Charles Clarke, Pen and Ink Warrior

by Dewar, Kenneth C.

• ISBN13: 9780773525207
• ISBN10: 0773525203
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ Pr

Summary

When Charles Clarke settled in Elora, Ontario, in 1848 he joined the ranks of the province's radical reformers, becoming a vigorous critic of everything in Canada that smacked of the old regime - rank, privilege, and monopoly - and an enthusiastic supporter of everything promised by the new - equity, democracy, and individual opportunity. He played a prominent role in drafting the 'Clear Grit' platform of 1851, supporting such ideas as a householder's suffrage, the secret ballot, and representation by population. He later espoused the two great causes of nineteenth-century Anglo-Canadian liberalism - provincial rights in Canada and Irish Home Rule in Britain. Equally involved in local affairs - from the Sons of Temperance to the Natural History Society - Clarke tirelessly promoted the natural beauties of Elora and tried to protect the environment of the Grand River gorge from the ravages of industry and human carelessness. Using Clarke's journalistic writings, his private diary, and a memoir he wrote later in life, Kenneth Dewar paints a vivid picture of Clarke's evolving sense of himself and his world in an age of profound transformation.

Author Biography

Kenneth C. Dewar is associate professor and chair of the Department of History, Mount Saint Vincent University.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Preface	xiii
1 The Falls of the Grand River	3	(22)
PART ONE POLEMICIST
2 Hopeful Emigration	25	(22)
3 Victorian Radical	47	(24)
4 Apostle of Refinement	71	(26)
5 The Education of an Optimist	97	(26)
PART TWO DIARIST
6 The Great Cow Case	123	(21)
7 Identity and Memory	144	(25)
8 "O, Lovely Elora"	169	(33)
9 Household Savant	202
PART THREE MEMOIRIST
10 Loyal Party Soldier	235	(17)
11 Looking Backward	252	(18)
Epilogue	270	(5)
Abbreviations	275	(2)
Notes	277	(44)
Index	321