THE HON. PETER PERRY.
MR. PERRY'S name is not widely known to the present generation of Canadians; to such of them, at least, as reside beyond the limits of the district in which the busiest years of his life were passed. Students of our history are familiar with the most salient passages in his public life, and regard his memory with respect, for he was a genuine man, who did good service to the cause of constitutional government. A few of his old colleagues are still among us, and can remember his vigorous, earnest eloquence when any conspicuous occasion called it forth. For the general public, however, nothing of him survives except his name. This partial oblivion is one of the "revenges" wrought by the whirligig of time." From forty to fifty years ago there was no name better known throughout the whole of Upper Canada; and, in Reform constituencies, there was no name more potent wherewith to conjure during an election campaign. Peter Perry was closely identified with the original formation of the Reform Party in Upper Canada, and for more than a quarter of a century he continued to be one of its foremost members. During the last ten or twelve years of his life he was to some extent overshadowed by the figure of Robert Baldwin, whose lofty character, unselfish aims, and high social position combined to place him on a sort of pedestal. But Peter Perry continued to the very last to be an important factor in the ranks of his Party.
He was a man of extreme opinions, and was never slow to express them. The exigencies of the times were favourable to strong beliefs. The politician who halted between two opinions in those days was tolerably certain to share the fate of the old man in the fable, who in trying to please everybody succeeded in pleasing nobody. Peter Perry stood in no danger of such a doom. He made a good many enemies by his plain speaking, but he was likewise rich in friends, and could generally hold his own with the best. He was implicitly trusted by his own Party, and was always ready to fight its battles, whether within the walls of Parliament or without.
He was a native Upper Canadian, and was born at Ernestown, about fifteen miles from Kingston, in the year 1793, during the early part of Governor Simcoe's Administration. His father, Robert Perry, was a U. E. Loyalist, who came over from the State of New York a few years before this time, and settled near the foot of the Bay of Quinte. Robert Perry was a farmer, well known in that district for his enterprise, public spirit, and devotion to his principles. He died just before the consummation of the Union of the Provinces. His son was brought up to farming pursuits, and early had to struggle with the many difficulties which beset the path of the founders of Upper Canada. The only means of tuition for boys in the rural districts in
THE HON. PETER PERRY.
213
those days were the public schools, and throughout his life the subject of this sketch laboured under the disadvantages inseparable from an imperfect educational training. He grew up to manhood with little knowledge derived from books, and continued to devote himself to agricultural pursuits until he had reached middle life. When he was only twenty-one years of age he married Miss Mary Ham, the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist of that neighbourhood. This lady, by whom he had a numerous family, is still living, and has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. John Ham Perry, who long held the position of Registrar of the county of Ontario, is one of the fruits of this marriage.
Peter Perry took a warm interest in politics, and early acquired a local reputation for much native sagacity and strength of character. He was a fluent, although somewhat coarse, speaker on the platform, and was an awkward antagonist to the local supporters of the Family Compact. He was an intimate friend and coadjutor of Barnabas Bidwell and his son Marshall, and in 1824 assisted in organizing the nucleus of the Reform Party. During the same year he entered public life as one of the representatives of the United Counties of Lennox and Addington in the Assembly of Upper Canada. He soon established for himself a reputation there as one of the most vehement champions of Reform. His denunciations of the Compact were frequent and energetic, and the Party in power dreaded his sharp and vigorous tongue even more than that of his friend Marshall Spring Bidwell, who was his colleague in the representation of Lennox and Addington. His first vote in the Assembly was recorded on behalf of Mr. John Willson, of Wentworth, who was the Reform candidate for the Speakership, and who was elected to that position as successor to Mr. Sherwood. The vote on this question was a fair test of
the strength of parties in the Assembly, and for the first time the adherents of the Compact found themselves in a minority. It will be understood, however, that the victory of the Reformers was rather nominal than real, as there was no such thing as Responsible Government in those days, and the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, were permitted to retain their places in the Council, notwithstanding that they did not possess the confidence of a majority in the Assembly. Against such a state of things the Reformers of Upper Canada vainly struggled for many years. Mr. Perry was one of the "fighting men," and hurled his anathemas broadcast during the Administrations of Sir Peregrine Maitland and Sir John Colborne. His speeches were like himself, bold and impetuous, and, notwithstanding the strict party lines of the period, votes were frequently won by the sheer force of his oratory. He continued to sit in the Assembly as one of the representatives of Lennox and Addington for twelve years, when, in consequence of Sir Francis Bond Head's machinations, all the most prominent Reformers of Upper Canada were beaten at the polls. Mr. Perry shared the fate of his colleagues, and before the close of the year (1836) he abandoned the life of a farmer, and removed to the present site of the town of Whitby, which was thenceforward known as "Perry's Corners." He opened a general store there, and rapidly built up a large and profitable business. Notwithstanding his extreme political opinions he took no part in Mackenzie's Rebellion, and for some years after that event he remained out of Parliament. He devoted himself to building up his business, and was identified with every important improvement in the district wherein he resided. He took an active interest in municipal affairs, contributed liberally to the construction and improvement
214
THE HON. PETER PERRY.	213
of the public highways, and was justly regarded as a public benefactor. He continued to fight the battles of Reform at all the local contests, but, though frequently importuned to reenter Parliament, preferred to remain in private life, until 1849. The constituency in which he resided, which is now South Ontario, was then the East Riding of York. The sitting member, up to the month of September, 1849, was the Hon. William Hume Blake, of whom Mr. Perry was of course a vigorous supporter. Mr. Blake was Solicitor-General in the Government, but at this juncture resigned his portfolio to accept the Chancellorship of Upper Canada. Mr. Perry consented to once more enter public life in the interest of his constituents, and was returned by acclamation as Mr. Blake's successor.
At the time of his second entry into the Parliamentary arena Mr. Perry was only fifty-six years of age, but he had passed a very busy life, and had taxed his physical energies to the utmost. He was older than his years, and was no longer the same man who had once so scathingly denounced the Family Compact. For the first few months, however, he applied himself with vigour to his Parliamentary duties, and made several effective speeches. Age had not abated one jot of his advanced radicalism. He allied himself with the extremists of the Reform Party, and in consequence was not high
in the favour of Mr. Baldwin, but there was not, so far as we are aware, any personal difference between them. Early in 1851 he found himself so much prostrated by physical weakness that he was compelled to leave home for change of air and scene. He went over to Saratoga Springs, New York, which was then the fashionable watering-place of this continent. Its waters were supposed to possess marvellous powers to restore youth to the aged and infirm, and Mr. Perry remained there for several months. He had, however, literally worn himself out in the public service, and it soon became evident that his ringing voice would never again be heard within the walls of Parliament. He gradually became weaker and weaker, and on the morning of Sunday, the 24th of August, he breathed his last. His remains were conveyed to his home at Whitby for interment, where they were attended to their last resting place by many of the leading men of Canada. He was a serious loss to Whitby and its neighbourhood, the prosperity of which he had done more than any other man of his time to advance. He was also mourned as a public loss by the Party to which he had all his life been attached, and glowing eulogies were pronounced upon his character and public spirit, even by persons to whom he had always been politically opposed.