Yonge Street

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Street

Yonge St.

Famously known as "the longest street in the world" – until 1999, Yonge Street is Toronto's main artery, connecting Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe.[1] The Guinness Book of World Records held Yonge Street as the longest road until 1998, but it was taken out in 1999. The possibility that Yonge was the longest road in the world came from what appeared to be a continuation of Yonge on Highway 11. If it happened to be the same road, the street would be over 1800 kilometers in length.[2]

Yonge Street was integral to the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, forming the concession roads in Ontario today. Once the southernmost leg of Highway 11, linking the provincial capital with northern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario." Ontario's first colonial administrator, John Graves Simcoe, named the road for his companion Sir George Yonge, an expert on ancient Roman roads.[3] However, the name has sparked controversies today because Sir George Yonge was a corrupt person and a slave trader.

The Namesake: George Yonge, public figure background

Portrait of Sir George Yonge

Sir George Yonge was a British Secretary at War (1782–1783 and 1783–1794). He was one of the experts on Roman Streets: “He was a man of letters, an F.R.S., and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, to which he communicated an excellent memoir on the subject of Roman roads and camps, in connection with some discoveries that had been made at Mansfied, in Nottinghamshire, and hence the peculiar fitness of naming Yonge Street after him, it being precisely such a road, and adapted to similar uses, as those he had been engaged in examining."[4]

He was a Parliament member for his family's Rotten Borough of Honiton, Devon, from 1754 to 1761 and again from 1763 to 1796. He was cited for acquiring £80,000 from his father, received another £80,000 when he married, and £80,000 from Parliament, yet Honiton had "swallowed it all."[5] Honiton was one of the most venal boroughs in the kingdom. He is said to have spent colossal sums upon his constituency and trying to set up a woolen factory at Ottery St. Mary, by which he was known as a great loser.[6]

He was a man of long official experience when, on 9 Dec. 1799, he arrived at Cape Town; but it was an experience that had no special bearing on the work he had undertaken, and he was probably too old to fall readily into new lines of thought and conduct. He was appointed governor of the Cape of Good Hope in 1799. His government was marked by want of tact and judgment; he quarrelled with General Francis Dundas, the officer in command of the troops, whose authority he attempted to usurp; he offended the old Dutch settlers by increased taxes, contrary, it was alleged, to the capitulation; he left the administration of affairs almost entirely in the hands of Mr. Blake, his private secretary, and Lieutenant-colonel Cockburn, his principal aide-de-camp, whose influence and support were believed to be marketable commodities.[7]

Apparently, Yonge acted as a government of Cape Town to escape his debt. Before he left for the Cape, Yonge was returned for Old Sarum as an act of ‘compassion’ by Pitt’s kinsman Lord Camelford, who disregarded their political differences to provide him with immunity from his creditors: ‘he could not before that go beyond the precincts of the palace for fear of being arrested’. His appointment surprised many people, including the King. Lord Bathurst commented that ‘it seems to promise so very ill’, Macartney was said to be outraged by the choice of such a successor and Addington later described it as a disgraceful job which he had tried to prevent.[8]

Within ten months, the Cape town was largely a political disaster for the British Government and the colony, and he found a formidable enemy in Lady Anne Barnard. Dundas told the King that he would have to be recalled:

his conduct ... has in such a variety of particulars been so wild and extravagant as to render it impossible to continue him in that government without exposing this country to the imputation of being indifferent to the concerns of that most important settlement.[6]

At the same time Wellesley wrote to Dundas from India:

My accounts from the Cape all concur in representing that government to be in a state of great confusion. The imbecility and ignorance of Sir George Yonge entirely disqualify him for his situation ... The importance of the Cape in its relation to India increases every hour ... Yonge is employed in founding theatres and masquerade rooms. He dances with more grace and perseverance than Lord Keeper Hatton; and the fame of his brawls has not only reached the kaffirs, and animated every kraal from the Cape to the desert of Sahara, but extended to the Indus and the Ganges.[6]

He was dismissed in September 1801. His enemy Lady Anne Barnard, a Cape resident, told Wellesley that:

the Lofty Twaddler has had the lofty tumble I foresaw ... [he] was petrified at the event. He is so conceited of his own abilities that nothing was farther from his expectation than being blamed for anything.[6]

She also mentioned that Yonge had accepted a huge bribe from an infamous slave trader to land a large number of slaves.[9]

The Controversy

Street Named After a Slave Trader

© Iziko Museums of South Africa, Social History Collections

Toronto Mayor John Tory is willing to consider renaming a major city street whose namesake obstructed the abolition of slavery, as a global movement to re-examine which historical figures are being honored gains momentum. Toronto Mayor John Tory said he had asked the city manager to strike a working group to look at the names of streets and public spaces, including Dundas and Yonge, that may not be acceptable at this time.[10]

According to Lady Anne Barnard, in her diary, Sir George Yonge was manipulated by members of his "court" and by leading colonists to such a degree that the political life of the colony degenerated into a state of corruption worse even than that which had obtained under the VOC regime. Yonge did his business through his private secretary, Richard Blake, instead of through the Colonial Secretary's office because Barnard was critical of the pervasive abuses and official indulgence. He connived at the bribery and jobbery, at illegal slave-trading and other dubious practices, such as granting of exclusive rights to favorites or the awarding of government land to supplicants.[11]

Despite being known as a corrupt person, Yonge was also known as a slave trader. By the early 1790s, the British instituted a ban on new licenses to bring in new slaves. Slave trade players were banned. This was an effort by the British government to gradually phase out the transatlantic slave trade. A law limiting the number of licenses to private slave trade companies was passed by the British parliament. Without licenses, Slave Traders (which are private entities) – who replenished the colonies with (new) slaves – could no longer operate. However, as governor of the Cape colony, George Yonge disregarded the ban (on slave import licenses). Yonge illegally granted countless new licenses to known abominable slave trade players such as Michael Hogan and others.[12]

Wilberforce's Anti-Slavery Movement

Adam Smith Institute Wilberforce Anti-Slavery Campaign

On Tuesday 12 May 1789, William Wilberforce delivered a speech regarding slave trading in the House of Commons. As reported by The Morning Star newspaper the after the speech; This was a dreadful expedient; and till now, he could not believe that so much misery could be condensed in so little room. He could wish to rouse the feelings of every man on the occasion, and convince the people that their intention and aid were the were the result of consideration, which did awaken him.[13]

The manner of treating negroes, during a long voyage, was to the following effect:—the space between the decks is appointed entirely for their lodging; every attention is paid to keep that as clean as possible; the negroes are kept on deck all day, if the weather be fine; they are fed with two meals of comfortable victuals; they are supplied with the luxuries of pipe and tobacco, and a dram occasionally, when the coldness of the weather requires it; they are supplied with the musical instruments of their country; they are encouraged to be cheerful, to sing and to dance, and they do both; the women are supplied with beads to ornament themselves; they are kept clean shaved; and every attention paid to their heads that there be no vermin lodged there; they are secured with fetters on their legs, two and two together; and if a turbulent disposition appears, with another on the wrist; their apartments are clean washed, and fumigated with the fumes of tar and frankincense, and sprinkled with vinegar, &c. As an extenuation of the crimes laid to the charge of the Agents for the Merchants, who are accustomed to this traffic, it has been mentioned with some degree of triumph, that they were treated on board with all manner of luxurious indulgence. The luxury alluded to was this—the song and the dance were promoted; the women were employed in weaving ornaments for the hair, and the utmost attention was observed to keep up their spirits. The truth of this observation was evidently the very reverse, and if it were possible to cast a film over the eyes of mankind, so as to deprive them of sight by a total blindness, the prevaricating mode of mentioning the transactions, could not be depicted in a more absurd point of view. The poor wretches were in such a deplorable state and unparalleled torment, and suffering such torture, that the surgeon who visited them, when bound two and two, could not pass without having his legs bitten by the slaves. . . It was extremely worthy of observation to explain how the songs and dances were promoted. It was not a scene of freedom or spontaneous joy; for one man was employed to dance the men, and another to dance the women. If they found themselves inclined not to undergo the fatigue, certain persons were ordered to whip them into a compliance.

As reported, Wilberforce first did not believe what he had heard; When first I heard, Sir, of these iniquities, I considered them as exaggerations, and could not believe it possible, that men had determined to live by exerting themselves for the torture and misery of their fellow-creatures. I have taken great pains to make myself master of the subject, and can declare, that such scenes of barbarity are enough to rouse the indignation and horror of the most callous of mankind. However, upon having more observation, he finally came up to the idea of anti-slavery movement.[13]

From every consideration I shall deal frankly with the House, by declaring, that no act of policy whatever will make me swerve from my duty and oblige me to abandon a measure which I think will be an honour to humanity. Mr. Wilberforce then mentioned, that he intended to submit to the consideration of the House, several resolutions, upon which a General Motion should be found for the TOTAL ABOLITION of the SLAVE TRADE.

Wilberforce passed as an Order in Council by the House of Commons in 1796. The Order in Council stipulated that slaves could only be landed at British possessions with the consent of the metropolitan government. Slave importation to the Cape Colony during the first and second British occupation was thus tightly limited and regulated.[14]

Slaves were continuously imported to the Cape from 1797-1808. The matter of colonial slave importation was a big issue, considering the influence of the antislavery movement in London. As a slave society, the Cape relied on slave labor. Slave importation was managed by the first British occupation's governors who maintained the VOC ruling that slaves had to be landed with the consent of the governor. Dundas permitted the Cape's governors to license slave importation when the time was right at the Cape. He allowed governors to use their discretion on his behalf, since postal communications (by ship) were slow and because 'exceptional circumstances' always arose. Slave importation was, therefore, managed by the first British occupation's governors who maintained the VOC ruling that slaves had to be landed with the consent of the governor. Sir George Yonge was the only governor who allegedly abused this power of discretion.[14]

Licenses for slave importation were sparingly issued by British governors after 1797. According to the Order-in-Council of December 1796, the British metropolitan government approved of licenses for the importation of slaves into the Cape colony.[15]

Yonge, Michael Hogan, and the Collector Scandal

Michael Hogan was an Irish-born shipowner, East India captain and a slave runner.[16] He had been importing slaves to Cape town ever since Macartney's governance. In May 1798, Macartney received a proposal from Hogan and Tennant to import 400 slaves from the west coast of Africa to the Cape. The governor accepted the application and gave the merchants twelve months (1 June 1798 to 31 May 1799) to complete their license. Hogan confirmed his acceptance of this license, writing:

"as it is an undertaking that no other person or persons would enter into, totally unknown, never has been attempted[17] and in consequence attended with great difficulty and much risk to the first adventurers, we humbly hope that Government will extend its indulgence as far as the existing laws will admit. Should the West African slave trade be successful, Hogan argued, 'many Applications [would] be poured in [to the governor's office] by persons less enterprizing who only wait the issue of our undertaking"

Hogan and Tennant's success in slave importation during the first British occupation suggests that this license secured the monopoly on slave importation to the Cape they so eagerly sought.[14]

Michael Hogan used legitimate and clandestine methods to bring slaves into the colony from La Rose, La Africano, the JoaQuim and Collector between November 1799 and April 1800. Shortly after the JoaQuim's departure (March 1799) from the Cape Hogan sent the Collector on a "privateering" 'cruise' for slaves in the Mozambique Channel - to seek out 'such Prizes as she may take'. This was the only legitimate way in which Hogan could work around the British colonial government's tight regulation of slave importation to the Cape. He first, however, had to obtain letters de marque from John Holand (judge of the Royal Navy's Vice-Admiralty Court). Yonge was rumored to have permitted Hogan the importation of at least 600 slaves into the colony during his first week as governor of the colony.[14]

The Collector however did not, capture slaves from French slave boats in the Mozambique channel. The boat was used to purchase slaves in Mozambique. This covert transaction ran contrary to the colonial administration's anti-slave trade stance. The 'prize slaves' were escorted to the Cape by the Collector, aboard its two French 'prize' vessels - La Rose and La Africano. On November 1799, the Collector escorted La Rose into Table Bay where the crew testified before the Vice-Admiralty Court that the boat and its cargo had been taken in an abandoned state off the Mahle islands. Forty-eight (out of sixty-eight) of the vessel's 'prize slaves' survived quarantine on Robben Island. On December 1799, the second 'prize' vessel, La Africano, arrived at the Cape with 25 slaves. The crew testified before the Vice-Admiralty Court they had found the boat abandoned near the Seychelles. The Court was under the impression that the vessels were headed for Mauritius.

On March 1800, the JoaQuim arrived at the Cape with 422 slaves. Hogan reminded Yonge of the permission to import slaves, which the governor had been "pleased to allow ... under the date of the 15th of last February [1800]". It happened that Hogan had submitted a petition to import slaves to General Fraser (who was in command at the Cape between governorships) before Yonge's arrival to the Cape. Hogan asked General Fraser to leave the petition in the governor's office: 'in case permission was granted for Slaves to be imported from Mozambique ... as he had made the first application. Michael Hogan submitted a second petition through Yonge's personal office (and private secretary, Mr Blake) shortly after Yonge's arrival at the Cape in mid-February 1800. Hogan anticipated the JoaQuim's arrival for March 1800 would be arriving at the Cape early in March 1800. He informed Yonge that JoaQuim's slaves would benefit the colony and be a meaningful response to the colony's great demand for slaves. He had bought the cargo and the captain of the ship had given him the power to sell the slaves where he pleased. Yonge then permitted Hogan to land the slave cargo.[14]

Ship's log that was auctioned recently. Photo credit: NSW Government

On 9 March 1800, Lady Anne witnessed the landing of these slaves. In her diary she mentioned;

"I passed a sort of open coast which had a paling round and on looking in saw an immense number of black bowls fixed to etruscan looking figures all in one attitude. I never saw anything so strange. I stopd the carriage and on inquiring what it was, was told it was 300 slaves of Mr Hogan's, part of his cargo which were to be sold next day and that 300 more were to be landed the day after tommorow."[18]

Royal Navy captains (stationed in Table Bay) also received information that s that governor Yonge had ordered the cargo's landing with his 'Express Permission'. Andrew Barnard notified Macartney on this issue: I recollect right you declared a man should not be landed; however when your back was turned it proved otherwise. Hogan sold a lading of 'prize slaves' on commission for the navy. After this sale, Hogan ostensibly sent the JoaQuim to Rio de Janeiro, while in fact, it was sent to Mozambique.[14]

In April 1800, Donald Campbell (Port Captain of Table Bay at the time) received reports of foul play with respect to the Collector from Walker and Robertson (business rivals of Hogan and Tennant). Campbell wrote to governor Yonge and to W.S Van Ryneveldt stating that he had full proof to produce that the Prizes when taken had not a slave on board the Privateer. Yonge had made veiled threats to Campbell in the hope that he would drop the matter.

Captain Smit and the crew of the Danish boat, the Holger Dansche, testified before the Court of Justice that they had witnessed the occurrence of a transshipment of slaves on the Zambezi river mouth between the JoaQuim and the Collector (under the name Mountain). It was unusual for the Collector to have flown British flags over French flags (signifying the capture of French 'prize vessels') when it had arrived at Mozambique without slaves. In the beginning, the Collector's crew presented confusing evidences before the Court of Justice. However, one of the officers aboard the Collector eventually testified that two logbooks had been kept during the boat's voyage. Upon the investigation, the Court of Justice concluded that the Collector's 'prize slave' had not been seized from French vessels in the south-west Indian Ocean, but purchased illegally at Mozambique. Michael Hogan, therefore, was suspected of fraud.[14]

In March 1802 Commission of Inquiry was formed to investigate charges made against Yonge. Yonge was the alleged recipient of a bribe worth several thousand pounds for a license that permitted Michael Hogan to import 600 slaves into the colony. This business was transacted through Yonge's private office by his niece's husband and private secretary, Blake, and Yonge's aide-de-camp, Major Cockburn. Blake and Cockburn had bought shares in Hogan's projected slave trade. The Commissioners concluded that: A very strong degree of presumption appears in the several circumstances brought forward, that [Yonge] connived at and promoted the corrupt practices carried on in his family.

Yonge informed the Secretary of State that he had 'consented to the supply of slaves being completed' in March 1800. The Commission of Inquiry (1802) concluded that Hogan was to blame for the Collector's illicit activities. Slave importation to the Cape was 'in its Zenith' during Yonge's governorship.[14]

When Dundas replaced Yonge in 1801, he was adamant to follow Macartney's example of a 'limited importation' of slaves to the Cape. Dundas permitted only one importation of slaves into the colony from 1801-1803. This was the last 'permitted' admission of slaves of the first British occupation period.

The Yonge Street Riot

Yonge Street riot remembered - NOW Magazine

The Yonge Street riot was an act of dissent in response to police brutality and police racism. The trigger was the acquittal of four white police officers in Los Angeles after the beating of Rodney King. Furthermore, another black man, Raymond Constantine Lawrence, was shot four times in the chest by a police officer within the same time frame of the Rodney King beating (Lawton 1992).[19] The Yonge Street riot occurred on the night of May 4, 1992.

The Yonge Street Riot started with a rally, organized by the Black Action Defence Committee in protest of the acquittal of four white police officers videotaped beating Rodney King, a black man in Los Angeles. Two days earlier, another reason for taking to the streets emerged. A white, plain-clothed police officer, in Toronto, shot and killed a 22 year old black man, who police alleged was dealing crack. At the protest, speakers reminded the crowd that the victim, Raymond Constantine Lawrence, was the 14th black man shot by the Toronto Police Service since 1978, (an average of one a year), and the 4th to die. The crowd of about 1,000 people was full of anger. They marched from the US consulate to Yonge and Bloor, where they sat down to block traffic for 45 minutes.[20]

As the protest headed down Yonge Street toward City Hall, the crowd swelled with street youth and teens who, according to social workers and teachers interviewed later, heard via the grapevine that there was an opportunity to go wild as they had on New Year’s Eve and following the closure of the previous year’s CNE. They attempted to enter City Hall but was blocked by mounted police. The crowd headed back north along Yonge and spent the next few hours in a destructive mood, as a diverse crowd of youths tipped hot dog carts, smashed windows, and looted storefronts. Police were instructed not to intervene unless people appeared to be in danger of physical harm. Many of the original protesters either left the scene in disgust or urged rioters to go home. By 10 p.m., police formed a wall along St. Mary Street at Bay. A lingering group of rioters headed toward Yonge and Yorkville, where they were finally dispersed, but not before somebody tossed a Molotov cocktail into the middle of the crowd. When the night was over, 30 people were arrested, mostly on disorderly conduct charges. Around 37 police officers and three police horses were injured, and 100 storefronts were damaged.[21]

As a result of the Yonge Street Uprising, several reports were commissioned in order to examine the extent of systemic racism within the Ontario criminal justice system. Although Ontario Premiere, Bob Rae, originally insisted that the riots were not due to racism, he later acknowledged that racism is “a Canadian fact of life that we all have to wrestle with”[22]

References

  1. Yonge Street through the years. yongelove.ca. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  2. mattsexsmith. WE ARE YONGE: EXPLORING 225 YEARS OF HISTORY ON ONTARIO'S OLDEST YONGE ST. Dec 4, 2018. gh360.ca. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  3. Yonge Street. Wikipedia. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  4. Engineering. Office for Advertisements and Publication. 1879. p. 389.
  5. Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet. Wikipedia. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 YONGE, Sir George, 5th Bt. (1732-1812), of Colyton and Escott House, Devon. historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  7. Laughton, John Knox. Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 63: Yonge, George. Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.286. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  8. Geo. III Corresp. iii. 1932; Wellesley Pprs. i. 89-90; Glenbervie Jnls. i. 148.
  9. Knowles, Rachel. The unconventional Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825). Nov 8, 2016. regencyhistory.net. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.
  10. Tory open to renaming Dundas Street over concerns about anti-Black racism. Publisher Jun 10, 2020. Updated Jun 11, 2020. theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.
  11. Le Cordeur, Basil & Margaret Lenta. The Cape Diaries of Lady Anne Barnard, 1799-1800. ebook. p. xvii.
  12. JM Fuamba, Benéshé. YONGE STREET NAMED AFTER BRITAIN'S ABSOLUTE RACIST AND WORST HUMAN BEING: BRITISH GOV. RECORDS. HENCE, NO YONGE LANDMARKS ANYWHERE IN THE UK. Mar 2, 2020. LinkedIn article. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Carey, Brycchan. [https://brycchancarey.com/Carey_AOJ_2003.pdf WILLIAM WILBERFORCE'S SENTIMENTAL RHETORIC: PARLIAMENTARY REPORTAGE AND THE ABOLITION SPEECH OF 1789]. PDF. AMS Press, Inc. New York. Retrieved Feb 18, 2021.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 Reidy, Michael Charles. THE ADMISSION OF SLAVES AND 'PRIZE SLAVES' INTO THE CAPE COLONY, 1797-1818. University of Cape Town. Retrieved Feb 17, 2021.
  15. CA A (Accession) 1415 (74), 'The Andrew Barnard Letterbook, 1797-1803', Andrew Barnard to Macartney, 10 March 1800.
  16. The Amazing Story Of Michael Hogan, Founder Of Harlem’s Claremont Inn, 1807-1833. Sept 11, 2017. Harlem World Magazine. Retrieved Feb 18, 2021.
  17. A slave voyage to the west coast of Africa had not been attempted during the first British occupation of the Cape. The first slave trade expeditions to the Cape were from Angola, before the Dutch West India Company curtailed that trade. Michael Hogan would have been aware of this trade, however.
  18. 8Lady Anne Barnard's Cape Journal cited from, Margaret Lenta, 'Degrees of freedom: Lady Anne Barnard's Cape Diaries', in Mike Leighton (ed.), Eighteenth Century Studies: The Rights of Man, (HSRC, Pretoria, 1992), p.76.
  19. msingh29. The Yonge Street Riot: Significance of Criminalization and Dissent. Mar 28, 2013. criminalizingdissent.wordpress.com. A critical analysis. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.
  20. The Yonge Street Riot. localwiki.org. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021
  21. Bradburn, Jamie. There’s a Riot Goin’ On Down Yonge Street. Aug 11, 2011. torontoist.com. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.
  22. Kyres, Maria. From the Yonge Street Riot to the Carding Controversy:Policing and Surveilling the Black Community in Toronto, Canada, 1992-2016. Sept, 2017. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. PDF. Retrieved Feb 15, 2021.