The Republic of Canada was a declared government proclaimed by William Lyon Mackenzie on December 13, 1837. The self-proclaimed government was established on Navy Island in the Niagara River in the latter days of the Upper Canada Rebellion after Mackenzie and 200 of his followers retreated from Toronto.
On December 29, Royal Navy Commander Andrew Drew and seven boatloads of Canadian militiamen crossed the Niagara River to Fort Schlosser. They captured the American supply steamer Caroline used by William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebels on Navy Island (see Caroline Affair). Drew's forces set the ship alight and sent it adrift towards Niagara Falls, resulting in the death of one American.
On January 13, 1838, Mackenzie abandoned Navy Island under heavy fire from British troops. He fled to Buffalo, New York, and was sentenced in the U.S. to 18 months imprisonment for violating neutrality laws between the United States and the British Empire.
Famous quotes containing the words republic of, republic and/or canada:
“The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)