ssHi ^^:^ V^ >, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) // k ^^-, "t ^° % V ^-^^ ^ 1.0 I.I IL25 II 1.4 2.5 M 1= 1.6 ";' Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 iV '^s^ \\ "% V ^ ^^ 6^ 1^ '•b ■■e <^ ^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notos techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D D n D D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pellicul6e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Colourad plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pages n'ont pfii 6t6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; L'lnstitut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. D D D □ D D D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tachet^es ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages d^tachdes Showthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality indgale de {'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppl^mentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refJmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6ti filmdes d nocveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X aire details ues du modifier ger une ) fiimage The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'exemplaire filmd fut reprodult grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque nationale du Canada Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduities avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de fiimage. / j6es Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film^s en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant c 3r Is dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^> (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un 4es symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »>signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". lire Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est tron grand pour dtre reprodult en un seul clichd, \\ est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. }y errata ed to )nt me pelure, agon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 '. AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF CANADA. BY WILLIAM H. WITHROW, D.D., F.R.S.C. ALSO, AN Outline History of Canadian Literature. By G. mercer ADAM. TORONTO: V/ILIvIAM BRIOOS. MONTBjsAL, C. W. COATES, I Halifax, S, F. HUBSTIS, i— / "^jC r F5'0i"0 lji/|TH^-<^'- /3 3v^ 158531 yjj.i Bntkrkd, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, by William Brigqs, Book Steward of the Methodist Booli and Publishing House, Toronto, at the Department of Agriculture. 1 c thousand ard of the irtment of PREFACE. In the earlier portion of this history the author has studied compression so far as was consistent with sufficient clearness in order to be able to give in fuller detail an account of the more recent and important events leading to and following the confederation of the British North American province?. The growth of the principles of civil liberty and the develop- ment of the Canadian Constitution, will, it is hoped, be r'ound impartially trac d in these pages. The social, com- mercial and military, as well as the political aspects of Canadian history, have been treated as fully as the neces- sary limits of space would permit. While the narrative interest has centred chiefly in the provinces now known as Ontario and Quebec, the contem- porary history of the sister Maritime Provinces, and of the newer provinces of the North-west and the Pacific coasts has been given as fully, yet succinctly, as possible. The contemporary history of the empire and of foreign countries, where it was intimately connected with that of Canada, has been interwoven with the text. The writer has made copious use of the best existing sources of information, embracing original documents in French and English, parliamentary reports, newspaper files representing the views of all political parties, and many printed volumes. He has endeavoured to observe strict if PREFACE. impartiality, and trusts that he has been able to do so, even in treading upon the delicate ground of recent political events. The running dates at the top and margin of the page, and the full syi.optical headings of the chapters, will clearly indicate the chronological and other relations of the events described, and will greatly facilitate private study, and class examin.itions and reviews. A copious pi-;;nouncing vocabulary of proper names has been considered essential to the completeness of the work. The following quotation from Milton expresses the spirit in which the author desires that this little book should be read : " Consider what nation it is whereof ye are ; a nation not slow and dull ; but of a quick, ingenious and piercing spirit ; acute to invent, subtile and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point that human capacity can soar to." Trusting that this contribution to Canadian history will help to cultivate in its younger readers an intelligent patriotism, and better prepare them for the duties of citi- zenship, the author commits it to the sympathy of an indul- gent public. The admirable Outline History of Canadian Literature by that accomplished writer, Mr. G, Mercer Adam, will meet a long felt want, and add greatly to the value of this volume. W. H. W. Toronto, August, 1887, so, even political )age, and clearly le events idy, and louncing essential he spirit hould bo a nation piercing arse, not city can tory will telligent of citi- m indul- terature im, will s of this I. W. CONTENTS. t J PAQB Chapter I.— Discovery op America— To 1497. Ancient Traditions— The Norsembn— Columbus— Vespucci— De Gama 9 Chapter II.— Early Exploration -To 1549. The Cabota— Cartier— The Robervals , 12 Chapter III.— Tnr Indian Tribes. The Mound-Buildors- Modorn Tribes- Arts— Wars— SuporDtitions— Alliances— Tribal Divisions— Present Conditions. 15 Chapter IV.— Champlain Administration- To 1635. Early Colonization— Frobisher— Magellan— Drake- Gilbert — Raleigh — Des Monta—Port Royal— Champlain Founds Quebec— Its Resto- ration-Death of Champlain 20 Chapter V.— The Hundred Associates— To 1663. Early Colonization — Jamestown — Plymouth — Montmagny —Ville Mario— Huron Missions and Martyrs— Laval— Des Ormeaux 27 Chapter VI.— Royal Government— To 1670. Supreme Council— De M6sy— De Tracy— Talon— Do CourcoUes— Indian Wars— Seigniorial Tenure— Fur Trade 33 Chapter VIT.— Discovery op the Great West— To 1687. Frontenac— Jesuit Explorers— Marqtiette-La Salle 37 Chapter Vin.— "The Agony op Canada"— To 1689. De la Barre— Indian Wars— Denon ville— Massacre of Lachine 39 Chapter IX.— Frontj^nac's Second Administration— To 1698. Fronch Invasion of New England— Sir William Phipps is Repulsed at Quebec— D'lbervilie— Treaty of Ryswick— Death of Frontenac 41 Chapter X.— "Queen Anne's War"— To 1743. Treaty with Iroquois— Vaudreuil-Capture of Port Royal—Failure of Attack on Quebec- Peace of Utrecht— Charlevoix 45 Chapter XI.— Louisburq— Du Quesne— To 1754. Pepperel's Conquest of Louisburg— Halifax Founded — Collision in Ohio Valley 48 Vl CONTENVS. PAOB Ohapticr XII.— Tfik Campaign of 1766. Sir William Johnnnn - I^nuldock's Defeat— DIoskau's Dofoat at Fort Oeorgo— Expulsion of the Acadlans 61 Chaptkr XIII.— Campaions of 1756 and 1757. Seven Years' War Bej?un— Capture of Forts Oswego and William Henry— Exhaustion of Canada -Famine— Extortion of liigot 65 Chaptkr XIV.— Cami-aions of 1758 and 1759. Fall of Louisburg— Abercrombie's Dofoat— Capture of Fort du Qucano —Niagara and Ticondcroga Taken 68 Chaptkr XV.— Tub Conquest of Canada, 1759 and 1760. Wolfe Before Quebec— Engagement at Montmorency— Battle of the Plains of Abraham— Death of Wolfe and Montcalm— Battle of Ste. Foyo— Capitulation of Canada 62 Chapter XVI.— British Rule- To 1774. Effects of the Conquest— The Peace of Paris— Conspiracy of Pontiac— The Quebec Act 68 Chapter XVII.— The Revolutionary War— To 1784. Causes of the War— Invasion of Canada -Burgoync's and Cornwallis' Surrender— The Peace of Versailles— Tlie U. E. Loyalists 72 Chapter XVIII.— The Founding of Upper Canada— To 1809. The Constitutional Act— Early Legislation— York Founded— Growth of Parties— Judge Thorpe— Social Organization 78 Chapter XIX.— Outbreak of the War of 1812-16. The Now Constitution— Sir J. Craig's Administration— Constitutional Crisis - Causes of the War- -Hull's Surrender— Battle of Queenston Heights, and Death of Brock- Dearborn's Invasion 83 Chapter XX.— Campaign of 1813. Capture of New York and Niagara— Victories at Stony Creek and Beaver Dams -Defeats at Sackett's Harbour, Lake Erie, and Moravian Town— Victories of Chrysler's Farm and Chateauguay— Burning of Niagara— Sea Fights , 8f* Chapter XXI.— Campaign of 1814. Victories of LacoUe and Oswego— Battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie— Provost's Retreat from Plat tsburg -Capture of Washington -Treaty of Ghent— Battle of New Orleans 95 Chapter XXII. —After tub War— Lower Canada— To 1828. Effects of the War— Internal Development- Civil Strife -The Union Scheme— Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 100 1 PAOI t Fort 51 55 58 62 68 72 78 83 8" 95 100 1 I I * I CONTENTS. vii fAei Chapter XXTTI -After the War— Upper Canada— To 1836. The "Family Compact"— Robert Oourlav Tho " Canada Trado Act" Uov. iJr. Strachan— William Lyon Mackenzie— Koburt Baldwin- Sir Francis Bond Head 103 Chaitkr XXIV. -The Rebellion— Lower Canada— To 1838. Political Disaffection —The Gosfore Commission— Collision at Mont- real -Rebels Routed by Wothorall and Sir John Colborno— Lord Durham 107 Chapter XXV.— The Rebellion— Upper Canada— 1830 ash 1837. Struggles for Responsible Government— Mackenzie's Rebellious Pro- jects—The Rendezvous at Gallows Hill— Death of Col. Moodio— Attack on Toronto— Rout of tho Itobels— Col. McNab 112 Chapter XXVL— The "Patriot" War-1837 and 1838. Mackenzie at Navy Island— Colonel McNab on the Frontier- Tho CaroKne— "Patriot" Raids-Battle of Windmill Point— Rebellion Suppressed 115 Chapter XXVIL— The Union op the Canadas— To 1841. Constitutional Struggles in Marii mo Provinces— Boundary Disputes -Lord Durham's Report— The Union Bill— Clergy Reserves 119 Chapter XXVIII. -Responsible Government— To 1846. The New Constitution— " Double Majority"— Municipal System— Sir Charles Metcalfe— Upper Canada Rebellion Losses Bill-Public School System 121 Chapter XXIX.— Rebellion Losses Agitation—To 1849. Lord Elgin— Lower Canada Rebellion Losses Bill— Mob Violence at Montreal— Burning of Parliament Buildings 124 Chapter XXX.— The Railway Era— To 1852. Political and Commercial Emancipation — Internal Development- Clergy Reserve Question— Francis Hincka— Railway Construction —Municipal Loan Fund 127 Chapter XXXI.— Important Legislation- 1853 and 1854. Reciprocity Treaty— Secularization of Clergy Reserves— Abolition of Seigniorial Tenure 130 Chapter XXXII.— The Coalition Ministry— To 1858. Sir Edmund Walker Head— Militia Organization— Mr. John A. Mac- donald —" Double Magority" Abandoned — " Representation by Population " Demanded— Mr. George Brown 133 Chapter XXXIII.—" Representation by Population "—To 1861. Ottawa Selected as Capital— The Two Days' Ministry— The " Double Shuffle "— " Joint Authority" Resolutions— The Prince of Wales in Canada 136 Vtll CONTENTS. PA8S OnAPTBR XXXIV.— Political Ckibib— To 1863. Lord Monok— The ''Trent" Affair— Defeat of C^articr-Macdonald MiniBtnr on Militia Bill — Commercial Prosperity — ^fa/>ama Piracies 139 Chapter XXXV.— Thk Confederation Movement— To 18fi5. Political Dead-Lock— Coalition Ministry -Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences— Canadian Parliament Adopts Quebec Scheme 142 Chapter XXXVI.— The Fenian Invasion -1866. Abrogation of ReciprocltyTreaty — The Fenian Brotherhood— Invasion of Canada— Fight at Ridgeway—Prcscott and Cornwall Menaced -Eastern Frontier Crossed— The Raids Suppressed— Last Parlia- ment of Old Canada 147 Chapter XXX VII.— Confederation Accomplished To 1868. British North America Act- Inauguration of New Constitution— Anti-Confederation Agitation — "Bettor Terms" Granted Nova Scotia 152 Chapter XXXVIH— Rival Fur Companies— Red River Settlement Hudson's Bay Company— French Fur Company— North-west Com- S any —Fort Williaui — Red River Settlement Planted — Fierce Livalries and Conflicts- Assiniboia 156 Chapter XXXIX.— The Red River Rebellion— To 1870. Rupert's Land Act -Riel's Revolt- Provisional Government— Exocu- • tion of Thomas Scott— Red River B]xpedition— Collapse of the Rebellion— British Columbia enters the Dominion 158 Chapter XL.— Fall of the Macdonald Ministry— To 1873. The Washington Treaty— Lord Dufferin, Governor-General— Geneva Arbitration— Canada Pacific Railway Scandal— Prince Edward Island Enters Dominion— Resignation of Ministry 162 Chapter XLI.— The Mackenzie Administration— To 1876. New Government— New Pacific Railway Act— Qu'Appelle Treaty- Organization of North-west Coimcil— Inter-Colonial Railway 165 Chapter XLII.— VicE-RoyALTY of the Marquis of Lornb. New Conservative Government— Arrival of Marquis of Lome— The National Policy "-Pacific Railway Syndicate 168 Chapter XLIII.— Vice-Royalty of the Marquis of Lansdov^ne. Red River Rebellion- Completion of Canadian Pacific Railway— The Queen s Jubilee ', 170 H the 874 fkan llonald Witiiia 139 |) 1805. Jucboc 142 Ivaslon macod *arlia- 117 D 1868. ition— Nova 152 TTLKMENT ; Corn- Fierce 156 1870. PJxocu- of the 158 > 1873. ronova dward 162 1876. eaty— 165 RNB. -The 168 DOWNE. -The 170 I I I I I I HISTORY OF CANADA. CHAPTER I. THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. Ancient Triulil ions —The NorHcmen colonize Groenland and discover America in the Ninth Oontury— 874. Diaz diwcovcra the Cape of Good Hope— 1486. Kllbrts of Columbus to orRanize an Expedition; batHed for ten years -He sets sail August 3rd, and discovkks San Salvador, October 11th— 1492. Amerigo Vespucci gives his namo to the Continent— Do Gania readies India by way of tho Capo of Good Hope--1498. From very ancient times there were traditions of the exist- ence of «a western woi'ld. Allusions in the Greek and Latin writers to the fabled island of Atlantis and the Gardens of tlie Hesperides have been doubtfully supposed to refer to the continent of America. Both Phoenician find Cartha- genian voyagers are said, on slender evidence, to have crossed by way of the Azores to some unknown land beyond tlie western sea. stories concerning the Irish and the Welsh. On much better ground rest the claims of the Norsemen to the discovery of America. There is evidence that Ice- land, eight hundred and fifty miles from Norway, was 4,- . colonized from that country over a thousand years ago. Icelandic sac^as record that Greenland was soon after discovered and settled, and that for four hundred years it remained a see of Rome, with a succession of seventeen Christian bishops. The sagas further record that, in the year one thousand, Leif Erikson wintered about the latitude of Boston, in a newly-discovered country which, from the abundance of wild grapes, he called Vinland. He is said also to have visited and named Markland (Nova Scotia), Little credence can be given to similar 10 NORSE DISCOVERIES. [874 and Helluland (Newfoundland). Soon after, several col- onies, it is recorded in the sagas, settled in Vinland ; but they were eventually expelled by the natives or wasted by famine and disease. But, even though the alleged facts be true, they do not lessen the glory of Columbus for his re-discovery of the western continent. His was no less the commanding genius that wrested its secret from the bosom of the sea, and re- vealed to the astonished eyes of Europe a new world. He lived in a period of remarkable maritime adventure. The rich commerce with the East in gold and silver and precious stones, in ivory, silks, and costly spices, had stimulated the desire to find a shorter way of access to India — the land of those coveted treasures — than the tedious caravan route through the Syrian deserts. The invention of the Mariners' Compass, and the i.icreased knowledge of astronomy and navigation, encouraged the efforts to seek this distant land by sea. With this design, the Portuguese had extended their voyages along the African coast, till at length, in 1486, Bartolommeo Diaz reached the southern part of that con- tinent, which was named, as an augury of the long-sought discovery, the Cape of Good Hope. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese mariner, had in the meanwhile conceived the idea of reaching India by sailing directly westward around the world. Possibly he may have heard, in a voyage which he made to Iceland, traditions of the former discovery of a land beyond the Atlantic. He was confirmed in his convictions by the writings of learned men, and by the strange products of unknown v,ountries cast upon the shores of Europe by western gales. For twenty years he cherished hi« grand design, and for ten years he went from court to court — to Genoa, Portugal, and Spa^'n — seeking to inspire confidence like his own, and to obtain an outfit for the enterprise. After many dishearten- ing rebuffs, delays, and broken promises, when impoverished and almost despairing, the generous Isabella of Castile be- came his patroness, pledging even her crown jewels for the support of his project. But the means furnished were strangely inadequate for the magnitude of the task — only three small vessels and one hundred and twenty men. With a lofty faith in what he believed to be his providential mis- sion, Columbus claimed the office of admiral of all the 4 I [874 1492] COLUMBUS. 11 Jseveral col- (inland; but wasted by hey do not ery of the ding genius sea, and re- world. He ture. The nd precious uiated the -the land of •avan route le Mariners' 'onomy and [listant land tended their h, in 1486, of that con- long-sought had in the a by sailing le may have ^aditions of lantic. He I of learned ti ^.ountries gales. For nd for ten •rtugal, and wn, and to dishearten- ipoverished Castile he- els for the shed were task — only len. With ential mis- of all the lands to be discovered, and one-ten bh of the profit of all their merchandise. After solemn r ligious rites, on Friday, August 3rd, 1492, Columbus and his companions sailed on their memorable voyage. Leaving the Canary Islands on the 6th of Sep- tember, they sailed steadily w stward for five and thirty days. The mysterious trade winds seemed to the sailors to waft them remorselessly onward to some dread unknown. The appalling distance they had travelled, the alarming variations of the compass which occurred, the strange por- tents of a sea of weeds that almost prevented their progress, and of a fierce storm that followed, aroused in the dis- affected crews dark conspiracies and turbulent mutinies. At length, on the night of October the 1 1 th, lights were seen moving amid the darkness, and the joyous cry of " Land ! land ! " rang from vessel to vessel. "With the dawn of the morning the New World lay revealed to European eyes. With devout prayers and hymns of praise, Columbus took possession of the new-found territories in the name of God, and of his sovereign mistress, Isabella of Castile. The land proved to be one of the Bahama islands, and was reverently named San Salvador. After visiting several of the neighbouring islands, designated, in accordance with his erroneous geographical theory, the West Indies, Colum- bus returned to Spain, to proudly lay at his sovv?reigns' feet the dominion of a new world. He was crowned with the highest honours, and the naval resources of the kingdom were placed at his disposal. With seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, he speedily sailed again to prosecute his discoveries in these unknown lands. In successive voy- ages he explored the West Indian archipelago and the adjacent mainland. But calumny, envy, and malice pur- sued him, and the discoverer of a new world was dispos- sessed of his author] tv. and sent back in chains to the ungrateful country wliich, beyond the dreams of avarice, he had enriched. Broken in health, bowed in spirit, impover- ished in estate, stricken with the weight of seventy years, neglected by the sovereign whom he had so faithfully served — ^his noble benefactress, Isabella, no longer lived to pro- tect him — this great man died at Seville, May 20th, 1506. As if his remains could find a fit resting-place only in the new lands which he had discovered, they were con- 12 CABOT. [1497 veyed in 1536 to the island of Santo Domingo, and in 1796, with great pomp, to Havana, within whose cathedral they now repose. Amerigo Vespucci, a private adventurer, who wrote an exaggerated account of his explorations succeeding those of Columbus, by giving his name to the new-found continent, has defi'auded of that honour the rightful claimant. In 1497-98, the Portuguese navigator, Vasco de Gama, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, reached the coast of India — the chief object of the adventurous voyages of discovery of this period. CHAPTER II. EARLY EXPLORATION. John Cabot discovers Labrador and Newfoiindland— 1497. Sebastian Cabot explores America from the La Plata to Hudson's Bay, 1498-1517. Jacques Cartikr discovers the Ct. Lawrence— 1634. Visits Stadacona and Hochclaga— Names Mont Royal— Winters at Stada- cona— Suflferings from Scurvy— 1635. Roberval, Viceroy— 1541. Cartier, his Lieutenant; Founds CiiARLESBOURa— Roberval winters at Cape Rouge -Mutiny and Scui vy— 1542. The Robervals founder at sea— 1549. The discovery of America was the beginning of a new era in the world. The western nations of Europe were eager to take possession of the new-found continent. In the year 1496, John Cabot, a Venetian merchant resident in Bristol, received from Henry VIT., King of England, a commission for discovery in the New World, on the condition that one- fifth of the profits of the expedition should accrue to the crown. In the following spring, with his son Sebastian, he sailed from the port of Bristol in a single vessel, and on the twenty-fourth of June sighted the coast of Labrador, to which he gave the name of Prima Vista. He landed and planted in the soil of the New World the banner of England. He was thus the first discoverer of the continent of America, fourteen months bef' re Columbus, in his third voyage, beheld the mainland. Two days after he reached a large island, ^ 1535] probabl called T 1498 jj passage sequent hundre The began men, tl Breton The Oartier April, of abo Belle I a resp on acci leurs. a large possess Franci he leai the inl he sai the la resolv( presses the fi squadi 1535 to wh the en Sague into t the I name( from his fc count theS [1497 in 1796, Iral they wrote an those of Dntinent, e Gama, of India iscovery 1535] JACQUES CARTIER. 13 Sebastian y, 1498-1517. J4. Visits 8 at Stada- roy— 1641. 'al winters bis founder new era eager to the year Bristol, imission hat one- e to the itian, he i on the :o which planted id. He .m erica, , beheld I island, probably Newfoundland, which, in honour of the day, he called St. John's Island. 1 4.Q8 ^^^^ following year Sebastian Cabot, with two vessels, in the endeavour to reach the Indies by a north-west passage, sailed as far north as Hudson's Straits. In a sub- sequent voyage, 1517, he penetrated that bay to which, a hundred years afterward, Hudson gave his name. The rich fisheries of the Banks of Newfoundland soon began to attract the hardy Breton and Norman fisher- men, the former of whom gave its present name to Cape Breton. The real discoverer of Canada, however, was Jacques Oartier, a native of St. Malo, in Brittany. On the 20th of April, 1534, he sailed from that port with two small vessels of about sixty tons e^ch. Sailing through the Straits of Belle Isle, he passed the barren coast of Labrador, and on a resplendent day in July entered the large bay to which, on account of the intense heat, he gave the name Des Cha- leurs. Landing at the rocky headland of Gaspe, he erected a large cross bearing the lily shield of France, and took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, Francis I. Taking with him two of the natives, from whom he learned the existence of a great river, leading so far into the interior that " no man had ever traced it to its source," he sailed up the Gulf of St. Lawrence till he could see the land on either side. The season being advanced he resolved to return. The successful voyage favourably im- pressed the King, and three vessels, better equipped than the first, were furnished for the enterprise. The little squadron did not reach the mouth of the St. Lawrence till ,^oK the middle of July. On the 10th of August, the festival of St. Lawrence, Cartier entered a small bay, to which he gave the name of the saint, since extended to the entire gulf and river. Passing the gloomy gorge of the Saguenay, and sailing on beneath lofty bluffs jutting out into the broad river, on the 7th of September he reached the Island of Orleans, covered with wild grapes, hence named Isle of Bacchus. Here he received a friendly visit from Donnacona, an Algonquin chief, with five hundred of his followers. Cartier having resolved to winter in the country, the little squadron dropped anchor at the mouth of the St. Charles, where stoo(i the Indian towii of Stadacona, 14 ROBERVAL. [1541 beneath the bold cliff now crowned with the ramparts of Quebec. Eager to explore the noble river, he pressed on, and on the 2nd of October reached the Indian town of Hoche- laga, near a wood-crowned height, to which he gave the name of Mont Hoyal, now Montreal. The town was a cir- cular palisaded enclosure, containing fifty large-sized, well- built houses, with about a thousand inhabitants. After three days' friendly intercourse with the inhabitants, who evidently regarded the French as superior beings, and brought their sick to be healed by their touch, Cartier returned to Stadacona, which he reached on the 11th of the month. Having protected their vessels by a stockaded enclosure, mounted with cannon, the French prepared, as best they could, for the winter, which proved of unusual severity. Soon scurvy of a malignant type appeared. By the month of April twenty-six had ^ied and were buried in the snow. On the 6th of May Cartier set sail for St. Malo, carrying with him Donnacona and several chiefs. The kidnapped Indians never again saw their native land, all of them dying before another expedition returned. The religious wars with Charles V. now for four years ab- sorbed the attention and exhausted the treasury of Francis I. At length, in 1540, the Sieur de Roberval, a wealthy noble of Picardy, obtained the appointment of Viceroy of New 1^,, France, and Cartier, as his lieutenant, sailed with five ships the following spring. The natives, at first friendly, became less so on finding that Donnacona and his companions had not returned. Cartier therefore built a fort, to which he gave the name of Charlesbourg, and began 1542 *^ cultivate the soil. After a gloomy winter, having heard nothing from Roberval, and the Indians proving unfriendly, he sailed for France. At St. John's, Newfound- land, he met Roberval, with three ships and two hundred colonists of both sexes. But disheartened by their disasters and sufferings, Cartier and his company refused to return, and continued their homeward voyage. Roberval wintered at Cape Rouge, but with the loss of over sixty men through cold and scurvy. The Indians, too, were unfriendly; and the colonists, most of whom were convicts, proved so insubordinate that the Governor had I The i [1541 riparts of on, and ^f Hoche- Igave the ^as a cir- [zed, well- After i,nts, who [ngs, and Cartier th of the mclosure, best they severity, he month the snow. carrying idnapped of them years ab- Francis I. thy noble ' of New iled with s, at first a and his 5 built a ad began p, having 3 proving Bwfound- hundred disasters return, e loss of ians, too, )m were nor had THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 15 to hang some, and to scourge or imprison others. In the fall of this year Cartier was again sent to Canada to order Roberval's return. He wintered for the third time in the country, and finally left it in May, 1544, conveying with him the remains of the ill-fated colony, and his name hence- forth disappears from history. Thus ended in disastrous failure all the early expeditions to New France. CHAPTER III. THE INDIAN TRIBES. The Mound-Builders— Their superior Arts, Manufactures, and Social Org"»nization— Their probable Origin and Fate— The modern Indians, probably an intrusive Asiatic race— Their Physical Aspect— Their Agriculture, Canoes, Wigwams, Dress, and Ornaments— Their Wars, Craft, Cruelty, and Stoicism— Their Councils, Oratory, and Treaties —Wampum Belts— Their Superstitions— The Great Spirit— Burial Customs— Fetichism—" Medicine-men "— Gambling— Their Alliances —The Fur Trade, etc., etc.— Tribal Divisions— The Algonquins— Hurons- Iroquois— Their present condition. The name Indians, given to the native races of America, commemorates the illusion of its discoverers that they had reached the shores of the Asiatic continent. A short digression as to the character, manners, and tribal divisions of these races is necessary in order to understand the long and often cruel conflict between the white man and the red for the possession of the New World. All over this continent, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, are found the remains of an extinct and pre-historic people. These consist for the most part of earthen mounds, often Z: vast extent and almost countless numbers. Hence their unknown creators are called the Mound-Builders. These mounds were employed for burial, for sacrifice, for tem- ple sites, and for military observation. There were also vast enclosures of earthworks, sometimes miles in extent. Many of these were evidently for military defence against 16 INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. an intrusive race, and formed a line of forts from the Alleghanies to the Ohio. Others were for religious pur- poses, and often, especially in the Mississippi ^ alley, formed the outlines of gigantic animals, probably the totems or symbols of the different tribes, as the turtle, alligator, eagle, hawk, and like figures. On the Atlantic seaboard and in the valley of the St. Lawrence, these mounds are either altogether wanting or are of far inferior character. There is also ample evidence of the comparatively high state of civilization of the Mound-Builders, chiefly remains of their ait and manufactures, elegant pottery, carved pipes, woven fabrics, and other objects. They also worked the copper mines on Lake Superior, raising huge masses from considerable depths, and forging or casting it into weapons and elaborate ornaments. These were the objects of an active commerce extending from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. Long before the discovery of America by Columbus this mysterious people had passed away ; for their mounds, graves, and quarries are covered deep by m alluvial deposit in which trees, often of a gigantic size, have grown. They seem to have been a mild and unwarlike race, probably of Asiatic origin, su bsisting chiefly by agriculture ; and, in Central and South America developing the remarkable civilization of which such wonderful remains have been found in Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. These gigantic structures could only have been erected by a numerous people with a settled social order and with considerable skill in agriculture and the arts. They were probably driven southward out of the Missis- sippi valley by a succeeding wave of Asiatic emigration, the progenitors of the present Indian tribes. This intrud- ing race was of a much more fierce and warlike character, and, continuing its nomad life, never attained to a degree of civilization at all comparable to that of the race it dis- possessed. The Indians of whom we shall have to speak in this his- tory were a tall athletic people with sinewy forms, regular features, straight black hair, scanty beard, dark eyes, and copper-coloured skin. They were capable of much endur- ance of cold, hunger, and fatigue ; were haughty and taci- turn in their manners ^ active, cunning, and stealthy in thQ from the ious pur- y, formed iotemd or or, eagle, 'd and in re either vely high J remains ed pipes, rked the 5ses from weapons ;ts of an the Gulf ibus this mounds, il deposit 1. They Dbably of and, in Tiarkable ivo been gigantic Lumerous siderable 3 Missis- igration, 1 intrud- laracter, a degree 30 it dis- this his- regular /'OS, and I endur- tid taci- ^ in th© • \ ' INDIAN CUSTOMS. 17 ciiase and in war ; but in camp sluggish, and addicted to gluttonous feasts. The women in youth were of agreeable form and feature, but through severe drudgery soon became withered and coarse. The agriculture of the native tribes, with slight exceptions, was of the scantiest character — a little patch of Indian corn or tobacco rudely cultivated near their summer cabins. Their chief subsibtence was derived from hunting and fish- ing, m which they became very expert. With flint headed arrows and spears, and stone axes and knives, they would attack and kill the deer, elk, or buffalo. The necessity of following these objects of their pursuit to their often distant feeding grounds, prevented social or political organization except within very narrow limits. The same cause also prevented the construction, with a Tew exceptions, of any but the rudest and simplest dwellings — conical wigwams of skins or birch bark, spread over a framework of poles. Some of the more settled and agricultural communities had, however, large lodges for public assemblies or feasts, and even for the j ''nt accommodation of several families. Groups of these lodges were sometimes surrounded by palisades, and even by strong defensive works with heaps of stones to repel attack, and reservoirs of water to extin- guish fires kindled by the enemy. The triumph of Indian skill and ingenuity was the bark canoe — a marvel of beauty, lightness, and strength. It was constructed of birch bark, severed in large sheets from the trees, stretched over a slender frame-work of ribs bent into the desired form, and well gummed at the seams with pine resin. Kneeling in these fragile barks, and wielding a short strong paddle, the Indian or his squaw would navi- gate for hundreds of miles the inland waters, shooting the arrowy rapids, and even boldly launching upon the stormy lake. Where rocks or cataracts interrupted the progress, the light canoe could easily be carried over the " portage " to the navigable waters beyond. The Indian dress consisted of skins of wild animals, often ornamented with shells, porcupine quills, and brilliant pig- ments. In summer little clothing was worn, but the body was tattooed and painted, or smeared with oil. When on a war expedition, the face and figure were bedaubed with startling contrasts of colour^ as blacjj, white, red, yellow, 18 INDIAN WARS. and blue. The hair was often elaborately decorated with dyed plrmes or crests of feathers. Sometinies the head was shaved, all but the scalp-lock on the crown. The women seldom dressed their hair, and except in youth wore little adornment. Their life after marriage was one of perpetual drudgery. They tilled the f ^Ids, gathered fuel, bore the burdens on the march, and performed all the domestic duties in camp. The Indian wars were frequent and fierce, generally springing out of hereditary blood feuds between tribes, or from the purpose to avenge real or fancied insults or wrongs. After a war-feast and war-dance, in which the plumed and painted "braves" wrought themselves into a phrensy of excitement, they set out on the war-path against the object of their resentment. Stealthily gliding like snakes through the forest, they would lie in wait, sometimes for days, for an opportunity of surprising the enemy. With a wild whoop they would burst upon a sleeping village and involve in indiscriminate massacre every age and either sex. Firing the inflammable huts, and dragging off their prison- ers, they would make a hasty retreat with their victims. Some of these were frequently adopted by the tribe in place of its fallen warriors; others were reserved for fiendish tortures by fire or knife. One trophy they never neglected, if possible, to secure — the reeking scalp-lock of their enemy. Torn with dreadful dexterity from the skull, and dried in the smoke of the hut, it was worn as the hideous proof of the prowess of the savage warrior. When captured, they were as stoical as iron in the endurance of pain. Amid agonies of torture, they calmly sang their death-song, hurl- ing defiance at the foe. Their councils for deliberation were conducted with great gravity and decorum. The speakers often exhibited much eloquence, wit, vigour of thought, and lively imagination. Their oratory abounded in bold and striking metaphor, and was characterized by great practical shrewdness. They were without a written language, but tlieir treaties were ratified by the exchange of wampum belts of variegated beads having definite significations. These served also as memorials of the transaction, and were cherished as historic records, whose interpretation was the assigned task of the wise men of the tribe. • INDIAN SUPEIISTITICNS. 19 ated with the head wn. The outh wore as one of ered fuel, d all the generally tribes, or insults or which the vea into a th against ding like sometimes ly. With illage and 3ither sex. 3ir prison- r victims. )e in place r fiendish neglected, jir enemy. I dried in i proof of ired, they n. Amid ong, hurl- i^ith great ted much igination. phor, and s. They ties were ariegated id also as s historic sk of the The Indians were deeply superstitious. Some tribes had an idea of a Great Spirit or Manitou, whose dwelling-place was the sky, where he had provided happy hunting grounds for his reel children after death. Hence they were often buried with tiieir weapons, pipes, ornaments, and a supply of food for their subsistence on their journey to the spirit world. Others observed a sort of fetichism — the worship of stones, plants, waterfalls, and the like ; and in the thunder, lightning, and tempest, they recognized the influence of good or evil spirits. The "medicine men," or conjurers, cajoled or terrified them by their superstitious hopes or fears. They attached great importance to dreams and omens, and observed rigorous fasts, when they starved themselves to emaciation ; and glutton feasts, when they gorged themselves to repletion. They were inveterate and infatuated gamblers, and have been known to stake their lives upon a cast of the dice, and then bend their heads for the stroke of the victor's tomahawk. In the unhappy conflicts between the English and the FiXncli for the possession of the continent, the Indians were the coveted allies of the respective combatants. They were supplied with knives, guns, and ammunition, and the atro- cities of savage were added to those of civilized warfare. The profitable trade in peltries early became an object of ambition to the rival nations, and immense private fortunes and public revenue were derived from this source. The white man's "fire water" and the loathsome small-pox wasted the native tribes. The progress of settlement drove then from their ancient hunting grounds. A chronic war- fare between civilization and barbarism raged along the frontier, and dreadful scenes of massacre and reprisal stained with blood the annals of the time. The great Algonquin nation occupied the larger part of the Atlantic slope, the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the watershed of the great lakes. It embraced the Pequods and Narragansetts of New England, the Micmacs of Nova Scotia, the Abenaquis of New Brunswick, the Montagnais and Ottawas of Quebec, the Ojibways or Chippeways on the great lakes, and tho Crees and Sioux of the far west. The Hurons and Iroquois were allied races, though for ages the most deadly enemies. They were more- addicted to agriculture than the Algonquins, and dwelt in better 20 TRIUAL DIVISIONS. houses, but tlioy were (equally fierce and hnplacsable. The Hurons clneHy occupied the country betwecTi I^akes Erie, Ontario and Huron, and the northern bank of the St. Law- rence. Their principal settlement, till well nigh exter- minated by the Iroquois, was between Lake Simcoe and the Georgian J>ay. The Iroquois or Five Nations occupied northern New York, from tho Mohawk liiver to tlie Genesee. The confederacy embraced the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and was afterwards joined by the Tuscaroras from South Carolina. They were the most cruel and blood-thirsty of all the savage tribes — skilful in war, cunning in policy, and rutliless in slaughter. They were chiefly the allies of the British, and proved a thorn in the side of the French for a hundred and fifty years. After the British conquest of Canada, the Indians were gathered into reserves under military superintendents at Grand liiver. Rice Lake, River Thames, Manitoulin and Walpole Islands, and elsewhere; and were supplied with annual presents of knives, guns, ammunition, blankets, trinkets, grain, implements and the like. Special efforts have been made with marked success for their education in religion, agricultural industry, and secular learning. 1521 1578 CHAPTER IV. . CHAMPLAIN'S ADMINISTRATION. Early Colonization. Frobisher explores the Arctic Seas— 1576. Magellan —Drake— Sir Humphrey Gilbert— Raleigh's unsuccessful Colony at Roanoke— 1585. Chauvin plants a trading post at Tadousac— 1600. Champlain's lirst voyage to Canada— 1603. Poutrincourt founds Port Royal— 1605. Ciiamplain founds Quebec— 1608. Discovers Lakes Huron, Sinicoo, and Ontario— 1613. The Company op the Hundred Associates organized— 1627. Kirk's Conquest op Quebec— 1629. Quebec Restored by the Treaty of St. Ger- main-en-Laye— 1632. Death of Champlain— 1635. For fifty years after the failure of Roberval there was no further attempt to colonize Canada. France, engaged in her prolonged struggle with Spain and Austria, and con- 'i EARLY EXPLORERS. 21 Ic. Tlio U!S Erie, St. L.'iw- h oxter- and the rn Now e. The ondagas, I by the ost cruel in war, ley were n in the ins were dents at Lilin and ied with )lankets, bl efforts nation in Magellan Colony at sac— 1600. rt founds Discovers IT OF THE QUEST OP St. Gbr- 5 was no aged in .nd con- vulsed by the civil wars of religion, had neither men nor means to sparer for foi-cign settlement. The hope of finding a north-west passage to the Indies continued to be a strong incentive to North American ex- ploration. In 1576, Martin Frobisher, an English marines, in a vessel of only five and twenty tons, reached the straits still known by his name, and took possession of the adjacent country in the name of Queen Elizabeth. A Portuguese sailor was the first to circumnavigate the 1 roi gl^^^j "-^^^^ ^^^s left his name stamped forever upon the geography of the earth, and emblazoned in th(; con- stellations of the skies. ^ The gallant Drake, an English- , -„(. man, explored the western coast of America as far north as Oregon, and followed in Magellan's wake around the world. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, step-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, reasserted England's claim, by right of discovery, to Newfoundland, by taking possession of the island, with feudal ceren^ony, in the name of the virgin Queen. On its return, the little fleet was sliattered by a tempest. The pious admiral, in the tiny pinnace Squirrel^ of only ten tons burden, foundered in mid-ocean. As he sat in the stern of the doomed vessel, with his Bible in his hand, he called aloud to the crew of his consort, ' Fear not, shipmates ; heaven is as near by sea as by land. * Undeterred by the fate of his gallant kinsman. Sir Walter Raleigh sent out an expedition which planted the first English colony in America, on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina ; but disaster, imprudence, and con- flicts with the natives, soon led to its abandonment. We now return to the narrative of early French coloni- zation. In the year 1599, Chauvin, a naval officer, obtained a monopoly of the fur trade, on condition of settling five hundred colonists in Canada. With the aid of Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, he built a trading post at the mouth of the Saguenay, and established a lucrative traffic in furs. In 1603, CLamplain, a naval officer in the service of the company, and the future founder of Quebec, ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Hochelaga, but saw no trace of the Indian town existing there sixty years before. Chauvin * Magellan's Straits and the Magellanic Clouds. 22 QUEUE(? FOUNDRD. [1C08 1015] dying thiR year, Dos Monta, a Huguonot iu).l>lo, obtained t\\o niU(!li-covot(Hl trading nionopoly. Acadia was solcH^tod for colonization, on acc'ount of tho supposed nuldnnss of its climate, ease of access, and abundance of furs. A settle- ment was made, in 1G05, at Port Royal, a grant of whicli was given to Poutrincourt, who was appoint(^d Governor.* After three years of busy industry, the colony was aban- dorKHl on account of the seizure of its stoi'e of pc^ltries by the Dutch, and the revocation of its charter. In IGIO it was replanted ; but was, in 1G13, utterly destroyed by an armed expedition from Virginia, under Captain Argall.t Des Monts meanwhile abandoned Acadia for Canada. In 1C08, Champlain, as his lieutenant, sailed with two vessels for the St. Lawrence. On the 3rd of July he reached Quebec, and, beneath the tall cliff of Cape Diamond, laid the foundations of one of the most famous cities of the New World. J The colonists were soon comfortably housed, but before winter was over many of them had died of scurvy The severe discipline observed by the Governoi- provoked a conspiracy for his murder. It was discovered ; the ringleader was hanged, and his fellow-conspirators were shipped in chains to France. Champlain, in the spring, yielded to the solicitations of the friendly Algonquins to join in an attack upon their hereditary foes, the Iroquois. With his savage allies, Champlain advanced up the river Richelieu and the beautiful lake which now bears his name. The strange appearance of the armed Europeans, only three in number, and the novel terror of the death-dealing fire- arms, soon put the enemy to flight. This was an unfortun- ate expedition, as the Iroquois became, for one hundred and fifty years, the implacable foes of the French, and terribly avenged, by many a murder and ambuscade, the death of every Indian slain in this battle. *The dates of the earliest settlements are as f ollows :— St. Augustine, 1565; Port Royal, 1605; Jamestown, 1607; Quebec, 1608; Albany, 1615; Plymouth, 1620; New York, 1623; Boston, 1630; Montreal, 1642; Frontenac (Kingston), 1672; Phila- delphia, 1683; Detroit, 1702; New Orleans, 1718; Halifax, 1749; St. John, 1783; Toronto, 1795. t In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English navigator, sailed up the river to which he gave his name, as far as Troy, and the following year explored Hudson's Bay. With hia son and seven others he was turned adrift by a mutinous crew, and never heard of again. Tlie noble bay which became hia grave perpetuates his memory. t The name Quebec, Champlain positively asserts, was the Indian designation of the narrows of the St. Lawrence at this jwint, the word signifying a strait. Canada is the Indian word for a collection of huts, and enters into the composition of several native names. IGll 1 [1G08 >)>taincd s('I(H!ted ss of its V settles )f whicli v(;rnor.* IS a])}iM- trios l)y 1010 it I by an .i^all.t C-aimda. ith two July lie 'iainoiid, !s of the housed, died of rovernor povered ; ors were I spring, ^uins to roquois. he river is name, ly three ing fire- tifortun- red and terribly [eath of 1565; Port 1620; New 72; Phila- ohn, 1783; > which he son's Bay. and never 9 memory. gnation of . Canada )08ilio» of 1015] DISCOVERY OF LAKE HUllON. 23 After the death, in this year, of Ifenry IV., the patron of Des Monts, the latter was obliged to admit privates ad- venturers to share the profits of the fur trade, on condition of their promoting his schemes of colonization. The powerful Prince of Conde, Admiral Montmorency, and the Duke of Ventadour, became successively Viceroys of Canada ; but the valour, and Hdclity, and zeal of Champlain commanded the confidence of tiiem all. With the prescience of a ,p^ 1 founder of empire, ho selected the Island of Montreal as the site of a fort protecting the fur trade and commanding the two great water-ways of the country, the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. In order to verify the story of the existence of a great northern sea, which would probably give access to China and India, Champlain, with a few companions, ascended the rapid Ottawa, as far as the Isle of Allumettes. When even the Indians refused to escort him further on his perilous way, he returned, disappointed but undaunted, to Quebec, and thence to France, to urge the fortunes of the colony. With a desire for gain, and for extending the dominions of France in the New World, was blended also a zeal for the conversion of the savages to the Catholic faith. On Champlain's return to Canada, in 1615, he brought with the new company of colonists four Recollet friars, the first of a brave band of missionaries who toiled amid the wilderness to win the wandering pagans to the doctrines of the cross. Joining a party of Algonquin and Huron Indians about to wage war against the Iroquois, he proceeded up the Ottawa and over almost countless portages, and reached, by way of Lake Nipissing and French River, Lake Huron, to which he gave the name Mer Douce — the Fresh Water Sea. Coasting down its rugged eastern shore, and threading a forest trail, Champlain and his companions reached at length a place of rendezvous, on the narrows of Lake Couchiching, near where the village of Orillia now stands. Here a war party of two thousand plumed and painted Indian braves was assembled. Sailing, with several hun- dred canoes, through Lake Simcoe, and traversing the pic- turesque Balsam, Sturgeon, Pigeon, and Rice Lakes, with their intervening portages, they glided down the devious windings of the Otonabee and Trent Rivers, and reached the beautiful Bay of Quinte, now adorned with smiling 24 HOQUOIS VICTORY. [1616 1629] villages and cheerful farms. The Huron fleet then entered Lake Ontario, to which Champ) ain gave the name — which it long retained — of Lac St. Louis. Boldly crossing the lake, they reached the country of the Iroquois, and pressed onward some thirty leagues to the Seneca towns near Lake Canandaigua. The tumultuous onset of the Hurons was ineffective. They were soon thrown into disorder, in spite of the efforts of Champlain, who was himself seriously wounded by the arrows of the savages, and were compelled to retreat. Champlain had been promised an escort down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, but, daunted by their defeat, the Hurons refused to keep their engagement. He was there- fore, although severely wounded, compelled to return with his savage allies. After long delays,^ he traversed on snow- shoes the wintry forest, beneath a crushing load, through what are now the counties of Hastings, Peterborough, and Victoria, and on Christmas eve reached Lake Couchiching. He remained four months with his savage hosts, sharing in their councils, their feasts, and their hunts, and hearing strange tales of the vast lakes and rivers of the far west. Igjg His arrival at Quebec, after a year's absence, was greeted almost as a resurrection from the dead. In the fall he returned to France, only to find his patron, Conde, disgraced and imprisoned. Admiral de Montmor- ency, in 1620, purchased the vice-royalty, and the same year Champlain brought out his youthful wife, who was received by the Indians with reverential homage, as if a being of superior race. The impolicy of Champlain's Indian wars was soon manifested by the first of those Iroquois attacks which so often afterwards harassed the colony. Quebec was as yet surrounded only by wooden walls. To strengthen its defences, the energetic Governor built a stone fort in the lower town, and on the magnificent heights overlooking the broad St. Lawrence, one of the noblest sites in the world, he began the erection of the Castle of St. Louis, the residence of successive Governors of Canada down to 1834, when it was destroyed by fire. In consequence of disputes in the Trading Company of 1621 "^^^ France, its charter was suspended and its privi- leges transferred to tlie Sieurs De Caen, uncle and nephew, zealous Huguenots. Many resident traders left the [1616 1629] kirk's conquest of QUEBEC. 25 entered I — which jing tlie pressed ir Lake rons was I in spite seriously )mpelled the St. at, the is there- rn with )n snow- through gh, and hiching. aring in heariniQ: ar west, ice, was i. patron, ontmor- me year •eceived •eing of n wars attacks Quebec ngthen fort in ooking in the lis, the > 1834, any of 1 privi- le and 's left I the country in disgust, so that the population was reduced to forty-eight persons. ^nnx Montmorency soon surrendered his vice-royalty to the Duke de Ventadour, a nobleman who, wearied of the follies of the court, had entered a monastic order, and was full of zeal for the extension of the Roman Catholic faith in the New World. Amid the religious and com- mercial rivalries by which it was distracted, the infant colony languished. The Iroquois became more bold in their attacks, and even cruelly tortured a French prisoner. Tlie De Casns furnished inadequate supplies of food, clothing, and ammunition, so that at times the colony was reduced to great extremities. Everything withered under their monopoly. 1^97 Cardinal Richelieu, one of the greatest statesmen who ever swayed the destinies of France, was now in power. He straightway annulled the charter of the De Caens, and organized the Company of the Hundred Associ- ates, with the absolute sovereignty of the whole of New France, and with the complete monopoly of trade. It was required to settle four thousand Catholic colonists within fifteen years, and to maintain and permanently endow the Roman Catholic Church in New France ; and all Huguenots were banished from the country. But a new misfortune befel the colony. Charles I., King of England, had made an ^ineffectual attempt to relieve the Huguenots, besieged in Rochelle, and had declared war against France. The conquest of Canada was decreed, and the task was assigned to Sir David Kirk, a Huguenot refugee. In the summer of 1628 he reached the St. Law- rence, and sent a summons to Champlain to surrender. The Governor ostentatiously feasted the messengers, although the town of Quebec was on an allowance of only seven ounces of bread per day, and returned a gallant defiance to Kirk. The latter cruised in the Gulf, and captured the transports laden with the winter's provisions for the colony. The sufferings of the French were intense. With the early iroq spring the famishing population burrowed in the forests for edible roots. But the heroic spirit of Champlain sustained their courage. Still the expected pro- vision ships from France cime not. At length, toward the end of July, hungry eyes discovered from the Castif? of 8 26 DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN. [1635 1633 St. Louis three vessels rounding the headland of Point Levi. But they were English ships of war, and the little garrison of sixteen famine-wasted men were compelled to surrender. As peace had been declared before the surrender of Quebec, the French demanded its restoration. By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, the whole of Canada, Cape Breton and Acadia, was restored to the French, and the red cross banner of England, after waving for three years from the Castle of St. Louis, gave place to the lilied flag of France. The following year Cham plain returned to the colony as Governor, with two hundred emigrants and soldiers. He established forts at Three Rivers, and at the mouth of the Richelieu,"'^ to protect the fur trade and check the in- roads of the Iroquois, and greatly promoted the prosperity of the colony. But the labours of his busy life were draw- ing to a close. In October, 1335, he was smitten with his mortal illness. On Christmas day the brave soul passed away, and the body of the honoured founder of Quebec was buried beneath the lofty cliff which overlooks the scene of his patriotic toil. For thirty years he laboured withcj^t stint and against almost insuperable difficulties for the struggling colony. A score of times he crossed the Atlantic in the tardy, incommodious, and often scurvy-smitten vessels of the period, in order to advance its interests. His name is embalmed in the history of his adopted country, and still lives in the memory of a grateful people, and in the desig- nation of the beautiful lake on which he, first of white men, sailed. His account of his voyage and his history of New France bear witness to his literary skill and powers of observation ; and liis summary of Christian doctrine, written for the native tribes, is a touching monument of his piety. English] Cc Vi tic to! CI • This ancient highway, by which the bark fleets of these enemies of New France Invaded the colony, waa long known as the River of the Iroquois. [1635 ( 2V) Mnt Levi. garrison irrender. lender of By the [da, Cape and the fee years M flag of e colony soldiers, nouth of ^ the in- •osperity re draw- «^ith his i passed >bec was scene of r:.t stint 'uggling ■ in the ssels of name is nd stil] e desig- 'e men, •f New t^ers of ^'ritten 3iety. If France CHAPTER V. THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES. English Colonization— Jamestown Founded— 1607. The New England Colonies— Montmagny, Governor of Canada— 1637. Founding op ViLLE Marie (Montreal)— 1642. Huron Missions— Their Destruc- tion by the Iroquois— 1648-49. Tlio Abbe Laval, first Vicar Apos- tolic— 1659. Dulac des Ormeaux, the Lconidas of Canada— 1660. Charter of the Hundred Associates Annulled— 1663. Earthquakes. In order to understand the prolonged conflict between France and Great Britain for the possession of the North American continent, it will be necessary to trace briefly the progress of English colonization. It was not till the year 1607, one hundred and ten years after the discovery of America by Cabot, that a permanent English settlement was made in the New World. It consisted of one hundred and five emigrants— of whom forty-eight were "gentlemen," and only twelve labourers and four carpenteiS — sent out by a company of London merchants, incorporated under royal charter. They entered the magnificent Chesapeake Bay, and began their settlement at Jamestown, on the .Tames River. Indolence, strife, and jealousy plunged the colony into anarchy and despair. Before autumn half of its num- ber had died, and the rest were enfeebled with hunger and disease. They were only saved from destruction by the energy and ability of Captain John Smith, the romantic story of whose rescue from death by Pocahontas is one of the most pleasing legends of early colonization. Successive reinforcements, chiefly of broken-down gentlemen, bankrupt tradesmen, and idle and dissolute fugitives from justice, increased the number in three years to four hundred and ninety person' hen John Smith, injured by an explosion of gunpowder, was compelled to return to England. In six months vice and famine had reduced the colony to sixty persons, who prepared to abandon the country. Lord Dela- ware opportunely arrived with supplies ; but in twelve years, after the expenditure of $400,000, it numbered only six hundred persoii.. At length, reinforced by a superior class oi immigrants, its population rapidly increased, till, in 1648, it numbered twenty thousand souls. 28 ENGLISH COLONIZATION. 1642] In 1632, Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic nobleman, received a grant of the territory which, in honour of Hen- rietta Maria, wife of Charles I., he called Maryland. This he held by feudal tenure, paying only a yearly rent of two Indian arrows, and a fifth of all the gold and silver found. Catholics and Protestants alike enjoyed religious toleration, and by 1660 its population had increased to ten thousand souls. The New England colonies were the offspring of religious impulse. A company of English Puritans, sojourning in Holland for conscience' sake, embarked in the Mayflower^ of immortal memory, and on Christmas day, 1620, landed on Plymouth Rock. Before spring, half the number had died, and for several years sickness and famine menaced the very existence of the colony. Further settlements were made at Salem and Boston ; tlie new colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut were planted ; and after many years of priva- tion, suffering, sickness, and Indian massacres, the popula- tion of New England, continually reinforced by fresh immi- gration, reached, in 1675, lifty-five thousand.* 1fi^7 ^^ return to follow more minutely the varying fortunes of New France. M. de Montmagny,f the successor of Champlain, arrived in Canada in 1637. The Company of the Hundred Associates, from which so much had been expected, did little but send a few vessels annu- ally to traffic with the natives. Instead of transporting four thousand colonists in fifteen years, in the thirty-five years of its existence it did not send out one thousand. At Champlain's death, there were only two hundred and fifty Europeans in the colony. In five years more, scarce a hun- dred were added. In 1648, the European population was only eight hundred, and in 1663, ^vhen the company's charter was annulled, it was less than two thousand, most of whom had come out without its aid. So slowly, as com- *A9 early as 1615, the Dutch had a trading post at Albany. In 1623, they founded New Amsterdam, now New York. In 1638, the Swedes colonized Dela- ware, but were compelled to cede their territory to the Dutch in 1655. The Dutch, in turn, were obli^'ed, in 1664, to yield their possessions to the English, now su- preme from Acadia to Florida, which last, in 1764, the Spaniards ceded in exchange for Havana and Louisiana. t From this Governor is derived the name Onontio, applied by the Indians to all his successors. It is the translation into their language of his name, and signiflea " Great Mountain." pared populat Man eager caine t< Madan who, foundri structic Guyari de rin of twe landed was to enthus and t\ over t instru( In \ ciates ( selecte officer, little f forty : lander erecte< P^re" Heave tions i metro Thi and s< gaine most missi< Worl the I and c ♦ Fo •• Rela' ware e ment i 1642] FOUNDING OF MONTREAL. 29 obleman, of Hen- i. This 1) of two r found, leration, housand religious rning in bowery of nded oa ad died, the very made at ind and f priva- popula- ih inimi- varying iy,t the 7. The io much s annu- iporting irty-five id. At id fifty a hun- ion was [ipany's i, most IS com- 623, they zed Dela- 16 Dutch, now su- sxchange ms to all si^nifiea pared with that of Virginia and New England, did the population of New France increase. Many persons devoted to religion, both priests and nans, eager to engage in missionary toil among the savages, came to Canada. One of the most remarkable of these was Madame de la Peltrie, a lady of wealth and noble birth, who, left a widow at the age of twenty-two, became the foundress of the Ursuline Convent at Quebec for the in- struction of French and Indian girls. With her came Marie Guyart, better known by her conventual name of Marie de r Incarnation, who had also been left a widow at the age of twenty. They arrived at Quebec in 1639. As they landed from their floating prisons they kissed the soil that was to be the scene of their labours, and were received with enthusiasm by the inhabitants, and with firing of cannon, and the best military parade of the little garrison. For over thirty years these devoted women laboured for the instruction of the Indian neophytes. In the year 1640, the Company of the Hundred Asso- ciates ceded the Island of Montreal to a new company, which selected M. de Maisonneuve, a young and gallant military officer, as its representative. In the spring of 1642, the little fleet, bearing the founders of the new town and aboui forty soldiers and settlers, glided up the river. As they landed, a hymn of thanksgiving was sung, an altar was erected, and in that magnificent ar \phitheatre of nature, P^re Vimont celebrated mass, and invoked the blessing of Heaven on the new colonists. Thus were laid the founda- tions of the Ville Marie de Montreal, the future commercial metropolis of Canada. That remarkable religious order, which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries belted the globe with its missions, gained some of its most striking triumphs and exhibited its most heroic spirit in the wilderness of Canada. "**■ The Jesuit missionaries were the pioneers of civilization in the New World. As early as 1626, Jsan de Brebeuf, the apostle of the Hurons, visited the savage tribes, and planted the cross and chanted the mass at Sault Ste. Marie, on the shores of * For forty years, from 1032 to 1672, the Jesuit Fathers sent home annual "Relations" of the progress of the missions and of affair? in the colony. These ware collected and published in three large 8vo volumes by the Canadian Govern- ment in 1858. They are a perfect mine of information on early Canadian history. 30 HURON MISSIONS. [1648 1650] the Mer Douce. Soon other missionaries followed,^ and toiled among the Hurons, in the country between Lake Sirncoe i,nd the Georgian Bay. Footsore and weary, gnawed by hunger, and chilled by piercing cold, they traversed the wintry woods from plague-smitten town to town, to minister their healing similes to the .victims of the loathsome small- pox, to baptize, if possible, a dying child, and to tell the painted savages in their reeking wigwams of the love of Mary and her Divine Son. At length, over a score of mission stations were estab- lished, the chief of which was at Ste. Marie, near the present town of Penetanguishene. Here was erected a stone fort, whose ruins may still be traced, with a church and mission house. In 1648, a storm of heathen rage burst upon the Christian missions. A war party of the blood-thirsty Iro- quois fell upon the village of St. Joseph, near the present town of Barrie, on the morning of July 4th. Pere Daniel had just finished the celebration of mass when the dread warwhoop was heard. " Fly, my brethren," he cried, " I will die here •" and he fell like a hero at his post, with the name of Jesus on his lips. Early next spring, a thousand Iroquois warriors attacked the Huron villages. At St. Louis, not far from Orillia, P^res Br^beuf and Lalemant were seized, and, after cruel tortures, borne with martyr patience, they were burned at the stake, f The mission was wrecked. The missionary Fathers set fire to Ste. Marie, and saw consumed in an hour the labours of years. On an island not far from the mainland, they built a new mission fortress, the remains of which may still be seen. Here, by winter, were assembled six or eight thousand wretched Hurons, dependent on the charity of he mission. Before spring, harassed by attacks of the Iroquois, wasted by pestilence, and famished on the scanty allowance of acorns (boiled with ashes to take away their bitter taste), which was their only food, half of the number had died. * The fate of one of these, P^re Jogues, is of tragic interest. In 1642, he was carried captive to the Seneca towns and most inhumanly treated. He escaped to Albany, and thence to France. Undaunted by the danger, he returned to the scene of his sufferings, to establish the " Mission of the Martyrs," as it was pro- phetically named, and was there barbarously murdered. t The skull and other relics of Brebeuf are preserved at the Hotel Dieu, at Quebec. No less than nine of the Jesuit Fathers and lay labourers died as martyrs in these cruel Indian wars. There w ten thoi Ther to God, country blood retreat, hundre( numero Island land. hate ol mission Hurons northei soon di of the Christi two cei plough fulHu The ments 1650 i year, a Iroquc lay in Frencl killed Every not w numei incurs Frenc In existe paint( three Behin gathe was i devot [1648 d,^ and n Lake gnawed rsed the minister e small- tell the love of estab- present ne fort, mission pon the sty Iro- present Daniel e dread •ied, "I v^ith the attacked a, P<^res ortures, stake, t t fire to ours of iy built still be ousand lission. wasted -nee of taste), 1 died. 2, he \va8 caped to d to the was pro- 1650] LAST OF THE HUKONS. 31 Quebec, in these There was nothing but despair on every side. More than ten thousand Hurons had already perished. The missionaries, "after forty consecutive hours of prayer to God," resolved, not without many tears, to Jibandon the country endeared by their toils and consecrated with the blood of their brethren. They were accompanied in their retreat, by way of Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa, by three hundred Christian Hurons — sad relics of a nation once so numerous. The little band of fugitives sought refuge on the Island of Orleans, near Quebec, and afterward on the main- land. But even here they were pursued by the undying hate of the Iroquois, who again and again attacked the mission beneath the very guns of the fort. The remaining Hurons were dispersed in scattered bands over the bleak northern wastes from the Saguenay to the Mississippi, and soon disappeared as a distinct tribe. No trace now remains of the Jesuit missions save the blackened embers of the Christian ^villages, buried beneath the forest growth of over two centuries, which are sometimes upturned by the settler's plough ; and a few families, the remnant of the once power- ful Huron nation, still lingering at Lorette, near Quebec. The incursions of the Iroquois on the St. Lawrence settle- ments now increased in frequency and audacity. From 1650 to 1660 a perfect reign of terror prevailed. Not a year, and scarce a month, passed without an attack. The Iroquois swarmed in the forests and on the rivers. They lay in wait, at times for weeks, near the forts, thirsting for French or Huron blood. They entered the settlements, and killed and scalped the inhabitants on their own thresholds. Every man carried his life in his hand. The peasants could not work in the fields unless strongly armed and in a numerous body. Ville Marie lost in one month by these incursions over a hundred men, two-thirds of whom were French, the rest Algonquins. In 1660, the Iroquois menaced with a fatal blow the very existence of the colony. Twelve hundred plumed and painted warriors were on the way to attack successively the three military posts of Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec. Behind their loopholed palisades the trembling inhabitants gathered, their hearts failing them for fear. The colony was saved from extermination by an act of valour and devotion as heroic as any recorded on the page of history. 32 POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION. [1660 16631 Dulac des Orraeaux, a youth of twenty-iive, with sixteen others, youthful like himself — all of Montreal — resolved to save their country, though they perished in the act. T/iey made their wills, confessed, received the sacrament, and bade a solemn farewell to their friends, like men about to march to death. And so they were. Not one returned alive. They took their stand at the Lonf^ Sault, near Carillon, on the Ottawa. Soon the savage host appeared. For five long days and nights they swarmed around the frail redoubt erected by the French, repulsed again and again by its brave defenders, who, though worn by hunger, thirst, and want of sleep, fought, and prayed, and watched in turns. Iroquois reinforcements arrived ; and for three days longer seven hundred ferocious savages beleaguered the crumbling redoubt, and only with the death of the last Frenchman was the dear-bought victory won. But the colony was saved. The pass of the Long Sault was the Thermopylae of Canada. We return to trace briefly the political administration of New France during this period. In 1647, Montmagny was recalled, and M. D'Ailleboust was appointed his successor. In 1651, D'Ailleboust was succeeded by M. de Lauson, a leading member of the Hundred Associates. In 1658, De Lauson quitted his post in disgust, and was succeeded in office by the Viscount D'Argenson. In 1659, the Abb6 Laval, a member of the princely house of Montmorency, who afterwards (in 1670) became the first bishop of the colony, arrived in Canada as Vicar Apostolic. He was a man of intense zeal and devotion to the interests of his order. For thirty years he swayed the religious destiny of the colony. His memory is greatly revered by his countrymen, and the noble collegiate pile which crowns the heights of Quebec perpetuates his name. Acrimonious disputes soon arose between the Bishop and successive Governors on matters of precedence and other expressions of ecclesiastical dignity. In 1661, DArgenson was succeeded by the Baron D'Avaugour, a brave soldier, who had served with distinc- tion in Hungary. Resolved on energetic l jures of colon- ial defence, he asked for three thousand regular troops. The King tardily sent out four hundred, and meanwhile th« country was laid waste, and the military posts were prac- tically in a state of siege. In 1 earthqu ice on church totterec hoard, to Aug pily no This ciates, and in( unpt ara CONSTIT -I Go HA trn Sn The c scindei becami minist of gre score ( The n( cil, coi Intenc wards presid TheG and w his re memb [1660 16631 SUPREME COUNCIL. 33 sixteen Ived to Tnvy lit, and bout to e turned t, near peared. he frail gain by rst, and turns. i longer mbling lan was saved, yanada. ition of ny was 3cessor. lUSon, a 1658, I'ceeded 'f house he first ostolic. iterests ^ligious red by 3rowns onious cessive 3ssions Baron istinc- colon- roops. lie tht! prac- In 1GG3, the whole country was sliakon by a torriule earthquake. Dense darkness tilled tiie air, the thick-ribbed ice on the rivers was broken, springs were dried up, the church bells pealed with the rocking motion, buildings tottered, the forest trembled, and poi'tentous noises were heard. Shocks were repeated at intervals fi'om February to August. The utmost consternation prevailed, but hap- pily no loss of life is recorded. This date closes the administration of the Hundred Asso- ciates, which had been characterized l)y greed, weakness, and inefficiency on the part of the company, and by the unparalleled sufl'erings of the colonists. CHAPTER VI. IIOYAL GOVERNMENT. Constitution op the Supreme Council— 1663. De Mcsy, Governcr — Do Tracy, Viceroy— Talon, Intendant— 1665. Do Coxirccllcs, Governor -Attacks the Iroquois— De Tracy conquers the Mo- nAWKS-1666. Eighteen Years' Truce— Talon's wise adminis- tration- Seigniorial Tenure op Land -Tlio Fur Trade — The Small-pox and Liquor Traffic waste the Native Tribes. The charter of the Hundred Associates having been re scinded (February, 1663), the government of New France became vested directly in the crown. Colbert, the new minister of Louis XIV., a man of comprehensive views, and of great energy and integrity of character, continued foi' a score of years to be the tried and true friend of Canada. The new government was administered by a Supreme Coun- cil, composed of the Governor, the Bishop, and the royal Intendant, assisted by four Councillors — a number after- wards raised to twelve. Of this Council, Bishop Laval was president, and had jurisdiction over ecclesiastical affairs, The Governor was the military representative of the King, and was generally of noble rank ; while the Intendant was his representative in legal matters, and was generally a member of the legal profession. The respective duties and 34 CAl^UllE OF NEW AMSTERDAM. [1664 authority of tlio Govornor and Tntendant were not clearly dt^Hned, and fiom their peculiar relations it was iuipossiblo but that jtMilousies should arise between tlieui. The Gover- nor frequ(^ntly, and with justice, regarded the Intendant as a spy upon his conduct and a check upon his influence ; and (;ach made t're(iuent and often conflicting reports to the King. The jurisdiction of the Council covered every de- partment of government — legislative, judicial, executive — from declaring war or peace to trivial municipal regulations, and the setthniient of petty disputes. The code of laws of the mother country, known as the '' coutume de Paris," or custom of Paris, became the recognized colonial standard. The new system was inaugurated with considerable energy. A hundred families of immigrants arrived, and the prospt;cts of the colony began to brighten. M. de Mesy, conmiandant of Caen, was the iirst Governor. The trade of Canada had meanwhile been granted to the West India Company, one of those giant monopolies that strangled its infant connnerce, just struggling into life. In consideration of its control, for fifty years, of the traflic of New France, it was to defray all the expenses of govern- ment. Simultaneous with these events was another which was destined to aft'ect the entire future history of the North American continent. The English sovereign, Charles IJ., had grantea to his brother, the Duke of York, the country adjacent to the Hudson River, which for fifty years had been in the peaceable possession of the Dutch. Four Eng- lish ships anchored before New Amsterdam, and demanded its surrender. After a short pai'ley, the white flag was raised, and the Dutch settlers became British subjects. Out of compliment to the Duke of York, the place was re- named New Yoi'k, and Fort Orange became Albany. The English strove steadily to divert the fur trade from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson, offering in barter better goods at lower prices than the French. Out of the commercial greed of these for-midable rivals sprang the cruel wars which long desolated the frontiers of New England and New France. The Marquis de Tracy, a veteran oflTicer, was sent to Canada to reduce the Iroquois and settle all disorders. He arrived in the spring of 1665, with a splendid body of I ;o [1664 clo.'irly possible Go ver- dant as and to the fry de- utive — lations, laws of Li'is," or dard. derable ed, and e Mesy, d to the ios that ife. In rafiic of govern- ich was } North i-les I J., countiy ars had ur Ensf- nianded lag was iubjects. was re- y. The the St. ;oods at nnercial •s which id New sent to [•s. He jody of 1667] talon's enliohtened policy. 85 troops — tlio royal Carignan regiment, which had won glory in Hungary, fighting against the Turks. The mounted oHic«u's especially struck terror to the breasts of the savjigos as they weio deemed inseparable from the horses they bestrode — the first the Indians had ever seen. Soon after arrived M. de Oourcellef?, the new Coverm ', and M. Talon, the new Intendant of Canada, with more soldiers, and a numerous body of immigrants. The colony was now strong enough to wage aggressive warfare. To check the inroads of tlie Iroquois, forts were built at Chambly and Sorel. De Courcelles and De Ti'a»;y made successive attacks on the Iroquois in their strongholds. The savages learned to dread the strength of that arm which from so great a distance could strike such a blow, cand a treaty of peace was made, which gave rest to the long- harassed colony for eighteen years. Under the able administration of De Courcelles and Talon, after the departure of De Tiacy in 1667, the affairs of the colony greatly prospered. The Intendant especially laboured to develop the natural lesources of the field, the forest, and the mine, as well as the fisheries and the fur trade. Many of his enlightened .schemes are only being carried into effect two centuries after his death. He pro- cured the disbandment of the Carignan regiment in the colony, with grants of land to the ©IKcers and men. In order to procure wives for the disbanded ti'oops and un- married colonists, Talon procured a large immigration of marriageable young women of good character, to whom a handsome dowry was paid. A fine was imposed on celibacy, and on the arrival of the annual ship-load of candidates for matrimony, couples were married, oays the contemporary chronicle, " by thirties at a time." These military colonists became the tenants or cevisitaires of the seigniors, often their former officers, to whom exten- sive domains had been assigned. The soldiers' grants, situated chiefly on the St. Lawrence and Richelieu, were generally a hundred arpents or French acres in size, having a narrow frontage on the river and running back abort a mile and a half. These farms often became subdivided by inheritance into a mere riband of land, some of which have continued in the same family to the present time. In the absence of roads, the proximity to the river furnished facili- 3G COUUEUUS 1)K HOIS, tics for travel, and also for mutual tlifonco. Tho ccnsitairca paid to tlio s(!i«,niior a nominal rent, but thoy \v(»ro loquired to labour for liis ]>one(it a cortain number of days in tho year ; to got their corn ground at his mill, paying a ti\od toll thorofor : to give him ono fish in overy cloven caught ; and, in case of a sale of their lands, to pay him one-twelfth of the price received. It was, in fact, a moditicd forni of a feudal tenure. It was only entirely abolished in 1851.* Trade, however, strangled by artificial restrictions, lan- guished, and the West India Company grew rich at the expense of the colony. Almost the sole traflic was that in furs, wliich was unduly stimulated to the great injury of the country. The wild forest life had an irresistible fascination for the adventurous spirits of the time. Hun- dreds of the young men, disdaining the dull routine of labour, became Coureurs de Bois, — " Runners of the Woods," — and roamed like savage nomads upon the distant shores of Lakes Superior and Michigan. Meanwhile the fields Ir.nguished for lack of tilirige ; poverty and famine wasted the land. The conre^irs de bois, lawless and reck- less, set at defiance the royal edicts issued for their restraint, and glutted the market with furs for Nv^hich there was no remunerative demand : three-fourths of the stock at Mon- treal was burned in 1700 in order to make the rest worth exportation. A considerable number of Algonquin Indians had been gathered into mission communities by the Jesuit Fathers, and brought under at least the partial restraint of Christi- anity and civilization. But the white iiian's diseases, and the white man's vices, were more easily acquired than the white man's virtues. The small-pox wasted the native tribes. The white man's *' fire water " had a fatal fascina- tion for the red man's unrestrained appetite. ♦ The rents were often absurdly low. At Montreal, at thh period, a common annual rate was half a sou and half a pint of wheat per acre. The purchasing power of money was very jrrcat. Fuel sold at Quebec for one and three pence per cord— the amount of a day's wages. Eels were sold in the market at one shilling per hundred. sitairea in the a fixed ;au!4lifc ; twelfth rni of a ")■{* Ms, lari- at the that in vtry of sistible Hun- tine of )f the ilistant ilo the fill nine I reck- ;traint, ivas no t Mon- worth d been athers, yhristi- 3S, and \n the native iscina- common rc'hasiiig erice per shilling ( 37 ) CHAPTER VII. THE DISCOVERY OF THE (IIIEAT WEST. Frontonud, (Jovornor— lo72. ForvDS Fokt Fuontknac (Kl">?«lon)— J(\HiiU Kxplorors— MAKQUK/nio Dihcovkhh tmk Mihhihsii'I'I— 1673. La Sallc! liiun(OioH lluf (Jiuki-in 1679. Ukacmks tiik Moutie ok TiiK MiHKiHHii'i'i— 1682. Atluinpls to Colonl/o LoulHiaiui and in slain— 1687. In the year 1G72, Louis do Buado, Count do Fi-ontonac, was appointed Governor, and J\I. Duchcsneau, Intendant of Canada. Frontenac's imperious tenip(!r soon involved him in disputes with Laval, and with the Litendant, and rendered his whole administration on(^ of tumult and strife. One of the first acts of tiie new Covernor was the plant- ing of a fort and trading post at the foot of Lake Ontario,* both long known by his name, in order to check the inter*- ference of the English from Albany and New York with the fur trade of the Indian allies of the French. The chief glory of Frontenac's administration was the spirit of daring exploration and discovery by which it was characterized. The pathfinders of empire in the New World were the Jesuit missionaries. With breviary and crucifix, at the command of the Superior of the Order at Quebec, they wandered all over this great continent from the forests of Maine to the Rocky Mountains, from the regions around Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi. " Not a cape was turned, not a river was entered, but a Jesuit led the way." f In 1640, P^res Brebeuf and Shaumont explored the southern shore of Lake Erie. In 1641, Peres Jogues and Raymbault told the story of the ^^oss to the wondering assembly of two thousand red men, beside the rushing rapids of Ste. Marie, five years before Eliot had preached to the Indians within gunshot of Boston town. In 1646, Pere de Quen threaded the gloomy passes of the Saguenay to teach the way of salvation to savage northern hordes. In 1660, Ren^ Mesnard reached Keweenew Bay, on Lake Superior, and perished in the wilderness. The zeal of Laval Where Kingston now stands. t Bancroft. 38 MARQUETTE. [1673 burned to tread in the same path of trial and glory. In 1665, Pere Alloiiez paddled his fra?l canoe over the crystal waters of Superior, beneath the pictured rocks, the columned palisades, the rolling sand dunes of its southern shore, to its furthest extremity, and heard of the vast prairies and great rivers beyond. ^ In 1673, under the patronage of Talon, P^re Margjjuatte, with Joliet, a native of Quebec, and five others, glided down the winding Wisconsin to the mighty Father of Waters. Day after day they sailed down the solitary stream for over a thousand miles, past the rushing Missouri, the turbid Ohio, and the sluggish Arkansas. Learning that the mighty river flowed onward to the Gulf of Mexico, Joliet returned to Quebec to tell the story of the fair and virgin lands of the west, while Marquette remained to preach the gospel to the Indians, among whom he soon died. The glory of Joliet's discovery fired the ambition of another adventurer, Robert la Salle. He obtained a com- mission for exploration in the far west, with authority to erect forts, and a monopoly of the traffic in buftalo skins. In November, 1678, accompanie 1 by Tonti, an Italian veteran, by P6re Hennepin, and a motley crew, he sailed for the Niagara River, and erected a fort above the great cataract. During the winter. La Salle returned on foot to Frontenac for additional naval supplies. By midsunmier, 1679, a vessel of forty-five tons was built and launclied amid the chanting of the Te Deum and the firing of her little armament of small cannon. On the 7th of August, the Grilfin spread her wings to the breeze, and in three weeks reached the entrance to Lake Michigan. La Salle freighted this pioneer vessel with a cargo of furs in order to appease the clamours of his creditors, and sent her back to Niagara. She must have foundered in an autumnal storm, as she was never heard of again. Weary of waiting her return, he resolved to explore the interior. At Lake Peoria, in the heart of Illinois, amid the despondency, mutiny and desertion of his men, he built a fort to which, in allusion to his disasters and disappoint- ments, he gave the name of Creveca^ur — Heart-break. After many adventurer, he at length, with his little company, launched his frail canoes on the broad bosom of the Missis- sippi. For sixty days he glided down the giant stream, and I [1673 1687] LA SALLE. 89 y. In crystal lumned lore, to es and ;attfitto, d down Vaters. or over turbid mighty [^turned ands of gospel tion of a com- )rity to 3 skins. Italian ) sailed e great foot to Linimer, id amid r little Lst, the ! weeks lighted ^ppease iagara. he was >re the aid the Duilt a Dpoint- After apany, Missis- m, and reaching its mouth he claimed the vast mid-continent for France, under the name, in honour of his sovereign, of Louisiana.* To meet the detractions of his enemies, he returned to Canada, and sailed to France. He was received with favour at court, and despatched with a hundred soldiers and a hundred and eighty settlers to colonize Louisiana. Ho missed the mouth of the Mississippi. His store-ship was wrecked two hundred miles out of his course. Disaster dogged his footsteps. Disease, famine, and savage foes made havoc among his followers. Treachery and mutiny corrupted the survivors. His colony being reduced to forty persons. La Salle set out with sixteen men for Canada to ^ pj.y procure recru^'ts. His companions mutinied, and bar- barously murdered their leader, leaving his naked body on the prairies to be devoured by buzzards and wolves. After superhuman toils and sufferings, seven men of the ill-fated band reached Canada to tell the tragic story ; the rest perished miserably in the wildeiness. The animating spirit of La Salle was not the religious enthusiasm of the Jesuit missionaries, nor the patriotic devotion of Champlain, but rather a vast ambition, a passion for discovery, an intense energy of character which courted difficulty and defied danger. His splendid services to Franco and civilization merited a better fate than his tragic and treacherous death, at the early age of forty-three, upon the Texan plains. CHAPTER VIII. "THE AGQNY OF CANADA." Frontcnac recalled— Dc la Barro, Viceroy— 1682. Iroquois War renewed —Disaster of Famine Cove— 1684. Denouvillc, Viceroy -Seizes Iroquois Chiefs— 1G85. Defeats Senecas — Plants Western Forts —1687. Iroquois Ravage Frontier -Treachery of Le Rat— 1688. Massacre op Lachine, the "brain-blow" of Canada— 1689. During the ten years of Frontenac's first colonial adminis- tration, his haughty and overbearing manners involved him * The Ohio and the Mississippi received the names respectively of Rivtjr St Louis and Hivev Colbert. 40 inOQUOlS WAR. [1688 in perpetual disputes with the Bishop, the Intendant, the Council, the Jesuits -in fact, with all who opposed his often arbitrary will. At length, wearied with complaints, the King recalled Frontenuc in 1682, and appointed M. de la Barre his successor. On his arrival in Canada, he found the country threatened with the outbreak of another Iro- quois war. Mustering a thousand militiamen and Indians, and a handful of regulars, at Fort Frontenac, he proceeded to invade the Seneca country ; but was compelled to make ,^(^p, an ignominious peace. He was soon recalled in dis- grace, and was succeeded by the Marquis de Denon- ville. Denonville, who was shortly followed by six hundred regulars, after a few hours' rest at Quebec, pushed on to Fort Frontenac; and in June, 1687, defeated the Senecas with great loss. He spent ten days ravaging the country, burning the villages, and destroying an immense stock of maize: — over a million bushels, says one account. He planted palisaded posts at Niagara, Toronto, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and on the Illinois River, as a bar- rier against the encroachments of the English or their Iroquois allies. The whole Five Nations now united to avenge the jgQg slaughter of the Senecas. They prowled like famished wolves all along the frontier. They lay in wait near every settlement, thirsting for Christian blood. During this fatal year, over a thousand of the colonists fell by the scalp- ing knife or tomahawk of their relentless foe. In this extremity, negotiations for peace were opened under the menace of a thousand Iroquois warriors at Lake St. Francis, who demanded the restoration of their betrayed chiefs, now toiling in the royal galleys in France. While the negotiations were pending, a crafty Huron chief, Kon- diarak or the Rat, a forest Machiavelli, offended at the pros- pect of a treaty with his hereditary foe, by a deed of double treachery fell on an Iroquois emba: ^y, and declared that he acted by the command of the French. He had effectually, as he boasted, " killed the peace." The incipient treaty was broken off, and the war was waged with intenser vio- lence. The culminating art in this bloody drama was the mas- sacre of Lachine in 1689. On tiie night cf August 5th, [1688 1689] THE BRAIN-iJLOW OF CANADA. 41 mt, the is often ts, the I. de la found er Iro- ndians, )ceeded ► make in dis- Denon- undred on to ienecas )untry, iock of He Sault a bar- their twelve hundred painted warriors landed amid a shower of hail on the Island of Montreal. Before daybreak they lay in wait around every dwelling in the doomed village. At a given signal, the dreadful war-whoop awoke the sleepers to a death-wrestle with a pitiless foe. Men, women, and children were dragged from their beds and indiscriminately butchered with atrocious cruelty. The houses were hred, and two hundred persons perished in the flames. As many more were carried oft' for the nameless horrors of delib(>rate torture. For two montlis the victors ravaged the island, the besieged inhabitants of Ville Marie cowering in mortal fear behind their palisades. This " brain-blow " seems to have staggered the colony. Fort Frontenac was blown up and abandoned. The do- minion of France in the New World was practically reduced to the forts of Quebec, Thr(H^ Rivers, and Montreal. At this hour of its deepest deprerssion", Do-non ville was recalled, and the fiery Frontenac was re-appointed Governor. ?e the nished it near ig this scalp- ►pened ' Lake irayed While Kon- I pros- louble lat he ually, :reaty r vio- mas- ; 5tli, CHAPTER IX. FRONTENAC'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. Frontenac ro-appointcd Governor— 1689. French Invasion of New England— Massacres of Corlaer and Salmon Falls— First American Congress at New York— Sir Wm. Phipps captures Port Royal- Is repulsed at Quebec— 1690. Iroquois ravages— Frontenac burns their towns— D'Iberville in Newfoundland and Iliidson's Baj — 160G. Treaty of Ryswick restores respective possessions of Fi'ance and England— 1697. Death of Frontenac in his seventy-eighth year —1698. The veteran soldier, now near seventy years of age, was hailed as ijhe deliverer of Canada. He arrived at a critical period. The peril of the colony was increased by the de- claration of war between France and England, in conse- quence of the Revolution of 1688, whereby James II. was driven fn m his throne by William III. Prince of Orange. M. de Calli6res, the Governor of Montreal, had already urged an attack upon the English at Albany and New 42 PHIPPS' ATTACK ON QUEBEC. [1690 York, whom he accused, and not without reason, of inciting the Iroquois to war. It was now resolved to act vigorously on tlie aggressive. In nndwinter, Frontenac ravaged, with fire and ssvord, the British colonies. Let one example suffice : Early in iron l^'^'^^^'ii'^^y) two hundred men, half French and half Indians, marched from Montreal through the snow to Corlaer (now Schenectady), neai- Albany. At midnight, in a bitter storm, they entered stealthily the little hamlet sleeping in fancied security with open and unguarded gates. The wild war-whoop was raised, and sixty men, women, and children were butchered in cold blood, and every house was burned to ashes. It was not war ; it was midnight murder. The ]>ritish colonies now began to act with vigour. Sir William Phipps, a native of Maine, who had risen from before the mast to a baronetcy, and a captaincy in the royal navy, captured and plundered the small French fort of Port Royal, in Acadia. In May, a congress of British colonists, the first ever held, assembled at New York to concert a scheme of combined action. A vicjorous attack on Canada, by land and water, was devised. A partial famine, and tlie outbreak of small-pox, caused the complete miscarriage of the overland expedition. Frontenac was now startled at learning that an English fleet was carefully sounding its way up the St. Lawrence. Early in the morning of October 5th, the snowy sails of a fleet, under Sir William Phipps, were seen slowly rounding the headland of Poin. Levi. Phipps sent a summons to surrender in the name of William of Orange, Kinmplete English v^rence. Is of a iinding ons to f Eng- of the on the mswer loleric ; fleet, ulting Nine Notre Cown, ileven times e the unequal conflict. With their Indian allies they ravaged the New England frontier, and French corsairs swept the seaboard, and even cut out vessels in Boston harbour. The English cut the dikes, flooded the land, and slaughtered the cattle of the French settlements of Acadia. A reign of terror and sorrow, of desolation and death, prevailed. " No Frenchman shall have leave to cut a stick," threatened the revengeful Mohawks ; " they sliall find no quiet even in their graves." Along the frontier every house was a fortress, and every household was an armed garrison. Many were the deeds of daring done by lone women in defence of their hearths and babes, and pitiful the sufferings they endured. The footprints of civilization ' re marked with blood. The culture of the soil was impossible, and famine threatened the land. Society wa^ eturning to a state of savagery. Christian i ;en, despising the vast herii^ign of virgin soil with which the g^ oat All-Father had dowered his children, red or wliite, in their mutual jealousy, and hatred, and unhallowed greed for gain, hounded their savage allies at each other's throats, and, crowning atrocity of shame ! a tariff of prizes was offered for human scalps — from ten to fifty louis by the English, from ten to twenty by the French. Amid such horrors were 'he foundations of the Canadian nationality laid. IPQf. To put an end to this reign of terror, Frontenac resolved on a supreme effort. He rebuilt the fort at Cataraqui called by his name, and collected there a force of twenty-three hundred men, French and Indians, for the punishment of the Iroquois. Crossing Lake Ontario they sailed up the Oswego river. In the march through the forest the veteran Governor, now seventy-six years of age, carried in his chair, commanded in person. The Iroquois, firing their villages, fled, leaving the smoking brands the profitless booty of the conqueror, l^o his lasting disgrace, Frontenac permitted the torture of a forest stoic of nearly a hundred years, from whom no sufferings could extort a single groan. During these stormy years, M. D'Iberville, a native of Montreal, who had risen to a naval captaincy in the French service, was maintaining the supremacy of the French arms. In 1685, with MM. Troyes and Ste. Heline and eighty Canadians, he had traversed on snow-shoes six hun- 44 d'iberville. [1706 dred miles of mountain, marsli, and forest to Hudson's Bay, and witli many brave but bloody exploits had captured the British trading posts on that frozen sea. He subsequently ravaged in midwinter the island of Newfoundland, burning the fishing town of St. John's. In a series of bloody con- flicts several forts oi' the island and the New England coast were taken and re-taken by the French and English several times. In 1679, with a single lifty-gun ship, he defeated in the waters of Hudson's Bay three British vessels, with one hundred and twenty-four guns, sending one to the bottom with all sail set, with the loss of every one on board ; and conquered the whole territory for France. Thus the ice- bergs and reeky shores of this wild northern sea echoed the international strife that was deluging the plains of Europe with blood, and carrying terror to every hamlet in New Encrland and New France. The treaty of Byswick, signed September 20th, 1G97, put an end to the war in the Old World and the New, and restored to France and England the respective possessions held at its outbreak. The bloodshed and pillage, the wretchedness and ruin of eight long years counted for noth- ing; and the irrepressible conflict for the possession of a continent had to be fought over again and again. Frontenac ,pqn soon after died at Quebec in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was respected or admired by his friends for his energy and daring of character, and feared or hated by his enemies — and he had many — for his stern and haughty manners and cruel temper in war. His lot was cast in troublous times, and he had at least the merit of preserving to France the colony which he found on the very verge of ruin. On the declaration of peace, D'Iberville, the hero of Hudson's Bay, obtained a commission to colonize Louisiana. Exploring, planting, building from 1699 to 1702 in the hot, unwholesome swamps and lagoons of the Gulf coast, he founded Boloxi and Mobile. Snutten with yellow fever, he returned to France. Scarce convalescent, he captured from the Br^'tish, Nevis, one of their West India possessions, and died of a second attack of yellow fever, in 1706 aged forty- four. Thus passed away one of the restless spirits of a stormy age, whose deeds of valour were unhappily also deeds of blood. 1699 [1706 { 45 ) 's r>ay, ccl the uently urning iy con- d coast several featecl th one )ottom ; and ne ice- )ecl the lurope 1 New >v. 1G97, and essions :e, the r noth- n of a ntenac h year by his feared stern [is lot merit 3n the TO of siana. e hot, st, he er, he from ?, and forty- of a deeds CHAPTER X. "QUEEN ANNE'S WAR." Do Callicrcs succeeds Frontenac— Treaty with the Iroquois— 1700. De- troit founded— V/ Alt OP the Spanish Succession— 1702. Vau- drouil, Viceroy— The Abcnaquis ravage New England— 1703. Port Royal captured— Re-named Annapolis— 1710. Sir Hovcnden Walk- er's diso/strous attempt against Quebec -1711. The Treaty ok Utrecht gives England Acadia, Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay —1713. Internal Development — Fur Trade — Manufactures-Law Reforms— Death of Vaudreuil— Forts Oswego and Frederic planted -1720. The Chevalier de Calli^res, who had been for some time the iroQ commandant of Montreal, was appointed successor to Frontenac, and soon made a treaty with the Iroquois. To maintain their grasp of the Great West, the French sent M. de Cadillac, with a hundred men, to build a fort at Detroit, the key of the upper lakes. The wise choice of position is vindicated to-day by the stately " City of the Straits " which occupies the site of the rude fortress of 1702. De Calli6res died in 1703, and was succeeded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, commandant of Montreal. The war of the Spanish Succession had now broken out between England and her continental allies, and France and Spain (May 15th, 1702), and all Europe and America were again involved in a bloody strife for the maintenance of a visionary balance of power. By the victories of Blen- heim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, Marlborough and Eugene won name and fame, and the power of France was broken at the cost of a sea of blood. Again the " dogs of war " slipped their leash amid the forests of the New World. The French stirred up their allies, the ferocious Abenaquis, against the New England colonists. In one day they burst upon every house from the Kennebec to the Piscatqua, sparing neither hoary age, nor childing mother, nor tonder infancy. Like human hyenas, they lay in wait for their prey, thirsting for blood, and after the savage spring skulked off into the forest with the victims who were not slain upon the spot. And Christian men surpassed in these deeds of blood the cruel pagan of the woods. In the midwinter of 1703-1704, 4>3 walker's attack on QUEBEC. [1711 Ilertel tie Rouville, with two hundred French and one hun- dred cand fifty Indians, marched two hundred miles on snow- shoes to the little town of Deerfteld, in New Hampshire. They laid it in ashes, and of its inlwibitants forty-seven be- dabbled with their blood the snow, and one hundred and twelve were dragged with inhuman torture through the wintry woods to Canada.. Again, in 1708, De Rouville, not )et weary of slaughter, fell at daybreak on the sleeping hamlet of Haverhill, in New Hampshire. The tragedy of Deerfield was repeated ; but the inhabitants rallied, and many of the French returned from their hunting of human prey no more. Meanwhile the English colonists retaliated as best they could. In 1704, and again in 1707, expeditions sailed from Boston harbour to reduce Acadia, but they were repulsed by the valour of the French. General Nicholson, with two thousand militia and a l^and of Iroquois allies, marched against Canada. On the shores of Lake Champlain an epidemic broke out in his camp, and the campaign ended in disastrous retreat.. ,w,^ The following year, a fleet of fifty vessels sailed from Boston for the capture of Port Royal. After three weeks' siege, M. Subercase, its commandant, with his famished garrison of one hundred and fifty-six men, marched out with the honours of war ; and ever since the red-cross flag has proudly waved over the noble harbour, then named, in honour of the reigning sovereign, Annapolis. ,_, , On the 30th of July the following year, eighty-eight ships of war and transports, under the command of Sir Hovenden Walker, sailed from Boston for the attack on Quebec. Four thousand militia and six hundred Iroquois, under General Nicholson, advanced simultaneously from Albany to Lake George. Walker sailed slowly up the St. Lawrence, intending to winter m the river, and wondering how he should protect his ships when it would be frozen to the bottom ; he thought he would place them in cradles on the shore. On the 23rd of August, the fleet was enveloped and amid the darkness drifted upon the reefs of Before morning, eight of his vessels were shattered, and eight hundred drowned sailors were strewn upon its shores. Sir Hovenden abandoned the attack on Quebec, General Nicholson retreated from Lake Georsre. in a fog, the Egg Islands. were [1711 1713] INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 47 le liun- snow- psliire. v^en be- Bcl and Ejh the lie, not eeping ^edy of d, and human st they ;d from epulsed ith two larched ain an nded in 1 sailed After vith his (larched Bd-cross named, by-eight land of tack on roquois, y from the St. tidering 'ozen to idles on veloped [•eef s of sis were strewn iack on Greorge, and the beleaguered fortress had another respite from con- quest. On tlie 13th of March, 1713, in the Dutch town of Utrecht, the treaty was signed which gave peace, not only to the war-worn nations of Europe, but also to the scattered colonists in the wilds of the New World. England obtained Acadia, Newfoundland, the protectorate of the Iroquois "nations," and the unexplored regions around Hudson's Bay. France, of all her vast colonial possessions, retained only Canada, Cane Breton, the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and certain fishing rights on the shores of Newfoundland, and the undefined territory of Louisiana. The peace between Great Britain and France continued for over thirty years, and gave an opportunity for the de- velopment of the natural resources of the colonies. Vau- dreuil began forthwith, in anticipation of the final struggle, to strengthen the defences of New France, and to extend the chain of forest forts connecting it with the Mississippi valley. A town was begun at Louisburg, Cape Breton, and a fortress of immense strength constructed at the cost of five millions of dollars. But the growth of peaceful industry was a surer means of promoting national prosperity. The fur trade was re- lieved of some of its hampering restrictions, and an annual fair was established at Montreal. Shipbuilding was encour- aged, and Quebec laid the foundation of her distinguished reputation for this industry. Iron was manufactured at St. Maurice, and salt at Kamouraska. Judicial reforms were also introduced, tending to repress the litigious dis- position of the people. A letter post was established, the country was divided into eighty-two parishes, and roads were made between the settlements to supplement the water communication. Tlie fascinations of the adventur- ous fur trade were especially unfavourable to agricultural prosperity. This trade successive edicts in vain attempted to repress, for with it every family in the colony was in some way connected. The English colonists, en the con- trary, devoted themselves almost exclusively to agriculture, conquering yearly a broad domain of forest, and extending the frontiers of civilization; the fur trade was only a very subordinate industry. The coureur vtt hois had no English counterpart, although he may have had a few English imi- tators. 48 WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. [1743 In 1720-1722, P6ro Chnrlnvoix traversed Canada and Louisiana, and wrote a voluminous and valuable liistory of the country. (^)ueboc had then a population of seven thousand. Its society, which was largely military, he de- scribes as very agreeable ; but Ijeneath its gay exterior — the reflex of the salons of FoMtaine})leau — was conceahid a general poverty. Montreal had about two thousand in- habitants, and the entire Province about twenty-live thou- sand. In 1725, after a skilful and prudent administration for a quarter of a century of colonial affairs, Vaudreuil died, and was succeeded by tlie Marquis de Beauharnois, a natural son of Louis XIV. CHAPTER XL LOUISBURG— DU QUESNE. Wat of the Austrian Succession— 1743. Peppeiiel's Conquest op Louis- KUitG— 1745. Tlie Disastrous Attempt of the Froncli at its Ko- capture -1746. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle Restoues it to France— 1748. Halifax Founded— 1749. Fort Du Quesne Planted — Collision in the Ohio Valley— 1754. The Death of Jumonvillo " kindles the world into a flame." In 1739 England broke peace with Spain on account of her jealous restrictions of trade with her South American de- pendencies. In 1743 the question of the Austrian Succession plunged Europe into war. England, Austria, and Holland drew the sword in favour of the heroic Maria Theresa. France , - ^^ and other powers declared for her rival, the Elector of Bavaria. The Stuart Pretender deemed the moment opportune for raising a Scottish revolt. In America the conflict of races was renewed. A body of French from Capo Breton surprised the English post at Canso, and carried off eighty prisoners to Louisburg. The New England colonists resolved to attempt the daring feat of the cap- ture of that fortress. Four thousand colonial militia were collected, and William Pepperel, a merchant and militia [1743 1745] rElTEllELS CAnUUE OF LOUISIJUUO. 49 a and listory s(;veu lie de- I'ior — icoaled tnd in- thou- ri for a d, and atural IF Louis- [; its Ko- '.KB IT TO ) Planted monvillo i of her can de- >lunged 1 drew France ;ctor of loment Lca the n Cape carried n gland le cap- a were militia colonel of Maine, took command. On tlui 29th of April, 1745, a hundred vessels, under Commodore Warren, sailed into the capacious harhour of Louishurg. This was one of the strongest fortresses in the world. It was surrounded by a wall forty feet thick at the base, and from twenty to thirty feet high, and by a ditch tnghty feet wide. It mounted nearly two hundri^d guns, and had a i/arrison of sixteen hundred men. The assailants had only eightt;en cannon and three mortars. With a rush tliey charged through the surf, and repulsed the French who lined the steep and rugged shore. Dragging their guns through a marsh on sledgc^s, the English gained the rear ; the French in a panic abandoned an outwork, spiking their cannon. After six weeks' siege, Duchambon, the commandant, capitulated, ;ind the New England militia marched into the works. As they beheld their extent, they exclaimed, "Cod alone has delivered this stronghold into our hand," and a sermon of thanksgiving was preached in the French chapel. The fall of tha strongest fortress in America before a little army of New England farmers and fishermen caused the wildest delight at Boston and the deepest chagrin at Versailles. Beauharnois was recalled, and the Marquis de la Jonqui^re was appointed Governor-General of Canada. ,„.^ The following spring, a French fleet of forty sail was despatched to recapture Louisburg and Annapolis, and to destroy Bostoi.. After a three months' voyage it was scattered by storms, a part only reaching the place of rendezvous, Chebucto (now Halifax) harbour. Scurvy broke out in the fleet, and carried off* eleven hundred men. The admiral died of apoplexy, or, it was whispered, by poison. His successor, overwhelmed by the responsibility of his office, fell upon his sword and died. Johquiere ordered an attack upon Annapolis, which was frustrated by tempest, and the baffled expedition returned to France. Undeterred by disaster, the French the next year fitted out two squadrons, one against the British East Indies, the qther to recover Louisburg. Admirals Anson and Warren, however, intercepted and defeated both off" Cape Finisterre, capturing many vessels and a great quantity of booty. Among the prisoners was Jonquiere, thus again prevented from assuming the government of Canada, The peace of 50 FORT DU QUESNE. [1754 1 1752 -.^ Aix-la-Chapoll(^, to tho ^ro.it cha^M-in of tlio Now En^^lantl colonists, restoi'cd Louishiir;^' to Franoo in exchang(^ for hvv Kast India con([U(;st, Madras. This peace was only acc<^pt«d as a brcathin;^' spoil to propai'tj for the coming struggle for tho possession of tho continent. To consolidate the IJritish power in Nova Scotia, a strong colony was sent to the magnificent Chebucto hai-hour. Tt was named after Lord Halifax, its projector. In July, 1749, fourteen vessels transportt^d thither nearly four thou- sand colonists, and before winter three hundred houses were constructed and defended by palisaded works. La Jonquidro was consumed by an ignoble avarice, and used every means to enrich himself at the expense of tho colony. Fraud and peculation impoverished the people, who dtnnandod his recall ; but ho died Ijofore the arrival of ^^y his successor, l)u Quesne. Bigot, his Intondant, was, if possible, even more corrupt thau tho miserly Uov- ernor, and added the vices of licentiousness and extrava- gance to those of meanness and avarice. He mocked the misery of the people by his ostentatious profligacy, and aped the sensualism of the court of Louis XV. at his palace in Quebec, and at his chateau at Beauport. Du Quesne entered upon a vigorous aggressive policy. He organized and d'^illed the militia, garrisoned the western forts, and established new posts in the Ohio valley. The "Ohio Company," composed of London and Virginia mer- -jyp, chants, had begun a settlement and fort at the junc- tion of the MonongaheLi. and Alleghany rivers, where Pittsburgh now stands. A strong force of French, under M. Contrecour, seized the fort, and having completed its defences, gave it the name of Du Quesne. Meanwhile, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, had despatclied a force under Colonel George Washington, then in the twenty- second year of his age, to hold the fort for the English. Contrecour sent M. Jumonville, with a small party of sol- diers, to warn him off what was claimed as French territory. Washington, apprehending that their purpose was hostile, and eager to distinguish himself, surprised them in a narrow valley. The French sprang to arms. " Fire !" cried Wash- ington. " That word," says Bancroft, "kindled the world into a flame." It precipitated the earth-shaking conflict on the plains of India, on the waters of the Mediterranean and the rampart in tho v; the Kroi continor ville, wl there is oommiss Convontic liriti — Th FKA' PULi It was of depu Albany lin prop of the I prevent detach i was seci nephew of an I Hall," . commar bulwarl Duq Cavana appoint The Genera were re battalic [1754 New lUH) ill peace or the strong Hr. Tt July, i" thou- s were in\ and of the people, ival of it, was, y (iov- xtrava- ied the id aped lace in policy, vestern '. The ia mer- e junc- , where , under ted its iiwhile, a force -wenty- liiglish. of sol- [•ritory. hostile, narrow Wash- world flict on ranean SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 61 Riid the Spanish Main, on the (Jold Coast of Africa, on the ramparts of Louishurg, on th(; Inughts of Quebec, and here in tlie valley of the Ohio, which led to the utter defeat of tlie French, and the di'struction of their sovereignty on tliia contint^it. The French dcniounccnl tlie attack on Junion- ville, while in the charactcir of an envoy, as murder ; but there is no evidence that Washington was aware of hia commission. CHAPTER XII. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1755. Convention of British Colonists at Albany -WilliaTn Johnson — 1751. liritisli Naval Victories— Bit addock's Dkkeat at the Monongahela —The Expedition against Fort Niagara a Failure- Johnson De- feats DiESKAU at Lake Ge< 'go— The Tragedy of Grand Pre— Ex- pulsion OF THE ACAUIANS 1760. It was now felt that war was inevitable. A convention of deputies of the English colonies was forthwith held at Albany to concert measures of defence. The astute Frank- lin proposed a federal union after the manner of the league of the Six Nations, but imperial and provincial jealousy prevented its consummation. The French endeavoured to detach the Iroquois from the English ; but their allegiance was secured through the influence of William Johnson, a nephew of Admiral Warren, who, having married the sister of an Iroquois chief, lived in feudal state at "Johnson's Hall," on the Mohawk River. His integrity of character commanded the respect of the Indians, and made him the bulwark of British authority upon the troubled frontier. Du Quesne was recalled, and the Marquis de Vaudrsuil- Cavanag, the son of a former Governor of Canada, was appointed his successor, 1755. The British forces were strengthened by the arrival of General Braddock with two royal regiments, and the French were reinforced by Baron Dieskau with several veteran battalions. The British swept the seas, and during the 52 BRADDOCKS DEFEAT. [1755 1755] year captured three hundred French vessels and eight thou- sand sailors. On land it was resolved to attack the French at once at Forts Du Quesne, Niagara, Frederic, and Beau Sejour. The main enterprise, that against Fort Du Quesne, was assigned to General Braddock. He was a brave soldier, but a mai inet — arrogant, perverse, and obstinate. He attempted to wage war amid the wilds of America after the msmuer of a European campaign. He treated with disdain the provincial troops, and rejcjted the counsels of Wash- ington and other backwoods lighters. With his little army of twenty-three hundred men and an innnense baggage and artillery train, he hewed a road through the wilderness and over the Alleghany Mountains. On the 9th of June he reached the neighbour!) od of the Monongaliela. It was a gallant sight — the baniiijred array, the scarlet uniforms, the gleam of bayonets, uo the little army, with Hying colours, unconsciously pressed on to its fate — the fife and drum corps making the forest ring with the inspiring strains of " The British Grenadiers." As they entered a narrow defile, suddenly the deadly war-whoop rang, and a murderous fire was poured into their ranks by unseen enemies lurking amid the shadows of f^\^ primeval forest. The British regulars were thrown into confusion, and, failing by scores, huddler^ together like sheep, till, panic- stricken, they broke and fled. In ^ ain their officers sought to rally them. Braddock had five horses shot under him, and fell mortally wounded. The colonial troops under Colonel Washiuguon displayed a steadiness that put the roguhii's to shame ; but scarce one-fifth of their number left the field alive. Of the entire command more than half were killed or wounded. The French, who were only some two hundred and fifty in number, attempted no pursuit, and their six hundred savage allies reaped a rich harvest of scalps and booty, and brilliant British uniforms. The as- sailants lost only forty men. This disastrous rout brought on the Pennsylvania and Virginia settlements all the hor- rors of a merciless border warfare. The expedition against Fort Niagara failed even to reach its destination. Disheartened by Braddock's defeat, tlie militia d(5serted by scores ; and the Iroquois, wavering in their allegiance, disputed its right of way through their In [1755 ffht thou- S .t once at our. osne, was soldier, Lte. He after the h disdain 3f Wash- btle army ■gage and :'ness and June he It was a ornis, the ', colours, um corps of "The ^ defile, irons tire i lurking Lon, and, il, panic- [•s sought der him, )S under put the nber left lan half ily some pursuit, irvest of The as- brought the hor- to reach ?at, the 3ring in jh their 1755] ACADIAN NEUTRALS. 53 territory. Reaching Lake Ontario in August, Shirley, its commander, left seven hundred men to garrison Oswego, and returned with the remainder to Albany. The expedition against Crown Point was more successful. General Johnson, with tive thousand militiamen, advanced from Albany to Lake George. Dieskau, with a mixed force of two thousand men, m.ade a detour to attack Fort Edward in his rear. The French, after a fierce contest of four hours, were compelled to retreat, hotly pursued by the British, on their entrenched camp at Ticonderoga, at the northern end of the lake. Johnson, having built and garrisoned Fort William Henry, on the site of the conflict, fell back on Albany. He received a grant of £5,000 and a knighthood for his achievement. In the spring of the year. Colonel Moncton, with forty- one vessels and two thousand men, had sailed from Boston to reduce Fort Beau Sejour, in the Acadian isthmus, to which the French still laid claim. Ill-manned by a few hundred refugees and a few soldiers, it soon capitulated, and was re-named Fort Cumberland. The Acadian peasants, on the beautiful shores of the Bay of Fundy, were a simple, virt'ious, and prosperous connuunity. With remarkable in- dustry they had reclaimed from the sea by dikes many thousands of fertile acres, which produced abundant crops of grain and orchard fruits ; and on the sea meadows, at one time, grazed as many as sixty thousand head of cattle. The simple wants of the peasants were supplied by domestic manufactures or by importations from Louisburg. So great was their attachment to the government and institutions of their fatherland, that during the aggressions of the Eiiglish after their conquest of the country, a great part of the population — cjome ten thousand, it has been said, although the number is disputed — abandoned their homes and mi- grated to that portion of Acadia still claimed by tlie French, or to Cape Breton or Canada. Some seven thousand still remained in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, but they claimed a political neutrality, resolutely refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the alien conquerors. They were accused of intriguing with their countrymen at Louisburg, with resist- ing the English authority, and with inciting and even lead- ing the Indians to ravage the English settlements. The cruel Micmacs needed little instigation. The)> 54 TRAGEDY OF GRAND PRE. [1755 1756^ swooped down on the little town of Dartmouth, opposite Halifax, and within gunshot of its forts, and reaped a rich harvest of scalps and booty. The English prisoners they sometimes sold at Louisburg for arms and ammunition. The Governor asserted that pure compassion was the motive of this traffic, in order to rescue the captives from massacre. He demanded, however, an excessive ransom for their libera- tion. The Indians were sometimes, or indeed generally it was asserted, led in these murderous raids by French com- manders. These violations of neutrality, however, were chiefly the work of a few turbulent spirits. The mass of the Acadian peasants seem to liave been a peaceful and inoffensive people, although they naturally sympathized with their countrymen, and rejoiced at the victory of Du Quesne, and sorrowed at the defeat of Lake George. They were, however, declared rebels and outlaws, and a council at Halifax, confounding the innocent with the guilty, de- creed the expulsion of the entire French population. The decision was promptly carried out. Ships soon ap- peared before the principal settlements in the Bay of Fundy. All the male inhabitants, over ten years of age, were sum- moned to hear the Ki!ig's command. At Grand Pre, four hundred assembled in the village church, when the British officer read from the altar the decree of their exile. Resist- ance was impossible ; armed soldiers guarded the door, and the men were encaged in prison. They were marched at the bayonet's point, amid the wailings of their relatives, on board the transports. The women and children were shipped in other vessels. Families were scattered ; husbands and wives separated — many never to meet again. Hundreds of comfortable homesteads and well-filled barns were ruthlessly given to the flames. A number, variously estimated at from three to seven thousand, were dispersed along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Georgia. Twelve hun- dred were carried to South Carolina. A few planted a new Acadia among th'^ir countrymen in Louisiana. Some tried to return to their blackened hearths, coasting in open boats along the shore. These were relentlessly intercepted when possible, and sent back into hopeless exile. An im- perishable interest has been imparted to this sad story by Longfellow's beautiful poem " Evangeline," which describes the sufferings and sorrows of some of the inhabitants of the [1755 1756] SEVEN years' war BEGUN. 00 opposite d a ricli rs they unition. B motive lassacre. r libera- rally it ch coni- were mass of ul and ^athized r of Du They council ilty, de- oon ap- Fundy. re sum- re, four British Resist- >or, and 3hed at ves, on shipped ds and reds of hlessly ted at ng the e hun- ited a Some I open cepted ^n im- )ry by icribes 3f the little village of Grand Pr6. It is a page in our country's annals that is not pleasant to contemplate, but we may not ignore the painful facts. Every patriot must regret the stern military necessity — if necessity theie wore — tliat compelled the inconceivable sufi'ering of so many innoctmt beings. CHAPTER XIIL CAMPAIGNS OF 1756 AND 1757. The Seven Years' War begiin— Respective condition of the French and English in America— Montcalm captures Fort Oswego -1756, » Loudon's futile attempt against Louiaburg— Montcalm reduces Fort William Henry— Indian Massacre of Twelve Hundred British Prisoners— 1767. Exhaustion of Canada— Famine— Extortion and Profligacy of Bigot and his Associates— 1768. Notwithstanding these hostile demonstrations, war was not formally declared till the following spring (1756). France, Austria, and Russia were combined against England and Prussia for the prolonged and bitter struggle of the Seven Years' War. It seemed at first as though the combination must be fatal to Britain and her ally. But the political sagacity of William Pitt, and the military genius of Fred- erick the Great, with the lavish expenditure of treasure and blood, humbled their enemies and raised their respective countries to the summit of glory. The " Great Commoner " made good his proud boast that " England should moult no feather of her crest." Olive's stupendous victory on the plains of Plassey gave her her Indian Empire, and Wolfe's heroic death on the heights of Quebec was the price of the conquest of this great continent. Nevertheless, the campaign of 1756 resulted disastrously to the British. The French military officers were far superior in dash and daring to their opponents. Montcalm, the Commander-in-Ohief, had acquired experience and skill in Italy and Germany, and was audacious in battle even to the verge of rashness. De Levi and St. Veran, his military colleagues, were also able officers. The number of Fi-ench i6 PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. [1756 1757] regulars was increased to about four thousand, and the total available colonial forces amounted to only twice that num- ber. The whole French population was scarcely eighty thousand, and it was ground down by feudal exactions, knavish commercial monoplies, and fraudulent public ser- vants. The British colonies, on the other hand, numbered three millions of inhabitants. Fostered by freedom and intelli- gence, these had be -^.ne rich and prosperous. Thougli not. deficient in valour, they possessed less of the military instinct, and were more addicted to peaceful industry than thei' lorth- ern neighbours. The Earl of Loudon, a man utterly without military genius, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces. The plan of operations comprehended ex- peditions against Forts Frederic, Niagara, Du Quesne, and Quebec ; but delay and indecision frustrated these purposes, while promptness and vigour characterized the operatiofis of the French. While Ceneral Abercrombie was awaiting reinforcements at Albany, IMontcalm, with three thousand men, moved rapidly on Oswego, where a strong fort gave the British command of Lake Ontario. After a vigorous bombardment, the fort capitulated, with a garrison of sixteen hundred men, and an immense quantity of military stores. After razing the fort, Montcalm returned to Lake Champlaiji, and erected strong fortifications at Ticonderoga, thus guarding the gate of Canada against the British. During the v inte^, an attacking force of fifteen hundred French and Indians advanced on snow-shoes from Montreal, nearly two hun- dred miles, to attempt) the capture of Fort William Henry, at the southern end of the lake. Unable to surprise the fort, they burned all the outworks, together with the adja- cent mills, dwellings, shipping, and batteaux, and carried consternation even within Abercrombie's entrenchments at Albany. Marauding parties of French and Indians ravaged the English frontier with fire and sword, swooping down on lonely settlements, in midnight attacks, and murdering and scalping the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex. The following year, 1757, Lord Loudon resolved to make Louisburg the chief point of attack. In July he had as- sembled at Halifax a fleet of sixteen ships of the line and ninety transports, with ten thousand soldiers, chiefly veteran troops sieges. [1756 1757] CAtTUllE OF FOllT WILLIAM HENRY. 67 troops. sioges. Here he wasted a month in mock })attles and Learning that Louisburg was well garrisoned, and guarded by a fleet as strong as liis own, he al>andoned his design, and returned ingloriously to New York. Meanwhile, Montcahn struck a fatal blow at Fort William Henry, on Lake George. Early in August, the fort, now garrisoned by twenty-seven hundred men, under Colonel Munroe, was invested by the French. For live days, a fierce bombardment woke the wild echoes of the mountains, while hundreds of yelling savages scoured the woods, cutting off and scalping all stragglers. The gallant Munroe held out till half his guns were burst and his ammunition was nearly exhausted, and over three hundred and fifty men were killed and wounded, before he capitulated. On the surrender* a tragedy ensued which stained with the blood of its victims the laurels of the victors. As the garrison, with its camp following of women and children, was defiling through the woods, the blood-thirsty savages, balked of their anticipated harvest of scalps and i)lunder, and maddened by liquor, which the British had neglected to destroy, fell in ruthless massacre upon the panic-stricken throng. Montcalm, De Levi, and other ofiicers, interposed, with daring and devotion, to stop the massacre and to rescue the prisoners from their murderous assailants. But twelve hundred, there is reason to fear, were massacred or enslaved by the Indians. Montcalm razed Fort William Henry to the ground, and, deterred from a further advance by shoH allowance of food, the French returned to reap the scanty harvest of their Canadian fields. Naught remained to murk human habita- tion on the shores of the lonely lake save the charred ruins of the fort and the graves of the dead on the hill side. Notwithstanding this victory, the condition of Canada was one of extreme exhaustion. During the weary months ,.-^Q of winter, a severe famine prevailed. The cultivation of the fields had been abandoned to women and chil- dren, every able-bodied man being enrolled in the army. The meagre crops that had been sown were almost a total failure. The soldiers were put upon short allowance of horse-flesh and bread. The daily rations were continuously reduced till, in April, the allowance of bread was only two ounces. Men fell down from faintness in the streets of 68 EXHAUSTION OF CANADA. [1757 .11 Quebec. Three hundred Acadian refugees perished of hunger. During this period of general distress, Bigot, the Tnten- dant, and his partners in crime and extortion — Cadet, Varin, De Pean, and others — battened like vampires upon the life-blood of their unhappy country. Bigot, the chief criminal, was mean in stature, repulsive in countenance, odious in life. His rapacity was almost incredible. He actually, in tliis time of famine, exported large quantities of bread stuffs to the West Indies, and made enormous pro- fits from the enhanced cost of food at home. He destroyed the financial credit of the colony by the lavish issue of paper money, which soon became utterly worthless. While the country languished, this gang of thieves amassed princely fortunes. " It would seem," wrote Montcalm, " that all are in haste to be rich before the colony is altogether lost to France." The mother country was herself exhausted by the ex- actions of a world-wide war, and her civil and military ad- ministration was corrupted and enfeebled by the profligacy of the court. She could send few reinforcements of men or money, military stores or food, to the colony ; and most of the victualling ships sent out in the spring of 1758 were captured by the British. CHAPTER XIV. THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1758 AND 1769. Pitt, Prime Minister of England— Fall op Louisburo— Abercrom- bie's Defeat at Ticonderoga— Bradstreot Captures Fort Fronte- nac— Fort I)n Qucsne Reduced — Re-named Fort Pitt— British Victories around the World— The Hero of Louisburg— 1768. Sir William Johnson reduces Niagara — Amherst occupies Ticonderoga— 1769. The disasters of the British only served to arouse their intenser energy and firmer determination. William Pitt, for a time excluded from the cabinet of the nation, now seized the helm of state. His lofty courage, noble patriot- ism and honest administration were the guarantee of sue- [1757 •ished of le Inten- — Cadet, res upon the chief itenance, ble. He u an titles lous pro- lestroyed issue of While princely it all are )r lost to the ex- itary ad- rofligacy f men or most of 58 were BERCROM- irt Fronte- - British urg— 1768. OCCUPIES ise their M Pitt, on, now patriot- 3 of sue- 1758] FALL OF LOUISBURO. 59 cess. He resolved on the absolute conquest of Canada, even at the cost of England's " last shilling and last man." Lord Loudon was recalled, and Generals Abercrombie, Amherst, Wolfe and Howe were appointed commanders. The military forces were increased to fifty thousand men. It was resolved to attack Louisburg, Du Quesne, Ticonde- roga, Quebec and Montreal. The French girded themselves for what they felt to be the death-wrestle. " We will bury ourselves, if need be," wrote Montcalm, " beneath the ruins of the colony." The first blow wa» struck at Louisburg. Its fortress had fallen greatly into decay since the siege of 1745 ; but it was garrisoned by three thousand five hundred men, and sup- ported by ten ships of war. Early in June, Admiral Bos- cawen, with thirty-seven ships of war, and one hundred and • twenty transports conveying twelve thousand troops, ap- peared off the harbour. Wolfe, with a strong force, gallantly landed through the surf, and seized the outworks of the fort. The siege was vigorously pressed by day and night for seven weeks. The resistance was brave but ineffectual. When town and fortress were well nigh demolished by shot and shell, Louisburg capitulated. Its inhabitants were conveyed to France, and the garrison and sailors, over five thousand in number, were sent prisoners to England. Tlie fortress, constructed at such cost and assailed and defended with such valour, soon fell into utter ruin. Where giant navies rode and earth-shaking war achieved such vast ex- ploits, to-day the peaceful waters of the placid bay kiss the deserted strand, and a small fishing hamlet and a few mouldering ruin-moands mark the grave of so much military pomp, and power, and glory. But this victory was followed by a terrible disaster. In the month of June, Lord Abercrombie, with an army of sixteen thousand men, had set out from Albany for the attack on Ticonderoga. On a brilliant July morning he embarked his whole force, in over a thousand batteaux, on Lake George, and in bannered pomp and splendour sailed down the lovely lake to the narrows of Carillon, as the French called Ticonderoga. In a preliminary skirmish three hundred French were captured or killed ; but Lord Howe, the favourite of the army, fell at the head of the column. Montcalm, who had with him nearly four thou- 60 FALL OF FORTS FRONTENAC AND DU QUESNE. [1758 175J sand of his best troops, had strengthened a naturally for- midable position by an earthwork, before which sloped a steep glacis, covered with an impenetrable abattis of felled trees and sharpened stakes. Tlie assault was gallantly made. For six long liours, again and again the colunnis were hurled against the terrible abattis, and as often staggered and recoiled before a withering point-blank fire of cannon and musketry. Baffled and broken, with the loss of two thousand men, the more than decimated army retreated panic-stricken to their batteaux, and speedily placed tlie length of the lake between .them and the victori- ous enemy. The disgrace of this disaster was partly retrieved by the capture of Fort Frontenac, the French naval depot at the foot of Lake Ontario, by Colonel Bradstreet. With three thousand men he advanced by way of the Mohawk and Oswego rivers, and crossing the lake in open boats, invested tlio fort, whicli was guarded by only one hundred and sixty men. After two days' bombardment it surrendered, and was burned to the ground, together with an immense quantity of stores and seven armed vessels. Thus, without the loss of a man, was destroyed the French naval supremacy on Lake Ontario. In the west, General Forbes, with a force of six thousand provincials and regulars, advanced against Fort Du Quesne. Stricken with mortal illness, he was borne, a dying man, across the Alleghanies in a litter. Colonel Washington had the honour of planting the red-cross flag on the ram- parts of Fort Pitt, as it was thenceforth called. The name of the Great Commoner is inscribed forever on the gate- way of the Ohio valley, in the designation of the city of Pittsburg. The toils were gathering around the doomed colony of Canada. A fervent appeal was made to the mother country for assistance. But the exhaustion produced by the Euro- pean war, and by the prodigality of the court, prevented the sending of reinforcements. " When the house is on fire," said the minister, " one does not mind the stables." The colonists rallied for a supreme effort for the defence of their hearths and homes. Famine stared them in U\e face. The half-tilled acres brought forth but meagre cropa, and the shameless exactions of Bigot were more ffrindinff than ever. [1758 illy for- loped a f felled illantly olumns I often ink fire ith the d army ipeedily victori- by the at the 1 three v^k and ivested d sixty ,nd was Liantity jhe loss acy on ousand iuesne. ^ man, lington le ram- 3 name 3 gate- 3ity of Dny of 3untry Euro- ed the 1 fire," The f their The id the L ever. 1758] BUITISH VICTOUIES. 61 The entire population from sixteen to sixty was summoned to the field, but though every sixth soul in the colony responded, they mustered only fifteen thousand, of whom many were unavailable for service. The chief dependence was upon ten skeleton regiments of regulars, in which ghastly gaps were worn by siege and sortie, by famine and disease. To these the British opposed fifty thousand well- armed troops and copious reserves. England, like a rampant lion, was rousing herself for conquest. The House of Commons voted ^£1 2,000,000 sterling for the war. Pitt infused his own spirit into every branch of the service. The world was ringing with British victories. A merchant's clerk, with a handful of men, had conquered an empire where the foot of Alexander had faltered. Senegal, Goree, Guadaloupe, her fairest tropical possessions, were wrested from France. Alike on the banks of the Ganges and on the banks of the Ohio, on the forts of the Gold Coast and on the ramparts of Louisburg, the red-cross banner waved triumphantly, and it was destined soon to crown the heights of Quebec. In the Indian Seas, on the Spanish Main, on the Atlantic, and on the Pacific, Britain's fleets were everywhere victorious. Pitt chose his instruments well. With the instinct of genius he discerned the surpassing merit of the young hero of Louisburg, and entrusted to him the conquest of Quebec. Though only thirty-three years of age, Wolfe was a veterarx soldier, having been eighteen years in the army. At twenty-two he was a lieutenant-colonel, and at Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Culloden, by his almost reckless bravery, he had won distinguished honours. Though raised so rapidly to the rank of general, even envy breathed no word of de- traction against his name, and he commanded the love and admiration of the entire army. To Amherst was assigned the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the capture of Montreal : and to Prideaux the destruction of Fort Niagara. These move- ments were sustained by forces amounting to fifty thousand men, which were to concentrate at Quebec for the last act of tlie drama. The French were to act strictly on the defensive, retiring, in case of defeat, on Quebec, where the final stand was to be made. Tl^e first blow fell on Niagara. General J^rideaux a4- 62 CAlTUllE OF NIAGARA AND TlCONDEllOOA. [1758 vanced, l>y way of tlie Mohawk and Oswogo rivers, in many batteaux to Niagara. A brisk lire was opened, but Prid- eaux being killed by the bursting of a mortar the connnand devolviKl on Johnson. M. Pouchot, tlie Frc h command- ant, had summoned to liis aid the garrisor* of Detroit, Presqu' Isle, and the western forts. M. D'Aubrey was liastening to his relief with a force of seventeen hundred French and Indians, when he was intercepted below the Palls by Johnson, and utterly defeated, with the capture of the greater part of his force. Hereupon Pouchot sur- rendered, with six hundred men. The control of the great lakes passed away from the French forever, and General Stanwix speedily reduced all the western forts. In the month of June, General Amherst, with an army eleven thousand strong, reached Lake George from Albany. Mindful of Abercrombie's disaster, he observed exceeding caution on approaching the lines of Carillon. But the genius of Montcalm was absent, and De Bourlemaque retired within the fort, which was garrisoned by three thou- sand men. After four days' vigorous resistance, the fort was mined, fired, and abandoned. A tremendous explosion occurred, but Amherst promptly occupied the smoking ruins. Fort Frederic (Crown Point) was also abandoned by the French, who strongly entrenched themselves at Isle aux Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain, which they determined to hold to the last extremity, as the gatewp.y of Canada. CHAPTER XV. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. Wolfe before Quebjcc— The Sioge opened- Straits of the Inhabitants— The Attack at Montmorency— Its disastrous failure— Wolfe's Illness— An audacious design -The Eve of the Battle— The British gain the Heights— The Battle of the Plains of Abraham— The Death OF Wolfe and Montcalm— British Occupation of Quebec— 1769. Battle of Ste. Foye -French Siege of Quebec raised -Surrender of Montreal and Capitulation of Canada— 1760. The last act of this historic drama, the conquest of Quebec, j^^g must now be described. In the month of May, the British fleet, of about forty war vessels and a I 1759] [1758 1759] SIEGE OF QUEBEC. G3 number of transports convoying oijL^lit tljous.'ind troops, rimdezvoused at Louishur^, and toward tlio cud of Juno arrived safely before tlie heiglits of Qut;bec. Wolfe promptly occupied the Island of Orleans, the left bank of the Montmorency, and Point Ltivi, opposite the city. Montcalm had mustered a force of some thirteen thousand men of every age, from boys of thirteen to veterans of eighty, and had strongly fortified with redoubts and earthworks the precipitous banks, from Cape Ilouge, eight miles above Quebec, to Montmorency, as far below. A strong boom, sunken ships and floating batteries, closed the mouth of the St. diaries, and shoal water and nmd flats, along the Beauport shore, made landing almost impossible. Fire raf1« and Are ships were repeatedly launched on the ebb tide against the British fleet, but tliey were always in- tercepted by the British tars, and towed ashore without having accomplished any injury. The batteries at Point Levi, opposite Quebec, during the month of July, poured such an incessant Are into the doomed city that conflagrations were of almost daily occur- rence, and soon the greater part of both Upper and Lower Town was in ruins. Wolfe's plan was to force Montcalm's lines, if possible, and bring him to an engagement. But the French stood strictly on the defensive, except that their Indian scouts cut off" and scalped stragglers from the British lines. In retaliation, and as a measure of military necessity, we must suppose — for he was man of humane instincts — Wolfe ravaged the country and burned the vil- lages both above and below Quebec. The beleaguered city was reduced to severest straits. "We are without hope and without food," said an intercepted letter ; *' God hath forsaken us." On the last day of July, under cover of a furious Are from the fleet, a strong party of British landed at the foot of the snowy Falls of Montmorency, and at low tide forded its brawling stream. Without waiting for supports, the van rushed impetuously up the steep escarpment, crowned with the redoubts of the enemy. A storm burst upon them. Stumbling on the now slippery incline, and their ammuni- tion soaked with rain, they were hurled back in disastrous defeat by a crushing fire from the French entrenchments. Four hundred and fifty gallant men lay dead or wounded on the gory slope, G4 EVE OF THE llATTLE. [1759 Chagrin and griof at tin's disaster throw tho young com- mander into a well-nigli fatal fever. His heroic soul was housed in a frail body. Tossing on his couch of pain, he felt that the eyes of his country wcuo upon him, and the disappointment of its expectations was anguish to his spirit. The season was rapidly passing, juuI wliatciver was to be done must bo done quickly. Wolfe determined on an attempt bold o.vvn to the verge of rashness ; but its audacity was the s(?crct of its success. Masking his designs by feints against Jieauport, he moved the bulk of his army and the fleet up the river above tho city, despite the heavy tire from the battei-ies of Quebec. On the moonless morning of September 13th, before day, the fleet dropped silently down the river«with tho ebbing tide, accompanied by thirty barges containing six- teen hundred men, which, with muffled oars, closely hugged the shadows of the shore. Pale and weak with recent ill- ness, Wolfe reclined among his ofticers, and in a low tone recited several stanzas of the recent poem, Gray's " Elegy, written in a Country Churchyard." Perhaps the shadow of his own approacliing fate stole upon his mind, as in mourn- ful cadence he whispered the strangely prophetic words, "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." With a feeling of the hollowness of military renown, he exclaimed, " I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec to-morrow." Challenged by an alert sentry, an officer gave the counter- sign, which had been learned from a French deserter, and the little flotilla was mistaken for a convoy of provisions expected from Montreal. Landing in the deeply-shadowed cove which has since borne Wolfe's name, the agile High- landers climbed lightly up the steep and narrow path lead- ing to the sunnnit, and in a few moments the guard was overpowered. The troops swarmed rapidly up the rugged precipice, the barges meanwhile promptly transferring fresh reinforcements from the fleet. When the sun rose, the plain was glittering with the arms of plaided highlanders and English red-coats forming for battle. The redoubled fire from JPoint Levi, and a por- tion of the fleet, upon the devoted city and the lines of J^eauport, held the ^.ttentiou of Montcalm, and completely thin [1759 1759] DEATH OF WOLFE AND MONTCALM. 65 ing coin- oul was )£ pain, iin, and [i to hiu ver was iuocl oil l)ut its designs is army e heavy before ith the ing six- liugged :'ent ill- :)w tone ' Elegy, idow of inourn- rds, wn, he s than ounter- er, and •visions idowed High- h lead- rd was rugged g fresh th the Drniing a por- ines of pletely dec'i'ivod liini as to the main point of attack. A breatldesa horsiiman conveyed the intelligence at early dawn. At first incredulous, the gallant commander was soon convinced of the fact, and exclaimed, " Then they have got the weak side of this wretched garrison, but we must fight and crush them ; " and the roll of drums and t\w peal of ))Ugles on the fresh morning air summoned the scattered army to action. With tui>iultuous haste, the skeleton French regiments hurried through the town and formed in long thin lines upon the Plains of Abraham. They numbered seven thousand five hundred famine- wasted and disheart- ened men. Opposed to them were five thousand veteran troops, eager for the fray, and strong in their confidence in their beloved general. Firm as a wall these awaited the onset of the French. In silence they filhxl the ghastly gaps made in their ranks by the tire of the foe. Not for a moment wavered the steady line. Not a trigger was pulled till the enemy arrived within forty yards. Then, at the ringing word of command, a simultanc^ous volley flashed from tlie levelled muskets and tore through the enemy's ranks. The French line was broken and disordered, and heaps of wounded strewed the plain. With cheer on cheer the British charged before they could re-form, and swept the fugitives from the field, pursuing them to the city gates, and to the banks of the St. Charles. In fifteen minutes was lost and won the battle that gave Canada to Great Britain. The British loss was six hundred killed and wounded; that of the French was more than twice as many. Almost at the first fire, Wolfe was struck by n, bullet that shattered his wrist. A moment later a ball pierced his side, but he still cheered on his men. Soon a third shot lodged deep in his breast. Staggering into the arms of an officer, he exclaimed, " Support me ! Let not my brave fellows see me fall." He was borne to the rear, and gently laid upon the ground. " See ! they run ! " exclaimed a bystander. "Who run?" demanded Wolfe, arousing as from a swoon. "The enemy, sir; they give way every- where," was the reply. " What ! already 1 " said the dying man. "Now, God be praised," he murmured, "I die content." His brave adversary, Montcalm, also fell mortally wound- ed, and was borne from the field. " How long shall I livel" 66 BilxTISH OCCUPATION OF QUEBEC. he :<.sked the surgeon. '' Not many hours," was the reply. "I am glad of it," he said; "I shall not see the surrender of Quebec." He died before midnight, and, coliined in a rude box, was buried amid the tears of his soldiers in a grave made by the bursting of a shell. The conquerors immediately began the construction of an entrenched camp on the plain, and in three days had a hun- dred and twenty guns and mortars in position for the siege of the city. But, wasted with famine, and its defenders reduced to a mere handful, the beleaguered fortress surren- dered, and on the 18th of September, 1759, the rock-built citadel of Quebec passed for ever from the dominion of France. Near the scene of their death a grateful people have erected a common monument to the rival commanders, who generously recognized each other's merit in life, and now keep for evermore the solemn truce of death. The two races i:hat met in the shock of battle dwell together in loving fealty, beneath the protecting folds of one commcii Hag. Engla.id had never known a year or such t iumphs as this. Ill all parts of the world her arms were victorious. At Lagos, at Quiberon, at Minden, at Quebec, her fleets or armies won new renown. " We must ask every morning," said Horace Walpole, " what new victory there is." Never- theless, France was not to surrender her fairest possession 17fiO "^i*^^^^ another struggle. M. de Levi, early in the spring, collected ten thousand men at Montreal, and toward the end of April attempted the recapture of Quebec. The winter had been one of intense severity, and to the French one of unexampled dearth and distress. The garri- son of General Murray was worn down by the labour of procuring fuel and maintaining a defence against frequent harassing assaults. Its effective strength was reduced by deaths, scurvy, frost-bites, and other casualties, from seven thousand to less than half that number. On the 27th of April, De Levi's van appeared, and drove in the British outposts. The following day, with more valour tlian prudence, Murray marched out to give battle against overwhelming odds. He attacked the French with spirit on the Ste. Foye road, but was outflanked and out- numbered. After a hot contest of two hours, he was com- e reply. Bnder of I a rude a grave )n of an 1 a hun- he siege sfenders surren- ck-built iiion of >le have 3rs, who nd now ^he two )ther in sommcii tnphs as jtorious. fleets or Qrning," Never- ssession in the eal, and Quebec. to the le garri- bour of requent iced by n seven i drove h more 3 battle ch with nd out- as com- 1760] CAPTURE OF MONTREAL. 67 pelled to retreat, with the loss of a thousand men killed or wounded. The French loss in this fruitless battle was still greater. Besiegers De Levi pressed tho siege for eighteen days, and besieged both looked for aid from an expected fleet. Eager eyes were strained continually toward Point Levi for signs of its approach. At length a strange frigate rounded the headland, amid the anxious suspense of the beholders. As the Union Jack was run up to the peak, cheer on cheer rang from the ramparts, and deep chagrin filled the hearts of the besiegers in the trenches. Soon two other vessels arrived, and De Levi made a hasty retreat, abandoning tents, baggage, and siege train in his flight. He retired to Montreal, there to make the last stand for the possession of Canada. Three English armies converged on the heart of the colony, where life still feebly beat. General Murray, with all his available force, advanced from Quebec, receiving the submission of the inhabitants. C ^lonel Haviland, with three thousand men, hastened from Cri. vn Point by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, occupying the forts evacuated by the French. General Amherst proceeded from Albany, with ten thousand men, by the strange detour of the Mohawk and Oswego rivers, to Lake Ontario, and thence down the St. Lawrence. The three armies reached Montreal on three successive days, and on the 8th of September, sixteen thousand men be- leaguered the devoted town, the last stand of French fidelity and valour. It was defended only by frail walls and by three thousand war-wasted men. Resistance was impossible. The most heroic courage could do no more. Tlie same day, De Vaudreuil signed the capitulation which severed Canada from France forever. ( 68 ) CHAPTER XVI. BRITISH RULE. Bbne;< i«jiAL Effects of the Conquest— State of the Country— Military Government— 1760. The Peace of Paris transfers most of the French Colonial Possessions to Great Britain — Conspiracy of PoNTiAC— Siege of Detroit— Massacres in the West— Law Reforms- Seigniorial Land Tenure obnoxious to the British— 1763. The Quebec Act extends the Boundaries of Canada to the Mississippi, and secures Civil and Religious Immunities to the French— 1774. The conquest of Canada by the British was the most for- tunate event in its history. It supplanted the institutions of the middle ages by those of modern civilization. It gave local self-government for abject submission to a foreign power and a corrupt court. It gave the protection of Habeas Corpus and trial by jury instead of the tribunals of feudalism. For ignorance and repression it gave free schools and a free press. It removed the arbitrary shackles from trade, and abolished its unjust monopolies. It enfran- chised the serfs of the soil, and restricted the excessive power of the seigniors. It gave an immeasurably ampler liberty to the people, and a loftier impulse to progress, than was ever before known. It banished the greedy cormorants who grew rich by the official plunder of the poor. The waste and ruin of a prolonged and cruel war were succeeded by the reign of peace and prosperity ; and the pinchings of famine by the rejoicings of abundance. The one hundred and fifty-seven years of French occupancy had been one Tainst fearful odds — first with the ferocious then with the combined power of the British colonies and the mother country. The genius of French Canada was a strange blending of the military and religious spirit. Even commerce wore the sword, and a missionary enthusiasm quickened the zeal of her early explorers. The reign of peaceful industry was now to succeed that of mar- tial prowess, and was to win victories no less renowned than those of war. As a provisional measure, a military government was organized in Canada. The free exercise of their religion was accorded to the people, and their more pressing necessi- long struggle savages. 1760] ties we their h number of the Financ rency, great c( late Gc the "G thrown The Gf years f native for the more t com pell of neai France In O eminen< nobles, offered ing offe enabled the com Seven 12 had slai and pro grief, w wearied the wh< Great ^ Illinois, possessi east of King, < Yet the great cc island 1: Soon George redoubt 1760] STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 69 -Military St of tho IRACY OF leforma— 63. The ississippi, -1774. lost for- itutions It gave foreign ition of unals of ve free jhackles enfran- scessive ampler 3S, than norants V. The cceeded lings of lundred Jen one rocious British French eligious sionary i. The ai mar- riowned nt was religion necessi- . ties were generously relieved. The militia were sent to their homes, and the regular soldiers, three thousand in number, were conveyed to France. A. considerable exodus of the noblesse, officials, and merchants also took place. Financially, the colony was bankrupt. Bigot's paper cur- rency, which had flooded the country, was worthless, and great commercial depression ensued. M. de Vaudreuil, the late Governor, together with Bigot and other uipmbers of the "Grand Company," en their return to Fiance were thrown into the Bastile, for alleged malfeasance of office. The Governor was honorably acquitted. After fifi/'z-six years faithful service of the crown, he returned to his native country poor, having sacrificed his private fortune for the public weal. The crimes of the Intendant wi re more than proven. He and his fellow-cormorants weie compelled to disgorge their ill-gotten plunder, to the amount of nearly twelve million francs, and were exiled from France forever. In October, 1760, George III. became King. The very eminence of Pitt made him obnoxious to the crown and nobles. The Great Commoner resigned office, and was offered the government of Canada, but the not very tempt- ing offer was declined. Still, the impulse of Pitt's policy enabled England, Prussia, and little Portugal to withstand the combined power of Europe. The awful ravages of the Seven Years' War had desolated a large part of the Continent, had slain a million of men, accumulated a mountain of debt, and produced a heritage of international hate and domestic grief, when the Peace of Paris again gave rest to the war- wearied world, 1763. France surrendered to Groat Britain the whole of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Canada, and the Great West, as far as the valleys of the Wabash and the Illinois, and several West India islands and her East India possessions ; and Spain gave up Florida and all her territory east of the Mississippi. " Never," exclaimed the exultant King, " did any nation in Europe sign such a peace before." Yet there were not wanting prophets to foretell that these great colonies would not always remain subject to the little island beyond the sea. Soon after the cession of Canada, the red cross of St. George supplanted the lilied flag of France on the wooden redoubts of Presqu' Isle, De Bceuf, Venango, Detroit, Mia- 70 CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. [1763 mis, Mackinaw, and other forts in the west. But a wide- spread dissatisfaction soon prevailed in the forest wigwams. This was fanned to a flame by the arts and eloquence of Pontiac, a noted chief, who sought to exterminate the English and restore the supremacy of his race. He laid a deep conspiracy for the simultaneous rising of all the tribes on the shores of the upper lakes and in the Ohio valley. For fifteen months the savages beleaguered the fort at Detroit — an unexampled siege in Indian warfare — defeating succes- sive forces sent to its relief. To obtain food for his war- riors, Pontiac, in imitation of European finance, issued promissory notes, drawn upon birch bark and signed with his own totem, an otter ; all of which, on their maturing, were faithfully redeemed. The other forts throughout the west, with scarce an exception, were reduced by stratagem, by assault, or by siege, and the frontier was ravaged with fire and scalp- ing knife. Strong expeditions under General Bradstreet and Colonel Bouquet defeated the savages, rescued several hundreds of prisoners from their cruel captors, and restored them amid scene« of touching pathos and rejoicing to their anxious friends. After the peace of Paris, Canada was formally annexed to the British possessions by royal proclamation. British subjects were invited to settle in the province of Quebec by the promise of the protection of British laws, and of the establishment, as soon as the circumstances of the country would admit, of representative institutions. Liberal land grants were also made to military settlers. A civil govern- ment, CO isisting of Governor and Council, was formed, and courts were established for tlie administration of justice in accordance with the laws of England. The printing press — that palladium of free institutions — was first introduced into Canada in 1764, and on the 21st of June, the first number of the Quebec Gazette, which is still published, made its appearance. The '*new subjects," as the French were called, soon found themselves placed at a disadvantage as compared with the British settlers, or "old subjects." The latter, altliough as regards numbers an insignificant minority — less than five hundred in all, chiefly half-pay ofiicers, disbanded soldiers, and merchants — assumed all the prerogatives of a dominant [1763 } a wide- igwams. uenue of late the le laid a le tribes y. For •etroit — succes- his war- issued led with aturing, larce an , or by d scalp- adstreet several restored to their annexed British lebec by I of the country ral land govern- led, and istice in press — roduced ;he first d, made d, soon •ed with Ithough han five joidiers, Hiiinant 1764] REORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY. 71 race, engrossing the public ofiices to the exclusion of the sons of the soil. The terms of the proclamation were inter- preted, like the law of England for sixty-five years later, as excluding Roman Catholics from all offices in the gift of the state. The French were willing to take the oath of allegi- ance to King George, but even for the sake of public em- ployment would not forswear their religion. The British privilege of trial by jury, that safeguard of popular liberty, was little appreciated, accompanied as it was by increased expense and by the inconvenience of being conducted in an unknown language. The simple habitants preferred the direct decision of the judge in accordance with their ancient customs. General Murray, by his conciliatory and equitable treat- ment of the conquered race, evoked tx;3 jealousy and com- plaint of the English place-hunters, many of whom were thoroughly mercenary and corrupt. His policy was ap- proved, however, by the Home Government, and was adopted by his successoi in office. Sir Guy Carleton. As to legal matters, in criminal cases trial by jury and English forms were observed ; in civil cases — those affecting property and inheritance — the old irench laws and procedures were allowed to prevail. The English settlers, however, objected strenuously to several features of the land laws. The feudal tenure, by which, on every transfer of real estate, one-twelfth of the purchase money must be paid to the seignior within whose seigniory the land lay, was especially obnoxious. This was a heavy tax on all improvements, buildings and the like ; and greatly discouraged the growth of towns, and drainage of land or other modes of increasing its value. The French also opposed the registration of deeds, either from ignorant apathy or on account of the, as they conceived, needless expense. Consequently British land purchasers or mortgagees sometimes found themselves defrauded by previous mortgages, to which the French law permitted r sworn secrecy. Nothwithstanding these and other anomalies, the country entered on a career of pros- perity, and began to increase in population, agricultural and commercial. At length, after long delay, in 1774, as a definite settle- ment of the government of the colony, the Quebec Act was passed by the British Parliament. It extended the bounds 72 QUEBEC ACT. [1774 of the province from Labrador to the Mississippi, from the Ohio to the watershed of Hudson's Bay. It established the riglit of the Frencli to the observance of the Roman Catholic religion, without civil disability, and confirmed the tithes to the clergy, exempting, however, Protestants from their payment. It restored tlie French civil code, and es- tablished the English administration of law in criminal cases. Supreme authority was vested in the Governor and Council, the latter being nominated by the crown, and con- sisting, for the most part, of persons of British birth. The English-speaking minority felt that their rights were sacrificed. They were denied the promised elective As- sembly, deprived of the protection of the Habeas Corpus Act, and, in certain cases, of trial by jury, and were sub- jected to the civil code of a foreign country. Fox, Burke, Chatham and Townshend protested against the injustice in the Imperial Parliament, as did also the merchants and Common Council of London. But the Act was received with delight by the French populjttion, and continued for seventeen years the rule of government. CHAPTER XVIL THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Causes of the American Revolution -The Stamp Duties— The "Boston Tea Party"— 1773. Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill —American Invasion of Canada- -Montgomery occupies Montreal— Ineffec- tive Siege of Quebec— Death of Montgomery— Defeat of Arnold —1776. American Invasion Repulsed— Declauation of Independ- ence— 1776. Burgoyne's Advance from Canada and Surrender AT Saratoga— 1777. Governor Carleton resigns -Is succeeded by General Haldimand— 1779. Recognition of American Independence —The Peace op Versailles makes the Great Lakes the Western Boundary of Canada— The United Empire Loyalists seek homes in the British Provinces— 1783. The general policy of Great Britain toward her American colonies was one of commercial repression. American merchants were precluded by law the direct importation of sugar, tea, spices, cotton, and similar foreign products. [1774 1775] AMERICAN IIEVOLUTION. 73 These were obliged first to be shipped to Great Britain, and tlien to be re shipped to America at greatly increased cost and delay. The colonial traders largely disregarded this prohibition, and grew ricli by smuggling, which acquired in time a sort of toleration. With the growth of American commerce, imperial jealousy was aroused, and the colonial vessels were seized and the contraband goods confiscated by British ships or customs oflicers. The manufacture of cer- tain articles, as wool and iron, was also, in defiance, it was felt, of natural rights, prohibited in the colonies. The oligarchical power of the crown ofiicials, and the offensive assumptions of the church established by law, also gave deep offence to the democratic communities of the American colonies. In order to meet the colonial military expenditure, a stamp duty was imposed on all legal documents. The colonists denied the right of the Imperial Parliament to impose taxes without their consent. The Stamp Act was repealed in a y^jr, but the obnoxious principle of taxation without representation was maintained by a light duty on tea and some other articles. The colonists refused to re- ceive the taxed commodities, and a party of men disguised as Indians threw into Boston harbour (December 16th, 1773) the tea on board the East India vessels, amounting to three hundred and forty chests. Parliament, incensed at this "flat rebellion," closed the port of Boston, and, against the protest and warning of some of England's greatest statesmen, sent troops to enforce submission. A Continental Congress was assembled at Philadelphia (September, 1774), which, though seeking to avert Indepen- dence, petitioned the King, but in vain, for the continuance of the colonial liberties. At Concord and Lexington (April 19th, 1776) occurred the collision between the armed col- onists and the soldiers of the King which precipitated the War of Independence, and the loss to Great Britain of her American colonies. From the mountains of Vermont to the everglades of Georgia, a patriotic enthusiasm burst forth. A continental army was organized. General Gage was besieged in Boston. Canada and Nova Scotia were invited to join the revolt. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, with a handful of men, seized Ticonderoga and Crown Point. At Bunker Hill (June 17th, 1775) tlio colonial a 74 INVASION OF CANADA. [1775 1775] volunteers proved their ability to cope with the veteran troops of England. Five liundred of tlio former and a thousand of the lattor lay dead or wounded on the fatal slope. In the month of September, a colonial force of a thou- sand men, under General Schuyler, advanced by way of Lake Clianiplain against Montreal ; and another, under Colonel Arnold, by way of the Kennebec and Chaudiere, against Quebec. While Schuyler was held in check at Fort St. John on the Richelieu, Co)onel Ethan Allen, with some thT-ee hundred men, attacked Montreal. He was defeated and taken prisoner, anc ^it in irons to England. Colonel Richard Montgomery, a ' ra^ e OTid generous Irish gentle- man, had succeeded to Schuyler^; .ommand. He vigorously urged the siege of Forts St. John and Chambly, and having compelled their surrender, pressed on to Montreal, which he occupied. Carleton resolved to concentrate his forces at Quebec, which was now menaced by Colonel Arnold. That officer, with a thousand men, had toiled up the swift current of the Kennebec, and transported his boats and stores through the tangled and rugged wilderness to the St. Lawrence. The sufferings of his troops through hunger, cold, fatigue and exposure were excessive. They were re- duced to eat the flesh of dogs, and even to gnaw the leather of their cartouch boxes and shoes. Although enfeebled by sickness and exhaustion, they crossed the river, climbed the cliff by Wolfe's path, and appeared before the walls. Failing to surprise the town, and despairing— ^with his footsore and ragged regiments, with no artillery, and with only five rounds of ammunition — of taking it by assault, Arnold retired to Pointe aux Trembles, to await a junction with Montgomery. On the 4tli of December, the united forces, amounting to two tliousand men, advanced on Quebec. Carleton had as- sembled an equal number, among whom were five hundred French-Canadians, prepared to tight side by side with their former conquerors in defence of the British flag. For nearly a month the invaders encamped in the snow before the impregnable ramparts. Biting frost, the fire of the garrison, pleurisy and the small-pox did their fatal work. On the last day of the year a double assault was made on the Lower Town. At four o'clock in the morning, in a On men, i 1776 [1775 1775] INVASION BEPULSED. 76 i^eteran and a e fatal I thou- tvay of under udiere, it Fort 1 some feated 'olonel gentle- )rously having lich he ces at e swift bs and the St. unger, 3re re- eather led by ed the ^ailing ■e and Y five Lrnold L with ing to id as- tidred their For >efore I tlie vork. le on in a blinding snow-storm, Montgomery, with three hundred men, crept along the narrow pass between Cape Diamond and the river. As the forlorn hope made a dash for the gate, a volley of grape swept through their ranks. Montgomery, with two of his officers and ten men, were slain, and the deepening snow wrapped them in its icy shroud. On the other side of the town, Arnold, with six hundred men, attacked and carried the first barriers. They pressed on, and many entered the town through the embrasures of a battery, and waged a stubborn street fight, amid the storm and darkness. With the dawn of morning they found themselves surrounded by an overwhelming force, and exposed to a withering fire from the houses. They there- fore surrendered at discretion to the number of four hun- dred men. 1^^/. Arnold continued to maintain an ineffective ^ic e, his command daily wasting away with small-pux, coid and hunger. Jn the spring, Carleton assailed his lines with a thousand men, and raised the siege, capturing a number of prisoners and a large quantity of s >res. In May and June, being reinforced by General Burgoyne with ten thousand men, he pursued the retreating foe. The Americans abandoned successively Three Eivers, Sorel and Montreal, and retired to Crown Point and Ticonderoga. In a severe engagement near Crown Point (October 19th), Arnold was badly beaten. Meanwhile the revolted colonies had thrown off" their allegiance to the mother country by the celebrated Declara- tion of Independence, which was solemnly adopted by the Continental Congress, July 4th, 1776. The British had al- ready been obliged to evacuate Boston. They were also repulsed in an attack on Charleston. In July, Lord Howe gained an injportant victory at Long Island, and took possession of New York, driving Washington across the Delaware. The latter, however, gained a brilliant victory at Trenton and another at Princeton, which left the result of the campaign in favour of the revolted colonists. Notwithstanding the protests of Lord Chatham and Lord North against the war, the King and his ministers persisted in their policy of coercion. The following .spring. General ^fj^^fj Burgoyne, Avho had been appointed to the supreme military command, set out from Canada with nine 76 RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. [1783 thousand men to invade New York state, effect a junction with General Gage at Albany, and sever the American confederacy by holding the Hudson River. He captured Ticonderoga, and advanced to Fort Edward. The New England and New York militia swarmed around the invad- ing army, cut off its supplies, and attacked its detached forces with fatal success. Burgoyne was defeated at Still- water, on the Hudson, and soon afterwards, being completely surrounded, surrendered, with six thousand men, to General Gates at ^Sa^atoga. This surrender led to the recognition of American independence by the French, and to their vigorous assistance of the revolt by money, arms, ships, and volunteers. The occupation of Philadelphia by the British, and the defeat of the Americans at Brandy wine and Ger- mantown were, however, disheartening blows to the young republic. Governor Carleton, indignant at the military promotion of General Burgoyne over his own head, resigned his com- mission, and was succeeded in office by General Haldimand. A Swiss by birth and a strict martinet in discipline, the stern military government of the latter was a cause of much dissatisfaction. The Revolutionary War continued with varying fortune to drag its weary length. The genius and moral dignity of Washington sustained the courage of his countrymen under repeated disaster and defeat, and com- manded the admiration and respect even of his enemies. The last great act of this stormy drama was the surrender of Lord Oornwailis, with seven thousand troops, at York- town, Virginia, October 19th, 1781. The treaty of peace w.as signed at Versailles, September 3rd, 1783. By its terms Canada was despoiled of the magnificent region lying between the Mississippi and the Ohio, and was divided from the new nation designated the United States by the Great Dikes, the St. Lawrence, the watershed between the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, and the St. Croix River. The latter-mentioned portion of this boundary was sufficiently vague to give rise to serious international disputes at a subsequent period. A considerable number of the American colonists had remained faithful to the mother country. Their condition during and after the war was exceedingly painful. They were exposed to suspicion and insult, and sometimes to came 1784] UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS. 77 ^g w.'inton outrage and spoliation. Their zeal for the unity of the empire won for them the name of United Empire Loyalists, or, more briefly, U. E. Loyalists. The British Government made liberal provision for their domiciliation in Nova Scotia and Canada. The nlose of the war was followed by an exodus of those faithful men and their families, who, from their loyalty to their king and the in- stitutions of their, fatherland, abandoned their homes and property, often large ■^;'' ates, to encounter the discomforts of new settle\iients, or the perils of the pathless wilderness.* These exiles for conscience' sake came chiefly from New England and New York state, but a considerai)le number came from the Middle and Southern states of the Union. Many settled near Halifax and on the Bay of Fundy. A large number established themselves on the St. John River, and founded the town of St. John — long called Parrfcown from the name of the Governor of Nova Scotia. These sought a division of the province, and a separate legisla- -ifji^t ture. This was granted, and the Province of New Brunswick was created. Cape Breton was also made a separate government. What is now the Province of Ontario was then almost a wilderness. At the close of the war it became the home of about ten thousand U. E. Loyalists. Each adult received a free grant of two hundred acres of land, as did also each child, even those born after immigration, on their coming of ago. The Government also assisted with food, clothing, and implements those loyal exiles who had lost all on their expatriation. They settled chiefly along the Upper St. Lawrence, around the beautiful Bay of Quinte, and on the; northern shores of Lake Ontario. Other settlements were made on the Niagaia and Detroit rivers. Liberal land grants were also given to immigrants from Great Britain. Many disbanded soldiers, militia and half-pay officers took up land, and in course of time not a few imuiigrants from the United States. The wilderness soon began to give place to smiling farms, thriving settlements, and waving fields of grain; and zealous missionaries threaded the forest in order to minister to the scattered settlers the rites of religion. * The British Parliament voted £3,300,000 for *^^ indemnification and assistance of the patriotic loyalists, of whom it is estimated that twenty-five thousand sought refui^e in the British colonies. ( 78 ) CHAPTER XVTII. THE FOUNDING OF VVVKR CANADA. Lord Dorchostor (Sir Guy Curloton), Govornor-(ionoral of Hrltish North Aiuoriea-1787. Tho Constitutional Act dlviiles ('muula iiiid I'c'ConstructH its Const ilution -1791. Early LoglHlation li» Ui)|)cr Canada— Choice of a (Capital - YoitK (Toronto) Foundkd -1795. Mujor-Gencral Hunter, lii(;nt.-Governor-1790. Internal J)cvelo|»- niont— Growth of I'olillcal Parties— Francis Goro, Llcut.-Govoruor —1806. Social Orjjaniwition -Education, Religion, etc. In 1787, Sir Guy Carlt^ton, now Lord Dorchestor, beeamo Governor-Genenil of Puitish North America. The Cana- dian colonists demanded tlie same constitutional privileges as were enjoyed by the Maritime Provinces. The Halu^as Corpus and trial by jury in civil cases were secured to them by statute law. But they wished alao an elective Legis- lative Assembly, instead of a crown-appointed liegislative Council, and a larger measure of constitutional liberty. In 1791, Lord (Jrenville introduced into the House of Lords a bill, known as the Constitutional Act, for the ad- justment of Canadian affairs. It divided Canada into two provinces by a line coinciding chiefly with the Ottawa River. In Western or Upper Canada, British law, both civil and criminal, and freehold land tenure were intro- duced. In Eastern or Lower Canada, the seigniorial tenure and French law in civil cases were retained. In each pro- vince a government was constituted, consisting of an elec- tive Legislative Assembly, and a Legislative Council and Governor appointed by the crown. One-seventh of tho land was also reserved for the use of the crown, and one- seventh for the maintenance of the Protestant clergy — a provision which gave rise to much subsetjuent trouble and agination. John Graves Simcoe was appointed first Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of Upper Canada, and entrusted with the inaugura- tion of the new constitution. He was a landed gentleman, a member of the English House of Commons, and held the rank of B 'igadier in the army. He had assisted in passing the Constitutional Act, and was anxious to see it success- fully carried out. His administration was honest, prudent, f I \ 1795] YORK (TORONTO) FOUNDED. 79 entM*g(»tic, and public-spirited. I To established his seat of government at Newark, a village of about a hundred houses, at the mouth of tlie Niagara River. The first Parliament of Upper Canada assembled on the 17th of Septembc^r, 1792. The Assembly consisted of sixteen, and the Jjegisla- tivo Council of seven members — plain, homespun-clad far- mers or merchants, from the plough or store. Deeming Newark too near the American frontier for the capital of the province, Governor Simcoe looked for a more eligible site. He wished to found a new London in the heart of the Western District, on the banks of the winding Thames. Lord Dorchester favoured the claims of Kingston, which he made the principal naval and military station of the Drovince. As a compromise, York was selected, chiefly on iccount of its excellent harbour, although the land was low and swampy. The growth and prosperity of the noble city of Toronto vindicate the wisdom of the choice. Parliament continued to sit at Newark till 1797. The principal Acts provided for civil and municipal administra- tion, for the construction of roads, fixing of duties, millers' tolls, and the like. Rewards of twenty and ten shillings, respectively, were offered for wolves' and bears' heads, which is suggestive of the forest perils of the times. The pay- ment of members of parliament was fixed at ten shillings per day. The introduction of slaves was forbidden, and their term of servitude limited, ten years before similar legislation in Lower Canada. Governor Simcoe removed to York in 1795, before a Jiouse was built, lodging temporarily in a canvas tent or pavilion,^ pitched on the plateau overlooking the western end of the bay. In 1797, the Provincial Legislature was opened in a wooden building near the River Don, whose site is commemorated by the name of Parliament Street ; but the foundei of Toronto had previously been transferred to the government of San Domingo. He had projected a vigorous policy for the encouragement of agriculture, fish- eries, and internal development. On his removal most of these wise schemes fell through. Land designed for settle- ment was seized by speculators, and the general develop- ment of the country was greatly retarded. * Originally constructed for Captain Cook. 80 INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. [1800 Mr. Russell, the senior member of the; Executive Council, , ^QQ administered the government till the arrival of Major- General Hunter, v/ho held otiice for the ensuing six years. The progress of the country in trade, population, and the development of its resources, was rapid. The tide of immigration steadily increased. The Irish troubles of " '98 " especially led many hardy settlers to seek new homes in the virgin wilds of Canada. In 1803, Colonel Talbot, an eccentric British officer, received a grant of five thousand acres of land on Lake Erie, on condition of placing a settler on every two hundred acres. For inany years he kept a sort of feudal state in his forest community. The obstruc- tions of the St. Lawrence made communication with Mont- real and Quebec more difficult than \>'it.li Albany and New York. A brisk lal^e trade therefore sprang up, and addi- tional ports of entry were estaMish.xl, which fostered the prosperity of the grov/ing settleuiouts of Cornwall, Brock- ville, Kingston, York, Niagara, Aniherstburg, and other frontier towns. As the province increased in wealth and population, the evils of a practically iiresponsible government began to 1)C felt. The Executive Council, composed of the Governor and five of his nominees, removable at his pleasure, gradually absorbed the whole administrative influence of the colony. The official Gazette, the only representative of the public press, was in the hands of the ( LiOV jirnment, as was also the whole of the revenue of the province. The Legislative Assembly, therefore, could exorcise no check by annual votes of supply. Many poor gentlemen, half-pay officers, and others of similar character from the mother country, sought to better thair fortunes in the new colony. By birth and training they were unfitted to cope with the hardships of backwoods life. They soon engrossed, almost entirely, the departmental offices, for which, by education and pre- vious position, they were es})ecially adapted, or l)ecame hangers on and zealous supporters of the Government, while they looked down with a sort of aristocratic exclusive- ness on the uncultivated, and perhjips sometimes uncouth, hard-working yeomanry of the country. Others, with a wiser policy, adapted themselves to their altered circumstances and to the condition of the province. While learning to swing the axe and hold the plough, they [1800 1806] GROWTH OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 81 ouncil, Major- ng six iliition, le tide bles of homes hot, an ousand settler kept a bstruc- Mont- d New d addi- ?ed the Bi'ock- l other on, tlie ^ to he )vernor aduajly colony, public lIso the islatlve annual officers, juntry, y birth rdships itirely, id pre- l)ecanie ninent, jlusive- icouth, their Dvince, ii, they preserved, amid the rudest surroundings, the tastes and instincts of gentlemen. They became, from their education and cultivated manners, centres of influence and leaders of opinion in th<». rural communities in which they lived, which tacitly conceded a superiority which they would never have yielded had it been directly asserted. The sturdy yeomar y not unnaturally regarded with jeal- ousy and aversion the former of these classes, and allied themselves with the latter as their legitimate leaders and friends. Thus early in the century the origin of parties may be traced in Upper CJanada — on the one hand, the zealous supporteis of an irresponsible executive ; on the other, the advocates of a larger measure of constitutional liberty. Mr. II unter was succeeded as Governor bv Francis Gore, , ^p.p Esq. His personal character was estimable and his pujposes honest. In his ignoianoe of the country he depended on his Council for information and advice. These gentlemen, not unnaturally, endeavoured to maintain the privileges of their order and of their fnends. In 1811, Mr. Gore retuin^d to England, lea ing the temporary adminis- tration of government in the hands of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in the province. Meanwhil", the country had steadily prospered, undis- turb'^d in its forest isolation by the great European war, which was deluging with blood a hundred batt le-ti(;lds and desolating thousands of homes. I»y thf^ year 1809 the population had incr ased to about seventy thousand. The chief commercial want was a paper curr«?ncy and banking facilities. Popular education was at a low ebb, although a grammar school had been established in each of the eight districts into which the provijioe was now divided. The people lived in rude abundance, the virgin soil brought forth plentifully, deer roamed in the forest, wild fowl swarmed in marsh and nu^rc*, and the lakes and rivers teemed with the finest fish. Homespun and often home- woven frieze or flannel furnished warm and serviceable clothing. The houses, chiefly of logs, rougli or squared with the axe, tiiough rude, were not devoid of homely comfort. The furniture, eNccpt in towny and villages, was mostly home- made. Oxen weve largely employed in tilling tho soil, and 82 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. [1809 dragging tlio rude waggons over rough roads. Tho iields were studded with blackened stumps, and the girdling forest ever bounded the horizon or swept around the scanty clearing. The grain was reaped witli the sickle or scythe, threshed with the flail, and winnowed by tho wind. Grist nulls being almost unknown, it was generally ground in the steel hand-mills furnished by the Government, or pounded in a large mortal", hollowed out of a hardwood stump, by means of a wooden pestle attached to a spring beam. The roads were often only blazed paths through the forest, supported on transverse corduroy logs where they passed through a swamp or marsh. The "Governor's Road," as it was called, travei'sed the length of the province, along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and westward to Audierstburg. Yonge Sti-eet extended from York to Holland River. Much of the early legislation had reference to the construction of roads and bridges, chiefly by statute labour. Tlie judges and crown lawyers made their circuits, when possible, in Government schooners, and the assize furnished an opportunity of reviving for a time in tho country towns the half-forgotten gaieties of fashionable society. In the aristocratic circles of York a mimic repre- sentation of Old World court life was observed, with only partial success. Before the war there were only four clergymen of the Church of England in Upper Canada. A few Methodist and Presbyterian ministers toiled through the wilderness to visit the scattered flocks committed to their care. Amid tlie not altogether propitious circumstaTices were nourished that patriotic and sturdy yeomanry that did doughty battle for Jjritain in the approaching war, and many of those noble characters that illustrated the future annals of their country ; and then were laid the foundations of that goodly civUization amid which we live to-day. lished by th and 1 In [1809 fields nfirdling scanty scythe, Grist 1 in the mounded imp, by • ugli the re they vcrnor's rovince, estwtard iTork to eference r statute circuits, e assize in the hionable ic repre- rith only n of the [ethodist ilderness Amid ourished by battle )se noble country ; ^^Iization ( 83 ) CHAPTER XIX. OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812-15. Injiuguration of the New Constitution in Lower Canada- 1792. Sir Janios Craig's Stormy Administration— 1808-11. . Causks ok thk Wak of 1812-15 — Tlic "Berlin Decree" and "Orders in Council "— 1806. The "Right of Search"— War Dkclahkd, June 18. 1812 Repub- lican Anti-War Protest— Position of Combatants -Canadian Loy- alty- Hull's Invasion and Rei)ulse-Hio Sukuiondkus to Brock, Aug. lo, 1812 - TJatti.k ok Qukknston Hkights -Death of Brook, Oct. 13, 1812— DKARiiOKN's Invasion— Repulsed at Lacolle, Nov. 20, 1812. In the more populous province of Lower Canada, the iiiau<:(uration of the new colonial Constitution gave rise to struggles between the irresponsible Executive and the elec- tive Assembly, which felt itself the safeguard of popular liberty. The new legislature met in 1792, in the even then venerable city of Quebec. It was composed of a nominated Council of tifteen, and a Lower House of fifty members, elected for four years. Fifteen of the latter were of British aad the remainder of French origin. The debates, there- fore, were conducted, as they have been ever since in all legislatures in which Lower Canada was represented, in both English and French, and the otticial documents were pub- lished in both langu iges. A jealousy of race was fomented by the invectives of the rival newspapers of the French and English press. In 1797, Lord Dorchester, after twenty years of pateri:al over.siglit of Canada, was succeeded as Governor-General by Major-( roneral Prescott. In IHOS, Sir James Craig, a veteran military officer, was appointed Governor-General, in anticipation of war with the United States. Greatly broken in health, he was suc- ceeded in office by Sir George Prevost, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1811.* Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both experienced the irrepressible contlict between the Council and the Assembly — between the prerogatives of the crown and the growtli of ♦In 1809, the Hon. John Molson, of Montreal, launched the first steamboat on the St. Lawrence. It made the trip to Quobeo in thirty-six hours. Four years prC' vioqsiy, Fultou imviv^attid, on thu Hudson Hiver, the first steuniboat known. 84 CAUSES OF THE WAR. [1S12 1812] popular lJl)orty. Durinc: the Froiich and Tlovolutioi.aty wars, >^^;\,l)fax had l)een a great iiaval and military ii-ntloz- vuus, r*,nd society assumed a highly aristocratic a^id con- ri'^rvative tone. The Duke of Kent, fathei* of Queen Victoria, during the latter years of the century (1794-1799) Commander-in Chief of the royal forces, dispensed a generous hospitality, and fostered the loyal enthusiasm of tlie people. Much English money was spent in the colony, and its com- mercial progress was rapid. Governor Parr and his suc- cej^sor, Sir John Wentworth, jealously guarded what they considered the prerogatives of tiie crown against what they regarded as the democi-atic encroachments of the people. In New Brunswick for twenty years (17S2-180'J) Colonel Carleton, brother of Lord Dorchest'M', administered the all'airs of the province with great tact and ability, hut not without occasional collisions with the Assembly, wliidi seemed to be the inevitable fate of (olonial Governors in tliose days. The lumber trade of N«'w Brunswick was greatly fostered by the demands of the royal fleets and by a heavy duty imposed on Baltic timber. The stately masts of her forests bore the pennon of Great Britain in many a stern sea-light. We proceed now to trace the causes wdiich led to the Anglo- Aniericau war of 1812-15. For some time previous to the open rupture of 1812, public feeling in the United (States lij.i *>i^come increasingly hostile to G reat Brihiin. Tht^ -' Berlin ! Nv ree" of Napoleon, issued November 1st, 1800, declared a Ijlockade of the en- tir(» British - oast, and let loose French privateers against her shipping, and that of neutral nations trading with lier. lHn7 ^''*^"''^ l»ritain retaliated l>y the celebrated "Orders in Council," which dechired all traffic with Krance con- traband, and the vessels proseruting it, with their cargoes, liable to seizure. These restrictions pressed heavily on nevirals, especially on the Unit<.'d States, which now en- grossed much e^ the <'a,rrying trade of the world. The Demo- cratic ma,;. i^-ii Congress, the following year, substituted a Non-Intercourse Act, prohibiting all comnje.'co vith either belligerents till the obnoxiou"^' " Decree" or "Orders" were repealed. Severe injury was thus inflicted on both Great Britain and America, which tended to their mutual exasperation. Another cause conspired to fan the war feeling to a flamo. Great Britain, pressed by the dilHculty of manning lier im- mense fleets, asserted the " riglit of search " of American vessels for deserters from her navy. The United States frigate Chesapeake resisted this ri<]fht. ^a ^^^^^ ^^^^-*^ ^^ y "V tfir- n ational law, but was compelled by a broadside from H. M. snip Leopard (June, 1807) to submit and to deliver up four deserters found among her crew. The British Government disavowed the violence of tliis act and ofiered reparation. But the Democratic party was clamorous for war, and eager to seduce from their allegiance and aniie.x: to the United States the provinces of British North America. The world was to witness the spectacle of the young Republic of the West leagued with the arch-despot Napoleon against almost the sole champion of constitutional liberty in Europe. War was precipitately declared June 18th, 1812, in the liope of intercepting the West India fleet, and of overrun- ning Canada before it could be aided by Great Britain. Almost simultaneously the obnoxious "Orders in Council," the chief ostensible cause of tlu^ war, were repealed, but the news produced no change in Ameri(;an policy. The Republican party of the United States, however, which was predominant in its northern section, and com- prised the more modei-ate and intelligent part of the nation, was strenuously opposed to the action of Congress. A con- vention was held at Albany, protesting against the war and against an alliance with Napoleon, "every action of wiioso life demonstrated a thirst for universal empire and for tlio extinction of human freedom." At Boston, on the declara- tion of hostilities, the flags of the shipping were placed at Jialf-mast as a sign of mourning, and a public meeting denounced the war as ruinous and unjust. The position of the parties to this contest was very un- equal. Great j^ritain wjis exh.iusted by a war by sea and land of nearly twenty years' duration. Canada was unpre- pared for the conflit;t. She had only some six tiiousand h^ ;_:• (,(/ -r;;^,, t V- ._' •'■':,;-■■'* --, 86 hull's SUTIRENDER. [1812 troops to defend a thousand miles of frontier. Her entire population was under three hundred thousand, while that of the United States was eight millions, or in the proportion of twenty-seven to one. The Americans relied on the re- ported disaffection of the provinces with British rule. In this they were egregiously mistaken. Forgetting their political differences, the Canadians rallied with spontaneous loyalty to the support of the Government. Even the American immigrants, with scarce an exception, proved faithful to their adopted country. On the declaration of war, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, a gallant officer and judicious civil ruler, who, in the absence of Mr. Gore, administered the government of Up- per Canada, resolved to strike the first blow. He ordered an attack on Fort Mackinaw, which commanded the en- trance to Lake Michigan. It was surprised and taken wiHiout the loss of a j <.'n (July 17th). The Ainei'ican plan of atta,ck was to invade Canada with throe armies, on tlic Detroit and Niagara frontiers and by way of Lake Ohain plain. General Hull crossed the Detroit River at Sandwich with twonty-five hundred men. He suinuioiied the Janadians to surrender, oiiering them the alternatives of " peace, liberty, and security," or " war, slavery, and destruction." They spurned his offers and de- fied his tlu'eats. General Brock hastened from York, by way of Niagara and Lake Eiie, with all the forces he could collect. Hull recros^e 1 the river, and took refuge behind the earthworks of Detroit. Brock followed him with seven hundred legulars and militia, and six hundred Indians. Witliout waiting an attack, Hull surrendered with all his forces and vast military stores, and ceded to the British the entire territoy nf Micliigan (August ir)th). Hull was after- wards tried hy a Muued States court-martial for treason and cowardice, and penienced to death, but was reprieved on account of Ills services during the Revolutionary War. On the Nin.gara frontier, the American General, Van Ranselaer, collected an army of six thousand for the inva- sion of Cjuiada. To protect the boundary of thirty -four miles. Brock had only fifteen hundred men. A bold escarp- ment of rock, an old lake margin, runs across the country from west to east. Through this tne Niagara River, in the course of ages, lias worn a deep and gloomy gorge. At the [1812 I entire that fortion Ihe re- [n this )litical loyalfy lerican Iful to Isaac in the hi Up- rdered he en- taken a with md })y )etroit He the war, -nd de- »rk, by ! could Dehind seven idians. ill his sh the after- reason rieved f^ar. , Van inva- y-four scarp- untry in the Lt the 1812] BATTLE OP QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. 87 foot of the cliff nestled on the west side the hamlet of Queenstown, and on the east the American village of Lewis- ton. Here, early on the cold and stormy morning of Octo- ber the 13th, Van Ranselaer crossed with twelve hundicd men. The British held the table-land at the top of the escarpment ; but a part of the invading army having climbed the precipitous rivor bank by a path tliought to be impassable, they were oulllaiiked and driven down the hill. General Brock, hearing the cannonade at Niagara, seven miles distant, galloped off in the gray of the morning, to ascertain if it were a feint or an attack in force. Having dis- mounted, he rallied the British troops, and charged up the hill under a heavy fire. His conspicuous figure attracted the aim of the enemy, and, while cheering on the York volunteers, he fell, shot through the breast. " Push on ! Don't mind me!" he exclaimed; and with his ebbing life sending a love message to his sister in the far-off isle of Guernsey, the brave soul passed away. His aide-df;-camp, Colonel Macdonell, the Attorney-General of Upper Canada, a promising young man of twenty-five, was mortally wounded soon after his chief, and died next day. Major-General Shealfe, an officer of American birth, now succeeded Brock in command. By a flank movement lie gained the height, and, after a sharp action, completely routed the enemy. Pursued by yelling Indians, they fled : some, clambering down the rugged slope, were impaled on the jagged pines; others, attempting to swim the rapid river, were drowned. Nine hundred and fifty men surren- dered to Sheaffe — a force greater than his own. The victory of Queenston Heights, glorious as it was, was dearly bought with the death of Canada's darling hero, the loved and honoured Brock, and of the ))rave young Macdonell, his aide-de-camp. A grateful country has erected on the scene of the victory — one of the grandest sites on earth — a noble monument to Brock's memory; and beneath it, side by side, sleeps the dust of the heroic chief and his faithful aide-de-camp — united in their death, and not severed in their burial. A month's armistice was granted, during which the Americans collected on the Nip>gara frontier an " army of the centre," five thousand strong, to oppose which General Sheaffe had only seven hundred men. General Smythe, a m NAVAt ENOACJEMENTS. [1^12 gasconading braggart, who had succeeded Van Ranselaer in command, kept in check by a force one-sixtli of his own, was regarded even by his own troops with contempt, and was obliged to fly from the camp to escape their indignation. In the meanwliile, General Dearborn, with an army of ten thousand men, advanced l>y way of Lake Champlain to the frontier. The Canadians rallied pn masse to repel the invasion, barricaded the roads with felled trees, and guarded every pass. On the 20th of November, an attack was made by fourteen hundred of the enemy on the British out- post at Lacolle, near Rouse's Point; but the guard, keeping up a sharp fire, withdrew, and the Americans, in the dark- ness and confusion, fired into each other's ranks, and fell back in disastrous and headlong retreat. The discomfited General retired with his " Grand Army of the North " into safe winter quarters behind the entrenchments of Platts- burg. In their naval engagements the Americans were more suc- cessful. On Lake Ontario, Commodore Chauncey equipped a strong fleet, which drove the Canadian shipping for pro- tection under the guns of Niagara, York, and Kingston. He generously restored the private plate of Sir Isaac Brock, captured in one of his prizes. At sea, the American frigates Constitution and UriUed States shattered and captured the British ships Guerriere, Macedonian, and Java. In the United States Congress this unnatural strife of kindred races was vigorously denounced by some of the truest American patriots. Mr. Quincy, of Massaclmsctts, characterized it as the "most disgraceful in history since the invasion of the buccaneers." But the Democratic ma- jority persisted in their stern policy of implacable war. laer in own, )t, and lation. my of ain to )el the uarded c was h out- fioping dark- iid fell jmfited " into Platts- re suc- luipped r pro- ngston. Brock, 'rigates 'ed the brife of of the msfitts, y since Lie nui- 3 ( «!> ) r I CHAPTER XX. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813. • Construction of Navy on tho Ijakoa-YoRK takkn by Oonoral Plko- Exploaion of MaKuzine, April 27th— Fort Gkou«ik takkn -Vincent retreats to HurliiiKton Ileif^ht.s, May 271 h— Americans routed in Numit Attacmv at Stonv Cukek, June Glh -Lt. Fit/Kibinm'H exploit at JiKAVKK Damh, June 28th— Second capture of York by (Muiuncey, July 23rd- Peuky's Victory on Lake Kuik, September lOlh— Proctor Retreats from Amheratburg—Is beaten by Harrison at Moravian Town, October 15th -Death of Tceumseh-Wilkinson, with nine thousand men, advances on Montreal — IJattlk ok Chrysler's Farm, November 12th- Hampton's Invasion of Canada — IlEi'ULSED at Chatioauouay, October 'xith-McClure evaeiuitea and BURNS Niagara, December 10th- Fort Niagara taken, and Lowiston, Black Hock, and Buffalo hurned, December 18th-30th. By both belligerents preparations were made for the cam- paign of 1813 with redoubled zeal. During the winter, tho " King's Regiment," of New Brunswick, marched on snow- shoes through the wilderness, and did good service through- out the campaign. The Americans gave special attention to the construction of strong, if roughly finished, vessels on Lakes Champlain, Ont'irio and Erie. The British Government, severely taxed by the war with Napoleon, could send few reinforcements to America, and an inconjpetent naval administration neg- lected the equipment of vessels for the lakes. Very tardily a few vessels were constructed at Kingston, York, and Chippewa, at the extravagant cost, it was said, of £1000 per ton. To a country abounding with the best of timber, English oak and all other equipments were transported across the ocean, even to the superfluity on our " unsalted seas " of casks for the stowage of fresh water. All military stores had to be conveyed with incredible labour, in open batteaux, up the rapids of the St. Lawrence under the fire of the gun batteries on the American shore. More than one brigade of boats was attacked, and captured or defended with great valour and loss of life on botli sides. The American plan of the campaign of 1813 includcid tho mastery of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the capture of tho forts on the Niagara frontier, at York and at Kingston, and 7 90 YORK (TORONTO) TAKEN. [1813 the reduction of the entire western peninsula. A concen- tration of forces on Montreal and Quebec, it was thought, would then drive the Union Jack from the valley of the St. Lawrence. In pursuance of this design, Commodore Chauncey, with fourteen vessels and seventeen hundred men, under the command of Generals Dearborn and Pike, left Sackett's Harbour, and early on the morning of April 27th lay off* the town of York, wliich was garrisoned by only six hundred men, under General Shoaffe. Under cover of a heavy fire, the Americans landed, drove in the British outposts, and made a dash for the dilapidated fort, which the fleet mean- whih' heavily bombarded. They fought their way to within two Imndred yards of the earthen ramparts, when the defensive tire ceased. Suddenly, with a shock like an earth- quake, the magazine blew up, and hurled into the air two hundred of the attacking column, together with Pike, its commander ; killing also several soldiers of the retiring British garrison. The town being no longer tenable. General Sheaffe, after destroying the naval stores and a vessel on the stocks, retreated with the regulars towards Kingston. The public buildings were burned, and the military and naval stores which escaped destruction were carried otr. Dearborn re embarked his forces, and the fleet made for the mouth of tlie Niagara. On the 27th of IVlay, at early dawn, his ships, some tiftren in number, lay in crescent form off" Fort St. George, which was garrisoned by Colonel Vin- cent with about fourteen hundred men. Under cover of a tremendous tire from the lleet and Fort Niagara, after a triple repulse by the British, a force of six liousand men effected a landing on the beach, on the grounds now occu- pied by the Canadian Chautauqua Assembly. Vincent, having nearly four hundred men killed, wounded, or cap- tured, his amn.unition being well-nigh exhausted, and his fort almost in ruins, spiked his guns, blew up his shattered works, and, confronted by a force six times greater than his own, retired on Queonston Heights. The next day, having withdrawn the garrisons from the frontier forts on the Niagara river, he retreated with sixteen hundred men toward the head of the lake, and took up a strong position on Burlington Heights, near Hamilton. Dearborn despatched a force of over three thousand men, 1813 1813] STONY CREEK. 91 )noen- jught, of the with tho kett's ay off' ndred y fire, and lean- within in the carth- ir two ke, its Jtiring eneral sel on igston. •y and ff. ide for early t form 1 Vin- )r of a fter a \ men occu- ncent, r cap- ad his ttered than n the with 1 took ilton. men. under Generals Chandler and Winder, to dislodge him. On the 6tli of June thoy encamped at Stony Creek, seven miles from Vincent's linos. The position of the latter was criti- cal. Niagara and York had l)oth been captured. JJefore him was a victorious foe. His annnunition was leduced to ninety rounds. Ho was extricated from his peril by a bold blow. Colonel John Harvey, having reconnoitered the enemy's position, proposed a night attack. Vincent heart- ily co-operated. At midnight, with seven hundred British bayonets, they burst upon the American camp. A fierce fight ensued, in which tlie enemy were utterly routed. The British retired befoie daybreak, with a hundred prisoners, including both of the American generals. The invaders soon met with another reverse. Colonel Boerstler, on the 28th of June, with four hundred and seventy men, including fifty cavalry and two field-pieces, advanced to dislodge a British picket at Beaver Dams (near Thorold). Mrs. Secord, a heroic Canadian wife, whose husband had been wounded at Queenston Heights, walked twenty miles through the woods to give warning of the attack. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, with a handful of soldiers and two hundred Indians, by a skilful disposition of i.is forces, captured Boerstler's entire command, more than twice his own number, to the intense chagrin of the Americans. Dearborn, whose forces were wasted away to about four thousand men, was now beleaguered in Fort George by Vincent with less than half the number of troops. During the month of July the British made successful raids on Fort Schlosser and Black Rock, on the American side of the river, destroying barracks and dockyards, and capturing stores and arms. In accordance with the British policy of strengthening the naval force on the lake, Sir James Yeo, with four hundred and fifty seamen, had, early in May, arrived at Kingston. The American fleet being engaged in the attack on Fort George, at Niagara, it was resolved to make a descent on Sackett's Harbour. On May 27th, the day of the capture of Fort George, Sir James Yeo, with seven armed vessels and a thousand men, under the personal com- mand of Sir George Prevost, the Governor-General, sailed from Kingston to destroy the shipping and stores of tho IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A A v. Z 1.0 I.I Ik Hi US 1^ ^ lis IM IL25 III 1.4 1.6 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ,\ iV^ es o ^\^ ^\ WrS -^'^. <^ ^ o 92 PERRY S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE. [1813 181 i principal American naval depot on the lakes. The landing of the British was stoutly opposed. Nevertlieless, the Ameri- cans everywhere gave way, and had already fired the bar- racks, naval stores, and shipping, wlien, to the intense chagrin of his victorious troops, the over cautious Prevost ordered a reti'eat. In retaliation for this attack, Comniodoi-e Chauncey, on the 23rd of July, appeared with twelve sail off the defence- less town of York — all the regular troops being absent and the militia on parole. He landed without opposition, and burned the barracks and such public buildings as had pre- viously escaped. On the 8th of August he encountered, off Niagara, Yeo's fleet of six vessels — less than half his own number. In a running fight of two days' duration, he lost two vessels by foundering and two by capture, and escaped to port. Yeo returned to Kingston with his prizes with- out the loss of a single man. Meanwhile two squadrons were preparing to contest the supremacy of Lake Erie. Perry, the American commodore, had nine vessels, well manned with experienced seamen from the now idle merchant marine of the United States. Barclay, the British captain, had only fifty sailors to six vessels, the rest of the crew being made up of two hundred and forty soldiers and eighty Canadians. On the lOtli o*' September, the hostile fleets met off Put-in-Bay, at the western end of Lake Erie. Perry's flagship soon struck her colours, but Barclay, his own ship a wreck, could not even secure the prize. The British ships fouled, and the heavier metal ot the enemy soon reduced them to un- 'manageable hulks. The carnage was dreadful. In three hours all their oflScers and half their crew were killed or wounded. Perry despatched to Washington the sententious message : " We have met the enemy. They are ours." Proctor, cut off from supplies, exposed in flank and rear, and attacked in force in front, could only retreat from Michigan. He dismantled the forts at Detroit and Am- herstburg, and fell back along the Thames with eight hundred and thirty white men and five hundred Indians, under Tecumseh. Harrison, the American general, followed rapidly with three thousand five hundred men, and fell upon his rear guard at Moravian Town, October 15th. Proctor was forced to fight at a disadvantage, on ill-chosen cjroi [1813 Iandin British guns were almost nui/zle to muzzle. Some of each were captured and recaptured in fierce hand-to hand fight. About nine o'clock a lull occurred, and the moon rose upon the scene, lighting up the ghastly faces of the dead and the writhing forms of the dying, while the groans of the wounded mingled with the deep roar of the neighbouring cataract. The retreating van of Riall's army now returned with a body of militia, twelve hundred in all. Tl:e Americans also brought up fresh reserves, and the combat was renewed with increased fury. At midnight, after six houi's of mor- tal conflict, the Americans abandoned the hopeless contest. To-day the peaceful wheat-fields wave upon the sunny slopes fertilized by the bodies of so many brave men, and the ploughshare upturns rusted Inillets, regimental buttons and other relics of this most sanguinary battle of the war. Throwing their heavy baggage and tents into the rush- ing rapids of the Niagara, the fugitives retreated to Fort Erie, where for three weeks they were closely besieged by half their number of British. On the lIUli of August, after a vigorous bombardment, a night attack, in three columns, was made. upon the fort. Two of the columns had already efTected an entrance into the works, when the explosion of a magazine blew into the air a storming party, and caused the repulse of the British, with a heavy loss in killed, wounded and captured of six hundred and fifty men. The Americans a month later made a vigorous sally. from the fort, but were driven back with a loss on the part of both assailants and assailed of about four hundred men. Shortly after. General Izzard blew up the works and recrossed the river to United States territory. Meanwhile hostile expeditions were launched from Hali- fax against the coast of Maine. Castine, Bangor, Machias, and the whole region from the Penobscot to the St. Croix, surrendered to the British, and were held to the close of the war. The arrival of sixteen thousand of Wellington's penin- sular troops, the heroes of so many Spanish victories, en- abled Sir George Prevost to vigorously assume the offensive. A well-appointed force of eleven thousand men advanced from Canada to Lake Champlain. Captain Downie, with a fleet on which the ship-carpenters were still at work as he went into action, was to co-operate with the army in an 98 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. [1815 attack on Plattsburg. Tlio liritish fleet gallantly attackcnl the enemy, hut after a desperate battle, in which Captain Downie was slain, it was compf^lled to surrender to a supe- rior force. Prevost had tardily advanced his storming columns when the cheers from the fort announced the cap- ture of the British fleet. Although on the verge of an easy victory, Prevost, to the intense chagrin of his soldiers, gave the signal to retreat. Many of his oflicers for very shame broke their swords and vowed they would never serve again. He was summoned home by the Horse Guards to stand a court martial, but died in the course of the following year before the court sat. The launch at Kingston of the St. Lawrence, an "oak leviathan" of a hundred guns, gave the British complete naval supremacy of Lake Ontario, and enabled them strongly to reinforce General Drummond with troops and stores. Along the Atlantic seaboard the British maintained a harassing blockade. About the middle of August Ad- miral Cockburn, witli a fleet of fifty vessels, arrived in the Chesapeake River, and General Boss, with four thousand men, attacked Washington, and gave to \e flames the Capi- tol, White House and other public buildings — a retaliation for the burning of York unworthy of a great nation. On the 8th of January, 1815, General Packenham, with a force of about six thousand men, attacked the city of New Orleans, whicli was defended by General Jackson with a much superior army. Jackson had thrown up formidable breastworks, faced, it is said, with cotton bales forming a very effective protection. The slaughter of tlie British in a series of engagements was friglitful. Packenham with many of his bravest troops were slain, and the attack was completely repulsed. Peace had already been concluded at Ghent on the 24th of December, and was hailed with delight by the kindred peoples, wearied with mutual and unavailing slaughter. The calm verdict of history flnds much ground of extenuation for the revolt of 1776 ; but for the American declaration of war in 1812, little or none, A reckless Democratic ma- jority wanionly invaded the country of an unoflfending neighbouring people, to seduce them from their lawful alle- giance and annex their territory. The long and costly con- s' [181 D 1815] RESULTS OF THE WAR. 1)9 attacked Captain a supc- storining the cap- f an easy ers, gave ry shaiuo ve again. > stand a ing year an (( oak complete ed them oops and itained a ^ust Ad- id in the thousand the Oapi- italiation 11. am, with 3 city of son with rmidable )rming a itish in a ith many ack was the 24th kindred ter. The enuation ration of •atic ma- Dffending vful al!e- stly con- flict was alike bloody and barren. Tlu? AnnMicans annexed not a single foot of territory. They gained not a single- permanent advantage. Their seaboard was insulted, ilieir capital destroyed. Their annual exports were reduced from £22,000,000 to £1,500,000. Thr(>e thousand of their vessels were captiired. Two-thirds of their eommercial class were insolvent. Avast war tax was incurred, and tlu^ very existence of the Union imperilled by the nienacfid s(!cession of the New Englaiid States. The " rigl't of s(\arch " md the rights of neutrals — the ostensible but not the real causes of the war — were not even mentioiKjd in the treaty of peace. On Canada, too, the burden of the war fell heavily. Great Britain, exhausted by nearly twenty yonva of condict, ard still engaged :n a strenuous struggle against the Eu- ropean despot. Napoleon, could only, till near the close of the war, furnish scanty military aid. It was Canadian militia, with little help from British regulars, who won the brilliant victories of Chrysler's Farm and Ch.'iteauguay ; and throughout the entire conilict they wvve tbe principal de- fence of their country. In many a Canadian home bitter tears were shed for son or sire left cold and stark upon the bloody plain at Queenston 1 heights, or Chippewa, or Lundy's Lane, or other hard-fought field of battle. The lavish expenditure of the Imperial authorities for shipbuilding, transport service, and army supplies, and the free circulation of the paper money issued by the Canadian Government," greatly stimulated the prosperity of the country. Its peaceful industries, agriculture, and the legiti- mate development of its natural resources, however, were greatly interrupted, and vast amounts of public and private property were relentlessly confiscated or destroyed by the enemy. * The paper currency of the United States was not redeemed till it had greatly depreciated in value, to the often ruinous loss of the holders. ( 100 ) CHAPTER XXII. AFTKK THK VVAR-LOWKR CANADA. The clos(5 of IIk! War— Stale of tlio roniifry- Sfr Jolni Cnpv, Slicrhrnokr, tiovornor-Cicnrral 18H5. 'Vhv- l)uk(M)f l{iclinioiul,(«()Vta'iU)r-(joiu'ral —1818. Ills TraKual I)('atli-I8l». Dralh of (J(M)r^?o III. ami acccH- sion of GoorKi; IV.— 182i). Tho Karl of Dalhousio. (iovtM'nor-Gencral —Union of lh(! Provinces Proposed 18'J2. Itniiciial (\)nMnission on Canadian atlairs IS28. iLa report -Nova Scotia and New iJruns- wiek after the N\'ar. At the conclusion of the war tho fictitious prosp(M'ity cfoatod by the militai-y expenditure nipidly (h;cliiH>d, and its linan cial l)ur(h>ns, in th(> loi-ni of militia pensions and gratuities to the widows and ojphans of the slain, w(M*e severely felt. Grants of money were made by the Legislature of Ijovver Canada for the construction of tlie Lachinc^ and liidcvau canals, and the accurate survey of the country was projected. Domestic manufactures, such as those of leatiier, hats, paper, and to some extent of iron, had been introduced; and saw mills and grist mills multiplied on the inland streams. From the ashes of the forests, burned in the clearing of the land, a considerable quantity of potash and pearlash was produced. Colonization roads were greatly extended and impnn'od. Shipbuilding was actively prosecuted, especially at Quebec. The Banks of Montreal, Quebec and Kingston were established, and greatly facilitated the trade of the province. Immigration, in consequence of the depression of trade in the old countries, largely increased, and the new settlers were liberally aided by the Government with rations and implements. Steam navigation was extended on the St. Lawrence and the lakes, and the transatlantic trade of Quebec sprang into importance. Still the population was sparse — averaging in Upper Canada only seven per square mile. Schools, teachers, and medical men were few and not always the most efficient. Lower Canada was divided into parishes, each with its resi- dent cure; but in the upper province the people were de- pendent for religious instruction lat;gely on the zejil of itin- erant missionaries, chiefly of the Methodist and Presby- terian persuasions. 18221 Sir G native ( of Sir ( Co[)e SI In 1{ tenant ( noi'-Gen and on Ottawa amid th adminis law. Si I Upper ( On tl ful I'oigi blind, I King G and the [-p>i f \^ ne i experiei ing Eng land ten accordai two Can in the h French scheme i guarant( proteste( union pe body wi Trade A from dui the uppe A con to invesi favour o commiss Lower C sailed fo of witne coercion. 1ody withdrew the union scheme, and passed the Canada Ti'ade Act, providing for the distribution of revenue arising from duties more equitably to the inci'eased population of the upper province. A commission was appointed by the Imperial Parliament to investigate the civil conditior of Canada. It reported in favour of liberal concessions and reforms. The report of the commissioners pi'oduced the most lively gi*atitication in Lower Canada. A week before its arrival, Lord Dalhousie sailed for England, and was thus spared the mortification of witnessing a policy of conciliation substituted for one of coercion. He v/.as subsequently appointed Governor-Gen- 102 NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW HIILINSWICK. [181 S eral of Indi.i, and (licro won inotitcd distinction by liia vIljoi'Ous ;i(luiinistni,n, 'Vho provinces of Nova Scotia and New lU'iinswiitlc had felt little of the dirc^ct burdens of tim late war, but had iKMictitod, the former especially, V(?ry L^reatl) by the in- creas<'d niilitaiy and naval exp(Miditure. The vast ll(!ets of (Jr((at llritain rendezvoused in the spacious harbour of Hali- fax, tli<' ;^ains of the citadel continually wcIcoukmI th(! ari'i- val of prizes in tow of liritisli cruis(!i's, and tin; IiiiixM'ial dockyard was busy with n'pairs. With the peace all this ceased, the revenue was greatly reduced, and numbers of woi'kmen were tluown out of employmmit. The Karl of Dalhousie and Sii* .James K(Mnpt successively admim'stered the all'airs of the colony, and wisely fostered education, agricultuie, and pu))lic improvements. In b'^'iO, Cape lire- ton was incorpoi'ated as a county of Nova Scotia. In 1818, New Ib'unsvvick received its first Governor, Geneial George Tracey Hniylhe. The irrepr(Visi}>le conflict between tlio two branches of the legislature became the occasion of acrimonious disputes till his death in 1823. Sir llowJird Douglas, his successor, greatly promoted the in- ternal development of the province, the construction of roads and the cultivation of the soil — too much neglected in the almost exclusive devotion to lumbering and ship- l)uilding. In the autumn of 1825, a terrible disaster over- whelmed the colony. A long di'ought had parched the forest into tinder. Numerous fires had laid waste the woods and farms. On the 7th of October, a storm of flame swept over -the country for sixty miles — from Mira- michi to the Bay of Chaleurs. A pitchy darkness covered the sky, lurid flames swept over the earth, consuming the forest, houses, barns, crops, and t}\e towns of Newcastle and Douglas. One hundred and sixty persons perished in the flames or in their efforts to escape, and hundreds were maimed for life. The loss of property was immense. The generous aid of the sister provinces, and of Great Britain and the United States, greatly mitigated the sufferings of the hapless inhabitants made homeless on the eve of a rigor- ous winter. [ISIS ( 103 ) 'y liis M(;lc had 1)11 1 had tho in- ll(!('ts of •of llali- tlj(»- ari'i- Iinporial o all this inl)ors of Kai-l of iiiistri'(Ml LliK'ation, /ape l>ro- irovornor, conflict caino tlu» ^23. Sir d the iii- iiction of neglected and ship- iter over- 'ched the ^aste tlio stonii of Dm Mira- 3 covered niing the ;astle and id in the eds were ise. The t Britain ferings of 3f a rigor- CHAPTER XXIII. AFTER TTIK WAR -UIM»KR CANADA. Francs Core, Esq.. Iiiciit.-Oovi!ninr—181'». Tho ('lor^'y llcscrvo pfri(»vanro ~Tho "Family C.'omi'Act" — Ita status and indiuiKio - IfoHi'.uT CouuLAY atJ:ital(!H against Crown liand adininisinuion Sir Tcrc- Ki'ino Mailland, liicut.-Ciovernor 1818. 'I'lic Kiev. I)i{. SntAciiAN, anicMuborof tho Legislative Council- William IjVon Mackkn/ik — IliH print iuK odlce wrttkcd— ISJO. Sir John Colborne, hieutennnl- Cov( rnor— 1821). Kohkkt Haldwin hcconu's a Hcfoi-m leader— lOKONTO Irrcoui'OUATiii) 1831. :\!a» [1815 especially with many of the British and American immi- grants, and a prolonged struggle resulted in the overthrow of its authority, and the establishment of the principles of responsible government. One of tlie earliest and most vigorous opponents of the Family Compact was Robert Gourlay, a Scottish immigrant of an energetic and ambitious, yet eccentric character. For the purpose of establishing himself as a land agent, and in order to promote immigration on an extensive scale, he addressed a series of statistical questions to the principal inhabitants of each municipality. The answers received disclosed serious abuses in the management of the ciown lands and clergy reserves. Mr. Gourlay called a convention, at Yorfc, of delegates from the townships, for the purpose of , J., o adopting a petition to the Imperial Parliament for the redress of these grievances. For expressions in his petition and addresses deemed libellous, Gourlay was twice put on his trial and as often acquitted. He afterwards suffered a long imprisonment on charge of sedition, and was expelled from the country through the strained interpreta- tion of the Alien Act of 1804, which was designed to check the political influence of immigrants from the United States. In the meanwhile Mr. Gore had been succeeded as Gover- nor by Sir Peregrine Maitland, the son-in-law of the Duke of Richmond, the Governor-General. The union of the Canadas, proposed in the Imperial Parliament as an adjustment of their conflicting claims, was generally favoured in the upper province ; but as we have seen, in consequence of "'le intense opposition of the French population of Lower Canada, the proposition for the time was withdrawn. A standing grievance of the western pro- vince was the collection at Montreal and Quebec of the revenue duties imposed by Lower Canada on all imports — of which at first only one-eighth, and afterwards one-fifth, were refunded to Upper Canada. As the latter grew in wealth and population, and its imports increased in value, this was felt to be a growing injustice. The Canada Trade Act of 1822 more equitably distributed these duties and removed this grievance. It restored to the upper province c£30,000 of arrears due by Lower Canada. Several steamboats now sailed on the lakes and on the St. Lawrence, but the passage of the rapids was made in [1815 DR. STRACHAN. 105 I immi- ^rthrow iples of of the nigrant r. For and in ale, he rincipal eccived crown '■eniion, 'pose of for the in his IS twice rwards md was rpreta- check 1 States. ! Gover- e Duke mperial ms, was ve have French le time jrn pro- of the ports — le-fifth, ^rew in 1 value, I Trade les and rovince on the lade in large flat "Durham boats," which were generally sold at Montreal or Quebec to save the expense of time and toil in returning against the strong current. The Lachine and Rideau Canals were now approaching completion, and the Welland Canal was projected. Agricultural societies greatly in t'oved the mode of tillage, which was still very imperfect. Farm produce brought scarcely remunerative prices, and the growth of hemp and tobacco received a good deal of attention. Agricultural implements were still of very rude construction, and labour-saving machines, such as reapers and mowers, were unknown. Our public school system had already been established, 1816, and was aided in its infancy by legislative grants. In 1821, five new members were added to the Lef^islative Council — one of whom was a man who was destined to exert a powerful influence on the history of Canada. The Rev. Dr. Strachan, who became in 1839 the first Anglican Bishop of Upper Canada, was the son of humble Scottish parents, members of the Presbyterian Kirk. He received some classical training and became a tutor, first in Scotland, and afterwards at Kingston, in Canada. He subsequently taught the grammar school at Cornwall, joined the Church of England, and became, in rapid succession, rector of York, chaplain to the Legislative Assembly and member of the .Legislative Council. When raised to the episcopal dignity, his missionary zeal and energy largely contributed to the extension and prosperity of the Church of England in this country, on whose behalf he also exerted hi'^ political in- fluence.* Indications were not wanting that popular reaction was taking place against the party in power. The general election of 1824 resulted in favour of the Reform party, as it now began to be called. Among the members elected were Dr. Rolph, Peter Perry and Marshal Bid well, promi- nent champions of popular rights, to prevent whose return the Family Compact had made every effort. The chief thorn in the side of the hitherto dominant party, however, was a now "grievance monger" of the Gourlay stamp. William Lyon Mackenzie, born 1795, was the son of humble Perthshire parents. After a somewhat •lie died on November 2, 18G7, aged eighty-nine. 106 STRUGGLE FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. restless and erratic career in the old country, he emigrated in his twenty-fifth year to Canada. After a varied experi- ence at storekeeping in Toronto, Dundas and Niagara, he found at last his true vocation as a journalist. His intense hatred of injustice, and his natural impetuosity of disposition hurried him into intemperance of expression and action. His remarkable industry in ferreting out abuses — which were only too easily found — and his pungent style of editorial criticism, made the Colonial Advocate particularly obnoxious 1 R9fi *^ *^^® V^^^y i^ power. During a temporary absence from home his printing office at York was sacked, his press wrecked, and his type scattered by some young men connected with the dominant party, which had taken offence at the biting criticism of his paper upon some of their public acts. He sued the aggressors for damages, and received the award of £625. He also won popularity as a champion of popular rights, and was shortly after returned a lleform member of the Assembly for the county of York. Sir John Colborne, a gentleman of somewhat stern mili- tary character, who had succeeded as Governor Sir Pere- 1 Qoq gi'i^^G Maitland, transferred to Lower Canada, met a new Parliament more outspoken in its opposition to the Exe:;utive Council than any that had preceded it. The "Compact" sustained a defeat in its stronghold in the election of Robert Baldwin over its candidate, Mr. Charles Small, for the representation of the town of York. Mr. Baldwin, who was a native of the town which he now represented, during the entire course of his public life com- manded the esteem of both political parties. His personal integrity, his legal ability, his singular moderation, enabled him, as has been admirably said, "to lead his country through a great constitutional crisis into an era of larger and more matured liberty." The struggle for "Responsible Government" had now begun. Mackenzie's perpetual grievance motions were con- tinually unearthing abuses that needed correction. Pension lists, official salaries, the corrupt constitution of the House, were all attacked with stinging sarcasm. The inequalities of representation were glaring. One member had only thirty constituents. The members for York and Lanark represented more persons than the members for fifteen other constituencies. Tlie House was filled with place-men — WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. 107 igrated experi- ara, he intense 3osition )n. His }i were di to rial noxious ibsence ed, his g men offence r public ved tlio pion of Reform n mili- V Pere- met a uon to ;. The in the Charles . . Mr. e now 'e com- irsonal nabled 3untry larger I now e con- 3nsion louse, alities only anark other len — postmasters, sheriffs, registrars, revenue officers and col- lectors. Outside of the House Mackenzie was equally active. He traversed the country, held public meetings, and circulated petitions to the throne, which were signed by nearly twenty- five thousand persons, praying for the secularization of the clergy reserves, for law reform, for the exclusion of judges and the clergy from parliament, for the abolition of primogeni- ture, for the legislative control of pu))lic moneys, and for other reforms which have long since become the law of the land. A caustic article in the Colonial Advocate was deemed a breach of parliamentary privilege, and Mackenzie was ex- pelled from the House. He was triumphantly returned again, and presented with a gold medal. Within a week he was again expelled, and within another he was re-elected by an immense majority, and was sent to England to sup- port the petition to the King for the redress of grievances. On his return he was again three times expelled from the Assembly, and as often returned by large majorities. He 18*^4. ^^^ ^^^^ made first mayor of Toronto, now incorpo- rated as a city. The Family Compact lost influence with each defeat of their candidate, and Sir John Colborne, 1 oo/. unable to control the rising tide of political agitation, requested his recall, and was succeeded by Sir Francis Bond Head. CHAPTER XXIV. THE REBELLION— LOWER CANADA. Sir James Kempt, Governor-General— 1828, Lord Aylmer, Governor- General— 1830. Lord Gosford, Governor-General- 18.'}5. Tlie t'om- mission on Grievances fails to conciliate diriafrection--Sir John Colborne assumes chief military command- 1837. Collision at Montreal, November 6th— Colonel Wetherall kouts keukls at St. Charles, November 25th— liOrd Durham, Governor-General and High Commissioner— 1833. His magnanimous character -Ho exiles leaders and pardons other rebels - His policy condemned as ultra vires— Hia chagrin and resignation— His masterly Report. In Lower Canada, in the meanwhile, the liberal concession^' of the Home Government were met by increased and un- reasonable demands. The object sought was not, as in 108 DISAFFECTION OF THE FRENCH. [1837 Upper Canada, tlio establisliment of responsil)lc govern- ment, but to effect the supremacy of the French race and its absolute control over the executive. The conciliatory policy of Sir James Kempt, who suc- ceeded Lord Dalhousie in 1828, equally witli that of Lord Aylmer, who became Governor in 1830, failed to satisfy the jxggressive demands of the Asseml)ly. During the sum- mer of 1831, an immigration of fifty thousand souls, chiefly Irish, arrived at Quebec, and passed up the valley of the St. Lawrence, "like a disorganized army," said a contem- porary journal, "leaving the inhabitants to provide for the sick and wounded and to bury the dead." The dreadful ravages of the cholera, which spread from Grosse IsU^ over the whole country, carried death and dismay to almost all the frontier towns and villages. Three years later, a still more fatal visitation of the cholera occurred. Lord Gosford was appointed to succeed Lord Aylmer in the ungrateful ofhce of Governor, and with him were asso- ■tooK ciated Sir Charles Grey and Sir George Gipps as a commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged griev- ances of the Assembly. These liberal measures failed to conciliate the French majority. Papineau, the idol of the ignorant habitants, intoxicated with power, boldly avowed his republican principles. The French were known to be secretly drilling, and loyal volunteer associations were formed among the British population for the defence of the Government. 1 9^7 Wearied by the rejection of its policy of concilia- tion, the Home Government now adopted one of a more vigorous character. For live years the Assembly had voted no civil list. The British officials and judges were reduced to extreme distress. The Governor-General was empowered to take £142,000 out of the treasury to pay these arrears. The demand for an elective Council was re- fused. The indignation of the French population was intense. Turbulent assemblies met witli arms in their hands. Lord Gosford issued a proclamation forbidding these seditious gatherings. The accession, after an interval of a century and a quarter, of a female sovereign awoke no feelings of loyalty in the rebel faction, and tliey plotted as vigorously against the throne and crown of Queen Victoria as they had against the citizen King, William IV. 1837 1837] OUTBREAK OF THE IIEUELLION. 109 Never was a people less fitted for the exercise of political power than the French habitants. Nine-tentlis of them were, unable to read, and none of them had any spark of that love of constitutional liberty in whicli the English nation had so long been trained. Apparently the liberal party in Lower Canada, they yet advocated reactionary measures, and strove to revive the old French policy of resistance to popular education, immigration, or any innova- tion of English customs, laws, language, or institutions. To meet the coming storm. Sir John Colborne, a prompt and energetic officer, was appointed to the military com- mand of the provinces. The few troops in Upper and Lower Canada, only some three thousand in all, were chiefly concentrated at Montreal, the focus of disaffection. But Papineau, the leader of the rebellion, was an empty gas- conader, void of statesmanship or military ability. Dr. Wolf red Nelson, the second in conuTumd, was of English descent, born in Montreal, and speaking French like a native. As the sunnner waned the symptoms of revolt increased. The Frencli tri-colour and c^agle appeared, and turbulent mobs of " Patriots " or of " Sons of Liberty •' sang revolutionary soners. At length an armed collision with the loyalists in the streets of Montreal (November Gth, 1837), in which shots were fired, windows broken, and the office of the Vindicator, a radical pai)er, wrecked, although no one was killed, brought matters to a crisis. The insurgents rendezvoused at St. Charles and St. Denis, on the Richelieu, where there was considerable disaffection among the population. On the 23rd of November, Colonel Gore, with three hundred men and only one cannon, at- tacked Dr. Nelson, and a large body of rel)els, at the latter place. Papineau, on the first appearance of dangei', deserted his dupes and fled over the b(3rder into the United States. Nelson, strongly posted in a large stone brewery, maintained a viijorous defence. Gore'^ connnand, worn out with a long march through November rain and mire, out-numbered and without artilleiy for battering the stone walls, was com- pelled, after six hours' fighting, to retreat. Two days later, Colonel Wetheiall, witli four or five hundred troops, attacked a thousand rebels under " Gen- eral " Brown, at St. Charles. After a brief resistance the rebels fled, leaving a number of slain. Nelson now fled 1838 110 LOUD DURHAM, GOVKUNOK-OENERAL. [1838 ff fi'oiu St. Denis, but after ten days' skulking in the snowy woods was caught, and, with muny other rebel prisoners, lodged in INIontrea^ jail. Martial law was now picclair^ed. In the middle of December, Sir John Colborno, with two thousand troops, left Montreal to attack a thousand insurgents intrenched at St. Eustache, on the Ottawa. The main body fled, but four hundred threw themselves into the church and adjacert buildings. The shot and shells of the cannon soon fired the roof and battered the walls. Many were killed or wounded, and many more made prisoners Lord Gosford was now recalled, though without any censure of his policy. The Home Government suspended the constitution of the country, and appointed the Earl of Durham Governor-General and High Commis- sioner for the settlement of public aft'airs in the two Cana- das. He was a nobleman of great political experience, and had been educated in a liberal school. His personal char- acter was attractive, and his private hospitality princely. He was to tii? last degree unmercenary, refusing any recom- pense for his distinguished services. He was refined and courteous in manner, but tenacious of his convictions of duty, and firm in carrying them into execution. On his arrival in the country, May 27 th, he announced himself as the friend and arbitrator of the people, without distinction of party, race or creed. And amply he fulfilled his pledge in the spirit of the purest and most disinterested statesman- ship. He appointed a commission of inquiry into the state 0£ the country, and redressed many grievances in the public administration. An amnesty was granted to the great mass of the rebel prisoners, which was appropriately proclaimed on the day appointed for the coronation of the maiden Queen — June 14th. Humanely unwilling to appeal to the arbitrament of a court-martial, the Governor banished Wol- fred Nelson and eight other leading insurgents to Bermuda — a light penalty for their crime — and forbade Papineau and other fugitive rebels to return to the country, under pain of death. The Imperial Parliament, however, annulled the ordinance as ultra vires, but indemnified the Governor and Council for their well meant but unconstitutional act. The proud and sensitive earl resigned his commission, and returned to the tial [1838 1838] REBELLION SUPPRESSED. Ill England a broken-hearted and dying man. His report on the state of Canada is a monument of elaborate and impar- tial research, and prepared the way for the union of the provinces, and the subsequent prosperity of the country. The departure of the Earl of Durham was the signal for fresh outbreaks. The Habeas Corpus Act was again sus- pended, and troops were distributed through the disaffected regions to protect the loyal inhabitants. On Sunday, No- vember 5th, an attack was made on the Indian village of Caughnawaga for the purpose of seizing the arms and stores deposited there. The Christian Indians, rushing out of the church in which they were assembled, raised the war-whoop, and captured sixty-four of the attacking party. Robert Nelson, a brother of the exiled revolutionary leader, crossed the frontier with a large body of rebel refugees and American sympathizers, and proclaimed a Canadian republic. On the 9th of November, two hundred militia at Odelltown, posted in the Methodist church, kept at bay a thousand of the insurgents, and drove them over the border, with the loss of several killed and wounded. The revolt was promptly crushed, but with extreme severity. The rash and infatuated outbreak of the deluded habi- tants was the cause of much bloodshed and misery, and was utterly unjustifiable by their circumstances. They en- joyed a larger degree of liberty than did their race in any other country in the world, and every possible concession of the Imperial Government to their requests was met only by more unreasonable demands. The duped and ignorant peo- ple were lured on to destruction by restless and designing demagogues, who in the hour of danger abandoned them to their fate, seeking selfish safety in flight. ( 112 ) CHAPTER XXV. THE REBELLION-UPPER CANADA. Silt Francis lu n Head, Governor of Upper Canada— 1836. Ho takes bides with the Family Compact —Macltonzio defeated at tlio i)olls— Ho ruslics into rebellion -1837. Seditions Gatherings— Rebel l*lans —Apathy of the Government— The Kkndkzvous at Gallows Hill —The Alarm in Toronto— Rally of the Citizens, December 4th— Death of Colonel Moodio— Ni[jht attack of the rebels— Van Esmond's exploit— TlEBELS ROUTED AT Gallows Hill, December 7th. We now proceed to trace the contemporary events in the upper province. The great majority of the liberal party in Upper Canada sought reform only by constitutional meas- ures. A small minority were betrayed into rebellion by party leaders stung to resentment by the disappointment of their hope of radical changes. The ma.,s of the population maintained an unshaken loyalty, and the revolt was sup- pressed almost entirely by the volunteer militia, without the aid of Imperial troops. The agent chosen by the Home Government to calm the increasing political agitation of Upper Canada was by no means well adapted for that purpose. Sir Francis Bond Head was a half -pay Major and Poor-Law Commissioner, known to fame chiefly as a sprightly writer and dashing horseman, who had twice crossed the pampas of South America from Buenos Ayres to the Andes. His military training and somewhat impulsive temperament rather un- fitted him for the performance of the civil duties which the critical relations of parties in the province made necessary. On his arrival at Toronto, in January, 1836, he was almost immediately involved in the political strife that agitated the colony. Mackenzie, th^^- most radical and extreme of the Reform party, had been elevated by the persecution of the Family Compact into the position of a popular leader, for which neither his talents nor his weight of character adapted him. Moderate Reformers, of the Robert Baldwin stamp, were left behind by tlie more violent agitator and his allies. Sir Fiancis, unjustly attributing to the whole Reform party the extreme views of the latter, threw him- self into the arms of the Family Compact, and adopted 1hn Col- iei", and 3 amply comity, simultaneous at lacks on Canada were oi'ganized at- Drtr'oit, (/leveland, Sandusky, \V'at<'rt()wn, and in Vei'inont. Tlie jealousy and (juarrc^ls of the eofnmandcM's, and th(» vigilance and energy of the? (Canadians, frustrated tht; designs of tlm marauders. 'I'he administration of Sir Francis IJond I lead being att(!nded by such disasti'ous circumstances, he was recaih-d by th(! Home ( Jovei'iiment. lie was accused of intensifying gi'ievances when \w. might have I'cdresscd them, and of trilling with thtj i-ebfllion whrn h(^ might have prevented it. On his retui'U to England he published a nai'rativ(» of the stormy events of his administration, whicli by his friends was consid(U"ed an exoneration, a!\d by his enemies an aggi-a- vation of his acts, ile subsecjuently devoted himself to literature, in which he was remarkably successful, and died in tlm year 187.5, at tlu; advanced age of eighty-two. Sir (jreorg(! Aithur, the wvw Governoi', adopted the coer- cive policy of his pr(Klecessor. Ife was pionioted from the governnumt of th(? penal coh^ny of Van l)iemen's Land. Ke ruled with a iirm and heavy hand, having litth^ sympa- thy for the now acce}»ted theory of r(!sponsibl(> gov(!rnment. The jails of the province were crowdcnl with political pris- oners, for whose pardon numerous pt^titions were presented to the Governor. His reply was a sharp re))uke. Reform, he said, had been the cloak of their ciimes, and they should have an impartial trial — no more. Two of the leaders, Lount and Matthews, were hanged at Toronto, amid the regret of many loyal subjects. Lord Cllcnelg, the Colonial Secr(!tary, now humanely and wisely interposed his influence to prevent the needless effusion of blood. ]\lany persons condennied to death had their sentence connnuted to imprisomiKnit in the provincial pcaiitentiary, or to transportation to Van Diemim's J^and, and the less culpable ones were released on giving bonds for their future good conduct. i\Iany, however, who were suspected of sympathy with the rebellion, fled from the country. During the sunnuer several raids were made from over the border. On the night of May 28th, the notorious " J>ill Johnston," with half a hundred fcllow-rufllans, l)oarded the steamer Sir Rohcrt Peel^ at Well's Island, on the St. Law- rence. The passengers were driven ashore in a stormy 118 BATTLE OF WINDMILL POINT. night, and the steamer, one of the finest on the river, was piHaged and set on fire Johnston and his gang eluded pursuit amid the labyrinth of the Thousand Islands. On the loth of November, a body of "patriots," under Von Schultz, a Polish refugee, landed at Windmill Point, near Prescott. The windmill, a circular stone building of itnmense strength, flanked by several stone dwelling-houses, offered a very formidable defence. A force of about five hundred men, under Colonel Young of the regular army, advanced against the invading brigands. Two armed steamers patrolled the river, and prevented the arrival of reinforcements or the escape of the enemy. Driven from post to post with severe loss, the invaders took shelter in the windmill, and adjacent buildings. The besiegeu had to aM^ait the arrival of artillery from Kingston. Meanwhile the "patriots" remained for three days ingloriously hennned in, unable to escape, artd then surrendered at discretion. Von Schultz and Um others of the brigands were subse- quently executed at ICingston by sentence of court martial ; others wei-e transported, but most of them were pardoned and released. Thus in disaster and defeat ended the utterly unwar- rantable " patriot " war, waged for the most part by law- less American banditti upon a population loyal, with few exceptions, to their native or adopted country; and even when desiring a reform in its institutions, seeking it only by constitutional means. The interruption of peaceful in- dustry and the large military expenditure caused by these wanton invasions, greatly retarded the prosperity of the country ; and the criminal abetting of the outrage on (vaiia- dian territory by American citizens was the cause of much international ill-feeling and bitterness. er, was eluded under Point, ding of liouses, )ut five army, armed 'ival of n from 3lter in ; had to in while lemmed cretion. } subse- iiartial ; irdoned unwar- by law- ith few id even it only :eful in- )y these of the n (^aiia- f much ( 119 ) CHAPTER XXVII. THE UNION OF THE CANADA.^. A "Family Compact" in Nova Scotia -Joskimi ITowK a popular tribnrlo — Struggle for Responsible Government— 1837. Boundary I)is()uto — Ashburton Treaty— Hon. Charles Poulett Thompson, Governor- General- 1839. The Union r>iLL passks (Colonial and Impkkial Pakliaments — Phovisigns of the Union Act— Kesponhiblk Government Guaxted— 1840. The maritime provinces, concurrently with the rebellion in the Canadas, were agitated by a good deal of political excitenient. The general causes of discontent were similar, but they did not lead to any of the acts of violence which unhappily took place in the western provinces. In Nova Scotia, Joseph Howe, the son of a U. E. Loyal- ist, became the champion of popular rights. A shi-ewd and vigorous journalist, and a ready and eloquent speaker, "Joe Howe," as he was familiarly called, wielded immense influence throughout the province. In his place in the Assembly, on the pul)lic rostrum, and through the columns of his journal, lie thundered against the oligarchy that gov- erned the province. Sir Colin Campbell, the future hero of Alma, Balaclava, and Lucknow, who administered the gov- ernment during the greater part of this stormy period, was succeeded by Lord Falkland, whose high notions of vice- regal prerogative were the occasion of much popular dis- content. The dispute as to the New Brunswick frontier was not yet settled. The King of the Netherlands, to whom the decision had been referred, had given the lion's share of the debatable ground to the United States. That country, however, refused to be bound by the award. Lawless per- sons invaded the disputed territory ; armed collisions oc- curred ; and the frontier settlements were ablaze with excitement. Cjrovernor Fairfield, of Maine, ordered eighteen hundred militia to the border, and called upon th(! state for ten thousand men — horse, foot, and ai'tillery. Sir John Harvey, the Governor of New Brunswick, asserted by pro- clamation the right of Great Britain to protect the dis|)uted and sent two regiments to watch tlic Main© territory. 1^0 Boundary tJisptJTti. [ia^9 militia. Volunteers flocked to the Britisli standard. The legislature of Nova Scotia, amid an unwonted scene of patriotic enthusiasm, and witli an outburst of hearty British cheers, voted £100,000 for the defence of the frontier, and placed a strong force of militia at the disposal of the mili- tary authorities. Considerable excitement was roused in the United States. That belligerent statesman, Daniel Webster, declared that the American Government should seize the disputed pro- perty unless Great Britain would abide by the treaty of 1783. President Van Buren, however, with praiseworthy moderation, advocated the peaceable arrangement of the difficulty. General Winfield Scott was sent to the border to settle the dispute. He countermanded all hostile demon- strations and opened a friendly correspondence with the British Governor, who had been an old antagonist at Stony Creek and Lundy's Lane. Both parties now withdrew from the contest, and referred the matter to l!^ord Ashburtoii and Daniel Webster, as com- missioners for tlieir respective countries. The award, given in 1842^ yielded the larger and more valuable territory to the United States, to the intense chagrin of the colonists, who conceived that tlieir rights were sacrificed to Imperial interests. The Ashburton treaty also fixed the forty-fifth parallel as the dividing line of latitude westward from the disputed territory to the St. Lawrence, and the forty ninth parallel as the boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the Gulf of Georgia, on the Pacific. The central line of the great lakes and their connecting rivers completed the boundary. An important article of the treaty also pro- vided for the extradition from either country, upon suffi- cient evidence of criminality, of persons charged with " murder, piracy, arson, robbery, or forgery." Lord Durham's report on the state of the Canada" '^id meanwhile been submitted to tl Imperial Parliament. Its wise and liberal suggestions greatly tended to the pacifica- tion of public feeling in the colonies. It urged the principle of the dependence of the executive upon the representatives of the people, and prepared the way for the establishment of responsible government. It proposed the union of he provinces in oi'der to restore the balance of power between the French and English races, and to remove the commer- [iai9 The cene of British ier, and le mili- States. •ed that ed pro- eaty of worthy of the ! border demon- ith the t Stony [•eferred as com- ^, given itory to )lonists, niperial I'ty-fifth oni the y-ninth s to the of the ;ed the so pro- n sulfi- d with la" 'id it. Its lacifica- "inciple tatives shnient of he etween )mnier- 1841] tNTON BILL. 121 cial difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada. It suggested a federal union of all the colonies, and the con- struction of an intercolonial road as a link l)etween them. Sir John Colborne, the successor of Lord Durham as Governor-General, had effectually suppressed the rebellion, and left the province in an efficient state of defence. He was succeeded by the Hon. Charles Poulett Thompson, a statesman of liberal opinions, of great tact and judgment, and of wide financial experience. The Home ministry had determined on the union of the two Canadas, and on the acknowledgment in the new constitution of the principle of responsible government. The Union Bill having passed the legislatures of the two provinces, was ratified by the Imperial Parliament, and took effect the 10th of February, 1841. The Act of Union provided that there should be one Legislative Council and one Legislative Assembly, in which each province should be equally represented. The Legisla- tive Council to be composed of not less than twenty life members, appointed by the crown. The Assembly of eighty- four members, elected by the people. The great object of years of contention was secured — the control by the repre- sentatives of the people of all the public revenues. Mr. Thompson was raised to the peerage, with the title of Lord Sydenham of Kent and Toronto, and assumed the vice-royalty of the united provinces. CHAPTER XXVITL RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. Inauguration of new Constitution— 1S41. Kingston becomes the seat of Government— Adoption of the "Donblc Maiority" Principle- Sir Charles Bagot, Governor Gen. ai— 1842. Sir Charles Metcalfe, Governor-General— 1843. Constitutional Struggle — Montreal becomes the seat of Government— 1844. Death of Lord Mctcalfo— Earl of Cathcart, Administrator of Government -1845. Rebellion Losses Agitation in Upper and Lower Canada— 1846. The Legislature assembled in the city of Kingston, which had been selected as the new seat of government. To counteract the dominant influence of the French members, 9 122 LOUD SYDENHAM. [1841 the principle of " Jouble majority," as it was ca^ied, was introduced. This required not merely a majority of the whole House for the support of the Government, but also a majoi'ity of the representatives of each province separately. The application of this principle, while often a safeguard against sectional domination, frequently led to sectional jealousy, and sometimes to the retarding of needful legis- lation. Lord Sydenham, however, was not permitted to witness the full I'esult of his labours, nor the triumph of that system of responsible government which he had assisted in intro- ducing. \Vhile out ridingj the fall of his horse fractured his leg. His constitution, never robust, and now under- mined by his zeal in the discharge of public duty, was un- able to withstand the shock. After lingering in great pain a few days, he sank beneath liis injuries, September 19th, 1S41. He was buried, by his own request, in the land to whose welfare he devoted the last energies of his life. No columned monument perpetuates his memory ; but the constitutional privileges which we to-day enjoy, and the peace and prosperity which resulted from the union of the Canadas, which he laboured so strenuously to bring about, constitute an imperishable claim upon our esteem and gratitude. The new Governor-General, Sir Charles Bagot, arrived January 10th, 1842. lAlio. his predecessor, he was not long pern\itted to discharge his official duties. He died at Kingston, i^rcatly r(\gretted, sixteen months after his ar- rival. May loth, 1843. Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, the new Governor-Gen- eral of Canada, had risen, by the sheer force of his energy and talent, from the position of a writer in the East India civil service to that of Acting Governor-General of India, and afterwards to that of Governor of Jamaica. His adminis- trative experience in these countries, where the prerogatives of the crown were unquestioned, was no special qualification for the constitutional government of a free country like Canada. The right of patronage and of appointment to office he conceived was vested in himself as representative of the crown, for the exercise of which he considered him- self responsible only to the Imperial Parliament. This principle was incompatible with the colonial theory of re- [1841 (1, was of the also a rately. eguarcl ctional legis- vitness system intro- ctured under- ras un- it pain • 19tli, and to 3. No ut the nd the of the about, m and I r rived ot long ied [lis at ar- ►r-Gen- gy and ia civil ia, and Iminis- jatives ication y like Bnt to itative d him- This of re- 1840] PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 123 sponsible government; and the appomtment of ccitain mem- bers of the Conservative party to official position, without the advice or consent of his ministers, was the ground of grave dissatisfaction. In 1844, the seat of government was removed to Montreal. A teri'ible malady from which Lord Metcalfe suffered — a cancer in the ffice — caused him to request his recall. He returned to Eni.'^land in Noveml)er, and shortly after his arrival died, greatly r(^grettc^.. His munificent liberality and many personal virtues commanded the respect ven of those who condemned his political acts. The Earl of Cathcart, Connnander-in-Chief of Her Ma- jesty's forces in Canada, was appointed administrator ot the government on the resignation of Lord Metcalfe. He ob- served a wise neutrality between the almost evenly-balanced political parties.* The subject of public school education had from time to time received legislative attention, ai 1816, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Upper Canada for the estab- lishment of common schools. They were as yet, however, very insuilicient in number and defective in character. In 1846, the important duty of reorganizing the connnon school system of Upper Canala was e]itrusted to a gentleman eminently qualified for the task, who has identified his name for ever with the history of popular education in his native province. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson, LL.D., the son of a United Empire Loyalist, was the youngest of three brothers, who all, by their force of character, rose to eminence in the ministry of the Methodist Church. Having been appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, he continued for more than thirty years to devote his energies to the development of the school system of the country, crossing the ocean many times in order to examine the edu- cational systems of Europe, and incorporating their best fea- tures in that of his native province. Under the fostering * Twice, with the interval of a month, in 1845, the city of Quebec was ravajjed by fire. Twenty-four tliousand persons were rendered houseless, and several lives were lost. Half a million of dollars was contributed by sympathizers in Great Britain, and nearly half as much iti Can-ida and the United States. The American people promptly and generously sent a shipload of provisions and cloth in j>- to the foodless and shelterless multitude -an act of international charily that should be remembered when the record of international strife and bloodshed shall be for- gotten. 124 LORD ELGIN. [1847 influence of the wise and liberal legislation of successive paritanients, the pu])lic school system of Upper (Canada Ij^s become one of the noblest of our institutions, the ad*Hi«ction of travellers from older lands, and one of the surest guar- antees of our future national prosperity. CHAPTER XXIX. RE?»ELLTON LOSSES AGITATION. Lord Elgin, Govornor-Gcncral— Irish faiiiino and vast cnii*c:rat,ion to Canada— 1847. Lower Canadian IIkhki.lion Lossks Hill intro- ducod— Lord Elgin gives his assent to the liill— TiiK Pakliamknt IJuiLDixfJS AUK ]iUKNKn, July 26th— 1849. Rioting suppressed by the military— The seat of Government transferred to Toronto and Quebec alternately— The Bill sustained by the Imperial Parliament. In the year 1847, Lord Elgin \vas appointed Governor- General of Canada. He was a son-in-law of the Earl of Durham, and shared his liberal sentiments regarding colo- nial administration. His sound judgment, conciliatory manners, and connnanding ability, enabled him to over- come formidable opposition, and to become one of the most honoured representatives of Her Majesty that ever admin- istered the affairs of the province. The Rebellion Losses Bill, and the secularization of the clergy reserves, the latter of which especially was strongly advocated by the Reform party, were now prominent topics of public discussio; * The general elections of 1848 resulted in a large Reform majority. On the opening of Parliament, February 25th, the Draper ministry resigned, and Messrs. Baldwin and ♦The year 1847 was characterized by an unprecedented imniiu^ration from Ireland. In consequence of the failure of the potato crop throuH'li rot, a famine well niyli decimated that land. An exodus of a larj^e portion o its population took place, seventy thousand of whom reached Quebec before the 7th of August this year. Every possible provision was made by public and private charity for the relief of their necessities, but multitudes died from exposure and fever. Immij^rant sheds and hospitals, erected by the Government, were crowded t > overflowinji', arid many slept in the open air by the roadsides, or beneath rude blanket tents. A relief fund was established on behalf of the famine-stricken sufferers who still remained in Ireland, to which all classes liberally contributed, even the Indian tribes on their reserves, and the poor coloured people of the province, many of whom had not long escaped from bondagfe. [1847 1S49] JiEUELLION LOSSES HILL. 125 Lafontaino wore entrusted with the task of foi'iuing a Libei'al cal)inet. The new ministi-y was composed of four French and four liritisli nienilnu'S — Messrs. Lafontaine, Caron, Viger, and Taehe ; and Messrs. Ualdwin, llincks, Cameron, and JJlake. This was a full and final constitu- tional recognition of the principle of resp'Misihle government. One of the earliest acts of the lialdwin-Lafontaine ad- ministration, on the meeting of Parliament, Januaiy 18th, 1819, was th(; introduction of the " Ilebellion Losses Bill." Jt authorized the raising of £100,000 by debentures for indemnifying those persons in Lower Canada wliose pro- perty had been destroyed by the rebels in the unhappy events of 1837, and for whom no provision had been made in the bill of 1846, introduced hy the Draper ministry. The measure was vehemently denounced by the Opposi- tion, as being actually a premium on rebellion, as parties who had been implicated in the revolt might, under its pro- visions, I'oceive compensation for losses sustained. " No pay to rebels" was the popular cry. The excitement be- came intense. A British Xortli American League was formed for the express purpose of breaking up the Union. To escape from French domination, as it was called, a confederation with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was proposed, failing which, the leaders of the League avowed their purpose of throwing themselves into the arms of th(i United States — rash words, which l)ecame the occasion of the taunt of disloyalty from their opponents. The ministry, however, sustained by a strong majority, determined to face the storm, and the bill passed both Plouses. It was thought that Lord i'^lgin, intimidated by the violent opposition manifested, would not venture to give his assent to the bill, ])ut would either veto it or i-eserve it for the consideration of the ilome CJovernment. This latter course would probably have been the better, as allowing time for the popular excitement to become allayed. But however violent the minority opposed to the bill, how(!ver high and influential their position, the min- istry by which it was proposed connnaiuled the majority of both branches of the Legislature and the confidence of the country. Tt was the crisis of responsible government, and Lord Elgin, in spite of the menaced odium of the Opposi- tion party, determined to act as a coustitutioual Governor, 126 UIOTS IN MONTREAL. [1849 On tlic 26th of July, he proceeded in state to the Pai'lia- ment House, on the site where now stands St. Anne's Market, Montreal, and gave assent to the obnoxious bill. On leav- ing the building he was received with groans and hootings by a well-dressed mob about the doors, and his carriage, as he drove off, was assailed with stones and rotten eggs. The city was thrown into a ferment. A tumultuous crowd assembled on the broad parade of the Champ de Mars to denounce the procedure of the Governor. Violent speeches were made. The cry was raised, " To the Parlia- ment House ! " It was now night, and the Assembly was in session. A number of visitors, including ladies, occupied the galleries. The rioters rushed into the Assembly cham- bers ; the ladies and meinl)ers fled into the lobby. A ruffian seated himself in the Speaker's chair, and shouted, " The French Parliament is dissolved ! " Chandeliers were shat- tered, the members' seats and desks broken and piled in the middle of the floor, and the Speaker's mace carried off. A fire, kindled by the incendiary mob, raged furiously. The members strove in vain to save the public records. Before morning the Parliament House, with its splendid library, containing many thousands of valuable books and public records, was a mass of smouldering ruins. The money loss was more than the entire amount voted by the obnoxious l>ill ; but who shall estimate the reproach brought upon the fair fame of the country by this lawless act ? The Legislative Assembly took refuge in the old Govern- ment House, and, by a large majority, passed resolutions approving of the action of the Governor ; which, however, were strongly resisted by the Opposition. A turbulent meet- ing in the Champ de Mars passed resolutions for an address to the Queen, praying her to disallow the obnoxious bill, and to recall the unpopular Governor-General. Foui* d;iys later, Lord Elgin was again greeted with showers of stones in the streets ; nor did the rioting cease till a volley of musketry intimidated the mob and unfortunately killed one man. Parliame' sat no more in Montreal. This outbreak drove it from the city, and it has never since returned. Tt was resolved to transfer the seat of government to Toronto for the next two years, and afterwards to Quebec and Toronto alternately every four years, but [lcS49 Parlia- /larket, u leav- ootings as EMANCirATlON OF CANADA. 127 ^age, s. iiltuous imp de Violent Parlia- was in jcupied ' cliani- rulRan "The e sliat- in the t)ff. A . The Before ibrary, public ley loss loxious )on the Jovern- lutions )wever, t nieet- iddress IS bill, ir d.-iys stones lley of ign and advanced a step in the peerage, continued to adniinister the govern- ment, and in time won the esteem of even his most ])itter opponents. CHAPTER XXX. THE RAILWAY KUA. Political and commercial emancipation of Canada— liapid i)r<)jj;ross catusod by Reciprocity with the United States, Railway and Steauisliip enterprises, and Municipal Institutions -1860. Postal reform — Northern Railway begun— Grand Trunk and Great Western Rail- ways projected -Retirement of Robert Baldwin from the Ministry- Francis Hincks becomes Premier— His fiscal policy— 1861 . M unicipal Loan Fund Act— 1862. From the year 1850, the British North American colonies may be said to have entered on a new era — to have reached their political manhood. The period of tutelage, of govern- ment from Downing Street, had passed away. The right to the management of their own local affairs was conceded by the Home authorities, and that of I'esponsible govern- ment was vindicated in the colonies. The British Govern- ment reserved only the right of disallowing any acts of legislation opposed to imperial interests, and on the other hand assumed the burthen of coloni;il defence. Canada was thus one of the most lightly taxed arid favourably situated countries in the world, and offered great inducements to the influx of capital and immigration, and soon entered upon a career of remarkable prosperity. The colonies were permitted to trade freely with any part of the world, to import as they pleased, subject to a taritF ffxed by themselves, and to develop home manufactures and home enterprises as they saw fit, Commercial reciprocity 128 PUOGRKSS OF THE COUNTIIY. witli tho ITiiitocl States caused an inuiH^nso devclopmont of international trade, and larcjely increased the valiu; of evei'y acre of land, of every bushel of wheat, and of every head of cattle in th(^ country. This prosperity was further increased by tlw, extraor- dinary development of Canadian railway enterprises, and the conscMjuent opcjiing up of new parts of the country and increased facilities for travel and transport throughout its entire extent. Facilities for trade? were still further in- creased by the establishment of the transatlantic line of steamships. (Quebec and Montreal were thus brought within speedy and regular communication with ()rreat IJritain, to the immense commercial advantage of those cities. The in- troduction and rapid extension of telegi-aphic communica- tion also greatly facilitated the transaction of business. The establishment of municipal institutions created an intelligent interest in the iDcal management of public allairs, and stimulated a spirit of local enterprise and improvement. The legalizing of municipal loan funds, the formation of joint stock companies and expansion of banking institu- tions, promoted the introduction of capital and its profitable employment. The secularization of the clergy reserves and the abolition of seigniorial tenure removed impediments to material pros- perity and causes of popular discontent; the consolidation of the legal code simplified the administration of justice; and the tliorough organization of the public school system and growth of newspaper and publishing enterprise contri- buted to the diffusion of general intelligence. These important subjects must now be alluded to some- what more in detail. In 1850, the seat of government was transferred to To- ronto. The magnificent system of internal navigation, by means of the Canadian lakes, rivers and canals, was increased in value by lighthouses and other improvements, and was soon to be largely supplemented by an extensive railway system. The fii'st sod of the Northern Railway of Canada — the pioneer of Canadian railway enterprises, except a short section in Lower Canada— was turned amid imposing ceremonies by Lady Elgin. The Grand Trunk line, con- necting the lakes with tide water, and the Great Westei'n Railway, connecting at the Niagara and "^'>troi> ijver^ 1852] UAILWAY DEVELOPMENT. 129 with the railway systoms of the United States, were regarded as of great practical utility. The growing political influence of what might be called the extreme wing of the Reform paity, popularly designated the "Clear Orits,"from their supposed intense radicalism, led in 1857 to a reorganization of the cabinet. Mr. Robert Bald- win retired from office, outvoted on a measure connected with the Court of Chancery. In the new cabinet were Dr. Rolph, the former rebel but now pardoned refugee, and Malcolm Cameron, and Mr. Hincks became premier by right of his predominant influence in the ministry, and en- tered upon that fiscal policy which at once so greatly aided the development of the country and increased its financial burdens. In 1852, Quebec became the seat of government. Dur- ing a busy session of three months, one hundred and ninety- three acts were duly passed. No less than twenty-eight of these had reference to railway matters — an evidence of the enthusiasm which had taken possession of the public mind on this subject. Another piece of legislation introduced by Mr. Hincks, which largely increased the public indebtedness, was the establishment of the consolidated Municipal Loan Fund for Upper Canada. The intention, and to a certain degree the result, of this measure were beneficent. It enabled munici- palities to obtain money for local improvements, roads, bridges, and railway construction, which proved of great and permanent value to the country. Encouraged by the facilities for raising money, however, some municipalities rushed into rash expenditure and incurred debts the burden of which, in consequence of their inability to meet their engagements, fell upon the Government. The expenditure under this scheme, and its extension to Lower Canada, soon increased the public debt by the amount of nearly ten millions. During this session, by the Parliamentary Representation Act, the number of members of the Assembly was raised from eighty-four to one hundred and thirty — sixty-five for each province — and the representation Wfis more equitably distributed territorially. ( 130 ) , CHAPTER XXXI. IMPORTANT LEGISLATION— 1854. Rkuii'KOCity Treaty concluded, Juno 5th— Its conditions and rosults - Tlio lliucks Ministry forced to rosinn-Tlio McNab-Morin Coalition Cabinet formed— State of parties— Tiio Seculauization of this Cleuqy llESEUVEH-Tlie Aholitkw of Skioniouial Tknuuic— Resignation of Ijord Elgin— His subsequent career and death -Tho Crimean War— Battle of the Alma— Canadian sympathy- 1884. Two prv 'ninent subjects of public interest continued to pro- voke warm discussion in the political press — the settlement of the seigniorial tenure and clergy reserve questions. TIio latter subject was formally surrendered to the Canadian Parliament for legislation, by the Home Government, May 9th, 1853. The life interests of the existing claimants on the reserves were, however, in accordance with Lord Syden- ham's Act, to be strictly protected. The subject of international reciprocity between Canada -ijirA ^^^ ^he United States liad ever since the repeal of the Navigation Laws in 1849 engaged the attention of both Imperial and colonial authorities. The negotiations between the two neighbouring countries were now happily completed. The treaty provided for the free interchange of the products of the sea, the soil, the forest, and the mine. The navigation ot the St. Lawrence, the St. John and the canals, and the inshore fisheries in the British waters, were conceded to the United States ; and the navigation of Lake Michigan was thrown open to Canada. By the provisions of the treaty, it was to continue in force for ten years from March, 1855, and was then terminable on twelve months* notice from either party. To the agricultural population of Canada the treaty was attended with immense advantage, and gave an important stimulus to every branch of productive industry. The mari- time provinces, however, complained that the United States had nothing to exchange comparable with the valuable fisheries of their waters; and that while American shipping was admitted to the same privileges as that of Great Britain, yet colonial vessels were refused registration in the ports of the United States or a share of the coasting trade. 1854] SECULAUI/ATION OF CLEIKJY UESEUVKS. LSI result 8 - C!oali(i()n OF TIII'3 'knuuk— jiiLh - Tho 1804. I to pro- itlement s. Tlio aiiadian lit, May lants on I Syden- Oanada epeal of ttention )tiatioiis happily lange of le mine, and the rs, were of Lake ovisions irs from months' aty was portant le mari- l States 'aluablo hipping Britain, ports of In consequence of its declining p()})ulaiity, the Hiiicks ministry was compelled to renigti, and a coalition miiiibtiy under the leadership of Sir Allan McNub and Morin was foi'metl. The policy of the new ministry, however, included measures for which tluj Reform party had long c()nt(Mid(;d. Prominent among these was on(^ for tlu; secularization of the clergy reserves. A hill was tlun-eforc; promptly brought forward for that pui'pose. Jiy the hill previously introduced by the Draper administration for the settlemtmt of this (piestion, the vast revenue arising from these rescu'ves, at first claimed exclusively for the Church of England, was proposed to be divided with the Church of Scotland and other denominations in proportion to their piivate contri- butions to the support of their clergy. But the principle of the voluntary support of the ministry by tlu^ people, which liad \vd to the Free Church secession in Scotland in 1843, and which had been previously held by other dissenting bodies, was widely prevalent throughout Canada. The Government, therefore, although many of their supporters were opposed to tho principle, were forced to yield to the popular demand. The clergy reserve lands, originally amounting to one-seventh of all the crown territory of the province, were consequently handed over to the various municipal corporations in proportion to their population, to be employed for secular purposes. The life interests of the existing incumbents were commuted, with the consent of the holders, for a small permanent endownu^nt, and this long-vexed question was settled forever : the principle of the perfect religious ecjuality of all denominations in the eye of the law had finally triumphed. The other subject urgently demanding legislation related exclusively to Lower Canada. This was the system of seigniorial tenure, whose vexatious conditions greatly ret:4,rded the progress of the country. This system was a legacy from the old French regime. Much of the land of New France had been granted to scions of noble houses, under the feudal conditions obtaining in the Old World, as previously described. It was chiefly when the population became more dense and the transfers of property more frequent that these conditions became oppressively felt, especially that requiring the payment of one-twelfth of the 132 ABOLITION OF SEIGNIORIAL TENURE. [1854 purchase price of the land to the seignior at every sale, and the vexatious milling and fishing dues and other conditions of vassalage imposed on the tenants. The value of these seigniorial claims had greatly increased, and they could be equitably abolished only by a commutation from the public funds of the province, supplemented by certain payments of the censitaires or small land-holders, in consideration of the exemptions about to be granted them. The entire expendi- ture under the authority of this Act was a little over two and a half million dollars. Thus was abolished, without violence or revolution as in other lands, the last vestige of the feudal system in the New World. The Canada Ocean Steamship Company was also in- corporated by Act of Parliament, and was aided by a subsidy of $1,800,000. From this beginning has grown one of the largest steam fleets that plow the ocean. Direct trade with Great Britain has been greatly stimulated, and the city of Montreal has been made one of the great seaports of the world. Toward the end of 1854, Lord Elgin resigned the gover- norship of the province. He had won the lasting esteem and admiration of a people who had besn largely alienated in sympathy from his administration. He subsequently employed his distinguished abilities in the service of his sovereign, in the discharge of difficult and important mis- sions in China and Japan. As the highest gift of the crown, he received in 1862 the appointment of Governor- General of India ; and the following year, worn out with excessive labours, he died beneath the shadows of the Himalayas, leaving behind him the blameless reputation of a Christian statesman. The gallant struggle of the Allied Armies against the hosts of Russia, now in progress, evoked the enthusiastic loyalty of both Canadas. In almost every town and hamlet generous donations were contributed to the nation's heroes who so gallantly maintained her name and fame on a foreign shore. The illustrious victories of Alma, Balaclava, Inker- man, and Sebastopol became memories of imperishable power, and kindled beacoa-fires of joy throughout the land, from the rock-built citadel of Quebec to t!he remote villages on the shores of Lake Huron. 1855 [1854 ( 133 ) ale, and iiditions of these jould be e public Qents of n of the jxpendi- ver two without jstige of also in- id by a )wn one ct trade a-nd the ports of e gover- esteem ienated quently of his i,nt mis- of the >vernor- ut with of the ition of nst the usiastic hamlet I heroes foreign Inker- 'ishable le land, villages CHAPTER XXXII. THE COALITION MINISTRY. Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General— 1855. Parliament meets at Toronto— Sir Allan McNab resigns leadership to Mr. John A. Macdonald— Sketch of new Premier's career— The Legislative Council made Elective— Its Constitution- 1856. Severe Com- mercial Crisis— 1867. General Election — Reform majority in Upper Canada — The "Double-Majority" principle abandoned — Demand for "Representation by Population"- 1868. Sir Edmund Walker Head, the successor of Lord Eljrin ,j.__ as Governor-General of Canada, was a gentleman of distinguished scholarship, a prizeman and fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and a man of considerable adminis- trative ability. His first diplomatic appointment was that of Governor of New Brunswick, from which he was pro- moted to the position of Governor-General of British North America. In 1856, the seat of government was again removed to Toronto, where Parliament was opened on the 15th of February. Sir Allan McNab resigned office in order to make way for the more brilliant leadership of the acting Attorney-General, IVIr. John A. Macdonald, who subse- quently filled so prominent a position in Canadian politics. On the resignation of the Hincks administration, in 1854, Mr. Macdonald became a member of the coalition ministry by which it was succeeded, and was now recognized as the leader of the Conservative party of Upper Canada. With a considerable degree of administrative skill, he com- bined a large amount of political tact and sagacity. Under this Conservative Government was passed a meas- ure for which the Reform party had long striven, and which their opponents had resolutely resisted. This was the Act making the Legislative Council an elective body. This system was relinquished under the Confederation Act, but a strong feeling is entertained in favour of its restora- tion. The continuance of the Chinese war and the outbreak of the Sepoy mutiny taxed to the utmost the force of lititain's arms, and called forth the intense sympathy of Her Ma- 134 DOUBLE MAJORITY. [1857 jesty's Canadian subjects. The names of the veteran Out- ram, the gallant Campbell, the chivalric Lawrence, the saintly Ilavelock, were added to Britain's bead-roll of immortal memories, to be to her sons an inspiration to patriotism, to piety, and to duty, forever. A comparative failure of the wheat crop, coincident with a depression in the English money market and a commercial panic in the United States, together with the almost total cessation of railway construction, produced a financial'crisis of great severity throughout Canada. The inflated prices of stocks and real estate came tumbling down, and many who thought themselves rich for life were reduced to in- solvency. The rapid development of the natural resources of the country, and the elasticity of public credit, however, were such that, under the Divine blessing, prosperity soon re- turned to crown with gladness the industry of the merchant, the artizan, and the husbandman. Since the uuion of the Canadas in 1840, successive min- istries had succeeded in carrying their measures by a majority from each province, in accordance with what was known as the "double-majority" principle, adopted in order to prevent either section of the country from forcing unpalatable legis- lation on the other. The Reform preponderance in the western province compelled the ministry of Mr. John A. Macdonald to abandon this " double-majority " principle if they would continue in office. The Government measures were therefore carried chiefly by a Lower Canadian minis- terial majority. This was felt by the Upper Canadian Opposition to be all the more galling, because the wealth and population, and consequently the contributions to the public revenue, of the western province had increased rela- tively much more than had these, elements of prosperity in eastern Canada. This soon led to an outcry against what was designated as "French domination," and the persistent advocacy of the principle of representation by population was adopted by the Reform leaders of Upper Canada. The most conspicuous and influential advocate of this principle was Mr. George Brown, the editor of the Toronto ■taf^h Globe, a gentleman who, though seldom molding office, largely contributed tc the moulding of the institu- tions and political destiny of his adopted country. In 1851 1857 1858] OTTAWA SELECTED AS THE CAPITAL. 135 Mr. Brown was elected to the representcation of the county of Kent in the Parliament of Caniicia; and from that time to his retirement from active public life, subsequent to the confederation of the British North American provinces, he occupied a conspicuous place and exerted a powerful influ- ence in Parliament. CHAPTER XXXIII. "REPRESENTATION BY POPULATION." The Queen selects Ottawa as the permanent Capital— The Opposi- tion disapprove her choice— A false move— The Ministry resign, and Mr. Brown forms a Cabinet— He is defeated, and resigns after two days' tenure of office— The Cartier-Macdonald Ministry formed— Tlic " Double-Shuffle "—1858. Parliament meets at Quebec— Mr. Brown's Resolutions in favour of Local Self-government and Joint Au- thority rejected— Visit of the Princk of Wales— His royal pro- gress— 1860. Outbreak of War of Secession— Retirement of Sir Edmund Walker Head— 1861. A GENERAL election took place early in 1858. The new Parliament met in Toronto, February 28th. Among its many new members was Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a former en- thusiastic Irish patriot, and partner in the seditious schemes of the insurrectionary leaders, Mitchell and Meagher ; now returned as the loyal representative of West Montreal. The country had at length grown tired of the expense and in- convenience of the removal of the seat of goveininent every four years from Quebec to Toronto, or vice versa. The selec- tion of a site for a new capital had been referred for final de- cision to Her Majesty* the Queen. That decision was now given in favour of Ottawa. There was much to commend this choice. The position was remote from the American frontier. It was picturesquely situated on one of the great waterways of the country, which formed the dividing line between the two provinces. It also occupied an important strategic position, and one of great strength and security in case of invasion. The disappointment, however, of several Canadian cities, which had aspired to the dignity of becom- ing the capital, caused considerable dissatisfaction. Taking 136 CAllTIEll-MACDONALD MINISTRY. [1858 advantage of this feeling, the Opposition brought forward a resolution expressing deep regret at Her Majesty's choice, which was carried by a majority of fourteen. It was a false move, and placed the Opposition in apparent antagon- ism to the sovereign. The ministry, identifying their cause with hers, promptly resigned, and innnediately won a large amount of public sympathy. Mr. Brown, as leader of the Opposition, was invited by the Governor-General to form a cabinet, and acceded to the request. The new ministry, although containing several gentlemen held in the highest esteem for ability and in- telligence,* failed to command a majority of the House, INIauy of the members repented their rash vote against the Queen's decision, and, by a division of seventy-one to thirty-one, the ministry was defeated. Mr. Brown requested a dissolution of Parliament, in order that he might appeal to the country; but this His Excellency declined to grant, alleging that the House, being newly elected, must reflect the popular will. The ministry there- fore resigned, after a tenure of office of only two days. Mr. George E. Cartier, was now invited to construct a cal)inet. This, with the aid of Mr. John A. Macdonald, he succeeded in doing, f A clause in the Independence of Parliament Act pro- vided that a minister resigning any office might, within a month, accept another, without going back to his constituents for re-election. Several members of the late Macdonald administration who entered the new cabinet took advantage of this Act by a simple exchange of departmental office. This action was strenuously denounced by the Keform press, under the designation of the "double shuffle." It was, however, on an appeal to the courts, sustained by law ; but the obnoxious clause of the Act by which it was rendered valid was shortly aft or rescinded. The legislation of the parliamentary session which opened ■taKQ on January 29th embraced several important acts. One of these referred to the consolidation of the * Its members were Messrs. George Brown, James Morris, Michael Foley, John Sandfield Macdonald, Oliver Mowat, and Dr. Conner, for Upper Canada ; and for Lower Canada, Messrs. Dorion, Drummond, Thibaudeau, Lemieux, Holton and Laberge. tit comprised Messrs. John A. Macdonald, John Ross, P. Vankoughnefc, O. Sherwoov' and Sidney ''mith for Upper Canada ; and Messrs. Cartier, Gait, Rose, Belleau, Sicotte and AUeyn, for Lower Canada. 1860 I860] THE PRINCE OF WALiES tN CANADA. 137 statutes of Upper and Lower Canada, which was at length successfully completed, and proved of immense advantage to all interested in the transaction of legal business. In order to meet the continued deficit in the revenue, the general rate of customs duties was advanced to twenty per cent. ; but manufacturers were increasingly favoured by the admission of raw staples free of duty. The seat of government ques- tion was finally set at rest by the authorization of the con- struction of parliament buildings o* a magnificent character at the selected capital. On the 28th of February, the Canadian Legislature as- 1 r.»^ sembled in Quebec, to which city it had for the last time remo^^^id. The ministry was sustained during the session jy large majorities, and the House adjourned May 19th, tr Meet three months later, in order to give a Siting welcoixie to the Prince of Wales. On July 23rd H . M. ship Hero, with an accompanying fleet of man-of-war vessels, bearing the Prince of Wales and suite, reached St. John's, Newfoundland. The progress of the royal party was a continued ovation. After visiting Halifax, St. John, N.B., Fredericton and Charlottetown, they were welcomed to Canada by the Governor-General and a brilliant suite at Gaspe. The royal fleet sailed up the gloomy gorge of the Saguenay, and the thunders of its cannon awoke the imme- morial echoes of the lofty clifis of Capes Trinity and Eter- nity. The following day the Prince reached the capital, and was profoundly impressed with the magnificent site of the many-ramparted and grand old historic city. While at Montreal the Prince of Wales drove the last rivet of the magnificent Victoria Bridge. Bestriding the rapid current of the St. Lawrence, here nearly two miles wide, on four and twenty massive piers, it is one of the grandest achieve- ments of engineering skill in the world. At Ottawa, on September the 1st, amid as imposing and picturesque surroundings as any on the continent, was laid the corner stone of the stately pile, worthy of the site, which was to be the home of the legislature of a great dominion. The royal progress through the western penin- sula was accompanied by no less cordial exhibitions of loving fealty to the heir of England's crown. At Detroit, rihicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Now York, and Boston, the Prince 10 138 WAll OF SECESSION. of Wales received from a ^eign nation a warmth of wel- come which proved its uniorgotten chivalric regard toward the heir of a long line of English kings, and its admiration of his royal mother — as woman, wife and queen, the para- gon of sovereigns. In the United Stjites the war clouds were lowering whicli were soon to del age the country in blood. The domination of the slave power at length provoked the firm resistance of the N')rth. Abraham Lincoln was elected as the tribune of the friends of liberty. The South refused to bow to this expression of the popular Ayill. First South Carolina, then other states, seceded from the Union and organized a con- federacy based on human slavery. With the close of tlie year a federal force was besieged in Fort Sumter, guarding Charleston harbour. The first shot fired on the flag of the Republic reverber- Iftn ^*®^ through the nation. North and South rushed to arms. A royal proclamation, issued May 13th, enjoined strict neutrality on all British subjects, and recog- nized the belligerent rights of the South. Such, however, was Canada's sympathy with the North in this war for human freedom — for such it ultimately proved to be — that before its close fifty thousand of her sons enlisted in the Northern armies, and many laid down their lives in costly sacrifice for what they felt to be a righteous cause. For four long years the tide of war ebbed and flowed over those fair and fertile regions stretching from the valley of the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, carrying sorrow and death into almost every hamlet in the Union, and into many a Canadian home ; costing a million of lives and millions of treasure, but, let us thank God, emancipating for ever four millions of slaves. At home, Canada enjoyed peace and prosperity. The census returns revealed a rapid increase of population. In 1841, that of Upper Canada was 465,375 ; in 1851 it was 952,061 ; in 1861 it had reached 1,396,091. The popula- tion of Lower Canada in 1841 was 690,782; in 1851, 890,261; and in 1861, 1,110,444. The population of all Canada, it will be seen, amounted in 1861 to 2,506,755. The rate of increase in the upper province had been so much greater than that of Lower Canada, that it now had an excess of 285,427 over the population of the latter; yet of wel- toward li ration le para- ^ whicli liiiatioii sistance tribuno to this la, then a con- of tlio uardiiig Bverber- rushed y 13th, d I'ecog- owever, war for >e — that I in the a costly le. For er those ^ of the c to the ;t every L home; but, let f slaves. y. The on. In it was popula- 1 1851, a of all 06,755. been so LOW had ber; yet 1861] THE TRENT AFFAIR. 139 it had only the same parliamentary representation. This practical injustice lent new energy to th(> Upper Canadian agitation for representation by population. The feeling of jealousy between the two sections of the pro^'int;e led to extravagance of expenditure. Although Upper Canada contributed the larger part of the public revenue, the lower province claimed an equal share from the common treasury. Thus many unremunerative public works were constructed in one province as an offset to an expenditure for necessary constructions in the other. In the month of October, Sir Edmund Walker Head ceased to be Governor-General of Canada, and returned to Great Britain. CHAPTER XXXIV. POLITICAL CRISIS. Lord Monck, Governor-General, October 211 h— The Trrnf alFah— Threat- ened Outbreak of War— Death of l*rince Albert, December 15th— 1861. Defeat of Cartier-Macdonald Ministry— Macdonald-Sicotte Cabinet formed— Its Policy— The Cotton Famine— Canada at the World's Fair— 1862. Reconstruction of the Cabinet— Political Dead- lock— 1863. Lord Monck, the new Governor-General, soon after his appointment as Governor-General, had to face a grave international difficulty, in which Great Britain became involved with the United States. • On the 9th of November, Capt. Wilkes, of the U. S. steam- ^on^ ship Jacm^o, forcibly carried off from the British mail steamer Trent, Messrs. Slidell and Mason, commission- ers of the Southern Confederacy to Great Britain and France. The British Government promptly resented this violation of international comity and of the rights of neutrals, and demanded the rendition of the captured commissioners. While awaiting an answer to the ultimatum sent to the United States, the British Government shipped to Canada several regiments of troops, the flower of the army, with immense stores of munitions of war. The navigation of 140 CHANGE OF MINISTRY. [1862 1802' the St. Lawrence having closed, a portion of the troops came overland through New Brunswick. The country sprang to arms. Volunteer military companies were organ- ized, home guards enrolled, and large sums of money contri- buted to defend, if need were, the honour and dignity of the empire. Amid these public agitations came the startling intelli- gence of the death of Prince Albert, the wise and noljlo consort of our beloved and honoured Queen, December loth. The nation's sympathy with the widowed sovereign Avas pro- found and sincere. A prudent counsellor, a loving husband, a high-minded man, the Queen continues to mourn his loss with almost the poignancy of her first grief. With the close of the year the war cloud which menaced the country was dissipated by the surrender of Messrs. Slidell and Mason, the captured commissioners, to the British Government. A new Parliament met in Quebec on the 21st of March •iQoe) — ^ general election having taken place during recess. The conflict of parties was renewed with the utmost vigour. The defence of the provinces against the growing military power of the United States was a question of con- siderable difficulty. The Imperial authorities, feeling that in case of the rupture of peace Canada would become the battle-ground, had devised a comprehensive system of forti- fication. The cost of the extensive works at Quebec was to be defrayed by the Home Government, and that of the works at Montreal and places west of it was to be paid from the provincial treasury. The people of Canada, while will- ing to make any effort for national defence that they thought commensurate with their ability, shrank from largely in- creasing their heavy indebtedness by undertaking military works which they considered too extensive and costly for their means, and of the necessity for which they were by no means convinced. The volunteer movement was vigor- ously sustained, and rifle competitions contributed to the efficiency of the corps ; but the feeling of the country, in opposition to the fortification scheme, found expression in an adverse vote of the House on the ministerial militia bill. The ministry forthwith resigned, and Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald was called upon to form a new cabinet.* Mr. * The new ministry was composed of Messrs. John Sandfield Macdonald, Adam Wilson, Michael Foley, James Morris, William McDougall, and Mr. Rowland, for [1862 1862] COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY. 14] m Maeclonald announced as the policy of liis administration the observance of tlie douhle-nuijority principle in all meas- ures affecting locally either province ; a readjustment of the representation of Upper and Lower Canada respectively, without, however, adopting the principle of representation by population ; and an increase of revenue and protection of manufactures by a revised cu'^toms tariff. The parliamentary rejection of the Macdonald-Cartier militia bill created an impression in Great Britain that tlie Canadians were unwilling to bear the burden of self-defence — an erroneous conception, which the military enthusijism of the country during the late Trent ditHculty ought to have prevented. The thorough loyalty of the people was shown by the liberal militia bill of the following session. Two veteran Canadian politicians passed away during the summer — the gallant Sir Allan WcNab, and his Refonn contemporary, the Hon. WJliam Hamilton Merritt, the projector of the Welland Canal. The continuance of the American war was attended with ijreat commercial advanta^^e to Canada. Canadian horses were in especial demand for remounts for the Union cavalry and for the artillery. Tlie country was also denuded of its surplus live stock and farm produce, and in fact of every marketable commodity, at highly renmnerative prices. The resulting financial prosperity, in which all industrial classes shared, enabled the people to discharge the indebtedness which many had incurred through rash speculation or lavish expenditure. It was observed that " the prosperous years which now followed were distinguished by an unusually small amount of litigation, while money lenders no longer reaped the abundant harvest they had hitherto enjoyed." In their prosperity Canadians did not forget the adversity of their suffering fellow-subjects in Great Britain, who were enduring extreme privation from the cotton famine, conse- quent on the closing of the ports of the Soutliei'n Con- federacy, from which the raw staple of their industry was derived. Generous contributions for the relief of their necessities exhibited at once the patriotism and philan- thropy of the donors. Parliament met in Quebec early in February, and the Upper Canada ; and for Lower Canada, Messrs. Sicotto, Abbot, McGee, Dorion, Tcssier and Evanturel. 142 CON FKDE KATE CUUISEUS. [1863 \AC'\ ^©it^^io^ ^^^ ^^^0 incroased roprosentation of Upper Canada was renewed. Tliese ellbits w(>re defecated by tlie solid Lower Canadian vote; but public opinion in Uppc^r Canada was daily becoming stronger in favour of a more equitable adjustment of the representation. At length tlit; Government was defeated on a direct vote of wjint of con- fidence. They resolved to appeal to the country. In the new Parliament it was found that the ministers had a majority of only thn^e. They managed, however, to get through the S(;ssion without defeat. Mucli irritation was felt in the United States toward Great l^ritain, on account of the devastation caused by the Alabama and Florida, and other Confederate cruisers. These piratical vessels, as tlio p(M)ple of the North regarded them, constructed by British shipbuilders, and ecjuipped by Brit- ish merchants, had cai)tured and destroyed hundreds of American ships, and liad almost swept American commerce from the seas. The Union armies, however, by sheer force of numbers and an unlimited supply of war matarid, were steadily crushing out the Southern rebellion, notwithstand- ing a heroic resistance worthy of a better cause. CHAPTER XXXV. THE CONFEDERATION MOVEMENT. A Coalition Mimstky kohmkd to bring aboiit the Confodoration of the l^ovinccs— Chaku)Tti;town and Qltehko CoNFKiiiONCKa discuss the subject— 1864. T;iK Canadian Parliament adoi'th the Con- federation Scheme Anti-Confederation Movement in the Mari- time Provinces— Close of tue American War— Slavery Abol- isued— 1866. During the recess the ministry had still further lost ground, and early in 1864, finding themselves without a working majority, resigned. Mr. Blair, the Provincial Secretary of the late adminis- tration, was requested to construct a new cabinet, but failed in the attempt. Sir E. P. Tach6, a leading Lower Canadian Conservative, now essayed the difficult task, with better [lcSG3 Upper Lt(!(l by Upp(;r a more gth tliij of con- In the had a to get toward by the These d them, by Brit- U*eds of minierce or force \(d^ were thstand- 1864] POLITICAL DF../VD-LOCR. 143 Hon of the BS discuss THE CON- thc Mari- :by Ahol- ground, working adminis- tut failed Canadian 1 better success.* The new ministry had a very slight majority, and within tln*ee months was defeated by a vote of sixty to tifty-eight. Political affairs were now at a drarl-lock. Parties were so equally balanced that neither couhl carry on the govern- ment of the country against the opposition of the other. Every constitutional method of solvintr tlui difliculty had been exhausted. Dissolution of Parliament and change cf ministry brought no relief. The apj^icat'on of the double- majority principle was found impractical»le, and represen- tation by population under existing condit.'«.»ns was unat- tainable. The solution of the dilliculty was found in the adoption of the "joint-authority" scheme, so long resisted, ridiculed and voted down. The Conservative leaders made overtures to the Opposi- tion for the formation of a coalition ministry, for the pur- pose of carrying out the project of the confederation of the British North American provinces, with a federnl govern- ment of the whole, and local legislatures for the several provinces. Mr. Brown therefore entered the ca\>ii>et as President of the Council, and associated with him, as repre- sentatives of the Beform party, Mr. William Macdougall and Mr. Oliver Mowat. This coalition was very generally received with extreme satisfaction, as a deliverance from the bitter strife of parties which had so long distracted the country. Contemporary events now demonstrated the necessity for a strong government. In the month of September, a gang of Southern refugees seized two American steamers on Lake Erie, with the design of releasing the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, and of destroying the shipping on the lake. The attempt was ineffectual; but a more successful hostile effort was made on the Lower Canadian frontier about a month later. A body of twenty-three refugees attacked the banks of St. Alban's, in Vermont, and hastily retreated across the border with $233,000, having added the crime of murder to that of robbery. Fourteen of the raiders were arrested, but were subsequently discharged by Judge Coursel, of Montreal. The illegal surrender to them ♦It embraced the following members:— Sir E. P. Tach^, and Messrs. Cartier, Gait Chapais, McGee and Lan^jcvin, for Lower Canada; and for Upper Canada, Messrs. John A. Macdonald, Campbell, Buchanan, Foley, Simpson and Cockburn. 44 QUKHEO CONFKUENCE. [i«(;4 of .^90,000 of tli(< Htoloii Jiionoy which th« CjuKidian Gov- oriniKMit had sul)S(MiiunitIy to repay — and tho ;4r()wiii<; sym- pathy for th(5 Soutlj of a portion of tho (Jaiiadian press and peopU^ (Mn))itterod tho relations hetwiMMi tlie two countries, and contributed largely to the abrogation of tho reciprocity treaty, which soon took places To" prevent a repetition of these raids, tlu; Canadian (Srovernnient distri])uted a patrol force of thirty volunteer conij)ani*»s along the more exposed points of the frontier. An " Alien Act " was also passed, enabling the executive summarily to arrest suspicious cliar- acters. Meanwhile the subject of colonial confederation was attracting increased attention in tho British North Amei'i- can provinces. The Governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had already been discussing the project of a legislative union of the maritime provinces, and a conference of delegates for the promotion of the scheme, undin' tho sanction of the Colonial Office, was arranged to be held at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, during this summer (1864). With the purpose of urging the more comprehensive scheme of the confederation of all the provinces, the Cana- dian Government expressed a wish to be represented at that conference, and was cordially invited to send delegates. The larger scheme seems to liave completely swallowed up the narrower one, and a conference of delegates from all the British North American colonies was appointed to be held at Quebec. On the 10th of October, the conference began its ses- sions in the ancient capital. Thirty-three delegates were present, representing the leading members of the politic;,! parties of all the provinces. The deliberations continued for seventeen days. Many conflicting interests had to bo harmonized, and many local difficulties removed. At length a general plan was agreed upon, and resolutions adopted as the basis of an Act of Confederation. These resolutions were to be submitted to the different legislatures for adop- tion, without alteration of form. The general outline of the scheme soon became divulged. It was for the most part recei\'ed with very great favour. It was regarded as the germ of a new and vigorous national life. The bonds of a common allegiance to the sovereign, [lcS()4 I Gov- -r syni- ss and intries, procity tion of patrol X posed pass(;d, char- )n was Amori- u\ New ;t of a ference rlei' the held at summer hensive e Galla- nted at legates. >wed up 1 all the be held its ses- es were politic ,1 ntinued cl to bo b length )pted as Dlutions )r adop- Lvulged. favour, lational ^ereign, 1865] CONFEDEUATION ADOl'TED. 145 and of common sympathies and interests, were recognized. The constraints of loenl impediments to free intercolonial trade were felt to ))e increasingly irksonio. The; difierencea of productions and industries of the several provinces made their union seem all tlu; more necessary for the greater prosperity of all. The wheat fields and lumber interests of Canada needed, and were ncHKled by, the fisheries and mines and shipping of the niaritimc^ provinces. The mag- nificent waterways of the west furnished unrivalled facili- ties for commercial relations with the (!ast ; but the lack of a winter seaport made the Intercolonial Kailvay, and the harbours of St. John and Halifax, necessary to the develop- ment of Canadian trade. A federal central government also promised to lift politics from the level of a jealous conflict between parties in< o that of a pati'iotic andjition for the prosperity of the whole country and for the development of a vigorous national life; and the local legislatures olfered a guarantee of the self- control of the domestic affairs of eacli province. The long- continued demand of Upper Canada for representation by population would be granted in the constitution of the central parliament, and the Jealousy of the French popula- tion of Lower Canada for their religion, language and laws, would be appeased by their numerical representation in their local legislature. Nevertheless, considerable opposition was at first mani- fested towards the scheme, especially in the maritime pro- vinces. The preponderant influence of the more populous provinces was feared, and several of the numerous details of the Quebec scheme, which was presented for acceptance without modification, were regarded with strong objection. Thus an anti-confederation agitation arose, and was lon^** and vehemently maintained. On the 3rd of February, the Canadian Parliament met at isfi^ Quebec. The resolutions on confederation, which had been adopted by the Quebec conference of the previous year, were submitted. After protracted debate — the report of which fills a volume of over a thousand pages — the reso- lutions were adopted ; and a strong deputation proceeded to England to confer with the Imperial authorities for the carrying out of the project of confederation. In New Brunswick in the meantime a general election 146 CLOSE OF AMERICAN WAR. [1865 had takenr place, and an assenil)ly highly averse to con- federation had been returned. Not a single man who had been a delegate at the Qucljeu coufeience was elected. In Nova Scotia the anti-confederation agitation was strongly pressed by Joseph Howe, the leader of the Opposition. Tiie friends of the movement in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island were disheartened, and it sooined as though the federation scheme would be wrecked almost before it was fairly launched. The scheme was received with great favour by the Im- perial authorities, and despatches from the Colonial Office strongly urged its adoption. These despatches were not without their influence on public opinion in New Bruns wick, and as the advantages of the proposed union became, through fuller discussion, more apparent, the tide of feeling began to turn in its favour. The long and terrible civil war in the United States was now drawing to a close. The immense military strength of the North at length fairly crushed out the Southern revolt. General Lee, with his war-worn army, surrendered (April 9th) ; Jefferson Davis, the ill-starred President of the Con- federacy, was captured ; and slavery war dead. But this hour of the nation's triumph was dashed with horror and grief by the cowardly and cruel murder of its civic head — the simple, honest, magnanimous Abraham Lincoln. The heart of Canada was deeply stirred. Crowded meetings for the expression of the national sympathy v/ere held, and the utmost detestation of the crime was avowed. Much of the growing estrangement of recent years between the two nations was overcome by this exhibition of popular sym- pathy and good-will. On the 8th of August, the Parliament met in Quebec for the purpose of receiving the report of the deputation sent to Great Britain to promote the scheme of confedc; ration. The session was short, and little opposition was offered to the ministerial measures deemed necessary for the consum- mation of the grand design which was to become the epoch of a new and ampler national career. Towards the close of the year the seat of government was removed from Quebec to Ottawa, where the new parliament buildings, then approaching completion, were to become the home of a legislature still more august than that for which they were originally designed. inti era [186i to con- rho had ed. In trongly )osition. Prince tliough efore it the Im- il Office TGre not Bruna became, f feeling ates was ength of n revolt, d (April the Con- But this )rror and c head — In. The jtings for , and the ch of the the two liar sym- ueljec for btion sent adoration. )fFered to 3 consum- bhe epoch ment was irliainent jcorae the for which ( 147 ) CHAPTER XXXVI. THE FENIAN INVASION— 18GG. The Abrogation of Reciprocity Treaty— Tub Fenian Brotherhood - O'Neil invades Canada from liuKKALO, June Ist— Thk Fiuht at Ridge WAY— Fenians thi*eatcn Prescott and Cornwall— " General " Spear crosses the frontier of Lower Canada— He is promptly re- pulsed, June 8th— Last Parliament of "Old Canada" meets at Ot- tawa, June 8th— It revises the Tax'iff and prepares fcr Confedera- tion. The reciprocity treaty between the United States and 1 8fifi Canada was now approaching the period of its expi- ration by effluxion of time. It had been of immense commercial advantage to both countries. Under its provi- sions the international trade had grown to the enormous value of seventy milUon dollars annually. The United States Government, however, refused to grant its renewal except under conditions highly disadvantageous to Canada. The Canadian ministry were willing to make considerable concessions to the United States, and even to accept legis- lative reciprocity if the continuance of the treaty could not be secured. The exigencies of the American Government, and the delusion on the part of at least some members of Congress, that Canada could be thus coerced into annexa- tion with the United States, however, overrode every effort for the continuance of the treaty. The vast indebtedness incurred by the war led to the adoption of a high customs tariff for revenue purposes, afterwards increased for the protection of the manufacturing interests. The suspension of the treaty, however, was not so S,...«6- trous in its effects as was anticipated ; and there were many counterbalancing advantages to the country resulting from its interruption. It greatly stimulated the development of Canadian manufactures and the groVth of foreign and intercolonial commerce, and aided the scheme of confed- eration. Instead of promoting annexation, the abroga- tion of the treaty had precisely the opposite effect. It opened new avenues of trade and industry, and convinced the Canadians of their ability to prosper without depending so largely on commercial intercourse with the United States; it ^Iso fostered a spirit of patriotism and nationality. 148 FENIAN BROTHERHOOD. [1866 This spirit was still further promoted by contempora- neous events. The hostile deinojist rations of the Fenian brotherhood caused considerable alarm along the frontier, and provoked just indignation against United States oiliciala who, for political purposes, favoured this infamous organiza- tion, and pandered to the unreasoning prejudices and an- tipathies of its members. The ostensible object of this armed conspiracy was the liberation of Ireland from English rule, and the avenging of its ancient wrongs. As a means to that end, although the relevancy is not very apparent, the conquest of Canada was proposed, and multitudes of infatuated " patriots " con- tributed large amounts of money and formed local organiza- tions in the chief American cities and frontier towns. Gangs of reckless desperadoes, created by the civil war, and even some leaders of higher rank and of considcT'able military skill and experience, joined the lawless movement. The firms, equipments, and military stores of the disbanded United. States armies being thrown upon the market, large quantities were purchased at a low rate and stored at points convenient for the invasion of Canada. The plan of operations of the Fenian brotherhood was t^vofold. The first scheme proposed a combined attack, at several points of the frontier, on Canada, where, it was asserted, the Irish " patriots " had many sympathizers. The other and still more insane plan contemplated a direct attack upon Ireland. The former was promoted by " Presi- dent" Roberts and "General" Sweeney; the latter by a rival section of the brotherhood, under the leadership of ''Head Centre" Stephens and "Colonel" O'Mahony. Saint Patrick's day, the 17th of March, was annoui^ced as tlie date of the menaced invasion. The Canadian Gov- ernment replied to the threat by calling out ten thousand volunteers. In four and twenty hours fourteen thousand sprang to arms for the defence of the country. Saint Patrick's day, however, passed without any dis- tur))ance of the peace. By the middle of May, the invasion having seemingly exhausted itself in futile tliroats, a con- siderable proportion of the volunteer force were withdrawn from the frontier and allowed to return to their homes. But secret preparations were being made for a number of siuiviltaueous attacks on Canada. One expedition from [1866 mpora- Fenian ontier, )Hicials ganiza- .iid an- ras the 'enging though anada " con- 1866] TNVASION OF CANADA. 149 M* ganiza- towns. il war, derable -^ement. banded t, large )red at od was tack, at it was bthizers. % direct " Presi- Br by a iship of r • loui^ced an Gov- lousand housand my dis- invasion s, a con- :;hdrawn homes, iniber of )n from Detroit, Chicago, and other western cities, was directed against the Lake Huron frontier ; another, from Buffalo and Rochester, was to cross the Niagara River ; a third, from New York and the east(M :i cities, was to cross the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg, sever the communication between the eastern and western portions of the country at Prescott, and menace the ceat of government at Ottawa. Meanwhile the right wing oi the invading force was to harass and plundei" the frontiet' settlements of the Eastern Townships. The result of these grand schemes was suigularly incom- mensurate with their magnitude. The main attack was on the Niagara frontier. The city of Buffalo swarmed with lawless ruffians, and before daylight on Friday, June 1st, some fourteen hundred of them, under the command of " General " O'Neil, crossed from Black Rock and took possession of the village of Fort Erie. O'Neil was, however, utterly disappointed in any Canadian demonstration of sympathy, if such were expect*^:!. During the night, leaving a guard at Fort Erie to cover his retreat, he advanced ten miles south-westward towards the Welland Canal, probably with the intention of destroying the locks and cutting the railway. He halted under cover of some woods near the village of Ridgeway, and threw up a slight breastwork of logs and rails. Meanwhile the tidings of invasion aroused the country. The volunteers rushed to arms, and active preparations were made for the repulse of the enemy. The citizen soldiers of Toronto, Hamilton, and other places near the scene of action, promptly mustered in force, and were despatched by train or steamer to the appointed places of rendezvous. The Queen's Own Rifle Brigade — a Toronto volunteer corps — the Thirteenth Battalion of Hamilton, and the York and Caledonia volunteers, under command of Colonel Booker, concentrated on Friday evening, June 1st, at Port Colljorne, at the Lake Erie entrance to the Welland Canal. Colonel Peacock, with a thousand volunteers and seven hundred and fifty regulars, with a battery of artillery, took post, late the same night, at the historic village of Chip- pewa, near the Falls of Niagara. Early on Saturday morning Colonel Booker's force, igno- rant of O'Neil's whereabouts, were conveyed by train to Ridgeway, and thence advancp'l towards Limeridge, with 150 FIGHT AT tllDGfiWAY. [1866 the intention of joining Peacock's command. About eight o'clock they discovered the enemy securely posted among the trees on a rising ground. The volunteers pressed the enemy steadily back for more than a mile under a heavy fire. Some mounted Fenians now came in sight, and under the apprehension that a force of cavalry was at hand, the order was given to form squares. The skirmishers, having exhausted their ammunition, also retired on their supports. This double movement threw the volunteer troops into con- fusion, soon converted into a retreat, which, however, was gallantly covered b, the Queen's Own and the Thirteenth Battalion, who kept up a steady fire on the advancing enemy. In this disastrous affair seven Toronto volunteers were killed. The Fenians at once retreated on Fort Erie. Colonel Dennis meanwhile had occupied the village ot Fort Erie with a force of seventy men, conveyed in a tug- boat from Port Col borne, and had captured the Fenian guard of sixty men. These he confined on board the tug- boat, which was employed to patrol the river and prevent the arrival of Fenian reinforcements. Colonel Dennis' handful of men was in turn overpowered by O'Neil's command, more than tenfold his number, which had now returned. It captured forty and wounded thirteen of the volunteers, b^it not till the latter had inflicted a loss of five killed and several wounded on the enemy. O'Neil was now anxious, with his misguided dupes, to escape, however ignominiously, from the country he had so wantonly invaded. He tliei-efore, during the darkness, stole across the river with the bulk of his force in canal boats, tugs, skiffs, and every available means of transport. His own pickets, and all his Canadian prisoners, were left behind. On Sunday morning Colonel Peacock's advance guard marched into Fort Erie, but only in time to capture a number of Fenian stragglers. That Sabbath day was one of ui\ wonted excitement throughout Canada. In many of the churches bulletins announcing the names of the killed and wounded were read from the pulpits. Towards evening the city of Toronto was moved by a common sorrow as it never was moved before, as the bodies of her slaughtered sons were received in silence by an irr.mense concourse of people. Two days [1866 eight imong 3d the heavy under d, the having sports, o con- jr, was •teenth ancing mteers Fort lage of a tug- Fenian he tug- )revent lowered , which hi r teen d a loss ipes, to had so ^rkness, n canal msport. ere left idvance capture tement ulletins re read Toronto moved eceived o days 1866] REPULSE OF INVASION. 151 later they were borne, amid the mourning of a multitude, to their early graves. The country was now thoroughly aroused. The volun- teers were called out in force, and were massed at conven- ient centres from which to move to whatever point seemed menaced with attack. At the military depots long railway trains, laden with batteries of artillery, and with shot, shell and other war materiel, stood on the sidings awaiting, with steam up, the summons to the point of danger. Hundreds of Canadian youth employed in the United States threw up their engagements, and hastened home to defend their native land. Several points on the frontier were threatened with inva- sion. A large body of Fenians assembled at Ogdensburg, as if for a dash across the St. Lawrence and a raid upon the capital. But regular and volunteer troops, rapidly massed at Prescott, and a gunboat which patrolled the river, effectually prevented an attack. The would-be invaders now moved eastward to Malone, opposite Cornwall; but a force of three thousand Canadian troops at the latter point made them prudently desist from their designs. The spirited remonstrance of the British minister at Washington compelled the United States Gov- ernment at length to interfere and restrain this wanton violation of international right and comity. General Meade, an able and honest United States officer, seized a large quantity of Fenian arms, ammunition and military stores at Ogdensburg, and effectually paralyzed the movements of the marauders. Oi> the 8th of June, however, "General" Spear, with some two thousand Fenian ruffians, crossed the frontier near St. Alban's, and took up a position three miles from the border. They forthwith began to plunder and ravage the neighbourhood, but the prompt rally of the Canadian forces compelled them to retreat precipitately to the shelter- ing territory of the United States, where they were dis- armed and dispersed by General Meade. So ended in ignominy and disgrace to all its actors, aiders and abettors, the wanton and unprovoked Fenian invasion of Canada. The result was not an unmixed evil. The ex- pense to the country of the transport and maintenance of troops — of whom forty thousand volunteers alone were at 152 LAST PAIIUAMENT Ot* OLD CANADA. [1866 one time under arms — and the cost of guarding its exten- sive frontier, was great. The sacrifice of precious lives was irreparable and lamentable ; but the glow of patr'iotic en- thusiasm which was kindled in the hearts of the people made the country realize its strength, and developed a na- tional feeling that was a guarantee of its ability to .assume the new and important national duties to which it was about to be summoned. On the same day that the gallant Hochelaga Voltigeurs were repelling invasion from the eastern frontier (June 8th), the Legislature of the country was opened in the new parlia- ment buildings at Ottawa. Resolutions were passed defin- ing the constitutions of Upper and Lower Canada, in furtherance of the scheme of confederation ; and on the 18th of August, the last Parliament of the old Canadian provinces was prorogued. CHAPTER XXXVIL CONFEDERATION ACCOMPLISHED. The British North America Act passes the Imperial Parliament, March 28th— Provisions of the New Constitution— Inauguration of the New Dominion, July 1st— 1867. Sir John Young, Governor-General vice Lord Monck— Anti-Confederation Agitation in Nova Scotia— "Better Terms" granted— 1868. In the maritime provinces the tide of popular feeling had now turned strongly in favour of confederation. In New Brunswick the anti-confederation Government was com- pelled to resign, and a new Parliament, elected with express reference to this question, declared decidedly for it. In Nova Scotia, Mr. Howe's eloquence in condemnation of the scheme lost its spell, and his opposition in the lobbies of the Imperial Parliament proved equally futile. The Canadian and maritime delegates met in London, and slightly molli- fied the provisions of the Quebec Resolutions, chiefly in the direction of increasing the subsidies to the local govern- ments. [1866 exten- es was tic en- people a na- issume was :igeurs e 8th), 3arlia- defin- da, in on the nadian it, March V OF THE •General Scotia— ing had n New is coni- express it. In L of the 3 of the madian y morli- efly in govern- 1867] bhitish north America act. 153 On the 7th of Februaiy, the Earl of Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, introduced the British North America Act into the House of Lords. After slight modification in the House of Commons, it successfully passed through its different stages, and received the royal assent and became the law of the empire. The Canada Railway Loan Act empowered the Imperial Government to guarantee a loan of three million pounds sterling for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway, now become a political, as well as a commercial and military necessity for the prosperity of the new nationality. The Act of Union provided that the Dominion of Canada, as the new nation was named, should consist of the pro- vinces of Upper and Lower Canada (designated respectively Ontario and Quebec), and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Provision was also made for the future admission of Prince Edward Island, the Hudson's Bay TerritoT-y, British Colum- bia, and Newfoundland with its dependency, Labrador. The following are the chief provisions of the new con- stitution : The executive authority is vested in the Queen, in whose name run all legislative Acts, civil processes, and naval and military proclamations. The Queen's representative in Canada is the Governor- General, who is advised and aided by a Privy Council of thirteen members, constituting the ministry, who must be sustained by a parliamentary majority. The Parliament consists of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Commons. The Senate was at first to be composed of 72 members — 24 for each of the three divisions, Ontario, Quebe:;, and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The House of Commons, as first constituted, consisted of 181 members; 82 for Ontario, 65 for Quebec, 19 for Nova Scotia, and 16 for New Brunswick. The House of Commons is elected for five years unless sooner dissolved. It elects its own Speaker, who can vote only when the House is equally divided. All bills affecting taxation or revenue must originate in the House of Com- mons, and must be recommenddd by a message from the Governor-General. The jurisdiction of the Dominion Parliament extends over 11 154 THE NEW CONSTITUTION." [1867 the public debt, expenditure and public loans; treaties; cus- toms and excise duties ; trade and commerce ; navigation, shipping and fisheries ; lighthouses and harbours ; the postal, naval and military services; public statistics; monetary institutions, banks, banking, currency, coining, and insol- vency; criminal law, marriage and divorce ; public works, railways and canals. The appointment and maintenance of the Judges of the Superior, District, and County Courts of the several pro- vinces, is the prerogative and duty of the Governor in Council. The chief executive officer of the several provinces is the Lieutenant-Governor, who is appointed by the Governor- General in Council, acting for the Crown, for the term of five years. The local legislatures were granted constitutions agreeable to the wishes of the respective provinces. The legislature of Ontario consists of only one chamber, the Legislative Assembly. It was constituted at first with eighty-two members, which number was afterwards increased to ninety, who are elected for four years. The other local legislatures consist of two chambers, a Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. The Acts of the local legislatures may be disallowed by the Governor- General, for sufficient reason, within a year after they have passed. The local legislatures have jurisdiction over direct taxa- tion; provincial loans; the appointment and maintenance of provincial officers ; the management of provincial lands, prisons, hospitals and asylums; municipal institutions; local improvements; education; and matters affecting property and civil rights. On the 1st of July, 1867, the Act of Confederation came into force, and the Dominion of Canada set forth on its high career. Lord Monck was sworn in as the Governor- General of the confederated provinces. Sir N. F. Belleau became Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, and Major-General Doyle, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. In July, 1868, the Hon. L. A. Wilmot was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, .and the Hon. W. P. Howland, Lieu- tenant-Governor of Ontario.* * The first Privy Council of the Dominion consisted of the following: members:— Hon. A. F. J. Blair, President; Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, Minister of Justice; [1867 ties ; cus- vigation, le postal, nonetary tid insol- c works, of the eral pro- '^ernor in ces is the Srovernor- term of ititutions chamber, first with increased imbers, a The Acts jrovernor- :hey have ect taxa^ ntenance ial lands, ons; local property ion came bh on its Srovernor- , Belleau '-General ily, 1868, jrovernor id, Lieu- 1868] "BETTER terms" GR.\NTED NOVA SCOTIA. 156 The elections for the Dominion Parliament and for the several local legislatures took place during tlio summer. The Dominion Parliament met at Ottawa for the transac- tion of business on the 7th of November. In the following November, Lord Monck, having wit- nessed the successful inauguration of the new constitution of the confedei'ated provinces, was succeeded in office by Sir John Young. Considerable dissatisfaction with the terms of union soon began to be manifested in the province of Nova Scotia. The annual subsidy from the Dominion Government was found inadequate for the civil expenses of the government. A strong anti-confederation agitation was therefore kept up, and a petition was forwarded to the British Parliament re- questing the repeal of the British North America Act so far as it concerned Nova Scotia. The Imperial Parliament refused to entertain the proposition of a repeal of the union, but counselled a compromise with the recalcitrant province. The Dominion Government offered a liberal readjustment of terms with Nova Scotia, and an additional annual sub- sidy was granted. Mr. Howe withdrew his opposition and accepted office in the Dominion Government as President of the Executive Council. During this year the Abyssinian war, which had been conducted with great skill and success by General Napier, was brought to a close by the fall of Magdala and death of King Theodore, on the 13th of April. Hon, H. S. Lane Iiighly nfederary, ction over Kon's Bay sly-signed settle ment soliciting llKL Rehkl- anized, Fob- rovolt— Tho s Red River on— Histx)ry nunc— 1871. ie British ion's Bay ial rights ditions of to receive the sum of £.^00,000 sterling in money, and grants of livnd around its trading posts to the extent of fifty thousand acres in all. In addition it is to receive, as it shall \h) surveyed and laid out in townships, one-tw(nitieth of all the land in th(5 great fertile belt south of the north branch o'f the Saskatchc^wan. It retains also the privilege of trade, but without its fornuir exclusive monopoly.* Unliappily, jealousies werci awakened among the settlers lest this movtMiient should in some way prejudice their title to their land. StJptember, 1869, the ilon. William Mac- dougall proceeded to Jled liiver in order to assume tho duties of Governor of the North-west Teri'itory so soon as tho cession should take place, lie was met near the fron- tier by a band of armed men, and compcilled to retreat across the border to Pembina. An insurrectionary council was creat(5d, with John Bruce as its presid(»nt and Louis Kiel as secretary, although the latter was really the leading spirit of the movement. The insurgents took forcible possession of Fort Garry, a stone-walled inclosure contain- ing the valuable storec of the Hudson's Bay Company, and made a number of illegal arrests, over sixty in all. Tiie temporary success of the revolt seems to have com , ^^A pletely turned the heads of its leaders. A provisiona government was created, of which Kiel contrived to have himself elected president (February, 1870). Kiel had now an armed force of some six hundred men under his control, and carried things with a high hand in the settle- ment, arresting wiiomsoever he would, confiscating public and private property, and banishing from the country persons obnoxious to himself. Among these was Major J^oulton, a Canadian militia officer, who, after a sunnnary trial by a rebel tribunal, was sentenced to be shot, but was afterward reprieved. Less fortunate was Thomas Scott, a V)rave and loyal man, who, after a mock trial V a rebel court-martial, was sentenced to be shot at noon the following day. In spite of the remonstrance and intercession of the Kev. George Young, the Wesleyan missionary at Winnipeg, who attended the prisoner in his last hours, and of Mr. Commissioner Smith, the cruel sentence of this illegal and ♦ The price paid for this iiiajjriiificont territory aniounta to only one-sixth of a cent per acre, or one-fifteenth the amount paid per acre by the United States for frozen Alaska, 160 BRITISH COLUMBIA. self -constituted tribunal was carried into execution amid circumstances of much barbarity. The tidings of this assassination produced intense excite- ment throughout Canada, especially in the Provincr of Ontario. Measures were promptly taken by the Imperial and Dominion authorities, conjointly, for maintaining the supremacy of the Queen in the North-west. Colonel Garnet Wolseley, afterwards distinguished as the successful commander of the British troops in Egypt, or- ganized a military expedition to suppress the insurrection. A body of twelve hundred men, chiefly volunteer militia from both Ontario and Quebec, proceeded by way of Fort William and Kainy Lake and Hiver to Fort Garry. All tlie military stores and provisions, and the large and heavy boats, had to be borne with incredible labour over numerous portages, often long, and steep, and rugged. On the 24th of August the little army reached its destination, only to lind that Riel and his fellow-conspirators had fled from Fort Garry. The British troops immediately occupied the fort, and to the gre; joy of the loyal inhabitants, the Queen's authority was again acknowledged as supreme. On the 3rd of September, the Hon. A. G. Archibald ari'ived and .assumed the functions of Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Archi- bald was shortly after succeeded as Lieutenant-Go\ernor by the Hon. Chief Justice Morris. In the early part of 1871, the Pacific province of British Columbia wao admitted into the Dominion of Canada. The previous history of that colony is soon told. In 17G2, Cap- tain Vancouver visited and partially explored the islands lying off the North Pacific coast, and gave his name to the largest of the group. In 1849, Vancouver's Island became a Crown colony, ^nd Sir James Douglas, the local agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, became its first Governor. The contemporaneous discovery of gold attracted thither thousands of Canadian and American gold hunters. In 1858, between twenty and thirty thousand men were dig- ging on the terraced slopes of the Frazer and its tributaries. As a firm local government was necessary for the mainten- ance of order among the mixed and often reckless popu- lation, British Columbia was organized a separate Crown colony. In 1866, Vo^ncouver's Island was reunited with )n amid excite- nncr of [mperial ling the d as the gypt, or- rrection. militia of Fort ry. All id heavy lumerous the 24th I, only to led from fort, and Queen's On the I'ived and r. Ai'chi- Governor f British .da. The 7G2, Cap- e islands ne to the I became agent of rovernor. 1 thither bers. In vere dig- butaries. mainten- 'ss popu- Crown ted with 1871] FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR. 161 British Columbia, and on the 20th of -July, 1871, that colony was incorporated with the Dominion of Canada. It was granted a representation in the Dominion Senate of three members, and six members in the House of Commons. The chief condition of the union was the construction within ten years of a railway connecting the tide waters of the Pacific Ocean with the railway system of Ontario and Quebec — a gigantic undertaking, afterwards found imprac- ticable within the allotted time. Contemporaneously with this national growth and devel- opment, stirring events were shaking the European conti- nent to which we could not in Canada be indifferent. The declaration of war against Germany by the Emperor of the French, in 1870, was speedily followed by the invasion of France, and the successive defeat of the French armies in tlio sanguinary conflicts of Woerth, Gravelotte and Sedan. The Emperor becoming a prisoner of war, the Empress fled to England, and France was declared a republic. The vic- torious German armies pressed remorselessly on to the siege of Paris. Amid frost, and famine, and fire, amid desperate sorties and gallant resistance, the doomed city held out till January 23rd, 1871, when it succumbed to the awful bom- bardment and relentless siege of the ememy. On the 1st of March, the conquering army marched into the captured capital, and inflicted, as the price of their evacuation of France, the penalty of the excessive indemnity of 5,000,- 000,000 francs. No sooner was the strong hand of the Germans removed than the terrible rising of the Commune took place. For three months the Republican army of France besieged its own capital, and in fratricidal conflict fought its way through scenes of slaughter, blood and flame, to the possession of the city. A dreadful retaliation followed the stubborn re- sistance and wanton destruction of property by the frenzied Commune, in the wholesale execution of the defeated fac- tion by their victorious fellow-countrymen. These tragical events were the cause of profound sympathy in Canada, and considerable sums of money were contributed by its French and German inhabitants for the relief of the wounded of their respective countries. ( 162 ) CHAPTER XL. FALL OF THE MACDONALD MINISTRY. Thk Alabama Claims— The Fishery Question — The Washington Treaty concluded, May 8th— 1871. Lord Duffcrin, Governor- General —Canadian Pacific Railway Companies organized— 1872, Prince Edward Island enters the Dominion, July 1st— "Pacific Railway Scandal" controversy— The Macdonald Ministry be. signs, November 5th— 1873. The question of the liability of Great Britain for the immense damage done to American commerce by the depre- dation of the Alabama, Florida, and other Confederate cruisers sailing from British ports, was the occasion of intense and prolonged discussion in the United States. The political irritation found vehement expression in the public press, on the platform, and even in the pulpit. Another cause of international difficulty also existed. During the continuance of the Reciprocity Treaty, the deep sea and inshore fisheries of the British North American coast were freely thrown open to American fishermen by the conditions of the treaty. On the suspension of recipro- city, of course that privilege ceased. Yet the Americans continued to claim the right of fishing in British waters. In order to remove as far as possible these causes of irrita- tion, a joint high commission, composed of eminent states- men of both nations, met at Washington in the month of February, 1871. The result of the negotiations was ex- pressed by the "Washington Treaty, concluded on the 8th of May. The Alabama claims were jointly referred to a board of arbitration appointed by friendly powers, which awarded $15,000,000 to the United States. The fisheries of both Canada and the United States were thrown open to either country. A money compensation (afterwards settled at $5,500,000) was, however, to be paid to Canada in con- sideration of the superior value of her fisheries. In the month of December, 1871, tlie Hon. John Sand- field Macdonald, in consequence of a vote of the Ontario Legislature adverse to tlie policy of the Government, in appropriating $1,500,000 for railroad subsidies without W] 1872] CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 1G3 SHINOTON Governor- ze(I-1872. Pacific IflSTBY BE. for the le depre- ifoderate asion of . States. II in the it. existed, the deep American rmen by I recipro- inericans I waters, of irrita- it states- nonth of was ex- ile 8th of ) a board awarded of both to either ittled at L in con- hn Sand- Ontario nient, in without taking a vote on the appropriations to the several roada^ resigned the premiership into the hands of Mr. Edward Bhike.* Among the important measures of the session was one disallowing the practice of dual representation, that is, the occupancy of seats by the same person in both the Dominion and local parliaments. In consequence of this, Mr. Bla]se yielded the ollice of premier to the Hon. Oliver Mo vn.t, who resigned his position on the bench in order to entCx again into political life. In the month of June following, the Earl of Dufferin iQ^je) succeeded Zlr John Young (now Lord Lisgar) as Governor-Ger>eral. Ke brought with hiin a distin- guished reputation a,s a statesman and man of letters, and by the urbanity oi his manners won a very remarkable degree of popular fa ^^our. He promptly identified himself with every interest oi the country which was calculated to promote its happiness and welfare. The construction of a Canadian Pacific Railway across the continent was one of the conditions of the entrance of British Columbia into the Dominion. For the purpose of procuring the contract for this gigantic undertaking, two rival companies obtained incorporation — the " Canada Pacific," with Sir Hugh Allan, principal proprietor of the Canadian steamship line, at its head ; and the " Inter- Oceanic," with the Hon. Senator Macpherson as its presi- dent. A subsidy of $30,000,000, and a grant of fifty million acres of land in alternate blocks along the line of railway, were also to be given to the company constructing the road. A charter was at length granted (February 19th) to a ,j>-o iiew "Canada Pacific Railway Company." The p.e- sident was Sir Hugh Allan, and among the directors, seventeen in number, were members of both the former companies, and representative men from the different pro- ♦ The Hon. Edward Blake is the son of tlie late Hon. Wni. Hume Blake, a gentle- man of ffiiod Irish family, whohocanie Solicitor-f [1873 vinces of the Dominion, together with several leading American capitalists. Parliament met on the 6th of March. The (Tovernment had a good working majority. Early in the session grave charges were preferred against the ministry by Mr. Hun- tington, the member for Shefford. They were accused of malfeasance of office in connection with the granting of the Pacific Railway charter. A committee of investigation was appointed, with authority to examine witnesses on oath. In Quebec, Mr. Caron became Lieutenant-Governor, vice Sir N. Belleau ; and in New Brunswick, Mr. Tilley succeeded Mr. Wilmot. On the 1st of July, 1873 (Dominion Day), Prince Edward Island was admitted into the Canadian confederacy. It received a representation in the House of Commons of six members, and in the Senate, of four members. During the recess of Parliament certain correspondence between Sir Hugh Allan and some American capitalists, which was published in the newspapers, seemed to inculpate the Government in what was now known as the " Pacific Scandal." The burden of the charge was that the Govern- ment had received from Sir Hugh Allan and American capitalists, in consideration for granting them the Pacific Railway Charter, large sums of money to be used in carry- ing the elections in the interest of the Ministerial party. When Parliament met on the 13th of August, the com- mittee of investigation failed to report, as the Imperial Government had on legal grounds disallowed the Oaths Bill, under which it was authorized to receive sworn testimony. A royal conmiission was appointed by the Governor- General, to receive the testimony of sworn witnesses on the charges against the Government. Parliament met again on the 23rd of October to receive the report of the royal commission, presenting the unpre- cedented circumstance of being in session three times within five months. The report of the commissioner^, was confined to a statement of matters of evidence, without expressing any judicial opinion upon the subject. Mr. Mackenzie, the leader of the Opposition, moved a resolution of censure on the Government. The debate continued for seven days. At length, without waiting for the House to come to a vote, Sir John A. Macdonald announced the resignation of his cabinet, November 5th. [1873 leading jrnment )n grave Ir. Hun- cused of ig of the tion was oath, •nor, vice ucceeded Edward acy. It ns of six pondence ipitalists, inculpate " Pacific e Govern- A.mericaii le Pacific in carry- party, the corn- Imperial »aths Bill, estimony. jrovernor- les on the bo receive le unpre- les within i confined xpressing 3nzie, the snsure on ^en days, to a vote, 3n of his ( 165 ) CHAPTER XLI. THE MACKENZIE ADMINISTRATION. The Mackenzie Ministry— 187?. New Pacific Railway Act— Govern- ment empowered to Construct the Road — Qu'Appellk Treaty CONCLUDED WITH NORTII-WEST INDIANS— 1874. MOUNTED POLICE OliOANIZED IN NORTn-WEST TERRITORY— 1875. CANADA AT THE Centennial Exhibition— 1876. Meeting of the Fishery Commis- sion at Halifax— Groat Fire at St. John, Juno 20th— 1877. Mb. Mackenzie was called upon to form a new govern- ■ic>fjA nient, which he speedily did."* During the Christmas recess the House was dissolved, January 3rd. The nominations, with few exceptions, took place on January 22ncl, and the elections one week later. It was the first election for the Dominion Parliament at which voting, ex- cept in a few outlying constituencies, was simultaneous. An administration which had the honour of guiding the early fortunes of the new confederation of provinces, which had exhibited marked ability, and had rendered distin- guished service to the country, received the condemnation of a large proportion of the constituencies, especially of those in the province of Ontario. It was claimed that in a House of two hundred and six members, three-fourths were sup- porters of the new administration. The session was a short but busy one. Sir Hugh Allan finding himself unable, on behalf of the Pacific Railway * It was constituted ag follows :— Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, Minister of Public Works; Hon. A. A. Dorion, Minister of Justice; Hon. Kdward Blakc, Member of Privy Council; Hon. Albert J. Smith, Minister of Marine and Fisheries; Hon, L. de St. Just, Minister of Aj,'riculture and Stjvtistics; Hon. II. J. Cartwri},'ht, Minister of Finance; Hon. David Lain!, Minister of the Interior; Hon. David Cliristie, Sec- retary of State; Hon. Isaac Hurpee, Minister of Customs; Hon. D. A. Macdonald, I*0!(tmaster-General ; Hon. Thomas Coffin, Receiver-General ; Hon. Telesphoru Four- nier. Minister of Inland Revenue; Hon. William Ross, Minister of Militia and De- fence ; Hon. L. S. Huntington, President of the Council. NoTK.— Mr. Mackenzie, the new premier, like many others of our public men, has been the architect of his own fortune. He was born near Dunkuld, Perthshire, in 1822. He received his early education in the pul)lic school of his native parish. Left an orphan at the a^e of fourteen, he earned his liviuK by tiie labour of his hands, while he continued his unremittinyr work of self-education. Ho emi- jrrated to Saruia, in Upper Canada, in 1842. He felt a strong interest in the struggle for responsible government in IiIh adopted country, and took an active part in the advocaoj' of lil»eral principles. In liS(>l he was elected member of Parliament for Lambton. which constituency he long coiititmed to re])rescnt. On the |)a88age of the Act disallowing dual representation, he resigned his seat in the Ontario Parlia- njent for that at Ottawa, where ho soon becanie the acknowledged leader of the Opposition. 166 ORGANIZATION OF NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. [1876 Company, to carry on the construction of tlic road, resigned the charter into the hands of the Government. A new Pacific R.ailway Act was therefore passed, empowering the Government to construct the road in sections, and to make use of the water stretclies on the route till the entire road could be completed. During the recess negotiations were carried on between Sir Edward Thornton, British minister at Washington, and the Hon. Geoi-ge Brown, representing Canada, and the Hon. Mr. Fisli, Secretary of the United States, for the renewal of a reciprocity treaty. On the 23rd of June a draft of a treaty, which had been approved by the Govern- ments of Great Bi-itain and Canada as the best that could be effected under the circumstances, although by no means so advantageous to Canadian interests as was desirable, was submitted by President Grant to the United States Senate "for advice." It was, however, ultimately vetoed by that body. Its failure caused little regret in Canada, so un- favourable were its conditions. In the North-west the Qu'Appelle treaty was concluded with the Indians having territorial rights between Fort Ellice and the South Saskatchewan, which, in consideration of generous reserves and annual presents, extinguished the Indian title to seventy-four thousand square miles, and pre- pared the way for the future settlement of this vast region. Previous treaties had ceded the whole of Manitoba and the Kewatin District. A considerable immigration of Men- nonites and Icelanders took place into the province of Manitoba. They received generous Goverimient aid and favourably situated grants of land. In 1876 provision was made for the separation of a por- tion of the North-west territory for administrative purposes, and for the creation of a new North-west Council, consisting of a Lieutenant-Governor and five members. That portion of the territory north and east of Manitoba was erected into the District of Kewatin, or " the North-land," and was placed under the jurisdiction o{ the Lieutenant-Governor of the "prairie province." Provision was also made for the ratifying of treaties with the Indian tribes, and for the encouragement of immigration into the territory. The United States Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia attracted large numbers of Canadian visitors. The position [1876 esigned A new ug the make re road )etween on, and nd tho or the June a lovern- t could means 3le, was Senate by that , so un- ncluded 3n Fort deration ihed the and pre- ; region, and the of Men- nnce of aid and I a por- urposes, •nsistinij portion ;ted into md was ernor of for the for the idelphia position 1877] FrSIIEUY COMMISSION. 107 occupied by Canada in that great industrial congress of tho nations was in the highest degree creditable to the skill and energy of her people, and was to multitudes an unexpected revelation of the extent and magnificence of her resources. Foremost of the provinces in variety, richness and beauty of exhibits was Ontario. Its educational department especially — with one exception, perhaps, by far the best in the vast palace of industry — challenged universal attention and admirtation. It is just ground for patriotic pride, that in this highest outcome of civilization our country takes tho lead of the world, and far surpasses many countries 'much older and richer in material wealth. The mechanical in- dustries and manufactures of Canada also commanded wide recognition, and in some cases extensive patronage. One of the most notable events of the year 1877 was the meeting of the Fishery Commission at Halifax. The treaty of Washington had thrown open the fisheries of the United States and Canada to each country for the term of twelve years ; the amount of compensation for the alleged superior value of the Canadian Fisheries to be decided by three com- missioners, — one chosen by each Government and the +hird by the two Governments jointly. This commission met at Halifax, N.S., June, 1877. The amount claimed by Canada was $14,880,000. After exhaustive examination of documentary and oral evidence, the sum of 85,500,000 was awarded to be paid by the United States. By this award the immense value of these fisheries was recognized. A great calamity in the month of June befel the Province of New Brunswick in the destruction by fire, on the 20th of June, of a large part of its flourishing seaport, St. John. Two-fifths of the city, or over sixteen hundred houses, occu- pying two hundred acres of ground, were consumed. The energy and enterprise of the merchants of St. John at once essayed the task of rebuilding their ruined city ; and soon, " like the pha'nix from its ashes," it rose fairer and more stately than before. ( 168) n CHAPTER XLII. VICE-ROYALTY OF THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. Oonoinl Elections— Now Conservative Government— Arrival of Marquis of Lome and Princess Louise— 1878. The *' National Policy "—1879. Pacific Railway Syndicate— 1880. Census Returns— 1881. The general elections of the year ltt78 took place on the 17th oi September. The result was the defeat of Mr. Mac- kenzie's Government by a very large majority. On the 16th of October, therefore, the Ministry resigned, and Lord Dufferin called upon Sir John A. Macdonald to form an Administration. This he succeeded in doing, and on the 18th his Cabinet was completed as shown below.* On October 19th, Lord Dufferin sailed from Quebec amid the universal regret of the people of Canada. This feeling was accompanied by one of gratification that they were to be succeeded in their high place by the Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louise. It was felt to be a pledge of the deep interest felt by Her Majesty the Quoen in the Dom- inion, that she chose to be represented among her Canadian subjects in the person of her daughter and of her son-in- law. On the 2 5 til of November, the Vice-regal party landed at Halifax. Their progress to Montreal and Ottawa was one continued ovation. On the opening of the new Parliament, February 14th, lb79, the most important clause of the Speech from the Throne was that which stated that the revenue of the country being insufficient to meet the charges against it, such a re-adjustment of the tariff would })e proposed as would, it was expected, restore the equilibrium between revenue and expenditure, and at the same time develop and encourage the various industries of the country — a fiscal system designated as the "National Policy." *Hon. John A. Macdonald, C.B., Minister of Interior; Hon. Samuel L Tilloy, C.B., Minister of Finance; Hon. Charles Tuppcr, C.B., Minister of Public Works ; Hon. J. H. Pope, Minister of Agriculture ; Hon. John O'Connor, Q.C., President of the Council ; lion. James Macdonald, Q.C., Minister of J^^tice ; Hon. Hector L. Lan^cvin, CD., Postmaster General ; Hon. L. R. F. Masson, Minister of Militia and Defence ; Hon. James C. Aikens, Secretary of State ; Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, Minister of Customs; Hon. J. C. Pop*, viiiiister of Marine anil Finheries; Hon. L. F. (}. Baby, Minister of Inland Uuvonue ; Hon. A. Campbell, Receiver-General ; Hon. R. D. Wilinot, President of the Senate. :» [arqiiis -1879. on the Mae- 11 the d Lord Drill an on the jc amid feeling ^^ere to : Lome of the le Dom- [inadian • son-in- ' landed .wa wa>3 T Uth, •om the of the binst it, osed as )etween lop and a fiscal L Tilley, ic Works ; •esident of Hector L. lilitia and e Bowell, 'ies; Hon. '-General ; ^H CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 1G9 On the 11th of March, the Ontario Legislature was dis- solved, and a new election took place. The results of the election showed that Mr. Mowat's Government was sustained by a large majority. In the Quebec Legislature, the Joly Ministry was de- feated, and Mr. Chapleau became the loader of a new ad- ministration. In the summer of 1880, Sir John A.. Macdonald an- nounced that his Government was contemplating the aban- donment of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Rail- way as a public work, and was negotiating with a number of capitalists for its construction by private contract. On tlie 16th of September, it was publicly announced that a contract had been made with capitalists of London, Paris, and America, for t' it purpose — the contract to be subject to the approval of i-*a- iament. Among its chief provisions were the followii (: iwat the Company should receive a subsidy in money of $25,000,000 and of 25,000,000 acres of land, in alterne'e sections of 640 acres cacli, extending back twenty-fc^r miles on each side of the railway. It was also granted pe. mission to import, free of duty, all materials required for the construction of the road. There were numerous other conditions and provisions, but the above- mentioned are the principal ones. This contract was rati- fied by Parliament by a large majority. The result of the decennial census of the Dominion in 1881 showed the population to be 4,324,810, divided as follows :— Ontario, 1,923,228; Quebec, 1,359,027; Nova Scotia, 440,572 ; New Brunswick, 321,233 ; Prince Edward Island, 108,891 ; Manitoba, 65,954 ; British Columbia, 49,- 459 ; and the Territories, 56,446. In the summer of 1882 a general election took place, the result of which showed that the Government was sus- tained by a large majority. The people of Canada followed with keenest interest the brilliant British campaign in Egypt, whereby the power of the usurping Arabi was broken, and the authority of the Khedive restored. The popular interest in the war was all the greater that the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces. Sir Garnet Wolseley, had won some of his earliest laurels in Canada by his intrepid march through the wilder- ness to the Red River in 1 870. 12 170 CANADIAN CONTINGENT IN EOYPT. [1884 In October, 1883, tho Marquis of Lome and IT. R. H. the Princess Louise took their h»ave of Canada amid the unniin<,ded regrets of the entire eonmiunity. CHAPTER XLIIL VICE-ROYALTY OF THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. Lord Lansdownc, Governor General, Oct. 22,-1883. Red River Rebellion — Airaira at I)\ick Lake, Fish Oeek, Cut Knife Oeek, Ratoche— Rebellion Suppressed— Completion of Canadian Paciflo Railway —1886. Queen's Jubilee— 1887. Lord Lansdowxe, the new Governor-General of Canada, arrived at Quebec, October 22nd, with loyal acclamation, and was sworn in the following day. During the year 1884, the people of Canada felt a pro- found interest in the expedition organized by the British Government for the suppression of the revolt of the Mfihdi in the Soudan, and the relief of General Gordon, shut up in Khartoum. At the invitation of General Wolseley, a force of 378 Canadian voyaijeurs, under command of Lieut.- Colonel F. C. Denison, enlisted for service in Egypt in con- veying British troops and stores up the Nile ; and accom- plished their task with distinguished success. The whole civilized world shared the feeling of horror and regret when the gallant Gordon fell a victim to treachery on the very eve of the relief of Khartoum. In the Province of Quebec a new ministry was formed under the premiersliip of tlie Hon. J. J. Ross. One of the most remarkable evidences of tlie progress of the Temj^orance reform was the number of counties and cities in wliich the Scott Act was adopted by popular vote — up to the close of 1885, sixty-two counties and five cities. Although in many cases the oiHcials whose duty it was to aid the enforcement of the Act were positively hostile to that enforcement, yet the weight of evidence goes to show that its operation tended greatly to restrain the sale of in- toxicating liquor, to drive the traffic into holes and corners, and thus to deprive it of its quasi-respectability. [1884 R. H. VVNE. Kobolllon ^ntocho— Kail way ^Janada, niation, t a pro- Ijiitish 3 Mahdi shut up seley, a : Lieut. - > in con- '. accom- e whole 3t when he very formed gress of ies and [ar vote e cities, was to stile to bo show e of in- jorners. 1885] NOUTII-WEST UEliELMON. 171 During the sunnnor of 1881, considcrahle uiuttoriiigs of discontent were iicard amoii*; the lialf-hicrds in the Sas- katchewan and Assiniboiiu^ territories. They complained that they W(»re unahle to obtain patents for lands which they had long occupied, and were, inck'cd, in danger of being dis})ossessed by land companies whose grants over- lapped their holdings. J5ut tlu.'ir complaints i)rought no redr(^ss. The very remoteness of tlu^ seat of government, and the divided responsibility of the departmcMital system, made more dithcult — or, at least less etHcic^nt — the adminis- tration of affairs over the vast regions stretching from the western boundaries of ]\Ianitol)a to the Rocky Mountains, and from the forty-ninth parallel to the northern limits of f>opulation — a region greater than the whole of Russia in Europe. The disaffected half-breeds invited Riel, who, after varied fortunes, had taken refuge among the Metis of INIontana, to return and champion their rights. During the fall of the year he addressed a series of meetings at the half-bi'ecd settlements, jind prepared a so-called Jjill of Rights, d(v mandinu tlie removal of their alleged grievances, Pendiui' the response from Ottawa to these demands, a Provisional Government was organized, with Riel at its head, and Gabriel Dumont, a bold and energetic half-breed, as his " Adjutant-General." On IMarch 18th, 1885, the rebels — for such their reckless acts now made them — seized the Government stores at Duck Lake, captured the Indian agent, cut the telegi'aph wires, and sent messengers to enlist the co-operation of the Indian tribes. To maintain order in all the vast region of the North- West, with a population of Indians estimated at over thirty thousand, there were live hundred Mountc>d Police. Major Crozier, with a force of about sixty police and forty volun- teers, advanced to Duck Lake to tak(5 charge of the Govern- ment stores ; they were intercepted two miles from Duck Lake by a force of Indians and half-breeds, about two hun- dred strong, under Gabriel Dumont. A collision occurred, and a fierce fight ensued, and fourteen of the volunteers and Police were killed. Riel now threw off all disguise, sum- moned Indians and half-breeds alike to revolt, and with only too disasti-ous success. The intelligence of these start- ling events produced an intense sensation throughout the 172 TRAnEDV AT FROG LAKE. [1885 country. Not sinco tho Fonian invasion in 1800 hn,(\ such patriotic enthusiasm been aroused. In a few days nearly four thousand volunteer troops were under at ins. Tho transport of so many men, horses, guns, stores, etc., a distance of two thousand miles from central Ontario, at an inclement season of the year, was one of no small diMiculty. There were several gaps in the Canadian Pacilic Railway north of Lake Superior, amounting in all to over ninety miles, over which the troops had to be conveyed in sleiglis, or, in some cases, marched through the snow and slush. Meanwhile tragical events were occurring in the far West. On Good Friday, April 3rd, the Indians at Frog Lake, wlio constituted Big Bear's })and, rose in revolt, and massacred, with peculiar atrocity, the two priests, Fathers Marchand and Fafard, together with Thomas Qu nn, Indian agent, John Delaney, farm instructor, John Gowanlock, and several others. Three of the settlers' wives, two of whom had been the horror-stricken spectators of their husbands' deaths, were carried captive to the Indian camp. Not till two months later were they finally rescued from their perilous imprisonment. Qu'Appelle station, three hundred and twenty-four miles west of Winnipeg, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, was made the first advance rendezvous of the troops, and thither brigade after brigade were forwarded as fast as they arrived from the East. General Middleton determined to march his main column from Qu'Appelle to Clarke's Crossing, on the South Saskatchewan. Another division rendezvoused two hundred miles west of Qu'Appelle station, at Swift Current, and made a dash across the prairie with a flying column for the relief of beleaguered Battleford. The march from Qu'Appelle to Batoche, the stronghold of the rebels, was two hundred and thirty miles ; from Swift Current to Battleford was one hundred and eight) miles. Over these vast distances every ounce of food and forage for man and beast, and all the multifarious supplies, stores, and ammunition for an army, had to be hauled over a prairie trail, when the roads were breaking up, and when the streams to be crossed were running with ice or swollen with the spring rains. On April Gth, in a blinding snow-storm, the main body of the North- West field force, about nine hundred and fifty [1885 1885] RELIEF OF nATTLEFOUD. 173 A such nearly \s, otc, D, at an llculty. laihvay ninety sloi<;hs, ah. r West. 0, who ssaored, irchanci agent, several ad been deaths, till two perilous ur miles ^ay, was [ thither arrived 3 march sing, on izvoused t Swift a flying ?hold of n Swift } miles, i forage , stores, over a d when swollen body of nd fifty strong, loft Fort Qu'Appelle. FJeven days' march brought thcun to Clarke's Crossing. 'I'Ihj troops wcsre impatient to push on to Matoclu', thirty-three miles from the Crossing, but it was ncicessary to wait for forage supplies, hospital stores, and the like, from Swift Current. Without waiting for the reinforc(unents expected by the st(!amer Northcote^ General Middletor decided to divide his column into two sections, and to move on the enemy simultaneously on l)oth sides of the river. On April 23rd both divisions advanced. About half way to liatoche, on the south l)ank of the river, was a deep and rugged ravine, destined to become historic as Fish Creek. Here an advance force of the rebels was con- cealed. A conflict began which continued for several hours. The volunteers were almost without cover, and suffered severely, no less than ten being killed and about forty wounded out of about three iiundred and lifty men under fire. For a fortnight there was an enforced cessation of hostili- ties in order that the wounded might receive proper atten- tion, and that General Middleton might accumulate a suffi- cient store of supplies, and obt.ain the reinforcements and artillery that were daily expected to arrive by the Northcote from Swift Current. At Battleford, meanwhile, were crowded some six hun dred refugees, two-thirds of tliem being women and children. Week after week they looked eagerly for the relief which, in spite of innumerable difficulties, was hastening to their rescue. At nightfall, on April 23rd, the relief column ar- rived and the refugees within the stockaded fort hailed with joy their deliverers. The troops spent a few days throwing up earthworks and strengthening the defences of the fort. To prevent the flames of Indian revolt from spreading like flres in the prairie grass, it was resolved to strike a blow at Pound- maker's camp. His "braves" had wantonly pillaged the settlers' houses far and wide, and it was feared that they mi*rht effect a junction with Kiel's main body at Batoche. On May 1st, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Colonel Otter, with a flying column three hr dred strong, left Battleford in waff'ons or on horses, and v the light of the full moon pressed on all night to Poundmaker's camp. At live o'clock next morning, just after crossing Cut Knife Creek, which 174 CAPTUllE OF 1]AT0(J11E. [1885 runs through a wooded ravine, they met the enemy on an open upland slope. Under tlie concentrated tire of Indian sharpshooters, the troops suffered severely. The continuous roar of the Gatling and the scream of the shells seemed, how- ever, to intimidate the enemy. But the mountings of the g'lns' unfortunately gave way, and they soon proved useless in the fight. The troops, after fighting from dawn to noca without food, were compelled to retreat. By ten o'clock at night Battleford was reached — the six hours' tiglit and the march of seventy miles having been effected within thirty hours. Our loss, unfortunately, was heavy — eight killed and twelve wounded. We left General Middloton's command chafing at the diilay caused by waiting for the arrival of the Northcoie v/ith much needed supplies and annnunition. The progress o'i: the steamer down the river from Swift Current was very tedious. She v/as heavily laden, and the water in the river was low. At length, on May oth, she reached Clarke's Crossing. General INliddleton, on the 7th of May, with his entire force — now numbering about a thousand men and six hundred horses, with four guns and a Gatling — marched along the right bank of tlie Saskatchewan, the Northcote advancing simultaneously on tlie river. The following night they encamped about eight miles from Batoche, the rebel stronghold. The village lay in an eUiptical basin, with numerous lateral ravines, whicli offered good cover for th{; rebels. Concentric liiies of rifie-oits amonuj the brushwood also made a formidablt^ (hjfence. For three days a desulto!"y and ineffective iire was kept up. The rebels refused to come out of tlujir trenches, and the Genei'al, careful of the lives of his citizen soldiers, refused to allow the troops to charge. On Tuesday, May 1 1 th, tiie sharp-shooting was renewed with visour. After a hastv meal in the trendies, the Gen- eral ordered an advance in force of the whole line, now extended along a front of a mile and a half. Siimiltaneously the Midl.inders, Gi'enadiers, and 90th, with fixed hayontits, rushed down the slopes, heedless of the fire from the riHe- pits. Tlie enemy, speedily demoralized, everywhere gave way. In a few minutes the ri tie-pits were reached and cleared, and tlie gallant volunteeis w(;re in hot pursuit of the retreatinjj rebels. liito the village they rushed, eager [1885 y on an Indian tinuous eel, how- s of the us(;less to noGii clock at and the n thirty killed at the Vorthcote progress was very tlie river (Clarke's witli his 1 and six marched N^orthcole ing niglit bhe rebel ;in, with ' for tli(5 •u si I wood iesultory fused to Lil of the troops to renewed the Gen- ne, now aneously )ayon(!ts, tlje riHo- ere gave hed and irsuit of id, eager 1885] COLLAPSE OF THE llEIiELLION. 175 to save the prisoners. Among tlie foremost was the gallant Captain French, who fell, pierced tlirough tlie heart, in an upper room of Batoclie's house. Another otlicer, since de- ceased, Colonel Williams, of the INIidlanders, wrenching open a trap-door, found, pallid and gaunt, nine white prisoners. In this charge, live volunteers were slain and twenty-two wounded. Only the leaders in the rebellion were put under arrest ; the others were dismissed to their homes and supplied with food. Kiel and Dumont both escaped. A few days later, on the 15th, Kiel surrenderetl to a scouting party, but Dumont got safely over the border into Montana. At Calgary, one hundred and ninety-four miles south of Edmonton, and eight Imndred and forty miles west of Win- nipeg, Major-General Strange, a retired JJritish oliicer, who had seen much service, was entrusted with the command. He promptly raised a body of scouts among the cow-boys and frontier-men, and was soon joined by volunteers to the num- ber of about twe^lve hundred men. Innnediately after the Frog Lake massacre, a Hying column was pushed forward to Edmonton and thence down the North Saskatchewan to Fort Pitt, and etiectually extinguished the llame of what threatened to be a wide-spread Indian revolt. In the meantime. General Middk^ton, with th(i bulk of his command, pressed on to the relief of Prince Albert and Battleford. Shortly after Poundmaker and his band sur- rendered, and an expedition was organized for the pursuit of Big Jiear, who had in his camp over sixty white prisoners. Most of these were soon rescued, and the wandering chief, fairly starved into submission, at last surrendercsd. The campaign was now ended. The gallant volunteers, who, aided by a few hundred IVIounted Police and men of the Infantry School, had suppressed a rebellion extending over many hundreds of miles, of often rugged and ditlicult country, in which many hundreds of bold, vigorous, and valorous lialf-breeds and Indians were engaged, might now return home. The dill'erent columns which, from bases lying hundreds of ndles apart, by forced marches, had reached this outpost of civilization, each lighting nK'anwhih; a vigorous campaign, embarked together on steamers on the Saskatchewan, and were rapidly trans])oi'te(l to the East. The trial of Kiel and his companions in his ill-starred 176 COMPLETION OF THE C. P. RAILWAY. [1885 revolt ooeried at Regina, the capital of tho North-West Territories, on July 28th. Striking evidence was given as to his insanity, but on August 1st the verdict of " guilty " was rendered, and, after successive reprieves, he suffered the extreme penalty of the law at Regina, November 16th. The execution of Riel produced an intense sensation among his French-Canadian co-religionists. In Montreal and else- where tumultuous meetings were held, accompanied by riotous processions and the burning in effigy of the Premier of tlie Dominion. Of happier omen was a contemporary event in tho North- West — the driving of the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway (November 7th). Thus was brought to completion an enterprise of the higliest importance to the material and political welfare of the Dominion. Never had an under- taking of so great magnitude been carried on with such remarkable rapidity and success. By its completion a great trans-continental highway was opened between the com- mercial interests of Europe and those of Eastern Asia much more direct and expeditious than any before existing. As a military factor it contributes greatly to the unity of the British Empire throughout the world. During 1886 the principal event oi importance was tho dissolution of the Ontario Assembly toward the close of tho year. After a short but very exciting campaign the Mowat Government was sustained by an increased majority, De- cember 28th, 1886. Early in the following year the Do nin- ion Parliament was dissolved, and a gentjral election took place, February 22nd. The Conservative Government \ as sustained, though with a decreased majority. The relations between the United States and Canada be- came somewhat strained on account of fishery disputes. An international com;.\ission was appointed in Septeml)er, 1887, for the settlement of the fishery and international (juestions. Considerable public discussion took place with reference to a policy of unrestricted trade reciprocity between the two countries. The most conspicuous event of the year throughout tho British Empire wa-^ the celebration of the Jubilee year of the Queen. Never was seen more patriotic enthusiasm than that manifested in the many and varied celebrations, not only at the heart of tho Empire, but also throughout ita remotest dependencies. *i nary I' Froiul [1885 h-West iven (in juilty " uflered mr 16th. among nd else- iit;d by 'remier North- Pacilic iipletion rial and uiider- th sucli I a great he coni- rn Asia 3xisting. unity of was tho se of tho 3 Mowat 'ity, De- I Do nin- ion took lent \ as nada be- tes. An er, 1887, uestions. 3 nee to a the two lOut tho year of Lsm tlian LOUS, not rhout its PRONUNCIATION OF PEOrEli NAMES/ Abenaquis .... Ab-en-a'h-kee. Acadie, or \ A'k-ah-dee, or Acadia . . . / Ak-a'de-a. Aix-la Cha- 1 *.| i u u i\ pdle I Aiks-lah-shape 1. AUjonquin .... Al-gr)n*''-kaii«. ) (or, -om). Aubrey O'bree. Bandet B5-ddy. Bikimc Bay-a'rn. Jieaul^nssin .... lio-bass-a'n*. Jieauharnoia . . . Bo-har-nwa'w. Jieauport Bo-po're. Beau S; everywhere denotuH tlje hard Hound qf that letter, asj in yo ; zh UuDotos the ttound o( i iu azur<}. 178 PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES, Duche,meau . . . DM-she- o', Dupuys Dw-pwo'e. 1)U PleSHM .... Dm l'l(!8S-«'f;. Jht Que/me .... l)/i Kiii'ii. IJulac lies \ Dulali Jaib Ormtaux. . ] Oniio, Duvantye Du-van-ti. FotUainehkau . Fon«-tain-blo'. Ctobarus Oab-ah-roo's. .^ ,. M "i (ial-ees-on^-ne- (rdltssonniere V . , J til I • Oenesee Jeu-C-se'e. Ghent (ialiii«. Gruyart (jrw-e-yar. Ihhert A-l)ai'r. Heiim'jnn Hen-nf'-pan**. IIochela\i':i'-ttham. Ai: ntmao. t-fwaw. ; Pe-air'. ■ah-ko-nah. /^e-saut. im'say. trekt. rew'-ce-ye. i«-tiih-(U)o'r. rah-za'h-neo poot-ohee, may-ree'-go) an-Jo't. OUTLINE History of Canadian fitcrature. By G. MERCER ADAM. CONTENTS. PAOB iNTKODUCTOJtY 179 French Ukoime:— The Discoverers, E.aiiy MisHionarics, and T^x- plorers 1811 Later B'rench-Canadian Literature 197 Bhitibh Ueqime :— Tlie Fur Traders and the Literature of the Noith-West 203 Early Colonial Writers : From the Rebellion Back to the Conquest 20G Writers on the Constitution, the U. E. Loyalists, and the War of 1812 210 Works Descriptive Industrial, and Social 215 Contemporary Authors 220 INTRODUC OR Y. The story of human life on th[ . ontiuent is a brief because •a recent one : tlio stimo may b> said of tlio rtn^ord of its literature. Unlike the Old VVut)d we have had no long centuries of rich ind varied cuUv:re, ,?nd V)ut few periods of bitter passion and strife to call forti), in intellectual expres- sion, the energies, the heroism, and the national pride of the people. The held for the display of those national (jualitiea has hitherto not been literature. On this side the Atlantic we lack even the diversified physical structure of the Old World continents, with the ditVerentiation which a strongly- marked geography product^s in mental antl other racial char- acteristics. On the European contini'nt i»»en nece;:sarily fell into variety, either from the iisolation iisiposed by geographical barriers, or from the separating in.Haenees of climate, language, or creed. In the Nt:w World, acciaent. i80 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. caprice, or local attractiveness in scenery and climate, have led to settlement here and there, and to the growth of the communities which now inhabit it. But with the exception of the Province of Quebec, the various coloni(5S that have planted thoms(;lves from time to time in the northern por- tions at least of the New World, though they have retained no little of their original characteristics, have not perpetu- ated them in their alitui aggressiveness. In great measure, these communities have become assimilated and taken on mon^ or less of a common type. This is perhaps accounted for by tlie fact that the members composing them came \wve in the main as peaceful colonists, and not, as in Old World instances, as conquering peoples, with a well-marked and dominating national force. The blending of nationali- ties in peaceful pursuits on this continent is one of the hai)piest circumstances in its history, and with the adoption of a common language, with the traditions as well as the civilization which that language represents, this fusion must in time greatly contribute to the dominion of the race and have a powerful influence on its literature. The physiography of North America, though it has its regional diversities, is characteristically as simple as the European continent is varied. In this respect it is better litted for man, though it nmst fail in creating those rieli and diversified physical and mental types which we see in the Old World. With the exception of the mediterranean seas which lie between Canada and the neighbouring States, the continent is undivided, and, save on its western flank, is luai'ked })y little physical vaiic^ty. The lack of variety in physical conformation of the inhabited portions of the con- tinc^nt has its counterpart in the people. The human types ari^ little diversified, and the mental cliaracteristics, if not altogt^ther uniforu), correspond very closely to the same model. Nor have the political divisions produced much contrariety, and the little tliat has existed is every day yielding to the influences of travel and social and com- mercial intercourse. Even when the connnunities were isolated and far apart, there was not much divergence in habits and thought, beyond that which differentiates inland communities from maritime, and marks off a provincial and rural people from those that live in towns and acquire cos- mopolitan manners and tastes. Nor among the aboriginal INTRODUCTORY. 181 }, have of the :ception lat have jern por- Iretained Iperpetu- neasure, taken on jcountecl ni caiuc in Old I-niarkecl lationali- e of tlio adoption 11 as tho ion must race and t has its le as tho is better 3 rich and see in tho nean seas tates, the flank, is ariety in the con- lan types cs, if not the same ed much very day md com- bies were 'f^ence in ,08 inland ticial and [uire cos- (boriginal inhabitants of the continent do we find much mental diver- sity, save that which distinguishes the fon^sL from tlie prairie Indians, or is connected with minor variations from tho general structural affinity of the tribal languages. Almost the sole exception to the prevailing mental uni- formity on the continent is to be found, as we have hinted, in Lower Canada, now the Province of Quebec. There circumstances, the result in the main of the racial and religious privileges granted to French-Canadians at tho Conquest, have created and maintained a distinct — we nn'ght almost say an alien — people, cherishing their peculiar habits and customs, with their own national aspirations, langup.^-o, and creed. Proud of their French origin, of their descent from the old noblesse^ of the days of the Grand Monarcjue, or from the hardy seamen of Normandy and Brittany, and inheritors of the fame and the traditions of the original discoverers and first colonizers of the country, they cling tenaciously as a people to their own institutions, their language, and their laws. Their sectional isolation, we c{in hardly disguise from ourselves, is an untoward thing for Canadian Confederation, and tlie unifying and Wv^lding together of the various British commuiiiti(;s which twenty years ago set out on a nationward jjath under a Federal (iovernment. Nor is the evil reiidcMod less noxious by racial jealousy, religious cleavage, and intermittent sec- tional hostility ; though Party and a Party Press is perhaps more responsible for this than are our French-Canadian (;ompatriots. Ominous in a national sense as the fact is, however, this surviv.il of Old France in the New World is a rather pleasing break in the i-acial monotony of the Ameri- can continent, and gives the charm of variety to the mental habits and national characteristics of the j)eople. But a more important and not less gratifying feature in the cas(» is tliis, that it has gi en to Canada a distinctive, as well as an early, literature, — all the more interesting as it h.as pre- served an Old World flavour, and, while di*awing its in- spiration in large measure from the Motherland, has made fresh distillations of culture and civilization in the colony. The volume and wealth of French-Canadian literature are fa(;ts too little known to English speaking (^mada, and, it is to 1h^ feared, are but litthi Jioted by our literary men themselves. Wcire its resources as well as its m«!rits b(itter 182 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. known and recognized, the fact could hardly fail to ex* cite a friendly and helpful rivalry in the domain of letters, and aid in promoting that finte^ith cordiaU between the two peoples, without which there can be no national fusion, and but little material, and less intellectual, advanr v ment. Nor would the least of its influence be felt in the sphere of politics, and in the wider and more beneficent fields of social and commercial intercourse. What a mine the historian Parkman has found in the early history of Canada, and how replete it is with all the materials of romance, there is to-day no need to point out. In our in- difference other American writers are entering upon the field ; and already many of the localities in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, with their rich histories and fascinat- ing legends, are fast passing into literature through the me- dium of a foreign pen. It is perhaps not too much to say that it is from the pages of Howelis' "Wedding Journey" and "A Chance Acquaintance" that our people are first apprised of the beauties of Quebec and the St. Lawrence ; while of the local writers, Hawkins and Le Moine, they probably never have heard. The same n){:y be said of the licjuid chasm of the Saguenay, of the rude Gaspe coast, and of historic Cape Breton, the Isle Royale of Louis Quatorze, and the long-contested prize of Britain and France. What we know of Grand Pr6 and the fateful story of the expulsion of the AcadJans we know from Longfellow's Evangeline and the historical corrective of Parkman's "Montcahn and Wolfe." So with other dramatic incidents in the whole rfigion of Acadia, and with those delightful descriptions of scenery with which American writers, such as Charles Hallock in " The Fishing Tourist," Charles Dudley Warner in "Baddeck and That Sort of Thing," and Henry D. Thoreau in "A Yankee in Canada," have made us pleasantly acquainted. It is to tho poet Stedman (see his LonVs-Day Gale) we turn to read the stirring account of the terrible storm which swept the Caj)e lireton coast and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, in August, 1873, and wrecked hundreds of the fishing craft of Glouces- ter, Maine. To Whittier, also, must we look for tlie poeti- cal version of that old legend of the Massachusetts coast, which gained for Skipper Ireson the maledictions, with INTRODUCTORY. 183 }} to ox- [otters, lio two iision, vanr •- in tho oficont la inino ory of ials of our in- lon the mcl tho iscinat- tho me- i to say )urney i,re first w^rence ; le, tliey 1 of the •e coast, f Louis lin and fateful •w from ctive of Iraniatic :h tliose merican I ourist, Sort of >aiiada," ih(^ poet eafl t\w he Ci\.\w August, Glouces- le poeti- bs coast, IS, with tarring and feathering, of the irat(^ women of Marhlehead for deserting a sinking tisliing-smack in the JJay of Ohah;ur. *• Small pity for him ! — He sailed away From a leaking ship in Chaleur Hay,— Sailc'l n,',vay fiom a sinking wreck, With hi.s own town's peo]»Te on her . 'ei '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 13 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 186 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITEHATURE. string of names will convey little ; but those familial- with the work which tlie following list of authors represents will admit that it counts for much in tlie sum of our Anglo- Canadian literature : — Auchinleck, Bouchette, Bourinot, Bryce, CannifF, Christie, Coffin, Collins, Dawson, Davin, Dent, Fleming, Gait, Gourlay, Gray, 'Grant, Haliburton, Heriot, Hargrave, Head, Hincks, Howison, Hind, Hod gins, Hov/e, Kirby, Leggo, Lesperance, Lindsey, McGee, Martin, Morris, Morgan, Murray, Macoun, Mackenzie, McGregor, MacMuUen, Machar, Rattray, Ryerson, Reade, Sandham, Scadding, Smith, Stewart, Talbot, Taylor, Thompson, JTodd, Watson, Withrow, Wilson, and Young. In this obviously incomplete list, we make no mention of authors outside history and kindred topics, who have published works in other departments, or graced Canadian literature by minor contributions from their pen. Nor have we cited authors in the professions — of education, journalism, law, medicine, science, and theology — who have issued text-books, treatises, manuals, works of practice, etc., or made important contributions to the journals, periodicals and transactions of their respective professions. Nor have we referred to our poets and writers of fiction, or to the mass of printed matter, in pamphlets and brochures^ which claims recognition as "Canadiana," and a respectable amount of which, as fact or criticism, we hold, belongs, if not to literature, to something closely akin to it. Yet with all this material, it is slightingly said that Canada has no literature — and no history. When, may we ask, shall we get rid of tb'i; denationalizing habit of discrediting the past ■? No Canadian history 1 Why, the past is full of it; not, it may be, on any great scale, with "blare of trumpet and beat of drui^i," but in that grander movement of the country's industrial and social life, which has made of the wilderness a cultivated garden, and brought peace and plenty to a thriving and enlightened people. No literature? With poets such as Reade, Roberts, Sangster, Mair, Phillips Stewart, and George Martin among men, and McLean, Machar (Fidelis), Crawford, Duncan (Garth Grafton), Harrison, (Seranus), Rotiiwell, and Wetherald among women. With novelists such as Kirby and Lesper- ance. With scientists such as Logan, Dawson, Wilson, Bell, Selwyn, and Sterry Hunt. With orators, publicists, tNTRODUCTORY. 18? iliai" with sents will ir Anglo- Bourinot, 1, Davin, iliburton, Hodgins, !, Martin, IcGregor, 3andham, ion, ^odd, mention vho have Canadian en. Nor iducation, who have !tice, etc., eriodicals Nor have or to the 'es, which spectable belongs, it. Yet } Canada we ask, crediting is full of 'blare of lovement las made jht peace pie. No Sangster, mg men, ti (Garth T^etherald 1 Lesper- Wilson, ublicists, essayists, and miscellaneous writers, such as McGee, Howe, Haliburton, Grant, Todd, Lindsey, Griffin, Stewart, Lo Sueur, Rattray, and Goldwin Smith. Have these men and women laboured in vain, and given nothing to the intellec- tual life of their country that is fit to be called literature? Only ignorance will dare assert that. But the truth has to be qualified. We have a literature, or, to be critical, the fair beginnings, at least, of one. How much of it is known to those who ought to know it, we shall not lare say. If there is ignorance of it, let us not be told til at it doesn't exist. It is bad enough to hear the question asked, "Who reads a Canadian book in England?" but how much more discouraging is it to reflect how few are the readers of a native work in Canada. And here is the trouble : if we have not the literature we desire and might have, it is because to such as we have we extend scant favour. This attitude, if maintained, can only retard its progress, dwarf the national spirit, and depress the literary calling. On the other hand, were Canadian literature en- couraged, it would take a more prominent place among the intellectual agents of the higher life in Ca:^a la ; interests and sympathies, now dormant, would be aroused ; and a more distinctively national and higher literary work would be created. To this end, let us first silence the depredators, and pay fitting respect to the literary toilers of the past. To the young Canadian who wants to know his country's history and light the flame of his patriotism, we would ask him to become acquainted with his country's authors and take stock of their literary achievements. When he has got that length, it will be time to hear of limits and de- fects. And now, briefly, for the qualifications, which, however, do not excuse the prevailing lack of interest. That the latter exists is shown by the comparatively few readers even Parkman has among the Canadian public. If this brilliant writer, dealing with the most dramatic incidents in Canadian history, can command but a select body of readers, what chance, it may be asked, has the average Canadian writer? Yet the truth must be told, that, with all the writers we have enumerated, we have little either of an attractive or of a distinctively native literature. If we except Parkman, the written records of our history familiar 188 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATUIIE. to the Canadian reader are few and uninviting. Nor is the reason far to seek ; for, in large measure, if the mate- rial of these records is interesting, the style is bad. The ground, admittedly, wants going over again, and our his- tory re-presented with the graces of modern literary art. But two essentials are necessary to this being done — the qualitied writer and the appreciati\'e public. For lack of these — and both w^e might havQ — how much is being lost ! Men and events of the greatest national interest are suf- fered to fall into oblivion, for want of the skill and industry to transfer them to the modern canvas, and the public spirit to reward the toiler when he has performed his task. Nor is it in the field of political action alone that we want the writers ; but rather in that of Canada's social and indus- trial life. Here is our romantic material, and the source from which we might draw our picturesque narratives, and the makings of a literature that shall be distinctively national. And how abundant is the material ! Every township has its rich tale to tell of early settlement and toilsome pioneer- ing work, and every section of the country its own chequered annals and distinctive life. Yet few are the gleaners in the field, while the elder folk are fast passing away from whose lips the story might be taken down to pass into some famous epic, drama, or history. With a little more public en- couragement, what possibilities are before our Canadian writers, and how much our literature might be enriched ! In the past history of Canadian thought and action, we have been sowing but the seed-grain of a harvest that shall bear good fruit, and in which the labourers, we trust, shall not be few. To hasten that coming time, let us take greater interest in the intellectual past and present, and hold its product in more esteem. Then there will be no question of our having a literature, and no lack of writers, racy of the soil, whose work shall bring grace and repute to Canadian letters. THE DISCOVEllEKS AND EXPLORERS. 181) Nor is he mate- id. The our his- -ary art. me — the ' lack of ng lost ! are suf- industry lie spirit c. Nor i^ant the i iiidus- 3 source ves, and nctively ship has pioneer- equered s in the Q whose famous 3lic en- anadian Lriched ! ion, we at shall st, shall greater hold its 3tion of of the bnadian FRENCH RfiGIME. THE DISCOVERERS, EARLY MISSIONARIES, AND EXPLORERS. To most English readers of our native literature the work of tlie French discoverers and explorers of Canada, of the Jesuit and Recollet missionaries, and of the later French- Canadian writers, must, in large measure, be a sealed book. This must be matter for regret, as much of it is of the highest order of interest, while its later portions are almost unsurpassed in literary attractiveness. Fortunately, and to a remarkable extent, Francis Parkman, the American his- torian, has made the French period of Canadian history a special field of work ; and in his series of brilliant narra- tives of " France in the New World," the English reader of early Canadian annals has a record of the epoch so scholarly and fascinating that he can have little occasion to regret hi" inability to peruse any portion of the literature of French Canada whicli has not yet been translated into the English tongue. We can note this only in passing, and add that any Canadian who is unfamiliar with the works of Mr. Parkman has little idea of the elements of romance that enter into the annals, e'^cles'astical and civil, of Canada ; nor can he be said to have really tasted of the charm of history, when it is narrated by a graphic and picturesque, as well as by a trustworthy and painstaking, writer. Canadian literatrre can hardly be said to begin prior to the founding of the Catholic missions in Canada in the days of Champlain. From this period both the civil and the ecclesiastical history of the country date. Previous to tliat time, however, under the impulse given to the search for a shorter, western passage to India in the reign of the French monarch, Francis I., several notable voyages to the New World were undertaken, and some account of these ought here to be given ; but this, we regret, our limited space forbids. We can permit ourselves but the barest reference to the voyages of Jacques Cartier, undertaken between the years 1534 and 1552, and refer those who feel an interest in the subject of early exploration to the valu- a.ble publications of the Hakluyt Society, and, particularly, 190 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. to Volume IV. of Justin Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of America " — a work which is now heing sumptu- ously issued in Boston, and this special volume of which deals exhaustively with " French Exploration and Settle- ment in North America." In this volume will be found a number of critical essays of the highest interest on the discoverers and founders of Canada, and on the relations of the Catliolic Church with the Indians. Jacques Cartier made at least three voyages to Canada, in the first of which (A.D. 1 .M) he took possession of the country for the French King. In the following year he again left the port of St. Malo for the New World, the objects of his enter- prise, according to the terms of his commission, being dis- covery, bottlemont, and the conversion of the native tribes. In this voyage he disclosed to the ken of the Old World (^ur noble St. Lawrence, and proceeding up its waters, reached Stadacona (Quebec), and Hochelaga (Montreal). A third voyage, in connection with the Sieur de Roberval, a Picardy gentleman, was undertaken in 1540, with the design of planting a colony in Acadia ; but this expedition, like those that preceded it, was barren of practical results, save that it gave to literature the earliest authentic record of dis- covery in the region now embraced in the wide domain of Canada. The narrative of Cartier's first voyage was issued, in French, from the press of Ramusio, at Venice, in 1536. In 1580 an English translation appeared, which was adopted by Hakluyt and printed in his Naviijatio7is, in the year 1600. The account of his second voyage came out in Paris in 1545 ; but of his third expedition, in concert with Rober- val, we have only a fragment preserved by Hakluyt, whicli brings the narrative down to 1541. In 1598 another ac- count of Cartier's first voyage, in French, ap})eared at Rouen, and was reprinted at Quebec, in " Voyages de decouverte au Canada," 1534-1552, issued in 1843 under the direction of the Quebec Literary and Historial Society. Beyond the discovery of the country, and the intermittent trade in fish and fur which it opened up, France profited little from Cartier's voyages. Nor is there much in his narratives as a contribution to literature, save numberless curiosity-exciting facts, told to his St. Malo townsmen with the truth and directness of a simple-minded but courageous sailor, THE DlSCOVEllEKS AND EXl'LOKEKS. 191 ud Critical ig suinptu- B of wliich iiid Settle - be found a 3st on the 'elations of es Cartier it of which y for the ft the port his enter- being dis- bive tribes. Jld World rs, reached A third a Picardy design of like those save that rd of dis- domain of vas issued, 3, in 1536. is adopted L the year it in Paris ith liober- lyt, vvhicJi nother ac- peared at )yages de H3 under il Society. 3erniittent e profited :ch in his umberless imen with ourageous *' He told them of the Algoiniuin braves — the hunters of the wild, Of how the Indian mother in the forest rocks her child j Of how, poor souls, they fancy in every living thing A spirit good or evil, that claims their worshipping ; Of how they brought their sick and maimed for him to breathe upon, And of the wonders wrought for them through the Gospel of St. John. ** Ho told them of the river whose mighty current gave Its freshness for a hundred h^agues to Ocean's briny wave ; He told them of the glorious scene presented to his si«^lit, What time he reared the cross and crown on Hochclaga'n height ; And of the fortress clift' that keeps of C'anada the key. And they welcomed back Jacques Cartier from his perils o'er the sea. >> # With the coming of Champlain the day dawned upon French colonization and missionary enterprise. Within the space of a generation (1603-1635) Champlain's eager, ardent mind, his intense religious zeal, and his restless spirit of dis- covery, made Canada, tixi now a veritable te7'ra incognita^ known to the outer world ; while he gave to the colony he planted and fostered his earnest, watchful care and the benefit of his every thought. With him came the Sieur do Monts, a Huguenot who had rendered services to Henry IV. during the wars of the League, and for which he was rewarded by grants of land in Acadia, with the title of Lieutenant-General. At the same period there also came to Acadia, Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, and with him Poutrincourt, a French nobleman, w ho wished to escape from the turbulent politics of Europe and settle in a land unvexed by religious strife. Champlain eagerly entered upon his explorations, first on the scene of the Acadian colony, then on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, in the ascent of one of wliich he discovered the lake which bears his name. Afterwards he ascended tlie Ottawa and crossed to the country of the Hurons, and, with the latter as allies, made his disastrous raid into the lair of the Iroquois and brought upon the ill-starred colony which he founded at Quebec the sleepless hate of that powerful Confederacy. The chronicling of these and other events occurring in New France during the early years of the 17th century, *Froni the bt^llad of " Jactjues Cartier," b^' Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 192 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. with some account of tljc labours of tho llC'collot and Jesuit missionaries, we happily owe to Chaniplain, the chief personage in the drama of the times, and to Marc Lescar- bot, a lawyer and man of good parts, who was intimately associated with De Monts and Poutrincourt in the Acadian Colony. The literary fruit of the period is embodied in Champlain's voluminous narratives, of which there are many editions in French, and at least one good edition in English ; and in Lescarbot's " Histoire de la Nouvelle France," the latter of which gives a vivid picture of life at Port Royal among the Canadian "■ Knights of the liound Table." The narrative of Champlain's first voyjige, entitled *' JJes Sauvages, ou. Voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouage," appeared in Paris in 1604, the year after tho expedition was undertaken. In 1613, a second volume, profusely illustrated, was issued in the French capital, em- bracing the events which had occurred from 1603 to that date. The volume is full of interesting matter, concerning the native tribes, which were as yet uncontaminated b}'^ in- tercourse with the scum of French prisons and other hy\)rid classes sent out as colonists by order of the French Court. Replete with interest is it also in regard to the geography of the northern portions of the continent, particularly in the region of the Bay of Fundy, including the coast line of the Maritime Provinces and New England. A third volume was published in 1619, which was twice re-issued in Champlain's lifetime, and, with some additions, it again ap- peared in 1632. Of his complete v/ritings, a collected C'^nadian edition, in French, was published in Quebec, in 1870, in six volumes, quarto, under the editorship of the accomplished Abbe Laverdi^re. This Canadian reprint is creditable to native scholarship, being carefully edited, with luminous notes from the original text in the Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris. To French-Canadian industry and re- search are we also indebted for many interesting mono- graphs on the subject of Champlain and his administration, in the country he so faithfully served, and which has the honour of holding his dust. L'Abbe Ferland's " Histoire du Canada," contains an excellent summary of Champlain's laboufs ; though, for English readers, Miles's " Canada un- der the French Regime," Heriot's "History of Canada,' and, especially, P^rkman's " Pioneers of France iu tb§ THE DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS. 193 )llot and th(3 chief c Lescar- itiinately Acadian jodied in here are dition in Nouvelle of life at e liound , entitled jlain, de ifter the volume, jital, em- 3 to that ncerning ed b}'- in- 3r hybrid 3h Court. BOgraphy ularly in oast line A third issued in igain ap- collected uebec, in p of the •eprint is ted, with iotheque y and re- g mono- istration, has the Histoire implain's riada un- Canada, ' ift the New World," should bo consulted. The best English trans- lation of Champlain's complete voyages, however, is that issued in three small quarto volumes, in 1878-82, for the Prince Society, of Doston, by Dr. C. Pomeroy Otis, with an elaborate memoir by the Rev. E. F. Slafter, M.A. The limits of this brief sketch necessitate our dealing very briefly with the remainder of the French writers of this period. Contemporary with Ohamplain, and familiar with his work, are the two authors, Marc Lescarbot and Gabriel Sagard, who have made important contributions to the literature of the era. Lescarbot's work deals with the Nova Scotian colony under De Monts, and Sagard's with the tribe and country of the Hurons. Not much is known of Lescarbot, beyond the fact that he was born at Vervins about the year 1580, and war, a law} er, having an extensive practice in Paris, which he abandoned in 1604 to take part >vith De Monts, the Lieutenant-General of Aoaciia, and again with Poutiin'^ourt, in 1606-7, in the French colony on the St. Croix river. Bay of Fundy. Three important works of his are extant, the chief of which is an " Histoire de la Nouvelle France," first published in Paris in 1609, and to which was appended a collection of verse, written also by Lescarbot, entitled '' Les Muses de la Nouvelle France." Charlevoix, a later high authority, speaks of Lescarbot's narrative as "sincere, well-informed, sensible, and impartial." The author was a man of much vivacity of manner, and has given us a delightful insight into the habits and mode of life of the short-lived Acadian colony. His verses which were the first effort to woo the Muses in Canada, are bright and polished, and among them is a poem written to commemorate a battle between Membertou, a local Indian chief, and some neighbouring savages. Another of his productions is a work on the " Conversion of the In- dians," with an account of Poutrincourt's voyage to the country in 1610. Father Sagard's works also deal with missionary effort among the Indians. He was a member of the E/icollet fraternity, of whose missions in the Huron country, from 1615 to 1629, he is partly the historian. His work, though diffuse, ip rich in details of Indian life and customs: it is entitled "Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons," and has not been translated into English. It appeared in Paris first in 1632, and again, in an enlarged 194 SKETCn OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. form, in 1G36, and to both editions is appendc^l a dictionary of the Huron language which Sagard prepared. We now come to the; most imjtortfint work of the period, the account of the ecclesiastical history of Canada embraced in the famous "vJesuit Relations," a work which has not been translated into English, but the good things in which have been extracted and elaborated by the historian Park- man. The full title of the work is ** Relations des Jesuites, con tenant ce qui s'est pass6 de plus remarquable dans les Missions des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus dans la Nou- velle France." The edition of the Relatioyis in current use in Canada is one in three portly volumes printed at Quebec in 1858 by order of the government of the Province. The narratives, which are marked by much simplicity of style, extend from the year 1G32, with a few prior fragments, to the year 1G79 ; and in no other contemporary source can we look for so intimate a knowledge of the religious history of the period, full as it is of thrilling incidents and the record of a zeal and devotion unmatched in the annals of missionary enterprise. The field of the first Jesuit mission, founded in 1611, was at Port Royal, Acadia, though this was temporary in its character. Tiie next mission was on the St. Lawrence, under the Recollets, a reformed branch of the Franciscan order, who came to the country with Champlain in 1615. The Recollets at once extended their field into the home of the Hurons, and in 1625 called to their aid in their evangelizing labours the Jesuits, to whom we are indebted for the long series of interesting Relations^ transmitted annually from the scattered fields of their work to the head of their order at Quebec, and from there for- warded to France for publication. As we have said, these Relations have not been translated from the French ; the English reader is therefore referred for an account of them to Justin Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of America," to the valuable contributions of Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan to the New York Historical Society, and to the writings of Mr. Parkman. In Canadian sources, there are also interesting papers on the missions contributed to the Canadian Monthly by Dr. W. H. Withrow, and by Mr. Martin J. Griffin, of the Parliamentary Library at Ottawa. The reader will find an account of the Huron Missions by THE DISCO VEUEUS AND EXPLORERS, 195 II dictionary tho period, [a oinbraced icli has not gs in which orian Park- les JC'suites, ble dans les ans la Nou- current uso :1 at Quebec vince. The ity of style, agnients, to source can ious history its and the le annals of iuit mission, though this don was on ined branch )untry with ended their 25 called to its, to whom g Relations^ : their work n there for- said, these ^'rench ; the ant of them History of Dr. E. B. ety, and to urces, there itributed to and by Mr. at Ottawa. Missions by tlio present writer in P{r*urfisqne Cnnada, in tho section on the "Georgian J5ay and the Muskoka Lakes." One other important narrative of the religious liistory of the colonies of France in tlu; Nt!W World wiiiclj remains to bo noticed, is Father Christian Le Clei'(['s '•' Ktablissement de la Foi," published in France in \i\S)\, in two volumes, Vlxwo. This work has been tianslated, under the title of " Establishment of tbe Faith," by J)r. J. (I. Shea, of N(nv York, wliere it was published with a memoir in two volumes, 8vo, in 188L Le Clerq, who was a Recollet, and antagonis- tic to the Jesuits, came to Quebec from France in 1675, and found the held of his missionary labours in the Gas})6 rt^gion. The Jesuits are bitterly satirized l)y Le Olercj in his work. Another woi'k called forth by the Jesuit missions in Canada is the "Moiurs des Sauvages Ameri({uains," by Father Lafitau, and published in Paris in 1724. The author lived long among the Iroquois and mad(; a close study of that warlike tril)e. His book is held in high estimation by col- h^ctors, though it is rather overlaia with a theory of the Tartar origin of the red race. Belonging also to this period are the narratives of the dis- coveries of Father Louis Hennepin, who gives the first account in history of the Falls of Niagara, and who was associated for a time with the Chevalier de la Salle in his explorations in the West. Hennepin's "Canadian Discoveri(»s and Voyages" appeared at Utrecht, in 1697-8, and an earlier work, on tho French colony in Louisiana, was issued in Paris, in 1683. An English translation of the latter, by Dr. John Gilmary Shea, an indefatigable student of the early annals of the continent, appeared in New York, in 1880. Baron La Hontan's " New Voyages in America," first published at La Haye, in 1703, is another notable, though unreliable, contribution to the literature of discovery and travel in New France. The Baron, a young Gascon, and a favourite of Frontenac, came to Canada in 1683, and was the bearer of the Governor's despatches to Paris, conveying an account of Phipp's failure before Quebec, in 1690. Parkman, in his " Frontenac and his Times," characterizes La Hontan as a mendacious historian ; and adds, that he was " a man in advance of his time, for he had the caustic, sceptical, and mocking spirit, which, a century later, marked the ap- proach of the great Revolution." 196 SKETCH OF CANADIAN T.TTEIIATURE. La Salle in his lifo-tiino left no record in Htor/iture of IiiH important cliscov(u*ies in the West ; hut, thou^^^h iiiucli is shr()U(l(!(l in olnscurity, rich niatcrialH an^ extant iijton which jiiany interestinjL( volumes have h(ien written. Tlie chii^f of tlu'sti are Mr. Parkman's '* La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," and the "Life of La Salle," hy Dr. Jari^d Spark, who has also written on the explorations of La Salle's sometime co-labourer. Father Marquette. In the French lan<;uage, M. Pierre Marf,'ry, the present learned Assistant Custodian of the Archives of Marine and Col- onies in Paris, has shed the fulh^st liijfht on La Salle's his- tory ; though that writer's claim for La Salle, of the honour of discovering the Mississippi, with other statements tnade in his book, have been actively combated. The cliief of M. Margry's collections, which are considered of good author- ity, is entitled ''Memoire envoy6 en 1G93 sur la decouverte du Mississippi et des nations voisines par le Sieur d(; la Salle, en 1678, et depuis sa mort par le Sieur do Tonti." The Chevalier Tonti was governor of the For-t of St. Louis, in the Illinois river, during Frontenac's regime, iuul took an active part in promoting the objects La Salle had in view in his explorations in the Gulf of Mexico, in the vicinity of which La Salle, in 1690, met a woful death. The latest writer who belongs to this period of Canadian history, in point of ability, industry, and research, ranks admittedly the first. This is the Jesuit Father, Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, who came to Canada to inspect the Jesuit Missions in the year 1720, and personally travelled through the country from Acadia to the Gulf of Mexico. His narrative, which is in six volumes, 12mo, did not appear in France until 1744 : it is entitled "Histoire et description Gcnerale de la Nouvelle France, avec le Journal Historique d'un Voyage fait par I'ordre du Roi." His work, it has been remarked, is commensurate with his opportuni- ties : his faults and errors were those of his order. "Ac- cess," says Dr. Shea, " to State papers and the archives of the religious order to which he belonged, experience and skill as a practised writer, a clear head and an ability to analyze, arrange, and describe, well fitted him for his work." Another good authority remarks, "that in all the high quali- ties requisite for a great historian, Charlevoix has no superior : he left no subject relating to the history of the c. nturo of luB <;h iiiucli iu upon which rhc chi(!t' of )isc()voi'y of y Dr. J.'ii'cd ions of L;i bo. In tl»o nnt learned le and Col- Salle's his- tho honour lucntH made chief of M. ood authoi'- , dccouverte Sieur de la do Tonti." f St. Louis, ind took an had in view ) vicinity of f Canadian arch, ranks her, Pierre Canada to 1 personally :he Gulf of 12mo, did Histoire et ; le Journal His work, opportuni- der. "Ac- archives of irience and ,n ability to r his work." high quali- [)ix has no tory of the LATER FUENril-nANAnTAN MTERATURE. 197 afTaira of his wonderful ord(M' in Aniorica untouched ; and as tlie missions of the (Vnnpany of .lesiis amen;,' the Indians wen^ the principal pur})ose of i\w Fathers in l»otli of the Ameri<'as, tKe curiosity of (/li;irl(»voix permeated every ao- cessibh> scpiare mih« of tlieir surfaec; to \vn\n the liahits, the customs, and the secrets of the life of the stran^^e pcoph* his brethren sought to subdue to the intluencc of the Cross." LATKR FRENCH-CANADIAN LITERATURE. The narrow lin)its of this sketch, it is a matter of regret to Jie writer, call for rigid compr(!Ssion in the treatment of the present and the two following sections. It is a long cry from Cliarlevoix to Gai-neau, Ferland, and Faillon, in the field of history, or, in the descending line of poets, from Lescarbot to Cremazie, Le May, and Frrchette. JUit within the space of time thnt divides these nanu^s literature in Canada may be said to have folded its wings juid sh^pt. In the long interval, the fortunes of France in the New World had sufi'ered change. The race of doughty discoverers and explorers had either died out, or its survivors had betaken themselves to trapping and trade. The missions of the Church, in the dire enmity of the Iroquois, had been exter- minated or withdrawn. Then came the struggle with Britain for the prize of the continent, and after tlu; Lilies of France had fallen, a long period of an alien military occupation brought upon the broken colony bewilderment and discouragement. Upon the smoke of the contest litera- ture did not open its eyes, and when it did, though the clouds had cleared, it was long before it recovered heart. With the union of Upper and Lower Canada, when polit- ical strife for the time being was hushed, the long silence of literature in Canada was at last broken, and the voice of the modern group of French-Canadian writers began to be heard. The place of honour must be assigned to the histor- ians ; and the first to venture into the field was Michael Bibaud (1782-1857), a Montreal magazinist, who, in 1843, published a sober narrative of events entitled " Histoire du Canada et des Oanadiens, sous la domination Frari9aise." A second edition was issued in the following year, with a 198 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. upder the English new work, dealing with the history regime. Between the years 1845 and 1848 appeared a work of conspicuous merit, which the French-Canadians accept as their national history. We ref^r to " I'Histoire du Canada," par Fran^ois-Xavier Garneau. In 1882 ap- peared at Montreal a fourth and revised edition of this great work, edited by the author's son, with an introduc- tion by M. Chauveau ; and an English translation was published by Mr. John Lovell, in 1866, by Mr. Andrew Bell. The latter, it should be said, has taken some liberties with M. Garntau's text to suit it to English readers. Dur- ing the sixties, two learned priests entered the field of French-Canadian authorship as historians; but their works, though extremely valuable, are both incomplete, death in each case having arrested the writer's labours. The first in point of timo to appear was "Oours d'Histoire du Canada," par TAbbe J. B. A. Ferland, continued to the con- quest by I'Abbo Laverdi^re, who is said to have been one of the ablest scholars in the Canadian priesthood. The second of these two works is the " Histoire de la Colonie Fran^aise en Canada," by the Abbe Etienne M. Faillon, a rather par- tisan Sulpitian priest from Old France, who spent a number of years in Canada, and whose great abilities and untiring industry impart a high value to his work. Both of these writers were men of great accomplishments, and as such had access to all available ecclesiastical documents, in and out of the country, which shed light on the civil and relig- ious annals of Canada. Abbe Ferland's narrative is in two volumes, and was published at Quebec in 1861-5. Of . bbe Faillon's work but three volumes appeared, which were issued in Paris in 1865-6. To the other French Canadian works of note in the depart- ment of histoi'y, with the kindred branch of biograpliy, we can here re'^er only by their titles. Tliey are as follows : " Histoire de Cinquante Ans," par M. Pierre Bedard ; " Histoire des Canadiens-Fran^ais," par M. Benjamin Suite, F.R.S.C., a richly furnished and comprehensive history by a competent writer; " Le Canada sous I'Union,''' par M. Louis P. Turcotte, an instructive work — from a thoroughly French point of view, however — dealing with the political history of the two old Provinces of Canada, from the Rebellion to Confederation ; " Les Canadiens de I'Ouest," a series of por IE. the English appeared a ih-Canadiaiis " I'Histoire In 1882 ap- ition of this an introduc- nslation was Mr. Andrew iome liberties aders. Dur- the field of their works, ete, death in i. The first 'Histoire du d to the con- e been one of The second tiie Fran9aise a rather par- ent a number and untiring >oth of these and as such nents, in and vil and relig- tive is in two -5. Of. bbe h were issued in the depart- iograpliy, we ^ as follows : srre Bedard ; ijamin Suite, history by a par M. Louis ighly French itical history Rebellion to series of por LATER FRENCH-CANADIAN LITERATURE. 109 traits of French pioneers in the West, par M, Joseph Tass6; " Histoire de la Rebellion de 1837-38," par M. L. O. David, and an interesting \a )rk by the accomplished philologist and scholarly priest, FAbbe Tanguay, entitled " La Geneal- ogie des Families Canadiennes." In this department, per- haps, should also be noted the writi.gs of another French- Canadian cleric, who is deeply imbued with the literary spirit, and whose artistic and scholarly work has won for him enrolment among tlie members of the Royal Society of Canada. We allude to TAbbe R. H. Casgrain. This writer's chief productions are " L'Histoire de I'Hotel Dieu de Quebec;" " Histoire de la M6re Marie de I'lncarnation," and " Les Opuscules," a work which deals entrancingly with incidents, historical and legendary, connected with early pioneering life in the Lower Province. Another delightful contemporary writer is M. Faucher de Saint-Maurice, whoso " Promenades dans le Golfe St. Laurence," " Les Provinces Maritimes," and other works of travel, have won for him a high place in the literature of French-Canada. Arthur Buies, one of the bright band of essayists and chroniqueurs, whose work makes recent French-Canadian literature so attractive, has written an entertaining book on " La Saguenay et la Vallee du Lac St. Jean." This region, long dear to the Church, and now the great resort of tourists, is charmingly described by M. Buies. Of the great repertoire of local and national history in the Quebec Province, Mr. J. L. Le Moine, above all men, seems to hold the key. Using his pen in both languages, Mr. Le Moine has the advantage of most of his contemporaries, and num- bers of English-speaking Canadians are familiar with his work as an annalist and antiquary. He has done for Que- bec what Dr. Scadding has done for Toronto — given us not so much a history as the materials of history; and to few men is Canada more indebted than to Mr. Le Moine for preserving from oblivion many of the most interesting legends and forgotten facts in our early history. His chief published works are a triple series of " Maple Leaves : a Budget of Legendary and Historical Intelligence," and two volumes respectively entitled, " Quebec : Past and Present," and " Picturesque Quebec." He has also published number- less brochures in French dealing with the early history of the country. The name of Oscar Dunn, an accomplished 200 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. journalist and well-informed writer, cannot be omitted from a list of French-Canadian authors. He has published two volumes of collected papers, entitled " Lecture pour tous," and " Dix ans de Journalisme ; " also, a useful " Glossaire Franco-Canadien." Of the novelists and romancers of the province, a few prominent names must suffice. The field, rich as it is in all the materials of romance, it seems to the writer, should be more fully occupied than it is. There is no lack of sketches and studies in the literature of the sister province, but there are few works of fiction of ambitious scope and sustained merit. " L'Intendant Bigot " is the subject of one, and perhaps the best, of the historical novels of M. Joseph Marraette. Two others of his works, " Fran9ois de Bien- ville," and " Le Chevalier de Mornac," have been drama- tized and have found favour with his countrymen. " Les Anciens Canadiens," by M. Philippe A. De Gaspe, is a typical story of pioneering life in the early days of the Quebec Province. "Jean Rivard," by M. Gerin-Lajoie, and " Charles Guerin," by the Hon. Pierre J. 0. Chauveau, are good examples of French-Canadian fiction ; as are also M. Tache's *' Forestiers et Voyageurs," and "Trois Legendes de Mnn Pays." Much more imaginative, and written with a pleasing grace of style, is "Jacques et Marie," by M. Napoleon Bourassa, a story which deals with the expulsion of the Acadians. "A Mes Enfauts," by M. Napoleon Legendre, is a charming collection of children's stories. All literatures have usually their beginnings in song, and this may truly be said of Canada. M. Suite, in an article in Nouvelles Soirees Canadiennes (1882) on "La Poesie FranQaise en Canada," enumerates a list between the years 1740 and 1880 of 175 French-Canadian authors of note, 67 of whom are known to have written verse. Much of the work of these writers is ephemeral in its character, but not a little of it is entitled to take high rank as poetry. As a rule, its themes are Canadian, and from native subjects it takes its colour and its life. Occasionally we find an invo- cation to the muse of the Gallic motherland, and frequently the models of Old France are perhaps too closely followed. But, in the main, it is largely imbued with the genius of the soil, and its subjects nre drawn from the national his- tory, with pictures of its religious and social life, and its LATER FRENCH-CANADIAN LITERATURE. 201 itted from ished two )Our tous," ' Glossal re rice, a few it is in all should be )f sketches , but there sustained one, and M. Joseph s de Bien- en drama- "Les m. IS a aspe, lys of the rin-Lajoie, Chauveau, IS are also Legendes itten with e," by M. expulsion Napoleon ories. song, and an article a Poesie the years note, 67 ch of the r, but not y. As a ubjects it an invo- requently followed. genius of ional his- and its political and industrial pursuits. With their characteristic lightheartedness and joyous temperament, much of the verse of the French- Canadian people is set in song. Three collec- tions of this delightful species of verse have been published j these are "Recueil de Chansons Canadiennes et Fran^aises" (1859); "Chansons Populaires du Canada," edited, with the music, by Ernest Gagnon (Quebec, 1865); and "Songs of Old Canada," translated by William McLennan (Mon- treal, 1886). The number is legion who have written anonymous verse and single poems, many of which are of great beauty. The numerous serial publications of the Quebec Province, and the continuous succession, from 1820 to the present time, of Frencli-Canadian magazines have afforded vehicles for the publication and preservation of these poetical contributions. The chief of the minor poets may be said to be Bibaud, Garneau (father and son), De Gaspe, Marchand, Prud- homme, Routhier, Gingras, Chauveau, St. Aubin, Cartier, Lenoir, Fiset, Poisson, Evanturel, Iiajoie, with two English names, Chapman and Donnelly. The list of the poets of the first rank contains the names of Pamphile Le May, Octave Cremazie, Louis Honore Frechette, and Benjamin Suite. The first is best known, perhaps, as the translator into French of Longfellow's poem Evangeline. This production is to be found in his " Essais Poetiques," published in 1865, which was followed by a university prize poem, entitled. La Dicouverte du Canada; by his Hymne Nationale, by Les Vengeances, by a volume of Fables, and by a collection, Une Gerbe, of fugitive verse. All these works are characterized by true poetic feeling and literary grace. Of the other writers named, of the first rank, Cremazie is said to be the Hugo, Frechette the Lamartine, and Suite the Beranger of Canada. Cremazie's verse has the ring of genius. Though lofty in tone, it is marred, however, by the evil influences of a disappointed life. Suite's more serious occupations have left him little time to woo the Muses, but his songs have a fine national stamp, and in his volume, entitled Les Laurentiennes, he has given his countrymen justifica- tion for placing him liigh among the recognized poets of French-Canada. Frechette, however, holds the place of honour. His published collections of verse are entitled Mes Loisirs, Pel Mely Les Fleitrs Boreales, and Les Oiseaux de 14 202 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. Neige. The two latter works gained him the laurel crown of the French Academy. His themes are incidents taken from the national history, cast in various forms, with one or two dramas, many sonnets, and a profusion of lyrics, of great sweetness, dealing with nature and life. In this section of our brief sketch of native literature, we must not omit to note "I'Histoire de la Litterature Cana- dienne," by M. Edmond Lareau, published at Montreal in 1874, which essays the task of presenting the French-Cana- dian public with a manual of Canadian literature from the earliest times. To this work we are somewhat indebted, as well as to Mr. H. J. Morgan's "Bibliotheca Canadensis," to Dr. Bender's "Literary Sheaves," and to articles on Canadian literature in the Transactions of the Royal So- ciety, by the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, and Mr. John Les- perance. Nor must we fail here to acknowledge our in- debtedness to the collection of historical essays, contributed to the Canadian Monthly^ by Dr. J. G. Bourinot, the Clerk of the House of Commons, Ottawa. In this thoughtful little volume, entitled " The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People," the author has made a useful and inter- esting addition to the meagre list of works available to the English reader in the field of Canadian bibliography and the record of Canada's intellectual life. In the same field, with a good deal of intellectual acuteness and a fine literary discernment, though marred occasionally by the writer's self-willed predilections, Mr. J. Edmund Collins has given us in his " Life of Sir John A. Macdonald " a bright chap- ter on native thought and litensiture, which the student of Canadian letters will find pleasant, and on the whole in- structive, reading. The department of "Literature, Science, and Art," in the Dominion Annual Register, edited by Mr. Morgan, of Ottawa, may also be consulted with profit for periodic summaries of the annual output of native litera- ture and the record of the year's work in science and art. The political abstracts and other information in these annual volumes of reference, make them of the highest value for consultation; and we shall be glad to see the ab- stract of literature annually maintained, and something more attempted than what has occasionally been given us — a mere transcript of copyright entries. THE PUR TRADERS AND THE NORTH-WEST. 208 1 crown s taken 1 one or Tics, of bure, we e Cana- treal in ih-CanA- rom the bted, as »densis," icles on oyal So- ►hn Les- our in- tributed le Clerk ful little of the d inter- le to the phy and ne field, literary writer's as given ht chap- ident of '^hole in- Science, by Mr. rofit for '^e litera- and art. n these highest ) the ab- mething ren us — BRITISH REGIME. THE FUR TRADERS AND THE LITERATURE OF THE NORTH-WEST. The great waterways of Canada — the St. Lawrence and those inland seas from which it is fed — played an import- ant part in the discovery and subsequent opening up of the Continent. In the early days, it was the profits of the Fur- trade, and not colonization and settlement, that drew the trapper and voyageur, and that wonderful race of hardy Canadian woodsmen, the coureurs de hois, into the vast in- land solitudes of North America. First in the field, and with access to the heart of the continent both by the St. Lawrence and by the Mississippi, it is remarkable that France ever lost her hold upon the territory, and that Anglo-Saxon, and not French, is the civilization of the New World. But with all the advantages in geographical posi- tion, aided by their genius for exploration, a fatal defect in the colonial system of France, and paralysis at Versailles at the crucial moment when the prize was being contended for, lost a new empire for the Latin race, and threw the vast region into the hands of Britain and her English- speaking colonists. When the Cross of St. George sup- planted the White Lilies at Quebec, the flag of France was flying at the Sault Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac, and her fur traders had penetrated far across the plains. Had another fate befallen on the St. Lawrence, France might yet have been signally worsted in the Ohio Valley, and, by a concerted descent from Hudson's Bay, driven back either upon Quebec, or forced down the Mississippi to Louisiana and the sea. But another issue was decreed, and with the fall of Quebec there fell also the trading-posts of France in the heart of the continent. French exploration in tlie Far West dates back to 1738, when Sieur de la Verandrye and his adventurous sons first opened up the vast fertile plains which extend from the lied River to the Rocky Mountains. For some account of La Verandrye and his journey ings the reader is referred to M. Suite's articles in the tenth volume of La Revue Cana- 204 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. dienne. Verandrye himself left no published account of his explorations. Fifty years later came Sir Alexander Mac- kenzie, a partner in the Great North- West Fur Company of Montreal, the discoverer of the Mackenzie River, and the first white man known to make his way across the Rockies to the Pacific. His work, which gives a most interesting account of the Canadian fur trade, contains the narrative of two "Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the years 1789 and 1793," and was published in London ip. 1802. Contemporary with Verandrye, Joseph La France, a French half-breed, made an " Exploration of the Coun- tries adjoining Hudson's Bay," an account of which, by Arthur Dobbs, was published in London in 1744. Near the close of the century, there also appeared the narrative of three voyages in the same region by Samuel Hearne, a Hudson Bay Co. ofiicer, who, after conquering many diffi- culties, found a passage by the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean. Hearne's work, entitled "Jou"ney from Prince of Wales Fort (Hudson's Bay) to the Coppermine River," was published in London in 1795. Another import- ant book on the early fur :rade is that of Alexander Henry, whose narrative furnishes Parkman with the thrilling account, in his ** Conspiracy of Pontiac," of the Ojibway massacre of the Figlish garrison at Michillimackinac just after the Conquest. The reader will find considerable refer- ence made to Henry, La France, Hearne, and Sir Alexan- der Mackenzie, with a chapter on Lord Selkirk's ill-fated colony on the Red River, in '* The North- West : its History and its Troubles," by the present writer (Toronto, 1885). Fuller narratives of the history of the Selkirk Colony will be found in the work of Prof. Bryce, of Winnipeg, on " Manitoba : its Infancy, Growth, and Present Condition," published in London in 1882; in Messrs. Gunn and Tuttle's "History of Manitoba"; and, particularly, in a graphically written work by Alexander Ross, a Scotch fur trader, who was at one time an employe of Astor in his fur mart on the Columbia River, and later on became a settler in the Selkirk Colony. His work, which was published in London in 1856, is entitled "The Red River Settlement: its Rise, Progress, and Present State, with an account of the Native Races." Not without interest, also, is the "Overland b of his r Mac- Dany of nd the lockies resting rrative vrence, eans in idon ii?. France, Coun- ich, by Near -rrative arne, a ly diffi- to the y from lermine import- Henry, irilling >jibway ac just e refer- Uexan- U-fated listory 1885). ny v.dll 3eg, on Ution," Cuttle's )hically 3r, who [lart on in the Ljondon 5 Rise, Native ;?erland THE FUR TRADERS AND THE NOU'^H-WEBT 205 Journey" (London, 1843) of Sir George Simpson, for forty years resi(Wt governor of the Hudson Bay Co. With the cession to Britain, in 1869, of the Hudson Bay Go's rights in the North- West Teriitories, and their transfer to Canada, the literature of the modern era of travel and description on the rich plains of the North- West com- mences. Prior to the acoual surrender of the Hudson Bay region, a few important narratives of exploration appeared, the chief of which are Capt. Palliser's '' Exploration Re- port;" Prof. Hind's "Red River Exploring Expedition," and that on the "Assiniboine and the Saskatchewan;" Paul Kane's " Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America," and Milton and Cheadle's " North- West Passage by Land." Since the acquirement of the territory, it has been the field of extensive travel by Englisli writers, from Capt. W. F. Butler, in his " Great Lone Land," etc., down to Mr. W. Fraser Rae's ' Columbia and Canada," and Mr. Stuart Cumberland's " Queen's Highway from Ocean to Ocean." With these works, however, we cannot here deal, though Canadian history is particularly concerned with two of them, in connection with Riel's Red River Rebellion. We refer to Capt. Huyshe's "Narrative" of Wolseley's Red River Expedition, and a cleverly written work by Mr. Charles Marshall, entitled "The Canadian Dominion" (Lon- don, 1871), which well hits off the whilom hero and dic- tator of Fort Garry. The native books on the North-West which belong to the Confederation era begin with " A Sketch of the North- West of America," by Mgr. Tache, Bishop of St. Boniface (Fore Garry), translated by Capt. R. D. Cameron (Mon- treal, 1870), and with the Rev. Principal Grant's eloquent work, "Ocean to Ocean." The latter is a diary of the Pacific Railway surveying expedition across the conti- nent, undertaken for the Government, in 1870, by Mr. Saudford Fleming, C.E. Dr. Grant's delightful book, though the record of comparatively an old story now, is still worthy of notice, and will well repay the modern reader's perusal. Prof. Macoun's " Manitoba and the North-West" (Guelph, 1882) is perhaps the most important work for the reader who seeks information with regard to the resources of the region, its physical features, and general history. Mr. J. C. Hamilton's "The Prairie Province" (To- 206 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITEllATUUE. ronto, 1871) is an instructive account of a journey "from Lake Ontario to Lake Winnipeg," with a sketch of the pro ductious and resources of the Red River Valley. Regg's "Creation of Manitoba" has the merit of being written by an intelligent resident of the Province and a shrewd observer. "England and Canada," by Sandft d Fleming, C.M.G., the learned Chancellor of Queen's University, is also an interesting narrative of travel " from Old to New Westminster." "Canada on the Pacific," by Charles Hor- etzky, C.E. (Montreal, 1874), is worthy of notice for its thoughtful review of the resources, with a pleasing descrip- tion of the beauties, of British Columbia. Mrs. Spragge's charming little volume, " From Ontario to the Pacific by the C. P. R." will also well repay even an oft-repeated perusal. The same remark applies to " Mountain and Prairie," a journey from Victoria to Winnipeg via the Peace River Pass, by the Rev. D. M. Gordon (Montreal, 1880). We must not here forget the important work on " The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North- West" (Toronto, 1880), by the Hon. Alex. Morris, P.C., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. Nor must we omit mention of Mr. Charles R. Tuttle's "Our North Land" (Toronto, 1885), the narrative of a Govern- ment expedition to Hudson's Bay in 1884, for the purpose of testing the practicability of a speedy route from England to the North- West, via Hudson's Straits and Bay. There remains but to mention the three published narratives of the Riel Rebellion on the Saskatchewan, in 1885, one by the present writer, another, a compilation, by the late Rev. C. P. Mulvany, M.A., and a third by Major Boulton, the gallant leader of Boulton's Scouts, and an intelligent and enthusiastic eye-witness. EARLY COLONIAL WRITERS. From the Rebellion Back to the Conquest. Leaving the region of the Great Plains, in the flower ot their later-day development, let us get back to the old his- toric Canadas on the St. Lawrence — the vestibule of the N©rth-West, as Lord Duflferin termed them — and to what THE REBELLION BACK TO THE CONQUEST. 207 ' "from ihe pro written shrewd leining, 'sity, is to New es Hor- for its clescrip- pragge's cific by epecated bin and e Peace , 1880). n u The and the Morris, Nor 's "Our Govern- purpose ngland There tives of one by bte Rev. :on, the ent and ower ot old his- ! of the to what may be called the mediaeval period in the national history. After the Conquest came an extciic^ed period of nulitary and semi-military rule, unfavourable to literature. This was followed by a disturbed era of more or less personal rule, on ••he part of the Governors-General and Lieutenant-Governors of Canada, during which the people in the French province endeavoured to free themselves from the bonds of feudalism and clerical domination which had long retarded the progress of the colony. In the English province much the same tight was going on, chiefly, however, against the paternalism of the Mother Country, or rather against the tyranny of a bureaucratic Colonial Executive, which stood in the way of progress and the attainment of some needed measure of responsible government. This state of things produced a fevered condition in both provinces, unfavourable to material advancement, though in the end conducive to intellectual freedom and the increase of popular power. Its results may be seen in the political gains of the people, though to secure them the country was brought to a condition of active rebellion, and almost to the verge of independence, or worse. Happily peace came with the panacea of constitutional government and a new and brighter era of progress and re- form. In the front rank of the literature of this distracting period stands Lord Durham's famous " Report and Des- patches " to the Imperial Government, " on the Affairs of British North America" (London and Montreal, 1839). This able State paper, the work partly, it is said, of his Lords' ip's secretary, Mr. Charles Buller, reviews the whole situation of affairs in both sections of the colony, discusses all points of disagreement and the grounds of disaffection, comments on the defects of the colonial system of govern- ment and the inefficient administration of justice — and, as a remedy, proposes the union of the two provinces. This latter specific, as we know, was applied, and under it the ailing body corporate managed to get along for the next five-and-twenty years. It was some time, however, before the dust settled on the scenes of the conflict,- and though the embers of the fire are now scattered, literature has preserved not a few of the brands in the strife. Of these we may mention, on the Tory side, " that self-complacent piece of effotism " Sir Francis Bond Head's " Narrative of his Ad- 208 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. ministration in Canada," with tho causes of tlio revolt (Lon- don, 1839); the same writer's "Address to the House of Lords against the Re- Union Bill, disclosing the improper means by which the consent of the Legislature has been obtained to the Measure " (London, 1840); * Canada and the Canada Bill : being an examinat^' " the proposed measure for the future Government Oi. v..»,nada, with some views respecting the British Provinces in North America," by Chief Justice Sir John Beverlejr Bobinson, Bt., C.B. ; " A Speech in the Legislative Council on the subject of the Clergy Reserves," by the Right Rev'd John Strachan, D.D., Lord Bishop of Toronto, with other comforting comfits from the members and adherents of " the Family Compact." From the radical arsenal there belched volley after volley of red-hot and inflammatory material, mostly in the shape of political pamphlets, " dodgers," and hand-bills, with the occa- sional round shot from the heavy guns, Gourlay, Papineau, and Mackenzie. Of the highly seasoned, if not seditious, tractates of the time, prepared for the delectation of the then obnoxious authorities, the curious reader will find entertainment in such brochures as Papineau's " Histoire de I'Insurrection du Canada, en refutation du Rapport de Lord Durham " (Burlington, Vt., 1839), and the "Seventh Annual Report of the Select Committee of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, on Grievances," by its chairman, Wm. Lyon Mackenzie (Toronto, 1835), together with an earlier literary gem, from the same source, entitled "The Legisla- tive Black List of Upper Canada ; or. Official Corruption and Hypocrisy Unmasked " (York, 1828). One of the first in the cause of reform to strip himself for the fray, was Robert Fleming Gourlay, who came to Canada in 1817, with the laudable and innoxious motive of promoting emigration. Pursuing some statistical inquiries into the resources and capabilities of the province, he became aware of the existence of various abuses in connection with the public administration of affairs, and in dragging them rather Quixotically to light he brought upon himself the wrath of the Provincial Executive, with subsequent banish- ment from the country. The sad story of this hapless "patriot," mixed up, unfortunately, with much that is otherwise really valuable in his writings, may be gathered from the author's " Statistical Account of Upper Canada," THE REIJELLION liACK TO TIJE CONQUEST. 209 b(Lon- use of proper 3 been la and oposed h some lerica," , C.B.; of the , D.D, js from npact." volley lape of le occa- pineau, ;Utious, of the ill find ioire de e Lord Annual sembly Wm. earlier egisla- [•uption himself ame to )tive of quiries became >n with g them elf the banish- haplesa that is ithered mada," which appeared in London, in two Hvo voluinos, in l^^•22. Tlu5 troubles and peiseciition of Gourlay, with tlu; obstinate refusal of the Executives Council of Upper Canada to renu'dy crying abuses and show some deference to the wish(!S of tlie people, did much to excite public feeling and fan the Ihime of rebellion. The llrst authority on the events of this period is Mr. Charles Lindsey, the Nestor of Upp(!r Canadian journalism, and the son-in law and biographei' of Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, the cliief actor in the drama of the times. Mr. Lindsey, however, l)elongs to the writ(!is of the modern period, and though his theme, like that of Mr. J. C. Dent, is the Rebellion of 1837, we must defer our notice of him and his important work for the present. It would have been advanttageous, we are aware, to have discarded the chronological order of this sketch and dealt witli the writers, irrespective of their period, grouped around their several themes. Had this been our plan, which circumstances pre- vented our adopting, we should here make mention, besides the two special writers alluded to on tlie Rebellion period, of a number of biograpliies which have of late years issued from the press, and which throw a strong light on the actors and the events of the time. The books we refer to are such works illustrative of the period, and that immc^Hately following it, as Sir Francis Hinck's " Reminiscence i" the Life of the Hon. George Brown, by the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie; Collins' Life of Sir John A. Macdonald; the Biography of the Right Rev. Bishop Strachan, by Bishop Bethune, his successor in the Toronto Episcopate; the "Story of the Life of the Rev. Dr. Ryerson," by Dr. J. G. Hodgins; and Mr. J. C. Dent's "Canadian Portrait Gallery," and " The Last Forty Years " of Upper Canadian history. The reader will find interest, also, in referring to Mr. J. W. Kaye's Life and Correspondence of Hr Charles Metcalfe ; to Mr. Theodore Walrond's Letters oi Lord Elgin (London, 1847-65), and to Major Richardson's "Eight Years in Canada, embracing a review of the administrations of Lords Durham and Sydenham, Sir Charles Bagot, and Lord Met- calfe " (Montreal, 1847). But it is time to get back to the earlier era from which we digressed, in speaking of the military and personal rule which followed the Conquest, and the events which led to rebellion, anr" the union, in 1841, of the two old provinces 210 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITEUATUUE. of CjuuiJ/i. For at l(«isfc half a century after the Conqueat, as we liave already hinted, literature in the Lower Province fell upon a p(;riod of lea'i years, while Uj)per Caiuida, as yet, was a wihhu'ness. The story of the Conciuest itself is nowhere better or more interestingly told, in an English source, than in the pages of Major (Jr. D. Warburton's *'The Conquest of Canada," edited by his gifted brother, Eliot Warburton (London, 18 49). The author was an Kngiish olHcer of the Royal Artillery, stationed for a time in Canada, and while in the country h(5 made good use of his oppor- tunities in gathering the material of this and an earlier work entitled " Hochelaga: or, England in the New World." His book on the Concpiest, particularly wi/a respect to Indian life and legends, has a fascination not inferior, though of a different sort, to that which makes Mr. Park- man's "Montcalm and Wolfe" so absorbing a study. The biographies of the Fr(;nch and English heroes of the strife, the translation of "Montcalm's Letters" (London, 1777), and Wright's "Life of Major-Ceneral Wolfe" (London, 1865), will also well repay perusal. Nor should the pages of the American historian, Bancroft, on the Fall of Quebec, the closing chapter of Miles' "History of Canada during the French Ilogime," and Dr. Daniel Wilson's eloquent article in the Canadian Morithlij on " Wolfe and Old Quebec," be omitted by the reader or the student of one of the most notable events in Canadian annals. WRITERS ON THE CONSTITUTION, THE U. E. LOYAL- ISTS, AND THE WAR OF 1812. To the French-Canadian sources of the native history, prior to and subsequent to the Coii((uest, we have already referred. The chief of these, as we have said, is Garneau's work, which may be profitably supplemented by Miles' his- tory, and by the Anglo-Canadian authors, MacMuUen, Dr. Withrow, and Mr. Andrew Archer, an able educational writer and historian of New Brunswick. At the present moment we are looking forward with inter(;st to the ap- pearing of an addition to the ranks of native historical writers, in the person of Mr, Wm. Kingsford, O.E., of land THE U. E. LOYALISTS AND THE WAU OF 1812. 211 CoiKjuoat, r Province Jaiiada, aa sst itself is lu English toil's "Tho ther, Eliot lu English in Canada, his oppor- an earlier ow World." respect to ot inferior, ; Mr. Park- ;tudy. The f the strife, idon, 1777), " (London, Id tlie pagiis \ of Quebec, lada during I's eloquent [fe and Old nt of one of E. LOYAL- bive history, lave already is Garneau's ly Miles' his- MacMuUen, 3 educational the present t to the ap- ve historical ,rd, O.E., of Ottawa, from whose pen we are shortly to have a History of (/anada to the date of the cession of the country to Ihitain. Here we must tind place to mention — in connec- tion with t!ie successive constitutions granted to the people by the liritish Crown, including the King's proclamation after the Conquest, the Quebec Act of 1774, the Constitu- tional Act of 1791, the Act of Union, 1841, and the British North America Act, which gave shape and forn) to Confed- eration — Mr. Samuel J. Watson's "Constitutional History of Canada," of which the first vohime only appeared. Dr. J. G. Bourinot's *' Parliamentary Procedure and Prac- tice " also claims notice, in the opening chapter of which the learned and industrious Clerk of the House of Commons has given us a concise and lucid history of parliamentary institutions in Canada. Dr. O'Sullivan's popular " Manual of Government in Canada " may also be profitably consulted. The student of the Canadian Constitutions will find, with regard to the latest of them, a number of elucidatory text- books well worthy of study, the chief of which is one by Joseph Doutre, Q.C., of Montreal, illustrating the British North America Act of 1867 by a series of annotations and recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Imperial Privy Council. Dr. Alpheus Todd's important treatise on "Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies" (London and Boston, 1880) is, with his earlier work, doubtless too important to be unknown to the reader. Tiie author's learned commentaries, despite the buckram of his style, are held in high repute wherever English institu- tions are studied or introduced. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Mont- gomery's futile invasion of Canada in 1775, and the friction between the British and French races in Lower Canada, which the Quebec Act of the previous year occasioned, gave birth to three volumes on the peculiar land system prevailing in Lower Canada, by Francis Maseres, at one time Attorney- General of the Province of Quebec. These volumes, entitled " The Canadian Freeholder," discuss, in the form of a dia- logue between an Englishman and a Frenchman, the burning land question of the day, in the interests of the Protestant minority of the province, who were then, as they aie still, at great disadvantage in civil and ecclesiastical matters, in consequence of the privileges granted at the Conquest to their 212 SKETCH C CANADIAN LITERATURE. French-Canadian and Roman Catholic countrymen. The author, who subsequently became r, Baron of the Exchequer Court in England, also published a number of works advo- cating the creation by the Crown of a House of Assembly and parliamentary institutions in the Quebec Province. Re- ferring to the Montgomery invasion, reminds us of Mr. John Lesperance's novel, "The Bastonnais" (Toronto, 1877), which gives a graphic account of it, and forms with Mr. Wra. Kirby's historical romance, "LeChiend'Or" — a story of the old courtly days of Louis Quatorze and Louis Quinze in Quebec — the two finest pieces of fiction which English- Canada has so far produced. Popular assemblies were little to the mind of George III., and though the province was granted a Constutition, the autocratic Executive and Legislative Council which were given to it could scarcely be deemed a boon to the people. Nor could the British and Protestant minority relish the recognition by the State of the Roman Catholic Church, with legalization of the Civil Code of France, and the per- petuation of the status of a French province. For the period the province ran a separate career, namely, from 1791 to the Union in 1841, Mr. Robert Christie's ** His- tory of Lower Canada, Parliamentary and Political," in six volumes, 12mo (Quebec, 1849-55), is the chief text-book and repertory of facts. Mr. Christie, as an active member of the Legislatuie, had good opportunities for studying the workings of the parliamentary institutions of the province ; and, though his style is loose and straggling, he has made fair and intelligent use of them. The war for American independence, now an accom- plished fact, created an episode in the history of Canada of which native literature has as yet made little, if we except the two portly volumes of materials for a history compiled by the late Rev. Dr. Ryerson, and published in Toronto in 1881. Unfortunately, in these volumes, " The Loyalists of America and their Times," though it was the design of the reverend gentleman that his work should be, as he phrased it, " an historical monument to the character and merits of the fathers and founders of his native country," the author has occupied himself too much in re-telling the story of the settlement of Massachusetts, and of the doings of the Puri- tan Fathers^ and has not devoted that space to the incideats ing THE U. E. LOYALISTS AND THE WAR OF 1812. 21S men. The Exchequer v^orks advo- : Assembly i^ince. Re- •f Mr. John ito, 1877), IS with Mr. p" — a story 3uis Quinze ch English- Jeorge III., atition, the which were the people. J relish the ►lie Church, md the per- For the mely, from stie's **His- ical," in six f text-book Lve member budying the e province ; e has made an accom- : Canada of f we except [•y compiled Toronto in Loyalists of esign of the he phrased d merits of ' the author story of the of the Puri- be incidei^ts of settlement in Upper Canada which, for our own people, would have had an entrancing interest, and been the most acceptable contribution to the native history. Neverthe- less, the work has many claims upon Canadian readers, and the author's enthusiasm in his subject, and years of industry in compiling his materials, though, as we have said, he has not made the best use of them, deservedly entitle his work to notice and commendation. Hardly more satisfactory in a literary point of view, though equally worthy of honour as material for a history of the origin and progress of the people of Ontario, is Dr. Wm. CannifTs "The Settlement of Upper Canada, with special reference to the Bay of Quinte" (Toronto, 1869). The work is unfortunately rare. The proceedings, ir. 1884, at Adolphustoii, Toronto, and Niagara, in connection with the celebration of the Centennial of the settlement of Upper Canada by the U. E. Loyalists, were published in Toronto, in 1885, and will be found to be of considerable historic interest. With the coming of Governor Simcoe, Upper Canada was erected into a separate province, in the opening up of which the sturdy band of incoming Loyalists rendered yeoman ser- vice, and subsequently gave of its richest brain power in laying the foundation of the young Western Commonwealth. What progress had been made may be seen, less than twenty years afterwards, when the province rose in its might to maintain its integrity against an unprovoked and a fool- hardy American invasion. In the patriotism which the War of 1812 evoked, literature was a sharer, and has since done not a little to commemorate in honour the doughty deeds and stirring incidents of the brief but sanguinary conflict. The chief narrators, among the eye-witnesses, of the events of the period, are two in number, Lieut-Col. W. F. Coffin, and Mr. David Thompson, late of the Royal Scots, a long-time resident of Niagara. Another historian of the conflict, who deals with it, like Coffin and Thompson, in a distinct work, apart from the general history, is Mr. Gilbert Auchinleck, editor of the Anglo-American Magazme, in which periodical his patriotic narrative appeared in 1855. Thompson's work was published in Niagara in 1832, and has the advantage in preserving many interesting incidents of the unequal struggle, undimme i by time and the advanc- ing age of eye-witnesses. Col. Coffin's work, "The War 214 SKETCH OP CANADIAN LITERATURE. of 1812 and its Moral," is a deeply interesting and impar- tial narrative, in which is interwoven records of the per- sonal parts taken in the conflict by many U. E. Loyalists and chivalrous scions of old French-Canadii*n families of noble birth. An incomplete narrative of the War, contain- ing an account of the operations of the Right Division of the Canadian army, also appeared at Brock vi lie in 1842, from the pen of Major John Richardson, whose " Wacousta.," an Indian tale, and "The Canadian Brothers," a story of tho War of 1812, are perhaps the best of the early productions in the department of Canadian romance. * The general reader will get a good idea of the War, and a graphic picture of the time, in a work of fiction entitled *' For King and Country," from the talented pen of Miss Agnes Machar ("Fidelis"), of Kingston. Poetry and the drama have also taken the war, or incidents in its progress, up for treatment. The latest instance of this is Mrs. S. A. Curzon's "Laura Secord : the Heroine of 1812," a dramatic version of a woman's heroic deed in warning a British camp of danger from attack by the enemy. The closing year of the War, with the patriotic part taken in it by an T^.dian ally of the Crown, is also admirably portrayed in verse in Mr. Charles Mair's drama of " Tecumseh," a work which is an honour to Canadian literature. Among the many press reviews, which greeted this work on its appearing, will be found a tribute to it and its talented author by the present writer in the pages of The ^Varsity for 1885. The reference here to Tecumseh recalls the name of another noble ally of Britain in the Revolutionary War, whose biography (Stone's " Life of Chief Joseph Brant ") though not written by a Canadian, should be familiar to Canadians, and its subject held by them in high honour. The same should be said for Stone's " Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson," who for forty years (1738-1778) was Royal Super- intendent of Indian Affairs on this continent, and whose work is replete with materials for Indian history during tlie exciting period which preceded and followed the Conquest. Nor should the student of Canadian history and literature be unfamiliar with Tupper's " Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock" (London, 1845), the hero of Queenston Heights, whose death on the battle-field re- pressed the shouts of victory. DESCIllPTTVE, INDUSTRIAL, AND SOCIAL. 215 md iinpar- of the per- ). Loyalists families of ir, con tain - Division of e in 1842, Wacousta," itory of tho )roductions War, and a 3n entitled sn of Miss y and the 3S progress, Mrs. S. A. a dramatic "itish camp osing year an I^.dian in verse in ■k which is many press ng, will be or by the 885. The of another 7"ar, whose t") though Canadians, The same f Sir Wm. 3yal Super- and whose during the 5 Conquest. 1 literature ondence of ), the hero ble-tield re* WORKS DESCRIPTIVE, INDUSTRIAL, AND SOCIAL. At the close of the year 1814, Peace returned to brood over the land, and the young colony addressed itself to the task of industrial and political development. The litera- ture of the period is represented mainly by books of travel, written by Old Countrymen and foreigners, who had come to see the Canadas and the lusty young Republic to the south that had begun to work out the problem of a separate national independence, with the legacy of an unfortunate bias against the motherland of Britain and its loyal Cana- dian colony. The first of these to appear were the works, we fear known to book-collectors only, of Isaac WeM, George Heriot, and John Lambert. Their travels were published in London about the beginning of the century, and are curious as the earliest descriptions of the coun- try and of its social life after its occupation by Britain. Heriot was the Deputy Postmaster-General of British North America at the time he wrote his "Travels Through the Canadas." These were followed by Mr. John Howison's " Sketches of Upper Canada : Domestic, Local and Charac teristic" (Edinburgh, 1821); by Capt. Basil Hall's "Travels in North America" (Edinburgh, 1829); and by Sir R. H. . Bonny castle's " Excursions in Canada," and " Canada and the Canadians" (London, 1841-46). These later works in dicate the progress of Upper Canada in the interval, and herald the host of books which afterwards dealt with tho country as a desirable field for emigration. These various travellers describe the colony and its inhabitants through the spectrum of their individual mental dispositions, and the picture is not always pleasing or flattering. Happily, for the most part, the physical features of the country, its natural beauti. Its climate, its lakes, streams, falls, and woodland scenery, with the curiosities of Indian life, Indian habits and customs, etc., engross the travellers, give warmtli and colour to their narratives, and withdraw their writers' attention from the rawness of the country and the crude- ness, as yet, of its social life. Of native works published on Canada in the youth-time of the province, none in their day were more useful than those of a topographical and statistical character. The 216 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. most important of these are Lt.-Col. Joseph Bouchette's laborious compilation, in three quarto volumes (London, 1831), entitled "The British Dominions in North America;" N. P. Willis's "Canadian Scenery, illustrated from draw- ings by W. H. Bartlett," two vols., quarto (London, 1842); W. H. Smith's "The Canadian Gazetteer," and the same writer's " Historical, Geographical and Statistical Account of Canada West" (Toronto, 1851). With the Willis-Bartlett book, and indicating the great advance made by Canada in recent years in the arts connected with illustrated ^Dook manufacture, should be bracketed the sumptuous work, "Picturesque Canada, described by the best writers and artists," and ably edited by Principal Grant, D.D., of Queen's University, Kingston. Of this work we do not hesitate to say, that its publication marks a distinct epoch in the intellectual progress of the Canadian people, while it cannot fail to have an immense influence upon the future of native art and native literature. On this ground it well deserves the success it has achieved in both hemispheres. We now come to deal succinctly with the literature that must possess most interest for those who seek to know the history of Canada, not in its politics, or in the theatre of public affairs, but in the heart- records of the people, in the log-hut of the settler, or in the rude hamlet new-hewn from the wilderness. Two of the early works in this department were written by notable and eccentric characters in their day. Col. E. A. Talbot and Dr. Wm^ Dunlop. The latter, familiarly known in the province as "Tiger" Dunlop — a sobriquet which his " tall," impassioned stories of tiger-hunt- ing in India e.rned for him — came to Canada in 1820 with John Gait, the novelist, in the service of the Canada Land Co., and, with the latter, was instrumental in founding settle- ments in the neighbourhood of Guelph, and the town which now bears the name of the Land Commissioner. Dunlop set up his " lodge in the wilderness," and lived a Bohemian life in the backwoods, from which he now and then issued to despatch a contribution at "Muddy Little York" to Blackwood^ 8 Magazine^ or to the Literary Garland at Mont- real. His "Statistical Sketches of Upper Canada" (Lon- don, 1833) have the flavour of the Noctes Ambrusiance vfith. a curious admixture of wisdom and humour. Talbot's "Five Vcars' Residence in the Canadas" (London, 1824) tells the DESCRIPTIVE, INDUSTRIAL, AND SOCIAL. 2l7 ouchette's (London, America;" rom draw- 3n, 1842); the same 1 Account is-Bartlett Canada in ited \)o6k )us work, [•iters and D.D., of ve do not inct epoch e, while it bhe future md it well pheres. ature that know the theatre of pie, in the lewn from epartment •s in their rhe latter, Dunlop — a biger-hunt- 1820 with lada Land ling settle- own which . Dunlop Bohemian hen issued York" to d at Mont- tda" (Lon- siancE with )ot's "Five t^ tells the story of the Talbot Settlement near St. Thomas, and along the shores of Lake Erie. Its founder came to Upper Canada in 1793, as aide-de-camp to Governor Simcoe, and later on ob- tained a grant from the English Government of one hundred thousand acres in the southern peninsula of the province, on condition of placing a settler on every two hundred acres. Talbot settled near St. Thomas, and there lived a a life of seclusion from the world, with, it is said, no woman near him, and seeing, as Mrs. Jameson tells us in her "Sketches in Canada," scarce a human being for twenty years, " except the few boors and blacks employed in clear- ing and logging his land. He himself," the visitor adds, "assumed the blanket-coat and axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows, churned the butter, and made and baked the bread." A life of this strange man, by Edward Ermatinger, was published at St. Thomas in 1859, enriched with sketches of the public characters and the career of several conspicuous Upper Canadians of the period. Of the class of conspicuous Upper Canadians here re- ferred to, no more notable figure occurs in these early days than that of the Hon. Wm. Hamilton Merritt, whose name is imperishably associated with the Welland Canal. When first projected, the scheme seemed visionary and Utopian : to-day it is the embodied realizatior of a patriot's dream ; and few undertakings in Canada have been of more practical advantage to navigation and commei'ce. It was to be expected that the sagacious projector and unwearied pro- moter of this great enterprise would be remembered not only in his work, but in some fitting and adequate biography. A "Life," it is true, has appeared, which was published in St. Catharines in 1875; but it is in no way worthy either of the subject or of the biographer. Like many other books of the past, the memoir of the Hon. Mr. Merritt puts })efore one the bricks and mortar rather than the finished edifice of an historical memorial. His, however, is one of the figures on the canvas of the countiy's early liistory to which literature, we doubt not, will yet do justice. Gait's "Autobiography" is interesting reading, and his book on "The Canadas" is replete witli valuable topo graphical matter, addressed to intending emigrants in the 15 218 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITEllATUllE. r^wime of Sir Peregrine Maitland. The historical romance, " An Algonquin Maiden," by the present writer and Miss A. ICthelwyn Wetherald, it may here be said, deals also with descriptions of the country and the social life of Canada at this period. The chief scenes of this novel — the borders of Lake Simcoe — are also those which form the subject of " Forest Scenes and Incidents in the Wilds of North America," by Sir George Head, Bt., an English army officer who served in Canada about the year 1825-6. Lieut. Col. Strickland's " Twenty-seven Years in Canada " (London, 1853) is the faithful portrayal of the experiences of an early settler and acute observer. This work is linked in interest (as its author is linked in the ties of relationship) with Mrs. Susanna Moodie's " Roughing it in the Bush," perhaps the best known and by far the most vivid narrative of a settler's trials in the Canadian backwoods. This clever gentlewoman, a sister of Miss Agnes Strickland, historian of the "Queens of England," came to Canada in 1832 with her husband, a half-pay officer, whose experience of the first cold night in tl^eir cabin in the woods is preserved to us in the following jocosely improvised ditty : " Oh, the cold of Canada nobody knows, The fire burns our shoes without warming our toes ; Our blankets are thin, and our noses are blue — Our noses are blue, and our blankets are thin, It's at zero without, and we're freezing within ! " Mrs. Moodie, however, lived long enough to give us an- other picture than that limned in her book from her hus- band's pen. Writing from Belleville in 1871, she says, " Contrasting the first year of my life in the bush with Canada as she is now, my mind is filled with wonder and gratitude at the rapid strides she has made towards the ful- filment of a great and glorious destiny. What important events have been brought to pass within the narrow circle of less than forty years ! What a difference between now n.nd then I The country is the same only in name. Its as- pect is wholly changed. The rough has become smooth, the crooked has been made straight, the forests have been con- verted into fruitful fields, the rude log cabin of the woods- man has been replaced by the handsome, well-appointed homestead, and large, populous cities have pushed the small, clap-boarded village into the shade." romance, id Miss A. also with Canada at borders of subject of of North 'my officer Lieut.Col. (London, ces of an linked in ctionship) he Bush," narrative rhis clever , historian 1832 with of the first 3d to us in oes ; ive us an- 1 her hus- she says, bush with onder and ds the ful- important row circle bween now e. Its as- mooth, the been con- :ho woods- -appointed the small, DESCRIPTIVE, INDUSTRIAL, AND SOCIAL. 219 Another talented sister, Mrs. Traill, in her " Backwoods of Canada," '* The Canadian Crusoes," and " Rambles in the Canadian Forest/' gives us a further insight into the primitive domestic life of the early settler, and a pathetic record of disappointment, privation, and toil. This dear old lady, who as we write is still alive, though in her nineties, has found a solace in her woodland life of which few have availed themselves, for their own profit and delight, or. for the benefit of science and literature. In her sylvan seclusion, she has brought out works on two different occasions on the " Plant Life of Canada," the favourite volumes alike of the literary student and the botanical scientist and amateur. Dr. Geikie's " A Boy's Life in the Woods," W. Lyon Mackenzie's racy "Sketches of Upper Canada," and Canniff" Haight's " Country Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago," are additional works in this interesting department which should not be overlooked by the reader. Nor should the various works be forgotten that deal with local annals, and record the rise and development of the cities and towns of the Province. Croil's " Dundas : a sketch of Canadian History," "The Early History of Gait and Settlement of Dumfries," by the Hon. James Young, occur to us as good specimens of this class. " Toronto of Old," by the Rev. Henry Scadding, D.D., is a work of singular merit in the literature of antiquities, and is for all time an unfailing storehouse of information. Though nominally a local history, it contains, in effect, an account of the founding of most of the political, literary, religious, and philanthropic institutions of the whole Province of Ontario. The style of the work is exceedingly graphic and entertaining; it is unencuiiibered with dry, unrelated details, and yet reproduces times gone by with vivid fidelity. Of not a few names known to literature in the mother- land, Canada has numbered and still numbers among her residents many representatives. Of these Strickland, Ho- mans, Carlyle, and Dickens are among the number. ^ Of the authors themselves. Upper Canada has known, besides the still-living Goldwin Smith, the poet Moore, the novelist Gait, and the charming art-writer and Shakespearian essayist, Mrs. Jameson. Here it is fitting to notice the latter, though her residence in Canada, in consequence of an unhappy marriage, was a bleak and chilling one. How 2^0 SKETCH OP CANADIAN LlTERATURK. bleak and chilling it was, those must know who are familiar with her life, and who liave read with shame for the then Chancellor of the Province, of the reception given to his weary wife, with the sweet spirituelle face, on her advent in Toronto, after a trying voyage from the England she held so dear, to take up a winter residence by the steel-C(jJd waters of Lake Ontario. Despite this, how3ver, and its depressing influence on mind and spirits, Mrs. Jameson's " Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada," (Lon- don and New York, 1839,) is one of the few books that belong to the literature of the time with which the reader sliould not be unfamiliar. Her volumes are the work of a poet-artist, and have the charm and grace of a sensitive and cultivated woman. Though the country was to her tlie land of an exile, there are not many writers on Canada whose pages are more aglow with eloquent description and an intense appreciation of the beautiful in nature. CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. The founders of a province soon pass away, but in- wrought with the edifice which they have built up will be found the characteristics that have distinguished them. In the case of Upper Canada, what the characteristics were of its sturdy and far-seeing founders, the condition of Ontario to-day, and its well-assured future, indicate. In the busy material affjiirs of the early settlers and colonists, little leisure was left them to give to literature, either creative or recreative. But they were not wholly indifferent to the intellectual life, for in the larger cities, at any rate, the lamp of learning, however feeble at times its flame, was at least kept burning. Even in the most prosaic era, there were, here and there, a few cultivated people who gave tone to society, and despite the distractions of politics, did something to promote culture and to exten'^ the area of its sway. Far back in the history of Upj.-i' Canada the intelligence and public spirit of the people made substantial provision for education ; and with the growth of the Pro- vince the school system has continued to receive generous and ever-increasing aid. Few lacts in the past life of the CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 22] familiar the then en to his sr advent jland she steel-coJd ", and its Tameson's la," (Lon- Doks that he reader vork of a sensitive as to her n Canada 3tion and but in- ip will be hem. In !S were of : Ontario the busy ;ts, little 'eative or it to the rate, the e, was at ra, there v^ho gave itics, did 'ea of its lada the bstantial the Pro- generous f 6 of the colony are more creditable to it than this ; and though as a young coniniunity we are apt unduly to boast of our achievements, the scliool system of the province is deserving of praise, and the sacrifices made in the interest of educa- tion are worthy of the people. Equally creditable has been the provision made for higher education, and for the found- ing and maintenance in the various sections of the ].)ominion of denominational colleges and national seats of learning. The influence of the latter has, for the most part, been manifested in other professions than that of literature. Happily, however, there are now signs — and " The 'Varsity Book," issued by the graduates and undergraduates of University College, Toronto, is one of them — that the pro- fession of letters is at length attracting the product of University training. Already the stream of journalism is being enriched from that source, and the newspaper world of Canada is fast coming under the influence, in tone as well as in thought, of higher and better instructed minds. Though in the English-speaking Provinces we have not been able to maintain a first-class magazine — if we except the well-conducted Canadian Methodist Mac/azirie, which is in the main supported by a denomination — the periodical press of Canada has made gratifying progress, and its future is not without promise. With Confederation Canadian literature burst into blos- som, but the fruit, it must be said, has not quite borne out its spring-time promise. For a time literary enterprise felt the glow of national aspiration and the quickening of a new birth. But the flush on its face ere long passed off, and mental activity once more engrossed itself with material afl'airs. In the past twenty years, native literature, how- ever, has made some gains, though the nation itself, it is to feared, has not gone very far in the settled path of progress. We are still discussing narrow provincial issues, and the problems of the country's destiny, it would appear, are far from being solved. At times the clouds seem to rise over the national horizon, and a perceptible impulse is then given to the forces of the native intellect. It is at these periods that the country has been enriched by works of permanent value. As yet literature is far from reaping great harvests, but the soil already yields fairly, and by improved culture will (ioubtless bring fortji more abundantly. If yfQ liav© 222 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. not to record great literary feats, we have at any rate im- proved on the days of ecclesiastical brochures and political pamphlets. It is to be remciubercd, moieovcr, that the literary work done by Canadians has been achieved, for the most part, through corroding care and amid the tumult of alien noises. May the coming writers have the aid of u more favourable environment ! Among Canadian authors who took part in public affairs in the ushering in of Confederation, tlie names of two Parlia- mentary orators are conspicuous — the lion. Joseph Howe and the Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Both have finished their career: one, uidiappily, was cruelly snatched from it; and his untimely death was a keen blow to literature. The chief literary interest in their work lies in the iield of ora- tory, and in Howe's " Speeches and Public Letters" (Boston, 1858), and in McGee's "Speeches and Addresses, chiefly on the Subject of British American Union" (London, 18G5), we have a collection of patriotic public utterances peculiarly interesting to the Canadian reader. Of nmch native inter- est, also, is Mr. McGee's collected volume of " Canadian Ballads and Occasional Verse," though the latter is perhaps too heavily burdened with the plaint of "Irish Wrong." The citation of Howe, the Nova Scotian orator, reminds us that we have no space, we regret, to deal with the local literature of t^e Maritime Provinces, not a little of which deserves well at our hands. In history it is particularly strong, as the historical writings attest of Judge Haliburton (Sam Slick), Beamish Murdoch, Duncan Campbell, and James Hannay. The " History of Acadia," by the latter, and Haliburton's " Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," are especially to be commended for their im- partiality, accuracy, and spirit. Though Haliburton's fame rests mainly on the raciness and humour of "Sam Slick," he is no less worthy to be read as an historian and moralist. Of general histories, we have already spoken of Garneau's work, translated by Bell, and have made mention of the contemporary writers, MacMuUen, Dent, Archer, Bryce, Kingsford, and Withrow. MacMullen's " History of Can- ada" (London and Brockville, 1868), after the appearing of the translation of Garneau, was the first comprehensive work in English dealing with the country's history. It covers the period frgm the e:irliest discoveries tg Confederation, and CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 223 y rate iin- I })oUtical that tho (I, for tho tumult of aid of a ilic affairs NO Parlia- ph Howe e linislied from it; ire. Tho Id of ora- ' ( Boston, ihiefiy on •n, 18Gr>), )cculiarly ive inter- panadian s perhaps Wrong." iminds us the local of which :'ticularly :ili burton bell, and le latter, count of their im- )n's fame II Slick," moralist, rarneau's n of the , Bryce, of Can- 3aring of ive work .t covers bion^ and is a sober, painstaking narrative, with a manifest Lilieral bias. His work, we ftvir, is a standing crib for those writers who have no gcMiius for drudgery and are unwilling to go to the prime sources of information. Dr. Withrow's "History of the Dominion of Canada" (Toronto, 1878 and 1887), is essentially a popular narrative, covering tne whole ground of the national annals, with a necessa»ily brief but intelli- gible outline of tlu; history of each separate Province. Tho work is deserving of its success, to which the author's pleasant style of narration contributes something ; and it bids fair to retain a tirm hold upon public favour as a lively and faithful narrative of Canadian history. In Dr. IJryce's " Short History of the Canadian People," the autlior has given a new setting, though lacking the (piality of pictur- esqueness, to the main facts of the country's histoty. Mr. J. C. Dent's " The Last Forty Years," deals with the annals of Upper Canada from the Union of the Provinces in 1841. The period covered being a contemporary one, the work possesses an interest which remote events usually fail to awak( n, though the writer has the drawback of having to contend with judgments already formed and with a criticism which is more or less influenced by the predilections of the reader. In spite of this, the author has acquitt(;d himself well of his work, and he comments with judicious fairness on the events which have taken place within the memory of the present generation. The plan of the book is in its(;lf at- tractive, viz., that of grouping facts and events into chap- ters, which typify and illustrate the formative periods of the country's growth, rather than the setting forth in minute detail of the history from year to year. To students of the national life and charicter the early volumes, particularly, of the "Scot in British North America," by the late Mr. W. J. Rattray, B.A., will be sure to commend themselves. They contain a mass of information respecting the political, material, social, religious and intellectual life of the country, a" these features of its development have been influenced and operated upon by Scotchmen. No more vital inquiry could well have bi;en taken up than this one of the national character : what its ingredients are, how they have come together, and in what manner they have fused or are fusing themselves into the national life of the people, are never failing questions of 224 SKETCH OF CANADIAN TJTEUATURE. intorost. To the considin'jition of tliosc^ thcMiios Mr. Rattray l)roii;;ht emitioiit talents, an iiitiiiiato ac(|uaintaiico with the national history, and a power of gra])hiu writin<( which im- part sp(Mjial charm to tlie autlior's work. *' The Irishman in Canada," hy Nicholas Flood Davin, M.T (Toronto, 1877), is a kindnnl work, full of inter(5stin;jj facts respecting tho m(ui of Irish ilesc(Mit who have tigurcd prominently in Cana- dian history. Tlie story is told with the dash and vigour of a clever, sprii^ditly, and practised writer. Mr. H. J. Morgan's " Sk(itches of Cel(;brated Canadians," Notman'8 " Portraits of British Americans," edited by Fenninga Taylor, Mr. J. C. Dent's " Canadian Portrait Gallery," and "Tho Cycl()i);edia of Canadian Biography," edited by Mr. G. McLean Rose, should not be omittinl from this category. Among contempoi'ary authors who have enriched sp(!cial periods of the national history by their pen, mention must be made of Dr. ({eorge Stewart, F.R.S.C., of Quebec, and Mr. J. Edmund Collins, author of ''The Life of Sir John A. INlacdonald," to which we liave already referred. Mr. Collins, besides the biography of the Dominion Premier, and a collection of Canadian sketches and tales, has written an account of the " Administration in Canada of Lord Lome" (1878-1882), which, like all this writer's work, is thoughtful and vigorous. Occasionally Mr. Collins offends by his outspokenness and a hasty, wayward judgment ; but there is merit in his independence, and his cleverness atones for his faults. He has a poet's sympathy with nature, and a painter's skill in describing the scenes he in- troduces to the reader. Dr. Stewart is one of our well- known and industrious authors, an accomplished man of letters, and an enthusiastic Canadian. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society ot Canada, a member of the Historical and Literary Society of Quebec, to the Proceedings of which he is a frequent contributor, and a writer in the new (ninth) edition of the Encyclopcvdia Britannica. He is also the author of the article on *' Frontenac," in Justin Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of America ; " though he is perhaps best known as the historian of " Canada under the Administration of Lord Dufferin " (Toronto, 1878). Dr. Stewart is a fervent and sympathetic writer, and his work is distinguished by industry, care, and conscientiousness. Mr. Wui. Leggo has also written vn history of the '' Admin- CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 225 Rattray with tliG ^hicli im- ilinian in o, 1877), ;tin«( tho in Cana- d vigour H. J. Potman's ^'enninga My," and I hy Mr. category, d sp(!cial ion must (bee, and 5ir John ?d. Mr. Proniior, 5 written of Lord work, is 5 offends ;nt ; but fverness hy with es he in- jur well- man of i'ellow of istorical of which r (ninth) also the ^insor's jgh he is nder the ;). Dr. lis work ousness. Admiu- istration of tho Earl of Dufferin in Canada" (Montreal, ltS7cS). This work shows a wide knowledge of Canadian liistory on the part of tho writer, and minutely and graph- ii^lly ilhistrates tho regime of Canada's most popular Gov- e nor-Genoral. Of writers in the department of Belles Lettres and tho fu^ld of the Essay, Canada may be said to bo unusually rich. Their names will be familiar to the readers of such critical journals as The Week^ the deceased Nation, ArcturuSy Canadian Spectator, and the suspended national review, tho Canadian Monthly. Of the number, including those who treat of public affairs and topics of general interest, it will not be invidious to mention such gifted writers as Prof. Goldwin Smith, President Daniel Wilson, Rev. Principal Grant, Rev. Prof. VVm. Clark, Mr. W. D. Le Sueur, Prof. Clark IMurray, Dr. Bourinot, Dr. Withrow, Mr. J.H.Menzies, Prof. K. L. Jones, Dr. Dewart, Mr. Martin J. Griffin, Mr. F. A. Dixon, Mr. J. Howard Hunter, Mr. John Seath, Mr. T. A. Haultain, Mr. J. E. Bryant, Prof. J. E. Wells, Mr. W. H. C. Kerr, Mr. R. W. Boodle, Dr. E. A. Meredith, Mr. S. E. Dawson, Mr. Edward Farrer, Dr. J. G. Hodgins, Mr. Geo. A. MacKenzie, Mr. E. Douglas Armour, Mr. W. A. Foster, Q.C., Dr. Geo. Murray, Mr. 0. A. Rowland, Mr. D. Fowler, Mr. Walter Townsend, Mr. A. Stevenson, Mr. A. W. Gundry, Mr. F. B. Hodgins, Dr. Daniel Clarke, Rev. Dr. Scadding, Mr. Ohas. Lindsey, Mr. John King, Mr. J. Macdonald Oxley, Mr. W. H. Cross, Mr. A. H. Morrison and Mr. J. 0. Miller. To these names have to be added those of a goodly company of women, who have made delightful excursions into the realm of the essay, and given us pictures of life, in nature and humanity, and vivid glimpses into things, with the power of penetration and deft literary skill which charac- terize women of brains and culture. Among the literary sisterhood should be mentioned Loui'^'f'. Murray, Agnes M. Machar, Sara Jeannette Duncan, " Beranus " (Mrs. J. W. F. Harrison), Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald, Mrs. Francis Rye, Mrs. Arthur Spragge, Mrs. Forsyth Grant, "Esper- ance" (Miss Ardagh), Mrs. S. A. Curzon, Mrs. Anna Roth- woll, Mrs. Edgar Jarvis, Miss Lewis, Miss Morgan, Miss Pauline Johnson, Mrs. K. Seymour McLean, with other anonymous writers, romancers, and makers of verse. We must all hail the work of these cultured women in 226 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. Canadian literature, for it has given piquancy to our criti- cal journals of late, taught us to see, understand, and enjoy many things which the less penetrative and non-sensitive masculine mind has failed to teach us, while it has brought the reader more closely^ under the spell of the literary art. What a reinforcement of freshness, and what has been called "the naivete of self-expression," has come with the contribu- tions, with which most readers of The Week must be familiar, of Miss Duncan, Mrs. Harrison, and Miss Wetherald — to cite but three of our literary women of to-day, all of whom, we are sure, will leave an abiding record, in both prose and verse, in Canadian literature. To the other names we have mentioned" we also look hopefully for continued good work, and for undertakings of a more ambitious and less epheme- ral nature, which will serve the cause of native letters, per- petuate their memories, and increase the number of those who are living the higher life and keeping company with truth, goodness, and beauty. We look also with hope, and feel that we shall not be disappointed, to the many young men and women who are now receiving a university educa- tion, and who will, doubtless, ere long give to Canadian literature some original and creative work. As specimens of the " Essay mood," and of scholarly, appreciative criticism, we may here fitly refer to two or three native books of belles lettres, in the department of which we might find many more and profitable workers than we do. "A Study of Tennyson's Princess, with Critical and Explanatory Notes," by Mr. S. E. Dawson (Montreal, 1884), is a- book which rec*iived commendation from Lord Tennyson himself, and is a delightful and sympathetic bit of criticism, and a fine interpretation of the poet's mind in the work. "Walt Whitman," by Dr. R. M. Bucke, of London, Ont., is an- other study of character, the clever and sympathetic delinea- tion of which is creditable to native taste and scholarship. * The Art Gallery of the English Language," by Mr, A. H. Morrison, shows an intimate acquaintance with English Literature and a keen appreciation of its beauties. The volume of " Lectures and Addresses," on literary and his torical subjects, by the late Dr. Morley Punshon, though perhaps not wholly written, was first published, in Canada, and won for its eloquent author a large circle of readers, and, it may be added, the honorarium of $2,500 from his CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 227 bo our criti- , and enjoy on-sensitive i.aa brought iterary art. been called le contribu- be familiar, therald — to 11 of whom, li prose and les we have good work, ess epheme- letters, per- )er of those npany with 1 hope, and aany young rsity educa- 3 Canadian pecimens of '^e criticism, ^ks of belles find many ^ Study of )ory Notes," book which imself, and and a fine k. " Walt )nt., is an- 3tic delinea- scholarship. Mr. A. H. th English ities. The ry and his on, though in Canada, of readers, from his Toronto publishers! "The Ballads and Songs of Scotland, in view of their Influence on the Character of the People," by the Rev. Prof. J. Clark Murray, of Montreal, is a work the merits of which call for notice in this section. This department would be singularly incomplete without some notice, however inadequate, of the literary labours of Prof. Goldwin Smith, whose pen, for a length of years, has been of infinite service to Canada, and to whom, most of all, we are indebted for fighting the battle of free- dom of speech in this country, at a time when there was less tolerance of opinion, religious and political, than we happily enjoy to-day. Mr. Goldwin Smith's " Life of Cow- per," in the "English Men of Letters Series," though pub- lished in England, .nay properly be chronicled here, as the work was written in Canada, and a special edition was placed on the Canadian market. Prof. Goldwin Smith had an exceptionally delicate task entrusted to him in prepar- ing a history of the poor, faded, melancholy life of the poet Cowper. The memoir, however, is admirably written, with a thorough appreciation of the gentle life and fine literary work of the poet, and a reverent treatment of the incidents of his career which called for considerate yet discriminating comment. The book is invested with all the charm of style characteristic of Prof. Smith's writings. Not less valuable to the student of literature is the collected volume of Mr. Goldwin Smith's "Lectures and Essays," which, though printed for private circulation, well deserves to be recorded among the issues of the Canadian press. The work consists, in the main, of contributions to Canadian literaturfj em- bracing papers on historical, social, and literary topics, which, for the mx>st part, appeared in the pages of the Canadian Monthly. The volume shows Mr. Goldwin Smith at his best, not only as a master of English style, but as a profound thinker, and a man of scholarly acquirements and rare intellectual gifts. To the literary work on these two volumes, besides a whole library of contributions to the press, both of the old and the new world, we have to record the great service Mr. Goldwin Smith has rendered as a Cana- dian publicist, in the publication of The Bystander, in poli- tical forecasts and reviews of "Current Events," Canadian and general, contributed during many years to The Nation, the Canadian Monthly, The Week, and the daily press of 228 SKETCH OP CANADIAN LITERATURE. Toronto. Rarely, if ever, have passing events in any country been discussed with greater ability than have the topics of the time been treated of by this brilliant writer in these various periodicals and journals. Their publication has made a unique and well-nigh priceless contribution to the intellectual resources of Canada. In Fiction our Canadian writers have not done all ^Aey might have done, considering the rich materials at hand in the political, religious, industrial, and social life of Canada, in the history and legends of the past, in the varied national life of the people, and in the ample scope the novelist has for descriptive word-painting in the natural beauties of the country. Our rapidly contracting space necessitates the briefest mention of a few names only in this department. To the early tales of Major Richardson we have already re- ferred, and to the important works of Miss Machar, Mr. Wm. Kirby, and Mr. John Lesperance. Of Mrs. Moodie and her sister Mrs. Trail, we have also spoken, and we have made allusion to the joint work of Miss Wetherald and the present writer — "An Algonquin Maiden" — an historical romance, which has been received with much favour and has had the honour of being issued not only in Montreal and Toronto, but in London and New York. Two writers in Montreal, Mrs. Leprohon and Mrs. Ross, have issued several volumes of tales of some interest, the best of which, perhaps, is " Ida Beresford," by Mrs. Lepro- hon, a novel which first appeared in the Literary Garland. Miss Louisa Murray, of Stamford, perhaps the ablest of Canadian literary women, wrote for the British Amet ican Magazine "The Cited Curate;" for the Canadian Monthly "Carmina" and "Little Dorinn;" and for Once-Or-Week "The Settlers of Long Arrow." All these tales evince a high order of talent and undoubted skill in the writing of fiction. They are, to-day, well worthy of reproduction. " Honor Edgeworth," by Vera, pn Ottawa lady, who prefers anonymity, is a rather clever study of social life in the Dominion capital. Watson Griffin's "Twok" presents, with power and sympathy, some phases in the life-drama of a Oanadifn waif, with many thoughtful reflections and admirable moral lessons. "Crowded Out," by Seranus (Mrs. Harrison), is a collection of graphic and vivid sketche:: of life and character in the Quebec Province, done with CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 229 nts in any ,n have the it writer in publication bribution to one all 'fcl^ey at hand in of Canada, ied national novelist has uties of the ssitates the department. ) already re- ar, Mr. Wm. Moodie and nd we have paid and the n i:istorical our and has Lontreal and 1 Mrs. Ross, nterest, the Mrs. Lepro- iry Garland. le ablest of sh Ame'iican Ian Monthly Once-a- Week les evince a le writing of eproduction. who prefers life in the " presents, life-drama of lections and by Seranus ivid sketches B. done with inimitable art, and full of the spirit of French-Canadian nationality. Like all her work, it is marked by poetic beauty, incisive thought, and the play and movement of genius, or something closely akin to it. Mrs. Anna Roth- well, and Prof. K. L. Jones, of Kingston, Mr. E. W. Thomson of the Toronto Globe staff, and Miss A. E. Wetherald ("Bel Tliistlethwaite " of the Globe), have all done good work in fiction, which deserve preservation in some more permanent form than is afforded by the daily or weekly press. The list is an extensive one, which embraces writers of books on special subjects, and whose work, had we space at command, well deserves notice here. Of these the follow- ing, by way of example, may be cited, though, we regret, merely by their titles : The late Dr. McCaul's " Britanno Roman Inscriptions," Dr. Withrow's "The Catacombs of Rome, and their Testimony relative to Christianity," Mr. Charles Lindsey's " Rome in Canada," Dr. F. R. Beattie's " Examination of the Utilitarian Theory of Morals," Prof. John Watson's " Kant : a Critique," Rev. Prof. Gregg's " History of Presbyterianism in Canada," and Col. Deni- son's Russian-prize " History of Cavalry." President Daniel Wilson's learned works on Archajology and Ethnological Science ; Sir William Dawson's interesting treatise on Acadian Geology, and his many works on the relations of Science and Theology ; and the late Sir William Logan's instructive Reports contributed to the Geological Survey of Canada, with Prof. Harrington's Life of Sir William, may also be cited as valuable products of Canadian thought, but of which, unfortunately, our limited space will not permit us to speak. We must pass on to the less abstruse subject of poetry, and, with its brief mention, bring our hasty and itn perfect sketch to a close. W^ith some aspects of the national culture a large class of the Canadian people, it is to be feared, has little sympathy. Of these aspects. Poetry may be said to be one, and the most alien to the popular taste, unless, perhaps, it presents itself in the form of a commonplace bit of verse or a more or less coarse poUtical lampoon. Nor is this quite to be wondered at, if y^ consider how engrossing are the material interests of the bulk of our people, and how few have been their op- portunities for cultivating a taste for letters or for paying 230 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. court to the Muses. Despite the lack of appreciation of good verse, it is surprising to note how much of it has been written in Canada, and how many are the names whose work, in regard both to literary form and sentiment, does honour to this department of the national literature. Tho first work of our Anglo-Canadian writers of verse to attract attention was the drama, entitled " Saul," which appeared in Montreal in 1857, and bore upon the title-page the name of Charles Heavysege, Hea^'^ysege was but an humble Montreal journalist, familiar with his Bible and with Shake- speare ; yet his drama was acknowledged by the press of the motherland to be one of the most remarkable English poems ever written out of Great Britain. In 1865 he pub- lished another long poem on a biblical subject, entitled " Jephthah's Daughter," which was also well received. " Saul " is a fine psychological study, treated with rare poetic power, and '* Jephthah's Daughter," though it is de- ficient in the vigour of the former work, has more imagina- tion and feeling. " Voices from the Hearth," by Isidore G. Ascher, a Montreal barrister, is another collection of verse which was warmly commended by the American and Old Country press. The volume is characterized by pleasant fancy and a tender feeling, occasionally crossed by the gusts of deep emotion and a warm but restrained passion. " The Prophecy of Merlin, and other Poems," by John Reade, is the work of another Montrealer, a Canadian poet of the first rank, an able journalist, and a scholarly and accomplished writer. In Mr. Reade's work his classical tastes reveal themselves, not only in his translations, but in the Tennysonian theme of the poem which gives the title to the volume. But Mr. Reade is no mere imitator ; he strikes his own lyre ; and in his sonnets, lyrics, and particu- larly in the poems which illustrate Canadian scenery and history, he is not only original but thoroughly national. Occasionally we have a fine outburst of patriotic song ; while his work, as a whole, if not always stirring and ani- mated, pleases by its delicate feeling and refinement of thought. ' The senior place in Canadian song belongs, by right of the people at any rate, to Charles Sangster, of Ottawa, He has ' published two collections of verse, entitled "The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay," and "Hesperus, and other liation of has been es whose lent, does ire. The bo attract appeared the name a humble th Shake- press of 3 English 5 he pub- entitled received, with rare h it is de- } imagina- Isidore G. HL of verse L and Old T pleasant (d by the d passion, by John adian poet Dlarly and s classical itions, but 3S the title Ltator ; he id par tic u- 3enery and f national, otic song ; ig and ani- nement of 3y right of •f Ottawa, itled " The , and other CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. 231 Poems." Mr. Sangster's work is chiefly lyrical, and he draws his inspiration, in the main, from Canadian scenery and the incidents of the national history. He is wanting in the art and in the scholarship which characterize the work of Reade and Roberts; but his verse is aglow with patriotism, and has a lilt and melody which remind one of running streams and trickling water. His sympathies are wide and human, and many of his poems, dealing with the domestic affections, appeal tenderly to the home and the fireside. Tn the characteristics of his genius, Mr. Charles G. D. Roberts, of Fredericton, is more akin to John Reade. His verse is largely cast in the classical mould, and bears the impress of modern poetic art. All too rarely has he all /ed himself to deal with native themes, and when he has; done so, as in his " Ode to the Dominion " and " A Nat lal Hymn," he has struck a tender chord in 'uh.(-i Canadian heart. His two volumes are entitled respective iy, *' Orion, and other Poems," and " In Divers Tones." The leading poem in the former is founded on a touching incident in the old mythical story of Orion, and in some passages the author rises to the loftiest heights of song. We like him, however, better in his later volume, which has many poems of the highest order and quality of verse, with a sweetness and music that sing their way into the heart. Another essentially Canadian volume is " Marguerite," by George Martin, of Montreal, a work which takes its title from the heroine in a romantic legend of New France. It contains many fine passages which reveal the true poet. The author's sonnets will, perhaps, be most admired, however, by lovers of the poetic art ; while many will doubtless be attracted by the poems on Canadian subjects, and chiefly those on winter sports. A deservedly high place should be assigned to the late Charles Pelham Mulvany, M.A., for his work in the vol- ume entitled " Lyrics, Songs and Sonnets." His range is wide, combining both the drama and the lyric, with some tine examples of lighter verse, witty and pathetic. His knowledge of the structure of verse and command of its various forms, though he is sometimes careless in his work, are extraordinary. IMrs. K. Seymour McLean's " The Cono- ing of the Princess" is a collection of thoughtful, tender verse. Miss Valancey Crawford's "Old Spook^jea' Pass, and other Poems," chiefly drawn from Old World sources, dis- 232 SKETCH OF CANADIAN LITERATURE. play much of the higher qualities of the poet. " Poems by Phillips Stewart," a Toronto University graduate, are fi of deep, subjective thought and tender feeling. Mr. George A. Mackenzie's " Malcolm " is a fine ethical study, manifesting taste and culture. *' Poems and Songs," by Alexander McLachlan, **the Canadian Burns," as he is called, show high powers of versification set to homely themes. Mr. Imrie's themes are also those of the home and the fireside, and his heart is warm and his sympathies are wide. Mr. Kirby's " Canadian Idylls " deal with national subjects and are full of the spirit of the past. This writer's Muse lacks the stimulus either of ambition or of greater encouragement to place him in the front rank of our native poets. Col. Huntei'-Duvar, in " The Enamorado," a Spanish tale in dra- matic form, has given us one good volume, and from his Prince Edward Island home is, we believe, about to give us another. Its subject, we understand, is " Roberval and his Acadian Colony." Mr. S. J. Watson's " Legend of the Roses," Mr. T. O'Hagan's "A Gate of Flowers," Miss Mountcastle's "The Mission of Love," and Mr. A. McAl- pine Taylor's " Boyhood Hours," all display, in more or less measure, not only the technical qualities of the poet, but a rich imagination and a true feeling. To those who have not at command the separate works of the poets we have mentioned, we would commend the study of the excellent, though now scarce, anthology of Dr. Dewart, " Selections from Canadian Poets," and Seranus' recently issued " Cana- dian Birthday Book, with Poetical Selections for Every Day in the Year," — a delightful posy from the French-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian poets. We are far from having exhausted our material, but we are at the end of our space. Many authors, we regret, must remain unnoticed, and with them the record we had hoped to append of writers of fugitive verse. We must also forego our chronicle of the writers in science, and those in the professions of theology, law, medicine, and education. At some other time, and in a more expanded form, we hope to deal with these omissions. All we have here aimed at L a modest outline of the subject — a simple and cursory sketch. * j , ;> ,5 * . T> \ 52 "Poems by ite, are fi of Ir. George A. , manifesting y Alexander called, show ;hemes. Mr. the fireside, B wide. Mr. subjects and 1 Muse lacks couragement poets. Ool. h tale in dra- nd from his it to give us 3rval and his gend of the >wers }f Miss fr. A. McAl- more or less i poet, but a se who have )ets we have le excellent, " Selections sued " Cana- p Every Day ch-Canadian jrial, but we , we regret, 3ord we had 7e must also nd those in I education, rm, we hope re aimed at md cursory