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.
Recently, in relating the story of the founding of Rothsay, I referred to the controversial election campaign and subsequent unseating of its founder, Charles Allan, as MP for Wellington North.
Several readers accused me of teasing readers with this reference to what seemed an exciting tale. The story of this election, and politics generally in Wellington in the late 1850s, is certainly a colourful one.
The volatile political climate of Wellington in the 1850s was a magnified reflection of the situation generally in the province of Canada.
The union of Upper and Lower Canada, effected in 1841, created a succession of stalemates and contentious issues. Political parties exhibited poor organization, with most people loyal to a particular leader rather than a party. Cabinets, composed of coalitions of various factions, had short lifetimes.
Readers who studied this period in Canadian history should dimly recall the hyphenated governments of these years, such as the Hincks-Morin administration of 1851-54, and the succeeding coalition put together by the ultra-conservative Sir Allan MacNab that included many moderate liberals. This cabinet held together until 1857. Excluded from the MacNab cabinet were the radical liberals, who came to be called the Clear Grits.
The policies of this group had their strongest appeal in newly settled places like north Wellington: no property qualifications to vote, the secret ballot, fixed times for elections, and complete separation of church and state. Grits were in favour of the small independent farmer, and against big-city commercial interests.
Charles Clarke ran a dry goods store in Elora, but he spent much of his time writing articles and letters outlining Clear Grit policies in the early 1850s. Though still in his 20s (he was born in 1826), Clarke quickly emerged on the provincial stage as a leader of Grittism, and his strong local following made Elora a focus for radical liberalism. Backed by a dozen or so Elora men, Clarke founded a newspaper, the Elora Backwoodsman, in 1852, to carry the Clear Grit message to the new townships to the north and west of the village.
In the 1840s, Wellington County had been part of the immense riding of Halton West. Redrawn boundaries in 1848 combined what is now Wellington County and Waterloo Region in the riding of Waterloo. A further division in 1854 brought about the ridings of Wellington North and Wellington South, just before the general election of that year.
The Clear Grits viewed the new Wellington North seat as tailor-made for them, but not all liberal opinion was comfortable with the radical rhetoric of the Clear Grits. Old guard liberals planned meetings to organize a riding association, and the Clear Grits determined to pack them with their own people.
Moderates believed that Charles Allan, the Elora businessman, developer and speculator, would be the ideal candidate. Allan’s first attempt at elective office had been an unsuccessful bid for the district council in 1842.
Subsequently, he lobbied successfully to have Pilkington separated from Woolwich Township, and he became the first reeve of the new township in 1851. He supported much of the Clear Grit platform, and was a financial backer of the Elora Backwoodsman in 1852.
Charles Allan started an informal campaign for the nomination before any of the meetings took place. But Allan was far too moderate for the more radical Clear Grits, who had determined to take control of the new liberal riding association. At meetings in Nichol and Pilkington they passed resolutions condemning Allan and his supporters for starting to campaign before the riding association had met.
The Elora Clear Grits dominated the first liberal convention for Wellington North, held in May 1854. They pushed forward one of their own, George Barron, as the liberal candidate. Barron denounced Allan’s stand on separate schools as too weak. His extremism annoyed many potential voters, but Barron had other problems as well. He was hopeless as speaker, and had made many personal enemies in the 20 years he had been farming at the Bon Accord settlement near Elora.
The liveliest aspect of the 1854 campaign in Wellington North turned out to be the mud slinging between the Clear Grits and the moderates. Someone put up posters urging moderates not to vote at all. The Backwoodsman told liberals it was their duty to vote for Barron whether they liked him or not.
By modern standards, the 1854 campaign was a curious one. There were still property ownership qualifications to vote, and consequently, less than 600 men could vote. With this number, it was also possible for the candidates to talk personally with virtually every qualified voter. In this respect it resembled a campaign in a very small municipality.
The fact that they could not vote did not keep the settlers out of the campaign. They made their voices heard as they heckled and howled at public gatherings. Fisticuffs and physical violence characterized political gatherings, and this aspect would get worse as the decade progressed.
The election result turned out to be a humiliation for Barron and the Grits. The conservative candidate, Dr. William Clarke of Guelph (no relation to Charles of Elora) took the seat by a three-to-one majority.
The doctor was perhaps the greatest stump speaker ever to emerge in Wellington, and he used his personal wealth to full advantage in providing drinks and lunches to potential supporters. Barron’s vote no doubt would have been much larger had it not been for the property qualification. New settlers tended to have Clear Grit tendencies. Their day would come later in the decade.
The campaign served as a valuable lesson to Charles Clarke and the Elora Grits. They realized that they had to tone down their rhetoric to appeal to the broad spectrum of liberalism. At the same time, both moderates and radical Clear Grits could see that it was foolish to expend their energies fighting one another.
Though regarded with suspicion by many hardline Grits, George Brown, publisher of the Toronto Globe, was attempting to elbow his way to the leadership of a united Liberal/Clear Grit party. In November 1856, Charles Clarke organized a political banquet in Elora, and invited a wary George Brown to come as the guest speaker.
Though Brown came from the ranks of the detested big-city commercial men, Clarke and the Elora Grits gave him an enthusiastic reception. The next day, Brown and Clarke discussed political strategies at length. The Elora meeting was a factor in the decision of Brown and his advisors to organize a convention of all reformers and liberals in Toronto in January 1857. This gathering was the birth of the modern Liberal party.
In the meantime, political activity in Wellington North continued. No one had a clue about how long MacNab’s cabinet would hold together, or when the next election would be. Charles Allan, despite his rejection in 1854, still wanted to hold the seat. He was in his sixth year as reeve of Pilkington, and had been elected warden of the county in 1856. Allan began to canvas and campaign quietly late in the year, lining up supporters one by one as he went about his numerous other activities and land speculations.
To be continued next week.
*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on Sept. 28, 2001.
