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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichA, 11 est f llmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nteessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I'U 'M A n-vAWiNG n/ ail HAMKl. A>'rER THK nnoiilAI. TH'TURh A'l' :.■' MAl.li # Ii \ INTRODUCTION. England and France started in a fair race for tlie magnificent prize of supremacy in America. The advantages and difficulties of each were much aUke, but the systems by which they improved those advantages and met those difficulties, were essentially different. New France was colonised by a government, New England by a people. In Canada the men of intellect, influence, and wealth, were only the agents of the mother country ; they fulfilled, it is true, their colonial duties with zeal and abihty, but they ever looked to France for honour and approbation, and longed for a return to her shores as their best reward : they were in the colony but not of it ; they strove vigorously to repel invasion, to improve agriculture, and to encourage commerce for the sake of France, but not for Canada. The mass of the population of New France were descended from settlers sent out within a short time VI INTRODUCTION. after the first occupation of the country, and who were not selected for any pecuhar qualifications. They were not led to emigrate from the spirit of adventure, disappointed ambition, or political discontent ; by far the larger proportion left their native country under the pressure of extreme want or in blind obedience to the will of their superiors. They were then established in points best suited to the interests of France, not those best suited to their own. The physical condition of the humbler emigrant however became better than that of his countrymen in the Old World ; the fertile soil repaid his labour with competence ; independence fostered self-reUance, and the unchecked range of forest and prairie inspired him with thoughts of freedom. But all these elevating tendencies were fatally counter- acted by the blighting influence of feudal organisation. Restrictions humiliating as well as injurious pressed upon the person and property of the Canadian. Every avenue to wealth and influence was closed to him and thrown open to the children of Old France. He saw whole tracts of the magnificent country lavished upon the favourites and military followers of the court, and through corrupt or capricious influences the privilege of exclusive trade granted for the aggrandisement of strangers at his expense. France founded a state in Canada ; she established a INTRODUCTION. vu Ibutlal and ecclesiastical frame-work for the young nation, and into that Procrustean bed the growth of population, and the proportions of society were forced. The State fixed governments at Montreal, Three Rivera, and Quebec ; there towns arose : she divided the rich banks of the St. Lawrence and of the Richelieu into seigneuries ; there population spread : she placed posts on the lakes and rivers of the far west ; there the fur-traders congregated : she divided the land into dioceses and parishes, and appointed bishops and curates ; a portion of all produce of the soil was exacted for their support : she sent out che people at her own cost, and acknowledged no shadow of popular rights ; she organised the inhabitants by an unsparing conscription, and placed over them ofiicers either from the Old Country or from the favoured class of Seigneurs : she grasped a monopoly of every valuable produrtion of the country, and yet forced upon it her own manu- factures to the exclusion of all others : she squandered her resources and treasures on the colony, but violated all principles of justice in a vain endeavour to make that colony a source of wealth : she sent out the ablest and best of her ofiicers to govern on the falsest and worst of systems : her energy absorbed all individual energy ; her perpetual and minute interference aspired to shape and direct all will and motive of her subjects. '111 INTRODUCTION. The State was everything, the people nothing. Finally, when the power of the State was broken by a foreign foe, there remained no power of the People to supply its place. On the day that the French armies ceased to resist, Canada was a peaceful province of British America. A few years after the French Crown had fourded a State in Canada, a handful of Puritan refugees founded a People in New England. They bore with them from the Mother Country little beside a bitter hatred of the existing government, and a stern resolve to perish or be free. One small vessel — the Mayflower — held them, their wives, their children, and their scanty stores. So ignorant were they of the country of their adoption, that they sought its shores in the depth of winter when nothing but a snowy desert met their sight. Dire hardships assailed them ; many sickened and died, but those who lived still strove bravely. And bitter was their trial ; the scowhng sky above their heads, the frozen earth under their feet, and sorest of all, deep in their strong hearts the unacknowledged love of that venerable land which they had abandoned for ever. But brighter times soon came ; the snowy desert changed into a fair scene of life and vegetation. The woods rang with the cheerful sound of the axe ; the fields' were tilled hopefully, the liarvest gathered grate- fully. Other vessels arrived bearing more settlers. INTRODUCTION, IX Finally, roign foo, its place, to resist, )rica. mrded a founded cm from d of the •erish or Id them, res. So doption, winter I* sight, id died, ter was ds, the leep in 'f that r. desert The i; the grate- ttlers, men for the most part like those who had first landed. Their numbers swelled to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. They formed themselves into a community ; they decreed laws, stern and quaint, but suited to their condition. They had neither rich nor poor ; they admitted of no superiority save in their own gloomy estimate of merit ; they persecuted all forms of faith different from that which they themselves held, and yet they would have died rather than suffer the religious interference of others. Far from seeking or accepting aid from the government of England, they patiently tolerated their nominal dependence only because they were virtually independent. For pro- tection against the savage ; for relief in pestilence or famine ; for help to plenty and prosperity, they trusted alone to God in heaven, and to their own right hand on earth. Such in the main were the ancestors of the men of New England, and in spite of all subsequent admixture such in the main were they themselves. In the other British colonies also, hampered though they were by Charters, and proprietary rights, and alloyed by a Babel congregation of French Huguenots, Dutch, Swedes, Quakers, Nobles, Roundheads, Canadians, Rogues, Zealots, Infidels, Enthusiasts, and Felons, a general prosperity had created individual self-reliance, INTRODUCTION. •i and solf-rolianco had engendered the desire of self- government. Eacli colony contained a separate vitality within itself. They commenced under a variety of systems ; more or less practicable, more or less liberal, and more or less dependent on the Parent State. But the spirit of adventure, the disaffection, and the disappointed ambition which had so rapidly recruited their population gave a general bias to their political feelings which no arbitrary authority could restrain, and no institutions counteract. They were less intolerant and morose, but at the same time also less industrious and moral than their Puritan neighbours. Like them, however, they resented all interference from England as far as they dared, and constantly strove for the acquisition or retention of popular rights. The British colonists, left at first in a great measure to themselves, settled on the most fertile lands, built their towns upon the most convenient harbours, directed their industry to the most profitable commerce, raised the most valuable productions. The trading spirit of the mother country became almost a passion when transferred to the New World ; enterprise and industry were stimulated to incredible activity by brilliant suc- cess and ample reward. As wealth and the means of subsistence increased, so multiplied the population. Early marriages were universal ; a numerous family INTRODUCTION. xi > of self- ;o vitality arioty of s liberal, t State, and the recruited political aiu, and itolerant ustrious e them, England for the leasure }, built irected raised irit of when lustry ; suc- (leans ition. imily was the riches of the parent. Thousands of immigrants also from year to year swelled the living flood that poured over the wilderness. In a century and a half the inhabitants of British America exceeded nearly twenty-fold the people of New France. Tho relative superiority of tho first over tho last, was oven greater in wealth and resources than in population. Tho merchant navy of tho English colonies was already larger than that of many European nations, and known in almost every port in tho world, where men bought and sold. New France had none. The French colonies were founded and fostered by the State with the real object of extending the dominion, increasing the power, and illustrating tho glory of Franco. The ostensible object of settlement, at least that holding the most prominent place in all Acts and Charters, was to extend the true religion, and to minister to tho glory of God. From tho earliest time the ecclesiastical establishments of Canada were formed on a scale suited to these professed views. Not only was ample provision made for the spiritual wants of the European population, but the labours of many earnest and devoted men were directed to the enUghtenment of the Heathen Indians. At first the Church and the civil government leant upon each other for nuitual support and assistance, but after a time, when neither Xll INTRODUCTION. of these powers found themsehc j troubled with popular opposition, their union grew less intimate ; their interests differed, jealousies ensued, and finally they became antagonistic orders in the community. The mass of the people, more devout than intelligent, sympathised with the priesthood ; this sympathy did not, however, interfere with unqualified submission to the government. The Canadians were trained to implicit obedience to their rulers, spiritual and temporal : these rulers ventured not to imperil their absolute authority by educating their vassals. It is true there were a few seminaries and schools under the zealous administration of the Jesuits ; but even that instruction was unat- tainable by the general population ; thr ie who walked in the moonlight which such reflected rays afforded, were not likely to become troublesome as sectarians or pohticians. Much credit for sincerity cannot be given to those who professed to promote the education of the people, when no printing-press was ever permitted in Canada during the government of France. Canada, unprovoked by Dissent, was altogether free from the stain of religious persecution : hopelessly fettered in the chains of metropolitan power, she was also undisturbed by poUtical agitation. But this calm was more the stillness of stagnation than the tranquillity of content. Without a press, without any semblance of INTRODUCTION. XIU given r free lessly e was calm lillity ice of popular representation, there liardly remained other alternatives than tame submission or open mutiny. By hereditary habit and superstition the Canadians were trained to the first, and by weakness and want of energy they were incapacitated for the last. Although the original charter of New England asserted the king's supremacy in matters of religion, a full understanding existed that on this head ample latitude should be allowed ; ample latitude was accord- ingly taken. She set up a system of faith of her own, and enforced conformity. But the same spirit that had excited the colonists to dissent from the Church of England, and to sacrifice home and friends in the cause, soon raised up among them a host of dissenters from their own stern and peculiar creed. Their clergy had sacrificed much for conscience-sake, and were generally " faithful, watchful, painful, serving their flock daily with prayers and tears," some among them also men of high European repute. They had often, however, the mortification of seeing their congregations crowding to hear the ravings of any knave or enthusiast who broached a new doctrine. Most of these mischievous fanatics were given the advantage of that interest and sympathy which a cruel and unnecessary persecution invariably excites. All this time freedom of individual judgment was the watchword of the persecutors. There is no XIV INTRODUCTION. If I I l;i doubt that strong measures were necessary to curb the furious and profane absurdities of many of the seceders, who were the very outcasts of rehgion. On considering the criminal laws of the time, it would also appear that not a few of the outcasts of society also had found their way to New England. The code of Massachusetts contained the description of the most extraordinary collection of crimes that ever defaced a statute-book, and the various punishments allotted to each. In one grand point the pre-eminent merit of the Puritans must be acknowledged : they strove earnestly and conscientiously for what they held to be the truth. For this they endured with unshaken constancy, and persecuted with unremitting zeal. The suicidal policy of the Stuarts had, for a time, driven all the upholders of civil liberty into the ranks of sectarianism. The advocates of the extremes of religious and political opinion flocked to America, the furthest point from Kings and Prelates that they could conveniently reach. Engrafted on the stubborn temper of the Englishman, and planted in the genial soil of the West, the love of this civil and religious liberty grew up with a vigour that time only served to strengthen ; that the might of armies vainly strove to overcome. Thus, ultimately, the persecution under the Stuarts was the most powerful cause ever yet employed INTRODUCTION. XV curb the I seceders, )nsidering pear that und their achusetts lordinary ute-book, t of the earnestly he truth, icy, and a time, e ranks mes of ica, the y could temper of the y grew then ; rcome. tuarts )loyed towards the liberation of man in his path through earth to Heaven. For many years England generally refrained from interference with her American Colonies in matters of local government or in religion. They taxed them- selves, made their own laws, and enjoyed religious freedom in their own way. In one State only, in Virginia, was the Church of England established, and even there it was accorded very Httle help by the temporal authority : in a short time it ceased to receive the support of the majority of the settlers, and rapidly decayed. On one point, however, the mother country claimed and exacted the obedience of the colonists to the imperial law. In her commercial code she would not permit the slightest relaxation in their favour, whatever the peculiar circumstances of their condition might be. This short-sighted and unjust restriction was borne, partly because it could not be resisted, and partly because at that early time the practical evil was but lightly felt. Although the principle of repre- sentation was seldom specified in the earlier charters, the colonists in all cases assumed it as a patter of right : they held that their privileges as Englishmen accompanied them wherever they went, and this was generally admitted as a principle of colonial policy. In the 1 7th century England adopted the system of Ill XVI INTRODUCTION. !' ) : transportation to the American Colonies. The felons were, however, too Hmited in numbers to make any serious inroad upon the morals or tranquillity of the settlers. Many of the convicts were men sentenced for political crimes, but free from any social taint ; the labouring population therefore did not regard them with contempt, nor shrink from their society. It may be held, therefore, that this partial and peculiar system of transportation introduced no distinct element into the constitution of the American nation. The British colonisation in the New World differed essentially from any before attempted by the nations of modern Europe, and has led to results of immeasurable importance to mankind. Even the magnificent empire of India sinks into insignificance, in its bearings upon the general interests of the world, by comparison with the Anglo-Saxon empire in America. The success of each, however, is unexampled in history. In the great military and mercantile colony of the East an enormous native population is ruled by a dominant race, whose number amounts to less than a four-thousandth part of its own, but whose superiority in war and civil government is at present so decided as to reduce any efforts of opposition to the mere outbursts of hopeless petulance. In that golden land, however, even the Anglo-Saxon race cannot increase and multiply ; INTRODUCTION. XVU The felons 3 make any 'iWity of the 1 sentenced I taint ; the gard them Y' It may har system ^ment into Id differed nations of leasurable fit empire 'igs upon ison with uccess of y of the d by a ss than •eriority iided as itbursts !r, even Itiply ; the children of English parents degenerate or perish under its fatal sun. No permanent settlement or infusion of blood takes place. Neither have we effected any serious change in the manners or customs of the East Indians ; on the other hand, we have rather assimi- lated ours to theirs. We tolerate their various religions, and we learn their language ; but in neither faith nor speech have they approached one tittle towards us. We have raised there no gigantic monument of power either in pride or for utility; no temples, canals, or roads remain to remind posterity of our conquest and dominion. Were the English rule over India suddenly cast off, in a single generation the tradition of our Eastern empire would appear a splendid but baseless dream, that of our administration an allegory, — of our victories a romance. In the great social colonies of the West the very essence of vitality is their close resemblance to the parent State. Many of the coarser inherited elements of strength have been increased. Industry and adven- ture have been stimulated to an unexampled extent by the natural advantages of the country, and free institutions have been developed almost to license by general prosperity, and the absence of external danger. Their stabiUty, in some one form or another, is undoubted : it rests on the broadest possible basis — on the universal 6 I! |l * n xvni INTRODUCTION. will of the nation. Our vast empire in India rests only on the narrow basis of the superiority of a handftil of Englishmen ; should any untoward fato shake the Atlas strength that bears the burthen, the superincumbent mass must fall in ruins to the earth. With far better cause may England glory in the land of her revolted children than in that of her patient slaves : the prosperous cities and busy seaports of America are prouder memorials of her race than the servile splendour of Calcutta, or the ruined ramparts of Seringapatam. In the earlier periods the British Colonies were only the reflection of Britain ; in later days their light has served to illumine the political darkness of the European Continent. The attractive example of American democracy proved the most important cause that has acted upon European society since the Reformation. Towards the close of George II.'s reign England had reached the lowest point of national degradation recorded in her history. The disasters of her fleets and armies abroad were the natural fruits of almost universal corruption at home. The admirals and gene- rals, chosen by a German king and a subservient ministry, proved worthy of the mode of their selection. An obsequious parliament served but to give the appa- rent sanction of the people to the selfish and despotic measures of the crown. Many of the best blood and INTRODUCTION. XIX L rests only handftil of ' the Atlas incumbent far better f revolted )rosperous prouder mdour of tam. In only the IS served iJuropean .merican phat has ion. nd had adation f fleets almost I gene- 3rvient ection. appa- spotic I and of the highest chivalry of the land still held loyal devo- tion to the exiled Stuarts ; while the mass of the nation, disgusted by the sordid and unpatriotic acts of the existing dynasty, regarded it with sentiments of dislike but little removed from positive hostility. A sullen discontent paralysed the vigour of England, obstructed her councils, and blunted her .sword. In the cabinets of Europe, among the colonists of America, and the millions of the East alike, her once glorious name had sunk almost to a bye-word of reproach. But " the darkest hour is just before the dawn :" a new disaster, more humiliating, and more inexcusable than any which had preceded, at length goaded the passive indignation of the British people into irresistible actioji. The spirit that animated the men who spoke at Runnj'^- mede, and those who fought on Marston Moor, was not dead, but sleeping. The free institutions which wisdom had devised, time hallowed, and blood sealed, were evaded but not overthrown. The nation arose as one man, and with a peaceful, but stern determination, demanded that these things should cease. Then for "the hour," the hand of the All Wise supplied "the man." The light of Pitt's genius, the fire of his patriotism, like the dawn of an unclouded morning, soon chased away the chilly night which had so long darkened over the fortunes of his country. 1,2 XX INTRODUCTION. 1- !i ! But not even the genius of the great minister, aided as it was by the awakened spirit of the British people, would have sufficed to rend Canada from France with- out the concurrent action of many and various causes : the principal of these was, doubtless, the extraordinary growth of our American settlements. When the first French colonists founded their military and ecclesiastical establishments at Quebec, upheld by the favour and strengthened by the arms of the mother country, they regarded with little uneasiness the unaided efforts of their English rivals in the South. But these dangerous neighbours rose with wonderful rapidity from few to many, from weak to powerful. The cloud, which had appeared no greater than " a man's hand " on the political horizon, spread rapidly wider and wider, above and below, till at length from out its threatening gloom the storm burst forth which swept away the flag of France. As a military event, the conquest of Canada was a matter of little or no permanent importance : it can only rank as one among the numerous scenes of blood that give an intense but morbid interest to our national annals. The surrender of Niagara and Quebec were but the acknowledgment or final symbol of the victory of English over French colonisation. For three years the admirable skill of Montcalm and the valour of his 1 INTllODUCTION. XXI ter, aided (li people, nee with- 3 causes : lordinary the first esiastical our and ;ry, they fforts of mgerous few to ieh had on the wider, atening he flag was a it can blood itional were ictory years of his troops deferred the inevitable catastrophe of the colony : then the destiny was accomplished. Franco had for that time played out her part in the history of the New World ; during 150 years her threatening power had served to retain the English colonies in interested loyalty to protecting England. Notwith- standing the immense material superiority of the British Americans, the fleets and armies of the mother country were indispensable to break the barrier raised up against them by the union, skill, and courage of the French. Montcalm's far-sighted wisdom suggested consolation even in his defeat and death. In a remarkable and almost prophetic letter, which he addi-essed to M. de Berryer during the siege of Quebec, he foretells that the British power in America shall be broken by suc- cess, and that when the dread of France ceases to exist, the colonists will no longer submit to European control. One generation had not passed away when his predic- tion was fiilly accompUshed. England by the conquest of Canada breathed the breath of Ufe into the huge Frankenstein of the American Republic. The rough schooling of French hostiUty was neces- sary for the development of those qualities among the British colonists, which enabled them finally to break the bonds of pupilage, and stand alone. Some degree ,«l f xxu INTRODUCTION. of united action had boon effected among tlic sevoral and widely diflcrent states ; the local governments had learned liow to raise and support armies, anil to con- sider militaiy movomonts. On many occasions tho Provincial militia had borno themselves with distin- guished bravery in tho field ; several of their officers had gained honourable repute ; already the name of Washington called a flush of pride upon each American cheek. The stirring events of the contest with Canada had brought men of ability and patriotism into the strong light of active life, and the eyes of their country- men sought their guidance in trusting confidence. Through the instrumentaUty of such men as those the American Revolution was shaped into the dignity of a national movement, and preserved from the threatening evils of an insane democracy. The consequences of the Canadian war furnished tho cause of the quarrel which led to the separation of the great colonies- from the mother country. England had incurred enormous debt in the contest ; her people groaned under taxation, and the wealthy Americans had contributed in but a very small proportion to the cost of victories by which they were the principal gainers. The British Parliament devised an unhappy expedient to remedy this evil : it assumed the right of taxing the unrepresented colonies, and taxed them iNTUODUCTION. XXlll {iccordingly. Vaiu was the prophetic eloquence of Lord Chatham ; vain were the just and earnest remon- strances of the best and wisest among the colonists : the time was come. Then followed years of stubborn and unyielding strife ; the blood of the same race gave sterner determination to the quarrel. The balance of success hung equally. Once again Franco appeared upon the stage in the "Western World, and Lafayette revenged the fall of Montcalm. However we may regret the cause and conduct of tho revolutionary war, wo can hardly regret its result. Tho catastrophe was inevitable : the folly or wisdom of British statesmen could only have accelerated or deferred it. Tho child had outlived the years of pupilage ; the interests of the old and the young required a separate household. But we must ever mourn the mode of sepa- ration : a bitterness was left that three quarters of a century has hardly yet removed ; and a dark page remains in our annals, that tells of a contest begun in injustice, conducted with mingled weakness and seve- rity, and ended in defeat. The cause of human freedom, perhaps for ages, depended upon the issue of the quarrel. Even the patriot minister merged the apparent interests of England in the interests of mankind. By the light of Lord Chatham's wisdom we may read the dis- astrous history of that fatal war, with a resigned and IP r V \ ; XXIV INTRODUCTION. temporod sorrow for the glorious inheritance rent away from us for ever. The reaction of tho New World upon the Old may be distinctly traced through the past and tho present ; but human wisdom mav not estimate its influence on tho future. The lessons of freedom learned by tho French army, while aiding the revolted colonies against England, were not forgotten. On their return to their native country they spread abroad tidings that the new people of America had gained a treasure richer a thousand fold than those which had gilded the triumphs of Cortes or Pizarro — the inestimable prize of liberty. Then the down-trampled miUions of France arose, and with avaricious haste strove for a like treasure. They won a specious imitation, so soiled and stained, however, that many of tho wisest amongst them could not at once detect its nature. They played with the coarse bauble for a time, then lost it in a sea of blood. Doubtless the tempest that broke upon France had long been gathering. The rays that emanated from such false suns as Voltaire and Rousseau had already drawn up a moral miasma from the swamps of sensual ignorance : under the shade of a worthless government these noxious mists collected into the clouds from whence the desolating storm of the revolution burst. It was, however, the example of popular success in the i<^''i INTRODUCTION. XXV New World, and the ropuMicftii training of a portion of tho French army during the American contest, tliat finally accelerated the course of events. A generation before the " Declaration of Independence " the struggle between the rival systems of Canada and New England had been watched by thinking men in Europe with deep interest, and the importance to mankind of its issue was fully felt. While France mourned the defeat of her armies, and the loss of her magnificent colony, the keen-sighted philosopher of Forney gave a banquet to celebrate the British triumph at Quebec, not as the triumph of England over Franco, but as that ot freedom over despotism.* The overthrow of French by British power in America, was not the effect of mere military superiority. The balance of general success and glory in the field is no more than shared with the conquered people. The morbid national vanity, which finds no delight but in tho triumphs of the sword, will shrink from the study of this chequered story. The narrative of disastrous defeat and doubtful advantage must be endured before we arrive at that of the brilUant victory which crowned our arms with final success. We read with painful surprise of the rout and ruin of regular British regiments by ' See Appendix, No. 1. I'i ;'! '■> I XXVI INTUODUCTION. a crowd of Indian savages, and of the bloody repulse of tlic most numerous army that had yet assembled round our standards in America, before a few weak French battalions, and an unfinished parapet. For the first few years our prosecution of the Canadian war was marked by a weakness little short of imbecility. The conduct of the troops was indifferent, the tactics of the generals bad, and the schemes of the minister worse. The coarse but powerful wit of Smollett and Fielding, and the keen sarcasms of " Chrysal," convey to us no very exalted idea of the composition of the British army in those days. The service had sunk into contempt. The withering influence of a corrupt patronage had demoraUsed the ofiicers ; successive defeats incurred through the inefficiency of courtly generals had depressed the spirit of the soldiery, and were it not for the proof shown upon the bloody fields of La Feldt and Fontenoy we might almost suppose that English manhood had become an empty name. Many of the battalions shipped off to take part in the American contest were hasty levies without organi- sation or discipline : the colonel, a man of influence, with or without other qualifications as the case might be ; the officers, his neighbours and dependants. These armed mobs found themselves suddenly landed in a country, the natural difficulty of which would of itself a I ^- INTRODUCTION. XXVll have proved a formidable obstacle, even though iin- eiihanced by the presence of an active and vigilant enemy. At the same time, there devolved upon them the duties and the responsibilities of regular troops. A due consideration of these circumstances tends to diminish the surprise which a comparison of their achievements with those recorded in our later military annals might create. Very different were the ranks of the American array from the magnificent regiments, whose banners now bear the crowded records of Peninsular and Indian victory ; who witliin the recollection of living men have stood as conquerors upon every hostile land, yet never once permitted a stranger to tread on England's sacred soil, but as a prisoner, fugitive, or friend. In Cairo and Copenhagen ; in Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris ; in the ancient metropolis of China ; in the capital of the young American Republic, the British flag has been hailed as the symbol of a triumphant power, or of a generous deUverance. Well may we cherish an honest pride in the prowess and military virtue of our soldiers ; loyal alike to the crown and to the people ; facing in battle, with unshaken courage, the deadly shot and sweeping charge, and, with a still loftier valour, enduring in times of domestic troubles, the gibes and injuries of their misguided countrymen. XXVlll INTRODUCTION. '! - II 1 \ In the stirring interest excited by the progress and rivahy of our kindred races in America, the sad and solemn subject of the Indian people is almost forgotten. The mysterious decree of Providence which has swept them away may not be judged by human wisdom. Their existence will soon be of the past. They have left no permanent impression on the constitution of the great nation which now spreads over their country. No trace of their blood, language, or manners may be found among their haughty successors. As certainly as their magnificent forests fell before the advancing tide of civilisation, they fell also. Neither the kindness or the cruelty of the white man arrested or hastened their inevitable fate. They withered alike under the Upas-shade of European protection, and before the deadly storm of European hostiUty. As the snow in spring they melted away, stained, tainted, trampled down. The closing scene of French dominion in Canada was marked by circumstances of deep and peculiar interest. The pages of romance can furnish no more striking episode than the battle of Quebec. The skill and daring of the plan which brought on the combat, and the success and fortune of its execution, are unparalleled. There a broad open plain, oflfering no advantages to either party, was the field of fight. INTRODUCTION. XXIX The contending armies were nearly equal in military strength if not in numbers. The chiefs of each were men already of honourable fame. France trusted firmly in the wise and chivalrous Montcalm : England trusted hopefiilly in the young and heroic Wolfe. The magnificent stronghold which was staked upon the issue of the strife, stood close at hand. For miles and miles around, the prospect extended over as fair a land as ever rejoiced the sight of man ; mountain and valley, forest and waters, city and solitude, grouped together in forms of almost ideal beauty. The strife was brief, but deadly. The September sun rose upon two gallant armies arrayed in unbroken pride, and noon of the same day saw the ground where they had stood, strewn with the dying and the dead. Hundreds of the veterans of France had fallen in the ranks, from which they disdained to fly ; the scene of his ruin faded fast from Montcalm's darkening sight, but the proud consciousness of having done his duty dtprived defeat and death of their severest sting. Not more than a musket-shot away lay Wolfe ; the heart that but an hour before had throbbed with great and generous impulse, now still for ever. On the face of the dead there rested a triumphant smile which the last agony had not overcast, a light of unfailing hope that the shadows of the grave could not darken. XXX INTRODUCTION. The portion of history here recorded is no frag- ment. Within a period comparatively brief, we see the birtli, the growth, and the catastrophe of a nation. The flag of France is erected at Quebec by a handful of hardy adventurers ; a century and a half has passed, and that flag is lowered to a foreign foe before the sorrowing eyes of a Canadian people. This example is complete as that presented in the life of an indivi- dual : we see the natural sequence of events ; the education and the character, the motive and the action, the error and the punishment. Through the following records may be clearly traced combinations of causes, remote, and even apparently opposed, uniting in one result, and also the surprising fertility of one great cause in producing many different results. Were we to read the records of history by the light of the understanding, instead of by the fire of the passions, the study could be productive only of un- mixed good ; their examples and warnings would afford us constant guidance in the paths of public and private virtue. The narrow and unreasonable notion of exclusive national merit, cannot survive a fair glance over the vast map of time and space which history lays before us. We may not avert our eyes from those dark spots upon the annals of our beloved land where acts of violence and injustice stand recorded against her, nor INTRODUCTION. XXXI no frag- '^e see the a- nation. I handful s passed, ;fore the example I indivi- its; the 5 action, ollowine: causes, in one 3 great may wc suffer the blaze of military renown to dazzle our judgment. Victory may bring glory to the arms, while it brings shame to the councils of a people : for the triumphs of war are those of the general and the soldier; increase of honour, wisdom and prosperity, are the triumphs of the nation. The citizens of Rome placed the images of their ancestors in the vestibule, to recal the virtues of the dead, and to stimulate the emulation of the living. We also should fix our thoughts upon the examples which history presents, not in a vain spirit of selfish nationality, but in earnest reverence for the great and good of all countries, and a contempt for the false, and mean, and cruel, even of our own. le light of the of un- would lie and 'tion of glance 7 lays e dark 'e acts ;r, nor r *! ■■a^M ERRATA TO VOL. I. * I'. 1)1 -/(>;■ " uornibot/ " read cornibolz. 6'6—/or reference lo Appendix XIV, read X\'. 73 -dele XV. 82—^0)- "Uaitrc" in note 5, read trailer. — aflei- " (leju " - imert di-tintrm'. 89, note S—for " incne" read mener. — — /or ''Gruerchevillc" jvad Gucrchcvillf lOU-/i>r XVJ. read XVll. —for XVII. read XVIXI. 184— /or 'Taraquai " read Paragnai. 188-/OC XU. read XLIII. 189-/dr XLII. read XLIV. 2oi — dele reference to Appendix. 387 -/or LXIV. read LXIII. and many a wondrous tale was told of that mys- terious empire, where one-third of our fellow men still stand apart from the brotherhood of nations. Among the various and astounding exaggerations induced by the vanity of the narrators, and the ignorance of their audience, none was more ready VOL. I. Tl W I f\ I > M.i I i iil rii CONiiUKvST i)V CANADA. CHAPTER I. TriE philosophers of remote antiquity acquired the important knowledge of the earth's spherical Ponii ; to their bold genius we are indebted for the outline of the geographical system now universally adopted. With a vigorous conception, but imperfect execution, they traced out the scheme of denoting localities by longitude and latitude : according to their teaching the imaginary equatorial line, encom- passing the earth, was divided into hours and degrees. Even at that distant period hardy adventurers had penetrated far away into the land of the rising sun, and many a wondrous tale was told of that mys- terious empire, where one-third of our fellow men still stand apart from the brotherhood of nations. Among the various and astounding exaggerations induced by the vanity of the narrators, and the ignorance of their audience, none was more ready vor,. I. T( ! 1 ■ f t 1. 'I TIIK CONQUEST OF CANADA. than that of distance. The journey, the labour of a life ; each league of travel a new scene ; the day crowded with incident, the night a dream of terror or admiration. Then as the fickle will of the wanderer suggested, as the difficulties or encourage- ment of nature, and the hostility or aid of man impelled, the devious course bent to the north or south, was hastened, hindered, or retraced. By such vague and shadowy measurement as the speculations of these wanderers sui)pliefl, the sages of the past traced out the ideal limits of the (h'y land which, at the word of God, appeared from out the gathering together of the waters.' ' " La sphericite do la torrc etaut rcconnuo, I'^tcmluc do la terre ha- bitee en longitiule dctorniine, on nienie temps In largeur ilo rAtlaiitiquo ontrc Ics c6tcs occidentalca d'Europc ot d'Afii n.b ot los cotes orien- talcs d'Asic par differcns dcgres dc latitude. Eratostheiie (Strabo, ii., p. 87, Cas.) evalue la circonfercnec dc recpiatcur ii 252,000 stadcs, ct la largeur de la cJiJaiiiyth' du Cap Saere (Cap Saint Vincent) a rcxtrcniite dcla grande ceinturc do Taurus, pros de Tbinro .\ 70,000 stadoF. En prolongcant la distance vers le sud est jusquo au cap dos Coliaques qui, d'aprcs los idees de Strabon sur la configuration do I'Asie, represonte notre Cap Comorin, ct avanco plus .\ Test quo la Goto dc Tbina), la corabinaison dos donnces d'Eratostheno oftVe 74,(100 ot niOmo 78,000 stadcs. Or, on re'duisant, par la diffc'ronco de latitude, lo perinietre equatorial au parallole de Rhodes, des portes Caspicnnes ct do Thinas c'est a dire, au parallelc de 36° 0' ct non do 36° 21', on trouve 203,872 stadcs, et pour largeur dc la terre babitec, par Ic parallele de Rhodes, 67,500 stadcs. Strabon dit par conse- quence avoc jubtcssc, dans lo fanieux passage on il scnible prediro I'existence du Nouvcau Continent, en parlant de deux terrcs habitocs dans la nicnic zone temperec borealc que les terrcs occupent plus du tiers dc la circonforenco du parallelc qui passe par Thinro. Par cettc supposition la distance dc I'lberic aux Indes est au dcla de 236° a pcu pres 240°. On peut etre surpris de voir que le resultat le 2)lus ancien est aussi le plus exact de tons ceux que nous trouvons en Till', n»Nlied. the 'its of the ared from la torre lia- I'Atlantique cotes orien- ''"0 (Stral)o, i1 252,000 ijit Vincent) lie i\ 70,000 J au cap dos giiration do I 'est quo Ju tlieno ortVe 1 diftcTciice dos portes ' ct noil do I'e liabiteo, par conse- Jc prediro iS habitc'cs It plus du Par cettc [le 236° a It le plus 'uvons en The most eminent geographer before tlie time of Ptolemy, places the confines of Seres — the China of to-day — at nearly two-thirds of the distance round the world, from the first meridian.- Ptolemy (lesccndnnt (rErnto.stlu'nc par Po-idonius aux temps de Mariij de Tyr et de Pttjlruu'e. La terre lialiiti'e otlVe oft'eetivcniciit, d'api('s iios connoissaiices actuoUes, cntre les 30" et 37° 13U degri's d'c'tciuluc en longitude ; il y a par consequent des cutes do la Chine au Cap Sacre ii travers Tocean do Test a I'oucst 230 degres. L'nccord quo jo noniniorai accidentel de cettc vraie distance et do revaluation d'Era- tostlieno atteint done dix degros en longitude. Posidonius ' soup- (;onnc, (c'cst I'expression de Strabon, lii). ii. p. 102, Cas.) que la longueur de la tcrrc habiteo laquelle est. selon lui, d'environ 70,000 stadcs, doit former la moitie du cercle entier sur Icquel le mesure se prend, ct qu' ainsi a partir de I'extremite occidentale de cctte nienic terrc liabitce, en naviguant avcc un vent d'est continue] I'ospace de 70,000 autrcs stadcs, ou arriverait dans I'lnde." — Humboldt's Geof/raphic du Nouvemi Continent. • " La longueur do la terre habitcc comprise ciitrc les meridiens dca lies Fortunees et do Sera etoit, d'apros Maiin de Tyr (Ptol. Gcogr. lib. i. cap. 11) de 15 beures ou de 22.J . Ci'toit avancer les cotes do la Chine jusqu'au meridien des ilea Sandwich, ct reduiro I'cspncc ii parcourir des iles Canaries aux cotes orientalcs de I'Asie a 135", errcur dc 86 en longitude. La grandc extension de 23^ que les aneiens donnoient a la mer Caspieime, contribuoit egalement beau- coup h augmcntcr la largeur de I'Asic. Ptolemec a laisse intaetc, dans IVvaluation dc la terre habitee, selon Posidonius, la distance des iles Fortunecs au passage de PFuphrate a Ilierapolis. Les reduc- tions de Ptolcnu'e nc portent que sur los distances de I'Eupbrate a la Tour de Pierre et de cctte tour a la motropole des Seres. Les 225 de Marin dc Tyr devieiinont, scion I'Almagest (lib. ii., p. 1) LSO , selon la Geographic dc Ptok'mee (lib. i., p. 12) 177:[. Les cotes des Sinai * roculent done du meridien des iles Sandwich vers celui des Carolines oricntales,ctl'espacc a parcourir par mcr en longitude u'etoit plus do 135-, mais dc ISO" a 182f'. II I'toit duns les interets de * In opposition to the opinion of M.iltc Bnin and M. ilc Jossclin, Mr. Ilugli Murray is considered to have satisfactorily proved tlic correctness of I'toiemy's asser- tion that the Seres or Since are identical with the Chinese. —Sec 'Tvuns. r,f the Royul Society of Edinhmjh, vol. viii., p. 171. ii2 TIIH CONQUKST OF CANADA. n reduces the i)rt)])ortiou to one half. AHowing for the sui)i)osed vast extent of this imknown country to the eastward, it Mas evident that its remotest shores approaciied our western world. Hut, heyond the Pillars of Hercules, the dark and stormy watiM-s of the Atlantic-' forbade adventure. The giant minds of those days saw, even through the mi ts- of ignorance and error, that the readiest course to reach this distant land must lie towards the setting sun, across the western ocean.^ From over this Christophe Colomb tic profercr do beaucoup les calculs tic Marin do Tyr a ceux do Ptoli'iiu'c ct n force tlo conjectures Colomb parvicnt a rcstrcindrc respacc do I'Oeean qui lui restait a traverser dcs iles du cap Vert au Cathay tie I'Asio orientale li 128" (V'ula del Ahnirantv). — Humboldt's Geographic du Nouteau Continent, vol. ii., p. 3G4. •' That the vast waters of tlic Atlantic were regarded with " awo and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a cbaos," needs no greater proof than the description given of it by Xerif al Edrizi, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen were the boldest naviga- tors of the middle ages, and possessed all that was then known of geography. "The ocean," he observes, '•encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify anything concerning it, on accoxmt of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, antl frequent tempests ; through fear of its mighty fishes and its haughty winds ; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters ; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, though they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves with- out breaking ; for if they broke it would be impossible for ship to plough them." — Description of Spain, by Xerif al Edrizi : Conde's Spanish translation. Madrid, 1799. — Quoted by Washington Irving. ' Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny, and Seneca arrived at this conclusion. The idea, however, of an intervening continent never appears to have suggested itself. — Humboldt's Cosmos. THK t'uN(iUKST OF CANADA. lie Marin do ) parvient k lies (III cap Almirantc). p. 3fi4. with " a wo " needs no Edrizi, an est naviga- known of ultimate lown. No Glint of its I profound fishes and J peopled, ;cr into its cpt along his ocean, slves with- or ship to Condd's m Irvinjr. onclusion. •s to have va^t watery politudo no traveller had ever broiij^ht back the story of his wanderings. The dim light of traditionary memory gave no guiding ray, the ftiint voice of rumour breathed not its mysterious secrets. Then poetic imagination fdled the void; vast islands were conjured up out of the deep, covered with unheard of luxuriance of vegetation, rich in mines of incalculable value, populous with a race of conquering warriors. But this magnificent vision was only created to be destroyed ; a violent earthquake rent asunder in a day and a night the foundations of Atlantis, and the waters of the western ocean swept over the ruins of this once mighty em- pire.'^ In after ages we are told, that some Phojnician ° In the Atlantic Ocean, over against the Pillars of Hercules, lay an island larger than Asia and Africa taken together, and in its vicinity were other islands. The ocean in which these islands wcro situated was surrounded on every side hy mainland, and the Mediter- ranean, compared with it, resemhlcd a mere harbour or narrow entrance. Nine thousand years before the time "f Plato this island of Atlantis was both thickly settled and very powerful. Its sway extcmlod over Africa, as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as tho Tyrrhenian Sea. The farther progress of its conquests, however, was checked by the Athenians, who, partly with the other Greeks, partly by themselves, succeeded in defeating these powerful invaders, the natives of Atlantis. After this a violent earthquake, which lasted for the space of a day and a night, and was accompanied with inundations of tho sea, caused the islands to sink, and for a long period subsequent to this, the sea in that quarter was impassable by reason of the slime and shoals. — Pl.ito, Tim. 24—20, 290 ; Crlt. 108 — 110, 39, 43. Tho learned Gessner is of opinion that the Islo of Ceres, spoken of in a poem of very high antiquity, attributed to Orpheus, was a fragment of Atlantis. Kircher, in his " Muiulus Subterraneus," and Bcckman, in his " History of Islands," suppose the Atlantis to have been on island extending from the Canaries to I '! II fl! ! THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. vessels, impelled by a strong east wind, were driven for thirty days across the Atlantic : there they found a part of the sea whore the surface was covered with rushes and seaweed, somewhat resembling a vast inundated meadow/' The \oyagers ascribed these the Azores ; that it was really ingulfed in one of the convulsions of the glohe, and that those small islands are mere fragments of it. Gossclin, in his able research into the voyages of the ancients, sup- poses the Atlantis of Plato to have been nothing more nor less than one of the nearest of the Canaries, viz. Fortavcntura or Lanceroto. Carli and many others find America in the Atlantis, and adduce many plausible arguments in support of their assertion. — Carli, Lctttt'if Ainer.; Fr. Transl., ii. 180. M. Bailly, in his "Letters sur r Atlantidcde Platen," maintains the existence of the Atlantides, and their island Atlantis, by the authorities of Homer, Sanchouiathon, and Diodorus Siculus, in addition to that of Plato. Manheim maintains very strenuously that Plato's Atlantis is Sweden and Norway. M. Bailly, after citing many ancient testimonies, which concur in placing this famous isle in the north, quotes that of Plu- tarch, who confirms these testimonies by a circumstantial description of the Isle of Ogygia, or the Atlantis, which he represents as situated in the north of Europe. Tiic following is the theory of Buffou : after citing the passage relating to the Atlantis, from Plato's "TiniKus," ho adds : "This ancient tradition is not devoid of pro- liability. Tlie lands swallowed up by the waters were, perhaps, those which united Ireland to the Azores, and the Azores to the continent of America ; for in Ireland there are the same fossils, the same shells, and the same sea bodies as appear in America, and some of them are found in no other part of Europe." — Buffon's Nat, Hist. by Smcllie, vol. i., p. 507. '' The first authentic description of the Mar di Sargasso of Aristotle is due to Columbus. It spreads out between the nineteenth and thirty-fourth degrees of north latitude. Its chief axis lies about suven degrees to the westward of the island of Corvo. The smaller bank, on the other hand, lies between the Bermudas and Bahamas. The winds and partial currents in diftorent years slightly affect the position aiul extent of these Atlantic "sea-weed meadows." No other sea in cither hcmisphoro displays a similar extent of surface i iiii ere driven ;hey found vered with ng a Vcast ibed these jonvulsions of gmcnts of it. [incients, sup- nor less tlian or Lauceroto. and adduce •tion. — Caili, his " Letters 10 Atlantldcs, inchouiathon, Manheim Sweden and onics, which tliat of PIu- 1 description :s as situated Y of Buffon : Tom Plato's 3voi