Who is guy carleton

Whether Carleton and Maurice Morgann, who had been sent out to help, could have behaved more effectively is debatable, but it seems likely that the project was bound to fail from the start. Early in December Carleton sailed for England, where he passed the next three years. Carleton regretted this reduction, and in and repeated his call for a proper governor general. Nevertheless, he agreed to return to North America with separate commissions, dated 22 and 27 April ; the position of commander-in-chief over all three provinces, as well as Newfoundland; and the title of Baron Dorchester, which was created on 21 Aug.

His reputation as both a soldier and a statesman had been damaged, but he could still count on some political support: the king, if a bit disappointed, remained a patron; Rockingham, Shelburne, Conway, and Richmond continued to back him; and although on rather coal terms with William Wyndham Grenville, and coming close to a rupture with Henry Dundas, Dorchester got on fairly well with the other Home secretaries — Sydney, who was his first chief, and the Duke of Portland, his last.

On the other hand, his position in Quebec was inherently unstable. Several of his old partisans — Mabane, Fraser, Paul-Roch Saint-Ours, Panet, Baby — were as opposed as always to anything that smacked of anglicization, and the lieutenant governor, Hope, agreed.

Although strongly influenced by Smith, Dorchester was not completely won over, and his attempts to balance between these two groups were to prove debilitating. Both Dorchester and Quebec had changed during the eight years he was away. For his part, he had become much less sympathetic to, or perhaps nervous about, the Canadians; and much more understanding, and respectful, of the British colonists.

As for the province, the emergence of three interests had created different requirements and alliances. Anticipating a lucrative trade with the British West Indies, from which the Americans would presumably be excluded by the laws of trade and navigation, those merchants who hoped to develop a commerce based on staples other than fur were particularly eager to obtain both English law and an assembly, which they considered prerequisite for the roads, canals, harbours, banks, credit, and taxes they would need.

Meanwhile, a rising Canadian bourgeoisie, although intent on retaining their property and civil rights, had come to support the demands for representative government — if for very different reasons.

And the loyalists, while apparently not so concerned about an assembly as the merchants, were anxious to secure their lands under free and common socage. He agreed with the neo-mercantilists, such as Lord Sheffield, William Knox, and George Chalmers, that national security required the confinement of the colonial carrying trade to the British merchant marine, which served as both a training ground and a reserve for the Royal Navy. As events showed, however, direct trade between the United States and the British West Indies could not be prevented.

Had Dorchester overrated the resources of British North America — or did his testimony involve an ulterior calculation? In the long run, the agricultural development of western Quebec did produce a quantity of staples. In other words, he might have been endorsing a restrictive policy on the eastern seaboard because he was prescribing a liberal one in the western hinterland — and so was attempting not only to uphold the mercantilist practices on which British seapower depended, but also to preserve the economic integrity of the Ohio and Mississippi basin.

Finally, following a request by the governor and council that all products freely imported from the United States into Quebec be freely allowed into imperial markets, Westminster enacted a statute 30 Geo. But this is as far as Dorchester got: the crucial concession of free access for those products to the British West Indies was not granted; and partly for that reason — though mainly, no doubt, because the Quebec merchants were just too distant and isolated, as well as inexperienced and inefficient — his grand scheme of a Caribbean monopoly remained a pipe-dream.

On a more modest scale, however, much was done to improve both economic and social conditions. Although Dorchester may not have been directly responsible for all these achievements, some of which were clearly inspired by others [ see Hugh Finlay; David Lynd ], he at least sanctioned them. And he continued his patronage of the loyalists, setting up administrative districts in the area southwest of Montreal, providing each district with salaried judges as well as a land board to supervise settlement, and — most surprisingly, in view of his former policy — urging the home authorities to permit grants of land in freehold, thus paving the way for the reintroduction of English tenure in In contrast to his involvement in economic and social affairs, Dorchester was singularly detached, if not inert, in the matter of legal reform.

Disillusioned, uncertain, and irresolute, he apparently decided to let the committee on justice, which he had also established in the autumn of , wrestle with the problem.

Gray , delivered on 29 Dec. These differences — which induced Smith and Saint-Ours to propose conflicting bills in March , when the ordinance that permitted jury trials was due to expire — were carried to an extreme in April by Attorney General Monk. His open advocacy of both legal and governmental anglicization, accompanied by his public censure of certain judges, prompted an indignant appeal to the governor from Mabane, Fraser, and Panet, and Dorchester was forced to intervene — though not before renewing the ordinance permitting jury trials, as amended by Smith.

But although the inquiry he ordered furnished ample evidence of the complexity and uncertainty of the law, as well as establishing the arbitrary conduct of certain judges, nothing came of it. Not only were the demands for an assembly more clamorous than ever, but the home authorities were predisposed to listen.

But it must somehow be made acceptable to those Canadians who were afraid that the British colonists might be inadequately restrained, to those British colonists including Monk who conversely feared that the Canadians might get out of hand, and to everybody who objected to increased taxes.

And looming over all these considerations was the shadow of the American revolution, which had seemed to demonstrate that a colony with representative government became increasingly refractory and eventually independent. The British government tried to resolve the predicament with the Constitutional Act of 31 Geo.

This statute was based on an expedient that became standard practice for colonies with irreconcilable social differences — partition. With each group thus assured of its not being dominated by the other, both could be granted assemblies, which would be able to impose taxes.

At the same time, to prevent these assemblies from evolving into the too powerful legislatures that had fomented the revolt of the Thirteen Colonies, they would be subject to the sort of checks and balances that applied at Westminster: upper houses, with the power to refuse hills, would be imposed; the governors, provided with secure sources of income and ample powers of patronage, would also have a power of disallowance; and the British government would have a third veto.

In devising these solutions, the home authorities received little help from Dorchester. Whether because of his distrust of the Canadians, wariness of the British colonists, dislike of representative government, or preference for conciliar rule, he advised no more than a modification of the existing structure. Dorchester did not remain entirely outside the discussions, however, and it may be that his contribution to constitutional developments in has been as underestimated as his impact in is exaggerated.

On 8 Feb. But at least British North America, if saddled with a natural oligarchy, was spared an artificial aristocracy. On 18 Aug. The principal subject of discord, however, was defensive policy, which Simcoe linked to settlement in his plans for a string of fortified towns.

Arguing variously that the costs were too high, that the Americans might be alarmed, and that the defences of the city of Quebec would be dangerously weakened, Dorchester frustrated these plans by refusing to provide the requisite troops. But there he went too far: on 10 Feb. On 4 Sept. Despite several appeals from a bemused Portland, who had replaced Dundas in July, Dorchester declined to reconsider his resignation.

Then on 9 July Dorchester left Canada for good. During the last years of his life, he kept up his military connections. Having been promoted major-general on 25 May and lieutenant-general on 29 Aug. Back in England, he moved to the 27th Dragoons on 18 March , and then to the 4th Dragoons on 14 Aug.

Most of his time, however, was spent in the countryside, where he had acquired three houses: Greywell Hill, Basingstoke, the present family seat; Kempshot House, close by; and Stubbings House, near Maidenhead, where he died in his 85th year. The barony of Dorchester became extinct with the death of the 4th baron on 18 Nov.

Contemporary epithets include cold, severe, sour, and morose, but also cool, intrepid, incorruptible, and disinterested. Biographers have added arbitrary, reactionary, ruthless, and vindictive, as well as benevolent, honourable, humane, and just.

As a statesman, he will probably always be something of an enigma. Almost morbidly secretive he had his wife destroy all his personal papers , he so coloured his accounts that his calculations, let alone motives, are peculiarly difficult to discover. Yet perhaps a general pattern can be discerned.

But his favourable attitude towards them does not necessarily imply, as is commonly assumed, that he found the British colonists, as Murray had, innately antipathetic; on the contrary, there are indications that Carleton felt some sympathy for the latter from the start.

The introduction of an assembly, however, was another matter, and in his consistent opposition to that, Carleton may well have revealed the essence of his character as well as his politics: he was an autocrat, instinctively against representative government — and not just for the Canadians but probably, despite his disclaimers, for the British colonists as well.

Yet again, some general conclusions might be ventured. Certainly his principal, and most controversial, legacy was the Quebec Act — or rather, the administrative system he created on the basis of this act.

Johns, and Montreal, laying siege to Quebec City in November Carleton repulsed an attack on Quebec by American forces on December 31, in which the American commander, Major General Richard Montgomery, was killed. Despite their defeat, the Americans maintained the siege until it was lifted with the arrival of British reinforcements under John Burgoyne in May Carleton then lead the pursuit of Continental forces which culminated in the British victory at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in October.

Although victorious, the American force successfully prevented Carleton from invading New York before the onset of winter. The Governor was incensed the following year when Burgoyne was granted command of the ill-fated Saratoga Campaign.

Carleton demanded to be recalled to Great Britain, and was replaced as governor by Frederick Haldimand. He became a champion of the loyalists and felt that they were grossly mistreated and neglected in the final terms of the Treaty of Paris.

Though not an abolitionist, Guy Carleton was a staunch defender of British promises of freedom for escaped slaves who had found refuge behind British lines. American troops under Gen. Richard Montgomery advanced to threaten Montreal, and Carleton withdrew to Quebec with his small army.

There he was besieged by an American force under Benedict Arnold, who was joined by Montgomery's troops. Carleton's leadership maintained the defenses of the city. In spring , reinforced by Gen. He defeated Arnold in October and then withdrew to Quebec. Disagreements with his superiors led to Carleton's removal from military command in The following year he resigned as governor and left Canada. In February , after the Revolution had effectively been ended, Carleton became commander in chief of the British forces in America.

Using tact, firmness, and diplomacy, he successfully carried out the delicate tasks of suspending hostilities, withdrawing British forces from New York and Vermont, and protecting loyalists. In , as Baron Dorchester, he was appointed governor in chief of British North America, a post he held for 10 years.