Excerpt from the first draft of:
Patriot Dreams
By Ed Schroeter
© 2001
Patriot Dreams is a one-act play for young audiences commissioned by Arbor Theatre in November 2000 with the financial support of the Laidlaw Foundation.
Time: November 16, 1837, five days after the rebel attack on Prescott and Fort Wellington (the Battle of the Windmill)
Place:
Scene 1: Gilchrist's General Store in Keene
Scene 2: Outside White's Hotel, Peterborough
The Characters:
1. JOHN: John Darcus was an enthusiastic Anglo-Irish, middle-class immigrant in his late 20s or early 30s. He was a Tory, a justice of the peace, a Sergeant in the 7th Provisional Battalion of Peterborough, and in November 1837 he founded Peterborough's first newspaper, the Peterborough Backwoodsman and Sentinel. In his writing he was an outspoken critic of Mackenzie and his rebels and a strong supporter of the British monarchy.
2. DOCTOR: Dr. John Gilchrist was a U.S. immigrant of Irish descent age 50 in this play. A perennial candidate for the office of M.P.P. (representative of the legislative assembly of Upper Canada), he was a reform politician. He immigrated to Canada from New Hampshire in 1825. Upon his arrival, he built a flour mill and general store on the Indian River and is credited with the founding of Keene, Ontario, Canada. He was the first doctor licensed in Upper Canada by the Upper Canada Medical Board.
3. COLONEL: Colonel Alexander McDonnel was best known as the man who looked after the Robinson immigrants once they were settled in Peterborough. He was also the commander of the local militia unit, the 7th Provisional Battalion of Peterborough. He was elected M.P.P. in 1834 and 1836 as a representative in Upper Canada's Legislative Assembly after providing free steamer transport for the convenience of voters along the Otonabee and setting up booths with free whiskey near polling places. He was defeated by Gilchrist in the election following the Rebellion of 1837. He is a drinker, but a man with the ability to be very drunk and very lucid at the same time. A Catholic, he came to Canada as a boy with his uncle, a Catholic Bishop, and held a commission as a Second Lieutenant, fighting in the War of 1812 with the Canadian Fencibles. He fought in the Battle of Sackett's Harbor. In 1825 he was employed by Peter Robinson to assist Irish immigrants in locating on their lands. In the play he is aged 52.
4. FRASER: Captain Andrew Simon Fraser, age 46, was, a leading Justice of the Peace, the Returning Officer for District of Colborne, a Tory, and respected by all as a man of fairness and integrity. Originally from Roxboroughshire, Scotland, he is a half-pay Lieutenant from Britain's 42nd Regiment. After fighting at the battles of Quatre-Bras and Waterloo, he retired to Canada on half-pay.
The Set:
A simple, uncluttered modular set consisting of wooden planks, barrels, cubes and prisms of various sizes will efficiently serve this production well, particularly as it is designed to tour. The wooden objects will be used to suggest a variety of locales and objects. Simple costumes and a few hand props to suggest the period and the action of the play will suffice.
At rise:
There are several barrels of "gunpowder" sitting near each other at some point on stage. DOCTOR begins heaving the barrels, one at a time, to a point off stage. He is loading them onto a "wagon." Enter JOHN, staggering in, looking dirty, worn-out, and weary. He leans heavily against a wall or on a piece of furniture to support him and keep him standing.
Scene 1: Gilchrist's General Store, Keene
JOHN: Morning, Dr. Gilchrist.
(DOCTOR looks up from heaving a barrel of "gunpowder" and sets it down.)
DOCTOR: Well, if it isn't John Darcus, the bane of my political career -- Colonel McDonell's axe man himself.
JOHN: Please, doctor. Now is not the time for partisan politics.
DOCTOR: No, probably not. You're too discouraged by the election results, Darcus. It's the second day of voting, John, and as of last night I was leading in the polls with a huge majority. By tomorrow tonight, I'll be the Colborne District's new representative in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. 1838 is going to usher in a new era for impoverished farmers and struggling merchants.
JOHN: Doctor ... I've come for your horse.
DOCTOR: I see. A little tired after being out all night hunting wolves for the bounty money again, Mr. Darcus?
JOHN: It's Sergeant Darcus this morning, sir.
DOCTOR: Ah! Out chasing phantom rebels through the woods all night again then, is it, Sergeant?
JOHN: I was on guard duty at the ferry dock at Sully, doctor.
DOCTOR: (sarcastically) And I suppose the rebels attacked Rice Lake for its strategic importance and you managed to beat them off.
JOHN: It's no laughing matter, doctor. The Stage Coach delivered news of a rebel attack on Prescott five days ago.
DOCTOR: That's 200 miles from here.
JOHN: On Nov. 11, four hundred rebels crossed the St. Lawrence River from the United States into Upper Canada at Prescott. They were planning to attack Fort Wellington, but luckily for us they lost their bearings and holed up at Windmill Point.
DOCTOR: Why, there's nothing there but an old windmill.
JOHN: The Incorporated Militia and a few regulars from the garrison repulsed the attack and have taken 160 prisoners. They arrested ten leaders and took them to Kingston to be tried and hanged.
DOCTOR: Trial and execution in the same breath, Darcus? You make it sound as if their guilt's a foregone conclusion.
JOHN: They crossed our border and invaded my home.
DOCTOR: And in Upper Canada we believe in the due process of law. For God's sake, man. It's 1838, not the Dark Ages. In 1838 in Upper Canada men are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Right, Mr. Justice-of-the-Peace Darcus, (sarcastically) esquire?
JOHN: They killed 14 of our militiamen!
DOCTOR: Men who should have known better than to be out playing at war.
JOHN: Those "men" were doing nothing less heroic than defending our property, our loved ones, our lives, and our freedom, sir.
DOCTOR: They were fools to get involved!
JOHN: Fourteen of those fools gave their lives to protect you.
DOCTOR: Oh, please! Spare me the mock patriotism.
JOHN: We should honour them as heroes for their personal sacrifice to save our colony.
DOCTOR: Those militiamen had no common sense whatsoever. If they had, they would have let the rebels invade unopposed, attack the fort, and saved themselves.
JOHN: That's sedition, sir!
DOCTOR: Well I ask you, "How could a band of 400 disorganized, poorly equipped Irishmen take over the entire province of Upper Canada?"
JOHN: Persuasion, Dr. Gilchrist.
DOCTOR: They couldn't even find Fort Wellington to attack it!
JOHN: They don't need to sack and burn to take our colony over.
DOCTOR: The worst the rebels can do is burn down a few barns before the regular regiments capture them and send them packing across the border.
JOHN: Easy for you to say, doctor, but if somebody came and attacked your home I don't think you'd stand idly by and wait for the troops to arrive. I think you'd you pick up a weapon and fight.
DOCTOR: I've met some of your rebels and American sympathizers. They couldn't even take a cow prisoner if their lives depended on it.
JOHN: Consorting with the enemy?!
DOCTOR: Nothing of the sort, Darcus. Nevertheless, those I've encountered are incompetent dreamers.
JOHN: Incompetent they may be, but they killed 14 of your countrymen and wounded another 67.
DOCTOR: My countrymen, the militia, by their aggressive actions, made themselves legitimate targets for the rebel attackers.
JOHN: If we allow the rebels and American sympathizers to stay on Canadian soil for more than a minute, we give them an opportunity to sow the seeds of discord. We can't let those seeds take root. We must dig them out.
DOCTOR: You're just using the threat of rebel attacks to maintain the status quo -- from which you and your Tory cronies benefit. As long as the Family Compact runs Upper Canada and the Tories have the majority in the legislative assembly you'll have income from government sources.
JOHN: I'm above that sort of nepotism and self-interest, sir.
DOCTOR. Come on, Darcus. Everyone knows that government favoritism is rampant. The only way anyone can get a government job in this colony these days is to be a friend, relative, or ally of Governor of Upper Canada.
JOHN: Government appointments are based on merit.
DOCTOR: Hm. Let's look at your case, for example. You're from Ireland, but your family is English and part of the class of Anglo-Irish country squires. In addition to your pay as a non-commissioned militia officer, there's also your wage as Justice of the Peace and your salary as District Clerk -- $160 per year. Then there's the advertising revenue you make from all your Tory friends with your newspaper.
JOHN: The rebel threat is very real and terrifies me, sir.
DOCTOR: Ideas are not plants, Mr. Darcus. They don't grow unless people believe in them. And your fellow Upper Canadians, at least round about these parts, aren't as gullible or as naive as you would have me believe.
JOHN: Gullible, no. Susceptible to the influence of clever propaganda, yes.
DOCTOR: Give your fellow Upper Canadians some credit, please Mr. Darcus. Even Dunbar Moodie, who marched with the government forces against the rebels at York, is becoming aware of the abuses of our current government. We might be backwoods, but we're not backwards.
JOHN: The Republicans are very persuasive, Dr. Gilchrist. And their notion of rebellion is very seductive to financially struggling farmers.
DOCTOR: Nonsense. The vast majority of residents whom I doctor or to whom I sell my goods are loyal British subjects who just want a fair shake. They'd be happy if the government improved the roads and the schools 'round about these parts.
JOHN: People become impatient for solutions as problems accumulate. People want a quick solution, and that's exactly what rebellion promises them.
DOCTOR: Regardless of that fact, there's not one person in the entire Colborne District, from Peterborough to Cobourg, from Millbrook to Havelock, who'd follow William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebels -- not even Francis Young.
JOHN: We can't afford to take the chance.
DOCTOR: I think we can. Mr. Young is a perfect example of the type of citizen who lives in this community. He's a widower and a bankrupt engineer who came from Ireland to Upper Canada with the Robinson immigration. He overcame seasickness, fever, and poor sanitation on the ocean crossing from the Port of Cork to Quebec City, endured a four-month-long overland journey to the shore of Lake Ontario, lived in tents on a marshy flat for two months during which time 33 people in the group died, spent 10 days repairing the road from Cobourg to Rice Lake, watched 13 of his friends die as the group travelled this 12-mile route by wagon, spent eight days building three scows to transport the group across Rice Lake, and arrived at Scott's Plains in Peterborough where the settlers had to build their own shelters.
JOHN: What's all that got to do with the rebellion of 1837-38?
DOCTOR: After surviving that horrible ordeal, I don't think that it's too much for him to be able to afford a warm house in which to live and to have decent roads on which to travel. His dwelling is anything but comfortable. In all my travels, I've never found such a cold house as his and his neighbours'. And the roads! In Peterborough there are only three passable roads: George Street, Hunter Street East, and Sherbrooke Street West. There are growing trees or pine stumps on the rest of the roads. Yet despite all these privations, past and present, Mr. Young and his neighbours aren't rebels; they are Reformers. There's a big difference. We have nothing to fear from their desire to improve conditions in Upper Canada for themselves and others.
JOHN: Some of the rebels who attacked at Prescott and Fort Wellington escaped capture. They might be making their way here to attack.
DOCTOR: That's 200 miles from here. They'd make their mischief at Brockville or Kingston before they'd ever come this far.
JOHN: We could all be in great danger!
DOCTOR: Look, John. There's nothing to worry about. After such a spectacular defeat at Prescott, the rebels would scurry back home to lick their wounds before launching another attack.
JOHN: Nevertheless, I have to get word to Colonel McDonnel so he can call out the 7th Provisional Battalion.
DOCTOR: Muster three hundred militiamen just to alleviate your fear? Come on, John. Be sensible. I'm perfectly willing to take you home to Peterborough -- I have to go into to Peterborough anyway to make sure that your Colonel isn't up to his old election tricks again -- but you'll have to adjust to my schedule. I'll be there by the time the polling place opens, but it's going to be a slow ride in this morning.
JOHN: Not good enough, doctor. I'm taking your horse.
DOCTOR: Sorry, John. Old Ben's pulling my wagon for me this morning.
JOHN: I'm commandeering him in the name of the 7th Provisional Battalion of Peterborough Embodied Militia.
DOCTOR: Zaccheus Burnham is going to meet me in Peterborough and pick up this wagon load of gunpowder. We're going to increase the flow of water in Indian River to his mill in Warsaw.
JOHN: You'll have to blast through the granite ridge with gunpowder.
DOCTOR: Exactly.
JOHN: That'll be dozens of casks of black powder. It's too risky to be openly transporting explosives with so many rebels about. If they ever got their hands on the gunpowder they could do a lot of damage.
DOCTOR: Yes John, but as I've explained, there is no risk. You make it sound as if there's been a rebel invasion, Darcus, but it's all in your imagination.
JOHN: I'll have to take the whole rig -- horse, wagon, gunpowder and all.
DOCTOR: You've exhausted my patience, John. There's nothing more I can say. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do. (DOCTOR begins to carry a "gunpowder" barrel off stage.)
JOHN: In the name of Colonel McDonnel, commanding officer of the 7th Provisional Militia Battalion, and his Excellency, Sir George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, I confiscate your horse, wagon, and gunpowder.
DOCTOR: I will gladly release these items to you, Sergeant Darcus, upon receipt of Colonel McDonell's written orders.
(JOHN threatens DOCTOR, levelling a sword or pistol or rifle at DOCTOR.)
JOHN: I'm serious now, doctor.
DOCTOR: Go ahead, Darcus. Kill me. I'd like to see how that story plays on the front page of your newspaper -- if they let you publish your Backwoods Sentinel and Times newspaper while you're behind bars. (Long Pause.)
JOHN: (lowering weapon) How can I make you understand the gravity of the situation?
DOCTOR: How can I make you understand that you're letting your fear get the better of you?
(Pause.)
JOHN: I don't want your professional sympathy, doctor. I want your horse.
DOCTOR: You should leave the soldiering to others and stick to what you're good at Darcus -- convincing local electors to vote for the Tories.
JOHN: That's all been taken care of, doctor.
DOCTOR: I meant the slanderous lies you print about me under the pretext of objective articles in that Tory rag of yours which you dare to call a newspaper. What did you mean?
JOHN: That at the end of the day we'll have more votes than you and we'll win this election.
DOCTOR: You're saying that the Colonel is buying votes again.
JOHN: I don't think a spot of tea will improve the Colonel's chance of winning this election.
DOCTOR: (sarcastically) I've heard about the Colonel's "tea" and his "refreshment booths." Whiskey is one of his most persuasive allies.
JOHN: Far more persuasive than your rhetoric.
DOCTOR: Sergeant, we're going to pay the esteemed Colonel a visit at the polling place -- right now. (grabbing his riding crop and JOHN) Come on. We're going to Peterborough. (DOCTOR cracks his whip in the air and pulls JOHN along after him.) White's Hotel on Sherbrooke Street, here we come.
JOHN: Why the ... rush?
(Exit DOCTOR and JOHN. Enter COLONEL. He inhabits a different location than JOHN and DOCTOR. COLONEL sets up a counter, reminiscent of a child's lemonade stand, and hangs up one or more signs. The signs might read, "McDonell's Refreshment Booth," "Vote For Colonel McDonnel for M.P.P.," or "Tory Tea." COLONEL may also set out a china teapot and one or more cups and saucers.)
