The Copy-Cat, and Other Stories

responsible for it. The leaders were Colonel Jonathan Eddy, Sheriff John Allan, or "Rebel John," as he was afterwards called, William Howe, and Samuel Roger

represented at the Continental Congress that six hundred persons in Nova Scotia, whose names were given, were ready to join any army who might come to their help.

otherwise," and then said, "those of us who belong to New England, being invited into this Province by Governor Lawrence's proclamation, it must be the greatest piece of cruelty and imposition for them to be subjected to march into d

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mouth that some persons had spread the report that he was trying to draw the militia to Halifax that he might transport them to New England and make soldiers of them. He also adds, "The consequence of su

athan Eddy and Sheriff Allan were there as members of the convention, and took especial pains to urge upon the meeting that the time had arrived for decided action. Either they must cast in their lot with their friends in Massachusetts and Connecticut, or they must be loyal to the British Government. They also made it clear that they could not hold the country against the British

he made several excursions among the Indians to the northward and by his influence secured for the rebel provinces the co-operation of a large number of the Micmac tribe." He left Cumberland in an open boat on August 3rd, 1776, and coasting along the Bay of Fundy, reached Passamaquoddy Bay on the 11th. In Machias Bay, which he entered on the 13th, he found Col. Eddy with twenty-eight others in a sc

Boston. From Boston he proceeded to Washington's headquarters, giving New York, which was then in possession of the British, a wide berth. He dined with Washing

cock, and left at once for Boston. While there he urged upon the members in council the necessity of protecting the eastern part of Maine, and showed the advant

s not very successful, and Colonel Allan was glad to get back to Maine, and take up the duties of his new position as Superintendent of the Easter

y- one years old in 1775. As he had no New England ancestors, his escapade must be attributed to ambition, romance, or pure zeal for what he thought was just and right. For the feelings against the Crow

bout "half after one" of the clock, on January 3rd, 1746 (O. S.), and was baptized on the

rably since he left Machias. At the mouth of the Petitcodiac River he stationed a small force to watch for any reinforcements that might be coming to Fort Cum

woods above the Jolicure Lakes, they came to the home of Colonel Allan, in Upper Point de Bute. Mrs. Allan and her children were

ly morning, when the leader of the scouts suddenly levelled his gun at the one man on deck, and called out, "If you move you are a dead man," the surprise was complete, and the man obeyed orders. The rebels boarded the sloop, and soon had all hands in irons. As it grew lighter, and the fog cleared away, Captain Baron and missionary Egleston

probably stood in considerable need. The sloop could run up the Missiquash near to the farms of

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Colonel Gorham, had been sent to assist the garrison and strengthen the defences of the fort. When all was ready

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se Contest I have felt for my deluded Brother Subjects and Countrymen of America, and for the many Innocent people they have wantonly Involved in the Horrors of an Unnatural Rebellion, and entertain every humane principle as well as an utter aversion to the Unnecessary effusion of Christian Blood. Therefore Command you in His Majesty's name to disarm yourself and party Immediately and Surrender to the King's Mercy, and further desire you would commun

ht of the 12th Nov. with our scaling Ladders and other Accoutrements, but finding the Fort to be stronger than we imagined (occasioned by late Repairs), we thought fit to Relinquish our Design after a heavy firi

place by assault. While the attack was in progress the Indian got into the place and was in the act of unbarring the gates when he was discovered by Major Dickson. The major

, in the hope that it would communicate with the magazine. It is said a traitor in the rebel camp warned the En

ard Bay Verte. A short distance beyond the Inverma Farm, a squad took ambush in a thicket near a bridge, and when the regulars in pursuit were crossing the bridge the party fired a volley, killing several of the soldiers and wounding others. This so incensed the troops that they returned and set fire to Sheriff Allan's house, which was burned to the ground, together with a number of other buildings in the neighborhood. Mrs. Allan and her children escaped to the wo

is long, tiresome journey, has never been given to the public. Machais, until the close of the war, was the rendezvous of privateers and all manner of adventurers, both before and after the arrival of Eddy and Allan. Colonel Eddy's escape from Chignecto ended the rebellion in that district so far as

istory of the Dixons," spe

hich he kept for sale. For a considerable period the loyal inhabitants, notably the English settlers, were subjected to a state of anxiety, and lived in dread of a repetition of such unwelcome visits. On one occasion, when some of these people were approaching the house, Mrs. Dixon hastily gathered up her silverware and other valuables and deposi

er, who was in sympathy with the rebels, and set fire to his place, intending to burn the inmates. Mrs. Ayer was warned by her neighbors and escaped to the woods with her baby in her arms. Aft

o Eddys, Jonathan and William. They owned adjoining farms in Fort Lawrence. The upper road leading from Fort Lawrence to Amherst still be

heir number to bring out the prisoner. Mrs. Eddy would give no knowledge of her husband's whereabouts. The house was thoroughly searched, but the man could not be found. The soldiers were dumbfounded. The fact is, that when Mrs. Eddy saw the soldiers coming, she told her husband to cover himself in a bin of grain in the chamber and place his mouth close to a crack on the side of the bin over whi

that time of three hundred and forty-eight acres of marsh and upland and was no doubt part of the Allan grant of 1763. Besides the Sher

t, in the Missiquash valley, still goes by his name. His home farm joined the glebe lands of the parish, and was afterwards bough

uried at the burying-g

the 92nd yea

old place after Thomas Trueman had taken possession, and as this was in the y

me, would have been united in carrying out the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon in America. This may sound very well, but events have transpired in the last hundred and twenty-five years that point unmistakably to the conclusion that the God of history intended this northern land called Canada to work out its own destiny independent of the southern Republic. At the period of the Eddy rebellion Nova Scotia was st

ircumstances than that body of noble men and women of another race that twenty-eight years earlier in the century had been driven out as exiles to wander in hardship and want on that same New England coast. These Loyalists brought to Canada the sterling principle, the experience in local Government, the sturdy,

at Britain first among the nations of the world in the government of colonies. It is true English ministers and English governors made mistakes and had much to learn before the present system was fully adopted, but the descendants of the Loyalists and those who remained true to the Crown during the stormy years of

anada has helped greatly to emphasize the truth, only yet half understood by the world, that it makes little difference whether the chief ruler of a country is called president, king or emperor, or whether the government is called a monarchy or republic. These are but incidents. What is important, what is essential,if freedom is to be won

kers, Nonconformists and Churchmen, whose ancestors, from force of circumstances or love of country remained in their island home, are not to-day breathing the air of freedom as pure and unadulterated as their cousins on the banks of the Charles or in the vall