John MacIntosh and the Struggle for Tenants Rights

Event

2008-10-31

01:23:56

This is a lecture by Jenny MacQuaid titled “John MacIntosh and the Struggle for Tenants Rights”, where Jenny discusses John MacIntosh, history and immigration, marriage, occupations, politics, religion, proprietors and governors. The lecture includes also discussion about elections, landlords, tenants, and various other topics relating to the life of John MacIntosh.

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Held by Benevolent Irish Society

Introduction
During the speaker’s research of John McIntosh, she realized that he was not well known on Prince Edward Island outside of Naufrage, PEI. He was born in 1790 in Naufrage, close to where the speaker was also born. The speaker realized that the local people avoided talking about John McIntosh, and was portrayed as a dark figure because of an event at the Catholic church. It was an altercation with a priest at St. Martha’s Parish. His farm was abandoned until after World War II. The speaker knew more about John McIntosh from the second volume of a history book about the Catholic Church written by John MacMillan. The chapter about him is called “The Troubles of Saint Martha’s”. There was a charge laid against McIntosh by Father John MacDonald. More information about this trial was obtained from the archives and in a book called Dictionary of Canadian Biography. The speaker saw John McIntosh in a whole new light with his significant contributions to the reform of the Island’s land system. This leads us to talk about the land situation on PEI for over a hundred years, which slowed down the development of PEI considerably. We would have progressed faster and further if not for what happened in 1767 when PEI was divided into Lots. They were lotteried off and offered as patronages’ gifts to the Crown. There were conditions applied to the proprietors to do certain things for the 20,000-acre lots. If they failed to do certain things, their land would be reverted to the Crown.
Five years after PEI’s division into Lots in 1772, the McIntoshes immigrated to PEI from South Gyle in Scotland. The migration was led by Captain John MacDonald who owned Lot 35. They chose to move to Naufrage to have a property in their own name. The speaker was unsure of how they managed to do this. John MacIntosh was a freeholder, not a tenant farmer.
John MacIntosh had no formal education. What little he had come from itinerate teachers. In 1808, he was 18 years old and he married Margaret MacDonald who was 24 years old. She came from Black Bush near St. Margarets. They raised a family of 3 sons and 8 daughters.
In his life, he was a community leader, church elder, customs tax collector, justice of the peace, and fence builder.
The speaker will talk about his development and incidents at a political level(land issues) and incidents at a grassroot level, which may have motivated him to embark on the path of social activism and political activity. His advocacy on the half of the tenants was hardly out of self interest because he was a freeholder, not a tenant farmer.
MacIntosh grew up in the shadow of persecution because of his Catholic identity. He was marginalized in his native country. His ancestors in Scotland were forbidden to openly practice Catholicism in their own land since the 16th century. The chief reason that the highlanders immigrated in 1772 was to escape the harassment by the lairds of their religion and culture. However, they were not completely liberated from religious persecution and the yoke of feudalism. The Catholics were forbidden to vote and forbidden to legally own land at the time of emigration.
In fact, the Catholics’ right to vote wasn’t secured until 60 years after 1772, so he was 40 years old before he was allowed to vote.
Not being able to own land is important not only from a material point of view but also from a psychological point of view. Paying rent was personally degrading for the immigrants, which signalled them as being uncivilized, incompetent, and weak in character. In North America, owning land was a badge of accomplishment and the lack thereof was a badge of inferiority. Owning land was also a shield against being exploited by offshore landlords. Tenure systems were in place, but in other jurisdictions, no people could be freeholders. Many islanders realized the inefficiency of their land system and sought to make changes in the land tenure system. However, the entrenched British government with its lobbying power of the proprietors prevented any changes.
In 1774, Governor Patterson, the first governor of PEI did confiscate some townships because of arrears. By 1784, these were sold to speculators, and there was a movement to change proprietors' rules. In 1796 another movement came, which tried to reform the land system. Meetings were held and a petition was circulated and pushed the government to hold a special assembly to deal with the issue. The assembly formed 11 resolutions revolving around the demand versus escheat. The leaders of that campaign of their grants asserted that the proprietors had neither settled the land according to the terms of their grants nor paid their rents to the Crown but the settlers had to pay their rents to them. Tenants should have small Lots(100-300 acres) granted to them and they pay rents to the Crown. There was a push for this. Patterson was succeeded by Governor Fanning. But Governor Fanning was in fact on the side of the landowners and only pretended to be on the tenants' side. While people were expecting results from him, he resigned with no results and was succeeded by a new governor in 1805. The new governor was not better, so the fight for tenant rights came to nothing after 10 years because of the proprietors’ opposition.
Another governor called Smith wanted to not let proprietors get away with their terms and not pay rents. He was determined to give land to the tenants. He stipulated that confiscated lands should be regranted to new settlers. However, they had to be Protestants. He was not impressed with Catholic Highland settlers and said that they were notorious for their lack of industry, sobriety, and knowledge of agriculture. John MacIntosh was 23 years old then and he was aware of the oppression of the tenants. The speaker talks about what’s happening around John MacIntosh at the political level in the assembly, at the government level, and at the grassroots level. Stirring up his indignation in 1819, a tragic incident close to his home resulted in a tenant-landlord confrontation which demonstrated to MacIntosh the evil of an unjust land system. Edward Engel, an agent of Lord Townsend was murdered at Bay Fortune by Richard Pierce who was a tenant on Lord Townsend’s land. The tenant became exasperated when Engel took possession of Pierce’s horse because the tenant’s rent money was not in an acceptable currency and he couldn’t pay the additional quit-rent tacked on by Engel. Pierce was never captured for murder and there was sympathy for him, which likely assisted his escape. Pierce wanted to pay using the English currency, whereas Engel wanted to be paid using Spanish coins.
Four years after the incident at Bay Fortune, John MacIntosh was on Governor Smith’s quit-rent collection initiative. Smith having interests with the proprietors failed to establish the Court of Escheat on the island. He turned his attention to identifying quit-rent collection outstanding from the proprietors and handed the files to the Supreme Court of PEI for collection. In 1823, the sheriff arrived at the eastern areas of Saint Margaret’s Parish which was MacIntosh’s own parish. There were a number of small proprietors owning from 100 to 500 acres. Those proprietors were in arrears not because they wished to avoid rents, but because of the state of confusion and the trouble they had paying their rents.
Arrears need to be paid within 10 days, and the proprietors were required to sign and honour these promissory notes or the land would be confiscated. The proprietors had no choice but to raise the money. A small proprietor from Lot 45 of St. Margaret’s Parish was refused four years earlier in his attempt to pay his rent at the Receiver General Office in Charlottetown. In the winter of 1823, he was advised to go to town in the deep snow and severe weather to settle his dept at sacrificed prices for his sleigh full of wheat. It took 5 days to complete the round trip. Another small proprietor Donald MacDonald from Lot 45 also had to make the trip through the snow to Charlottetown selling produce thinking that the benefit of the trip would cover the costs. He could not anticipate the sudden depreciation of his produce and the sudden increase in the market supply after arriving at Charlottetown. Therefore, he was short 30 cents for the offer when all was sold. To make up for the short money, he was obliged to hand over his mittens to the Deputy Receiver General and make a trip back home without them.
There was widespread indignation throughout the island about heavy handed tactics employed by the justice officials. Public meetings were convened, petitions were brought up, and an affidavit to be signed was there to remove the governor from office.
John MacIntosh welcomed William Cooper’s decision to enter the political arena in 1831 to champion the cause of the oppressed tenants on the floor of the House Assembly. William Cooper was from Annadale who had previously worked for Lord Townsend. He and MacIntosh might have met before.
Cooper ran in the by-election of King’s County supporting the country’s freedom and farmers in 1831. His key opponent was Angus MacDonald from Black Bush who represented the interests of the proprietors. During the by-election at Georgetown-St. Peters, intimidation, threats, violence and full-blown riots lead to the poll being closed before the scheduled time. John MacIntosh was at the event and he was warned to leave the poll premises. Otherwise, he would have his head opened and his skull cracked. Cooper won the by-election and took his seat in the House of Assembly
In January 1832, Cooper petitioned the governor to establish the Court of Escheat. The British government turned down this request claiming that it would be unfair to the proprietors.
MacIntosh was brought into a landlord-tenant dispute at his doorstep. Flora Townsend sent out a warrant via a sheriff for a widow, Mary MacPhee. The seizure of 3 stacks of hay from the widow was demanded as payment for back rent from Alan MacDonald. Alan MacDonald had been faithfully paying this rent from 1819 to 1832. The officers first went to Mary MacPhee‘s farm. Alan’s wife, Isabella, was pregnant. He aimed an armed pistol at her. 100 men, women, and children armed with muskets, pitch forks, sticks and whatever is available stopped the sheriff from entering MacDonald’s land. The protesters declared to the sheriff that they would pay the rent when they were granted ownership of their land. Isabella gave him a wack as he was leaving. Bench warrants were issued for five of those tenants. At the beginning of the New Year, the sheriff made a second attempt to apprehend the Naufrage 5. They asked John MacIntosh to accompany this arrest knowing his influence on the people. As they were crossing the Naufrage River, they were met on the bridge with 30 people armed with the same type of weapons as before. They vowed that they would protect their lives and property and shed their blood before they would part with either. The sheriff said that he would spare no man, woman or child. When asked about their conduct, the tenants replied that they don’t know to whom they should pay rent, and they did not think they were obliged to pay rent to anyone except the King. After some discussion, MacIntosh came in and used his fluency in Gaelic to communicate with the people. They originally refused to surrender, but MacIntosh convinced both sides to compromise. So the protestors weren’t arrested.
They originally refused to surrender, but MacIntosh convinced both sides to compromise. So the protestors weren’t arrested.
The sheriff’s party came back in May for the third attempt to apprehend the people. The trial followed in September, which found Ronald, Archibald and Isabella guilty of common assault.
The sheriff’s party came back in May for the third attempt to apprehend the people. The trial followed in September, which found Ronald, Archibald and Isabella guilty of common assault. Alan and Nancy were acquitted. Isabella who was pregnant was pardoned to look after her children by the Governor.
This gave MacIntosh hands-on education on the conflict between tenant-landlord. Meanwhile, there was a new general election on PEI in December 1834. A number of representatives were elected pledging to take radical actions on the land question. 8 assemblymen joined to form the Escheat Party under the leadership of William Cooper. John MacIntosh was nominated to run in the election but he declined. An important part of Cooper’s radical action was organizing public protest meetings to impress upon the British government the seriousness of the proprietary negligence and oppression and the urgency of reforming the land situation.

In 1835, one of the members of the Escheat party drafted a petition that was 14 feet long including signatures and testimony regarding the harm caused by the unjust land system along with a demand for a Court of Escheat. Again, the strong representation of the proprietors failed to convince the British authorities to make any meaningful change on the land situation. In October 1835, a by-election was called in Kings County to replace a deceased assembly member. John MacIntosh was nominated. He ran and won a seat in the assembly in January 1836. Having been already associated with Cooper and another representative from Kings County, John Wallisher, MacIntosh aligned with them in the House and rigorously made the case for land reforms inside the House. They organized numerous public meetings throughout Kings County and also outside of the county. The speaker also mentions that the Assembly at that time weren’t paid for their activities. They did this using their own money.
Another attribute of MacIntosh’s often other than his public speaking which was not rousing made him a key player in the chief moments. Besides his strength in character, plausible opinions, and determined action, he was also fluent in Gaelic. Since Cooper and Wallisher couldn’t speak Gaelic, MacIntosh was indispensable in communicating the aims of this movement to the largely uninformed tenants. Mr. Cooper and MacIntosh respected each other and endorsed each other’s views.
Tape break
Mr. Cooper’s views were not endorsed by people however MacIntosh’s views were. He was highly respected on the North Shore of the Island.
Public excitement generated by the meetings reached the climax in the famous Hay River(close to St. Margaret’s Church) meeting in December 1836. 700 tenants were at the meeting presided over by McIntosh, Cooper and Wallisher. The tenants raised a wide spectrum of grievances and justifications for reform. 34 items were identified as reforms. They demanded a Court of Escheat be established and they maintained that they were victims of fraud, deceit, and oppression at the hands of the landlords. To pay rent to them is to foster oppression and more the crime. The Lieutenant Governor of the day wasn’t impressed with the situation. He was incensed by the situation, calling the meeting dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional. He appealed to the members of the legislature to condemn the resolutions, and he demanded apologies from Cooper, Wallisher, and MacIntosh. The three members refused to apologize and were banished from the house. They were placed in custody by the Sergeant At Arms for the remainder of the session. The Governor thought this was an end to their call for land reform. Although the call for land reform was dismissed by the British government, some land reforms did happen despite some repercussions of the Hay River Meeting. In 1837, even though there was strong lobbying by the proprietors against it, (The Governor changed his mind) The Act of Required Quit Rents on the Proprietors was passed in the House. During the election of 1828, John MacIntosh’s party occupied 18 out of 24 seats in the House.
However, it was rejected by the Legislative Council which was not elected by the people in contrast to the Assembly. MacIntosh and Cooper attempted to present their case on the land issue to the Queen in London. Cooper was refused an audience with the Queen.
The Crown said that it didn’t have enough money to purchase the proprietors’ estates and the British government intended to maintain the proprietary land tenure system, which made MacIntosh’s movement back to the beginning after 10 years of effort. The British government instructed the new Governor of PEI to inform the Island Assembly that the British government will no longer interfere in any further debate between the proprietors and the tenants. George Coles (the future Liberal Party leader) said in 1842 that the British government would allow the Assembly to settle the land question if a less radical approach was taken. George said that “through the acquisition of a responsible government that can they can rid themselves of the albatross of a proprietary system to settle this issue”.
Meanwhile, the landlord-tenant problem became heated in John MacIntosh’s region of PEI. Residents in East Saint Martha’s Parish were charged with trespassing on the land owned by the absentee proprietor, Samual Bernard. In addition, there was an incident where a resident of Souris was evicted from his home and his farm owner said it was because he defaulted on his rent. Lawrence McGuire, a resident of Souris, was hired to execute the eviction. These incidents put the tenants of these areas in an angry mood, which became explosive following the eviction of Martin Penny, also a resident of Souris Line Road. He was a farmer with his wife and a family of 8 children. His eviction forced his family into an outbuilding with a clay floor. Enraged by his eviction, 250 people in his area held a meeting at Big Pond after hearing what happened to him, which resulted in a decision to march to Lawrence McGuire’s home and demand Martin Penny’s family be reinstated. Under threats of violence, McGuire relented and let Penny return to his home. While McGuire was away from his home, his own house was burnt to the ground. The militia from Charlottetown was called to restore order to the community in 1843. There had been a long-standing difference between John MacIntosh and his followers with Father John MacDonald, the Parish Priest at Saint Margaret’S. Those differences revolved around land issues. Father John was a landlord himself having inherited the estate from his father, Captain John MacDonald. Many believed that Father John called the militia to end the disturbance.
MacIntosh and his followers believed Father John should be removed from the Parish. They elected new elders who would remove Father John, to replace the ones that Father John elected. At a mass, Father John said he would not recognize the new elders because they were illegally elected. John MacIntosh was there and rose from his seat asking to be heard, which was denied. MacIntosh persisted and walked to the altar for a short time before Father John left. Later Father John took MacIntosh to court in Georgetown on the charge of interrupting divine service. MacIntosh was acquitted because there isn’t that type of charge. With such division at Saint Margaret’s Parish, the bishop urged Father John to leave. He complied with the bishop and left 3 months later. He departed for England where he continued to work in the ministry until his death in 1874.
The Conservative Party that won the 1842 election. They had lost in 1846.
George Coles and the Reform Party were in power. John MacIntosh returned to the house. Coles gradually worked to solve the land question. In 1847, he secured a resolution favouring Responsible Government. Queen Victoria was petitioned to grant Responsible Government that she refused. In the general election of 1850, George Coles remained in power pushing for Responsible Government. However, John MacIntosh was defeated in the election. The new Assembly acted quickly to block all spending except for meagre supplies on Coles’ agenda to force Responsible Government. In 1851, the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor arrived with the good news that the Responsible Government had been granted, 20 years after Cooper’s initial motion. John MacIntosh failed to be re-elected in 1851 and 1853. The assembly of 1853 passed one of the most important pieces of legislation in pre-confederation PEI history, The Land Purchase Act.

The Land Purchase Act empowered the PEI government to buy the estates of obliging proprietors and then sell portions of the land to the tenants. Not all proprietors initially obliged to this act, but more gradually sold lands to the tenants. Samuel Cumard his land in 1856. John MacIntosh returned to the Assembly in the election of 1854 with Coles’ party that won 17 out of 24 seats. Upon his return, MacIntosh succeeded in embarrassing his political associates when he supported Cooper’s claim that the government can’t spend people’s money purchasing lands that the proprietors had no claim to. In addition, MacIntosh felt that the price paid for certain estates was too high, believing that the proprietors were paid more than they deserved. He was concerned with unnecessary spending in the Assembly. MacIntosh’s concern for social justice was exemplified in his effort to secure the civil rights of the tenant farmers. And also in 1843, when a petition pertaining to the education of the Miꞌkmaq was discussed in the Assembly, there were disagreements about whether the government should grant money for the school textbook to be translated to the Mi’kmaq language. MacIntosh reasoned that since the Mi’kmaqs were contributing to the revenue of PEI, they are just as much entitled to the benefit of education as any other class of the island. Again in 1847 in the Assembly, where the discussion on the establishment of a Commissioner’s Court for the Acadians of Tignish was on the table, MacIntosh refused Edward Parmer’s claim that such a court would introduce the spirit of litigation among them. MacIntosh argued that such a French people’s commissioner was needed to give these Canadians as fair a chance to obtain justice as was given to their fellow subjects. MacIntosh withdrew from politics in 1858. In the years following his retirement, the seed of reform that MacIntosh and his fellow reformers had so courageously and painfully nurtured continued to bear fruit in spite of continued setbacks.
Between 1841 and 1861, the number of freeholders more than doubled, yet two-fifths of the farmers remained without title to the land they occupied. This was almost 100 years after they came to PEI, yet they still did not have title to their lands. The federal government bought out the remaining landowners through the Compulsory Land Purchase Act of 1875. The remedy came with PEI’s entry into the Confederation. One of the island’s terms to join the Confederation was for the federal government to buy out the remaining land from the proprietors.
With the passage of the Compulsory Land Purchase Act in 1875, almost all the land of Prince Edward Island passed into the hands of those who had built it. John MacIntosh lived to see his dedication to land reform came to fruit. He was awarded a medal for some of his work with the church.
John MacIntosh died at his residence in Naufrage, PEI on December 14th, 1881 at 91 years old. He was one of the oldest inhabitants of PEI at the time. His wife lived on after his death along with his with 11 children. His obituary reads that he was gifted with good natural abilities. He represented Kings County with great personal sacrifice. His greatest and only political aim was to see the old proprietary land system abolished. He was interred at St. Margaret cemetery on the 91st anniversary of his birth. A memorial was unveiled on the property where he made his home.
Applause
Questions and comments.
Final comments, applause