The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
Last week’s column ended with the victory of Charles Allan by a majority of 198 over James Webster in the Wellington North election of December 1857. This week the story continues.
After the voting on Dec. 23 and 24, unofficial results began to circulate around the riding, but the results would not be declared official until the returning officer went over the returns and declared a winner. He scheduled that for the afternoon of Dec. 29.
In the meantime, Charles Allan put on a dinner for his campaign workers, key supporters, businessmen and important local political figures of every stripe.
Although the notice was short, 157 accepted the invitation to sit at the tables in Elora’s Commercial Hotel on Dec. 27.
Allan himself occupied the chair, and proposed the first toast to the Queen. Clearly, he was delighted with his victory and expenses seemed not to matter. He had even hired the Elora Band to provide music. Though he had been campaigning hard and his health was not the best, his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Allan had been both embarrassed and alarmed by the rowdyism and violence of the campaign, and in his speech he tried to defuse the extreme polarization that had characterized recent weeks. He told those present that he intended to follow no strict party line in the legislature, and would consider each piece of legislation on its own merits.
The results from across the Province of Canada indicated that John A. Macdonald’s coalition had been re-elected, though with a reduced majority. Liberals and radical Clear Grits had done well in Canada West, but the conservatives enjoyed gains in Canada East.
Still, the situation was not clear. Party loyalties of several members were uncertain, and electoral fraud had been rampant. The newspapers in the riding – the conservative Fergus Constitution and the Clear Grit Elora Backwoodsman – had no intention of picking up Allan’s conciliatory position. The Fergus paper hinted at further violence, and the Backwoodsman cranked up its anti-Catholic rhetoric, claiming that Webster’s supporters were “leagued with the Romish hierarchy and doing the Pope’s work,” and that in Garafraxa, where electoral violence had been particularly rampant, Webster “had received the vote of every rowdy in the township.”
Two days after Allan’s banquet, everyone headed for Fergus for the official declaration of the winner. As they had on nomination day, Allan’s supporters paraded to Fergus, and marched around the streets.
Prior to the official announcement by returning officer H.W. Peterson, a group of Webster’s supporters filed an official protest, claiming Allan’s victory had been effected through bribery, corrupt polling clerks and intimidation. The objection would be considered by a committee of the legislature.
The proceedings got under way with Peterson’s declaration of the winner. Combining sarcasm and irony, he complimented the electors on their gentlemanly conduct during the voting.
Allan was the first of the candidates to speak. In contrast to his appearance at the banquet, he seemed ill and shaky that afternoon. In his brief remarks he said he was willing to forget all the ill will and disagreeable incidents of the campaign.
James Webster followed Allan. He told the crowd that the recent election was his last attempt at public office. He had been appalled at some of the incidents of the election, and distanced himself from his most rabid supporters. He concluded by leading the crowd in three cheers for Allan.
A rumour circulated that Webster was opposed to the official protest. Fuller accounts of some of the election day incidents surfaced over the next couple of weeks. A mob of Catholics had destroyed the polling station in Creekbank.
In Maryborough, Webster’s agent was John MacCrea, who was also the assessor. He told those who voted for Allan that he would remember them when he made his assessment.
There was only one polling station for each township. Mobs of partisans hung about, attempting to influence the vote of everyone who showed up. There was no secret ballot. Voters had to declare their choice verbally to the poll clerk.
In Garafraxa, the voting was done in the dining room of a hotel. Allan rented the room next to it and ran a hospitality suite there, complete with open bar, for the duration of the voting, and he offered bedrooms for anyone who wished to stay overnight.
Webster’s agent in Nichol and Pilkington was George Drew, an Elora lawyer newly arrived from Glengarry County. He would later be a judge and his grandson would become premier of Ontario, but Drew was still a young lawyer with an arrogant attitude. He challenged the right to vote of every man believed to be an Allan supporter, forcing them to be sworn in.
Charles Allan assumed his seat in the legislature, pending the outcome of the official protest. He had not been there long before he annoyed his more radical supporters by working with John A. Macdonald on several pieces of legislation. As well, his Orangeism proved to be far less staunch in practice than it was in words.
The elections committee of the legislature made its decision in mid-July. They found Allan guilty of election irregularities, largely on the strength of the Garafraxa hospitality suite.
Wellington North got ready for a by-election in August 1858. The contest promised to be an ugly one. The economy had sunk into a deep recession, and political partisanship remained as strong as ever.
Continued next week.
*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on Oct. 12, 2001.
