was erected in 1866 as part of in Joseph Doucette's community of John Devine, William Jewell, John the newly constructed Victoria Barracks. Oyster Bed Bridge, he took nine bailiffs McLeod, and one "McLellan." Curtis and It is now a National Historic Site. with him. his men pressed on, but a kilometre Dodd's posse left Charlottetown on further, they were forced back b y a stone- the night of 13 August in order to take throwing mob of 60 Tenant League sym- The Tenant League leaders had as- Doucette by surprise at dawn. To protect pathizers. sured supporters no troops would be him, the League had stationed guards Rejoined by Collings and Irving at called in. Though proven wrong, they near his farm, but they had fallen asleep the Princetown Road, the group retreated remained defiant, and soon began a cam- and the posse was able to reach to Richard Bagnall's inn at Hazel Grove, paign aimed at inducing soldiers to Doucette's place before the horns started apparently for a shot of courage, before desert. Desertion had always been a their desperate cry from farm to farm. setting off for Fredericton to see one chronic problem in the British Army, Dodd's men broke into the house and George Coles (not the Liberal leader). and the Leaguers enjoyed initial suc- forced their way upstairs against fierce The reason for the visit was never made cess. By 20 September, 17 men, 13 of them natives of Ireland, had slipped away. The authorities quickly struck back, and a number of the deserters were soon captured, along with several men ac- cused of abetting them. One of them, Donald MacLeod, who seems to have been from Lot 22, was spotted driving a drunken soldier along, of all places, Spring Park Road, (after being deliber- ately misdirected by a "young and very intelligent" woman, Miss Ellen Duffy). MacLeod had enticed the young soldier, Private Glynn, with a chance to hide safely 30 kilometres out in the country- side, and had promised to bring him to Thomas Goodman, who had been the second soldier t o desert. Just a s MacLeod was about to reveal the location of four other absconders, he was taken. In Sep- tember he was sentenced to six months hard labour. The following month, the spate of desertions petered out as fresh The Hazel Grove Inn as it appeared around the turn of the century. Originally called the troops from a less "Irish" regiment were Halfway House, it was established by Richard Bagnall in 1813 along a wilderness stretch brought in from New Brunswick. of the old Princetown Road from Charlottetown to Malpeque. A small pumphouse is Meanwhile, Hodgson, who had em- attached to one end of the building; the bar room was in the cellar. The inn closed during barked on this "extreme course with the 1870s after the coming of the railway diverted traffic.

26 clear, but again they were given a noisy Peters then resumed his journey, but escort, this time by a crowd of some 200 "had not proceeded twenty yards when a opponents. tremendous noise of trumpets again took The posse's version of events went place; and for a mile along the road I met something like this. As they passed parties on horseback, blowing trumpets James Pound's clearing, he was seen to and riding furiously toward Bagnall's." be wielding a stick. Curtis called out in After Peters' departure, Curtis tried the Queen's name for him to help dis- to take his posse to Millvale via Saint perse the mob. Pound dropped his Patricks, but was blocked at the end of weapon and seemed ready to obey, when the Hazel Grove Road by the Tenant Alexander Bovyer, the schoolteacher at Leaguers. Challenged to state his busi- Hazel Grove, grabbed him and ordered ness, the Deputy protested that he was instead that the farmer start blowing his not going after rent, but, of course, was trumpet. Tension mounted as Curtis re- not believed, and a hail of stones fol- peatedly ordered the crowd to disperse. lowed. This time, one Edmund Crabb, "Little" John MacLeod fired a shot from "who seemed to have a lot to say," (ac- a fowling piece, but before Collings could cording to the lawmen), was accused of seize it, the gun was passed out of his inciting the crowd, while James reach. Someone added a little levity to an MacDonald allegedly threatened Curtis' otherwise grim situation by yelling that life. Finally, Curtis turned to his chief he would send the deputy to hell, where bailiff and said, "Come, Collings, we must he would have a bigger crowd to deal return home for we cannot go along." with! These men would later be charged The posse was then escorted (or was it with obstructing justice, although their chased?) for several kilometres until it Judge James Horsfield Peters (1811-91), cases were eventually dropped. was well out of the area. who lectured the mob at Bagnall's, first When Curtis and his men finally gained notoriety in the 1840s as an reached Coles' farm, the Deputy Sheriff exacting land agent for his father-in-law, forced his way through the crowd to the The Force of Law Samuel Cunard. house. But after only a few minutes, he rejoined the posse, which then returned Upon reaching St. Eleanors, Peters con- to Bagnall's Inn — although not without tacted Hodgson, warning him that if (where he claimed to have been "selling incident. According to the lawmen's tes- officers were not given sufficient power, prayer beads to Presbyterians"), a plot timony, James Haley rode up alongside "the lawless spiritwhich appears at present was hatched. Bailiff Irving and blew a horn in the confined to certain districts will soon A short time later, as Sheriff Dodd startled lawman's ear, while George extend through the whole country, then returned to Bagnall's in company with Stevenson, as well as William MacLeod, only to be suppressed by a loss of life soldiers of the 16th Regiment, he spotted incited the crowd. Schoolmaster Bovyer which makes me shudder to contemplate." a man he identified as Red Hugh. As the allegedly tried to conceal two large stones Peters' admonition finally moved soldiers closed in, McKennabolted across in his pockets (presumably for the pur- Hodgson to action. On 7 October, in the autumn fields towards the woods, but pose of throwing them), but retreated to what the Colonial Office called "the first stumbled and fell and so was taken. As the rear of the crowd when Bailiff Collings display of any spirit or energy in the the prisoner was helped from the stub- threatened to "bring him to book" for his Administrator," he dispatched William ble, Dodd noticed that the man was laugh- actions. Swabey, a justice of the peace from Mount ing so hard that tears were running down Inside the relative safety of Bagnall's Stewart, to Hazel Grove, escorted by his cheeks. It was, of course, Red John he Inn the posse dined, while outside the several law officers — and 25 soldiers had captured. The soldiers held back a noisy crowd surged about the building, and their officers. The men were sta- snicker as the sheriff withdrew, muster- blowing their horns, yelling threats, and tioned in Richard Bagnall's barn (much ing all possible dignity. generally terrifying the innkeeper's to his alarm), while the officers enjoyed This adventure aside, the Tenant guests. At this point, Justice James H. the comforts of his inn. The soldiers League did quickly collapse once the Peters of the Supreme Court of Prince then accompanied the civil officers as troops were sent into the countryside. Edward Island happened by, accompa- they served writs and made arrests. The As Administrator Hodgson put it, "Al- nied by the rest of his court, on his way to effect was devastating; several men ap- though displaying a very angry and hos- a sitting in St. Eleanors. As the justices parently surrendered even before the tile spirit, there was no attempt to resist approached the crowd, Peters wrote, military arrived. the sheriff supported as he was by the someone called, "Clear the way and let The appearance of the troops was not military." Other forays were made in the man pass as this one was [sic] not quite so devastating for "Red" Hugh succeeding weeks, leading to further Curtis." Instead, Peters stopped his wagon McKenna of the Old Town Road. Ac- arrests in Lot 65 and Lot 37. and, standing on it, lectured the mob on cording to a story handed down in the the illegality of its acts. The people appar- Bagnall family, McKenna had been hid- ently listened respectfully. When Curtis ing out in the woods for some time, Denouement approached the judge and told him he unable to take part in the annual harvest was noting the names of the demonstra- at Bagnall's farm. But when his brother, The tenant trials thatfollowed in January tors, he was encouraged to continue. "Red" John, arrived from Nova Scotia 1866 were, at best, a mixed success for

27 Though its surroundings still recalled the days of the Tenant League, the Hazel Grove Inn had vanished by 1917. All that remains of Richard BagnalVs hostelry in this photograph is the small wellhouse in the middle distance. The inn's large barn still stands across the road in the V between the old Princetown Road and the Malpeque Road.

unproven claims concerning the Tenant League, and the Colonial Office Records (CO/226, Vol. 100-102) contains some of the official correspondence regarding the issue. The Proceedings before the Commissioners established under the Land Purchase Act of 1875 was also useful. The reader may wish to consult the author's 'The Lot 61 Irish: Settlement the authorities. All the men from Lot 22 Now that the refractory core had been and Stabilization," in The AbegweitReview had their initial indictments quashed, reached, the hammer to smash it was (Spring 1988) for information on the when defence lawyers raised the also at hand. When the Island joined formation of the Tenant League. possibility of bias in the selection of Confederation in July 1873, an $800,000 The returns from Lots 21,22,23, and jurors, at least one of whom was a land loan to buy out the last of the proprietors 24 in the census of 1861 were helpful in agentforthe accused's proprietors. Their was part of the union pact. Compulsory locating many of the participants in the cases were eventually dropped. Three land purchase legislation soon followed disturbances, as was the Lake Map Lot 23 men, Charles Dickieson, Joseph and the notorious Land Question was (1863), and Meacham's Atlas (1880). Doucette, and Peter Gallant, were finally laid to rest. The local press contributed both cov- charged for assault on a sheriff in the With the proprietors dismissed from erage of events and strong opinions course of his duties, but a sympathetic the stage, it was time for the now-free concerning the land problem. Various jury found grounds only for common farmers to return to the struggle of wrest- issues of the Examiner, the Herald, the assault. Considering the crime, they were ing a living from an unforgiving land. Islander, and Ross's Weekly for the 1865- given what was generally regarded as Never again would there be excitement 67 period were consulted, as well as the very stiff sentences. Dickieson received to equal the summer of 1865. A certain Royal Gazette for 1 August and 20 Sep- 18 months, Doucette 24, and Gallant 12 stillness settled almost permanently over tember. for their parts in the affair at Milton. the Lot 22-23 border. At least two accounts telling of Ten- However, the prisoners were not aban- Stories of the Tenant League were ant League activities in the Hazel Grove doned to their fate. A colony-wide petition passed down through various families, Road area have been handed down in the was mounted in their favour, and the Ro- but today, little memory of those times Bagnall and Dickieson families. A short man Catholic pastor at Rustico, Rev. remains. Hardly anyone in the Hunter essay, 'The Red Fox," by Margaret Ruth Georges-Antoine Belcourt, made several River-Hazel Grove area seems to remem- Bagnall, was published in Historic Side- visits to the lieutenant governor to plead ber how their ancestors defied an unjust lights of Prince Edward Island in 1956, their case. In August, with an election ap- law, and influenced the destruction of and Mrs. Ethel M. Bagnall recounted for proaching, the Conservative government the proprietorial system. Hopefully, this the author a story told her several times released the three men. If the move was article will re-awaken interest among by her grandfather, Charles Dickieson. calculated to win votes, it failed to work in the descendants. A broader, not particularly objective Lot 22, where pro-tenant Liberals took account of the Tenant League was writ- 90% of the poll. In the rest of the colony, its ten by John Ross, former publisher of handling of the Land Question was one of Sources Ross's Weekly, and appeared serially in the issues that defeated the incumbent The Prince Edward Island Magazine be- Tories and brought in the Liberals. Newspapers and official documents tween October 1899 and March 1900. A Convinced, perhaps, by the Tenant provided most of the sources used in more objective analysis of the Tenant League's excesses, the proprietors (now writing this article. Among these were League is Ian Ross Robertson's "Politi- mostly resident) began to see the impos- the Supreme Court Minute Book for cal Realignment in Pre-Confederation sibility of holding out against the popular Queen's County for the period covering Prince Edward Island, 1863-1870," in will. The dispersal of estates really started the Trinity Term in autumn 1865 to the Acadiensis, 15(Autumn 1985) 1. Foravery when the greatest holding, the huge Cu- Hilary Term in June 1867; the Supreme strong, anti-Tenant League view, the nard estate, was sold following Sir Samuel Court Case Papers for the same period; reader may consultFenianisnt, Irish Land Cunard's death in January 1866. Within and the Legislative Assembly Journals Leaguers and Communism, privately pub- five years, only 25% of the Island remained for 1866 (Appendix G) and 1867 lished in Charlottetown by "a native of "unliberated," and most of that percent- (Appendix K). The Legislative Assembly Prince Edward Island" in 1881. iai age was held by non-resident owners. Debates for 1866 include a host of

28