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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit en un seul clichi, il est film* A partir da I'angia supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut an baa, en prenent le nombre d'imagea nAcassaira. Las diagrammes suivants illustrant la mithoda. by errata led to Bnt jne pelure, aqon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 6 6 HISTORY OF CANADA Jfoi* the ®sc of Schools •, AND PrENERAL READERS. BY WILLIAM H. WITHROW, M.A. "Counider what nation it is whereof ye are ; a nation not slow and dull, hut of a quick, ingeniouB and piercing Bpirit ; anute to invent, subtile and sinewy to iliscourse, not beneath the reach of any point that human eapaeity can soar t(»." Mii.TON— " Areopaijitioa." TORONTO: COPP, CLARK & CO., 47 FRONT STREET 1876. ,1 i •V \ ]f»fl fMm I / "W ^0 ^/y ji ,'>ls rf. '*:^ ymfteil "/Qy, "^ / I f §:.>. >«»4 V. ■^A^; ?-^ ^.^ s*-, ' ^r-- D^j/wi^'i; .15; / I . '\ ^ ' r' \ /u:y- fccj''"*''"*-'"'' /''' M, #.<>.<'.> J '•r- J V/i.. V 0-- ,'/--'■"'>"'"-./ ' ''''"'" '"'"M PENNSYLVANIA ». »5i I _ jvo SEC N.CAROLSNA ''y^l PEN NS Y I'VA mA ..>' '^41 J^'ifiv:^?^'''^*^^ .;('/ ' ;:^: J>1»f« J^ •TfM'iif'iiih F PA RT OF <7 f f:'^";••'■'^,■f^,^ ■ V'' 1* AXO THE UNITED STATESi SNA" ■tiwirli 7o iss^*^^ ooo r Entered jjiccording to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in tiie year onf; thou- sand eight hundred and seventy-six, by Corp, Clark & Co., Toronto, Ontario, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 5 PREFACE. (-« K»U- nto, The preparation of a compendious history of his native country has been for years the cherished purpose of the writer. After long-continued and careful labour, in which no pains have been spared, that purpose is at length accom- plished. 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 provinces. The growth of the principles of civil liberty and the develop- ment of the Canadian Constitution, will^it is hoped, be found impartially traced in these pages. The social, commercial and military, as well as the political aspects of Canadian history, have been treated as fully as the necessary 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 coast, has been given as fully, yet succinctly, its possible. The con- temporary 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 Eviglish, parliamentary reports, newspaper files IV PREFACE. 1 representing the views of all political parties, and many printed volumes. He has endeavoured to observe strict 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 synoptical headings of the chapters, will clearly indi- cate the chronological and other relations of the events de- scribed, and will greatly facilitate private study, and class examinations and reviews. The writer would especially urge the frequent use of the carefully prepared map which accom- panies this volume, without which the important geographi- cal relations of places and events cannot be understood. A copious index and pronj>uncing vocabulary of proper names have been considered essential to the completeness of the work. Trusting that this contribution to Canadian history will help to cultivate in its younger readers an intelligent patriot- ism, and better prepare them for the duties of citizenship, the author commits it to the sympathy of an indulgent public. W. H. W. Toronto, August, 1876. CONTENTS. PAUR. CHAPTER I. Discovery of America — To 1497. Ancient Traditions — The Norsemen— Columbus — Vespucci — De Ciama {) CHAPTER II. Early Exploration — To 1549. The Cabots — Coter^al — De L6ry — Verazzani — Cartier — The Robervals.. .• 13 CH vPTER III. The Indian Tribes. The Mound-Builders — Modern Tribes — Arts — Wars — Super- stitious — Alliances — Tribal Divisions — Present Con- dition 18 CHAPTER IV. Champlain's Administration — To 1635. Early Colonization — Frobisher — Magellan — Drake — Gilbert — Raleigh — Convicts on Sable Island — Chau vin at Tadou- sac — Des Monts — Port Royal — Champlain Founds Que- bec, and Explores the Country — Kirk's Conquest of Quebec — Its Restoration — Death of Champlain 24 CHAPTER V. The Hundred Associates — To 1663. English Colonization — Jamestown — Plymouth — Montmagny — Ville Marie — Huron Missions and Martyrs — Laval — Des Ormeaux 35 • CHAPTER VI. Royal Government — To 1670. Supreme Council— De Mdsy — De Tracy — Talon — Courcelles — Indian Wars — Seigniorial Tenure — Fur Trade 44 CHAPTER VII. Discovery of the Great West — To 1687. Frontenac — Jesuit Explorers — Marquette — La Salle 51 1 I f! Ti CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER VIII. "The Agony of Canada"— To 1689. De la Barre — Indian Wars — Famine Cove — Denonville — Treachery of Le Rat — Indian Ravages — Massacre of Lachine 56 CHAPTER IX. Frontenac's Second Administration — To 1698. French Invasion of New England — Massacres of Corlear and Salmon Falls — Sir William Phipps is repulsed at Quebec— Iroquois Wars — D'Iberville — Treaty of Rys- wick — Death of Frontenac 60 CHAPTER X. '* Queen Anne's War"— To 1743. Treaty with Iroquois — Vaudreuil — Massacres of Deerfield and Haverhill — Capture of Port Royal — Failure of Attack on Quebec — Peace of Utrecht — Charlevoix — Rasles 66 A I CHAPTER XI. LouiSBURO — Du Quesne — To 1754. Pepperel's Conquest of Louisburg — It is restored by Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle — Halifax Founded — Collision in OhioVaUey 73 CHAPTER XII. The Campaign of 1755. Sir William Johnson — Braddock's Defeat — Dieskau's Defeat at Fort George — Expulsion of the Acadians 78 CHAPTER XIII. Cami»aigns of 1756 and 1757. ISeven Years' War Begun — Capture of Forts Oswego and William Henry — Massacre of Prisoners— Exhaustion of Canada — Famine — Extortion of Bigot 84 CHAPTER XIV. Campaigns of 1758 and 1759. Fall of Louisburg — Abercrombie's Defeat — Capture of Fort Du Quesne — British Victories — Niagara and Ticonde- roga taken. 89 CONTENTS. ▼ii CHAPTER XV. PAOE. The 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. Foye — Capitulation of Canada. 95 CHAPTER XVI. British Rule— To 1774. Eflfects of the Conquest— The Peace of Paris— Conspiracy of Pontiac— The Quebec Act 102 CHAPTER XVII. The Revolutionary War — To 1784. Causes of the War — Invasion of Canada — Burgoyne's and Cornwallis' Surrender — The Peace of Versailles — The U. E. Loyalists 108 CHAPTER XVIII. The Founding of Uppkr Canada — To 1809. The Constitutional Act — Early Legislation — York Founded — Growth of Parties — Judge Thorpe — Social Organiza- tion : 115 CHAPTER XIX. Outbreak of the War of 1812-15. The New Constitution — Sir J. Craig's Administration — Constitutional Crisis — Causes of the War — Hull's Sur- render — Battle of Queenston Heights, and Death of Brock — Dearborn's Invasion 123 CHAPTER XX. Campaign of 1813. Proctor at French Town — Capture of York and Niagara — Victories at Stony Creek, Beaver Dams, and Fort Meigs — Defeats at Sackett's Harbour, Lake Erie, and Mora- vian Town — Victories of Chrysler's Farm and Chateau- guay — Burning of Niagara — Sea Fights 132 CHAPTER XXL Campaign of 1814. Victories of Lacolle and Oswego — Battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane and Fort PJrie — Prevost's Retreat from * Plattsburg — Capture of Washington — Treaty of Ghent — Battle of New Orleans 143 il I! vm CONTENTS. PAOB. CHAPTER XXII. After the War — Lower Canada — To 1828. EfiFects of the Wa-r — Internal Development — Civil Strife — The Union Scherae — Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.. 150 CHAPTER XXIII. After the War — Upper Canada — To 1836. The "Family Compact "—Robert Courlay— The "Canada Trade Act" — Rev. Dr. Strac^an — William Lyon Mac- kenzie — Robert Baldwin — Sir Francis Bond Head 156 CHAPTER XXIV. The Rebellion — Lower Canada — To 1838. Political DiaaflFection — Election Riot — Large Immigration — Cholera — Papineau's Grievance Resolutions — The Gos- ford Commission — S3ditious Gatherings — Collision at Montreal — Rebels Rendezvous at Richelieu — Rebels Routed by Wetherall and Sir John Colbome — Lord Durham — His clement Policy and able Report 163 CHAPTER XXV. The Rebellion — Upper Canada— 183G and 1837. Struggles for Responsible Government — Speaker Bidwell — Mackenzie's Defeat — His rebellious Projects — Apathy of the Government — The Rendezvous at Gallows Hill — Death of Colonel ]\Ioodie — Attack on Toronto — Rout of the Rebels— Col. McNab 170 CHAPTER XXVI. The "Patriot" War— 1837 and 1838. Hunters* Lodgers — Mackenzie at Navy Island — Col. McNab on the Frontier — The Caroline — "Patriot" Raids — Battle of Windmill Point — Rebellion Suppressed. . . c . . 176 CHAPTER XXVII. The Union of the Canadas — To ISll. Constitutional Struggle in Maritime Provinces — L. A. Wilmot — Joseph Howe — Boundary Dis[)utes — Ashbur- ton Treaty— Lord Durham's Report — The Union Bill — Clergy Reserves 18$ CHAPTER XXVIII. ^ REsroNsiBLE Government — To 1846. The New Constitution — "Double Majority" — Municipal System — Sir Charles Metcalfe — Constitutional Struggle CONTENTS. IX PAGE. — Upper C'auada Rebellion Losses Bill — Public School System — Rev. Dr. Ryerson 191 CHAPTE XXIX. Rebellion Losses Agitation — To 1849. Lord Elgin — Fiscal Emancipation — Irish Famine — Lower Canada Rebellion Losses Bill — The British North American League — Mob Violence at Montreal — Burn- ing of Parliament Buildings — Lord Elgin Mobbed 199 CHAPTER XXX. The Railway Era— To 1852. Political and Commercial Emancijiation — Internal Develop- ment — Clergy Reserve Question — Francis Hincks — Rail- way Construction — Municipal Loan Fund 2(M> CHAPTER XXXI. Impoutant Legislation, 1853 and 1854. (^avazzi Riots — Reciprocity Treaty — Secularization of Clergy Reserves — Abolition of Seigniorial Tenure — Canada Steamship Company — Crimean War 213 CHAPTER XXXII. The Coalition Ministry — To 1858. Sir Edmund Walker Head - Militia Organization — Financial Prosi)erity — Mr. John A. Macdonald — Legislative Coim- cil made Elective — Commercial Crisis — " Double Ma- jority " abandoned — "Representation by Population " demanded — Mr. George Brown 221 CHAPTER XXXIII. "Representation by Population" — To 1861. T. D'Arcy McfJee — Ottawa selected as Capital — The Two Days' Ministry-The "Double Shuffle "-"Joint Autho- rity" Resolutions — The Prince of Wales in Canada — Fugitive Slave Question — Outbreak of American War. 228 CHAPTER XXXIV. Political Crisis— To 1863. Lord Monck— The " Trent " Affair — Defeat of Cartier- Mac- donald Ministry on Militia Bill — Commercial Pros- perity — Alabama Piracies 237 X CONTENTS. TkOB. CHAPTER XXXV. The Confederation Movement — To 1865. Political Dead Lock — Coalition Ministry — Confederate Raids from Canada — Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences — Canadian Parliament adopts Quebec Scheme — Close of American War — Death of Lincoln — Ottawa the Seat of Government 243 CHAPTER XXXVI. The Fenian Invasion — 1866. Abrogation of Reciprocity Treaty — Increased Home Manu- facture and Intercolonial Trade — The Fenian Brother- hood — Its Plans — Invasion of Canada — The Country springs to Arms — Fight at Ridgeway — Escape of Fenians — A Sunday of Excitement — The Martyrs of Ridgeway — Prescott and Cornwall menaced — Eastern Frontier crossed — The Raids suppressed — Last Parliauicnt of Old Canada 250 CHAPTER XXXVII. Confederation Accomplished — To 1868. The Munroe Doctrine — Banks' Bill — Fenian Trials — Growth of Confederation Sentiment — British North America Act — Its Provisions — InaugUiation of New Constitution — Titles of Honour — First Cabinet — Assassination of T. D'Arcy McC^ee — Sir John Young — Anti-Confederation agitation — " Better Terms " granted Nova Scotia 260 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Rival Fur Companies — Red River Settlement. Hutlson's Bay Company — French Fur Company — North,- west Company — Fort William— Red River Settlement Planted — Fierce Rivalries and Conflicts — Privations and Disasters — Prosperity and Development — Council of Assiniboia 268 CHAPTER XXXIX. The Red River Rebellion — To 1870. Rupert's Land Act — Hudson's Bay Company Indemnity — Hon. William Maodougall excluded from the Territory — Riel's Revolutionary Council — Occupation of Fort (iurry — Capture of Canadian Prisoners — Provisional Govern- ment of Assiniboia — Major Boulton condemned to death; reprieved — Execution of Thomas Scott — Ottawa Com- missioners — Red River Delegates — Manitoba Act — Red River Expe Iceland, jyond the IS by the •oducts of urope by his grand 3 court — ►ire confi- ihe enter- lays, and 14i)2.] COLUMBUS. 11 broken promises, when impoverished and almost despair- ing, the generous Isabella of Castile became his patroness, pledging even her crown jewels for the support of his project. Bat the 'ueans furnished were strangely inade- quate for >he 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 mission, Columbus claimed the office of admiral of all the lands to be discovered, and one-tenth of the profit of all their merchandise. After solemn religious rites, on Friday, August third, 1492, Columbus and his companions sailed on their memo- rable voyage. Leaving the Caiiary Islands on the sixth of September, they sailed steadily westward 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 alarm 'ng variations of the compass which occurred, the strange poi-tents of a sea of weeds that almost im- peded their progress, and of a fierce storm that followed, aroused in the disaffe-cted crews dark conspiracies and turbulent mutinies. But, with the majesty of a great spirit full of £uth, Columbus over-ruled their coward minds. But even his courage at length proved unavail- ing against their turbulent fears, and he was compelled to promise that if land were not discovered in three days, he would abandon his life-project. But within the allotted time, on the night of October the eleventh, lights were seen by the eager wp.tchers, moving amid the darkness, and the joyous cry of " Land ! land !" rang from vessel to vessel. With the dawn of the morn- ing the New World lay revealed to European eyes. The discoverers eagerly disembarked upon the virgin strand, and with tears and thanks to Heaven, kissed the ground. 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 visit- ing several of the neighbouring islands, designated, in accordance with his erroneous geographical theory, the 12 VESPUCCI — DE OAMA. [1497. West Indies, Columbus returned to Spain, to proudly lay at his soveroigns* 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 dis- posal. With seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, he speedily sailed again to prosecut^e his discoveries in these unknown lands. In successive voyages he ex- plored the West Indian archipelago and the adjacent mainland. But calumny, envy, and malice pursued him, and the discoverer of a new world was dispos- sessed of his authority, and sent back in chains to the ungrateful country which, beyond the dreams of avarico, he had enriched. Broken in health, bowed in spirit, impoverished 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 protect him — this great man died at Seville, May twentieth, 1506. As if his remains could find a fit resting-place only in the new lands which he had discovered, they were conveyed in 1536 to the island of Santo Domingo, and in 1796, with great pomp, tv Havana, within whose cathedral they now repose. Amerigo Vespucci, a private adventurer, who wrote an exaggerated account of his explorations succeedmg those of Columbus, by giving his name to the new-f jund continent, has defrauded 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. 1497. John Cabot discovers Labrador and Newfoundland. Sebastian Cabot explores America from the La Plata to Hudson's Bay, 1498-1517. Coter6al— De Ijfery— Verazzani. 1534. Jacques Cartier d. oov^rs the St. Lawbence. 1535. Visits Stadacona and Hochelaga — Names Mont Royal. Tr* iuters at Stadacona — Sufferings from Scurvy. 1541. Roberval, Viceroy— Cartier, his Lieutenant; Founds Gharlesbouro. 1542. Roberval winters at Cape Rouge— Mutiny and Scurvy. 1549. The Robervals founder at sea. The discovery of America was the beginning of a new era in the world. It led to the development of great maritime enterprise. The western nations of Europe were eager to tak^ possession of the new-found continent. Numerous voyages of exploration were projected by ad- venturous spirits, under the patronage of their respective sovereigns. In the year 1496, John Cabot, a Venetian merchant resident ir Bristol, received from Henry VII. 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 conti- nent of America, fourteen months before Columbus, in his third voyage, beheld the mainland. Two days after he reached a large island, probably Newfoundland, which, in honour of the day, he called St. John's Island. 14Q8 ^^^ 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. Prevented by icebergs from proceeding further, he sailed southward, skirting the coast of North America a« far as Chesapeake Bay. He afterward explored the 14 JACQUES CAi^TIER [1498. coast of South America as far as the La Plata. In a sub- sequent voyage, 1517, he penetrated that bay to which, a hundred years afterward, ' ;n gave his name. In the years 1500 and ioxjL Gaspard Coter^al, a Por- tuguese, made two voyages to Greenland, Labrador, New- foundland, and New England, and captured fifty Indians, whom he conveyed as slaves to Europe. The rich fisheries of the Banks of Newfoundland soon began to attract the hardy Breton and Norman fishermen, the former of whom gave its present name to Cape Breton. Denys and Aubert, French sailors, explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1506 and 1508. In 1518 Baron de L^ry, with a company of colonists, landed on Sable Island, ofi" the coast of Nova Scotia, but were compelled by its inhospitable climate to abandon it. The cattle that were left behind, however, multiplied remarkably, and their progeny have frequently furnished subsistence to ship- wrecked mariners. In 1525, Verazzani, a Florentine in the French ser- vice, explored the continent from North Carolina to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and gave to it the name of New France. The real discoverer of Canada, however, was Jacques Cartier, a native of St. Malo, in Brittany. On the twen- tieth of April, 1534, he sailed from that port with two small vessels of about sixty tons each, and a company, in all, of one hundred and twenty- two men. In twenty days he reached the coast of Newfoundland, where he was de- tained ten days by the ice. Sailing through the Straits of Belle Isle, he scanned the ban*en coast of Labrador, and turning south-westward passed the Magdalen Islands, abounding in birds, flowers, and berries. On a resplen- dent day in July he 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 Gasp6, 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 J. [1498. I In a sub- which, a il, a Por- lor, New- Indians, and soon sliermen, Breton. Gulf of de L^ry, sland, off d by its ;hat were md their to ship- ench ser- na to the ^ of New 1 Jacques bhe twen- ivith two ipany, in jnty days ) was de- e Straits idor, and Islands, resplen- hich, on 3es Cha- isp^, he mce, and >vereign, es, from leading :raced it ence till n being 1534.] EXPLORES THE ST. LAWRENCE. 15 advanced he resolved to return, postponing further explo- ration till the following summer. The successful voyage very favourably impressed the king, and three vessels, better equipped and manned than the first, were furnished for the enterprise. The little squadron, disperaed by adverse winds, did not reach the ■yKOK mouth of the St. Lawrence till the middle of July. On the tenth of August, the festival of St. Law- rence, 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 seventh 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 AJgonquin chief, with five hundred of his followers. Seven days after, having resolved to winter in the country, the little squadron di'opped anchor at the mouth of the St. Charles, where stood the Indian town of Stadacona, beneath the bold clifi" now crowned with the ramparts of Quebec. Eager to explore the noble river. Cart r pressed on with fifty men in his smallest vessel. Arr sted by a sand bar at Lake St. Peter, he took to his boats with thirty companions, and on the second of October reached the Indian town of Hochelaga, nestling beneath a wood- crowned height gorgeous with autumnal foliage, to which he gave the name of Mont Royal, now Montreal. The town was a circular palisaded enclosure, containing fifty large-sized, well-built houses, with about a thousand in- habitants. From the top of the neighbouring mountain Cartier surveyed the magnificent panorama of forest and river, and learned from the Indians the existence of inland seas and mighty streams far in the interior. After three days' friendly intercourse with the inhabitants, who evi- dently regarded the French as superior beings, bringing their sick i<^ be healed by their touch, Cartier returned to Stadacona, which he reached on the eleventh 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. i^ I I I I t! 16 ROBERVAL. [1536. 1541 They were neither adequately clothed nor provisioned. Scurvy of a malignant type appeared. By the month of April twenty-six had died and were buried in the snow. The survivors attributed their recoveiy to an infusion of spruce bark, prescribed by the natives. Having aban- doned the smallest of the vessels, on the sixth of May Cartier set sail for St. Malo, carrying with him Donnar coua and several chiefs. The kidnapped Indians never again saw their native land, all of them dying before another expedition returned, having been previously bap- tized into the Roman Catholic faith, with great pomp, in the grand old cathedral of Rouen. The religious wars with Charles Y. now for four years absorbed 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 France, and organized a colonizing expe- dition. Cartier, as his lieutenant, sailed with five ships the following spring, and reached Stada- cona in the month of August. The natives, at first friendly, became less so on finding that Donnacona and his companions had not returned. Cartier therefore re- moved to Cape Rouge, three leagues up the river, laid up three of his vessels, sent two back to France for reenforce- ments, built a fort to which he gave the name of Charles- bourg, and began to cultivate the soil. He again visited Hochelaga, and explored the country for gold and precious stones, but found only some glistening scales of mica, and some quartz crystals on the clifi" still known as Cape Diamond. After a gloomy winter, having heard notliing from Roberval, and the Indians proving unfriendly, he sailed for France. At St. John's, New- foundland, he met Roberval, with three ships and two hundred colonists of both sexes. But disheartened by their disasters and sufterings, Cartier and his company refused to return, and, weighing anchor by night, they continued their homeward voyage. Roberval wintered at Cape Rouge, but with the loss of over sixty men by cold and scurvy. The Indians, too, were unfriendly ; and the colonists, most of whom were ^convicts, ^oved so insubordmate that the Governor had 1542 1543.] CANADA ABANDONED. 17 to hang some, and to scourge or imprison others. In the spring, with seventy men, Roberval attempted to explore the interior, but witliout beneficial results, and with the loss of eight men by drowning. 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 henceforth disappears from history. Five years later, on the return of peace, Roberval and his brother organized another colonizing expedition to Canada ; but the fleet was never heard of after it sailed, and proba- bly foundered by encounter with icebergs. Thus ended in disastrous failure all the early expeditions to New France. ^ ■*« I! f 11 H\ • ! CHAPTER HI. THE INDIAN TRIBES. The Mound-Builders — Their superior Art, Manufactures, and Bocial Organization— Their probable Origin and Fate. Th3 modem Indians, probably an intrusive Asiatic race. Tlieir 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— Tlie Fur Trade, 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 divi- sions of these races is necessary in order to understand the long and often cruel conflict between the white man and the red for the jiossession of the New World. All over this continent, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, from the AUeghanies 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 of vast extent and almost count- less numbers. Hence their unknown creators are called the Mound-Builders. These mounds were employed for burial, for sacrifice, for temple sites, and for military obser- vation. There wore also vast enclosures of earth-works, sometimes miles in extent. Many of these were evidently for military defence against an intrusive race, and formed a line of forts from the AUeghanies to the Ohio. Others were for religious purposes and often, especially in the Mississippi valley, formed the outlines of gigantic animals, probably the totems or symbols of the diff*erent tribes, as the turtle, alligator, eagle, hawk, and like figures. On the Atlantic seaboard and in the valley of the St. Law- rence these mounds are either altogether wanting or are of far inferior character. THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 19 uid Boci&l ■ Fetichism — There is also ample evidence of the comparatively high state of civilization of the Mound-Builders, chiefly remains of their art 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 tlifeir mounds, graves, and quarries are covered deep by an alluvial deposit in which trees, often of a gigantic size, have grown. Tliey seem to have been a mild and unwarlike race, pro- bably of Asiatic origin, subsisting chiefly by agriculture; and, in Central and South America, developing the remark- able 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 ai*ts. They were probably driven southward out of the Mississippi valley, by a succeeding wave of Asiatic emi- gration, the progenitors of the present Indian tribes. This intruding race was of a much more fierce and war- like character, and, continuing its nomad life, never attained to a degree of civilization at all comparable to that of the race they dispossessed. The Indians of whom we shall have to speak in this history were a tall athletic people with sinewy forms, regular features, straight lilack hair, scanty beard, dark eyes, and copper-colou red skin. They were capable of much endurance of cold, hunger, and fatigue; were haughty and taciturn in their manners ; active, cunning, and stealthy in the chase and in war; but in camp sluggish, and addicted to gluttonous feasts. The women in youth were of agree- able form and feature, but through severe drudgery soon became withered and coarse. The agriculture of the native tribes, with slight ex- ception, was of the scaiitiest character — a little patch of Indian corn or tobacco rudely cultivated near their summer cabins. Their chief subsistence was derived from I h 'i't ,1 if 20 INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS. hunting and fishing, in 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, precluded social or political organization except within very narrow limits. The same cause also prevented the construction, with a few exceptions, of any but the iiidest and simplest dwell- ings — conical wigwams of skins or birch-bark, spread over a frame-work of poles. Some of the more settled and agricultural communities* had, however, large lodges for public assemblies or feasts, and even for the joint accom- modation 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 extinguish fires kin- dled by the enemy. The triumph of Indian skill and ingenuity was the bark canoe — a marvel of beauty, lightness, a,nd 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 navigate for hundreds of miles the inland waters, shooting the arrowy rapids, and even boldly launching upon the stormy lake. Where rocks or cata- racts 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 bril- liant pigments. In summer little clothing was worn, but the body was tatooed and painted, or smeared with oil. When on a war expedition, the face and figure were bedaubed with startling contrasts of colour, as black, white, red, yellow, and blue. The hair was often elabor- ately decorated with dyed plumes or crests of feathers. Sometimes 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 mai-riage was one of perpetual drudgery. They tilled the WARS. 21 fields, 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 sleep- ing villa ,e and involve in indiscriminate massacre every age and either sex. Firing the inflammable huts, and drag- ging off" tlieir prisoners, 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 captui'ed, they were as stoical as iron in the endurance of pain. Amid agonies of torture, they calmly sang their death-song, hurling haughty defiance at the foe. Their councils for deliberation were conducted with great gravity and decorum. The speakers often exhi- bited much eloquence, wit, vigour of thought, and lively imagination. Their oratory abounded in bold and strik- ing metaphor, and was characterized by great practical shrewdness. They were without a written language, but the^''- treaties were ratified by the exchange of wampum belts of variegated beads having definite sig- nifications. These served also as memorials of the trans- action, and were cherished as historic records, whose interpretation was the assigned task of the wise men of the tribe. The Ind'ins were deeply superstitious. Some tribes had an idea of a Great Spirit or Mnnitou, whose dwelling- place was the sky, where he had provided happy hunting grounds for his red children after death. Hence they 22 SUPERSTITIONS. 'I were often buried with their 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 recog- nized 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 impor- tance 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 toma- hawk. In the unhappy conflicts between the English and tha French 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 atrocities 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 settle- ment drove them from their ancient hunting grounds. A chronic warfare between civilization and barbarism raged along the frontier, and dreadful scenes of massacre and leprisal 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, vnd 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 Montag- nais and Ottawas of Quebec, the Ojibways or Chippe- ways on the great lakes, and the 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 houses, but they were equally fierce and implacable. The Hurons chiefly occupied the country between Lakes Erie, TRIBAL DIVISIONS. 23 Ontario, and Huron, and the northern bank of the St. Lawrence. Their principal settlement, till well nigh ex- terminated by the Iroquois, was between Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay. The Iroquois or Five Nations occupied northern New York, from the Mohawk River to the Genesee. The confederacy embraced the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and was afterwards joined by the Tuscaroras from South Carolina. Thev were the most cruel and blood-thirsty of all the savage tribes — skilful in war, cunning in policy, and ruthless 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 River, 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. I If I El i 1:1 ' I, It 11 'H n CHAPTER lY. CHAMPLAIN'S ADMINISTRATION. Snanish and English Colonization. 1576. lYobisher explores the Arctic Seas. Magellan — Drake — Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 1585. Raleigh's unsuccessful Colony at Roanoke. 1598. De la Roche lands Convicts at Sable Island. 1600. Chauvm plants a trading post at Tadousac. 1(503. Champlain's lirst voyage to Canada. 1605. Des Monts winters at St. Croix, and Poutrincourt founds Port Royal. 1608. Champlain founds Quebec. 1611. Names Place Royal (Montreal). 1613. Discovers Lakes Huron, Sinicoe, and Ontario. 1627. The Company of the Hundred Associates organized. 1629. Kirk's Conquest of Quebec. 1632. Quebec Rest' red by the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Late. 1635. Death of Champlain. For fifty years after the failure of Roberval, there was no further attempt to colonize Canada. France, enga,ged in her prolonged stniggle with Spain and Austria, and convulsed by the civil wars of religion, had neither men nor means to spare for foreign settlement. Spain had early claimed the whole continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to Labrador. Balboa, from the moun- , _ , n tains of Darien, had descried the Pacific, and dispelled the illusion that Amenca. was a part tf'n't of Asia. Cortes, Ndtli a ) \ndful of followers, had taken and sacked the populous city of Mexico.* Ponce de Leon had sought amid the everglades of Florida a fountain of youth, and found an early grave. Ferdi- •t^in nand de Soto had discovered the mighty Missis- sippi, and been buried beneath its waters. In 1565 was founded St. Augustine, by forty years the oldest town in America, f Admiral Coligny, the leader of the • In 1530, Spanish valour, led by Pizarro, conquered the kingdom of Peru, and Spanish cruelty well nigh exterminated tlie inhabitants. t The dates of the earliest settlements are as follows : — St. Augustine, 1565 ; Port Royal, 1605 ; Jamestown, 1607 ; Quebec, 1608 ; Albany, 1615 ; Plymouth, 1620 ; New York, 1623 ; Boston, 1630 ; Montreal, 1642 ; Frontenac (Kingston), 1672; Philfdelphia, 1683; Detroit, 1702: New Orleana, 1718; Halifax, 1749; JSt. John, 1783 ; Toronto, 1795. 1564.] FROBISHEB. 25 ids Port Royal. ngdom of Peru, French Protestants, had already planted a private Hugue- not colony in Florida ; but through the jealousy of the IKRPi Spaniards at St. Augustine, it was utterly de- stroyed, with the atrocious murder of eight hun- dred Frenchmen. Their countryman, De Gourges, terri- bly avenged their death. The hope of finding a north-west passage to the Indies continued to be a strong incentive to North American exploration. In 1576, Martin Frobisher, an English mariner, again essayed the task. In a vessel of only five and twenty tons, he reached the straits still known by his name. He took possession of a barren island in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and found in its soil some grains of gold, or what resembled it. A gold mania ensued. Two successive fleets, one of fifteen vessels, were dispatched to the arctic El Dorado. Several of the vessels were wrecked or driven from their course ; the others returned, laden with hundreds of tons of glittering mica. The discovery of its worthlessness ended the a,ttempt at arctic colonization ; but the dream of a north- west passage is still a potent spell. A Portutniese sailor was the first to circumnavigate -tntf-i the globe, and ha.s left his name stamped for ever upon the geography of the earth, and emblazoned in the constellations of the skies.* The gallant Drake, jpj-j. an Englishman, explored the north-west coast of America as far as Oregon, and followed in Magel- lan's wake around the world. From early in the century the maritime nations of Europe pursued the whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and fished for cod on the banks of Newfoundland. The latter industry became of great importance, to supply the demand for fish of Roman Catholic countries. In 1578, four hundred vessels gathered the harvest of the sea upon those fertile banks. One hundred and fifty of these were French ; but the English, we read in contemporary records, " were commonly lords in the harbours." A profitable trade in peltry with the natives along the seaboard and far up the St. Lawrence, had also sprung up. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, step-brother of Sir Walter Kaleigh, reasserted England's claim, by right of * Magellan's Straits and the Magellanic Clouds. :26 GILBERT — CHAUVIN. [1583, If i discovery, to Newfoundland, by taking possession of the island, with feudal ceremony, in the name of Queen Eliza- beth. On its return, the little fleet was shattered by a tempest. Tlie pious admiral, in the tiny pinnace, Squirrel, of only ten tons burden, foundered ?n mid-ocean. Before night fell, 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, the Hind, " Fear not, comrades ; heaven is as near by sea as by land." Undeterred by the fate of his gallant kinsman. Sir Walter Raleigh, who had himself explored the forests of Guiana, and who believed in the existence of a city of gold on the Orinoco, 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 conflicts with the natives, soon led to its abandonment. We now return to the narrative of early French colo- nization. In the year 1598, the Marquis de la Roche ob- tained from Henry lY. a commission of the vice-royalty of New France, and fitted out an expedition, which included some forty convicts. These he left on Sable Island, while with the rest of his company he explored the mainland. After five years twelve only of the convicts were found alive, the rest having miserably perished. In the year 1599, Chauvin, a naval ojQBcer, obtained a monopoly of the fur trade, on condition of settling five hundred colonists in Canada. With the aid of Pont- gravd, a merchant of St. Malo, he built a trading post at Tadousac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, and established a lucrative traffic in peltries. In 1603, Champlain, 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 dying this year, Des Monts, a Huguenot noble, obtained the much- coveted trading monopoly. Aca ' was selected for colo- nization, on account of the supposed mildness of its cli- mate, ease of access, and abundance of furs ; and a well- equipped expedition was fitted out. After exploring the Bay of Fundy and the coast of New England, Des Monts wintered at St. Croix, and lost thirty-six men by scurvy. 1605.] QUEBEC FOUNDED, 1608. 27 Reenforcements arriving, a settlement was made, in 1605, at Port Royal, a grant of which was given to Poutrin- conrt, who was appointed Governor. After three years of busy industry, the colony was abandoned on account of the seizure of its store of peltries by the Dutch, and the revocation of its charter. In 1610 it was replanted ; but through religious dissensions it was reduced to the verge of ruin and starvation. Having somewhat revived, it was, in 1613, utterly destroyed, as was also a French colony, just planted at Mount Desert Island, in Maine, by an armed expedition from Virginia, under Captain Argall.* Des Monts meanwhile abandoned Acadia for Canada. In 1608, Champlain, as his lieutenant, sailed with two vessels for the St. Lawrence. On the third of July he reached. Quebec, and, beneath the tall cliff of Cape Dia- mond, laid the foundations of one of the most famous cities of the New World, f A wooden fort was erected and land cleared for tillage. The colonists were soon comfortably housed, but before winter was over many of them had died of scurvy. The severe discipline observed by the Governor provoked a conspii-acy for his murder. It was discovered; the ringleader was hanged, and his fellow-conspirators were shipped in chains to France. Champlain maintained friendly relations with the Al^ gonquin Indians in his neighbourhood, and in the spring yielded to their solicitations to join a war party in an attack upon their hereditary foes, the Iroquois. With his savage allies, Champlain advanced up the river Riche- lieu, and with a tiny fleet of twenty-four canoes and sixty warriors, glided forth upon the beautiful lake which bears his name. At its southern extremity they came upon the foe, whom the strange appearance of the armed Europeans, only three in number, and the novel terror of the death-dealing firearms, soon put to flight. In ♦ In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English navigator, sailed up tiie river to which he gave his name, as far as Troy, and the following year explored Hudson's Bay. With liis son and seven others he was turned adrift by a mutinous crew, and never heard of again. The noble bay which became his grave perpetuate* his memory. t The name Quebec, Champlain positively asserts, was the Indian designation of the narrows of the St. Lawrence at this point, the word signifying a strait. Canada is the Indian word for a collection of huts, and eaters into the com- position of severax natlye names. ') I 28 MONTREAL. [1608. spite of his remonstrance, Champlain was compelled to witness the torture of twelve of the enemy, captured by the Algonquins. This was an unfortunate expedition, as the Iroquois became, for one hundred and fifty years, the implacable foes of the French, and tembly avenged, by many a murder and ambuscade, the death of every Indian slain in tliis battle. The following spring they entrenched themselves at the mouth of the Richelieu, and were routed only after a fierce struggle, in which Champlam himself received an arrow in his neck. After the death, in this year, of Henry IV., the patron of Des Monts, the latter was obliged to admit private adventurers to share the profits of the fur trade, on con- dition of 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 fidelity, and zeal of Champ- lain commanded the confidence of them all. Through successive changes of patrons, he continued to be the head of the colony, as their agent, yet bearing the com- mission of the King of France. With the prescience of ^/.,, a founder of empire, he selected the Island of Montreal as the site of a fort protecting the fur tiade and commanding the two great water-ways of the country, the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. The com- mercial prosperity of the great city which now covers so large a portion of the island is an ample vindication of his choice. He erected storehouses at Lachine, which he named Sault St. Louis, and gave the designation it still bears to St. Helen's Island, opposite the city, after the name of his wife. In order to verify the story of a boasting adventurer as to the existence of a great northern sea, which would probably give access to China and India, Champlain, with a native interpreter and a few companions, penetrated up the rapid Ottawa, over rugged portages and through tangled forests, as far as the Isle of Allumettes. When even the Indians refused to escort him further f^n his perilous way, and he discovered the falsehood of his guide, he returned, disappointed but undaunted, to Quebec, and thence to France, to urge the fortunes of the colony. «yj ion. [1608. ipelled to ptured by jdition, as years, the enged, by 3ry Indian ntrenched and were I^liamplaLn the patron it private on con- The •ency, and Iceroys of of Champ- Through to be the : the com- jscience of Island of ig the fur ays of the The corn- covers so lication of le, which Ration it city, after dventurer lich would )lain, with Denetrated i through s. When er ^Ti his Dd of his inted, to jrtunes of 1615.] DISCOVERY OP LAKE HURON. 29 With a desire for gain, and for extending the domin- ions of France in the New World, wis blended also, in the purposes of successive Viceroys ol the colony, a zeal for the conversion of the savages to the Catholic faith. In this purpose they were seconded by the piety of Champlain. On his return to Canada in 1615, he brought with the new company of colonists four R^coUet friars, the first of a heroic band of missionaries, who toiled amid the wilderness to win the wandering pagans to the doctrines of the cross. On his arrival at Montreal, Champlain found a large party of Algonquin and Huron Indians about to wage war against the Iroquois. Desirous of cementing an alliance with these friendly tribes, he agreed to accom- pany the expedition. First proceeding up tlie Ottawa and over almost countless portages, he reached, by way of Lake Nipissing and French River, the Georgian Bay, and beheld, stretching to the west, seemingly boundless as the ocean, the blue heaving billows of Lake Huron, to which he gave the name Mer Douce — the Fresh Water Sea. Coasting down its rugged eastern shore, and through its many thousands of rocky islands, he reached the inlet of the Mafcchedash Bay, where Penetanguishene now stands. This region, now the northern part of the county of Simcoe, contained the chief settlements of the Huron Indians, a nation variously estimated at from ten to thirty thousand souls, dwelling in palisaded towns, with large and well-built houses, and subsisting by agri- culture as well as by the chase. Over a forest trail, Champlain and his companions passed to the appointed place of rendezvous, Cahiagua, on the narrows of Lake Couchiching, near where the pretty village of Orillia now stands. Le Caron, one of the R^collet friars, with twelve Frenchmen, had preceded Champlain to this western wilderness, and here, in the solitude of the primeval forest, were, for the first time, chanted the Te Derm- and offered the sacrifice of the mass. At Cahiagua, a war party of two thousand plumed and painted braves were assembled, and several days were spent in feasting, war dances, and other savage pastimes. Sailing, with several hundred canoes, through Lake Simcoe and up tjue Talbot River, and traversing the pic- 80 IROQUOIS VICTORY. [1615. i . vl turesque Balsam, Sturgeon, Pigeon, and Bice Lakes, with their intervening portages, they glided down the devious windings of the Otonabee and Trent Bivers, and reached the beautiful Bay of Quinte, with its columned forests and verdure- clad, gently undulating slopes, now adorned with smiling villages and cheerful farms. Emerging from the placid bay, the Huron fleet entered the broad and blue Ontario, dimpling in the autumnal sunlight. To this Champlain gave the name — which it long retained — of Lac St. Louis. Boldly crossing the lake, they reached the country of the Iroquois. Hiding their canoes in the forest, they pressed onward some thirty leagues, to the Seneca towns near Lake Canandaigua. The Iroquois, attacked in the com fields, for it was the time of the maize harvest, retired to their town, which was defended with four rows of palisades. The tumultuous onset of the Huron s was ineffective. They were soon thrown into disorder, in spite of the efforts of Champlain, who was himself seriously wounded by the arrows of tho savages, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to tire ^lie town, resolved to retreat. This movement was conducted with greater skill than the attack. The wounded, bound on rude litters, were carried in the centre, while armed warriors formed front,, rear, and tiankiiig L,'aardb. 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. They encamped for thirty-eight days near Mui^ Lake, north-west of Kingston, waiting for the frost to bridge the rivers and oozy marshes. For four day« he was lost in the woods. For nineteen days, 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, the baffled war party reached Cahiagua. Champlain 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. 1 ^r.n His arrival at Quebec, after a year's absence, was greeted almost as a resurrection from the dead. 1606.] THE DE CAENS. 31 In the fall he returned to France, only to find his pa- tron, Cond^, disgraced and imprisoned. The Duke de Montmorency, in 1620, purchased the vice-royalty for 11,000 crowns. The same year, Champlain brought out his youthful wife, who was received by the Indians with almost reverential homage, as if a being of superior race. The impolicy of Champlain's Indian wars was soon mani- fested by the first of those Iroquois attacks which so often afterwards han-assed the colony. Quebec was as yet only surrounded 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 resi- dence of successive Governors of Canada down to 1834, when it was destroyed by fire. In consequence of disputes in the Trading Company of New France, and its neglect to furnish supplies for the 1fi91 *^olo^y> ^^^ charter was suspended and its privi- leges transferred to the Sieurs De Caen, uncle and nephew, zealous Huguenots. The elder De Caen soon arrived at Quebec and attempted to seize the vessels of the old company then in the river. Many resident traders left the country in disgust, so that, although eighteen emigrants had arrived, the population was re- duced to forty-eight persons. ,/.np. Montmorency soon surrendered his vice- royalty to the Duke de Y*^ntadour, 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. He suppressed the Protestant worship in De <^«Gn's ships, especially the singing of psalms, which seems to have been particularly obnoxious, and sent out three Jesuit Fathers, two of whom were P^res Brebeuf and Lalemant, afterward mar- tyred by the Iroquois. Amid the religious and commercial rivalries by which it was distracted, the infant colony languished. The Iroquois, grown insolent from a knowledge of its weak- ness, became more bold in their attacks, and even cruelly tortured a French prisoner. The De Caens furnished inadequate supplies of food, clothing, and ammunition, so f 32 KIRKS CONQUEST OF QUEBEC. [1626. :,(:! m,. i '" that at times the colony was reduced to great extremi- ties. Everything withered under their monopoly. -[Mn Cardinal Richelieu, one of the greatest states- men who ever swayed the destinies of France, was now in power. A part of his comprehensive policy for the aggi-andizement of his sovereign and country was, the development of the French colonies, and the suppres- sion of the Huguenots. He straightway annulled the charter of the De Caens, and organized the Company of the Hundred Associates with the absolute sovereignty of the whole of New France, and with the complete mono- poly of ti*ade, except the whale and cod fisheries. 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, before this scheme could be carried into efiect, 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. Tlie conquest of Canada was decreed, and the task was assigned to Sir David Kiik, a Huguenot refugee. In the summer of 1628 he reached the St. Law- rence, burned Tadousae, and sent a summons to Cham- plain to surrender. The Governor ostentatiously feasted the messengei"s, although the town was on an allowance of only seven ounces of bread per day, and the magazme contained but fifty pounds of powder, and returned a gal- lant defiance to Kirk. The latter, adopting the policy of delay, cruised in the Gulf, and captured the transports of the new company laden with the winter's provision for the colony. In consequence of this disaster, the suffer- ings of the French were intense. The crops of their few arable acres were unususally scanty. 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 summer wore away, and the expected provision ships from France came not. At length, toward the end of July, hungry eyes discovered from the Castle of St. Louis three vessels lounding the headland of Point L^vi. They wei-e Eng- lish ships of war, commanded by two brothers of Admiral Ki 1629.] DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN, 1635. 33 Kirk. The little garrison of sixteen famine-wasted men surrendered with the honours of war, and Louis Kirk, installed as Governor, saved from starvation the conquered inhabitants, less than one hundred in all. The year before. Kirk had captured Port Royal, where the French had again planted a colony. Sir William Alexander, a Scottish nobleman, had previously obtained an English patent (1621, renewed 1625) to the whole of Acadia, and changed its name to Nova Scotia. In 1630 he conveyed the southern part of the peninsula to La Tour — a French renegade in the English service — and sent him to drive the French from Cape Sable. This was held by a son of La Tour, who proved faithful to his country and repelled the assault of his sire. As peace had been declared before the surrender of Quebec, Champlain urged the apathetic French court to demand its restoration. This demand was made, and, by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, the whole of Canada, Cape Breton and Acadia, was restored to the French. De Caen was gi-anted a monopoly of the fur trade for one year, to indemnify him for losses during the war ; 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 Champlain returned to the colony as Governor, with two hundred emigrants and soldiers, and an abundant supply of provisions, mer- chandise, and munitions of war. With characteristic energy he established forts at Three Rivers, and at the mouth of the Richelieu, to protect the fur trade and check the inroads of the Iroquois,* and greatly promoted the prosperity of the colony and the christianizing of the native tribes. But the labours of his busy life were drawing to a close. In October, 163j, he was smitten with his mortal illness. For ten weeks he lay in the Castle of St. Louis, unable even to sign his name, but awaiting with resignation the divine will. On Christ- mas day the bi'ave 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. 1633 * This ancient highway, by which the bark fleets of these enemies of New France invaded the colony, was long known as the River of the Iroquois. 34 CHARACTER OF CHAMPLAIN. [1635. His epitaph is written in the record of his active life. For thirty years Ije laboured without stint and against almost insuperable difficulties for the struggling colony. A score of times he crossed the Atlantic in the tardy, incommodious, and often scurvv-smitten vessels of the period, in order to advance its interests. His name is eml)almed 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, firet of white men, sailed. His widow, originally a Huguenot, espoused her husband's faith, and died a nun at Meaux in 1654. His account of his voyage and his history of New Finance bear witness to liLs literary skill and powei*s of observa- tion; and his summary of Christian doctrine, written for the native tribes, is a touching monument of his piety. !'.^ CHAPTER Y. THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES. 1607. English Colonization — Jamestown Founded. The New England Colonies. 1637. Montmagny, Governor of Canada. 1642. Founding of Villk Makie (Montreal). Huron Missions— Their destruction by the Iroquois, 1648-49. 1658. Tlie Onondaga Jlissicii Abandoned. 1659 The Abbe Laval, first Viciir Apostolic. 1660. Dulac des Onueaux, the Leonidas of Canada. 1663. Charter of the Hundred Associates Annulled— Earthquakes. In order to understand the prolonged contliot between France and Great Britain for the possession of the North American continent, it will be necessary to trace brioHy 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 settle- ment 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 car- penters — sent out by a company of London merchants, incorporated under royal charter. They entered the mag- nificent Chesapeake Bay, and began their settlement at Jamestown, on the James River. Indohuice, strife, and jealousy, plunged the colony into anarchy and despair. Before autumn half of its number had died, and the rest were enfeebled with hunger and disease. They were only saved from destruction by the energy and ability of Cap- tain John Smith, the romantic story of whoso rescue from death by Pocahontas is one of the most pleasing legends of early colonization. Successive reenforceuients, 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 persons, when John Smith, injured by an explosion of guiH)owder, was com .el led to return to England. In six months vice and famine had reduced the colony to sixty persons, who pre- pared to abandon the country. Lord Delaware oppor- tunely arrived with supplies ; but in twelve year8> after m >(1 36 ENGLISH COLONIZATION. [1619. the expenditure of $400,000, it numbered only six hun- dred persons. At length, reenforced by a sxiperior class of immigrants, its population rapidly increased, till, in 1648, it numbered twenty thousand souls. In 1632, Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic nobleman, received a grant of the territory which, in honour of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles T., 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 reli- gious impulse. A company of English Puritans, sojourning in Holland for conscience' sake, embarked in the May- Jlower of immortal memory, and on Christmas day, 1620, landed on Plymouth Eock. Before spring, half the num- ber had died, and for several years sickness and famine menaced the very existence of the colony. Further settle- ments wei-e made at Salem and Boston ; the new colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut were planted ; and after many years of privation, suffering, sickness, and Indian massacres, the population of New England, continually reenforced by fresh immigration, reached, in 1675, fifty- five thousand.* W< return, to follow more minutely the varying fortunes of New France. M. De Montmagny,t the successor of Cham plain, arrived in Canada in 1637. The affairs of the colony were much depressed. The Company of the Hundred Associates, from which so much had been expected, did little but send a few vessels annually to traffic with the natives. Instead of trans- porting 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 « As early as 1C15, tlio Dutoh hud a trading port at Albany. In 1623, they founded New Anisterdani, now Now York. In l(5;<8, the Bwcdes colonized Delaware, but were conijielled to cede their territory to the Dutch in 1665. Thv-> Dutch, in turn, were obliged, iu 1064, to yield their possessions to the i'Snglish, now snitreuie from Acadia to Florida, which last, in 1764, the Spaniards coded in exchange for Havana and Louisiana. t From this governor is derived the name Onontio, applied by the Indians to ali his successors. It is the translation Into their language of his name, and signifies " Great Mountain." 1637 1635.] SLOW GROWTH OF NEW FRANCE. 37 hundred and fifty Europeans in the colony. In five years more, scarce a hundred were added. In 1 648, the European population was only eight hundred, and in 1663, when the company's charter was annulled, it was less than two thousand, most of whom had come out without its aid. So slowly, as compared with that of Virginia and New England, did the population of New France increase. For forty years, from 1632 to 1672, the Jesuit Fathers sent home annual " Relations " of the progress of the mis- sions and of affairs in the colony, which circulated wir'ely in the mother country.* Several families of rai k and for- tune were induced to mimigrate with their serv'^.nts and dependants, and received gra its of land on , gniorial tenure, to be hereafter describjd. Many persons devoted to religion, also, both priests md nuns, 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 instruction of French and Indian girls. With her came Maile Guyart, better known by her conventual name of Marie de I'ln- carnation, who had also been left a widow at the age of twenty. With several companions they arrived at Quebec in 1639. As they landed from their floating prison they kissed the soil that was to be the scene of their pious labours, and were received with enthusiasm by the inhabitants, and with firing of cannon, Jind the best military parade of the little garrison. For thirty- two years these devoted women lived and laboured among the savage tribes, and then, almost at the same time, ceased from their pious toil. In the year 1640, the Company of the Hundred Asso- ciates ceded the Island of Montreal to a new company, which adopted the name of the island as its designation, and selected M. De Maisonneuve, a young and gallant military officer, as its representative. Jealous, probably, of a prospective rival, Montmagny endeavoured to induce * These were collected and published in throe large 8vo Tolumes by the Canadian Government in 1858. They are a perfect mine of information on early Canadian history. ( II:. ih 33 FOUNDING OP VILLE MARIE. [164L,. him to remain at the Island of Orleans, but he resolved to brave the perils of the frontier post. In the spring of 1642, the little flotilla, bearing the founders of the new town and about 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 amphitheatre of nature, P^re Vimont celebrated mass, and invoked the blessing of Heaven on the new colo- nists. Thus piously were laid the foundations of the Ville Marie de Montreal, the future commercial metro- polis of Canada. ■inAo Next year the colony was reenforced, and con- tinued gradually to increase, notwithstanding the continual attacks oi" the ferocious Iroquois, by which several of the settlers were slain. Growing more auda- cious .with success, a concerted plan was formed for the extermination of the French. Seven hundred savage warriors attacked the fort at the mouth of the Richelieu, and others ravaged the vicinity of Quebec and Three Rivers. Their attacks were repelled with the loss of several valuable lives, and a temporary peace was made with this treacherous foe. That remarkable religious order, which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries belted the globe with its mis- sions, 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, Jean de Br^beuf, the apostle of the Hurons, had visited, and for three years remained among those savage tribes. On Kirk's conquest of Quebec, he was recalled; but in 1634, accompanied by P^res Daniel and Davost, he returned to fertilize with his blood the mission he had planted. They were soon followed by others, and in 1641 P^res Jogues and Raymbault planted the cross and chanted the mass at Sault Ste. Marie, on the shores of Lake Superior.* For fifteen years the missionaries toiled among the Hu- rons, in the country between Lake Simcoe and the Geor- * The fate of Jogiies 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," a» it was prophetically named, and waa there barbarously murdered. 1648.] HURON MISSIONS. a9 gian Bay ; at first with little effect, but finally with great success. Foot-sore and weary, gnawed by hunger, and chilled by piercing cold, they traversed the wintry woods from plague-smitten town to town, to minister their heal- ing simples 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, after much pious effort, over a score of mis- sion stations were established, the chief of which was at Ste, Marie, on the river Wye, near the present town of Penetanguishene. Hei'e was erected a stone fort, whose ruins may still be ti^aced, with a church and mission house. Sometimes as many as sixty white men were here assem- bled, of whom a score were Jesuit priests. In 1648, a storm of heathen rage burst upon the Christian missions. A war party of the blood-thirsty Iroquois fell upon the village of St. Joseph, near the present town of BaiTie, on the morning of July fourth. P^re Daniel had just finished the celebration of mass when the dread war- whoop 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. Seven hundred persons mostly women and children, were either captured or killed. The next act of this tragedy opens in the early spring of 1649. A thousand Iroquois warriors had, during the winter, made their way from near the Hudson River to the Huron country. 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.* The mission was wrecked; the Hurons were scattered ; their towns were abandoned, burned, or destroyed, and themselves fugitives from a wrathful foe. The missionary Fathers set fire to Ste. Marie, and saw consumed in an hour the labours of years. On the Island of St. Joseph, not far from the main land, they built a new mission fortress, the remains of which may still be seen. Here, by winter, were assembled six or eight • The skull and other relics of Br^heuf are preserved at the Hotel Dieu, at Quebec. No less than nine of tfae Jesuit Fathers and lay labourers died ao martym in these cruel Indian wars. c: 40 THE LAST OF THE HURONS. [1650. 11 11 thousand wretched Hurons, dependent on the charity of the mission. Before spring, harassed by attacks of the Iroquois, waited by pestilence, and famished on the scanty allowance of acoms (boiled with ashes to take away their bitter taste), which was their only food, half of the num- ber had died. There was nothing but despair on every side. More th^n ten thousand Hurons had already perished. The Jesuits, " after forty consecutive hours of prayer to God," resolved, not without many tears, to abandon 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 populous. The little band of fugitives sought refuge on the Island of Orleans, near Quebec, and after- ward on the main land. But even here they were pur- sued by the undying hatv3 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 growtJi of over two centuries, which are sometimes upturned hj the settler's j^lough; and a few families, the renmant of the once powerful Huron nation, still lingering at Lorette, near Quebec. The incursions of the Iroquois on the St. Lawrence settlements 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 Algon- quins. The Governor of Three Rivers and a priest of Ville Marie were slain. 1656.] THE ONONDAGA MISSION. 41 Notwithstanding the appalling perils of the task, the French resolved to plant, if possible, a mission among the Onondagas, in the heart of the Iroquois country, with the triple object of curbing their hostile disposition, of winning new converts to the cross, and of securing the fur trade from the growing interference of the Dutch. In a tem- porary lull of hostilities, P^re Le Moyne and three other priests were bv^iected to tread the pathway already red- dened by the blood of Jogues, the previous envoy. They were accompanied by ten soldiers and forty settlers. The Mohawks tried to intercept the party, failing in which they ravaged the banks of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence, and prowled around the very walls of Montreal and Quebec. The Onondaga mission was threatened with destruction, but the missionaries were able to outwit even the cunning of the blood-thirsty savages. Batteaux were constructed, and preparation was made by stealth, and when the natives were gorged with one of their glutton feasts, purveyed by the Jesuits, the mission was aban- doned — priests, soldiers, settlers, escaping by night and eluding pursuit, safely reached Quebec. 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 succes- sively the three military posts of Montreal, Three Kivers, and Quebec. Behind their loopholed palisades the tr^oa- bling 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. Dulac des Ormeaux, a youth of twenty-five, with sixteen others, youthful like himself — all of Montreal — resolved to save their coimtry, though they perished in the act. They made their wills, con- fessed, received the sacrament, and bade a solemn fare- well to their friends, like men about to march to death. And so they were. Not one returned alive. They took their stand at the Long 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. ■ii> ' It T/ is 42 POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION. [1660. i) i' i, r; Iroquois reenforcements airived ; and for three days longer seven hundred ferocious savaf^es beleaguered the crumb- ling redoubt, and only with the death of the last French- man was the dear-bought victory won. But the colony was saved. The pass of the Long Sault was the Ther- mopylai of Canada. We return to trace briefly the political administration of New France during this period. In 1647, in conse- (juence of the centralizing policy of the young sovereign, restricting the term of service of colonial governors to three yeai*s, Montraagny was recalled, although he had administered the affairs of the colony with distinguished ability, and M. D'Ailleboust was appointed his successor. The new Governor had already been five yeai-s commandant at Three Rivers, and understood the wants of the country, although deficient in the energy that characterized his two predecessors. In 1651, M. De Lauson, a leading member of the Hun- dred Associates, succeeded to the government of the dis- tracted country. During his administration, an envoy arrived from New England with the proposal of a treaty of commerce and amity between the British, French, and Dutch colonies, and especially providing for their neutral- ity ill all quarrels of the mother countries. The French ui-ged a mutual alliance against the Iroquois, but as these were the friends of the English, this stipulation unhappily frustrated the project, and embittered the hostility of the Iroquois, who, supplied with fire-arms from Fort Orange, continued to wreak their rage upon the French. Lauson, whose timid and vacillating ad- 1 nKc^ ministration encouraged their audacity, quitted his post in disgust, and was succeeded in office by the Viscount D'Argenson. In 1659, the Abb^ Laval, a member of the princely house of Montmorency, who afterwards (in 1670) be- came the fii-st 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. Hia 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 flf'^. 1661.] EARTHQUAKE. 43 between the bishop and successive governors on mat- ters of precedence and other expressions of ecclesiastical dignity. In 1661, D'Argenson was succeeded by the Baron D'Avaugour, a brave soldier, who had serT'^ed with dis- tinction in Hungary. Resolved on energetic measures of colonial defence, he asked for three thousand regular troops. The king tardily sent out four hundred, and meanwhile the country was laid waste, and the military posts were practically in a state of siege. The bluff soldier and the bishop were involved in almost continual discord. In 1663, the whole country was shaken by a terrible earthquake. Dense darkness filled the air, the thick-ribbed ice on the rivers was broken, springs were dried up, the church bells pealed with tJie rocking motion, buildings tottered, the forest trembled, and portentous noises were heard. Shocks were repeated at intervals from February to August. The utmost consternation prevailed, but happily no loss of life occurred. In this year, D'Avaugour was recalled, and soon after died, fighting bravely against the Turks in Croatia. This date closes the administration of the Hundred Associates, which had been characterized by greed, weakness, and inefficiency on the part of the Company, and by the un- paralleled suffer' .gs of the colonists. i. wi i^'- i If.. it M CHAPTER yi. ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 1063. CoNSTiTirrioN or the Suprgmb Council — De Mesy, Governor. Iddb. De Tracy, Viceroy— Talon, Intendant. De Courcelles, Governor — Attacks the Iroquoi». 1666. De Tracy coNQaERs the Mohawks— Eighteew Years' Truce. Talon's wise administration — Seigniorial Tencre of Lanp. The Fur Trade— The Small Pox and Liquor Traffic waste the Native Tribes. The charter of the Hundred Associates having been re- scinded by a royal edict (February, 1663), the government of New France became vested directly in the crown. The failure of the Company, now reduced to half its original number, to meet its engagements, and the depressed con- dition of the colony, were an ample vindication of this step. Colbert, the new minister of Louis XIV., a man of comprehensive views, and of great energy and integrity of charac^«r, continued for a score of years to be the tried and true friend of Canada. He endeavoured to restrain the corruption and extravagance at home, in order that aid might be given for the development of the colony, but with only very partial success. The new government was administered by a Supreme Council, composed of the Governor, the Bishop, and the royal Intendant, assisted by four Councillors — a number afterwards raised to twelve. Of this Council, 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 Inten- dant was his representative in legal matters, and was generally a member of the legal profession. The respec- tive duties and authority of the Governor and Intendant were not clearly defined, and from their peculiar relations it was impossible but that jealousies should arise between them. The Governor frequently, and with justice, re- garded the Intendant as a spy upon his conduct and a check upon his influence; and each made frequent and often conflicting reports to the King. The Council met . » * 1663.] THE SUPREME COUNCIL. 45 \ki he Native every Monday, at first at the vice-regal chateau of St. Louis, and afterwards in an old brewery, fitted up as a " Palace of Justice." Its jurisdiction covered every de- partment of government — legislative, judicial, executive— from declaring war or peace to trivial municipal regula- tions, and the settlement of petty disputes. Subordinate courts were afterwards established at Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal ; and the seigniors were empowered to settle disputes " involving not more than sixty sous, or offences of which the fine was not more than ten sous."* 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 prospects of the colony began to brighten. Laval had procured the appointment of M. de M6sy, command- ant of Caen, as the first Governor, on account of his anticipated subservie' jy to himself. De M6sy, however, asserted his authority in a violent manner, banished two members of the Council, and, it is said, attempted to seize the person of the Vicar Apostolic. For this extravagance he was superseded in 1665, but died before his successor arrived. The trade of Canada had meanwhile been granted to the West India Company, one of those giant monopolies that strangled its infant commerce, j ust struggling into life. Jn consideration of its control, for fifty years, of the traffic of New France, it was to defray all the ex- penses of government. Simultaneous with these events was another which was destined to affect the entire future history of the North American continent. The English sovereign, Charles TL, had granted to his brother, the Duke of York, the eountry adjacent to the Hudson River, which for fifty years had been in the peaceable possession of the Dutch. Four English ships anchored before New Amsterdam, and demanded its surrender. After a short parley, the white flag was raised, and the Dutch settlers became British subjects. Out of compliment to the Duke * In a few inatauces their jurisdiction was more extensive. wv% m^. hv: 46 M. DE TRACY, VICEROY. [1664. of York, the place was re-named New York, and Fort Orange became Albany. The English strove steadily to divert the fur trade from the St. Lawrence to the Hud- son, offering in bai^ter better goods at lower prices than their French rivals. The Iroquois became their willing allies, and for yea' 3 held the balance of power between the hostile nations. 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 officer, was sent to Canada as Lieutenant-General, to reduce the Iroquois and settle all disorders. He arrived in the spring of 1665, with a Sjlendid body of troops — rhe royal Carig- nan regiment, v hich had won glory in Hungary, fighting against the Turks. The scanty population of Quebec gazed with pride, and the Indian scouts with amazement, on the solid phalanx of these mail-^lad warriors, as with roll of drums and peal of trumpets «;hey climbed the steep ascent to the citadel. The mounted officei"s especially struck terror to the savage breast, as they were deemed inseparable fr. m the horses they bestrode — the first the Indians had cwr seen. Soon after arrived M. de Cour- celles, the new Governor, and M. Talon, the new Inten- dant of Canada, \> lih more ^ oldiers, and a numerous body of immigrants, together witii cattle, implements, and mili- tary stores. The addition to the population during the :3eason was two thousand persons, about thirteen hundred of whom were veteran troops. • The colony was now strong enough to wage aggressive warfare on the Iroquois. To check their inroads by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, forts were built at Chambly and Sorel, which places received their names from the officers in command of the works. Alarmed at the preparations for war, the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas sent an embassy to make a treaty of peace with the French. The Mohawks and Oneidas remained hos- tile. De Courcelles, the Governor, a rash but gallant soldier, with five hundred men, set out from Quebec on the ninth of January. They traversed the frozen St. Lawrence and Richelieu, and Lakes Champlain and St. Sacrament (Lake George), encamping in the deep snow, chilled to the marrow by piercing winds, and suf- 1666 1666.] THE MOHAWKS CONQUERED. 47 fering severely from the unaccustomed mode of travel on snow-shoes beneath heavy burdens. Reaching the bordei-s of the Mohawk country, a detachment of troops fell into an ambuscade, and eleven were slain and seven wounded. Finding that he was trespassing on the territory recently ceded by the Dutch to the English, and conquered by the elements rather than by the savage foe, De Courcelles began a precipitate retreat. Sixty of his men perished by cold befoi*e he reached the frontier forts, and after a march of fifteen hundred miles, the worn and weary bat- talions regained Quebec. This expedition, disastrous as it proved in its issue, struck terror into the hearts of the Iroquois. The Mohawks alone continued their depredations. During the autumn De Tracy, then seventy years of age, orga- nized an expedition for their subjugation. In three hundred boats, in the bright October weather, thirteen hundred men, including a hundred Indian allies and six hundred Carignan soldiers, threaded the mazes of the Richelieu and the lovely lakes Champlain and St. Sacra- ment. A hundred miles' march through tangled woods, on short allowance of food, severely taxed the endurance of the troops. Coming on the Mohawk stockades, twenty drums sounded the charge. Terrified at the unaccus- tomed din and at the seemingly endless files of the French debouching from the wood, the Mohawks aban- doned town after town, although they were strongly palisaded and defended by flanking bastions. Unopposed, the French took possession ; the I'e Deum was simg ; the mass vviis said ; the cros^j was planted, and De Tracy clairned the whole Mohawk country in the name of his royal master, Louis XIY. Tliat night the forest was reddened mth the flames of the burning Indian towns, with all their winter stores of maize. With tlie earlv morning the little army was in full retreat, and safely reached Quebec before the winter fell. The power of the Mohawks was broken. E'^fore spring four hundred are said to liave perished. The survivors learned to dread tlie strenirth of that arm wliich at such a distance could strike such a blow, and a treaty of peace was made, which gave rest lo the long harassed colony for eighteen years. \-\ f .... h'. ' T'y ':'.-%■ III I 48 TALON S ENLIGHTENED POLICY. [1667. I' ) Under the able administration of De Courcelles and Talon, after the departure of Tracy in 1667, the affairs of the colony greatly prospered. The Intendant especi- ally laboured to develop the natural resources of the field, the forest, and the mine, as well as the fisheries and the fur trade. He endeavoured to promote manu- facturing, shipbuilding, and trade with the West Indies. He began the construction of an intercolonial road to Acadia, and extended explorations towards Hudson's Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi. Many of his enlightened schemes are only being carried into effect two centuries after his death. He procured the disband- ment of the Carigrian regiment in the colony, with grants of land to the) officers and men. Thus twelve hundred ablebodied soldiers were retained in the country, to develop its resources and defend its frontier. In order to procure wives for the disbanded troops and unmarried colonists. Talon, in conjunction witli the home authori- ties, 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 matri- mony, couples were married, says the contemporary clironicle, " by thirties at a time." These military colonists became the tenants or censi- taires of the seigniors, often their fonner officers, to whom extensive domains had been assigned. The sol- diers' grants, situated cliiefly 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 about 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 piv^ximity to the river furnished facilities for travel, and also for mutual defence. The censitaires paid to the seigniors a nominal rent, but they were required to labour for his benefit a certain number of days in the year ; to get tlieir corn ground at his mill, paying a fixed toll therefor ; to give him one fish in every eleven caught ; and, in case of a sale of their lands, to pay him one-twelfth of the price received. It was, in fact, a a 1667.] TRADE RESTRICTIONS. 49 modified foi*m of feudal tenure. It was only entirely abolished in 1854.* Trade, however, strangled by artificial restrictions, languished, and the West India Company grew rich at the expense of the colony. Almost the sole traffic was that in furs, which was unduly stimulated to the great injury of the country. The wild forest life had an irre- sistible fascination to the adventurous spirits of the time. Hundreds of the young men, disdaining the dull routine of labour, became Goure}irs de Bois, " Runners of the Woods," and roamed like savage nomads upon the dis- tant shores of Lakes Superior and Michigan. Meanwhile the fields languished for lack of tillage ; poverty and famine wasted the land. The charter of the West India Company was rescinded in 1674, and the trade reverted directly to the crown. The collection of the government tax of one-fourth and one-twelfth of all the beaver skins and buffalo skins respectively, was leased out to " Farmers-General," who grew rich by buying the remainder at nominal prices. The Coureurs de Bois, lawless and reckless, set at defiance the royal edicts issued for their restraint, and glutted the market with furs for which there was no re- munerative 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 Chris- tianity and civilization. But the white man'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. Of fifteen hundred Indians at Sillery nearly all were swept away by this dreadful plague. Tadousac and Three Rivers, recently populous with Indian fur traders, were almost deserted. The white man's " fire water" had a fatal fascination for the red man's unrestrained appe- tite. The Jesuit missionaries fought earnestly against * The rents were often absurdly low. At Montreal, at this period, a common annual rate was half a sou and half a pint of wheat per acre. Tlie purchasing power of money was very great. Fuel sold at Quebec for one and three pence per coi-d, the amount of a day'a wages. Eels were sold iu the market ut one ■hilling per hundred. ' ■■ t- • . 1 I 60 THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. [1670. the liquor traffic. It was denounced from the pulpit as hurtful to body and soul, and its agents threatened with ercommunication. But the civil power connived at the evil, and the irresponsible traders clandestinely ministered to the Indian's insatiable passion for strong drink, to the destruction of his health, the corruption of his c\ci,racter, and the demoralization of the Christian missions. CHAPTER YII. ^'^ ! . ' If! ■ * THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. 1672. Frontenac, Governor — Founds Fort Frontenac (Kingston). Jesuit Explorers. 1673. Marquette Discovers the Mississippi. 1679. La Salle launches the Griffin. 1682. Reaches the Mouth of the Mississippi. 1687. Attempts to Colonize Louisiana and is si^'n. In the year 1 672, M. de Courcelles, on account of ill health, anc M. Talon, at his own request, returned to France ; and Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, was appointed Governor, and M. Duchesneau, Intendant of Canada. Frontenac was a soldier, of old and noble family, brave but haughty, and alternately condescending and overbearing, generous and violent, pious and vindic- tive. His imperious temper soon involved him in dis- putes with Laval, now raised to the dignity of bishop, and with the Intendant, and rendered his wholv. adminis- tration one of tumult and strife. One of the first acts of the new Governor was the planting of a fort and trading post at the foot of Lake Ontario,* both long known by his name, in order to check the interference of th<^ 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 Kocky Mountains, from the regions around Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi. Paddling all day in their bark canoes, sleeping at night on the moss-covered rock, toiling over rugged portages or through pathless forests, pinched by hunger, gnawed to the bono by cold ; often dependent for suste- • Where Kingston now stands. 52 JESUIT EXPLORERS MARQUETTE. [1673. nance on acorns, the bark of trees, or the bitter moss to which they have given their name ; lodging in Indian wigwams, whose acrid smoke blinded their eyes, and whose obscene riot was unutterably loathsome to every sense ; they yet persevered in their path of self-sacrifice for the glory of God, the advancement of their Order, and the extension of New France. " Not a cape was turned, not a river was entered, but a Jesuit led the wpy."* In 1640, P^res Br^beuf and Shaumont explored the southern shore of Lake Erie. In 1641, P^res Jogues and Raymbault tcld the story of the Cross to a 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, P6re de Quen threaded the gloomy passes of tlie Saguenay to teach the way of salvation to savage northern hordes. In 1660, Ren^ Mesnard reached Keweenaw Bay, on Lake Superior, and perished in the wilderness. The zeal of Laval burned to tread in the same path of trial and glory. In 1665, P^re Alloiiez paddled his frail 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 Marquette, with Joliet, a native of Quebec, who had previously travel- led overland to Hudson's Bay, and five othei*s, 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, they retraced their way to the mouth of the Illinois. Threading that stream they reached the site of Chicago, sailed up Lake Michigan, and Joliet hastened to Quebec to tell the story of the fair and virgin lands of the far west, while Marquette remained to preach the gospel to his beloved Miamis. Two years later, while on a preach- ing excursion, feeling his end to be near, though only in * Bancroft, vol ii. chap. xx. 1675.] LA SALLE. 53 i«ii=i his thirty- eighth year, Marquette built a small booth of branches, and, requesting to be left to his devotions, he died, like our own heroic missionary explorer, Living- stone, while holding communion with his Maker. The beautiful river and the busy town that bear his name perpetuate the honoured memory of the discoverer of the Great West. Joliet's tidings excited a profound interest in Canada. He himself received a grant of the Island of Anticosti, where he died in 1701. A. county in his native province, and a mountain and city in Illinois, commemorate his name. During Talon's administration as Intendant, a bold and enterpri-^ing gentleman adventurer, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, had planted a trading post at Lachine — a name given either in earnest or derision to "the first stage on the way to China." La Salle obtained a patent of nobility and the grant of a seigniory, near Fort Fron- tenac, on condition of rebuilding it of stone, with the virtual control of the local fur-trade. Here he felled the forest, cultivated the soil, foraied a flourishing settlement, and built for the prosecution of his fur trade four small -inrjn decked vessels, the first that ever floated on the waters of Ontario. The glory of Joliet's discovery fired the ambition of La Salle. He obtained, through the influence of Col- bert, a royal commission for exploration in the far west, with authority to erect forts, and a monopoly of the trafiic in buffalo skins. In November, 1678, accompa- nied by Tonti, an Italian veteran, by P^re Hennepin, and a motley crew, he sailed for the Niagara river, and erected a fort above the great cataract. Hennepin's account and sketch of the falls are graphic, though exag- gerated. During the winter. La Salle returned on foot to Frontenac, for additional naval supplies. By mid- summer, 1679, a vessel of forty-five tons was built and launched amid the chanting of the Te Deum and the firing of her Uttie armament of small cannon. On the seventh of August, the Griffin spread her wings to the breeie, and, stemming the rapid current, entered Lake Erie. In three weeks, the pioneer mariners of the in- land seas, thirty-four in all, reached the entrance to m It i ! !i I 54 CREVEC(EUR. [1679. Lake Michigan, having escaped a violent storm on Lake Huron. The strange apparition of the winged vessel and booming cannon everywhere produced surprise and consternation. La Salle freighted the Griffin 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, and with Hennepin, Tonti, and thirty men, before the end of December reached Lake Peoria, in the heart of Illinois. Here, amid the despondency, mutiny and desertion of his men, he built a fort to which, in allusion to his disasters and disappointments, he gave the name of Crevecoeur — Heart-break. Despatching Henne- pin to explore the upper Mississippi, and ordering the IfiftO construction of a vessel during his absence, the intrepid pioneer set out on foot with three com- panions, through wintry snows and pathless woods, to Fort Frontenac, fifteen hundred miles distant. Hennepin discovered and named the Falls of St. Anthony, but Tonti, attacked by Iroquois, and his force reduced to four men, was compelled to abandon the fort. When La Salle returned in the summer with reenforcements and cordage for his vessel, he found the post deserted. Another win- ter was passed in the wilderness, when the dauntless explorer returned again to Canada to replenish his im- poverished resources. At length, with his little company, he launched his frail canoes on the broad bosom of the Mississippi. For sixty days he glided down the giant stream, 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 four ships, a hun- dred soldiers, and a hundred and eighty settlers to colonize Louisiana. He missed the mouth of the Mississippi. His store-ship was wrecked on the Texan coast, near Galveston, two hundred miles out of his course, and the other vessels * The Ohio and thd Mississippi received the names respectively of River St. Louis and River Colbert. the 1687.] DEATH OF LA SALLE. 55 returned to France. Disaster dogged his footsteps. Dis- ease, famine, and savage foes made havoc among his fol- lowei'S. Treachery and mutiny corrupted the survivors. His colony being reduced to forty persons, La Salle set out with sixteen men for Canada to procure recruits. ■tfan His companions mutinied and barbarously murdered their leader, leaving his naked body on the prairies to be devoured by buzzards and wolves. After super- human toils and sufferings, seven men of the ill-fated band reached Canada to tell the tragic story ; the rest perished miserably in the wilderness. 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 France and civilization tnerited a better fate than his tragic and treacherous death, at the early age of forty-three, upon the Texan plains. J CHAPTER YIII. "THE AGONY OF CANADA." 1682. Prontenac recalled— De la Barre, Viceroy. 1684. Iroquois War renewed— Disaster of FAMiyE Cove. 1085. Denonville, Viceroy— Seizes Iroquoi9»Chief3. 1687. Defeats Senecas -Plants Western Forts. 1638. Iroquois Ravage Frontier— Treachery of Le Rat. 1689. Massacre of Lachine, the " brain-blow" of Canada. During the ten years of Frontenac's first colonial admin- istration, his haughty and overbearing manners involved liim in perpetual disputes with the Bishop, the Intendant, the Council, the Jesuits — in fact, with all who opposed Lis often arbitrary, will. He maintained his position chiefly through his relationship to Madame de Maintenon, and through the influence of his wife, a reigniug beauty at the court of Louis XIV. At length, wearied with com- plaints, the king recalled both Frontenac and Duchesneau in 1682, and appointed M. de la Barre and M. de Meules as their successors.* De la Barre was a naval officer of considerable reputa- tion, but lacking the prompt decision and energy of char- acter that the exigencies of the times demanded. On his anival in Canada, he found the country threatened with the outbreak of another Iroquois war. The English colonists had increased to tenfold the number of the French, and their fur traders were everywhere endeav- ouring, by intrigue, by persuasion, by underselling their rivals in the luxuries of savage life, to divert the profit- able traffic in peltries from Montreal and Quebec to Albany and New York. Colonel Dongan, the Governor of New York, notwith- standing the friendly relations between his sovereign, Charles II., and Louis XIV., fomented the ancient anti- pathy of the Iroquois to the French. A Seneca war party having attacked and plundered some French traders, De la Barre was compelled .o open hostilities. He had * In thia year, a disastrous fire, the first of several such, destroyed a large part of Quebec. 1684.] THE IROQUOIS WAR RENEWED. 57 only a hundred and thirty regular soldiers, and urgently besought reenforcements. Mustering a thousand militia- men and Indians, and a handful of regulars, at Fort Frontenac, he proceeded to invade the Seneca country. Through his incompetence and delays his command en- dured exfreme privations for want of food. Disease and death wasted them away while lingering at Famine Cove, near Oswego — so named on account of their sufferings. Here he made an ignominious peace with the savages, promising immediate departure, and leaving out of the treaty five hundred Illinois allies on their way to join him, and within a day's march. On his return to Quebec, his chagrin was increased at finding that reenforcements ■inQ^p: had arrived. De la Barre was soon recalled in disgrace, and was succeeded by the Marquis de Denonville. The Chevalier de Calli^res was at the same time appointed Governor of Montreal. Denonville, who was shortly followed by six hundred regulars, after a few hours' rest at Quebec, pushed on to Fort Frontenac. His lucid reports on the state of the country, sent to the King, are valuable historical docu- ments. An act of treachery, however, left a stain on his name, and greatly embittered the Iroquois. Through the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, he induced fifty of their chiefs to meet him for a conference at Frontenac. To gratify a whim of the King, he seized their persons, and shipped them in irons to France to toil in the royal galleys. Though deeply incensed, the Iroquois, with a magnanimity shaming the perfidy of the Frenchman, spared the lives of the unwitting instruments of this cruelty, the Jesuit priests, and sent them unharmed out of the country. In June, 1687, with eight hundred regulars, a thousand militia, and three hundred Indian allies, in four hundred batteaux, Denonville left Montreal to attack the Senecas. At the mouth of the Genesee River he was joined by four hundred Illinois Indians. The advance guard fell into an ambuscade, but with the aid of their red allies, the French defeated the Senecas with great loss. Denonville spent ten days ravaging the country, burning the villages, and destroying an immense stock of maize — over a mil- lion bushels, says one account — and a prodigious number 5 58 INDIAN ATROCITIES. [1687. of hogs. Proceeding to the Niagara, he rebuilt La Salle's fort and garrisoned it with a hundred men. He also planted palisaded posts at Toronto, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and on the Illinois River, as a barrier against the encroachments of the English or their Iroquois allies. The whole Five Nations now united to avenge the ■tpoQ slaughter of the Senecas. They attacked and razed Fort Niagara, whose gan-ison, reduced by famine and disease to ten men, fled. They prowled like famished wolves all along the frontier. They lay in wait near every settlement thirsting for Christian blood. They ravaged the country, killed the cattle, burned the crops, and menaced the river seigniories, and even the garrison of Fort Frontenac. During this fatal year, over a thousand of the colonists fell by the scalping knife or tomahawk of their relentless foe, and as many more by the dreadful small-pox which devastated the country. In this extremity, negotiations for peace were opened under the menace of a thousand Iroquois wan-iors at Lake St. Francis, who demanded the restoration of their betrayed chiefs, now toUing in the royal galleys in France. While the negotiations were pending, a crafty Huron chief, Kondiarak or the Hat, a forest Machiavelli, offended at the prospect of a treaty with his hereditary foe, by a deed of double treachery fell on an Iroquois embassy, and declared that he acted by the command of the French. He had effectually, as ho boasted, "killed the peace." The incipient treaty was broken off, and the war was waged with intenser violence. The culminating act in this bloody drama was the massacre of Lachine in 1689. On the night of August fifth, twelve hundred painted warriors landed amid a shoTt^er of hail on the Island of Montreal. Before day- break 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 piti- less foe. Men, women, and children were dragged from their beds and indiscriminately butchered with atrocious cruelty. The houses were fired, and two hundred persons perished in the flames. As many more were carried off for the nameless horrors of deliberate torture. For two 1689.] THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE. 5^ months the victors ravaged the island, the besieged inha- bitants 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, Three Rivers, and Mon- treal. At this hour of its deepest depression, Denon ville was recalled, and the fiery Frontenac was re-appointetl Governor. ti CHAPTER IX. : ti FRONTENAC'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. ■ 1689. Frontenao re-appointed Governor. 1690. French Invasion of Nkw England — Massacres of Corlaer and Salmon Falls. " First American Congress at New York. " Sir Wm. Phipp.s captures Port Royal — Is repulsed at QuEyKC. 1696. Iroquois ravages -Frontenac burns their towns. D'lberville in Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay. 1697. Treaty of Ryswick restores respecti^'e possessions of France and England. 1698. Death of Frontenac in his seventy-eighth year. The veteran soldier, now near seventy years of age, was hailed as the deliverer of Canada. He arr^ ed at a criti- cal period. The peril of the colony was increased by the declaration of war between Fran e and England, in con- sequence of the Revolution of llJ88, whereby James II. was driven from his tbvone by William III. Prince of Oranore. The Governor had brouifht with him the chiefs 80 treacherously captured by Denonville, and having won their good will during the voyage, he sent them to their tribes, to conciliate, if possible, their favour. M. de Cdllieres, the Governor of Montreal, had already urged an attack upon the English at Albany and New York, whom he accused, and not without reason, of incit- ing the Iroquois to war. It was now resolved to act vigorously on the aggressive. A covnl»ined attack upon New York by land and water, was planned. Ships were dispatched from France to blockade tlie town; but wind and waves proved hostile, and the naval part of the pro- ject was abandoned. In midwinter, Frontenac organized thrive expeditions to ravage, with fire and sword, the British colonies. Early 1690 in February, two hundred inpn, half French and half Indians, marched from Montreal through the snow to Corlaer (now Schnectady), near Albany. At midnight, in a bitter storm, they entered stealthily the little hamlet sleeping in fancied security with o[)en and unguarded gates. The wild war-whoop was raised, and Sir froj thei me I Pu col coil on i^\ 1690.] MASSACRES OF CORLAER AND SALMON FALLS. 61 sixty men, women, and children were butchered in cold blood, twenty-eight were taken prisoners, and every house was burned to ashes. It was not war ; it was midnight murder. A few half-naked wretches escaped through the blinding snow storm to Albany. The French rapidly retreated, pursued by the English from Albany, and by a band of Mohawks, who cub off twenty-live of their num- ber, and chased the way-worn survivors almost to the gates of Montreal. Lieutenant Hertel, with fifty men from Three Rivers, after two months' weary march over a rugged country, fell on the little vilbige of Salmon Falls, in New Hamp- shire, gave it to the tiames, and carried off fifty-four pris- oners. Returning, he joined a third party from Quebec, in an attack on the British fort at Casco Bay. For three days the fort held out, till its palisades were fired, when the garrison was handed over to the fiendish tortures of blood-thirsty savages. It is a dark and dreadful page in the annals of our country. Cruel wrongs were inflicted on either side, often upon the helpless and the innocent, and a heritage of hatred was handed down from sii-e to son, that embittered for generations the ruthless conflicts of neighbouring Christian peoples, who rivalled in deeds of pitiless savagery their pagan allies. Eager to secure the alieiiiauce of the Indian tribes of the north-west, and to retain the fur trade, Frontenac dispatched a strong convoy of goods to Mackinaw. The arrival at Quebec of three hundred western warriors in ore hundred and ten canoes, with one hundred thousand crowns worth of furs, demonstrated the success of the movement. The British colonies now began to act on the defensive. Sir William Plupps, a native of Maine, who had risen from before the mast to a baronetcy, and a captaincy in the I'oyal navy,* with seven vessels and eight hundred men, captured and plundered the small French fort of Port Royal, in Acadia, in M;iy, a congress of British colonists, the first ever held, asvseui)>led at New York to concert a scheme of conibiuod action. A vigorous attack on Canada by land and water, was devised. Colonel ■ I, ■''},■ • Hp acquired great woivlth by raising a Spauisli galloon, sunk at Cuha witli £300,000 treasure. .hH ail 62 PHIPPS ATTACK ON QUEBEC. [1690. Wintlirop, of Connecticut, with eight hundred militia- men and five hundred Iroquois, was to advance from Albany on Montreal, and Phipps, with thirty-five vessels and twenty-eight hundred men, was to attack Quebec. Frontenac heard, at Montreal, of the menaced invasion, (irasping himself the tomahawk, and chanting the war- song, he animated his twelve hundred Indian allies to the conflict. A partial famine and the outbreak of small-pox, caused the complete miscju^iage of Winthrop's expedition. Frontenac was now startled at learning that an Eng- lish fleet was carefully sounding its way up the St. Law- rence. Hastening to Quebec, lie mustered his forces, with the neighboui'ing seigniors and their ceiisitaires, and his Indian allies, to the numVjer of four thousand men, within the walls. Early in the morning of October fifth, the snowy sails of Phipps' fleet were seen by the anxious watchers on the ramparts, slowly rounding the headland <)f Point Levi. Anchoriiig near the town, Phipps sent a haughty summons to surrender in tlie name of William of Oranoje, Kinof of England. Led blindfolded into the council chamber of the Chateau of St. Louis, the envoy, laying his watch upon the table, demanded an answer in an hour. "I will answer by the mouth of my cannon," defiantly replied the choleric Frontenac, and he soon opened a damaging fire on the fleet. Phipjis inciTectively attempted to reply. His assaulting party of twelve hun- dred men, struggling in the marshes of the St. Charles and galled by the fire of the French and Indian sharp- shooters, were repulsed with loss. They hastily embarked at night amid a violent sfcorui, leaving their artillery behind. Nine vessels of Phip[)s' squadron were wrecked in his retreat. This signal victory was commeuiorated by a medal bearing the inscription fkancia in novo orbe vicTRix, KEBKCA LiBEUATA, A.D. Mi)(;x(;, and by the erec- tion of a church dedicated to '' Noti'e Dame de la Vic- toire," still standing in the Lower Town. All along tlie ext(nided Canadian border the cruel war- fare raged. The entire population of New France was only eleven thousanqK To put an end to this reign of termor, 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, H M. d'iberyille. [1695. 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 smok- ing brands the profitless booty of the conqueror. To his lasting disgrace, Frontenac permitted the torture of a forest stoic of nearly a hundred years, from whom no Bufferings 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 1 685, with MM. Troyes and Ste. Hel^ne and eighty Canadians, he had traversed on snow-shoes six hundred miles of mountain, marsh, and forest to Hudson's Bay, and with many brave but bloody exploits had captured the British trading posts on that frozen sea. He subsequently ravaged in mid-winter the island of Newfoundland, burning the fishing town of St. Johns. In a series of bloody conflicts several forts of the island and the New England coast were taken and re-taken by the French and English several times. In 1697, with a single fifty-gun ship, he defeit^ed in the waters of Hudson's Bay three British vessela, with one hundred and twenty-fo"r 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 rocky shores of this wild northern sea echoed with the international strife that was deluging the plains of Europe with blood, and carrying terror to every hamlet in New England and New France. The treaty of Ryswick, signed September twentieth, 1697, put an end to the war in the Old World and the New, and restored to France and England the respective posses- sions held at itc outbreak. The bloodshed and pillage, the wretchedness and ruin of eight long yeai'S counted for nothing ; and the irrepressible conflict for the posses- sion of a continent had to be fought over again and 1 fiQ8 again. Frontenac soon after died at Quebec in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Ho was respected or admired by his friends for his energy and daring of character, and feared or hated by his enemies — and he 6. 1698.] DEATH OF D IBERVILLE. 65 had many — for his stem 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 Louis- iana. Exploring, planting, building from 1699 to 1702 in the hot, unwholesome swamps and lagoons of the Gulf coast, he founded Boloxi and Mobile. Smitten with yellow fever, he returned to France. Scarce convalescent, he captured from the British, 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 ol a stormy age, whose deeds of valour were unhappily also deeds of blood. /:'■■' ^'J' CHAPTER X. "QUEEN ANNE'S WAR." 1700. De Calli^res succeeds Frontenac — Treaty with thk Iroquois. 1702. Detroit Founded — War of the Spanish Succession. 1703. Vaudreuil, Viceroy — The Abenaquis ravage New England. Massacres of Deerliekl and Haverhill, 1704 and 1708. 1710. Port Royal captured, re-uained Annapolis. 1711. Sir Hovenden Walker's disastrous attempt against Quebec. 1713. Thk Treaty of Utrecht gives En^^land Acadia, Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay. Internal Development — Fur Trade — Manufactures — Law Reforms. 1720. Charlevoix visits Canada. Murder of Rasles— Abenaquis burn Brunswick. Death of Vaudreuil — Forts Oswego and Frederic planted. The Chevalier de Calli^res, who had been for sometime IfiQQ *^^® commandant of Montreal, was appointed suc- cessor of Frontenac. One of his first acts was the conclusion of a peace between the Iroquois, the French, and their western allies, who in 1700 sent envoys ''to mourn over the French killed in the war," and to bury the hatchet forever. This treaty was ratified the follow- ing year before the walls of Montreal with feudal pagean- try, amid the chanting of the I'e Deum, and salvos of artillery, in an assembly of thirteen hundred plumed and painted savages, gathered from the wide region drained by the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The forest plenipotentiaries exchanged belts of wampum and smoked the pipe of peace with the civic and military dignitaries of New France, and signed their respective totems — the beaver, deer, or hare — to the treaty, which for several years they faithfully kept. The beauty and ffishion of the frontier court lent the charm of their presence to the scene, and to the subsequent feast. The veteran and perfidious Indiun statesman, Le Rat, after an eloquent oration, fell fainting to the ground. He died the next day, and was buried with military pomp in the parish church. To maintain their grasp of the Great West, the French sent M. de Cadillac, with a hundred men, to build a fort slau or upon spari der ii their si)rin_i were A] the ci 1704 one miles New habit snow inhu The Aim by ston( 1702.] THE MASSACRE OF DEERFIELD. 67 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. Having for four yeai-s and a half administered the affnirs of the colony with great prudence, De Calli^res died in 1703, and was succeeded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, commandant of Montreal. During this year that malignant scourge, the small-pox, again ravaged the countiy, and carried off, it is affirmed, one-fourth of the population of Quebec. 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 Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, Marlborough and Eugene won name and fame, and the powef of France was br' ken at the cost of a sea of blood. Again the " dogs of war" sli[)ped their leash amid the forests of the New World, and on its virgin soil the atrocities of human slaughter were rf'j)eated with aggravated horrors. The French stij-rcd up their allies, the ferocious Abenaquis, against the New England colonists. In one day they buret upon every house from the Kennebec to the Piscatqua, sparing neither hoary age, nor childing mother, nor ten- der infancy. Like human hyenas, they lay in wait for their prey, thii-sting for blood, and, after the savage sj)ring skulk'-d 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 mid- winter of 1703- 1701, Hertel de Kouville, with two hundred French and one hundred and fifty Indians, marched two hundred miles on snow-shoes to the little town of Doertield, in New Hampshire. They laid it in ashes, and of its in- habitants, forty-seven bedabbled with their blood the snow, and one hundred and twelve were dragged w^ith inhuman torture through the wintry woods to Canada. The woi-st passions of human nature were let loose. Aimless butchery ravaged the frontier, unrelieved save by the hercisin of brave men dying for their hearth- stones ; and of even weak women avenging the murder II' 68 RRITISH ATTACKS ON CANADA. [1704. of +heir mangled babes ; or with unwearying mother-love escaping with their fatherless children through the track- less wilderness. Again, in 1708, De Kouville, not yet weary of slaughter, fell at daybreak on the sleeping ham- let 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 hu- man prey no more. Meanwii ! 3 the English colonists retaliated as best they couk ^ ' '• ^^04, and again in 1707, expeditions sailed from BostOx lar j( 'ir to reduce Acadia, but they were repulsed by the valour i the French. In 1708, the British were almost driven out of Newfoundland. The New England colonists appealed for help to the mother country, and General Nicholson, with two thousand militia and a band of Iroquois allies, marched against Canada. On the shores of Lake Champlain an epidemic broke out in his camp, caused, it was said, by the pollution of the neighbouring stream by the treacherous Iroquois, anxious still to hold the balance of power between the belliger- ents. A fleet which had been promised to attack Quebec failed to cooperate, and the campaign ended in disastrous retreat. The following year the long-delayed succours ar- rived, and Queen Anne defrayed from her private purse the cost of equipping four New England regiments. Too late in the season to act against Canada, a fleet of flfty vessels, with tliree thousand five hundred militia, 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 cress flag has proudly waved over the noble har- bour, then named, in hoiiour of the reigning sovereign, Annapolis. ■ini^ On the thirtieth of July the following year, eighty-eight ships of war and transports, under the command of Sir Hovenden Walker, with five of Marl- borough's veteran regiments ajid two regiments of colo- nial militia, sailed from Boston for the attack on Quebec. Four thousand militia and six hundred Iroquois, under General Nicholson, advanced simultaneously from Albany 1710 )4. 1711.] PEACE OF UTRECHT. 69 \ve jk- ret im- of Ind in- to Lake George. The colonies created a large issue of paper money to meet the expenses of the expedition. Behind the walls of Quebec, which mounted a hundred guns, five thousand French, chiefly militia, awaited the attack ; and at Chambly, three thousand men under De Longueuil guarded Montreal. Walker sailed slowly up the St. Lawrence, intending to winter in 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 twenty-third of August, the fleet was enveloped in a fog, and amid the darkness drifted upon the reefs of the Egg Islands. Before morn- ing, eight of his vessels were shattered, and eight hun- dred drowned sailors were strewn upon ^he shores. Sir Hovenden abandoned the attack on ^uf^>ec, General Nicholson retreated from Lake George, ..nd the be- leaguered fortress had another respite from conquest. 1*-|f, The next year the infant settlement of Detroit, garrisoned by only a score of men, was attacked by six hundred of the Fox tribe of In ms ; but they were almost exterminated by the Indian allies of the French, who rallied for its defence. On the thirteenth 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. Eng- land 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, Cape 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 thii'ty years, and gave an opportunity for the development of the natural resources of the colonies. Vaudreuil 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, which became ihe home of many French refugees from the ceded provinces of Acadia and Nevr- 0- I-'' hi' I 70 INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. [1713. foundland, and a fortress of immense strength was con- structed as the seaward bulwark of the St. Lawrence, at the cost, when complete, of five millions of dollars. A system of defensive works was constructed at Quebec, and Montreal was surrounded by a stone wall. Remains of both of these are still visible. Fort Frontenac was strengthened, and, notwithstanding the remonstrance of Governor Burnet of New York, a new stone fort was erected at Niagara, controlling the navigation of Lake Erie. 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. The English, however, drew off much of the trade to Albany and New York, offering three times the French price for peltries. English goods, in consequence, were largely smuggled into the country. Shipbuilding was encouraged, and Quebec laid the foundation of her distinguished reputation for this industry. Iron was manufactured at St. Maurice, and .salt at Kamouraska. The interdiction was removed from the manufacture of woollen and linen cloth. Besides furs — timber, staves, tar, tobacco, flour, peas, and pork were exported in increasing quantities to France and the West Indies. The chief imports were manufactured goods, sugar, rum, an-l molasses. A considerable trade, in one year amounting to half a million of francs, sprang up with China in ginseng root, to which the Chinese attri- buted marvellous medicinal virtues. Tea was also intro- duced from that country. After the infusion was drunk, the leaves were eaten that nothing might be lost. Judicial reforms were also introduced, tending to re- press the litigious disposition of the people. A letter post was established, the country was divided into eighty- two parishes, and roads were made between the. settle- ments to supplement the water communication. The absence of a local legislature, and the lack of secular education, left the general poi)ulation in a torpid intellec- tual condition. At the same time, the absence of capital prevented the growth of manufactures, and the seigniorial tenure of the land, and its minute subdivision, through inheritance, by diminishing the stimulus to effort, tended the sion£ mart .3. 1720.] CHARLEVOIX — RASLES. 71 re- Lual to perpetuate poverty, and prevented the growth of that in- telligent, industrial population, which became the strength of New England. The fascinations of the adventurous fur trade were also especially unfavourable to agricul- tural prosperity. This trade successive edicts in vain at- tempted to repress, for with it every family in the colony was in some way connected. The English colonists, on the o^^'^itrary, 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 de hois had no English counterpart, although he may have had a few English imitators. In 1720-17-2, Pere Charlevoix traversed Canada and Louisiana, and wrote a voluminous and valuable history of the countiy. Quebec had then a population of seven thousand. Its society, which was largely military, he describes as very agreeable ; but beneath its gay exterior — the reflex of the salons of Fontainebleau — was concealed a general poverty. Montreal had about two thousand inhabitants, and the entire Province about twenty-five thousand. Although peace nominally prevailed, there was constant jealousy of the English, sometimes finding expression in overt acts of violence. The French assumed the protec- torate of the Abenaquis, as tlie English did of the Iro- quois — an assumption generally resented by its objects in both cases. Among the former, the Jesuit E-asles had established a mission in the forests of Maine, at Norridge- wock, on the banks of the Kennebec, and trained a choir of forty savage neophytes, arrayed in cassock and surplice, to chant the hymns and assist in the service of the chapel which his own hands had raised. To counteract the reli- gious influence of Rasles, the English of Massachusetts sent a Puritan minister ; but the system of Calvin pre- sented less attraction to the savage mind than that of Loyola. Mutual aggressions led to an outbreak of hos- 1 79fi tilitiss. The Abenaquis burned the town of Bruns- wick. The English, eleven hundred strong, sacked the French mission, and barbarously murdered the mis- sionary. His countrymen regarded him as a blessed martyr, the English considered him the incendiary of a 72 FORTS OSWEGO AND FREDERIC FOUNDED. [1725. i savage war. Such were some of the episodes of an armed peace. In 1725, after a skilful and prudent administration for a quarter of a century of colonial affairs, Vaudreuil died, beloved and regretted by those over whom he ruled. He was succeeded by the Marquis de Beauharnois, a natural son of Louis XIV. Governor Burnet, a son of the distinguished Bishop of Sarum, jealous of the exist- ence of Fort Niagara, established a fort, in defiance of the remonstrance of Beauharnois, at Oswego, in order to divert the Indian trade by way of the Mohawk and Hud- son to New York. The French, in retaliation, greatly strengthened Fort Niagara, and shortly after built Fort -ifro-i Frederic at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, near the British frontier — a position of great strategic importance, and destined to be the scene of many a bloody conflict. In 1728, an Indian outbreak in Illinois was suppressed by an expedition from Montreal by way of the Ottawa and Nipissing — an exhibition of vigour which increased the authority of France among the western tribes. In 1743, the brothers V^rendrye reached the Rocky Mountains by way of Thunder Bay and the Saskatchew^an, and claimed the whole country for France, sixty years before Lewis and Clarke had explored the sources of the Missouri and La Platte. 1745 nearj huuc CHAPTER XI. LOUISBURG— DU QUESNE. 1743. War of the Austrian Succession. 1745. Pepperel's Conquest of Louisburg. 1746. The Disastrous Attempt of the French at its Recapture. 1748. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle Restores it to France. 1749. Halifax Founded. 1750. Blood Shed at Beau S6jour. Jonquiere's Avarice and Bigot's Fraud. 1754. Fort Du Quesne Planted— Collision in the Ohio Valley. The Death of Jumonville " 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 dependencies. Yernon captured Porto Bello, and Anson swept the Spanish Main and Pacific for Spanish treasure galleons. 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 , -.f. and other powers declared for her rival the Elec- tor 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 Cape Breton surprised the English post at Canso, and carried oflf eighty prisoners to Louisburg. Annapolis was also attacked and well nigh taken. The New England colonists resolved to attempt the daring feat of the capture of Louisburg. Four thousand colonial militia were collected, and William Pepperel, a merchant and militia colonel of Maine, took command. On the twenty-ninth of April, 1745, a hundred vessels, large and small, among them a few ships of the royal navy, under Commodore Warren, having been detained many days by the thick-ribbed ice off Canso, sailed into the capacious harbour of Louisburg. 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 t' rty feet high, and by a ditch eighty feet wide. It mo ted nearly two hundred guns, and had a garrison of siiixeen hundred men. The assailants had only eighteen cannon 6 l^i Ill , iti'i 1 4 CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. [1745. and "-liree mortars. With a rush they charged through the sui-f, and repulsed the French who lined the steep and rugged shore. Dragging their guns through a marsh on sledges, the English gained the rear; the French in a panic abandoned an outwork, spiking their cannon. On the twenty-iirst of May trenches were opened ; on the sixteenth of June, Duchambon, the coiiiniandant, despairing of a successful resistance, capitulated, and the New England militia marched into the works. As they beheld their extent., they exclaimed " God alone has de- livered this strongjiold into our hand," and a sermon of thanksgiving was preached in the French chapel. A troop-ship with foui hundred men and two valuable East India-men were captured in the harbour. The garrison and the inhab'tants of the town, over four thousand in all, were conveyed to Brest. The fall of the 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 royal fleet of forty sail was dispatched to recapture Louisburg and Anna- polis, and to destroy Boston. After a three months' voyage it wa,s 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, hy poison. His successor, overwhelmed by the responsibility of his oflice, fell upon his sword and died. Jonquii^re ordered an attack upon Annapolis, which was frustrated by tempest, and the baffled expedi- tion returned to France. Undeterred by disaster, the French the next year fitted out two squadrons, one against the British East Indies, the other 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 Jonqui^i'e, thus again prevented from assuming the government of Canada. , - . J, The peace of Aix la Chapelle, to the great chagrin of the New England oolomsfcs, restored Louisburg 1746 •G rejoii 'died 1748.] HALIFAX POUNDED. 75 ough iteep larsh 3h in irion. on dant, (1 the they as de- lon of A East to France in exchange for her East India conquest, Madras. This peace was only accepted by both liations as a breathing spell to prepare for the coming struggle for the possession of the continent. The French endeavoured to restrict the British to the Atlantic sea-board; andGalisson- niere, the acting Governor of Canada, a man of intrepid spirit though of deformed person, formally took possession of the whole country west of the Alleghanies, burying leaden plates with the armorial bearings of France in token of her sovereignty; and forebade the English traders to trespass on this territory, under pain of con- fiscation of their goods. He also projected and partly established a chain of forts from Montreal to the Ohio and the Mississippi. To consolidate the British power in Nova Scotia, a strong colony was sent to the magnificent Chebucto har- bour. It was named after Lord Halifax, its projector.. Ju July, 1749, fourteen vessels transported thither nearly four thousand colonists, and before winter three hundred houses were constructed and defended by palisaded works, and Colonel Cornwallis was installed Governor. The- Chevalier de la Corne, an impetuous officer, was sent with eleven hundred French and Indians to guard the ill- defined Canadian frontier. He built a fort at Beau Sejour, commanding the isthmus which connects Nova Scotia with the mainland, as a protection for refugee Acadians. Cornwallis sent Colonel Lawrence, with four L^undred men, from Halifax to watch his movements, ^ ^_ . On his approach the Acadian peasants, at the insti- gi:tion of their priests, burned the town of Beau- bassin, and i-etired to the protection of the French fort. Lawrence retui^^ed for reenforcements, and later in the season landed, tl>ough stoutly opposed, and built a fort in close proximit;y to Beau S^jour. Thus was the first blood shed between France and England, after the peace of Aix la Chapelle. La Jonquiere, liberated by the peace, had superseded Galissonni4re as Governor,* and timidly followed the •Galissonniere returned to France, served on ths Boundariea Comniiasiou, rejoined tlie navy, and, after defeating the unhappy Admiral Byng at Minorca, 4ied iu 1766. 76 COLLISION IN THE OHIO VALLEY. [1752. policy of his predecessor. He was consumed by an ignoble avarice, and used every means to enrich himself at the expense of the colony ; yet even in his last hours he denied himself the comforts of life. Fraud and peculation im- poverished the people, who demanded his recall ; but he •ifjKn died before the arrival of his successor, Dii Quesne. Bigot, his Intendant, was, if possible, even more corrupt than the miserly Governor, and added the vices of licentiousness and extravagance 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 drilled the militia, garrisoned the western forts, and established new posts in the Ohio valley. The " Ohio Company," composed of London and ,yp.i Virginia merchants, had begun a settlement and fort at the junction of t^ie Monongahela and Alleg- hany rivers, where Pittsburg 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 Dinwiddle, of Virginia, had des- patched 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 soldiers, to warn him off what was claimed as French territory. Washington, apprehending that their purpose was hostile, and eager to distinguish him- self, surprised them in a narrow valley. The French sprang to arms. " Fire !" cried Washington. " That word," says Bancroft, " kindled the world into a flame." It precipitated the earth-shaking conflict >n the plains of India, on the waters of the Mediterranean and the Spanish Main, on the Gold Coast of Africa, on the ramparts of Louisburg, on the heights of Quebec, and here in the valley of the Ohio, which led to the utter defeat of the French, and the destruction of their sovereignty on this continent. A sharp engagement of a f^^w minutes ensued, in which Jumonville and ten Frenchmen fell, and twenty- one were captured. The French denounced the attack on .fumouville, while in the character of an envoy, as mur- 1764.J WASHINGTON CAPITULATES. 77 der ; but there is no evidence that Washington was aware of his commission. Washington threw up entrenchments, which he named Fort Necessity, and with four hundied men held his ground for a month. Attacked by a superior force, he capitulated after ten hours resistance, leaving the entire Ohio valley in the possession of the French. '» I TV If ■',1 1.754. 1765. CHAPTER XII. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1755. Convention of British Colonists at Albany. William Johnson — British Naval Victories. Braddock's Defeat at the Monoiigahela. The Expedition againr,t Fort Niagara a Failure. Johnson Defeats Dikskau at I^ake George. The Acadian Neutrals— Mi cmac Outrages. • The Tragedy of Grand Pre — Expulsion of thk Acadians. 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 Franklin proposed a federal unioL after the manner of the league of the Six Nations, but imperial .sd provin- cial jealous}' prevented its consummation. lie French endeavoured to detach the Iroquoms liom the English, and planted a fort and mission at La Presentation (Og- densburg) ; but their allegiance was secu^-ed 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 \iver. Hi? iilogrity of chaiucter commanded the respect of the Iiid' o '■, and made him the bulwark of British authority upon the troubled frontier. Du Quesne, preferring the French naval service, was recalled, and the Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavanag, the son of a former Governor of Canada, was appointed his suc- cessor, 1755. The British forces were strengthened l)y the arrival of General Braddock with two royal regiments, and the French were reeiiforctKi by Baron Dieskati with several veteran battalions. Admiral Boscawen intercepted a portion of the fleet bearing Dioskau's forces, otf the Banks of Newfoundland. '' Are we at peace or war?" inquirs-ioi the Frenoii commander. A broadside from the English' man was the answer, and the French soon struck their colouit>. Dieskaii and Vaudreuil escaped under cover of A fog. The Brit tsh forthwith swept the seas, and during Imiral I k 1755.] BRADDOCK S DEFEAT. 79 the year captured throe hundred French vesse^^ rjA eight thousand bailors. 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 martinet — arrogant, perverse, and obstinate. He attempted to wage war amid the wilds of America after the manner of a Euro[)ean campaign. He treated with disdain the provincial troops, and rejected the counsels of Washington and other backwoods fighters. With his little army of twenty -three hundred men and an Immense baggage and artillery train, he hev/ed a road through the wilderness and over the Alleghany Mountains. Fearing the reenforcement of Fort Du Quesne, he left his heavy baggage with Colonel Dunbar, and pressed on with an advance body of twelve hundred men, and on the ninth of June had reached the neighbourhood of the Mononggu- hela. It was a gallant sight — thQ bannered array, the scarlet uniforms, the gleam of bayonets, as the little army, with flying 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-who';p rang, and a murderous fire was poured into their rani ■ by unseen enemies lurking amid the shadows of t ,.£; primeval forest. The British regulars were thrown into confusion, and., falling by scores, huddled together liko sheep, till, panic- stricken, they broke and fled. In vain their officers sought to rally them. Braddock had five horses shot under him, and fell mortallv wounded. The colonial troops under Colonel Washington displayed a steadiness that put the regulars to shame ; but scarce one-fifth of their number left the field alive. Of the entire comman-i more than half were killed or wounded. The fugitiven fled through the night, and paused not till tljey reached tne baggnge camp forty miles back. They communicated their panic to Dunbar's troops, who broke up eanip in dismay, burned their baggage, and piecipitately retreated on Philadelphia. The French, who were only some two m 80 DEFEAT OF DIESKAU. [1755. 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 assailants lost only forty men. This disastrous rout brought on the Pennsylvania and Virginia settlements all the horrors of a merciless border warfare. The western tribes seized their tomahawks and turned into one wide scene of havoc the entire English frontier. The expedition against Fort Niagara failed even to reach its destination. Disheartened by Braddock's de- feat, the militia deserted by scores ; and the Iroquois, wavering in their allegiance, disputed its right of way through their territory. Reaching Lake Ontario in Au- gust, Shirley, its commander, left seven hundred men to garrison Oswego, and returned with the remainder to Albany. The expedition against Crown Point was more success- ful. General Johnson, with five thousand militiamen, advanced from Albany to Lake George. Dieskau, with a mixed force of two thousand men, made a detour to attack Fort Edward : .1 his rear. Johnson sent a thou- sand m(,ii to inter'^opt him. They fell into an ambus- cade, weve badly cut up, and retreated on the main body. Johnson prepared for an attack. Although this was his first campaign, he had planted his camp with great dkill — flanx'/d by m.arshes on the right and left, and protected by a breastwork of trees in front. The French advanced to the charge under a murderous fire ; but after a fierce- co^itest of four hours, they were compelled to retreat precipitately, hotly pursued by the British, on their en- trerohed camp at Ticonderoga, at the northern end of the. like. They lost nearly as many as had the English iu Bi'iddock's defeat, and from the same cause — the rash con lid lice of the commander in the tactics of regular troops, as o[)posed to the skilled wood-craft of militiamen. Dieskau, being severely wounded, was made prisoner. Johnson, who liad lost three hundred men, j>rudently declineil the risk of leading his raw troops against the ramparts of Ticonderoga. Having built and garrisoned Fort William Henry, on the site of the conflict, he fell back on Albany, where his forces were disbanded. He received a grant of £5,000 and a knighthood for his achievement. allei of ii resi.- even men Tl 8W0( Hal rich the\ nitit the froii i*an tiui mu tioi few ^'^ 55. 1755.] THE ACADIAN NEUTRALS. 81 to de- Lois, ^ay Au- n to r to 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. TSke Acadian peas- ants, on the beautiful shores of the Bay of Fundy, were a simple, virtuous, and prosperous community. With remarkable industry they had reclaimed from the sea by dikes many thousands of fertile acres, which produced abundant crops of grain and orchard fi-uits ; and on the sea meadows, at one time, grazed as many as sixty thou- sand head of cattle. The simple wants of the peasants were supplied by domestic manufactures or by importa- tions from Louisburg. So great was their attachment to the government and institutions of their fatherland, that during the aggressions of the English after their conquest of the country, a great part of the population — some ten thousand, it has been said, althougli the number is dis- puted — abandoned their homes and migrated to that por- tion of Acadia still claimed by the French, or to Cape Breton or Canada. Some seven thousand still remained in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, but they claimed a poli- tical neutrality, resolutely refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the alien conquerors. They were accused of intriguuig with their countrymen at Louisburg, with resisting the English authority, and with inciting and even leading the Indians to ravage the English settle- ments. The cruel Micmacs needed little instigation. They 8woo|)ed down on the little town of Dartmouth, opposite Halifax, and within gunshot of its forts, and reaped a rich harvest of B^^^ ^ ^ ^ 86 MASSACRE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRT. [1767. chiefly veteran troops. Here he wasted a month in mock battles and sieges. Learning that Louisburg was well garrisoned, and guarded by a fleet as strong as his own, he abandoned his design. Several of his vessels becomirg disabled by a tempest, he returned ingloriously to New York. Meanwhile, the indefatigable Montcalm took advan- tage of the diversion of attention towai*d Louisburg to strike a fatal blow at Fort William Henry, on Lake George. In July he had assembled at Ticonderoga a force of six thousand regulai*s and militia, and sixteen hundred savages of thirty different tri>)es. Early in August, the fort, now garrisoned by twenty-seven hun- dred men, under Colonel Munroe, was invested by the French, whose main body advanced, on a stormy night, in two hundred and fifty batteaux, the rest having proceeded by land. For five days, a fierce bombard- ment woke the wild echoes of the mountains, and by night illumined the engirdling forest and placid lake, while hundreds of yelling savages scoured the woods, cutting off' and scalping all stragglers. At Fort Bki- ward, within fifteen miles, lay the craven Colonel Webb, with four thousand troops ; but instead of endeavouring to relieve the besieged, he sent an exaggerated account of the immber of the French, and a recommendation to suri'ender. Spurning his coward counsel, the gallant Munroe held out till half his ^uns were burst and his ai^naunition was nearly exhausted, and over three hun- d.v>i and fifty men were killed and wounded, before he surrendered. On the ninth of August a capitulation was signed, which allowed the British to march out with the honours of war, with flying colours and beating drums, and guar- anteed an escort to Fort Edward. The English engaged not to serve against the French for eighteen months. 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 plunder, and maddened by liquor, which the British had neglected to destroy, fell in ruthless massacre 1758 ft 1757.] EXHAUSTION OF CANADA. 87 upon the panic-stricken throng. The scanty escort in vain endeavoured to restrain the phrenzied wretches in their work of slaughter. Montcalm, De Levi, and other officers, interposed, with daring and devotion, to stop the massacre and to rescue the piisoners from their murderous assailants. Six hundred escaped through thewoods to Fort Edward. The French sent thither, under a strong escort, four hundred more whom, not without personal danger, they had rescued, and afterwards ransomed two hundred others, who had been carried prisoners to Montreal. The remaining twelve hundred, there is reason to fear, were massacred or enslaved by the Indians. Montcalm dis- avowed all responsibility for the act; but the inhuman practice of engaging lawless savages as allies in the wars of civilized men, was the fatal cause of this and other like atrocities. Montcalm razed Fort William Henry to the ground, and, deterred from a further cuivance by short allowance of food, the French returned to reap the scanty harvest of their Canadian fields. Naugiit remained to mark humau habitation on the shores of the lonelv lake save the charred ruins of the fort and the gmves of the dead on the hill side. Notwitlistanding this victory, the condition of Canada was one of extreme exliaustion. During the weary ,--j. months of winter, a severe famine prevailed. The cultivation of the fields had been abandoned to women and children, every able-bodied man being enrolled in the army. The meagre crops that had been sown were almost a total failure. The soldiers and citizens were put upon short allowance of horse-fiesh 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 Quebec. Three hun- dred Acadian refugees perished of hunger. During this period of general distress. Bigot, the Intendant, and his partners in crime and extortion — Cadet, Varin, De Pean, and others — battened like vam- pires 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 seized, in the King's name, all the grain. ii * U 1 e 88 EXTORTION AND VILLANY OF BIGOT. [1768. cattle, and horses on which his minions could lay hands, and resold them through his agents at a tenfold increase in price. He actually, in this time of famine, exported large quantities of bread-stuffs to the West Indies, and made enormous profits from the enhanced cost of food at home. He, with his creatures, monopolized the com- merce of the colony and the army contracts, defrauding both the King, the people, and the soldiers, by false entries, exorljitant charges, wholesale embezzlement, wretched supplies, and the most flagrant bribery, cor- ruption, extortion, and robbery. He destroyed the finan- cial 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. Their houses were the scenes of the most unblushing profligacy, gambling, and licentious riot and excess. " It would seem," wrote Montcalm, " that all are in haste to be rich before the colony is altogether lost to France." They seemed even desirous to precipi- tate that loss in order that they might cover their own misdeeds. The mother country was herself exhausted by the exactions of a world-wide war, and her civil and militarv administration was corrupted and enfeebled by the pro- fligacy of the court. She could send few reenforcements 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 1759. 1758. Pitt, Prime Minister op England. ^ Fall or LouisBur.o. ABBRCROMBIB's DkPEAT at TlCONDrROQA. Bradiitreet Captures Fort Fruntenac. Fort Du Quesne Reduced— Re-named Fort Pitt. Hapless Condition of Canada— The Toils of Fate Closinq. British Victokirs around the World. The Hero of Louisburg. 1759. Sir William Joukson reduces Niagara. AkHBRST OCCUPIi^S TlCONDKROOA. 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 patriotism and honest administration were the guarantee of success. 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 Aberr-^mbie, Amherst, Wolfe and Howe were appointed commanders. The military forces were increased to fifty thousand men, twenty thousand of whom were British regulars. It was resolved to attack Louisburg, Du Quesne, Ticonderoga, 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, " ben ath the ruins of the colony." The first blow was struck at Louisburg. Its fortress had fallen greatly into decay since the siege of 1746; but it was garrisoned by three thousand five hundred men, and supported by ten ships of war. Blarly in June, Admiral Boscawen, with thirty-seven ships of war, and one hundred and twenty transports conveying twelve thousand troops, appeared off the harbour. For six days a rough sea, dashing in heavy bre^akers on the iron coast, prevented debarkation, the French meanwhile actively throwing up earthworks all along the shore. Early on the seventh day, Wolfe, with a strong force, giiUantly 7 ii iiil t% I ,iM' 90 FALL OF LOUISBURO. [1758. landed throngh the surf, and 8ei2sed the outworks of the fort. The siege was vigorously pressed by day and night for seven weeks. The resistance was brave but ineffec- tual. With all but two of their vessels burned, captured or sunk, and with town and fortress 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 ta England. The fortress, constructed at such cost and assailed and defended with such valour, soon fell into utter ruin. Whei*e giant navies rode and earth-shaking war achieved such vast exploits, to-day the peaceful waters of the placid bay kiss the deserted strand, and a small fishing hamlet and a few mouldering ruin-mounds 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, and without misadventure reached Lake George. On a brilliant July morning he embarked his whole force in over a thousand batt^ux, and in bannered pomp and splendour, with blare of music, flash of oars, and gleam of arms, 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 ai'my, fell at the head of the column. Montcalm, who had with him nearly four thousand of his best troops, had strengthened a naturally formidable position by an earthwork half a mile in front of the fort, before which for a hundred yards sloped a steep glacis, covered with an impenetrable abattis of felled trees, the sharpened stakes pointing outward. Aber- crombie rashly resolved on an attack in column without waiting for cannon. The assault was gallantly made. For six long hours, again and again the columns were hurled against the terrible abattis, and as often staggei'ed 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 imnic-stricken to their batteaux, and speedily placed the Ml! 1758.] CAPTURE OP PORTS FRONTENAC AN'I> DU QUESNE. 91 length of the lake between them and the victorious enemy. Abercrombie, bitterly chagrined, threw up an entrenched camp on the site of Fort William Henry, and was shortly after relieved of his command. The disgrace of this disaster was partly retrieved by the capture of Fort Frontenac, the French naval depdt kt the foot of Lake Ontario, by Colonel Bradstreet. With three thousand men he advanced by way of the Mohawk and Oswego, and crossing the lake in open boats, invested the fort, which was guarded by only one hundred and sixty men. After two days' bombardment it surrendered, and was burned to the gi'ound, together with an immense quantity of stores and seven armed vessels. Thus, witli- out the loss of a man, was destroyed the French naval supremacy on Lake Ontario. In the west. General Forbes, with a foi-ce of six thou sand provincials and regulars, advanced against Foi*t Du Quesne. Stricken with mortal illness, he was borne, a dying man, across the Alleghanies in a litter. A prema- ture attack on the fort by Major Grant was repulsed with the loss of three hundred men. Colonel Washington, by his prudence and vigour, retrieved the disaster, and had the honour of planting the red cross flag on the ramparts of Fort Pitt, as it was thenceforth called. The name of the Great Commoner is inscribed for ever on the gateway 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 European war and by the prodigality of the court, prevented the sending of reenforcements. " 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 the face. The half-tilled acres brought forth but meagre crops, and the shameless exactions of Bigot were more grinding than ever. The entire popula- tion 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 wore unavailable for service. The chief dependence was :i! ii f !)2 BRITISH VICTORIES. [175S. upon ten skeleton regiments of regulars, in which ghastly gaps were worn by siego and sortie, by famine and dis- ease. To these the British opposed fifty thousand well armed troops and copious reserves. The French clergy exhorted the people to repentance and increased religious devotion, and invoked the aid of Heaven as their only succour. Differences of opinion arose, too, between Mont- calm and Vaudreuil, the Governor, as to the plans of de- fence. The former desired his recall, but at the command of duty remained to lay his life an offering upon the altar of his countrv. England, like a rampant lion, was rousing herself fur ijonquest. The House of Commons voted .£12,000,000 sterling for the war. Pitt infused his o^ii spirit into every bmndi of the service. The world was ringing with British victories. A merchant's clerk, with a hand- ful of men, had conquered an empire where the foot of Alexander had faltered. Senegal, Goree, Guadaloupe, her fairest tropical possessions, were wi-ested from France. On the bloody plain of Minden, her choicest troops were crushed before the British lines. At Quiberon Bay, her fleet, destined for the invasion of England, was shat- tered by the gallant Ilawke. Alike on the banks of the Ganges and on the banks of the Ohio, on the foi-ts of the Gold Coast and on the ramparts of Louisburg. the red-cross banner waved triumpliantly, and it was destined soon to urown the heights of Quv^bec. In the Indian Seas, on the Spanish Main, on the Atlantic, and on the Pacific, Britain's fleets were everywheie 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 veteran 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 reck- less bravery, he had won distinguished honours. Though raised so rapidly to the rank of general, even envy breathed no word of detraction against his name, and he commanded the love and admiration of the entire army. t'i 1 1 758.] CAPTURE OF PORT NIAGARA. 93 To Amherst was jj^ssigned the reduction of Ticondorogsi and Grown Point, and the aipture of Montreal ; and to Prideaux the destruction of Fort Niagara. These move- ments were sustained by forces amounting to fifty thou sand men, whirh were to concentrate at Quebec for the last act of the drama. The French liad rebuilt Fort Frontenac, strengthened the garrison at Niagara, and occupied tlie passes of Carillon and the St. Lawrence. Their diminished forces were to act strictly on the defensive, retiring, in case of tlefeat, on Quebec, where the final stand was to b** made. The first blow fell on Niagara. General Prideaux, with tour thousand regulars and militia, and a large body of Iroquois under Si" William Johnson, advanced by way of the Mohawk and Oswego to Lake Ontario. Leaving a force of occupation at Oswego, he advanced in many batteaux to Niagara, and early in July, 1759, invested the fort situated at the mouth of the river. A brisk fire was opened, but Prideaux being killed by the bursting of a mortar, the command devolved on Johnson. M. Pouchot, the ^Vench commandant, had summoned to his aid the garrisons of Detroit, Presqu'isle, and the western forts. M. D' Aubrey was hastening to his relief with a force of seventeen hundred French and Indians, when he was intercepted below the Falls by Johnson, and utterly defeated, with the capture of the greater part of his force. Hereupon Pouchot surrendered, with six hundred men. The control of the great lakes passed away from the French for ever, and General Stanwix speedily reduced all the western forts. In the month of June, General Amherst, with an army eleven tJiousand strong, I'eached Lake George froni Albany, and oegan the erection of Fort George, on thi- site of Fort William Henry. After a month's delay, the army advanced in four columns down the lake. Mindful of Abercrombie's disaster, Amherst observed exceeding must now be described. Simultaneously with the operations of Prideaux and Amherst upon the out- posts of Canada, Wolfe was attacking its heart and men- acing its very Ufe. In the month of May the British ifleet, of about forty war vessels and a number of trans- jK>rts conveying eight thousand troops, rendezvoused at Louisburg, and toward the end of June arrived safely before the heights of Quebec. Wolfe promptly occupied the Island of Orleans, the left bank of the Montmorency, and Point Levi, opposite the city. As he viewed the steep escarpment and the frowning batteries that lined the river front, the position of the French seemed almost impregnable. Montcalm had mustered a force of some thirteen thousand men of every age, from boys of thirteen to veterans of eighty, and had strongly foiiiified with re- doubts and earthworks the precipitous banks, from Cape Rouge, eight miles above Quebec, to Montmorency, as far below. De Bougainville commanded the right wing of the army to the west of the city, De Levi tue left on the -extreme east, and Montcalm held the centre with the bulk of the army, while Indians scoured the woods on the flanks and in the rear. A strong boom, sunken ships and float- ing batteries, closed the mouth of the St. Charles, and shoal water and mud flats, along the Beauport shore, .made landing almost impossible. Fire rafts and Are J THE 8IE0E OF QUEBEC. [1759. I7i nhips were repeatedly launched on the ebb tide agninst the BritiHli fleet, but they were always intercepted by the British tars, and towed ashore without having accom- plished any injury.* The batteries at Point Levi, opposite Quebec, during the month of July, ])oured such an incessant tire into the doomed city, that conflagi'ations wei-e of almost daily iiccurrence, and soon the greater part of both Upper and Lower Town was in ruins. No less than five hundred buildings, including the cathediul and principal edifices, were destroyed. Many persons were killed in the streets, and non-combatants were forced to retire for. safety into the country. 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 theii* Indian scouts cut off and scalped stragglers from the British lines. In retaliation, and as a measure of mili- taiy necessity, we must suppose — for he was a man of humane instincts — "W olfe ravaged the country and burned the villages both above and below Quebec. He forbade, however, pergonal violence to prisonei-s and non-comba- tants, on pain of death. The beleaguered city was reduced to the severest straits. " We are without hope and without food," said an intercepted letter ; " Grod hath forsaken us." Such are the tender mercies of war, even between two chivalric nations, and conducted by two generous commanders. On the last day of July, Wolfe resolved to force Mont- calm to an engagement. Under cover of a furious fire from the fleet, a strong party of British, in spite of rocks and shoals, and stubborn opposition, landed at the foot of the snowy Falls of Montmorency, and at low tide forded its brawling sti'eam. Witliout waiting for sup- |)orts, the van rushed impetuously up the steep escarp- ment, crowned with the redoubts of the enemy. A storm burst upon them. Stumbling on the now slippery incline, and their ammunition soaked with rain, they were hurled back in disastrous defeat by a crushing fire from the French entrenchments. Four hundi'ed and tift slo * It in a somewhat curious coincidence that James Cook, the distinguished navigator, and Boiii)ointment of its expectiitious was anguish to his s))irit. An effort wjis made to open communications with A-mhei-st, lying idly at Crown Point, but without success. The season wjih rapidly passing, and whatever was to be done must l)e done quickly. Wolfe determined on an attempt bohl even to the verge of rashness, but its auda- city was the secret of its succe.ss. Masking his designs by feints against Beauport, he moved the bulk of his army and the fleet up the river above the city, despite the heavy fire from the batteries of Queljec. On the early moonless morning of September thir- teenth, before day, the fleet dropped silently down the river with the ebbing tide, accompanied by thirty barges containing sixteen hundred men, which, with muffled oars, closely hugged the shadows of the shore. Pale and weak with recent illness, Wolfe reclined among his oflicers, and in a low tone, blending with the rippling of the river, recited several stanzas of the recent poem, ixray's " Elegy, written in a Country Churchyard." Per- haps the shadow of his own approaching fate stole upon his mind, as in mournful cadence he whis{>ered the strangely prophetic words, "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." With a prescience of the hollo wness 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 countersign, 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 Highlanders climbed lightly up the steep and narrow [)ath leading to the summit. " Qui vive? " demanded the watchful sentinel. " La France," replied If, ^t BATTLE OF THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. [1759. 171 a British captain, and in a moment the guard was ovei- jwwered. The troops swarmed rapidly up the rugged precipice, aiding themselves by the roots and branches of the stunted spruces and savins, the barges meanwhile promptly traiisferring fresh reinforcements from the fleet. "WhcH the sun rose, the plain was glittering with the arms of plaided Highlanders and English red-coats form- ing for iMittle. The redoubled fire from Point Levi, and .a poi-tion of the fleet, upon the devoted city and the lines •of Beauport, held the attention of Montcalm, and com- pletely deceived him as to the main poiuu of attack. A breathless horseman conveyed the intelligence at early •dawn. At first incredulous, the gallant commander wa« 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 peal of bugles on the fresh morning air summoned the scattered rrmy to action. With tumultuous haste, the skeleton 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 disheartened men. Opposed to them were five thou- sand 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 filled the ghastly gaps made in their ranks by the fire of the foe. Not for a moment wa- jred the steady line. Not a trigger was pulled till the enemy arrived within forty yards. Then, at Wolfe's ringing word of 'Command, a simultaneous volley flashed from the levelled guns and tore through the adverse ranks. As the smoke- wreaths rolled away upon the morning breeze, a ghastly sight was seen. The French line Tvas broken and dis- ordered, and heaps of wounded strewed the plain. Gal- lantly resisting, they received another deadly volley. With cheer on cheer the British charged before they could reform, and, trampling the dying and the dead, swept the fugitives from the field, pursuing them to the administered the government till the arrival of Major-General Hunter, who h^d office for the en- suing six years. The progress of the country in trade, population, and the development of its resources, was vapid. The tide of immigration steadily increased. The Irish troubles of " '98 " especially led many hardy set- tlers to seek new homes in the virgin wilds of Cana-'.a. The obstructions of the St. Lawrence made communica- tion with Montreal and Quebec more difficult than with Albany and New York. A brisk lake trade therefore sprang up, and additional ports of entry were established, which fostered the prosperity of the growing settlements oC Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, York, Niagara, Am- herstburg, and other frontier villages. The legislature also encouraged by a money grant the growth of hemp, with a view to make England independent of Kussia for cordage.* As the province increased in wealth and population, the evils of a practically irresponsible government began to be 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 Government, as was also the whole of the revenue of the province. The Legislative Assembly, therefore, could exercise no check by annus ^ votes of supply. Many poor gentlemen, half-pay officers, and othei^s of similar character from the mother country, sought to better their fortunes in the new colony. By birth arid 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 previous position, they were especially adapted, or became hangers on and zealous supporters of the Government, while they looked * In 1803, Colonel Talbot, an eccentric British officer, received a grant of flre thousand acres of laud on Lalte Erie, on condition of placing a settler on erery two hundred acres. For many years he kept a sort of feudal state iu his forest community. 1803.] GROWTH OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 119 : iown with a sort of aristocratic exclusiveness on the un- cultivated, and perhaps sometimes uncouth, hard-working yeomanry of the country. Others, with a wiser pob'cy, adapted themselves vO their altered circumstances and to the condition of the province. While learning to swing the axe and hold the plough, 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 the rural communities in which they lived, which tacitly conceded a superiority which they would never have jrielded had it been directly asserted. The sturdy yeomanry not unnaturally regarded with jealousy 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 Canada — on the one hand, the zealous supporters of an irresponsible execu- tive ; on the other, the advocates of a larger measure of constitutional liberty. The easy-going Governor naturally favoured his friends. Complaints of corruption in the dis- bursement of supplies for the Indians and Loyalist immi- grants, and in the granting of land patents to non-occu- pants, soon began to be heard. Mr. Hunter was succeeded as Governor by Francis 1 806 ^*^^®> -^^^i- ^^ personal character was estimable and his purposes honest ; but arbitrary power is a dangerous prerogative for any man to possess. In his ignorance of the country he depended on his Council for information and advice. These gentlemen, not unnatur- ally, desired to maintain the privileges of theii* order and of their friends. The complaints of the people found expression in memorials from the grand juries to Mr. Thorpe, an upright and honoured judge of the King's Bench, to be by him laid before the Governor. Judge Thorpe came to be regarded as the champion of the people, and notwithstanding the utmost opposition of the Government, was elected to the legislatui-e, although he did not solicit a single vote. The official Gazette violently assailed his character. An opposition journal, the Upper Canada Gua/rdian, was establ^hed, and a party warfare 120 PROGRESS OF UPPER CANADA. [1809. was vigorously prosecuted. The Goremment succeeded in procuring the recall of Judge Thorpe to Great Britain, where he sued Mr. Gore for libel, and obtained a verdict, Mr. Willcocks, the editor of the Guardian, and for a time leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, lost his office of sheriff on account of his political inde- pendence, and was subsequently imprisoned in the log jail of York for breach of privilege in his trenchant criticism on public affairs.* In 1811, Mr. Gore returned to England, leaving the temporary administration of government in the hands of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's jbrces in the province. Meanwhile the country had steadily prospered, undis- turbed in its forest isolation by the great Europi^an war, which was deluging with blood a hundred battle- fields and desolating thousands of homes. By the yeai- 1809 the population had increased to about seventy thousand. Taxes were exceedingly light. The customs revenue, principally derived from the imports of gro- ceries, for the clothing was chiefly homespun, amounted to £7,000. The chief commercial want was a paper currency and banking facilities. The lack of money led to a system of barter between merchant and consumer, which often inextricably involved the latter in debt. Popular educa- tion was at a low ebb, although a grammar school had been established in each of the eight districts into which the province was now divided. From the almost untaxed importation of liquors — the duty on spirits was only six- pence per gallon, that on wines ninepence — intemperance, with its attendant evils, was the prevailing vice. The people lived in rude abundance, the virgin soil brought forth plentifully, deer roamed in the forest, wild fowl swarmed in marsh and mere, and the lakes and rivers teemed with the finest fish. Homespun and often home- woven frieze or flannel nished warm and serviceable clothing. The houses, chiefly of logs, rough or squared with the * In the war of 1812-15, Willcocks at first fought loyally for his country, but afterwards deser.ed to the Americans, and was killed at the siege of Fort I'irie. 1809.] SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 121 axe, though rude, were not devoid of homely comfort. The furniture, except in towns and villages, was mostly home-made. Open fireplaces and out-of-door ovens were the popular substitute for stoves. Oxen were largely employed in tilling the soil, and dragging the rude wag- gons over rough roads. The fields were studded with blackened stumps, and the girdling forest ever bounded the horizon or swept around the scanty clearing. The grain was reaped with the sickle or scythe, threshed with the flail, and winnowed by the wind. Grist mills being almost unknown, it was generally ground in the steel hand-mills furnished by the Government, or pounded iii a large mortar, 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 Koad," as it was called, traversed the length of the province, along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, and westward to Araherstburg. Yonge Street extended from York to the Holland River. Much of the earlv legislation had i-eference to the construction of roads and bridges, chiefly by statute labour. By the liberal and paternal policy of the Government toward the Indian tribes, the colonists, unlike the early French and Ameri- can settlers, were relieved of all apprehensions of dangei- from the red man. The judges and crown lawyers made their circuit-s, when possible, in Government schooners,* and the assize furnished an opportunity of reviving for a time in the county towns the half-forgotten gaieties of fashionable society. In the aristocratic circles of York a mimic representation 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. The oldest church in the province was at the Indian settlement near Brant- ford. Its history can be traced back to 1784. It is still occupied for public worship. It possesses a handsome communion service of beaten silver, presented by Queen * In 1801, the "Speedy," a ten-gun vessel, having as passengers Judge Gray and several members of the Court of King's Bench, was lost with all ou board ou her way from York to Kingston. 9 122 RELIGIOUS CONDITION. [1809. Anne to the Indian chapel on the Mohawk river.* At the close of the Revolutionary War the loyal Mohawk tribes migrated to the Indian reserve on the Grand River. A few Methodist and Presbyterian ministers toiled through the wilderness to visit the scattered flocks committed to their care. Amid these not altogether propitious circumstances were nourished that patriotic and sturdy yeomanry that did doughty battle for Britain in the approaching war, and many of those noble char- acters that illustrated the future annals of their country; and then were laid the foundations of that goodly civili- zation amid which we live to-day. * Beneath the walls of this humble sanctuary repose the ashes of the Mohawk chief, Thayendinaga— Joseph Brant— who gallantly fought for the British through two bloody wars. i \ 809. At awk rand jters ocks ther iotic tain ihar- itry; A'ili- .f the r the CHAPTER XIX. OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812-15. 1792. Inangaration of the New Constitution in Lower Canada. 1797. . McLean's attempt on Qaebec — His Execution. Sir James Craig's Utormy Administration, 1809-11. Constitutional Crisis— Suppression of Le Caruidien. Sir George Prevost, Governor-General. Political Organization in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 1806. Causes of the War of 1812-15— The "Berlin Decree "and "Orders in Council." 1807. The " Right of Search "—Sea-fight between the Chesapeakt and Shannctn. 1811. Henry's "Secret Correspondence " published. 1812. War Declared, June 18, 1812— Republican Anti-War Protest Position of Combatants — Canadian Loyalty. Capture of Fort Mackinaw, July 17, 1812. Hull's Invasion and Repulse — He Surrenders to Brock, Aug. 15, 1812. Battle of Quienston Heiohts— Djeath of Brock, Oct. 13, 1812. Obsequies of Brock and McDonnell- -Their Monument. Smythe's gasconade— His fiasco at Navy Island, Nov. 18, 1812. Dearborn's Invasion— Repulsed at LacoUe, Nov. 20, 1812. Naval Engagements — The Constitution and Guerriirt, etc. In the more populous province of Lower Canada^ the inauguration of the new colonial Constitution gave rise to struggles between the irresponsible Executive and the elective Assembly, which felt itself the safeguard of popu- lar liberty. The new legislature met in 1792, in the even then venerable city of Quebec. It was composed of a nominated Council of fifteen, and a Lower House of fifty members, elected for four years. Fifteen of the lat- ter were of British and the remainder of French origin. The debates, therefore, were conducted, as they have been ever since in all legislatures in which Lower Canada was represented, in both English and French, and the official documents were published in both languages. A jealousy of race was fomented by the invectives of the rival news- papers of the French and English press. In 1797, Lord Dorchester, after twenty years of pater- nal oversight of Canada, was succeeded as Grovernor-Gen- «ral by Major-General Prescott. A bankrupt American, nvtmed McLean, this year attempted to capture Quebec 124 STRIFE OF PARTIES. [1797. by tampering with certain of its inhabitants. His de- signs were detected, and he was hanged for high treason^ and then beheaded with a display of barbarism charac- teristic of the political executions of a bygone age. The commerce of the country continued rapidly to dovelope ; the revenue increasing from £5,000 in 1793 to X34,000 in 1805. In 1808, Sir James Craig, a veteran military officer, was appointed Governor-Genei'al, in anticipation of war with the United States. The Legislative Assembly took strong ground against the election of judges as members of parliament, and asserted its right of control of the financial expenditure. The Council vetoed its acts, and the Governor dissolved the House, 1809, The new par- liament proved still more refractory, and was in turn peremptorily dissolved, 1810. The countiy was thrown into a ferment. The British population generally sided with the Governor and Council, the Frenc^h with the refractory Assembly. During the election which fol- lowed, six members of the late Opposition wei-e thrown into prison for alleged treasonable practices, as was also the printer of the Canadian newspaper, the 0]pposition organ, the press and type of which were seized by the Government. The threatened dead-lock was averted by a little mutual concession. The imprisoned members were released, and the Judges' Disqualification Bill passed the legislature and received the Governor's assent. Sir James Craig, greatly broken in liealtii, now returned to England, and was succeeded in office by Sir George Pre- vost, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1811.* Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both experienced the irrepressible conflict between the Council and the Assembly — between the prerogatives of the crown and the growth of popular liberty. During the French and Revolutionary Wars, Halifax had been a great naval and military rendezvous, and society assumed a highly aristo- cratic and conservative tone. The Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, during the latter yeara of the century (1794-1799) Commander-in-Chief of the royal forces, dis- . * In 1809 the Hon. John Molson, of Montreal, launched the first steamboat on the St. Ijawrenee. It made the trip to Quebec in thirty-six hours. Four years previously, Fulton navigated, on the Hudson River, the first steamboat known. 1800.] NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 125 ■ pensed a splendid hospitality, and fostered the loyal en- thusiasm of the people. Much English money was spent in the colony, and its commercial progress was rapid. "Governor Parr and his successor. Sir John "Went worth, jealously guarded what they considered the prerogatives of the crown against what they regarded as the demo- cratic encroachments of the people.* In New Brunswick, such was the dead-lock between the Council and the Assembly, that for three years (1796-1799) the latter refused to pass the revenue and appropriation bills. For twenty years (1782-1802), Col- onel Carleton, brother of Lord Dorchester, administered the affairs of the province with great tact and ability, but not without occasional collisions with the Assembly, which seemed to be the inevitable fate of colonial Gover- nors in those days. The lumber trade of New Bruns- wick 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 stem sea fight. We proceed now to trace the causes which led to the Anglo-American war of 1812-15. For sometime previous to the open rupture of 1812, public feeling in the United States had become increas- ingly hostile to Great Britain. The " Berlin Decree " of Napoleon, issued November first, 1806, declared a blockade of the entire British coast, and let loose French privateers against her shipping, and that of neutral nations trading 1 807 ^^^ ^®^- Gl-reat Britain retaliated by the celebrated " Orders in Council," which declared all traffic with France contraband, and the vessels prosecuting it, with their carg'^cs, liable to seizure. These restrictions pressed heavily on neutrals, especially on the United States, which now engrossed much of the carrying trade of the world. The Democratic majority in the Union, therefore, bit- terly resented the British "Orders," although compla- cently overlooking the " Berlin Decree " by which they were provoked, and which was equally hostile to Ameri- can commerce. President Jefferson now laid an embargo *ln 1796, six hundred Muroons, insurgent negroes from Jamaica, were transported to Nova Scotia and allocated on lands. The experiment, how- ever, proved unsuccessful, and they were subsequently removed to the more congenial climate of Sierra Leone. i- 126 CAUSES OP THE WAR. [I80r: on all shipping, domestic or foreign, in the harbours of the IftOft U'^*^ States, for which Congress, the following year, substituted a Non-Intercourse Act, prohibiting ail commerce with either belligerent till the obnoxious " 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 flame. Great Britain, pressed by the difficulty of man- ning her immense fleets, asserted the " right of search " of American vessels for deserters from her navy. The United States frigate Chesapeake resisted this right, sanctioned by international law, but was compelled by a broadside from H. M. Ship Leopcurd (June, 1807) to submit, and to deliver up four deserters found among her crew. The British Government disavowed the violence of this act and offered reparation. But the Democratic party was clamorous for war, and eager to seduce from their allegiance and annex to the United States the pro- vinces of Briti&ii North America. The world was to witness the strange spectacle of the young Republic of the West leagueu with the arch-despot Napoleon, against almost the sole champion of constitutional liberty in Europe.* Public resentment in the United States was still fur* ther exasperated by the publication of the secret corres- pondence of a Captain Henry, a renegade adventurer, sent by Sir James Craig, Governor-General of Canada, in 1809, to ascertain the state of feeling in New England toward Gi*eat Britain. He reported a disposition to secede from the Union, and subsequently offered his cor- respondence to the American Government, demanding therefor the exorbitant sum of $50,000, which he received from the seci'et service fund. His information was un- authentic and unimportant, and the British Government repudiated his agency, but the war party in the Congress was implacable. War was precipitately declared June eightoenth, 1812, in the hope of intercepting the West India fleet, and of overrunning Canada before it could be * In May, 1811, a collision occurred between the British and American war vessela— LirtZe RtU, 18 guns, and President, 44 guns, resulting in the defeat of tiie former >^-ith the loss of eleven men; but both nations disavowed hostile latent. .. 1812.] CANADIAN LOYALTY. 12^ the , aided by Great Britain. Almost simultaneously the obnoxious " Orders in Council," the chief ostensible cause of the war, were repealed, but the news produced no change in American policy. The Republican pai'ty of the United States, however, which was predominant in its northern section, and com- prised the more moderate and intelligent part of the nation, was strenuously opposed to the action of Con- gress. A convention was held at Albany, protesting against the war and against an alliance with Napoleon, "every action of whose life demonstrated a thirst for universal empire and for the extinction of human free- dom." At Boston, on the declaration of hostilities, the flags of the shipping were placed at half-mast as a sign of jnouming, and a public meeting denounced the war as ruinous and unjust. The poBition of the parties to this contest was very unequal. Great Britain was exhausted by a war by sea and land of nearly twenty years duration. Canada was unprepared for the conflict. She had only some six thousand 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 reported disaffection of the provinces with British rule. In this they were egregiously mistaken. Forgetting their political differences, the Canadians rallied with a spontaneous outburst of loyalty to the support of the Government. Even the American immiorants, with scarce an exception, proved faithful to their adopted country. The legislature of Lower Canada voted the issue of army bills to the amount of X'250,000, and, together with the Upper Canadian parliament, took vigorous measures for the organization and drill of the militia, and placed them at the disposal of the military authorities. The employment of Indians on both sides seems to have been an unfortunate necessity. They could not be induced to remain neutral when war was waging, and their savage instincts often led to acts of cruelty of which the principals in the conflict bore the blame. On the declaration of war, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, a gallant officer and skilful civil ruler, who, in ? 128 HULL S SURRENDER. [1812. the absence of Mr. Gore, administered the government of Upper Canada, resolved to strike the first blow. He ordered an attack on Fort Mackinaw, which commanded the entrance to Lake Michigan. It was surprised and taken without the loss of a man (July seventeenth). Thus was an important post secured, and the north- west Indians were confirmed in their allegiance to the British. The American plan of attack was to invade Canada with three armies, on the Detroit and Niagara frontiers and by way of Lake Champlain. General Hull crossed the Detroit River at Sandwich with twenty-five hundred men. In a pompous proclamation, he summoned the (Canadians to surrender, offering them the alternatives of '' peace, liberty, and security," or " war, slavery, and destruction." They spurned his offers and defied his threats. Having ravaged the surrounding country, he received a severe check from a handful of troops who garrisoned the dilapidated Fort Maiden, at Amherst- burg. General Brock hastened from York, by way of Niagara and Lake Erie, with all the forces he could col- lect. Hull recrossed the river with his whole command, except a few men left at Sandwich, and took refuge behind the earthworks of Detroit. Brock followed him with seven hundred regulars and militia, and six hundi'ed Indians. Without awaiting an attack, Hull suri'endered with all liis forces and vast military stores, and ceded to the British the entire territory of Michigan (August fifteenth). The American militia were released on parole, and the regular troops and officers, a thousand in num- ber, were sent to Quebec. Hull was afterwai'ds tried by a United States court-martial for treason and cowardice, and sentenced to death, but was reprieved on account of his services during the Revolutionary War. On the Ni'iga? ?. frontier, the American General, Van Ranselaer collected an army of six thousand for the inva- sion of Canada. To protect the boundary of thirty-four miles, Brock had only fifteen hundred men. A bold t'scari)mnnt of rock, an old lake margin, runs across tlie country from west to east. Through this the Niagara Tviver, in the course of ages, has worn a deep and gloomy gorge. At the foot of the clift* nestled on the west side , :. ( 1812, J BATTLE OP QUEENSTON HEIGHTS. 129 the hamlet of Queenston, and on the east the American village of Lewiston. Here, early on the cold and stormy morning of October the thirteenth, Van Ranselaer crossed with twelve hundred men. They were held in check for a time by the fire of two small cannon and about three hundred men. The British force held the table-land at the top of the escarpment ; but a part of the invading army having climbed the precipitous river bank by a path thought to be impassable, they were outflanked and driven down the hill. General Brock, hearing the cannonade at Niagara, seven miles distant, galloped off in the gray of the morning, with his aides-de-camp. Major Glegg and Colonel Mac- donell, to ascertain if it were a feint or an attack in force. Having dismounted, he rallied the British troops, and at the head of a company of the forty-ninth regiment and of militia, he 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 mes- sage to his sister in the far-off isle of Guernsey, the brave soul passed away. His aide-de-camp. Colonel Macdonell, the Attorney-General of Upper Canada, a promising young man of twenty-five, was mortally wounded soon jifter his chief, and died next day. Major-General Sheaffe, an officer of American birth, now succeeded Brock in command. He mustered, with leenforcements from Niagara and Queenston, about nine hundred men, including a hundred Indians. By a flank movement by way of St. David's, he gained the height, and, after a sharp action, completely routed the enemy. Pursued by yelling Indians, they fled : some, clambering stoi'ed the private plate of Sir Isaac Brock, cipt- red in one oi his prizes. At Sfca, the American frigates Constitution and United States shattered and captured thv ^Iritish ships Guerrilre, Mace- donian, h jid Java. In. these sea fights the greatest gal- lantry was exhibited in the dreadful work of mutual slaughter. The vessels i*eeked with blood like a sham- bles, and, if not blown up or sunk, became floating hos- pitals of deadly wounds and agonizing pain. In the United States Congress this unnatural strife of kindred races was vigorously denounced by some of th©^ truest American patriots. Mr. Quincy, of Massachusetts, characterized it as th ^ " most disgraceful in history since the invasion of the buccaneers." But the Democi*atic majority persisted in their stern policy of implacable war. an CHAPTEE XX. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813. Ijiberal Parliamentary Grants— Construction of navy on the lakes. American Fort at Ogdensburg taken, February 20th. Proctor captures Winchester and five hundred Americans at French Town, Mich. , January 22nd. Mutual Retaliation— Plan ef Campaign. York taken by General Pike— Explosion of Magazine, April 27th. Port George taken— Vincent retreats to Burlington Heights, May 27th. Americans routed in Night attack at Stony Creek, June 6th. Lt. Fitz{,ibbon captures five hundred Americans at Beaver Dams, June 28th. Prevost and Yeo's attack on Sackett's Harbour, May 29th. -Second capture of York by Chauncey, July 23rd. €hauncey is defeated by Yeo oflf Niagara, August 10th. Proctor defeats Harrison at Fort Meigs, May 6th. Is Repulsed at Sandusky — Falls back on Amherstburg. Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, September 10th. •Proctor Retreats from Amherstburg— Is Beaten by Harrison at Moray i ah Town, October 15th— Death of Tecumseh. Wilkinson, with nine thousand men, advances on Montreal. Battle of Chrysler's Farm, November 12th. Colonel Murray's successful raid on Plattsburg, July 3l8t. Hampton's Invasion of Canada— Repulsed at Chateauguay, October 26th. McClure evacuates and burns Niagara, December 10th. Port Niagara taken, and Lewiston, Black Rock, and Buffalo burnkd, December 18th-30th. Naval Duel of Chesapeake and Shannon, June Ist. The Enterprise and Boxer— The Superiority of the American Navy. By both belligerents preparations were made for the ampaign of 1813 with redoubled zeal. The legislature of Lower Canada authorized the issue of army bills to the amount of £500,000, and that of Upper Canada passed an Act prohibiting, in anticipation of a scarcity of food, the exportation of grain and restricting the distilla- tion of spirits therefrom. The sale of liquor to Indians was also prohibited. During the winter, the " King's Regiment," of New Brunswick, marched on snow-shoes through the wilderness, and did good service during the campaign. The Americans gave special attention to the construc- tion of strong, if roughly finished, vessels on Lakes •x; 1313.] PnOCTOR's VICTORY. 135 POWN, h. ! 28th. Jk.yiAS 26th. RNF.D, the -ture B to nada ty of tilla- lians ing's hoes r the truc- lakes Champlain, Ontario and Erie. The British Government^ severely taxed by the war with Napoleon, could send few reenforcements to America, and an incompetent naval administration neglected the equipment of vessels for the lakes. Very tardily a few vessels were con- structed at Kingston, York, and Chippewa, at the ex- travagant coat, it was said, of XI 000 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 tire 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 both sides. Even during the rigours of the winter of 1812-13 the horrors of war did not cease. Marauding parties from Ogdensburg ravaged the Canadian frontier and provoked severe retaliation. On the twenty-first of February M-ajor Macdonell, with four hundred and eighty men^ crossed at daylight on the ice from Prescott to Ogdens- burg, and in an hour the American fort, defended by a superior force, was captured with a large amount of stores. In the West Colonel Proctor still held Detroit for the British. General Winchester, in the middle of Januar} , attacked and occupied one of his outposts at French town, on the Raisin River, about twenty-six miles from Detroit toward the south. Proctor advanced rapidly Avith eleven hundred militia, regulars, and Indians, and at daybreak fell upon the American camp. After a severe action, in which many were slain amid the wintry snows, Winchester surrendered with five hundred men. But the victory was tarnished by the cruelty of the Indian allies of the British, who, unamenable to control, massacred several of the wounded. The American Con- gress bitterly inveighed against the atrocities of the savages. It also ordered the execution of a number of Canadian prisoners, should certain American militia, captured by the British and sent to England to be tried ^ 134 YORK (TORONTO) TAKEN. [1813. as traitors, receive any harm. Sir George Prevost, the Govemor-Greneral, threatened to execute two American prisoners for every Canaidian shot or hanged by the United States authorities. The latter menaced similar retaliation ; and thus, under the exasperating and bar- barizing influence of war, the hostile passions of the combatants were inflamed. The American plan of the campaign (rf 1813 included the mastery of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the capture of the forts on the Niagara frontier, at York and at Kingston, and the reduction of the entire western peninsula. A concentration 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 twenty-seventh lay off" the shore a little to the west of the town of York, which was garrisoned by only six hundred men, under General Sheaffe. Under cover of a heavy fire, which swept the beach, the Americans landed, drove in the British outposts, which stoutly contested every foot of ground, and made a dash for the dilapidated fort, which the fleet meanwhile heavily bombarded. Continual re- enforcements enabled them to fight their wa^ to within two hundred yards of the earthen ramparts, when the defensive fire ceased. General Pike halted his troops, thinking the fort about to surrender. Suddenly, with a shock like an earthquake, 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. This act, which has been defended as justifiable in order to prevent the powder falling into the hands of the enemy, and as in accordance with the recognized code of war, was severely denounced by the Americans, and imparted a tone of greater bitterness to the subsequent contest. The town being no longer tenable. General SheaflTe, after destroying the naval stores and a vessel on the stocks, retreated with the regulars towards Kingston. Colonel Chewett, with three hundred militiamen, were taken prisoners, 1813.] BATTLES OP NIAGARA AND STONY CREEK. 135 the public buildings burned, and the military and naval stores which escaped destruction were carried off. In this action the Ainerican loss was over three liundred, and that of the British nearly half as great. For abandoning the capital Sheaffe was superseded, as Commander-in-Chief in Upper Canada, by Major-General de Rottenburg. On the second of May Dearborn reembarked his forces, and the fleet made for the mouth of the Niagara. It was, on account of adverse winds, six days before he could land his troops under the protection of the American fort. Here he remained inactive for three weeks, while Chauncey conveyed the wounded to Sackett's Harbour and brought up reenforcements. On the twenuy-seventh of May, at early dawn, his shipg, some fifteen in number, lay in crescent form off Fort St. George, which was garrisoned by Colonel Vincent with about fourteen hundred men. IJnder cover of a tremendous fire from the fleet and Fort Niagara, after a triple repulse by the British, a force of six thousand men effected a landing on the beach. Vincent, having nearly four hundred men killed, wounded, or captured, his ammunition 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 thati his own, retired on Queenston 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 dispatched a force of over three thousand men, under Generals Chandler and Winder, to dislodge him. On the sixth of June they encamped at Stony Creek, seven miles from Vincent's lines. The position of the ]atter was critical. Niagara and York had both been captured. Before him was a victorious foe. His ammunition was reduced to ninety rounds. He was extricated from his peril by a bold blow. Colonel John Harvey, having reconnoitered the enemy's position, proposed a night attack. Vincent heartily cooperated. At midnight, with seven hundred British bayonets, they burst upon the American camp. 136 CLEVER CAPTURE AT BEAVER DAMS. I [1813. A fierce fight ensued, in which the enemy were utterly routed. The British, unwilling to expose their small number to a still superior force, retired before daybreak, with four guns and a hundred prisoners, including both of the American generals. The victory, however, was purchased with the loss of two hundred men killed or missing. The fugitives, after destroying their camp stores and leaving the dead unburied, retreated to Forty Mile Creek, where they effected a junction with General Lewis, advancing to their aid with two thousand men. At daybreak, on the eighth of June, the American camp was shelled by Commodore Yeo's fleet. The enemy retreated to Fort George, abandoning their tents and stores, which were captured by Vincent. The baggage shipped by batteaux to the fort were either taken by the fleet or abandoned on the shore. The invaders soon met with another reverse. Colonel Boerstler, on the twenty-eighth of June, with four hundred and seventy men, including fifty cavalry and two field- pieces, advanced to dislodge a British picket at Beavei- Dams (near Thorold). Mrs. Secord, a heroic Canadian wife, whose husband had been wounded at Queenston Heights and whose house had been pillaged by the Americans, walked twenty miles through the woods to give warning of the attack. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, with a handful of soldiers and two hundred Lidians, by a skilful disposition of his 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 beleagured 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, Sii- James Yeo, a distinguished officer, with four hundred and fifty seamen, had, early in the month of May, arrived at Kingston. Prompt prepa- rations were made for active demonstrations against the enemy. The American fleet being engaged in the attack 1813.] prevost's attack on sackett's harbour. I'JT on Fort George, at Niagara, it was resolved to make a descent on Sackett's Harbour. On May twenty-seventh, the day of the capture of Fort George, Sir James Yeo. with seven armed vessels and a thousand men, under the personal command of Sir Goorge Prevost, the Governor- General, sailed from Kingston to destroy the shipping and stores of the principal American naval depot on the lakes. After the troops had been placed in baxges for the attack, Prevost, having reconnoitered the works, deemed them too strong for the force at his command, and gave orders for an inglorious return to Kingston. A couple of scores of Indians, in their bark canoes, so terrified a party of seventy American troops that they surrendered to the British. Sir George, finding the foe less formidable than he feared, decided on an attack the following day. But his impromptitude proved fatal to his design. The^ delay gave time for the militia to rally, and the landing of the British was stoutly opposed. Nevertheless the £;ssault was successful ; the Americans everywhere gave way, and had already fii'ed the barracks, naval stores, and shipping, when, to the intense chagrin of his victorious troops, the over-cautious Prevost ordered a retreat. He justified his action by his lack of artillery to batter the block houses, and mistook, it is said, the commotion of the enemy's flight for that of reenforce- nients. The fugitive Americans returned and rescued from the flames a large vessel on the stocks. The loss of naval stores, however, was great, including those just captured at York. In retaliation for this attack. Commodore Chauncey, on the twenty-third of July, appeared with twelve sail off the defenceless town of York — all the regular troops being absent and the militia on parole. He landed with- out opposite n, burned the barracks and such public buildings as had previously escaped, broke open the jail, and plundered both private and public stores. On the eighth 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 without the loss of a single man. 10 m f % 138 PERRY S VICTORY ON LAKE Lx.IE. [1813. Colonel Proctor, in the mo^th of May, with two thousand men, chiefly Indians, under the brare chief Tecumseh, invested General Harrison at Fort Meigs, on the Miami River, near the western extremity of Lake Erie. The garrison, much stronger than the assailants, made a vigorous sally, but were driven back with the loss of a thousand men killed or captured. In an attack on the American fort at Sandusky, Proctor was less successful. He was repulsed with heavy loss ; his fickle Indian allies returned to their homes, and he was com- pelled to fall back upon the feeble fortifications of Am- herstburpf. Meanwhile two squadrons were preparing to contest the supremacy of Lake Erie. Perry, the American commo- dore, had nine vessels, well manned with experienced seamen fron. 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 tenth of September, the hostile fleets met in tlie shock of battle, off Put-in-Bay, ht 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 of the enemy soon reduced them to unmanageable hulks. The carnage was dreadful. In three hours all their oflicers and half their crew were killed or wounded. Perry despatched to Washington the sententious mes- sage : ** We have met the enemy. They are ours." Proctor, short of provisions, cut off from supplies, exposed in flank and rear, and attacked in force in front, could only retreat. He dismantled the forts at Detroit • and Amherstburg, destroyed the stores and public build- ings, and fell back along the Thames with eight hundred and thirty white men and five hundred Indians, under Tecumseh. Harrison followed" rapidly with three thou- sand five hundred men, and fell upon his rear guard at Moravian Town, October fifteenth. Proctor was forced to fight at a disadvantage, on ill-chosen ground. The mounted Kentucky riflemen rode through and through his ranks, dealing death on every side. The brave Tecumseh was slain while rallying his warriors. The w 1813.] BATTLE OF CHRYSLER's FARM. 139 1 commo- ous mes- roTit was complete. Proctor, with a shattered remnant of his troops, retreated through the forest to Burlington Heights, where, with two hundred and forty war-wasted men, he effected a junction with Vincent's command, which had been compelled for a time to raise the siege of Fort George, and take up its old position. Harrison, the American general, assumed the nominal government of the western part of Upper Canada. The Americans were now free to concentrate their efforts on the reduction of Kingston and Montreal. On the twenty-fourth of October, an army of nine thousand men, with ample artillery, under General "Wilkinson, rendezvoused at Grenadier Island, near Sackett's Har- bour ; but the stone forts of Kingston, garrisoned by two thousand men under De Rottenburg, protected that im- portant naval station from attack even by a fourfold force. Wilkinson, therefore, embarking his army in three hundred batteaux, protected by twelve gun boats, in the bleak November weather threaded the watery mazes of the Thousand Islands in his menacing advance on Montreal. A British "corps of observation," eight hundred strong, under Colonel Morrison, followed the enemy along the river bank. A number of gun-boats also hung on the rear of the American flotilla, and kept up a teasing fire, to their great annoyance and injury. Passing Prescott on a moonlight night, Wilkinson's" batteaux received considerable damage from a British cannonade. The molestation that he received from Mor- rison's corps and from the loyal local militia, was so great that he was forced to land strong brigades on the Cana- dian shore in order to secure a passage for his boats. At the head of the Long Sault Rapids, Wilkinson de- tached General Boyd with a force of over two thousand men, to crush the opposing British corps, which had taken a stand at Chrysler's Farm — a name thenceforth of potent memory. The collision took place in an open field. For two hours the battle raged. But Canadian valour and discipline prevailed over twofold odds, and the Americans retreated to their boats and crossed the river to their own territory, leaving behind one of their guns captured by the British. Their loss in this engage- 140 BATTLE OF CHATEAUGUAY. [1813. ment was over three hundred killed and wounded — more than twice that of- their opponents. Similar disaster attended the invasion of Canada by way of Lake Champlain. Early in the season, the British captured two armed schooners of the enemy. With these and three gun-boats, and a force of nine hun- dred soldiers, on the thirty-first of July Colonel Murray advance 1 from Isle-aux-Noix against the entrenched works at Plattsburg, where he captured or destroyed an immense quantity of stores, and burned the newIy-buiJt barracks for four thousand men. Early in September, General Hampton, witii a well-appointed army of five thousand men, advanced from Lake Champlain, with a view to a joint attack with Wilkinson on Montreal. Oh the twenty-fiist of October he crossed the border, and pushed forward his forces along both sides of the Cha- teauguay River. Colonel de Salaberry, with four hun- dred voltigeurs — sharpshooters every one — had taken up a strong position at the junction of the Chatea\iguay with the Outarde, defended by a breastwork of logs and abattis. General Izzard, with a column three thousai^i fi\3 hundred strong, attempted to dislodge him. Tlie voltigeurs held the enemy well in check, till they were ir danger of being surrounded by sheer force of numbers. B\ a cleve ruse, De Salaberry distributed his bugh;rs widely through the woods in his rear, and ordered them to soiind the char<;9. The enemy, thinking themselves assailed in force, everywhere gave way, and retreateii precipitately from the field. Hampton soon retired across the bordera to his entrenched camp at Platts- burg. Wilkinson, learning the shameful defeat of the " Grand Army of the North," abandoned the idea of further advance on Montreal, and retired into winter quarters on the Salmon River, within the United States boundary. Thus the patriotism .md valour of a few hundreds of Canadian troops hurled back from our country's soil two invading armies of tenfold strength, and made the names of Chrysler's Farm and Chateauguay memories of thrill- ing power, cind pledges of the inviolable liberty of our land. These disasters carried dfismay to the heart of Colonel McOlure, commanding at Fort George. Strongly pressed 1813.] NIAGARA BURNED. 141 by the British force under Colonel Murray, he hastily evacuated the fort, leaving all his tents and stores, and crossed the river, with the whole of his troops, December tenth. With inhuman barbarity, he fired every house in Niagara at thirty minutes warning, and drove four hundred helpless women and children, amid the icy rigours of a Canadian winter, to seek shelter in the log huts of the scattered settlers, or in the bark wigwams of the wandering Indians. The British, who immediately occupied the desolated town, soon wreaked a grim revenge for the atrocious act. In a night attack by Colonel Murray, with five hundred men, Fort Niagara, on the American side of the river, was surprised, when its gar- rison was wrapped in sleep, December eighteenth. The sentries were bayoneted, the guard overpowered, and the garrison awoke from slumber to a death-wrestle with an exasperated foe. Three hundred prisoners, three thousand stand of arms, and an immense quantity of stores, were captured. The British loss was eleven; that of the enemy, seventy-nine killed and wounded. With ruthless retaliation, the British ravaged the American frontier, and gave to the flames the thriving towns of Lewiston, Manchester, Black Rock and Buffalo. At the latter place, an American force, two thousand strong, made a stout resistance, but was defeated, with the loss of four hundred men, by the British, with only one- third the number of troops, December thirtieth. Thus the holy Christmas-tide, God's pledge of peace and good- will toward men, rose upon n fair and fertile frontier soathed and blackened by wasting and rapine, and the year went out in " tears and misery, in hatred «nd flames and blood." The commerce of the United States was completely crippled by the blockade of her ports, her revenue falling from 124,000,000 to $8,000,000. Admiral Cockburn swept the Atlantic coast with his fleet, destroying iirsenals and naval stores wherever his gun-boats could penetrate. Great Britain also recovered her old prestige in more than one stubborn sea fight with a not unworthy foe. On a lovely morning in June, the United States frigate Chesapeake, of forty-nine guns, stood out from Boston Harbour amid the holiday cheers of a symj)a- 142 THE CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON. , [i8ia. thizing multitude, to answer the challenge to a naval duel of H.M. ship Shannon, of fifty-two guns. They were soon locked muzzle to muzzle in deadly embrace^ belching shot and grape through each other's sides, while the streaming gore incarnadined the waves. The British boarders swarmed on the Chesapeake^s deck, and soon, with nearly half her crew killed or wounded, she struck her colours to the red-cross flag. In five days the shattered and blood-stained vessels crept together into Halifax harbwir, the American captain lying in his cabin cold in death, the British commander raving in the delirium of a desperate wound. The slain captain was borne to bis grave amid the highest honours paid to his valour by a generous foe. "With varying fortunes these sea fights were waged. Shortly after the duel of the Chesapeake and Shannc.ty the U.S. frigate Argus, of twenty guns, struck to H.M. brig Pelican, of eighteen guns. A few days later, the British brig Boxer, of fourteen guns, surrendered to the U.S. brig Enterprise, of sixteen guns. In one quiet grave, overlooking Casco Bay, their rival captains were buried side by side. The clippsr-built American vessels wei*e generally superior to their slow-sailing British antagonists, con- structed on antiquated models. They were thus able to manoeuvre more nimbly, to get the weatlier gage, and rake with their long-range guns the British vessels with fear- ful effect before the latter could bring their cannon to bear. The United States vessels were also better manned, because her idle merchant marine placed a large number of unemployed sailors at the disposal of the Government. [i8ia. CHAPTER XXI. CAMPAIGN OF 1814. Money grants and army stores for the war. ImpeachmeDt of Chief Justices Sewell and Monk. Colooial Confederation suggested — Proffered mediation of Russiii. Oenebal Wilkinson repulsed at Lacolle Mill, March 13th. Yeo and Drummond Capture OawEao, May 6th. RiALL 13 DRFEATEB AT ChIPPEWA, July 5th. He is reenforced by Drummond— Battle or Lundy's Lahb, July 25th Sanguinary conflict — Rout of the Americans. Night attack on Fort Erie —Murderous explosion, August ISth. Desperate Sortie— Fort Erie evacuated. Prairie du Chien captured. Maine surrenders to the British. Prerost advances against Plattsbnrg. British fleet on Lake Champlain defeated— Prbvost's inolorious retreat, August 11th. The launch of the St. Lawrence gives the British control of Lake Ontario. Admiral Cockbum captures Washinqton and bums the Capitol, et<;., August 23rd. Alexandria ransomed— Baltimore menaced. Peace concluded at Ghent, December 24th. General Packenham defeated by Jackscn at New Orlkans, January 8th, 1815. Effects of the war on Canada and the United States. Valour and Patriotism of the Canadians. Preparations for the campaign of 1814 were made on both sides with unabated energy. The legislature ot Lower Canada increased the issue of army-bills to tlip amount of £1,500,000, and that of the upper province voted a liberal appropriation for military expenditure, and increased the efficiency of the militia system. Storen of every kind and in vast quantities were forwarded frOm Quebec and Montreal by brigades of sleighs to Kingston as a centre of distribution for western Canada. A deputation of Indian chiefs from the West was received at the castle of Bt. Louis and sent home laden with presents and confirmed in their allegiance to the British. The Quebec legislature now revived the political strife, dormant since the beginning of the war, by the impeaclmient of Chief Justices Sewell and ^'onk, for 144 BATTLE OF LACOLLE. [1814. having invaded the privileges of parliament by the advice given Sir James Craig for its dissolution and for the imprisonment of the members, and for other alleged civil misdemeanours. Grovernor Prevost sustained them in office. Chief Justice Sewell went to England in his own defence, and was received with favour at the ( 'Olonial Office. He submitted to the Government a scheme for the confederation of all the British North American colonies. The prop) ition found favour in high ([iiarters ; but it was premature, and not till half a century later was the project consummated. Early in the year, the Emperor of Russia offered to mediate between the belligerents in the interests of peace. Great Britain declined his interference, but proposed direct negotiations with the United States. The com- missioners appointed, however, did not meet till August, and meanwhile the war became more deadly and mutually ilestructive than ever. The campaign opened in Lower (Janada. General Wilkinson advanced with five thousand men from Plattsburg, crossed the frontier at Odelltown, and on the thirteenth of March invested five hundred British militia and regulars ac the stone mill of Lacolle. For four hours these gallant men withstood an army. Incapable of forcing the British position, the enemy retreated, baffled and defeated, to Plattsburg, and for a time the tide of war ebbed awav from the frontier of Lower Canada. Early in May Sir James Yeo and General Drummond, with a thousand men, attacked Fort Oswego. The assaulting party of three hundred and forty soldiers and sailors, in the face of a heavy fire of grape, stormed the strong and well defended fort. In half an hoar it was in their hands, and the stores, barracks, and shipping were destroyed. A few days later, while attempting the rapture of a flotilla of barges near Sackett's Harbour, H. British force was cut to pieces, with the loss of two hundred men. Napoleon was now a prisoner in Elbe, and England was enabled to throw greater vigour into her trans- atlantic war. In the month of June several regiments of the veteran troops of Wellington landed at Quebec. The most sanguinary events of the campaign, how- 18U.] BATTLE or CHIPPEWA. 145 ever, occurred on the Niagara frontier. On July third, ^ The general election of 1820 resulted unfavourably to the Government. The Assembly refused to do business on the ground that the House was incomplete, as the member for Gasp6 had not been elected. On the twenty- ninth of January, in the sixtieth year of his eventful reign and in the eighty-second year of his age, infirm, blind, beclouded in intellect but beloved by his subjects, King George III. died. In accordance with a not very rational usage, all the provincial Assemblies were dis- solved. Thus the collision of authority between the two branches of the legislature in Lower Canada was for a time postponed, and amid the ringing of joy bells and tiring of cannon, George IV. was proclaimed king. In a public address of loyal congratulation, M. Papineau, the Speaker of the Assembly, contrasted the happy con- dition of the French under English rule with their misery under the old rigiine. He lived, as we shall see, to change his opinion. The Earl of Dalhousie, a veteran soldier of distin- guished experience, became the new Governor-General. With singularly high notions of vice-regal prerogative, he demanded a vote of supply for the period of the King's life. The Assembly resisted the demand. The Governor, by the advice of the Council, drew on the moneys in the hands of the Receiver-General. The Assembly denounced the act as unconstitutional. The breach between the two branches of the legislature grew wider. The Upper House consisted chiefly of government dependants and English-speaking members, and favoured the monopoly of power exercised by the executive. The Lower House was largely French, and was naturally jealous of the dominant party, and of the distribution of patronage and positions of emolument. The growing English-speaking j)opulation, dissatisfied with the feudal land tenure and inconvenient administration of justice in accordance with the French code, urged the union of the two Canadas. and the suppression of the French language in the legis- lature, the French laws in the courts, and the French tenure of land. The French resented the union scheme as a denationalizing policy and a violation of their gua- ranteed rights and privileges. The Assembly strongly protested against the union, and numerously-signed anti- k hi 1822.] REPORT OF IMPERIAL COMMISSION. 15;) union petitions were sent to the Imperial parliament. That body withdrew the union scheme, and passed the Canada Trade Act, providing for the distribution of revenue arising from duties more equitably to the in . creased population of the upper province. A just grievance intensitied the resentment of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada against tlie Upper House. Sir John Caldwell, Receiver-General of the province, was found a defaulter to the amount of £96,000 of public moneys, and was yet retained as u member of the Executive Council. The Assembly re- asserted its right to the control of the crown revenue. The Governor as vehemently resisted, and violently dis- solved the House, 1827. The public indignation at what was considered a subversion of the constitution was intense. Tumultuous meetings were held, and peti- tions, signed by eighty-seven thousand persons, invoked the redress of their political grievances. Ten thousand of the British population j^etitioned for ^he union of the Canadas as the best or only solution of the legisla- tive difficulty. A commission was appointed by the Imperial parliament to investigate the civil condition of Canada. It reported in favour of liberal concessions and reforms. Its [)rinci- pal recommendations were tlie following : That the crown duties shoulJ be placed under the control of the Assem- bly, which should make permanent provision for the civil expenses of government ; that the Executive and Legish^- tive Councils, in both provinces, should be rendered more independent of crown influence by the introduction of gentlemen without official position, and in Lower Canada, without invidious distinctions as to British or French nationality, or Protestant or Catholic religion ; that a board of audit examine the public accounts ; that the electoral representation be equitably readjusted ; that the land tenure of British settlers be conformed to English law ; and that the crown land and clergy reserve admin- istration be reformed so as to promote the settlement of the country. The report of the commissioners produced the most lively gratification in Lower Canada. A week before its arrival, Lord Dalhonsie sailed for England, and was thus spared the mortification of witnessing a 11 #1 m 154 NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK. [1828, tf policy of conciliation substituted for one of coercion. He was subsequently appointed Governor-General of India, and there won merited distinction by his vigorous administration. The provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had felt little of the direct burdens of the late war, but had benefited, the former especially, very greatly by the increased military and naval expenditure. The vast jfleets of Great Britian rendezvoused in the spacious har- bour of Halifax, the guns of the citadel continually wel- comed the arrival of prizes in tow of British cruisers, and the Imperial dockyard was busy with rep: irs. With the peace all this ceased, the revenue was greatly reduced, and numbers of workmen were thrown out of employ- ment. The Earl of Dalhousie and Sir James Kempt successively administered the affairs of the colony, and wisely fostered education, agriculture, and public im- provements. In 1820, Cape Bretcr was incorpo ated as a county of Nova Scotin,. In 1818, Isew Bruns ick received its first Governor, General George Tracey Smythe. The irrepressible con- flict between tb'j two branches of the legislature became the occasion of acrimonious disputes till his death in 1823. Sir Howard Douglas, liis successor, greatly pro- moted the internal development of the province, the con- struction of roads and the cultivation of the soil — too much neglected in the alujost exclusive devotion to lum- bering and shipbuilding. In the autumn of 1825, a terrible disaster overwhelmed the colony. A long drought had parched the forest into tinder. Numerous fires had laid waste the woods and farms. On the seventh of October, a storm of flame swept over the country for sixty miles — from Miramichi to the Bay of Chaleurs. A pitchy darkness covered the sky, lui-id flames swept over the earth, consuming the forest, houses, barns, crops, and the towns of Newcastle and Douglas. One hundred and sixty persons perished in the flames or in their efibrts 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 suflerings of 1827.] BOUNDARY LINES DISPUTE. 156 the hapless inhabitants made homeless on the eve of a rigorous winter. Some excitement was subsequently occasioned (1827) by a filibustering raid across the frontier, between Maine and New Brunswick, for the purpose of claiming a por- tion of the disputed territory as belonging to the United States. The raid was promptly repressed by the civil authorities, and the question of boundary was referred to the decision of the King of the Netherlands. ■'■1 ^1 CHAPTER XXm. AFTER THE WAR— UPPER CANADA. 181-5. Francis Gore, Esq., Lieut. -Governor -The Clergy Reserve grievance. • The " Family Compact "—Its status and influence. RoBURT GouRLAY agitates against Crown Laud administration. 1818. Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor. 1822. The "Canada Trade Act" adjusts fiscal difficulties between the pro- vinces. Internal navigation improved — Welland Canal projected. The Rkv. Dh. Strachan, a member of tlie Legislative Council. Law Reforms — Reaction against the Family Compact. 1826. William Lyon Mackenzie— His printing office wrecked. 1829. Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant-Governor — Robert Baldwin becomes a Reform leader. Mackenzie agitates against political grievances — Is persecuted into popularity. 1834. Toronto Incorporated— Mackenzie first Mayor. 1336. Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor. In Upper Canada, at the close of the war, General Drummond was succeeded in the administration of the government by Generals Murray and Robinson, for a couple of months each, till the return of its former civilian Governor, Francis Gore, Esq., boptember twenty- fifth, 1815. A free passage and liberal grants of land induced a large iminigi-ation from Great Britain ; but settlers from the United States, as a precaution against undue American influence, were refused land grants or per- mission to become naturalized subjects. The legislature voted an annual grant of £2,500 for the civil list, and a liberal sum for the founding of a public school system, the basis of that which we to-day possess. A good deal of dissatisfaction was felt at the delay in giving the pro- raised grants of land to the volunteers and militia, and at the exclusive claim of the Church of England to one- seventh of the public lands of the province, set a[)art for the " support of a j)rotestant clergy." It was felt that these '' reserves " constituted too large a proportion of the ter ritory of the country ; that their reservation retarded its settlement ; and that their appropriation for tlie ex- 4*n. ii» 1815.] THE "PAMILY COMPACT. 15: ween the pro- cliisive advantage of any denomination was a practical injustice to all others, and introduced into the mixed population of Canada the social and religious inequalities and jealousies inseparable from the existence of an 'endowed and established state church. We have seen how, befru-e the war, the principal offices of trust, honour and e aj-lument were largely engrossed by an aristocratic party — a natural conse- quence of the superior social positi'":i of its members, and their greater educational fitness f ^r the discharge of official duties This party, which from the intimate social relations of its leading spirits becaKe known as the "Pamily Compact," was greatly strengtrened during and after the war, and almost entirely centre lied the execu- tive administration of the province. It furnished the members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, and filled the offices which managed the finances and public lands. Its adherents formed the majority of the Legisla- tlv^e Assembly, and were often place-men whose votes maintained the monopoly of j)ower in the hands of their patrons. Any advers.e criticism of the acts of the govern- ment or discussion of public grievances in the press or in public assemblies was resented as a seditious interference with the lawful authorities, and was punished by libel suits, imprisonment, social ostracism, and loss of any public office that the ofifender might hold. This '' Compact " was extremely unpopular with a largo pro- portion of the population, especially with many of the British and Amerijian immigrants, and a prolonged struggle resulted iii the overthrow of its autlrority, and the establishment of the prinxjiples of responsible govern- ment. One of the earliest and most vigorous opponents of the Family Compact was Robert Gourlay, a Scottish immi- grant of an energetic and ambitious, yet excentric character. For the purpose of establishing himself as a land agent, and in order to promote immigration on an extensive scale, he addressed a scries of statistical ques- tions to the principal inhabittints of each municipality. The answers received disclosed serious abuses in the management of the crown lands and clergy reserves. Mr. Gourlay called a convention, at York, of delegates !t M m i '5 k it i * u 158 EGBERT GOURLAY. [1818. from the townships, for the pui-pose of adopting a petition 1 ftl ft *° *^® 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 suflfered a long imprisonment on charge of sedition, and was ex- pelled 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 Governor by Sir Peregrine Maitland, the son-in-law of the Duke of Richmond, the Governor-General. The brusque military bearing of Sir Peregrine, together with his high notions of official prerogative, his alliance with the Family Compact, and his arbitrary treatment of Gourlay, alienated from him the popular sympathy, and intensified the feeling of dissatisfaction towards the party in power. The increased independence of the Legislative Assembly was indicated by the repeal of the Act against political conventions passed two years before, and the adoption, to the intense chagrin of the land speculators, of Gourlay's suggestion for die taxation of wild lands.* The population of the province having now increased to one hundred and twenty thousand, the electoral repre- sentation in the Assembly was also nearly doubled. 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 the intense opposition of the French population of Lower Canada, the proposition for the time was withdrawn. A standing grievance of the western province 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 im- ports increased in value, this was felt to be a growing injustice. The Canada Trade Act of 1822 more equit- * Mr. Gourlay, in 1822, published a worit 9x1 Canada, largely statistical, in three large volumes, and twite afterwards visited the country. He wa» subject to seasons of mental aberration, and was once imprisoned for an. assault on Lord Brougliam in tha lobby of the British House of Commons. >>.i*>MMt«»ilo-.< 1822.] INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT — DR. STRACHAN. 159 ably distributed these duties and removed this grievance. It restored to the upper province £30,000 of airears due by Lower Canada. A good deal of smuggling all along the American frontier, however, largely defrauded the revenue, and corrupted the moral sense of the com- munity. Several steamboats now sa/led on the lakes and on the St. Lawrence, but the passage of the rapids was made 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 approachirg co n- pletion, and the Welland Canal, a work of great national utility, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Oiitario, was projected by the Hon. William Hamilton Merritt, of the Niagara District. Banks were also established in the principal towns, but the benefit to be derived from them was greatly lessened by the large number of American counterfeit bills which were in circulation. Agricul- tural societies greatly improved the mode of tillage, which was stiii very imperfect. Farm produce brought scarcely remunerative prices, and the growth of hemp and tobacco received a good deal of attention. Agricultural imple- ments were still of very rude construction, and labour- saving machines, such as reapers or mowers, were un- known. Many new townships were surveyed and thrown open to settlement. Our public school system had already been established, 1816, and was aided in its infancy })y legislative grants. In 1821, five new members were added to the Legis lative Council — one of whom was a man destined to exert a powerful influence on the history of Canada. The Kev. 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 Scot- land, and afterwards at Kingston, in Canada. He sub- sequently taught the grammar school at Cornwall, joined the Church of Eugland, and became, in rapid succession, rector of York, chaplain to the Legislative Assenibly and member of the Legislative Council. When raised to the episcopal dignity, his missionary zeal and energy largely .,,<■■[ 100 WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. I 1 r; f r: / li [1822. contributed to the extension and prosperity of the Church of England in this country, on whose behalf he also exerted his political influence.* Indications were not wanting that a popular reaction was taking })lace against the party in power. The feeling against the monopoly by the Anglican Church of the (jlei'gy rc^servea, was shown by an appeal from the ^n,-)^ Assembly to the British parliament for the admis- sion of the Kirk of Scotland to a share of this liberal endowment. The levying of ecclesiastical tithes was prohibited. A bill authorizing Methodist ministers to perfoi-m the marriage ceremony was passed by the Assembly, but rejected by the Upper House. The general election of 1824 resulted in favour of the Reform [)arty, as it now began to be called. Among the mem- bers elected were Dr. Rolph, Peter Perry and Marshal Bidwell, prominent champions of popular rights, to pre- vent whose return the Family Compact had made every effort. The chief thorn in the side of the hitherto dominant party, however, was a new " grievance monger " of the (xoiirlay stamj). William Lyon Mackenzie, born 1795, was the son of humble Perthshire parents. After a some- what restless and erratic career in the old countrv, he emigrated in his twenty-fifth year to Canada. After a varied experience at storekeeping in Toronto, Dundas and Niagara, he found at last his true vocation as a jour- nalist. 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, ;ind his pungent style of editorial criticism, made the Colonial Advocate particularly obnoxious to the party in 1 uor P'>wer. During a temporary absence from home his printing otiice at York was sacked, his press wrecked, and his type scattered by some young men con- uect3d with the dominant party, which had taken offence at the biting criticism of his paper u]K)n some of their public acts. He sued the aggressors for damages, and received the award of £625. He also won popularity as * He died Novejnber 2, 1867, aged eighty-nine. 1826.] STRUGGLE FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 161 a champion of popular rights, and was shortly alter returned as a Reform member of the Assembly for the county of York. Sir John Colborne, a gentleman of somewhat sterji military character, who had succeeded as (Governor Sir 1 QOQ Peregrine Maitland, transferred to Lower Canada, met a new parliament more outspoken in its opposition to the Executive Council than any that had })receded 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 commanded the esteem of both political parties. His personal integrity, his legal ability, his singular moderation, enabled him, as has been admir- ably said, " to lead his country through a great constitu- tional crisis into an era of larger and more matured liberty." On the thirtieth of November in this year, 1829, th« Welland Canal was opened for navigation, thus inaugu- rating a new era in the commerce of the country. The Lagislative Assembly continued to assert its right of control over the revenues of the province, and did not ,Qof\ hesitate, although in vain, to ask for the dismissal of the Executive Council. The growing breaeli between the two branches of the legislature was seen in the rejection by the Upper House of forty bills passed by the Assembly. The straggle for " Responsible Gov- ernment " had begun. Mackenzie's perpetual grievance motions were continually unearthing abuses that needed correction. Pension lists, official salaries, the corrupt constitution of the House, were all attacked with sting- ing 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. The House was filled with place-men — postmasters, sherifl's. registrars, revenue officers and collectors. Outside of the House Mackenzie was equally active. He traversed the country, held public meetings, and cir- culated petitions to the throne, which were signed by h'A t;!i M 162 MACKENZIE BECOMES A POPULAR TRIBUNE. [1830. nearly twenty-five thousand persons, praying for the secularization of the clergy reserves, for law refonn, for the exclusion of judges and the clergy from parliament, for the abolition of primogeniture, for the legislative control of public 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 expelled from tW House. He was triumphantly returned again, ar; u r relented with a gold medal. Within a week he "Waa f.igai ; oxpelled, and within another he was reelected by a:- imn'^- se majority, and was sent to England to support 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 was also made first mayor of ,g„ . Toronto, now incorporated as a city. The Family Compact lost influence with each defeat of their candidate, and Sir John Colbome, unable to control the ■I one- rising tide of political agitation, requested his recall, and was succeeded by Sir Francis Bond Head. 1 Mlifflf^'-iriiiiiiirT-"-" CHAPTER XXIY. THE REBELLION— LOWER CANADA. 1827. Political disaffection — The breach widens between the Assembly and the Executive Council. 1828. Sir James Kempt, Governor-General. 1830. Lord Ayhner, Governor-General— Fatal election riot at Montreal. 1831. Large immigration— Outbreak of cholera. 1834. Papineau's "Ninety-two Resolutions" of grievance— Second visitation of cholera. 1835. Lord Gosford,. Governor-General — The ".or. Ission on grievances fails to conciliate disaffection. iro7. The British Parliament refuses an elective Council Seditious gatherings — Accession of Queen Victoria. Sir John Colborne assumes chief mil ary comniajid — Troops concen- tiate at Montreal. Papineau inflames sedition. Collision at Montreal, November 6th. The Rebels rendezvous on the Richelieu— Repulse of Colonel Gore — Murder of Lieutenant Weir, November 23rd. Colonel Wetherall routs rebels at St. Charles, November 25th. Sir John Colborne routs rebels at St. Eustache and St. Beno;t, December 14th. £838. Lord Durham, Governor-General and High Commissioner— His mag- nanimous character — He exiles leaders and pardons other rebels — His policy condemned as ultra vires — His cliagrin and resignation — His masterly Report. Second outbreak of rebellion — Insurgents routed at Odelltown. November 9th— Rebellion suppressed in Lower Canaiia. In Lower Canada, in the meanwhile, the breach between the popular Assembly and the Executive Council was Gontinually becoming wider. The liberal concessions of the Home Government were met by increased and un- reasonable demands. The object sought was not, as in Upper Canada, the establishment of responsible govern- ment, but to effect the supremacy of the French race and its absolute control over the executive. Tlie govern- ment refused to give up its casual and territorial revenue, derived from timber and mining dues and the sale of crown lands, which had been guaranteed to it by the Quebec Act of 1774:, or to render the Legislative Goum^il. I i 164 PAPINEAU S AGITATION. ri827. • elective, and thus make it the facile instrument of the French majority.* The conciliatory policy of Sir James Kempt, who succeeded Lord Dalhousie in 1828, equally with that of Lord Aylmer, who became Governor in 1830, failed to satisfy the aggressive demands of the Assembly. Although the control of the revenue was ceded to it, it ungenerously refused to vote the supplies for the civil list. An election riot in Montreal, in which three men were killed by the fire of the military, intensified the national antipathy of the French to the British. During the summer 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 contemporary 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 Isle over the whole country, carried death and dismay to almost all the frontier towns and villages. The immigration of the "British foreigners," as they were called, was denounced as an invasion of the terri- torial rights of the French population. Three years later, ;a still more fatal visitation of the cholera occurred. M. Papineau, ten years previously the eulogist of British power, now exhausted his rhetoric in inveighing 1 S34. ^&^^i^^* i^s tyranny. In the celebrated " Ninety- two Resolutions " the Assembly again laid its grievances before the Home Government. After a patient examination of the colonial complaints. Lord •Gosford was appointed to succeed Lord Aylmer in the ,qoK ungrateful oflice of Governor, and with him were associated Sir Charles Grey and Sir George Gipps as a commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged grievances of the Assembly. These liberal measures failed to conciliate the turbulent French majority. Papineau, the idol of the ignorant habitants, intoxicated with power, boldly avowed his republican principles. '' The time has gone by," he said, " when Europe could give monarch s to America. The epoch is approaching when America will give republics to Europe." Visions * Only eleven out of eighty-oight members of the Assembly in 1830, or one- »igUth of the whole, were British. \amnm 1836.] DISAFFECTION OF THE FRENCH. 165 of La Nation Canadienne, whose positions of dignity should be engrossed by himself and his countrymen, lured him on to open rebellion. The French were known to be secretly drilling, and loyal volunteer associations were formed among the British population for the defence of the government. The spark was applied to these explosive elements by tlie action of the British parliament on the report of the Too-r royal commission of inquiry. Wearied by the rejection of its policy of conciliation, the Home Government now adopted one of a more vigorous charac- ter. For five 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. They met in turbulent assemblies with arms in their hands. Lord Gosford issued a proclamation forbid- ding these seditious gatherings. It was torn down with contempt, and with shouts of " Long live Papineau ! " " Down with despotism !" The habitants were urged to- use no material of British manufacture, and their leaders appeared clad in homespun. The accession, after an interval of a century and a quarter, of a female sovereign awoke no feelings of loyalty in the rebel faction, ar.d they plotted as vigorously against the throne and crown of Queen Victoria as they had against the citizen King, William IV. The Roman Catholic bishops and clergjr now interposed their authority to prevent an outbreak,, and though their influence for a time seemed disregarded, they contributed effectively to the suppression of the revolt. Never was a people less fitted for the exercise of political power than the French habitants. Nine-tenths of them were unable to read, and none of them had any spark of that love of constitutional liberty in which the English nation had so long been trained. With a blind partizansliip they followed the demagogues who had inflamed their national prejudices and passions. Ap- parently the liberal party in Lower Canada, tl y yet advocated reactionary measures, and strove to revive the m pi |!^, . hi 166 OUTBREAK OP THE REBELLION. [1837. -1^ ' S' i f If old French policy of resistance to popular education, immigration, or any innovation of English customs, laws, language, or institutions. The British population, the real safeguard of constitutional liberty, although largely conservative of class privileges, were driven by the violence of the French into an apparent opposition to some of its vital principles. To meet the coming storm. Sir John Colborne, a prompt and energetic officer, was appointed to the military command 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. The military stores, during the long peace of twenty-two years, were well nigh destroyed by damp and rust, or consumed by moths and worms. But Papineau, the leader of the rebellion, was an empty gasconader, void of statesmanship or military ability — "a braggart in the forum, a coward in the field." Dr. Wolfred Nelson, the second in command, was of English descent, born in Montreal, and speaking French like a native. He was thoroughly identified in sympathy with the habitants and under the influence of Papineau, but had more of the military spirit than his political leader. As the summer waned the symptoms of revolt increased. The French tri-colour and eagle appeared, and turbulent mobs of " Patriots " or of " Sons of Liberty " sang revolutionary songs. At length an armed collision with the loyalists in the streets of Montreal (November sixth, 1837), in which shots were fired, windows broken, and the office of the Vmdicator, a radical paper, 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. The proximity of American territory furnished facilities for assistance from sympathisers and of escape for fugitives. On the twenty-third of November Colonel Gore, with three hun- dred men and only one cannon, attacked Dr. Nelson, with a large body of rebels, at the latter place. Papineau, on the first appearance of danger, deserted his dupes and fled over the border into the United States. Nelson, lT-'TI MM mmmm mmm 837. 1837.] ARMED COLLISIONS — REBELS ROUTED. 167 tion, aws, the rgely the n to strongly posted in a large stone brewery, maintained a vigorous defence. Gore's command, worn out with a long march through November rain and mire, out-numbered and without artillery for battering the stone walls, was compelled, after six hours' fighting, to retreat, with the loss of six killed and seventeen wounded. Lieutenant Weir, a young oflficer carrying dispatches, was intercepted and barbarously hacked to death by the habitants. Two days later, Colonel Wetherall, with four or five liundred troops, attacked a thousand rebels under " Greneral " Brown, at St. Charles. After a brief resist- ance the rebels fled, leaving fifty-six slain. Several also jjerished miserably in the houses fired in revenge for the death of Weir. Nelson now fled from St. Denis, but after ten days' skulking in the snowy woods was caught, and, with many other rebel prisoners, lodged in Montreal jail. Martial law was now proclaimed. In the middle of December, Sir John Colborne, 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 adjacent buildings. The shot and shells of the cannon soon fired the roof and battered the walls. A hundred rebels were killed, as many wounded, and as many more made prisoners. At St, Benoit, a hot-bed of sedition, two hundred and fifty men surrendered under a flag of truce, and, except their leaders, were sent home un- hurt. On the twenty-eighth of February, six hundred rebel refugees crossed the American United States frontier, but were repulsed by the local militia, and afterwards disarmed by the United States authorities at Plattsburg. Lord Gosford was now recalled, though without any censure of his policy. The Home Government suspended the constitution of the country, and appointc«d the Earl of Durham Governor-General and high commissioner for the settlement of j^ublic affairs in the tw< ?»anadas. He was a nobleman of great political experien and had been educated in a liberal school. His personal character was attractive, and his private hospitality princely. He 1838 ill w 1G8 LORD DURHAM, GOVERNOR-GENERAL, [J 838. ■was to the last degree unmercenaiy, 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 corintry, May twenty-seventh, he announced himself as the friend and arbitrator of the people, without distinction of party, race or creed. And amply he ful- filled his pledge in the spirit of the purest and most dis- interested statesmanship. He appointed a commission of inquiry into the ftate of the country, redressed grievances in the administra ion of the crown land department, and, as an equitable iidjastment of urgent claims, granted preemption rights to ''squatters" on unpatented public territoi'\\ A difiiculi question was how to deal with the political prisoners with whom the jails were crowded. The excited state of public feeling prevented impartial trial by jury. The murderers of Weir and otlier victims of the rebellion had been acquitted, notwithstanding proof {>ositive of their guilt. An amnesty was therefore granted to tlie great mass of the prisoners, which was appropriately proclaimed on the day appointed for the coronation of the maiden Queen — June the fourteenth. Humanely unwilling to appeal to the arbitrament of a court-martial, the Governor banished Wolfred Nelson and eight other lea'.iing insurgents to Bermuda — a ligh : 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 ordin- ance as ultra vires, but indei unified the Governor and Council from blame foi- their unconstitutional act. The proud and sensitive Earl resigned his commission, and returned to England a broken-hearted and dying man. His report on the state of Canada is a monument of elaborate and impartial research, and prepared the way for the union of the provinces, £tnd the subsequent pros- j)erity of the country. The departure of the Earl of Durham was the signal for fresh outbreaks. The insurgents stoi)ped the mails, Oiotured a steambof.t at Beauharnois, and cut the St. .Tohn railway. The Ha'oeas CV)rpus Act was again sus- pended, and the trooj)s, which had been strongly reen- HlltltM:.. .««JU*«t*H-i'> )* i^il 1838. •ecom- d and ons of )n his unced ithout le ful- st dis- ion of 1838.] REBELS ROUTED AT ODELLTOWN. 169 and ^forced during the summer, were distributed through the disaffected regions to protect the loyal inhabitants. On Sunday, November fifth, an attack was made on the Indian village of Caughnawaga for the purpose of seizing the aims and stores deposited there. The Christian In- dians, rushing out of the church in which they were r.ssembled, raised the war-whoop, and captured sixty-four of the attacking party. Kobert Nelson, a brother of the exiled revolutionary leader, had crossed the frontier with a large body of a-ebel refugees and American sympathizers, and pro- claimed a Canadian republic. While Sir John Colborne was advancing with troops to suppress the outbreak, on the ninth of November two hundred militia at Odell- town, post>ed in the Methodist church, kept at bay a, thousand of the insurgents, and, reenforced by a hundred men, drove them over the border, with the loss of sixty killed and as many wounded. The loyalists lost five killed and ten wounded. The revolt was promptly crushed, but with extreme severity, the loyalists retaliat- ing for tlie ravages and pillaging of the insurgents by de- vastating with fire the disafiected sections of the country, and dragging with violence suspected rebels to prison. Twelve of these, after a fair trial, were executed, and several others transported. 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 enjoyed a larger degree of liberty than did their race in ^ny other country in the world, and every possible con- cession of the Imperial Government to their requests was oni7 met by more unreasonable demands. Th«^ duped and ij.norant people 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. Never should the ai)peal to arms be made till every cot stitutlonal means of escape from o}i pression — which under British rule these men had never known — has been exhausted. 12 ■tm 11 t! 'i. *M t i ] h ft f H m> 'V'H ' J If I i'4 i ^5 CHAPTER XXY. THE REBELLION— UPPER CANADA. 1^6. 8iR Francis Bond Head, Govenior of Upper Canada— He takes sides- with the Family Compact. Messrs. Rolph, Baldwin, and Dunn called to the Executive Council - They fail to secure Responsible Government, and resign. Speaker Bidwell compromises Reformers by correspondence witlf Papineau. Governor Head's loyal defiance — Evokes outburst of party enthusiasm. Mackenzie defeated at the polls — He rushes into rebellion. Lord John Russell's "Ten Resolutions " refuse Elective Council. 1837. Seditious Gatherings— Rebel Plans-— Ajathy of tl>o Government. The Rendezvous AT Gallows Hill— The Alarm in Toronto- -Rally of the Citizens, December 4th. Death of Colonel Hoodie — Intrigues of Dr. Roli)li. Night attack of the rebels— It is repulsed. Van Egmond's exploit— Rebel' roitted at Gallow.s HiuL, Dec. 7th, Loyal enthusiasm of the militia. Duncombe's attempted rising in the West. Collapse of the Rebellion. We now proceed to trace the conteinporary events in tbe upper province. The great majority of tlie liberal p^rty ill Upper Canada soiiglit refoi'm only by constitntiona} measures. A small minority were betrayed into rebel- lion by party leaders stung to resentment by the disap- pointment of their hope of radical changes. The mass of the population maintained an unshaken loyalty, and tlie revolt was suppressed 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 Com- missioner, known to fame chiefly as a sprightly writer and dashing horseman, who had twice crossed the ])ampas of South America from Buenos Ay res to the Andes. His military training and somewhat impulsive tompera- inent mther unfitted him for the performance of the civil duties which the critical relations of pai'ties in the pro vince made necessary. PIBMSS HwHi5*i> 1836.] POLITICAL AGITATION. 171 On his arrival at Toronto, in January, 1836, he found the parliament in session, and was almost immediately- involved in the political strife that agitated the colony. Mackenzie, the 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 Bahlwin stamp, were left behind by the more violent agitator and his allies. The Reform party had been led to expect in Sir Francis a friend to their principles. He invited three of its members, Messrs. Rolph, Baldwin, and Dunn. to the Executive Council, but refused to recognize the doctrine of its responsibility to the Legislatir e A.ssembly, for which they contended. Messra. Mackenzie and Bidwell sought an early intei- view in order to urge upon him their radical policy ; but Sir Francis, unjustly attributing to the whole Reform party their extreme v^ews, threw himself into the arm;-; of the Family Compact, and adopted those principles of irresponsible administration against which the Reformers had been so long contending. The Reform members of the Council resigned their places, which Avere filled by members of the Conservative party, as it now began to be called. The Assembly, with remarkable unanimity, ' ensured the reactionary policy of the Government, and for the first time exercised its constitutional prerogative of refusing to vote the supplies. Mr. Bidwell, the Speaker of the Assembly, seriously compromised the character of the Reform party by react- ing in the House a letter from Papineau, urging the Reformers of the upper province to unite with the anti- British party in Lower Canada in demanding the redress of their grievances. In dissolving the parliament, Sir Francis denounced the letter as seditious, and, alluding to a covert insinuation that the people of the United States would assist a republican movement, he dramatic- ally exclaimed, *'In the name of every militia regiment ii?. Upper Canada, I promulgate, * I^t them come if they dare ! ' " Conceiving that the very principles of the British con stitutioii were at stake, he thi-ew himself actively into the I '' if M 1^1 m '.-sr,' '^■<\ I «L ^*w^ 72 LORD RUSSELL 8 "TEN RESOLUTTOl^a. ['3.S(T. political contest. By published nrldressi ;i pnd po^iular harangues, he so roused the loyal enthusiasm of the people that the Reform party was badly beaten at the polls^ and its leaders were excluded from parliament. Mackenzie is said to have wept tears of chagrin and mortification at his defeat. He seems now to have abandoned all hope of the redress of political grievances by constit iitional means, and to have secretly resolved to have r'^cuurse to violence to accomplish his purpose. A dispatcli from the Colonial Office instructed the •Governor to form a responsible executive by calling to his Council representatives who possessed the confidence of the peoj)le. But, misled by the ap]>arent success of his policy, he 'declined to make these concessions, which would have satisfied all moderate Reformers. Thus the extreme wing, composed of the partizans of Mackenzie and Bid well, became more and more exi*.-]'erated, and prepared for the subse(pient revolt. The " Ten Resolutions " of Lores John Russell, founded ,007 <>i^ tl^f' rt3})ort of Lord Gosfords commission, denied to U))per as well as Lower ular riglits. The objection urged by Lord John and the English .'iberals to this couf"' ''-'►n was that an appointed legisla- tive (./ouricil was ti.v' ' 'anadian analogue of the Englisli House of Lords, and was a necessary check to ci-ude legislation by the Assembly. If tJie Executive Council were made responsible to tlie people like our own present ministries, it was also urged, the prerogative of the crown, represented by the colonial Governor, would be reduced to a cipher. This policy of repression was oppoHe^l in the Upper House by Lord Brougham, and tlie dangers '.igainst which it was supposed to guard have been shown, by the immeasurable superiority of our })resent system of responsible government, to ha\'e been entirely vision- ary. Macl.enzie, soureer the seventh. They were then to march on the city, seize four thousand stand of arms deposited at the City Hall, and rally their sympathizers among the inhabitants. The Governor and his advisers Vjeing captured, a po[)ular assembly was to be summoned and a republican constitu- tion submitted for adoption. Still the Executive, in- credulous of danger, disregarded several admonitions of the impending lising. Through the precipitance of Dr. Rolph, who -""artsd that the Government had detected the plot, the 1 ;e fo^ the attack was changed from the seventh to t!: iburtli of December. Oji that date four iumdred imp<^ reclly armed insurgents assembled at Montgomery's i.ive r*, four miles from Toronto. Macl^nzie wished to 'nako a sudden assault, which would probably haVe placed the city in his power, but it v/as dei^ided to wait for re- enforcements. Mackenzie and four others advanced to- ward the city to reconnoitre. They met and CMptured two moutited citizens, Messi*s. Powell and MacdoviMkl, who were patrolling the road. These, shooting one of their guards, escaped and gave the alarm. Mackenzie's prisoiu'r placed the muzzle of his pistol close to the heart of his captor, but a flash in the pan saved the life of the insiurectionary leader. Tlie 'Governor w.is roused from l)ed and his family })laced for safety on i steauiboat in the harbour. The alarm b(.'lls rang. Loyal volunteers, 5:, "it 174 ATTACK ON TORONTO. [1837. iimong whom were the four judges, hastened to guard the arms in the City Hall. Pickets were posted, and the city put in a state of defence against a surprise. Colonel Moodie, a retired half-pay officer, living on the great northern road leading from Toronto, had seen an in- surgent detachment proceeding toward the city. Mount- ing his horse, he hastened to apprise the authorities of the rising. At the rebel rendezvous he was stopped by a strong guard. Rashly tiring his pistol, he was immedi- ately sliot by one of the insurgents, and died in a couple of hours. On both sides blood had now been shed, and a bitter civil strife seemed pending. The next day the rebels had increased to eight hundred. The Governor, to gain time, sent Robert Baldwin and Dr. Rolph, who had hitherto concealed his treason, with a flag of truce to inquire their demands. The answer was •' Independence;" and a written answer was required within an hour. Dr. Rolph, it is said, secretly advised them to wait till dark, and promised them the aid of six liundred sympathizers in Toronto. Under cover of night they approached the cicy, but were fired on by a loyalist picket, concealed 1 ^hind a fence, and one of their number • killed uid two wounded. After firing a volley, the front rai»k of the rebels fell on their faces, in order to allow the rear files to discharge their pieces. The latter, think- ing tJieir c^omrades all killed or wounded, turned and fled headlong. Mackenzie in vain attempted to rally the fly- , ing mob. They refused to renew the attack, and most of them threw away their weapons — the evidences of their V '"ime — and hastened to seek safety at their homes. Vlthoiigh daring the night rcenforcements arrived, on the (ol I owing day Mackenzie could muster only five hun- dred jnen. Dr. Rolph and others implicated in the revolt rttd tc.^ bhe United States. The loyal militia throughout the country, clad in frieze, and armed with old flint locks, pikes, and even pitchforks, hastened to the ca})ital for its (le'ence. Colonel McNab, at Hamilton, on hearing of the revolt, .seized a steamboat lying at the wharf, and in three hours it was under weigh, crowded with the gallant men of Gore. Van Egmond, who had been a colonel in the French army during the wars of Kapoleon, now took military t837. tlie H the 1837.] SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION. 175 idred. L and with command of the rebels. On the morning of the seventh, with sixty men, he fired the Don bridge, and captured the Montreal mail. About noon, Colonel McNab, with nine hundx-ed men and two field-pieces, advanced against the rebels, who to the number of four hundred were posterizes of land to all volunteers for tlie " Grand Army of Liberation." On the thirteenth of December, a mob, described by a Buffalo paper as "aw^retclied rabble, ready to cut any 1837.] CAPTURE OF THE CAROLINE. 177 man's tliroat for a dollar," under tlie wnimand of a border ruffian named Van Rensselaer, took jjossession of 11 SLY J Island, about two miles above the Falls of Niagara. Here Mackenzie proclaimed the " Ilei)ublic of Upper Canada," and invited recruits. Few Canadians joined his standard, but about a thousand American frontier vagabonds, intent on plunder, collected together. They were supplied with artillery and stores taken from the United States arsenal. They threw up entrench- ments of logs, mounting thirteen guns, and opened lire on the Canadian shore. Colonel McNab, appointed to the military command of the frontier, soon foraid himself at the head of twenty- tive hundred men — militia, Crand River Indians, and a company of coloured volunteers. An American steamer, the Caroline, was actively engaged in transporting men and stores to Navy Island. Colonel McNab, after remonstrance with the American authorities, resolved on her capture. On the night of December the twenty- eighth. Lieutenant Drew, with a boat party, gjillantly cut her out from under the guii:> of Fort Schlosser. Unable, from the strength of the current, to tow her across the river, he ordered her to be fired and abandoned in the rapids. She glided swiftly down the stream and swept grandly over the cataract. In this affair five of the " patriots " were killed and several wounded. The capture of the Caroline was strongly denounced by the United States authorities, and it seemed for a time as if it would embroil the two nations in war. It was certainly extenuated, however, by the strong j)rovocation received, and was subsequently apologized for by the British Grovernment. The winter proved exceedingly mild. Navigation continued open till the middle of January. Sir John Colborne reenforced the Upper JO no Canadian frontier, and compelled the evacuation of Navy Island, January fourteenth. Early in January, a force of several hundred men, from Cleveland and Detroit, well e<|uipped with United States muskets and artillery, made a demonstration jigainst Sandwich and Araherstburg. They rendezvoused at Bois Blanc Island, ai\d their commander issued a gasconading proclamation calling on the Canadians to ■-'A "^ t I f '<>■. •-Si •■'1 ;1 '».. ■*/■■■ 178 INVASION OF CANADA. [1838. j'silly around the standard of liberty, and free themselves from the British parasites who were consuming their substance. The loyal militia showed their appreciation of this gratuitous advice by spontaneously gathering, to the number of nearly four thousand, for the protection of the frontier. Two schooners of the invading flotilla, laden with arms, which opened fire with round shot ar.d grape upon the peaceful town of Amherstburg, were gallantly captured and defeated. the insolent pirate expedition Although the loyalty of the Canadians had been so amply demonstrated, yet the rebel refugees and border ruffians continued their wanton outrages all along the frontier. In utter defiance of international comity, simultaneous attacks on Canada were organized at Detroit, Sandusky, Watertown, and in Vermont. The last has already been described in the account of the Lower Canadian rebellion. The Watertown expedition, under Van Rensselaer and "Bill Johnston," two notorious scoundrels, rendezvoused to the number of some two thousand, on the twenty-fourth of February, at Hickory Island, a short distance below Kingston. The jealousy and quarrels of the commanders, and the vigilance and energy of the Canadians, frustrated the designs of the marauders. The expedition from Detroit, about the sanT date, was repulsed by a vigorous artillery tire, and disanued by the American authorities, who at length began to repress this border filibusterim On the fourth of Mai oh, five hundred "patriot" scoun- drels took, possession of Point Pele Island, on Lake Erie, about forty miles from Amhe\*stburg and twenty from the mainland. A force of regulars and Canadian militia crossing on the ice dislodged and drove them to the American shore, with the loss of thirteen killed, forty wounded, and several prisoners. Two of the British were killed and twenty-eight wounded. The administration of Sir Francis Bond Head being attended by such disastrous circumstances, he was recalled by the Home Government. He was at once an object of •admiration and aversion to opposite political parties. He is accused of intensifying grievances when he might have '[1838. selves their ciatiou J» to tectiou 'flotilla, ^-"'t ar.d , ^vere editiou [><^en so border >ng the comity, zed at The of the edition, )torious ne two lickory ealousy ice and of tlie p date, lued by repress scoun- e Erie, OM the militia to the , forty British beiiiijf jcalled ject of He ; have 1838.] STERN RETRIBUTION. 17'J redressed them, and of trifling with the rebellion when he might have prevented it. On his return to England he published a narrative of the stormy events of his administration, which by his friends was considered an exoneration, and by his enemies an aggravation of his ;icts. He subsequently devoted himself to literatun% in whioli he was remarkably successful, and died in the year 1875, at the advanced age of eighty-two. Sir George Arthur, the new Governor, ado[)ted tin- coercive policy of his predecessor. He was ])romoted from the government of the penal colony of Van J )iemen's Land. He ruled with a firm and heavy hand, having little sympathy for the now accepted theory of responsible government. The jails of the province were crowded with political prisoners, for whose pardon numerous peti tions were presented to the Governor. His reply was a sharp rebuke. Reform, he said, had been the cloak of their crimes, and they should have an impartial trial — no mo}"e. Two of the leaders, Lount and Matthews, were hanged at Toronto, amid the regret of many loyal subjects. Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, now humanely and wisely interposed his influence to prevent the need- less efliision of blood. Many persons condemned to death had their sentence commuted to imprisonment in the provincial penitentiary, or to transportation to Van Die- men's Land, and the less culpable ones were released on giving bonds for their future good conduct. Many, how- ever, who were suspected of sympathy with the rebellion, fled from the country. The American " Hunters' Lodges," which numbered, it is said, nearly twelve hundred, with a membership of eighty thousand, s^ill kept up the hostile agitation. The affair of the C'm'oUne, and the disputes concerning the boundary between New Brunswick and Maine, continued to menace the relations of the two countries. Sir John Oolborne had all the frontier forts repaired and garrisoned with troops sent out irom England, and the militia were j)ut in a state of thorough efficiency. Daring the summer several raids were made from over the border. On the night of May twenty-eighth, the notorious " Bill Johnston," with half a hundred fellow- !i I. ,jtti ^.V^c IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ *\^ 4^ A^> %^ « 1.0 u m I.I 140 2.5 2.2 2.0 ^ HA ^ v: V Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WKT MAIN STRUT WIUTM.N.Y. MSM (71*) •73-4903 4^ 180 BORDER OUTRAGES. [1838. ruffians, boarded the steamer Sir Eohei't Peel, at Well's Island, on the St. liawrence. The passengers were driven ashore in a stormy night, and the steamer, one of the finest on the river, was pillaged and set on fire. Johnston and liis gang eluded pursuit amid the labyrinth of the Thousand Islands, and on the seventh of June landed on Amhei'st Island, near Kingston, and plundei-ed three farm houses. A company of British soldiers and sailors scoured the Thousand Islands, and dispersed the ])irate crew. Other marauding parties crossed the Niagara frontier and plundered the inhabitants. Thirty of them were driven into a swamp and captured, and their leader was hanged. Similar bands of ruffian " liberatoi-s " ap- peared at Goderich and in the London district, but were repulsed by the loyal population. In the month of November another attempt was made at a simultaneous invasion of the country at different points of the frontier. In Lower Canada, as we have seen, Dr. Robert Nelson was repulsed with heavy loss at Odelltown (November fifth). On the tenth of the month a body of "patriots" embarked at Oswego in a large steamer and two schooners. Their object was to obtain possession of Fort Wellington at Prescott. Sailing down tlie St. Lawrence they were gallantly attacked on Sunday the eleventh by tlic Experiment, a small two-gun British steamer. An injury to her guns enabled the ruffians to land a force of two hundred and fifty men, under Von Schultz, :\ Polish refugee, at Windmill Point, beyond the range of the guns of Fort Wellington. The windmill, a circular stone building of immense strength, flanked by several stone dwelling-houses, offered a very formidable defence. The followinsc dav the invaders were reen- forced from Ogdensburg, just across the river ; but they wore completely disappointed in their ex{>ectjition of being j<^ined by disaffected Canadians. The loyal militia swarmed in from the surrounding country to repel the aggressf much interiiatioiial ill-feeling and bitterness. 1W7. 184 -2. [1838. CHAPTER XXVir. THE UNION OF THE CANADAS. Political Agitations in the Maritime Provinces. 1*37. Crown Lkvo ORiEVANC£a in New DriinHwicic— Redressed by the orowu. A "Family Compact" in Nova Scotia. Joseph Howk a popular tribune— Struggle for Responsible Oovcm- ment. lS;t9. The BotJMDART Dispute in New Brunswicic. Threatened outbreak or. Maine frontier— Loyal entlmsiaam in Maritiniu Provinces. 1841 The AsHBDRTON Treaty settles boundaries and provides for Kxtrahi- TioN or Orihinals. \9.V). Beneficial ctfect of Lord Ourhun's Report on tlie condition uf tlw Canadas. Public debt and military strength of Upper Canada. Uon. Charles Poulett Thompson, Oovemor-Ooneral. He urges the {>olicy of the Home Government for the Union of tlte Canadas. 1840. The Union Bill passk3 Colonial and Imperial PARLiAMKNTii. Provisions or the Union Act— Responsible Government oranTrd. Mr. Thompsr)n is raised to the Peerage as Lord tfydenliam of Rent and Toronto. Solicitor-Gen ^ Drapcr'.s Biii t<> settle tlie Clergy Reserve question fails to do so. Brock's Monument blown up— Patriotic enthusiasm. McLeod's trial tlireatens rupture of peace with United iMatcs. Tub maritime provinces, concurrently witli the rebellion iu the CanaJas, were agitated by a good deal of iK>litical excitement. The general causes of discontent were similar, but tl ey did not lead to any of the acts of violence which unhappily took place in the western pro- vinces. Both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were under the domination of an irresponsible Executive (Council, which engrossed the public offices and adminis- tered the affairs of the colonies with slight regard to the authority of the elective assembly or to the wishes of the [>eople. In the latter province, the crown land depart- ment, which favoured the great capitalists and lumber operatiOrs, to the disadvantage of the poorer classes, furnished sufficient revenue to defray the entire civil list. The Assembly, which was thus deprived of any 184 THE MARITIME PROVINCES. [1835. means of control over the administration, petitioned the King for a redress of its grievances. Mr. Lemuel Alien Wilmot, a popular and eloquent lawyer, although allied with the party in power, became the leading agent of Ift^fi reform, and was deputed to lay the petition before the throne. The King favoui*ed the prayer of the Assembly. Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, urged upon the Governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, and the Executive Council the surrender of the casual and terri- torial revenue in consideration of the granting by the Assembly of a liberal permanent civil list. Notwith- standing continued and strenuous opposition, the Govern- ment was obliged to yield, and the immense ci own land revenue came under the control of the people's repre- sentatives. Under the wise conciliation of the new -iQoj Governor, Sir John Harvey, harmony was at length restored between all the branches of the legislature. In Nova Scotia, the Executive Council, at whose board sat the Bishop, the Chief Justice, and a " Family Compact " of allied members, met in secret conclave and set at defiance the interests and rights of the people. Joseph Howe, the son of a U. E. Loyalist, became the champion of popular rights. A shrewd and vigorous journalist, and a ready and eloquent speaker, "Joe Howe," af} he was familiarly culled, wielded immense influence throughout the province. In his place in the Assembly, on the public rostrum, and through the columns of his journal, he thundered against the oligar- chy that governed the province. The Assembly formu- lated the public grievances into twelve resolutions, which were embodied in an address to the King. The provisions of the liberalized constitution of New Brunswick were extended to Nova Scotia, and Joseph Howe and three Reformers were called to the Council. They accepted office subject to the approval of the Assembly, and shortly after proved their suicerity by resigning their , seats in vindication of their demand for responsible government. A long and bitter agitation was yet to be undergone before the attainment of that much desired object. Sir Colin Campbell, the future hero of Alma, Balaclava, and Lucknow, who administered the govern- 1839.] BOUNDARY DISPUTE. I8r. irieiit during the greater part of this stormy jieriod, wa.s succeeded by Lord Falkland, whose high notions of vice- I'egal-prerogative were the occasion of much popular discontent. The dispute as to the New Bi-unswick 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 persons invaded the disputed territory ; armeii collisions occurred ; and the frontier settlements were ablaze with excitement. Governor Fairfield, of Maine, oj-dered eighteen hundred militia to the border, ami called upon the state for ten thousand men — horse, foot. and artillery. Sir John Harvey, the Governor of New Brunswick, asHerted by proclamation the right of Great Britain to prot^'it the disputed territory, and sent two regiments to wateh the Maine militia. Volunteers rtocked to the British standard. The legislature of Novsi Scotia, amid an unwonted scene of patriotic euthusiasin. and with an outburst of hearty Britisli cheers, voted £100,000 for the defence of the fix)ntier, and placed a strong foixje of militia at the disposal of the military authorities. Considerable excitement was roused in the United States. That belligerent statesman, Daniel Webster, declared that the American government should seize the disputed proj)e:ty unless Great Britain would abide bv the treaty of 1783. President Van Buren, liowever. with praiseworthy modemtion, advocated the i)eaceabh' arniugement of the difficulty. General Winfield Scott was sent to the borders to settle the dispute. He countermanded all hostile demonstititions and opened u 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 i-eferred the matter to Lord Ashbnrton and Daniel Webstwr, as commissioners for their 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 their right v-j 13 186 LORD DURHAM 8 REPORT. [1839. were sacrificed to Imperial intereRts. The Ashburtoii 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 imfX)rfcant article of the treaty also provided for the extradition, from either country, upon sufficient evidence of criminality, of persons charged with " murder, piracy, ai'son, robbery, or forgery." Lord Durham's report on the state of the Canadas had meanwhile been submitted to the Imperial parlia- ment. Its wise and liberal suggestions greatly tended to the pacificatioa 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 the provinces in order to restore the balance of jx)wer between the French and English races, and to remove the commercial diflioulties between Upper and Lower Canada. In anticipation of subsequent political events, it suggested a federal union of all the colonies, and ths construction of an intercolonial road as a link between them. Although bitterly attacked by the friends of the irresponsible colonial governments, this report greatly influenced the Home authorities, and encouraged the advocates of constitutiorxal reform in the colonies. Sir John Colbome, the successor of Lord Durham as Governor-General, had effectually suppressed the rebel- lion, and left the province in an efficient state of defence. On his return to England in 1839, he was for his distin- guished services rt.ised to the peerage with the title of Lord Seaton. The finances of Upper Canada, however, were considerably embarrassed, the expenditure of 183'.* exceeding by £10,000 the income, which amounted to £80,000. Owing to the construction of the Welland Canal and other public works, the annual interest on the provincial debt amounted to £63,000. The organized !uilitia of the upper province, at the close of the rebellion and '• patriot " war, consisted of one hundred and six 1839.] MILITARY STRENGTH OF CANADA. 18; great regiments of infantry, with officers and staff complete, and a due proportion of cavalry and artillery. With a population of four hundred and fifty thousand, she could muster a citizen soldiery of forty thousand men, or nearly one-tenth of the inhabitants. With the present population of Upper Canada of over one million one hundred and sixty-two thousand, the same proportion would yield & force of one hundred and forty-four thousand enrolled militia; or for the entire Dominion, with a population — according to the last census — of over three and a half million, a force avail- able for defence of ov<%r three hundred thousand men. If our forefatheis in the infancy of the country, with undeveloped resources, almost without roads, and with a scanty population, were able, almost unaided by Great Britain, to successfully withstand for three long years all the force that a populous and powerful neighbouring country was able to bring to bear, our present ability to resist any hostile attacks to which we are likely to be exposed canncjt be reasonably doubted. Sir John Colbome was succeeded as Governor-General by the Hon. Charles Poulett Thompson, a statesman of liberal opinions, of great tact and judgment, and, as President of the Board of Trade, of wide financial experi- ence. The Home ministry had determined on the union of the two Canadas: end on the acknowledgment in the new constitution of the principle of responsible govern- ment. There was a considerable section in either pro- vince to which both of these projects were obnoxious. The task of the new Governor, therefore, was one requir- ing the exercise of consummate skill and prudence. On his arrival at Montreal he convened a special council, explained the views of the Imperial Government, and obtained the assent of the council to the draft of a bill for uniting the provinces, to be introduced into the legislature. In Upper Canada, Mr. Thompson had great difficulty in procuring the assent to the measure of the Legislative Council, the majority of whose members clung tenaciously to the privileges which the new constitution would cause them to forfeit. The pointed dispatches of Lord John Russell^ the Colonial Secretary, expressing Her MajestyV 188 PROVISIONS OF THE UNION ACT. [18'40. I pleasure, placed the opposition to the uuion in such a lig'*\t, that the hostile majority were compelled by their profession of loyalty to the crown to support the obnoxi- ous scheme. The Union Bill was therefore introduced as a Government measure, and after prolonged debate on its several provisions, obtained a majority of both Houses. The action of the Imperial parliament was yet necessary to give effect to the union. A di-aft of a bill, based upon the resolutions of the legislatures of the two pro- vinces, was drawn up by Sir James Stuart, Chief Justice of Lower Canada, and submitted to the Home Govern- ment. This passed the Imperial parliament with slight modifications, and received the royal assent, July twenty- third, 1840. Owing to a suspending clause, it did not take effect till the tenth of February, 1841, when it was declared in force by proclamation. The Act of Union provided that there »lioiild be one [jegislative Council and one Legislative Assembly, in which each province should be equally re])resented. The Legislative Council must be composed of not less than twenty life members, a[)pointed by the crown. The Assembly was to consist of eighty-four members, elected by the people. An Elxecutive Council was to be formed of eight members, anj' of whom who held seats in the Assembly must go back to the people for re-election - The Executive Council, like a constitutional ministry^ should hold office so long as its measures commanded a majority of votes in the Tjegislative Assembly. A per- manent civil list of .£75,000 annually wa.s establi.shed in lieu of all terntorial and other revenues previously held by the crown. Previous to the union, private mem- bers were allowed to introduce bills involving the ex- penditure of public moneys, and thus, fi-om the lack of responsibility, reckless and ill-considered exi)enditure was permitted. By the Unintrol by the re})resentatives of the people of all the public revenues. The judiciary were, by a permanent civil list, made independent of the annual votes of the Assembly. f840.] CLEROY RESERVE AGITATION. 18» In token of appreciation of liis success in carrying out the Imperial policy of union of the Canadas, the Queen was pleased to raise Mr. Thompson to the peerage, with the title of Lord Sydenham of Kent and Toronto. During the summer he made an extensive tour of the provinces, to familiarize himself with their extent, resources, and political necessities. He was everywhere received with loyal demonstrations, and by his distin- guished abilities and coui*tesy of manner, won golden opinions even where he had previously, through political feeling, been unpopular. The moat pressing grievance in Upper Canada, after the settlement of the union question, was that of the clergy reserves. A bill was therefore introduced by Solicitor-Greneral Draper authorizing the sale of those reserves, one-half the proceeds — after the indemnification of the Anglican clergy, to whom it was considered that the faith of the cro»rn was pledged — to bo given to the dissenting bodies, and the other half to be divided between the Church of England and the Church of Scot- land, in proportion to their respective numbers. The bill, however, was considered unsatisfactory by the Re- form party, and the question continued to be for some years a cause of frequent agitation. - r..f. In the following April, a dastardly attempt was made by some unknown ruffians to blow up with gunpowder the monument erected by a grateful country to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, on the scene of his heroic death. An enthusiastic meeting of five thousand Canadian patriots was held beneath the shattered column on the thirtieth of June, at which Sir George AHhur presided. A munificent subscription was started for the erection of a worthy memorial ; and after many delays, the noble monument which now crowns the historic Queenston Heights rose to perpetuate the name and fame of Canada's heroic defender, who for her sake had laid down his life. Towards the close of the year, a person of the name of McLeod, who had been Deputy Sherifi" of the Niagara district, was imprisoned by the United States authorities on account of his alleged share in the destruction of* the Caaroline during the rebellion. The Home Grovernment 190 McLEODS TRIAL. [1840. determined to protect his rights as a British siibJAct, and demanded his surrender. It was refused, and the diffi culty threatened for a time to embroil the two countries in war. He was, however, acquitted, although by a court which had no jurisdiction, and with his release the warlike excitement immediately subsided. CHAPTER XXYIII. IIESPONSIBLE GOVEllNMENT. 1841. Kiiificston becomes the Seat of Municiital Sy.itein 1842. lU^i. 1844. 1845. 1846. Imadoitration or hbw Constitotion Oovemment. Adoption of tlie " DoQble Mjijority " Principle Esbibliahcd. Organization of Public Works Dupartnient. Death of liord Hydenham. Sir Chitrlcs Bagot, Qovernor-Oeneral. , The Baldwin-Hinclcs Adiniuistratiou. Death of Sir Charles Bagot— Sir Charles Metcalfe, Governor-Genoral- .His irrenponsiblo employment of patronage. Constitutional Struoclk- Resignation of Baldwin-Hincks Govern mont and formation of the Draper Ministry. Montreal liecomes the Seat of Government. Quebec, ravaged by Are— Generous exhibition of sympathy. Deatli of Lord Metcalfe — Earl of Cathcart, Admiuistrator of Govern racut. Rebkllion Losses Aoitation in Upper and Lower Canada. Reorganization of Public School System. Life and Labours of the Rev. Dr. Ryersou. With the formal proclamation of the union of the tw(» provinces, February tenth, 1841, the administration of the government of Upper Canada by Sir George Arthur terminated, and Lord Sydenham assumed the vice-royalty <»f the united provinces. A new Executive Council was appointed,* and a new parliament was summoned. The elections were attended with considerable excite- ment, which was all the greater on account of the imperfect facilities for recording the' votes. The polling })laces were few, and the crowding and obstruction by the more turbulent membei-s of the opposed political parties seriously interfered with the free exercise of the franchise. When the legislature assembled in the city of King- ston, which had been selected as the new seat of govern- ment, it was found that parties were very evenly balanced. The Reformei*8, however, were able to elect * It was com))osed of Messrs. Sulivan (President), Dunn, Daly, UarriHoti, (igden. Draper, Baldwin, and Day, who all held public ofilce.s apart from their position as couucillora. 192 (( DOUBLE MAJORITY. [1841. as Speaker, Mr. Cuvillier, a Lower Canadian member of their party. The French members, numbering twenty- four in all, held the balance of power, and were able for ji long series of years, by their compact vote, to turn the scale in favour of which ever party could best promote French interests. To counteract this dominant influence, the principle of " double majority," as it was called, was introduced. This required not merely a majority of the whole House for the support of the Government, but also a majority 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. The new parliament gave effect to seveiul important measures. The Welland Canal, which had been carried on as a private joint-stock enterprise, was formally jv-ssumed by the Government. The municipal system wtus tticonstructed in accordance with its present excellent constitution. Tlie administration of local affairs was transferred from the Quarter Sessions to town and county councils, elected by popular vote. The people thus obtained the lireot control of the local assessment and expenditure — as effectual a guarantee as can be found of economy and efficiency of municipal administration. The public works of the united provinces were aNo placed under the administration of a government department, at whose head was a responsible minister of the crown. The extensive works in progress were stimulated to com- pletion by a loan of £1,500,000, guaranteed by the Im- perial Government. Provision was also made by this parliament for postal, customs, fiscal, and educational progress and reform. Lord Sydenham exhibited liis political wisdom by endeavouring, although not alway.s with success, to remove the traces of the recent dissen- sions. The old members of the Legislative Council did uot readily blend with those who had been newly appointed : some delayed to be sworn in, and some declined to sit at all. But this distinguished benefactor of Canada was not permitted to witness the full result of his labours, nor 1841.] DEATH OF LOHD SYDENHAM. 19a the triumph of that system of responsible government which he had assisted in introducing. While o\it riding, the fall of his horse fract' jd his leg. His constitutio^j, never robust, and now undermined by his zeal in the discharge of public duty, was unable to withstand th<» shock. After lingering in great pain a tew days, he sank beneath his injuries, September nineteenth, 1841. 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 sq strenuously to bring about, constitute an imperishable claim upon our esteem and gratitude. By the dying request of Lord Sydenham, Major- General Clitheroe prorogued the parliament, and Sir Richard Jackson, the commander of Her Majesty's forces, admii^istered the government till the appointment of his successor. The Conservative ministry of Sir Robert Peel had succeeded the Melbourne administration. The new Governor-General, Sir Charles Bagot, who arrived January tenth, 1842, represented the opposite school of politics to that of his predecessor. The oppcnents of the new constitution anticipated a. probable return to the; old regime of irresponsible government. Lord Stanley, tlie new colonial minister, however, julopted the policy inaugurated by Lord John Russell ; and Sir Charles Bagot impartially carried out his instructions. He recognized the important constitutiorfal princi})le that the parliamentary majority should control the adminis- tration. In accordance with this theory, certain changes of ministry took place. Mr. Baldwin received the Attorney- Generalship for Canada West, in place of Mr. Draper, resigned. Mr. Sherwood gave place to Mr. Aylwin, as Solicitor-General. Mr. Hincks became Inspector-General of Public Accounts ; Mr. Tjafontaine, Attorney-General for Canada East ; and Mr. Morin, Commissioner of Crown Lands. The new ministers adopted the whole- some English precedent of returning to their consti- tuencies for reelection on the assumption of office. In 194 THE BALDWIN-HINCKS GOVERNMENT. [1842. a House of eighty-four members they commanded a majority of thirty-six. Mr. Hincks, tlie new Inspector-General, was a man of distinguished ability and energy. His fathi r was a minister of the Irish Presbyterian Church, of great worth and learning. An elder brother for many yeai-s ably occupied a professorial chair in the University of Cork, and subsequently in the Toronto University. Francis Hincks, the youngest son, was educated to mercantile life. He came to Toronto in 1832, and became cashier of a new banking institution. In 1838, he established the Examiner newspaper, in the Reform interest, and achieved marked success as a journalist. He was subse- quently returned to parliament as a representative of the county of Oxford. On his acceptance of otfice, he was reelected by a largely increased majority. He was des- tined, as we shall see, to play a prominent part in Cana- dian politics. The second session of the first union-parliament lasted only six weeks, but it passed through their several stages no less than thirty Acts. Libc:'al votes of supply received the assent of thfe Assembly, which asserted the constitu- tional principle that a detailed account of their expendi- ture should be submitted to parliament within fourteen days of the opening of the following session. Sir Charles Bagot, like his predecessor, was not long permitted to discharge his ofiicial duties, nor to return to his native land. A serious illness compelled him to request his recall, but before it was granted he became unable to leave the country. He died at Kingston, greatly regi'etted, sixteen months after his arrival, May nineteenth, 1843. Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, the new Govemor- iireneral 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 Goveinor- General of India. This post he held for two yeai-s (1834-36), and afterwards, for three years (1839-42), that of Governor of Jamaica. His administrative ex- perience in these countries, where the prerogatives of the crown we. d unquestioned, was no special qualification for the constitutional government of a free country liko 1'843.] CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLE. 195 as a orth bly lork, ncis itile lier hed and )8e- 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 liimself responsible only to the Imperial parliament. This principle was incompatible with the colonial theory of responsible government ; and the appointment of certain members of the Conservative party to official; [>osition, without the advice or consent of his ministei-s, was the ground of grave dissatisfaction. Messrs. Bald- win and Lafontaine protested against what they con- sidered an unconstitutional proceeding. They were held responsible by the Assembly for the acts of the Govern- ment, and had entered the ministry with the resolve to hold office only while they could command a parliamen- tary majority. Sii* Charies declined to degrade what he considered the prerogative of the crown, or to give up his right of patronage. Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine thereupon resigned their seats in the cabinet. This con- stitutional struggle created great excitement throughout ohe country. Party lines were sharply defined, and Con- servatives and Keformers were again placed in strong political antagonism. With a Reform majority in the Assembly, the Con- servative leaders were unwilling to enter the Govern- ment. A provisional ministry, under the leadership of Mr. Draper, was however formed, which resolved to- appeal to the country by a dissolution of the House and a new election. The removal of the seat of government to Montreal having been previously determined by a vote of the legis- ^QtA lature, with the opening of navigation the transfer of the departmental offices and Grovernor's residence took place. In November the new parliament assembled, and was found to contain a small Conservative majority. »Sir Allan McNab, an acknowledged leader of the Con- servative party, was chosen Speaker. Mr. Baldwin was the leader of a vigorous Reform Opposition, nearly as. numerous as the supporters of the Government. For his distinguished services in the East and West Indies, and in approval of his colonial policy, the Governor-Geneml was raised to the peerage, with the title of Baren Met oalfe. 196 REBELLION LOSSES AGITATION. [1845. Twice, with the interval of a month, in the following ^iQAK spring, the city of Quebec was ravaged by fire. Twenty-four thousand persons were rendered house- less, and several lives were lost, A spontaneous outburst of charity relieved the more pressing necessities of the sufferers. Half a million of dollars was contributed by sympathizers in Great Britain, and nearly half as much in Canada and the United States. The American people promptly and generously sent a shipload of provisions and clothing to the foodless and «helterless multitude — an act of international charity that should be remembered when the record of international strife and bloodshed shall be forgotten. The aggi-avation of a terrible malady, from which Lord Metcalfe had previously suffered — a cancer in the face — caused him to request bis recall. He returned to England in November, and shortly after his arrival died, greatly regretted. His munificent liberality and many personal virtues commanded the respect even of those who con- demned his political acts. The Earl of Cathcart, Commander-in Chief of Her Majesty's forces in Canada, was appointed administrator of the government on the resignation of Lord Metcalfe. He observed a wise neutrality between the almost evenly balanced political parties. The discussion of the Rebel- lion Losses Bill began to profoundly agitate the country. The Draper ministry had recommended the indemnifica- tion of Upper Canadian loyalists who had incurred losses during the recent political troubles. A special fund, arising from tavern and other licenses, was set apart for that purpose, to the amount of £40,000. The French- Canadian party supported the measure, on the under- standing that similar provision should be made for the indemnity of the loyal population of Lower Canada. Six commissioners were appointed to investigate tlieir- •losses, and report to the legislature. The commissioners being un. .uthorized to examine persons or f)apers, based their report solely upon the sentences of the courts of law. As the loyalty of all persons was assumed unless they had been leg-^Jly convicted, the number of claimants reported to parliament was over two thousand, and the .aggregate amount of the claims was nearly £260,000/ 45. ing re. se- rst he by 1845.] PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 197 •* The commissioners, however, considered that .£100,000 would meet the actual losses of loyal persons. The manifest difficulty of adjudicating these claims made the report a very unsatisfactory basis of legislation ; iQlfi b^* *^® Draper ministry, dependent largely on French-Canadian support, introduced a bill em- powering the issue of debentures to the amount cf £9,986, for the indemnification of loyal persons in Loife|k Canada. This measure proved satisfactory to neither party. The French-Canadians considered it so meagre as to be almost an insult ; and the Upper Canadian loyal- jsts deprecated the giving of any compensation to men whom they regarded as having been almost without ex- ception rebels. The subject of public school education had from time* to time received legislative attention. In 1816, as we have seen, an Act was passed by the parliament of Upper Canada for the establishment of common schools. These were subsequently increased in number with the j^rowth of the population, and assisted by grants from the public funds. They were as yet, however, very in- sufficient in number and defective in character. In 1846, tiie important duty of reorganizing the common school system of Upper Canada was entrusted to a gentleman eminently qualified for the task, who has identified his name for ever with the history of popular education in iiis native province. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson, LL.D., was the son of a IFnited Empire loyalist, who bore a colonel's commission nnder King Gorge III. during the American Revolution- ary War. Egerton was the youngest of three brotLers, wlio all, by their force of character, rose to eminence- m the ministry of the Methodist Church, which they entered at a time when its ministers and members sr '^3red from serious civil disabilities which have long since been removed. In the prolonged controversy for the disestab- lishment of the Church of England in Canada, and for the secularization of the clergy reserves, Egerton Ryerson bore an active part. In a series of published papers and! pamphlets he contended for those principles of civil and religious liberty which are now happily recognized. When, in 1829, the Metliodifit denomination established 198 THE REV. DR. RTER80K. [1846. a religious weekly journal, the Christian Gvardiaiv he was appointed the first editor, to which office he was twice reappoint/od, and which he held for the period of nine years. Through his persistent advocacy it lai^ly was that the Methodist Church acquired the righi of holding ecclesiastical property, and its ministers the right of solemnizing matrimony. / After holding for some time the office of President of jflie University of Victoria College, he received the ap- pointment of Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. For more than thirty years he continue*! to devote his energies to the development of the school system of the country, crossing the ocean many times in order to examine the educational systems of Europe, and incorporating their best features in that of his native province. In this work he has been assisted by tlie cooperation of a Council of Public Ii'struction, composed of the leading educationists of the country. Under the fostering influence of the wise and liberal legislation of successive p rliaments, the public school system of Upper Canada has become one of the noblest of our institutions, the admiration of travellers from older lands, and one oi tlie surest guarantees of our future national prosperity. CHAPTER XXIX. REBELLION LOSSES AGITATION. 1W7. Lord Elgin, Governor-General. , Postal control and differential duties ceded by Imperial Govenuneiit Irish famine and vast emigration to Canada. 1848. The Draper Administration resigns, and is succeeded by the Baldwin Lafontaine Ministry. 1849. Lower Canadian Rkbellion Losses Bill introduced— It is violently opposed. The British North American League lorined— It threatens a rupture of the Union. Lord El^in gives hid assent to the Rebellion Losses Bill— He is assailed by violence, and the Parliauent Buildings attacked ani> BURNED BY A MOB, July 26th. TL ?romier'8 House is wrecked. Tumultuary demand for the disallowance of the Bill. Rioiiag suppressed by the military— Tbe seal of Government trans- ferred to Toronto and Quebec alternately. The Bill sustained by th£ Imperial Parliament. In the year 1847, while the settlement of the rebellion losses was still pending, Lord Elgin was appointed Gov- ernor-General of Canada. He was a son-in-law of the Earl of Durham, and shared his liberal sentiments re- garding colonial administration. He had succeeded Lord Metcalfe in the government of Jamaica, as well as in that of Canada. His sound judgment, conciliatory manners, and commanding ability, enabled him to over- come formidable opposition, and to become one of the most honoured representatives of Her Majesty that ever administered the afifairs of the province. The Di"aper ministry was waning in popularity and influence, and was narrowly watched by a vigilant Reform press, of which the leading journal was the Montreal Filoty ably edited by Mr. Hincks. The Rebellion Losses Bill, and the secularization of the clergy reserves, the latter of which especially was strongly atlvocated by the Reform party, were prominent topics of public discussion. On the meeting of parliament on the second of June, Lord Elgin announced the surrender by the Imperial 200 VAST IMMIGRATION. fl847. i s Government to the colonial authorities of the post office department, and also that the provincial legislature was empowered to repeal the differential duties subsisting in favour of British manufactures — an important measure of fiscal emancipation. The long talked-of intercolonial railway, which has only this year (1876) reached comple- tion, was also the subject of a paragraph in the speech from the throne. After a short but busy session, during which no less than one hundred and ten bills were passed, the legislature rose on the twenty-eighth of July. The season was cl>ai*actenzed by an unprecedented immigration from Ireland. In consequence of the failure of the potato crop through rot, a famine well nigh deci- mated that land. An exodus of a large portion of its |»opi!.lation took place, seventy thousand of whom reached Quebec befoi-e the seventh 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. Immigrant sheds and hospitals, erected by the Government, were crowded to overflowing, and many slept in the open air by the road- sides, or beneath rude blanket tents. A relief fund was established on behalf of the famine-stricken sufTerera who still remained in Ireland, to which all classf>s liber- ally contributed, even the Indian tribes on theii* leserves and the poor coloured people of the province, many of whom had not long escaped from bondage. The parliament was dissolved on the sixth of Decem- 1 Q4« ^^» ^^^ *^® elections were held during the follow- ing January. The political contest was waged with great zeal by both parties, auvx resulted in a large Reform majority. Messrs. Baldwin, Price, and Blake were elected for the three ridings of York, Francis Hincks for Oxford, and Malcolm Cameron for Kent. Papineau, the arch agitator of the Lower Canadian rebellion, "ho had accepted the Queen's pardon, was returned for St. Maurice, and Dr. Wolfred Nelson for the county of Kichelieu, the scene of his anned revolt, which he had lived to sincerely regret. On the opening of parliament, February twenty-fifth, the Draper ministry i-esigned, and Messrs. Baldwin and I 1847. 1848.] THE REBELLION LOSSES BILL. 201 dec! to Lafontaine were entrusted with the task of forming a Idberr' cabinet. The new ministry was composed of four French and four British members — Messrs. Lafon- taine, Caron, Viger, and Tach6; and Messrs. Baldwin, Hincks, Cameron, and Blake. This was a full and final constitutional recognition of the principle of responsible government. The country was thrilled with horror by the atrocities of the three days' slaughter in the French capital during the Revolution of 1 848. Some sympathy was felt with the incipient Irish rebellion incited by John Mitchell and Smith O'Brien. This, however, soon disappeared on the prompt and bloodless suppression of the revolt by the policemen of Ballingary. The Imperial Navigation Laws were repealed, and Canadian commerce emancipated from the " differential duties " by which it had been fettered. The completion of the St. Lawrence canals furnished great facilities for internal traffic, of which the commercial classes were not slow in taking advantage. One of the earliest acts of the Baldwin-Lafontaine administration, on the meeting of Parliament, January -eighteenth, 1849, was the introduction of the "Kebellion Losses Bill." It authorized the raising of XI 00,000 by debentures for indemnifying those persons in Lower Canada whose property had been destroyed by the rebels in the unhappy events of 1837, and for whom no pro- vision had been made in the bill of 1846, introduced by the Draper ministry. The measure was vehemently denounced by the Oppo- sition, as being actually a premium to rebellion, as parties • who had been implicated in the revolt might, under its provisions, receive compensation for losses sustained. It was also contended that it was an injustice to Upper Canada to charge this payment on the consolidated fund of the country, inasmuch as the upper province contri- buted her own proportion to that fund, and would thus in part be discharging an obligation belonging exclusively to Lower Canada, It was answered in reply to the first objection, that all persons convicted of participating in the rebellion were definitely excluded from the provisions of the Act ; 14 J02 THE BILL VIOLENTLY OPPOSED. [1849.- \\ "1 and in reply to the second, that the Upper Canadian rebellion losses had also ht^.n defrayed out of the same consolidated fund by th administration, whose policy the present Government was only carrying out. But these arguments availed not. " No pay to rebels " was the popular cry. The excitement became intense, and even led to a disaffection akin to that which was so vehemently denounced. A British North 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 the United States — rash words, which became the occasion of the taunt of disloyalty from their opponents. The ministry, however, sustained by a sti'ong majority in both Houses, detennined to face the stonn ; and the- passage of the bill was made the condition by the French members of their .support of the Government. By a vote of forty-eight to thirty-two, it passed the Assembly, and soon received the assent of the Legislative Council. The intelligence of this vote caused intense excitement throughout the country. In Toronto, Messrs. Baldwin, Blake, and Mackenzie, the last mentioned of whom had just returned to the country a pardoned refugee, were l>urned in effigy. The house where Mackenzie lodged, and those of Dr. Rolph and George Brown, were attacked and. damaged. It was thought that Lord Elgin, intimidated by the violent opposition manifested, would not ventui-e to give his assent to the bill, but would either veto it or reserve it for the consideration of the Home Government. This latter course would probably have been the better, as allowing time for the popular excitemenfc to become allayed. But however violent the minority opposed to- the bill, however high and influential their position, the ministry by which it was proposed commanded the majority of both branches of the legislature and the con- fidence of the country. To veto the bill, therefore, would be to become a partizan Governor, and perhaps to- icindie the flames of civil war. The French, denied the Ir*i9.] THE PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS BURNKD. 203 reer ; the ladies and members fled into the lobby. A ruffian seated himself in the Speaker's chair, and shouted, •'The French parliament is dissolved." The work of destruction went on. Chandeliers were shattered, the members' seats and desks broken and piled in the middle of the floor, and the Speaker's mace carried off". The cry of " Fire ! " was raif ed. The flames, kindled by the incendiary mob, raged furiously. The members strove in vain to save the public records. Sir Allan McNab succeeded in rescuing the portrait of Her Majesty, which «:03t £500. 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 bill : but who shall estimate the reproach brought upon the fair fame of the country by this lawless vandalism ? - tt 204 LORD ELGIN ASSAULTED. [1849. The rioters, having carried off the mace, proceeded to attack the office of the Pilot new8pa])er. The next night they wrecked the house of the premier, Mr. Lafontaine, and attacked the dwellings of Messrs. Baldwin, Cameron, Hincks, Holmes, Wilson, and Dr. Wolfred Nelson. They were only prevented from assaulting the Legisla- tive Assembly, which had taken refuge in the old Government House, by the bayonets of a strong guard of military. The Assembly, by a large majority, passed resolutions approving of the action of the Governor ; which, however, were strongly resisted by Sir Allan McNab and the Opposition. The same day a turbulent meeting 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 Go vernor- General. Three hundred an«l fifty persons, mostly of some local importance, signed a manifesto declaring that annexation to the United States way the only remedy for the political and commercial condition of the country. This, of course, was a mere outburst of pai*tizan feeling. On the thirtieth of April, four days after the out- break. Lord Elgin drove to town to receive an address from the Assembly. He was greeted with showers of stones in the streets. On his return he was again attacked, his aide-de camp wounded, and every panel of his carriage shattered. The premier's house was again violently assailed, nor did the rioting cease till a volley of musketry intimidated the mob and unfortunately killed one man. Parliament sat no more in Montreal. This outbreak of mob violence drove it from the city, and it has never since returned. Deputations from Quebec and Toronto requested its removal to their respective cities. Mr. John A. Macdonald moved that Kingston become again the capital. Ottawa was also proposed, but it 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. In consequence of the public censure of his acts. Lord Elgin tendered his resignation to the Imperial authorities ; but the Queen and the Home Government expressed 1849.] THE BILL SUSTAINED. 205 their approval of his course, and requested his continuance in office. The Rebellion Losses Bill was sustained by both Houses of the Imperial parliament; and Lord Elgin, assured of the personal favour of his sovereign and advanced a step in the peerage, continued to administer the government, and in time won the esteem of even his most bitter opponents. CHAPTER XXX. THE RAILWAY ERA. I : II fJ m 1860. Pu}itical and commercial emancipation of Canada. Rapid progress caused by Reciprocity with tlie United States, Railway and Steamship Enterprises, and Municipal Institutions. Parliament meets in Toronto, May 14th. Division of opiuicHi in the Reform party on the Clergy Reserve question. ;1851. Postal refoi-m— Northern Railway begun. Joseph Howe agitates the Intercolonial Railway scheme— Canada at the World's Fair. Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways projected. Retirement of Robert Baldwin from the Ministry— Francis Hinckn becomes Premier — His fiscal policy. .1852. Montreal devastated by fire. Quebec becomes the Seat of Government. Incorporation of Grand Trunk Railway Company— Its financial policy. Municipal Loan Fund Act. Increased representation. Financial state of the country.. North American on a new era — to The period of From the year 1850, the British colonies may be said to have entered have reached their political manhood tutelage, of government 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 responsible government was vindicated in the colonies. The British Government reserved only the right of disallowing any acts of legislation opposed to Imperial interests, and on the other hand assumed the burden of colonial defence. Canada was thus one of the most lightly taxed and favourably situated countries in the world, and offered great inducements to the influx of i;apital and immigration, and soon entered upon a career of remarkable prosperity. By the repeal of the Navigation Laws and of differen- tial duties, the last commercial restrictions were broken down, commercial independence was attained, the colonies were permitted to trade freely with any part of the world, to import as they pleased, subject to a tariff fixed by 1850.] PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY. 207 Hineks ^themselves, and to develop liome manufactures and tome •enterprises as they saw fit. Commercial reciprocity with the United States caused .-an immense development of international trade, and largely increased the value of every acre of land, of every bushel of wheat, and of every head of cattle in the country. A gi'eat impetus was also given to ship-build- ing, to milling and manufacturing interests, to stock raising, wool growing, and cloth weaving, to the construc- tion of agricultural implements, and to every other branch of industry. This prosperity was still further increased by the extra- ordinary development of Canadian railway enterprises, and the consequent opening up of new parts of the country and increased facilities for travel and transport throughout its •entire extent. The large employment of labour and the •expenditure of immense amounts of money in construct- ing the various railways also greatly stimulated enterprise. Facilities for trade were still further increased by the estab- lishment of the transatlantic line of steamships. Quebec and Montreal were thus brought within speedy and regulai- communication with Great Britain, to the immense com- .mercial advantage of those cities. The introduction and rapid extension of telegraphic communication also greatly facilitated the transaction of business. The establishment of municipal institutions created an intelligent interest in the local management of public affiiirs, a,nd stimulated a spirit of local enterprise and improvement. The legalizing of municipal loan funds, the formation of joint stock -companies and expansion of banking institution '^. 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 prosperity and causes of popular discontent ; the consolidation of the legal code simolified the adminis- tration of justice ; and the thorough organization of the public school system and growth of newspaper and publishing enterprise contributed to the difi'usion of general intelligence. These important subjects must nov be alluded to some- what more in detail. 208 eiiERGY RESEBVE DISCUSSIOlf. [185G. ( In 1850 the seat of government was transferred to Toronto. The first appearance of the Governor-General in the upper province was made the occasion of the exhibition of some political animosity ; but the urbanity of his manner and the integrity of his conduct disarmed resentment, conciliated popular favour, and at length won warm esteem. On the assembly of the l^slature, May fourteenth, there was the promise of a quiet session. Warned by recent experience of the disastrous results of violent partizanship, bath political parties Beemed disposed to a truce, and avoided exciting topics, and acrimonious, debate. Mr. Papineau, indeed, resumed his advocacy of an elective Legislative Council, but this was only con- sistent with his life-long policy. The discussion of the clergy reserve question waa renewed outside of the House, piincipally in the joum&ls; of the advanced Reform party, the chief of which were^^ the Glohe and Exarmner o£ Toronto. The older and more moderate Reformers, of whom Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Lafontaine may be regarded as types, opposed the re-opening of this question, and sought to maintain the- settlement of the subject that had been effected by parliament during Lord Sydenham's administration. Another section of the Reform party which was rapidly rising into influence wished for their entire seculariza- tion. A division in the ranks of the party thus took place, which led to the retii*ement of some of its ablest, members. Meanwhile, the material progress of the country was ^j^Ki rapid. The transfer of the management of the post oflSce department was followed by increased postal facilities and the reduction of letter rates, a v~!i- form letter tariff of threepence per half ounce being introduced. The magnificent systeui of internal naviga- tion, by means of the Canadian lakes, rivers and canals, was increased in value by lighthouses and other im- provements, and was soon to be largely supplemented by an extensive railway system. The first sod of the- Noi*thern Railway of Canada — the pioneer of Canadian railway enterprises, except a short section in Lower Canada — was turned amid imj)osing ceremonies by Lady ^"•Nfm. [1850. 1851.] RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT. 20^ im- Elgin; and by the construction of the road a most important agricultural country was opened up. The importance, from a military point of view, of an intercolonial railway between the maritime provinces, and Canada had been pointed out by Lord Durham, and its construction had been a favourite scheme of succes- sive Governments. The difficulty and expense of tho undertaking, however, were so great that the ImperiaP authorities declined to guarantee a pi*ovincial loan for- the purpose. In 1850 a railway convention was held at Portland, out of which grew the project of the European and North American Railway, connecting Halifax and St. John with Portland and the railway system of the United States. Joseph Howe, an energetic and patriotic Nova Scotia editor and political leader, threw himself, with characteristic enthusiasm, into these railway projects. Sustained by the public opinion of his province, he went to England to urge upon the Imperial Government the- construction of an intercolonial road. His energy and eloquence made a very favourable impression aa to the^ Importance of the undei-taking, and of the immense and valuable undeveloped resources of the country — which was increased by the very creditable exhibit of the British North American provinces at the World's Fair of 1851, successfully projected by the late Prince- Consort. A convention was called at Toronto by Lord Elgin ta settle the shares and responsibilities to be borne by the several provinces in this great undertaking. The Im- perial guarantee, without which no loan could be raised for such a gigantic project, could not be obtained, and the b«*ieme, for the time, fell through. Each province was left to carry out separate enterprises of railway con- struction. In the province of Canada, the Grand Trunk line, connecting the lakes with tide water, and the Great Western Railway, connecting at the Niagara and Detroit Rivers with the railway systems of the United States,, were r< garded as of more practical utility than one to the maritime provinces. Into the Grajid Trunk scheme- Mr. Francis Hincks threw himself with characteristic energy, and the Great Western Railway was actively^ I '■ 1^ < *• 4 •2d0 RE0RGANIZATION OF THE CABINET. [1851. promoted by Sir A.llan McNab and others in the upper province. The growing intimacy of commercial relations between Oanada and the United States was the occasion of a grand international fete at Boston, September, 1851, at which the most cordial sentiments of mutual peace and good-will found utterance. Lord Elgin, especially, won laurels for himself, and cemented the bonds of unity between the two countries by the happy eloquence of his speech and by the genial courtesy of his manners. The growing political influence of what might be called the extreme wing of the Reform ,party, popularly designated the " Clear Grits," from their supposed intense Tadicalism, led to a reorganization of the cabinet. Mr. Robert Baldwin, in accordance with his constitutional principles, had already retired from office on being out- voted on a measure connected with the Court of Chancery. In the new cabinet Dr. Rolph, the former rebel and now pardoned refugee, and Malcolm Cameron, another "advanced Reformer," found places. Mr. Hincks became premier by light of his predominant influence in the ministry, and entered upon that fiscal policy which at once so greatly aided the development of the country and increased its financial burdens. A general election resulted, in which several old and honoured members of the Reform party were rejected, and several new men were introduced. Robert Baldwin was defeated in York, jand William Lyon Mackenzie was returned for Haldi- mand — striking indications of the change which had come over the party. During the following summer, a terrible fire devasvited 18^2 a large portion of Montreal, chiefly the wooden tenements of the French population, and rendered ten thousand of the inhabitants homeless. A generous outburst of sympathy and of practical beneficence was evoked throughout the provinces by this disaster, in which all classes, irrespective of race, or creed, or party, joined. Quebec now became for four years tro seat of govern- jnent. Parliameiit met in the old historic capital on the sixteenth of August, and Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald became Speaker of the I«egislative Assembly. During a v.-^»^.,.. 1852.] THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY. 211 upper unity of his busy session of three months, one hundred and niuety- 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. Among the most important of these was the Act incorporating the Grar J Trunk Railway, one of the longest roads under one management in the world. The bonds of the company received the guarantee of the province to the extent of £3000 sterling per mile, and a further grant of £40,000 for every £100,000 expended by the company. Thus, during the construction of the road, a sum of $16,000,000 was added to the liabilities of the country, and in four- teen years the indebtedness to the government of the Grand Trunk Railway, including unpaid interest, was $23,000,000. This increase of the provincial liabilities, however, was more than compensated indirectly by the immense impetus given to the internal development of the country, the increased value of real estate, and the facilities for transport and travel furnished to the public. As a tinancial operation the building of the road was disastrous to the English shareholders, its stock having always ruled very low on 'Change. The great cost of construc- tion and of maintenance, tiie severity of the winters, and, especially at first, the lack of remunerative local traffic and travel, and competition with the through lines from the West to the seaboard, and, during the summer, with the lake and river water carriage, all con- spired to greatly reduce its profits. 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 T^nabled municipalities to obtain money for local improve- ments, 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 ot their inability to meet their engagements, fell upon the ^M 212 !l . JJ \ PUBUC FINANCES. [1852. government. The expenditure under this scheme, and its extension to Lower Canada, soon increased the public debt b} the amount of nearly ten millions. During this session, by the Parliamentary Representa- tion Act, the number of members of the Assembly was raised from eighty-four to one hundred and thirty, sixty- tive for each province, and the representation was more equitably distributed territorially. Among the other subjects of parliamentary discussion were the abolition of seigniorial tenure, the introduction of decimal cun'ency, and the establishment of a line of ocean steamers between Quebec and Idverpool — all of which were subsequently carried into effect. The finances of the country, notwithstanding its growing expenditure, exhibited remarkable elasticity, the surplus of the year being nearly $1,000,000.* Canadian securities bearing six per cent, interest were quoted at a premium of sixteen per cent, on the London Stock Exchange. The heavy interest account resulting from the legislation of this session, however, soon reduced the surplus to zero, and led to a series of annual deficits that greatly lowered the value of Canadian secu- rities in the money market. * The revenue for the year was 93,976,706 ; the •zpenditure, $3^059,081 the surplus, |917,625. J CHAPTER XXXI. IMPORTANT LEGISLATION. 1853. The Gavazzi riots at Quebec and Montreal. Waning influence of the Hincks Administration— Personal charges against the Premier. 1854. Recipbocitt Trkaty concluded, June 5th— Its conditions and resiJts. The ministry defeatud— Appeals to the country— Dissolution of parlia- ment and general election. The Hincks Ministry forced to resign. The McNab-Morin Coalition Cabinet formed— State of parties. The Sbcularizatiox or the Clbroy Reserves. The Aboution of Seioniorial Tenure. Encouragement of Immigration— Incorporation of Canada Steamship Company. Resignation of Lord Elgin — His subsequent tareer and death. Retirement of Mr. Hincks. The Crimean War— Battle of the Alma— Canadian sympathy. Two prominent subjects of public interest continued to provoke warm discussion in the political press — the settle- ment of the seigniorial tenure and clergy reserve ques- tions. The latter subject was formally surrendered to the Canadian parliament for legislation, by the Home Government, May ninth, 1853. The life interests of the existing claimants on the reserves were, however, in accordance with Lord Sydenham's Act, to be strictly protected. In Montreal and Quebec, the great commercial cities of Lower Canada, the Protestant and Roman Catholic population had dwelt together side by side, for the most part, in peace and harmony since the conquest. What- ever interruptions of concord had taken place, arose rather from political than religious differences. An un- happy occurrence now took place, which led to a break in this harmony, and was the occasion of a good deal of acrimony. Father Gavazzi, an Italian priest, who had become a convert to Protestantism, was lecturing at Quebec on the topics of controversy between the two Churches. His impassioned eloquence excited the an- tagonism of his former co-religionists, who assailed the I 1 ,H 214 OA^'AZZI RIOTS. [1853, church in which he was speakin^^, and violently dispersed fche congregation, June sixth. Thi-ee days subsequently, while Gavazzi was addressing an audience in Zion Church, Montreal, a riot took phce, in which it was averred that pistol shots were exchanged between the persons outside and those inside of the church. A strong body of police and military were unable to pre- serve the peace, and as the audience was dispersing as rapidly as possible, the mayor of the city, Mr. "Wilson, a Roman Catholic gentleman, who seems to have com- pletely lost his head on the occasion, unhappily gave the order to fire on the crowd. By the volley five persons were slain, and othere wounded. This tragical occun-ence caused intense excitement throughout the country. As the Government failed to make any very rigorous investigation into the affair, the Protestant population strongly denounced the Hincks administration, and transferred their allegiance to Mr. Brown, who was regarded as the most eminent champion of Protestantism in the Assembly. Other indications of the waning popularity of the ministry were not wanting. The delay in dealing with the long vexed clergy reserve question was a strong ground of dissatisfaction with a large and growing section of the Reform party. Charges of personal coiTuption, of employing his official influence for the advantage of himself and his friends in the purchase of city deben- tures and public lands, were freely made against Mr. Hincks, and materially lessened his popularity and that of his Government. The Conservative Opposition was now strengthened by the adhesion of many of the advanced Reform party, of whom Mr. Brown and Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie may be regarded as conspicuous examples. The subject of international reciprocity between ,Qt i Canada and the United £ js had 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 approaching completion. Lord Elgin, having first gone tc England to promote the scheme, proceeded to Washington as the special envoy of the 1854,] THE RECIPROCITY TREATV. 2irv Lon wa8 Imperial Grovemment, to close the treaty. It was signed on the fifth of June, 1854, by Lord Elgin and the Hon. W. L. Marcy, as representatives of their respective countries. It provided for the free interchange of the products of the sea, the soil, the forest, and the mine. The waters of 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 foj'ce few 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 im - portant stimulus to every branch of productive industry. The maritime 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. The ministry, conscious of waning influence, and anxious to take advantage of any possible 6clat arising from the consummation of the reciprocity treaty, deferred the opening of parliament to the thirteenth of June. During the recess the old parliament building at Quebec' had been destroyed by fire, and the war against liussia had been declared. These events were noticed in the speech from the throne, and also a proposed reduction of Canadian duties and extension of the elective franchise ; but not a word was said about those absorbing themes — the clergy reserves and the seigniorial tenure. The Opposition, led by Sir Allan McNab and Mr. John A. Macdonald, deteimined, if possible, to defeat the ministry on the address in reply to the Governor's speech. Mr. Cauchon mo^'ed an amendment expressing censure of the Government for the delay in the settlement of the seignio- rial tenure and clergy reserve questions; and the ministers found themselves beaten by a majority of thirteen in a House of seventy-one, June twenty-first. The defeated ministry, iii the hope of increasing their following, re » 1"' t ^ ■r 1 , i i^V v;: i : 1 pp "fc , ^K .*■{ IR ;f 1 mi 1 216 DEFEAT OF THE HINOKS MINISTRY. [1854. solved to appeal to the country, and the following day Lord Elgin came down in state and prorogued the House, with a view to its immediate dissolution, although not a single bill had been passed. The dissolution of parliament was soon proclaimed, -and writs were issued for a new election. The premier, Mr. Hincks, was returned for two constituencies — Ren- frew and South Oxford ; but Mr. Brown was elected member for Lambton by a large majority over Mr. Malcolm Cameron, the Postmaster^General. The Reform party was now openly divided, and the leading Reform papers — the Globe, Examiner, North American, and Mackenzie's Message — strove vigorously to lessen the strength of the ministry. On the assembling of the new parliament, September fifth, it was evident that ■they had succeeded. Mr. George Etienne Cartier, the ministerial candidate for Speaker, was defeated by a union of the Conservative Opposition and a section of the Reform party. The breach in the once solid Reform phalanx was now complete. The ministry still hoped that their liberal programme of legislation for the session, including a proposition to nake the Upper House elective, and at length to deal with the seigniorial tenure and clergy reserve questions, would prolong their term of office. They were, however, destined to disappointment. On the opening of parliament, a question of privilege arose. The Attorney-General for Lower Canada re- quested twenty-four hours for consideration. The House refused the request. Dr. Rolph, a member of the ministry, voting with the Opposition. Mr. Hincks and his col- leagues had now no alternative but to resign. Their parliamentary influence, however, was still greater than that of either of the parties opposed to them, separately, by the combination of which they were thrust from power. When Sir Allan McNab was called on to form a new ministry, he made overtures to the ujembers of the •defeated administration for the formation of a coalition Government, on the basis of the policy already an- nounced in the speech from the throne. The carrying «ut of this policy the country demanded, and no Govern- 1854.] COALITION GOVERNMENT FORMED. 217 ment which refused it could hope for popular support The new ministry included among it ^ members Sir Allan McNab, President of the Council ; Mr. John A. Mac donald, Mr. William Cay ley, Mr. Robert Spence, and Mr. Chaveau ; and represented both the Conservative and Reform elements of the House. Many suppoi-ters of the old administration, however, went into opposition, together with that Reform section by whose aid it harl been overthrown. The new ministers had, of course, to return to their constituencies for reelection. They were strongly opposed by extreme politicians of both parties, but were all re- turaed to parliament. The position of parties, when the ministers resumed their seats, mav be brietiv described as follows : — Tho Conservative parties of Upper and Lower Canada, which had previously been separated by local differences, were now consolidated under the joint leadenship of Sir Allan McNab and Mr. Morin, and were reenforced by a considerable section of the Reform party, led by Mr. Hincks. The Opposition consisted of a reuinant of the old miuisterial party, led by Mr. John Sandfield Mac- donald ; the Rouges, or Liberal party of Lower Canada, under the ieadei*ship of Mr, Dorion ; and the Reform •section, popularly known as " Clear Grits," who regarded Mr. Brown as their chief, and the Globe newspaper, now become a powerful political organ, as the exponent of their opinions. The policy of the Government, however, included measures for which the Reform party had long contended. Prominent among these was one for the secularization of the clergy reserves. A bill was therefore promptly brought forward for that purpose. By the bill previously introduced by the Draper administration for the settle- ment of this question, the vast revenue arising from these reserves, at first claimed exclusively foi the Cnurch of England, was proposed to be divided with the Church of Scotland and other denominations in proportion to their private contributions to the support of their clergy. But the principle of the voluntary support of the ministry by the people, which h^ led to the Free Church secession in Scotland in 1S43, and which had been previously held 15 ■*1 i m .■ If 218 SEIGNIORIAL TENURE ABOLISHED. [1854. by other dissenting bodies, was widely prevalent through- out Canada. The Government, therefore, although many of their supporters were opposed to the 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 endowment, and this long-vexed ques- tion was settled for ever : the principle of the perfect religious equality 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 condi- tions greatly retarded the progress of the country. This system was a legacy from the old French rSgime. Much of the land of New France had been granted to scions of noble liouses, 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 condi- tions became oppressively felt, especially that requirirg the payment of one-twelfth of the purchase price of the land to the seignior at every sale, and the vexatious milling and fishing dues and other conditions of Tassalage imposed on the tenants. The value of these seigniorial claimK' 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 censltaires or small land-holders, in consideration of the exemptions about to be granted them. The entire expenditure 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 vestage of the feudal system in the New World. Measures were also adopted by the Government foi- the encoui'agement of immigration ; quarantine stations and hospitals were established, ^d agents appointed for • See page 48, y V 1854.] RETIBEMENT OF LOUD ELOIK. 219 furnishing authentic information, obtaining land grants, and generally assisting immigrants on their arrival on our shores. 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 plough the ocean. Direct trade with Great Britain has been greatly stimu- lated, and the city of Montreal has been made one of the great seaports of the world. On the eighteenth of December parliament adjourned, and the following day Lord Elgin resigned the governor- ship of the province. He had won the lasting esteem and admiration of a people who had been 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 missions in China and Japan. As the highest gift of the «rown, 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. Mr. Hincks also retired from Canadian public life. He returned to England, and received the appointment of Governor of the Windward West India Islands, and, in recognition of his distinguished public services, the honour of knighthood. The gallant struggle of the Allied Armies against the hosts of Russia, now in progress, evoked the enthusiastic loyalty of both Canadas. England, in conjunction with France and Turkey, felt constrained to oppose the Rus- sian invasion of the Danubian principalities, and the forcing of a humiliating treaty on the Sultan of the Otto- man Empire. The glorious but dear-bought victory of the Alma became the occasion for the practical expres- sion of their sympathy in the grant of £20,000 for the benefit of the widows and orphans of the fallen heroes of those gory slopes, dyed with the best blood of three allied nations. The invading armies now undertook the siege of Sebas- topol, which had boen enormously strengthened, and made U.I h i\ EA m -ai I '' 220 tHE CRIMEAN WAR. [185*. one of the most formidable fortifications in the world. But the frosts and snows of winter proved mOi^e terrible than the Russian sword. Disease, exposure, and the toil in the trenches, wasted the allied armies to a frightful extent. The Aberdeen ministry, under which gross mili- tary mismanagement and neglect occurred, was compelled to resign, and Lord Palmerston was summoned to the helm of state, in order to guide the imperilled fortunes of the country. The flower of the English army perished in this disastrous siege, with its frequent sorties and bat ties ', and many a British home was called to mourn the appalling desolations caused by the Crimean war. t CHAPTER XXXII. THE COALITION MINISTRY. 1855. Hir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General. A busy Parliamentary Session — Militia Organization. Close of the Crimean Was— Bejoicinga throughout Canada. Financial prosperity of the country. 1866. Parliament meets at Toronto— Sir Allan McNab resigns leadershitl to Mr. John A. Macdonald— Sketch of new Premier's career. The Leoislative Council hade Elective— Its Constitution. The Desijardins' Canal Tragedy. 1857. The Burning of the Montreal. Chinese War and Indian Mutiny— Canadian sympathy. Severe Comherctal Crisis. 1858. Geneial Election— Reform majority in Upper Canada. The " Double-Majority" principle abandoned. Demand for " Representation by Population." Sketch of Mr. Geoiige Brown's career and character. Sir Edmund "Walker Head, the successor of Lord Elgin ^o^K as Governor-General of Canada, was a gentleman of distinguished scholarship, a prizeman and fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and a man of considerable ad- ministrative ability. His first diplomatic appointment was that of Governor of New Brunswick, from which he was promoted to the position of Governor-General of British North America. In the coalition ministry, during recess, Messrs. Cau- chon, Cartier, and Lemieux succeeded Messrs. Morin, Chaveau, and Chabot. The large and solid majority of the ministry exempted it from the effects of party skir- mishing, and from the necessity of strategic tactics. A large amount of important legislation, represented by no less than two hundred and fifty-one bills, was transacted. Prominent among these was a new Militia Act, which provided for the organization of efficiently equipped and officered volunteer corps. As a result of this Act, the previously existing paper army of sedentary militia gave place to the gallant citizen soldiery which at Ridgeway and Frelighsburg protected our frontier with their lives .and blood. a 222 FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. [1855. m I .1 During the winter the tragic tale of siege and sortie, of frost and fire, of sickness and sufiering and death in the hospitals, can^s and trenches before Sebastopol, thrilled the souls of British patriots around the world, and no- where more than throughout the length and breadth of Canada. In almost every town £Mid 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 Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol became memories of imperishable power, and kindled beacon-fires of joy throughout the land, from^ the rock-built citadel of Quebec to the remote villages on the shores of Lake Huron. The financial prosperity of Canada after the emancipa- tion of her trade in 1849 was very great. In 1854 the customs duties, Lt the average rate of twelve per cent., had amounted to nearly five millions, and the total public revenue to over six millions, while the expenditure was only a little over four millions. The railway legislation had, however, added twenty-one millions to the public debt, which, in the year 1 855, had risen to the verge of thirty-nine millions. The seat of government was again removed to Toronto, yoKfi where parliament was opened on the fifteenth of February. The speech from the throne announced that a large amount of money accruing from clergy reserve lands was awaiting disbursement among the municipali- ties; that the contract had been closed for the establish- ment of the Canadian transatlantic steamship line ; and that certain legislative i-eforms would be brought under the notice of the House, including the old constitutional q^uestion of an elective Legislative Council. It also con- gratulated the country on the peace and prosperity whicL it enjoyed, while other portions of the world were racked; with the throes of \^ ar. The debate on tlie ad'dress was keen and acrimonious. The address, however, was carried by a considerable majority ; yet the increased strength of the Opposition indicated the waning influence of the administration of Sir A.llan McNab. That gentleman was induced to- resign, in order to make wcy for the more brilliant leadership of the acting Attorney-General, Mx. John A. Macdonald. .^"Nwfc.i^, 1856.J CAREER OF MR. JOHN A. MACDONALD. 223 Mr. Macdonald, who subsequently filled so prominent a position in Canadian politics, was born in Sutherland- shire, Scotland, in 1815. His parents soon after removed to Canada, and settled in Kingston, Ontario. Having studied law in that city, Mr. Macdonald was admitted to the bar in 1836, in his twenty-first year. He first prominently attracted public notice in 1839, by his bril- liant defence of Von Schultz, the Polish exile, who was executed with nine others, American raiders, captured at the battle of Windmill Point, Prescott. In 1844, he was elected to the representation of Kingston in the parliament of the united Canadas, which city he has ever since continued to represent in the councils of his country. On the resignation of the Hincks adminis- tration, in 1854, he became a member of the coalition ministry by which it was succeeded, and was now recog- nized as the leader of the Conservative party of Upper Canada. With a considerable degree of administrative skill, he combined a large amount of political tact and sagacity. Through his genial manners he exercises a remarkable personal influence over those with whom he comes in contact, amounting sometimes almost to a fascination. Under this Conservative Government was passed a measure for which the Reform party had long striven, and which tlieii* opponents had resolutely resisted. This was the Act making the Legislative Council an elective body. Existing members were allowed to retain their seats for life ; but twelve members were to be elected biennially, to hold office for the term of eight years. This system was relinquished under the Confederation Act, but a strong feelincr is entertained in favour of its resto- ration. Important measures of law reform were also enacted during this parliamentary session. This year a dreadful railway tragedy, the first of the kind which had ever happened in Canada, caused a thrill of horror throughout the country. On the twelfth of March, a passenger train proceeding from Toronto to Hamilton plunged through an open drawbridge into the Desjardins* Canal. Seventy persons were killed, among them Mr. Zimmerman, a leading capitalist, and some of our most prominent citizens. ' ti V^ 224 COMMERCIAL CRISIS. I! il- '^i ! -! fP [1857. 1857 The following yiear, June twenty-sixr/h, a still more terrible disaster occuiTed on the Lower St. Law- rence. The steamer Mcnitreal, with two hundred and fifty-eight Scottish emigrants on board, took fire opposite Cape Rouge, near Quebec, and burned to the water's edge. Two hundred and fifty lives were lost by this tragedy. The continuance of the Chinese war and the outbreak of the Sepoy mutiny, taxed to the utmost the force of Britain's arms, and called forth the intense sympathy of Her Majesty's Canadian subjects. The awful massacre of Cawnpore sent a pang of anguish throughout the empire, which was followed by a throb of exultation on the heroic relief of Lucknow. The names of the veteran Outram, the gallant Campbell, the chivalric Lawrence, the saintly Havelock, were added to our country's bead- roll of immortal memories, to be to her sons an inspira- tion to patriotism, to piety and to duty, for ever. 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. This was aggravated by the over importing and rash speculations in stocks and real estate which had been stimulated by the abundant expenditure of money i.i railway enterprises. When the crisis came many of the strongest mercantile houses fell before it. The inflated prices of stocks and real estate came tumbling down, and many who thought themselves rich for life were reduced to insolvency. The stagnation in trade caused a great falling off in the public revenue. The Government had to assume the payment of the interest on the railway advances and the Municipal Loan Fund debt, amounting respectively to $800,000 and $400,000 annually. The consequence was a deficit in the public balance sheet for the year of $340,000. The rapid development of the natural re- sources of the country, and the elasticity of public credit, however, were such that, under the Divine blessing, pros- perity soon returned to cown with gladness the industry of the merchant, the artizan, and the husbandman. .iiri »> if 1857.] " DOUBLE-MAJORITY " ABANDONED. 225 The country had at length grown tired of the expense and inconvenience of the removal of the seat of govern- ment, every four years, from Quebec to Toronto, or vice mrsa. On account of local jealousies and sectional in- terests, however, the representatives of the two provinces could not agree upon any permanent seat of government. Both Houses of parliament, therefore, passed resolutions esquely 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 posi- tion, and one of great strength and security in case of invasion. The disappointment, howerar, of several Cana- dian cities, which had aspired to the dignity of becoming iiie capital, caused considerable dissatisfaction in their respective neighbourhoods. Taking 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 antagonism to the sovereign. The ministry, indentifying their cause with hers, promptly resigned, and immediately won a large amount of public sympathy. Mr. Brown, as leader of the Oi>position, 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 intelligence,* failed to command a majority of the House. Many of the members repented their rash votp 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 countiy ; but this His Excellency declined to grant, alleging that the House, being newly elected, must reflect the popular will. The ministry therefore resigned, after a tenure of office of only two days. The action of the Governor-General, however, gave serious umbrage to a large section of the Reform f)arty, and his subsequent course was subject to much adverse criticism. Mr. George E. Cartier was now invited to construct a calnnet. This, with the aid of Mr. John A. Macdonald^ he succeeded in doing, f * Its members were Messrs. George Brown, James Morris, Michael Foley, John Sandfleld Macdonald, Oliver Mowat, and Dr. Conner, for Upi^er Canada ; aud for Lower Canada, Messrs. Dorion, Drummond, Thibaudeati, Lemieux, ffoltou and Laberge. f It comprised Messrs. John A. Macdonald, Jehn Ross, P. Vaulcoughnet, CJ. Sherwood and Sidney Smith, for Upper Canada ; and Messrs. Cartier, Gait, Rose, Relleau, Sicotte and AUeyn, for Lower Canadw. m 230 THE CARTIER-HACDONALD ItlNISTRY. [1858. :li ills 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 con- stituents for reelection. 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 de- nounced by the Reform 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 after rescinded. Among the legislative measures of the session were Acts raising the customs duty from twelve to fifteen per cent., introducing the decimal system of currency, and defining the privileges of the franchise. During the summer the pioneer Atlantic telegraph cable linked to- gether in wondrous fellowship the Old World and the New ; but scarcely had the Queen's message of congratu- lation to the President of the United States flashed beneath the ocean's bed, when communication was inter- >nipted, and the permanent union, by the electric wire, of the eastern and "v^^estern continents was for some time longer postponed. The loyalty of Canada to the British throne was evi> denced by the enthusiasm with which her sons volun- teered for enlistment in the Hundredth or Prince of Wales' Regiment for the regular army. In this year also the provincial university of Upper Canada entered Upon a new career of prosperity, by the occupation of the magnificent buildings erected for its accommodation. With the close of the year passed away one of Canada's purest patriots, the Honourable Robert Baldwin, to whose memory the rival political parties of the country vied in paying respect. The legislation of the parliamentary session which iQKQ opened on January twenty-ninth, embraced several important acts. One of these referred to the con- solidation of the 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 ^m^ 1859.] BEFORH CONVENTION. 231 in the revenue, the general rate of customs duties was advanced to twenty per cent.; but manufticturers were increasingly favoured by the admission of raw staples free of duty. The seat of goverii^^ent question was finally set at rest by the authorization of the construction of parliament buildings of a magnificent character at the selected capital. A loyal address to Her Majesty was cordially voted, conveying a pressing invitation that the Queen or some member of the royal family should visit the country and formally open the Victoria Railway Bridge at Montreal, which was now approaching com- pletion. The announcement was made to parliament by the Governor-Greneral^ that the project of a union of the British Noi-th American provinces had been the subject of a correspondence with the Home Government. At a great RefoiTa gathering held in Toronto in November, resolutions were passed tending to the same result, and asserting the necessity for local self-government of the provinces, with a joint central authority. As a result of the new tariff and of an abundant har- vest, the revemie of the year was considerably in excess of the expenditure. Over two thousand miles of railway were now in operation, and were rapidly developing the resources .f the country. The public debt had increased to over fifty-four millions ; but the whole had been in- curred in promoting internal improvement, and none of it for that incubus of man r other countries — the support of fleets or armies. In the neighbouring republic of the United States the approach of the irrepressible conflict between the hostile forces of liberty and slavery was precipitated by the brave but futile invasion of Virginia by John Brown, for the liberation of the bondmen, and by his heroic death upon the scaffold. On the twenty-eighth of February, the Canadian legis- IftfiO 1^*^^® assembled in Quebec, to which city it had for the last time removed. A despatch ^from the Colonial Secretary announced that Her Majesty, unable to leave the seat of the empire, would be i-ej) resented at the opening of the Victoria Bridge by the Prince of Wales. A vote of $20,000 was therefore included in 31 m i; f 1-; 232 THE "JOINT authority" RESOLUTIONS. [I860. the estimates, to give a loyal reception to the heir appa- rent to the throne. During this session Mr. Brown introduced two import- ant resolutions, embodying the conclusions of the Toronto Keform convention of the previous year. Tiie first de- clared " that the existing legislative union of Upper and Lower Canada had failed to realize the anticipations of its promoters ; that it had rasulted in a heavy debt, grave political abuses, and universal dissatisfaction ; and that from the antagonism developed through difference of origin, local interest and other causes, the union in its present form could no longer be continued with advan- tage to the people." The second resolution asserted ^that the true remedy for those evils would be found in the formation of t/vc or more local governments, to which should be committed all matters of a sectional character, and the erection of some joint authority to dispose of the affairs common to all." These resolutions were rejected by the House — the first by a vote of sixty-seven to thirty-six, the second by a vote of seventy-four to thirty-two; but the principles which they expressed, though scorned at the time, were destined to prevail, and to become incorporated in the present constitution of the Dominion. The ministry was sustained during the session by lai'ge majorities, and the House adjourned, May nineteenth, to meet three months later, in order to give a fitting wel- come to the Prince ol Wales. Throughout the country the anticipated visit of the son of our beloved sovereign evoked the most loyal enthusiasm . Every town and village on his proposed route was decked in gala dress. On July twenty-third H. M. Ship Hero, with an accompanying fleet of man-of-war vessels, bearing the Prince of Wales and suite, reached St. John's, New foundland, amid the thundering of cannon and the loyal cheers of the people. The progress of the royal party was a continued ova- tion. After visiting Halifax, St. John, N. B., Fredericton, and Charlottetown, they were welcomed to (^anada by the Governor- General and a brilliant suite at Gasp6, August fourteenth. On the seventeenth the royal fleet sailed up the gloomy gorge of the Saguenay, and the thunders of its cannon awoke the immemorial echoes of the lofty cliffs ^^•Wifh?^. I860.] THE PRINCE OF WALES VISIT. 23::^ of Capes Trinity and Eternity. The following clay tlie Prince reached the capital, ancl was profoundly impiessed with the magnificent site of the many-ramparted and grand old historic city. After receiving a loyal address fron) both branches of the legislature, the royal progress was resumed. On the twentj'^-fifth of the month, amid lh:i utmost ])omp and pageantry, in the name of his august mother, the Prince of Wales drove the last rivet of the magnifi cent bridge that bears her name. Bestriding the ra[>id current of the St. Lawrence, here nearly two miles wide, on four and twenty massive piers — the centre sj)aii being three liundred and thiii^y feet wide and sixty feet abovc^ high water mark — it is one of the gi-andest achievements of engineering skill in the world. It cost over tive mil- lions of dollars, and was designed and brought to com- I)letion by a Canadian engineer, Thomas C. Keefer, anrl the world-renowned bridge builder, Robert Ste}>]ienson. [lluminations an.i fireworks, turning night into day, and a grand carnival of feslivities, celebrated the joyous occasion. At Ottawa, on September the first, amid as imposing and picturesque surroundings as any on the continent, was laid the corner stone of the stately pile, worthy of the ait-e, which was to be the home of the legislature of n great dominion. An overland i-ide to Brockvillo, and a sail through the lovely scenery of the Thousand Islands, brought the royal party to Kingston. Through an un- fortunate contretemps — the exhibition of party enibJems on an arc^ erected by the Orange society — the inha)>itants of both Kingston and Belleville were deprivetl of the pleasure of expressing their loyalty to their future sove- reign. Toronto was surpassed by no city in British JS ortli America in the magnificence of its decorations, the enthu- siasm of its demonstration, and the heartiness of its loyalty. The royal progress through, the western peninsula was accompanied by no less cordial exhibitions of loving feilty to the heir of England's crown. At Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadel- })hia, Baltimore, Washington, New York, and Boston. the Prince of Wales received from a foreign nation a warmth of welcome which }>roved its unforgotten chi- 16 ♦ vd *-.i ?34 FUGITIVE SLAVE EXTRADITION REFUSED. [1860. dll III valric regard toward the heir of a long line of English kings, and its admiration of his royal mother — as woman, wife and queen, the paragon of sovereigns. On October twenty-ninth the royal party sailed from Portland, carry- ing recollections of the warmest hospitality alike from a foreign na' ion and from the subjects of the British crown, accompanied, in the case of the latter, by proofs of the most devoted loyalty to the throne and person of the sovereign. Toward the close of the year the heart of the country was no less nobly stirred, not by homage to a royal prince, but by sympathy for a fugitive slavo. Seven years before, Robert /\ uderson, in making his escape from bondage in Missouri, had slain a man who sought to prevent his llight, After several years' residence in Canada, he was tracked by the slave-catcher, charged with murder, and his extradition demanded under the Ashburton treaty. Legal opinion was divided as to the validity of the de- mand. Intense popular interest was felt in the question, which found expression in enthusiastic public meetings of sympathy for the hunted fugitive. It was argued that in defer* ding himself against recapture to bondage, and to condign pujiiihment and probably a cruel death, he was exercisj.:ig an inpHenable human right. An appeal was made to the English Court of Queen's Bejicli ; but wliile the appeal was pendin,*?, Anderson was set free by a Canadian court on the ground of informality in his committal. In the United States the war clouds were lowering which were soon to deluge the country in blood. The domination of the slave power at length provoked the firm resistance of the North. Abraham Lincoln was elected as the tribune of the friends of liberty. The haughty South refused to bow to this expression of the popular will. First South CaioUna, then other states, seceded from the CJiiion and organii^tid a confederacy based on human slavery. With the close of the year a federal force was besieged in Fort Sumter, guarding Charleston harbour, The first shot tired on the Hag of tlie RepuV)lic rever- -iqp-i ber;itod through the nation. Xorth and South rushed to arms. A royal proclamation, issued May thirteenth, enjoined strict neutrality on all British 1861.] OUTBREAK OF AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. subjects, and recognized the belligerent rights of the South. Such, however, was Canada's sympathy with the North in this war for human freedom — for such it tiltimately proved to be — that before its close fifty thou- sand of her sons enlisted in the Northern armies, and many laid down their lives in costly sacrifice for what they felt to be a holy cause, while comparatively few entered the armies of the South. At the battle of Bull's Run, on the twenty-first of Jnly, were opened the sluices of the deep ton-ent of blood shed in this fratricidal war. For four long years of the nation's agony that gory tide ebbed and flowed over those fair and fertile regions stretching from the valley of the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico, fro n the Atlantic to the Mississippi, carrying sorrow and death into almos: every hamlet in the TTnion, 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 population of Lower Canada in 1841 was 690,782 ; in 1851, 890,261; and in 1861, 1,110,444. The popula- tion of all Canada, it v/ill be seen, amounted in 1861 to 2 506,755. The rate of increase in the upper province had bfien so much greater than that of Lower Canada, tba-t it now had an excess of 285,427 over the population of the latter, yet it had only the same parliamentary representation. This practical injustice lent new energy to the Upper Canadian agitation for representation by population. The feeling of jealousy between the two sections of the pro'/ince led to extravagance of expendi- ture. 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 con- structions in the other. During this year — on the twenty-eighth of August — the restless career of William Lyon Mackenzie came to » ; « 'I ^ 236 RETIREMENT OP SIR EDMUND HEAD^ [18^1% close. He had, to a considerable degree, fallen out of view of a generation familiar only by report with the stirring but ill-guided events in which he bore so promi- nent a part. In the month of October Sir Edmund Walker Head ceased to be Governor-Genei'al of Canada, and returned to Great Britain. With a considerable section of the community his popularity had greatly waned, on account of his alleged sympathy with one of the political parties of the country — an allegation which, if true, was probably more his misfortune than his fault. , ->»^. m CHAPTER XXXIV. m POLITICAL CRISIS. 1861. Lord Monck, Governor-General, October 24tb. Messrs. Slidell and Mason illegally captured from the British steam- ship Trent, November 9th. Their rendition demanded— Threatened outbreak of War— Reenforce- ment of Canada and Loyalty of its Inhabitants. Death of Prince Albert, December 15th. Surrender of Slidell and Mason. 1862. The Government Militia Bill provides for extensive Fortifications. The Bill is defeated, and the Cai-tier-Macdonald Ministry resign. The Macdonald-Sicotte Cabinet formed— Its Policy. Death of Sir Allan McNab and Hon. W. H. Merritt. Commercial prosperity consequent on American war. The Cotton Famine— Canada at the World's Fair. 1863. Defeat of the Ministry— It appeals to the country. Reconstruction of the Cabinet. Political dead-lock — Neither Party has a working majority. American irritation at the AlabavM pira<:ies. Marriage of the Prince of Wales. Lord Monck, the new Governor-General, was the scion of an ancient and honourable Irish family. He repre ijented for some years the English constituency of Ports- mouth in the Imperial parliament, and was ia, Lord of the Treasury under the Palmerston administration. He was sworn into office on the twenty-fourth of October, 1861, and soon had to face a grave international difficulty, in which Great Britain became involved with the United States. On the ninth of November, Captain Wilkes, of the U. S. steamship Jacinto, forcibly carried off from the British mail steamer Trent, Messrs. Slidell and Mason, commissioners 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. The foolish boasting and de- fiance of a large portion of the American press of the North, greatly estranged public sympathy from their cause, both in Canada and Great Britain, or diverted it 238 THE "TRENT" AFFAIR, [186T, 18 II toward the Southern Confederacy, and rendered an out- break of hostilities imminent. While awaiting an answer to the ultimatum sent to the United States, the British Govemment shipped to Canada several regiments of troops, the flower of the army, including the Grenadier and Fusilier Guards and the Irince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade, with immense stores of munitions of war. The navi elation of the St. Lawrence having closed, a portion of he troops came overland throvigh New Brunswick, The country sprang to arms. Volunteer military companies were organized, home guards enrolled, and large sums of money con- tributed 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 noble consort of our beloved and honoured Queen, December fifteenth. The nation's sympathy with the widowed sovereign was profound and sincere. A prudent coun- sellor, a loving husband, a high-minded man, the Queen, after fifteen years of widowhood, continues to mourn his loss with almost the poignancy of her first grief. With the close of the year the war cloud which me- naced the country was dissipated, by tJie surrender of Messrs. Slidell and Mason, the captured commissioners, to the British government. A new parliament met in Quebec on the twenty-first -loao of March — a 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 considerable difficulty. The Imperial authorities, feeling that in case of the rupture of peace Canada v/ould become the battle ground, had devised a comprehensive system of fortification. 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 willing to make any effort for national defence that they thought com- mensurate with their ability, shrank from largely increas- ing their heavy indebtedness by undoi taking military . ^ v'JpNWfci^ 1862.] THE MACDONALD-SICOTTE MINISTRY. 239 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 vigorously sustained, and rifle competitions contributed to the efficiency of the corps ; but the feeling of the country, in opposition to the fortification scheme, found expres- sion in an adverse vote of the House on the ministerial militia bill. The bill was defeated by a vote of sixty-one to fifty- four. The ministry forthwith resigned, and Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald was called upon to form a new cabinet.* Mr. Macdonald, with whom was associated as lea' ^ of the Lower Canadian section of the new ministerial party Mr. Sicotte, announced as the policy of his administration the observance of the double-majority principle in all measures affecting locally either province ; a readjustment of the representation of Upper and Lower Canada respe<^tively, without, however, adopting the prin- ciple of representation by population ; and an increase of revenue and protection of manufactures by a revised cus- toms tariff". He also promised retrenchm»:.nt of public ex- penditure, vigorous departmental reforms, and an amended militia bill instead of the one by which the late Govern- ment had fallen. This comprehensive programme to a large degree wa,s ret-^ived with public favour, but the failure to assert the priiiciple of representation by popula- tion in the readjustment cf seats, was vigorously denounced by the Toronto Globe. The parliamentary rejection of the Macdonald-Cartier militia bill created an impression in Great Britain that the Canadians were unwilling to bear the burden of self- defence — an erroneous conception, which the military enthusiasm of the country during the late Tremt difficulty ought to have prevented. The thorough loyalty of the people was shown by the liberal militia bill of the follow- ing session. In the month of September the Governor-General made a progress through Western Canada, and everywhere won -A >1 < J'j * The new ministry was composed of Messrs. John Siuiilfleld Macdonald, Adam Wilson, Michael Foley, James Morris, William McDongall, and Mr. Howland, for Upper Canada ; and for Lower Canada, Messrs. Sicotte, AI)bot, McGee, Doriuu, Tesaier and Evauturel. 240 COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY OP CANADA. [1862. golden opinions by his frank and affable manners, anK at Quebec. The resolutions on confederation, wl)icl] had been adopted by the Quebec conference of the previous year, were submitted by Sir E. P. Tache n^ the„ Legislative Council, and by the Hon. John A JMacdonald in the Assembly. After protracted debate — tlie repcrt of which tills a volume of over a thousand pages — Mr, Macdonald moved the appointment of a committee to draft an address to the Queen on the subject of the union of all the British North Amei-ican provinces.* Foui- several motions in opposition to confederation were de- feated by large majorities ; the original motion wa.s carried by a vote of ninety-one to thirty-three ; and a, strong depu- tation proceeded to England to confer v;ith the Imperial , authorities for the carrying out of the project of con- federation. In New Brunswick in the meantime a general election had taken place, and an assembly highly adverse to con- federation had been returned. Not a single man who had been a delegate at the Quebec conference was elected. In Nova Scotia the anti-confederation aojitation was strongly pressed by Joseph Howe, the leader of the Opposition. The friends of the movement in Newfound- land and Prince Edward Island were disheartened, and it seemed as though the scheme would be wrecked almost before it was fairly ^launched. ♦The coraniittee was composed of ^Jcssrs. J. A. Macdonald, Brown, G.lt, Cartier, Robitaille and Hljultain. 248 DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. [1865. '^'j'^^^l il '^1 i^M ilH ^ '-'-9 |n ||i lin 1^9 V I The chief contest took place in New Brunswick. Tlie Legislative Council was as strongly in favour of confedera- tion as the Assembly was opposed to it. The scheme was received with great favour by the Imperial autjiorities, and despatches from the Colonial Office strongly urged its adoption. These despatches were not without their influence on public opinion in New Brunswick, 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 new drawing to a close. The immense militaiy strength of the North at length fairly crushed out the Southern revolt. General Lee, with his war-worn army, surren- den^d (April ninth); Jefferson Davis, the ill-starred presi- dent of the confederacy, was captured ; and slavery was dead. Generals Grant and Sherman were liailel as the champions of the republic. But this hour of the iiation's triamph was dashed with hon'o^' and gr'of by the cowardly and cruel murder of its civic head^ — ine simple, honest, magnanimous Abraham Lincoln. All Christendom shud- dered with abhorrence at the foul assassination. Tlie heart of Canada was deeply stirred. Crowded meetings for the expression of the national sympathy were held, and the utmost detestation of the crime was avowed. Amid the tolling of bells, flags at half mast, and mourning emblems, the obsequies of the martyred president were celebrated throughout the land ; and much of the growing estrange- ment of recent years between the two naticms was over- come by this exhibition of popular sympathy and good will. During the month of June a disastrous fir^, swept the crowded wooden suburbs of Quebec, destroying a million dollars' worth of property, and leaving three thousand people homeless. The same month witnessed the decease of the premier of Canada, Sir E. P. Tach6. He was succeeded in office by Sir Narcissus Belleau, a membei* of the Upper House, and on the eighth of August the parliament met in Quebec for the purpose of receiving the report of the deputation sent to Great Britain to promote the scheniv,- of confederation. The session was short, and little opposition was offered to the ministerial . '^^"^IWlv^ '^vM 1865.] OTTAWA BECOMES THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 249 measures deemed necessary for the consummation of the grand design which v/as to become the epoch of a new and ampler national career. In the month of October the veteran English premier, Lord Palmerston, also died ; but the policy of the British Government with respect to confederation underwent no change. Towards the close of the year the seat of government was removed from Quebec to ()ttawa, 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. 17 4 'ml Qiyi I CHAPTER XXXYI. THE FENIAN INVASION.— 1866. Negotiations for the renewal of Reciprocity fail. In connection therewith the Hon. George Brown leaves the Ministry, The American Fiscal Policy. The abi«)gation of the Treaty stimulates Canadian manufactures, and leads to increased intercolonial trade. The Fenian Brotherhood encouraged by the political factions of the United States. It collects arms, ammunition and men on the frontier. Ten thousand volunteers called out. Fenian tiasco at Campo Bello. Fenian plan of operations. O'Neil invades Canada from Buffalo, June Ist. The country springs to arms— Troops concentrate on Fort Erie, The fight at Ridgeway — Gallantry of volunteers — Colonel Dennis occupies Fort Erie— His command is captured by O'Neil — The Feniaus escape across the Niagara. A Sunday of excitkment in Canada— The Martyrs of Ridgeway— Their funeral, and honours paid their memory. Loyal enthusiasm of the volunteers. The Feniaus threaten Prescott and Cornwall. The United States authoi ities at last interfere. "General" Spear crosses the frontier of Lower Canada — He Is promptly re- pulsed, June 8th— End of the bandit invasion — Its political effects. Last Parliament of " Old Canada" meets at Ottawa, June 8th. It revises the Tariff and prepares for Confederation. The reciprocity treaty between the United States and Iftfifi Canada was now approaching the period of its expiration by effluxion of time. It had been of immense commercial advantage to both countries. Under its provisions the international trade had grown to the enormous value of seventy million dollars annually. The United States Government, however, refused to grant its renewal except under conditions highly disadvan- tageous to Canada. The Canadian ministry were willing to make considerable concessions to the United States, and even to accept legislative reciprocity if the continu- ance of the treaty could not be secured. The Hon. Oeorge Brown, however, objected to a reciprocity which "WNi^llhi*, VAY— Their 1866.] TERMINATION OF RECIPROCITY. 251 was liable to abrogation at any time by the vote of a selfish and fickle congress, and thought the concessions demanded not warranted under the circumstances. In consequence of this disagreement of opinion with his col- leagues he retired from the cabinet, and was succeeded by the Hon. Ferguson Blair. Mr. Howe, ihe delegate from Nova Scotia to the trade convention at Detroit during the summer of 1865, had made a profound . impression by his eloquent exposition of the mutual advantages of reciprocity ; but the efiecb was only transient. The exigencies of the \merican government, and the delusion on the part o.' at least some members of congress, that Canada could be thus coerced into seeking annexation with the United States, 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 manufac- turing interests. It was therefore considered necessary that the volume of trade flowing from Canada should pay the same proportionate duty iis was levied on that coming from other foreign countries. Before the termination of the treaty, which took place in the month of March, the provinces were drained of nearly all their surplus live stock and farm produce. The capacity of the railroads and steam ferries was taxed to the utmost in their transport. The stoppage of the trade, therefore, was not i\early so disastrous as was anticipated ; and there were many counterbalancing ad- vantages to the country resulting from its interruption. It greatly stimulated the development of Canadian manu- factures and the growth of foreign and intercolonial com- merce, and promoted the scheme of confederation. The lumber trade, the most important in the country, and absorbing more capital in its operations than any other, suffered very slightly, if at all. The chief inconvenience fell upon the American consumers, who had to pay higher prices for lumber and other indispensable nee :issaries. The subsequent stagnation in the lumber trade, which still exists (1876), in which $20,000,000 is locked up, was the result of over-production both in Canada and the United States. New England suffered largely by the i^ m i • ■».■ tit m 252 THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD. [1866, m ti.l I * loss of the Canadian supplies of wool and other raw pro- ducts, as well as of cheap provisions for her manufacturing population, and also by the restriction of the Canadian sales of their manufactured products. Instead of pro- moting annexation, the abrogation of the treaty had pre- cisely 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 com- mercial intercourse with the United States^ and fostered a spirit of patriotism and nationality. This spirit was still further promoted by contempo- raneous events. The hostile demonstrations of the Fenian brotherhood caused considerable alarm along the frontier,, and provoked just indignation against United States officials who, for political purposes, fostered this infamous organization, and pandered to the unreasoning prejudice* and antipathies 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" contributed large amounts of money and formed local organizations in the chief American cities and frontier towns. Grangs of reckless desperadoes created by ther civil war, and even some leaders of higher rank and of considerable military skill and experience, on the return of peace, finding their occupation gone, joined the lawless movement. The arms, 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. In order to secure the Irish vote, the rival political factions of the United States shamefully abetted thisr conspiracy against the peace and prosperity of an un- offending neighbouring country, and permitted the public parade and drilling of this army of invasion, not only with- out censure but with their active cooperation. Prominent civic and other officials in the United States harangued the meetings, subscribed to the funds, and encouraged th& nefarious designs of the Fenian brotherhood. [1866, 1866.] PLAN OP ATTACK. 253 The plan of operations of this pernicious organization was twofold. The first scheme proposed a combined attack, at several points of the frontier, on Canada, where, it was jasserted, the Irish "patriots" had many sympathizers. The other and still more insane plan contemplated a direct attack upon Ireland. The former was promoted by "President" 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 seventeenth of March, was finnounced as the date of the menaced invasion. The Canadian Government resp ided to the insolent threat by calling out ten thousand volunteers. The heart of the country was thrilled to its core. In four and twenty hours fourteen thousand of its sons sprang to arms to build a living bulwark with their bodies for its protec- tion, and multitudes of Canadians dwelling in the United States hastened home to take part in its defence. The exposed points "ere promptly garrisoned and the frontier was vigilantly guarded. Saint Patrick's day, however, passed without any dis- turbance of the peace, and with even less than its usual amount of bannered pomp and patriotic demonstration. In the month of April a foolish attempt, which ended in ft ridiculous fiasco, was made by a handful of ill-equipped would-be warriors against the New Brunswick frontier. The presence of a few regulars and volunteers at Campo Bello, St. Andrew's and St. Stephen's, so cooled their martial enthusiasm that they did not venture to cross the boundary line. The theft of a custom house flag was duly chronicled as the gallant capture of British colours, and won a little cheap popularity till the discovery of the facts made the actors in the farce the laughing-stock of the continent. By the middle of May, the invasion having seemingly exhausted itself in futile threats, a considerable proportion of the volunteer force were withdrawn from the frontier and allowed to return to their homes. But secret prepar- ations were being made for a number of simultaneous attacks on Canada. One expedition from Detroit, Chicago, and other western cities, was directed against 254 INVASION OF CANADA. [1866. tbe Lake Huron frontier; another, from Buffalo and Rochester, was to cross the Niagara River ; a third, from New York and the eastern cities, was to cross the St. Law- rence at Ogdensburg, sever the communication between the eastern and western portions of the country at Prescott, and menace the seat of government at Ottawa. Mean- while the right wing of the invading force was to harass and plunder the frontier settlements of the Eastern town- ships. The result of these grand schemes was singularly incommensurate with their magnitude. The main attack was on the Niagara frontier. The city of Buffalo swarmed with lawless ruffians, from Cleveland, Sandusky, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and even from as far south as Memphis, Tennessee; and before daylight on Friday, June first, some twelve or fourteen hundred of them, under the command of " General " O'Neil, crossed from Black Rock and took possession of the village of Fort Erie. Although the United States gunboat Michigan patrolled the river for the ostensible purpose of preventing a breach of international peace, yet O'Neil was undisturbed in this movement, and was dur- ing the day reenforced by three hundred men. He was, however, utterly disappointed in any Canadian demon- stration of sympathy, if such were expected. The rolling stock of the Buffalo branch of the Grand Trunk Railway had been withdrawn, but a portion of the track wa» destroyed, a bridge burned, and tbe telegraph wires cut. During the night or very early on Saturday morning, O'Neil, leaving a guard at Fort Eiie to coVer his retreat, 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 Ridge way, and threw uj) a slight breastwork of logs and rails. Meanwhile the tidings of the invasion thrilled the entire country. The volunteers rushed to arms, muster- ing in force with the utmost promptitude at their several places of assembly, and active pre[)arations were made for the repulse of the enemy. The steamboats Passport and City of Toronto were at once reserved for militaiy pur- poses, and the railway companies were notified that the lines leading to the fi'ontier must be placed at the disposal 1866.] THE FIGHT AT RIPGEWAY. 255 of the military authorities. The volunteers of Toronto, Hamilton, and other places near the scene of action, promptly mustered in force, and were despatched amid the utmost loyal enthusiasm of the people, by train or steamei- to the appointed places of ren frontier •ee miles plunder ; rally of b precipi 1 States, General bs actors, 1 unpro- was not y of the m forty f arms — a,s great. laraent- ich was country feeling bhe new about to )ltigeurs )r (June d in the 1866.] LAST PARLIAMENT OP OLD CANADA. 259 new parliament buildings at Ottawa. The Habeas Corpus Act was temporarily suspended, in order to enable the Government to deal pronjptly with Fenian emissaries from the United States, and other suspicious characters. The abrogation of the reciprocity treaty necessitated the remodelling of the tariff. The maximum duty was fixed at fifteen per cent,, with free admission of raw materials used in manufactures, and the bulk of manufactured goods were admitted at the low rate of five per cent. The pros- perity of the previous year left in the hands of the Finance Minister a surplus adequate to meet the unforeseen and heavy military expenditure caused by the Fenian raids. Resolutions were passed defining the constitutions of Upper and Lower Canada, in furtherance of the scheme of confederation ; and on the eighteenth of August, the last parliament of the old Canadian provinces was prorogued. During this summer the Go'eat Eastern steamship laid a new Atlantic telegraph cable — a remarkable example of the application of human skill and ingenuity to the higher purposes of civilization. Among its earliest mes- sages was one announcing an armistice between Prussia and Austria, after the terrible seven days' campaign and decisive battle of Sadowa, won, with frightful carnage, for the Prussians by tlie agency of the deadly needle-gun. m .=^11 CHAPTER XXXYII. CONFEDERATION ACCOMPLISHED. 1866. The Monroe Doctrine— General Banks* Bill in U. 8. Congress. Disastrous fire at Quebec. Fenian Trials at Toronto. The Maritime Provinces become more favourable to Confederation. 1867. The British North America Act passes the Imperial Parliament, March 28th. Provisions of the New Constitution — The Dominion Parliament — Legislative Representation — Respective .Jurisdiction of the Do- minion and Provinces— The Judiciary — Customs, etc. Local Legislatures. Inauouration of the New Constitution. July 1st. Titles of Honour Conferred— First Cabinet. Elections — Failure of Commercial Banic. 1868. Assassination of Thomas D'Arcy M(;(}ee, M.P., April 7th. Sir John Young, Governor-General, vice Lord Monck. Anti-Confederation Agitation in Nova Scotia— Petition for Repeal of the Union — Petition Refused. "Better Terms" Granted Nova Scotia~Hon. Joseph Howe enters Dominion Cabinet. The formation of a strong and united nation on their northern border was regarded with little favour by American advocates of the Monroe doctrine. They seemed to consider it the natural right and manifest des- tiny of the United States to claim the " whole boundless continent" as its own. Finding that commercial coercion and Fenian invasion did not drive the loyal and patriotic Canadians into the arms of the model republic, the attempt was made to divide and cajole the British North American provinces. In the United States Congress, General Banks, an irrepressible Massachusetts " statesman," had the eminent impertinence to introduce a bill, providing for the admission into the American Union of the British provinces as four separate states, with the assumption of their public debt by the Federal Grovernraent. The com- mittee on foreign affairs, however, had the good sense to throw out the proposition as an insulting menace, and the British North American colonies were wisely 1866.] FENIAN TRIALS. 261 allowed to settle their own political destiny without foreign interference. j^ The ancient capital of Canada was again visited during the summer by one of those disastrous fires from ,\rhicb it has so often suffered. Over two thousand houses in the suburbs of St. Roch and St. Sauveur were destroyed, and twenty thousand persons left homeless. Great and f>ermanent injury resulted to the prosperity of the city from the scattering of the industrial population, esj)e- cially those engaged in ship-building ; and the improve- ment in the navigation of the St. Lawrence, together with the extensive substitution of steamships for sailing vessels, eventually transferred the commercial supremacy to the city of Montreal. At the fall assizes at Toronto, the trial of the Fenian prisonei'S, captured during the recent raid, took place, and awakened deep interest throughout the country and in the United States. Many Ameiican newspapers and politicians, in their efforts to gain the Fenian vote, did not scruple to avow their symjmthy with the arraigned ruffians, and even to urg«} the interference of the United States Government on their behalf. The majesty of British law was, however, asserted; and the culprits, without fear or favour, received a fair trial. Many were discharged for lack of sufficient criminating evi- dence, but several were convicted and sentenced to death. In deference to a public sentiment in favour of clemency, this sentence was commuted for one of imprisonment -in the provincial penitentiary. In the maritime provinces the tide of popular feeling had now turned strongly in favour of confederation. In New Bru. swick the anti-confederation Government was compelled lo resign, and a new parliament, elected with express reference to this question, declared decidedly for it. In Nova Scotia, Mr. Howe's eloquence in condem- nation 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 modified the provisions of the Quebec Resolutions, chiefly in the direction of increasing the subsidies to the local governments. Oil the seventh of February, the Earl of Gamarvoli, the Colonial Secretary, introduced the British North m 262 THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT. [1867. ' i ■ America Act into the House of Lords. After slight modification in the House of Commons, it successfully- passed through its different stages, and on the twenty- eighth of March received the royal assent, and became the law of the empire. The following day was passed the Canada Kailway Loan Act, which empowered the Imperial Government to guanintee a loan of three million pounds stei'ling for the construe Lion of the Intercolonial Railway, now become a political, as well as a commercial and military necessity for tne prosperity of tho new nationality. The Act ,of Union provides chat the Dominion of Canada, as +ne new nation \vas named, should consist of the provinces of Upper a id Lower Canada (designated resv>ectively Ontario and Quebec), and New Brunswick ard Nova Scotia, the existing limits of which were to cfiijlnue undisturbed. Provision vms also made for the future admission of Princ- Edward Island, the Hud- son's Bay Territory, British Columbia, and Newfound- land with its dependency, Labrador. The following are the chief provisions of the new constitution : The executive authority is vested in the Queen, in Avhose name run all legishitive Acts, civil processes, and naval and military proclamations. The Queen's representative in Canada is the Governor- General, who is advised t.nd 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 seventy-two members — twenty-four for each of the three divisions, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunwick and Nova Scotia. On the admission of Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and British Columbia, that number was increased to seventy-eight, and may be still further increased to a maximum of eighty-two on the admission of Newfound- land. The members are appointed by the Governor- General in Council, representing the Crown, and hold their seats for life, subject to forfeiture in case of bank- ruptcy, conviction of crime, treason, or taking the oath [1867. fter slight iccess fully le twenty- id became ''as passed wered the ee million bercolonial ommerclal the new minion of consist of designated i^>runs\vick ;h were to made for the Hud- Tewfound- the new Queen, in esses, and Governor- Council of kvho must ie Senate venty-two divisions, va Scotia. Manitoba reased to ised to a fewfound- jovernor- and hold of bank- the oath 1867.] THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 263 of allegiance to any foreign poT/er, or if they shall cease to possess the necessary property qualification — the possession of real estate to the value of four thousand dollars. Residence in the province (or, if inhabitants of Quebec, in the district) for which they are appointed is also required. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Crown. He may vote on all questions, but when the House is equally divided, he can only give a negative vote. The House of Commons, as first constituted, con- sisted of one hundred and eighty -one members : eighty- two for Ontario ; sixty-five for Quebec j nineteen for Nova Scotia ; and sixteen for New Brunswick. On the readjustment of representation in accordance with the census of 1871, after the admission of Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and British Columbia, the number of represf'ui:;; lives was increased to two hundred and six. This representation is subject to future readjustment on the following basis : sixty-five members is to be the fixed number for Quebec ; the increased representation of the other provinces is to bear the same proportion to their population as sixty-five bears to that of Quebec. The House of Commons is elected for four years unless sooner dissolved. It elects its ov/n Spo:ikev, who can vote only when the House is equally divided. The debates may be in either English or French; but the proceedings a^'e to be recorded in both languages. The property qualification of members was fixed at five hundred pounds stei!ing, as was also that for members of the local legislatures of Ontario and Quebec. All bills affecting taxation or revenue must originate in the House of Coumions, smS must be recommended by a message from the Governor-Gbneral. Bills may rer^eive the assent of the Governor-General directly as represent- ing th(; Queen, or may be reserved for Her Majesty's pleasun^ The j urisdiction of the Dominion parliament extends over the public debt, expenditure and public loans ; treaties; customs and excise duties ; trade and commerce ; navigation, shipping and fisheries ; lighthouses and har- bours; the postal, naval, and military services; public m, ip-rll in 264 THE NEW CONSTITUTION. [18G7. I'M' ill .:.i :.Ji .11 '■;] statistics ; monetary institutions, banks, banking, cur- rency, coining, and insolvency; criminal law, marriage and divorce ; public works, railways and canals. Where there is common jurisdiction with the local legislatures, as in the encouragement of immigration and agriculture, the Acts of the Dominion parliament are of paramount authority, and can, in case of antagonism, supersede the ordinances of the inferior legislatures. The appointment and maintenance of the Judges of the Superior, District, and County Courts Oi the several provinces, is the prerogative and duty of the Governor in Council. The judges hold office for life, or till for- feiture for misconduct ; and are selected from the bars of their respective provinces. The duties and revenues of the several provinces form a consolidated revenue fund, out of which the cost of the public service is defrayed, as well as the subsidies to the provinces, and the specified portions of Tieir debt and special appropriations. All revenues derived from public lands, timber limits, mines and minerals, belong to the several provinces in which they are situated. Between all the provinces of the Dominion there is free trade in all their natural products, raw or manufactured. The chief executive officer of the several provinces is the Lieutenant-Grovernor, who is appointed by the Governor- General in Council, acting for the Crown, for the term of four 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 lirst with eighty-two members, which number was afterwaids increased to eighty-eight, 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 th« Governor-General, for sufficient reason, within a year after they have passed. The local legislatures have jurisdiction over direct tita- tion ; provincial loans ; the appointment and mainten- ance of provincial officers ; the management of provincial landi, prisons, hospitals and asylun^is; muuicipai insti- r I 1867.] FIRST PRIVY COUNCIL. 265 tutions; local improvements; education; and matters affecting property and civil rights. On the first of July, the Act of Confederation came into force, and with the parental blessing of the mother country, the Dominion of Canada set forth on its high career. On that day the new constitution was formally inaugurated at Otta'va, and Lord Monck was sworn in as the Governor-General of the confederated provinces. He afterwards signalized Her Majesty's p.pproval of tlie union by conferring titles of honour on its chief promoters. The Hon. John A. Macdonald, the first premier, i-ecoived the dignity of knighthood, and the Hon. Messrs. Cartier, Gait, Howland, Macdougall, Tupper, and Tilley, that of Companion of the Bath, Sir N. F. Belleau became Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, and Major-General Doyle, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. Military officers administered the government of the other pro- vinces till July, 18G8, when the Hon. L. A. Wilmot was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and the Hon. W. P. Howland, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. The first Privy Council of the Dominion consisted of the following members : Hon. A. F. J. Blair, . . . Hon. Sir John A. dacdonald, . Hon. H. S. Ijangevin, . . . Hon. A. T. (^xalt Hon. W. Macdougail, . . . Hon. Alex. Campbell, . . . Hon. J. C. Chapaia, . . . Hon. E. Kenny, Hon. Sir George E. Cartier, . Hon. S. L. Tilley, .... Hon. W. P. Howland, . . . Hon. P. Mitchell Hon. A, G. Archibald, . . . The elections for the Dominion parliament and for the several local legislatures took place during the summer. The Dominion parliament met at Ottawa for the trans- action of business on the seventh of November. It was soon apparent that the now order of things was not regarded by all the provinces with unmixed satisfaction. A period of financial depression through which the 18 President. Minister of Justice. Secretary of State. Minister of Finance. Minister of Public Works. Postmaster- General. Minister of Agriculture. , Receiver-General. Minister of Militia. Minister of Customs. Minister of Inland Revenue. Minister of Marine & Fisheriec. Secretary of State for Province?, 1 1 'Mi K; !■; 9: it: 266 Ass^ssi ;«.TroN of T, DARCY McGEE. [1868. co'iritrj was passing, the severity of which was angmeated by the suspension of the Oomniercial Bank, one of the oldest monetary institutions of the country, became the occasion of severe advei*se criticism of the fiscal adminis- tration of the Government. In consequence of the censure thus incurred, the Hon. A. T. Gait, Finance Minister, resigned his office, and the Hon. John Rose assumed its duties. On the seventh of the following Apiil, the country was IRC 9s ^-^^^^^^^^ with horror by the barbarous assassination of the Hon. Thomas D' Arcy McGee. This eloquent statesman had been one of the ablest and most earnest advocates of confederation, and his death was felt as a national bereavement. He was followed from the House of Commons, in the early hours of the morning, by a Fenian fanatic named Patrick Whelan, and shot while entering his hotel. The sorrow of the nation was manifested by the impos- ing obsequies of the murdered statesman, and oy its generous sympathy toward his bereaved family. The wretch who had stained the annals of his counti-v with the crime of assassination, was arrested, tried and con- victed, and expiated his offence on the gallows. In the month )( November Lord Monck, having wit- nessed the successful inauguration o. asy new constitution of the confederatf d provinces, was &<■ jot-eded in office by Sir John Young. Considerable disssatisfaction with the terms of union soon began to be manifested in the province of Nova Scotia. The annual subsidy from the Dominion Govern- ment of $60,000, together with the grant of eighty cents per head for the population according to the census of 1861, was found inadequate for the civil expenses of the government. A strong anti-confederation agitation wa» i*.uLTefore kept up, led by the Hon. Joseph Howe and the Hon. Mr. Wilkins, Attorney-General of the province. The iivst election after the union resulted in the return of a l&rfTfi majority in the local legislature opposed to cont idtv^iition. A petition was forwarded to the British parliaiient requesting the repeal of the British North Ameiica Act jo far as it cor.cerned Nova Scotia, and during :'.e year 1868 Mr. Howe proceeded again to ^^^*if^:..^-.;^;.^'':'r-. ,. .* v:%_ -^-""^ 1868.] " BETTER TERMS " C; RANTED NOVA SCOTIA. 267 England to urge the demands of his native province. He was confronted by his countryman, the Hon. Dr. Tupper, the agent and representative of the Dominion Govern- ment. The Imperial parliament refused to entertain the proposition of a repeal of the union, but counselled a com- promise with the recalcitrant province. The Dominion Government offered a liberal readjust- ment of terms with Nova Scotia. The amount of pro- vincial debt assumed by the Dominion Avas increased from $8,000,000 to $9,186,750, and an additional annual subsidy was granted. The cost of the new Provincial Buildings was also assumed. Mr. Howe withdrew his opposition and accepted office in the Dominion Govern- ment as President of the Executive Council. This act was bitterly condemned by many of his friends as a breach of trust, and he gained his reelection on his return to his constituents only after a severe contest. The local oppo sition ;o the union, however, gradually subsided, and the generous treatment by the sister provinces of the dis- tressed fishermen of Nova Scotia, whose staple industry had proved this year a disastrous failure, also tended to mitigate tlie anti-confederation feeling. During this year the Abyssiniun war, which had been conducted w th great skill and success by General Napier, was brought to a close by the fall of Magdala and death of King Theodore, on the thirteenth of April. 1 lit -,, ^, ,'^ li-;i € #1.. K:i - !■ . '■ if'' r. #Ul CHAPTER XXXVIII. ^m t ^%^ m mm \ 14 ■»". :ht; RIVAL FUR COMPANIES— RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. The Hudson's Bay Company Oroantzed, 1670, Prolonged conflict with older French Fur Company. The North-west Company Organized. 1783. Its Enterprise and Success -Fort William. Lord Selkirk Plants Red River Colony, 1812. Conflict with North-west Company — Jlurder of Governor Semple, 1816. Lord Selkirk captures Fort William. Disasters at Red River — The Caterpillar Plague. liCrd Selkirk's energy overcomes every difficulty. The g-'^at flood of 1825-6 devastates the Colony. Ill ul vised manufacturing schemes. Hudson's Bay ani« Nokth-west Companies Amaloauate, 1821. Council of Assinibu^a Organized, 1836. Patriarchal government of the Hudson's Bay Company. Development of th > North-west Territory. The extension of the Dominion of Canada so as to embrace within its bounds the whole of the territory of British North America, wa.>^- the strong desii-e of the leading Canadian statesmen. To promote this object the Hon. George E. Cartiei and the Hon. William Macdoiigall proceeded to England. A necessary preliminary to this was the cession to Canada of the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company. Tt will be convenient here to retrace briefly the histoiy of the great ironopoly that for two centuries ha i contrcMed those vast, and, in large part, fertile regions of 0;'.s ci-utinent. In the year 1670, nt t!;e solicitation of Prince Rupert* and the Duke of Aibemi.rle, King Charles II. created by royal charter the " Company of Merchant Adventurers trading to Hudson's Bay." With characteristic lavish liberality tlie king gran^^ed this company the sole trade and comr crce of the va.:.t and vagiiely defined regions, to which access may be had through Hudson's Straits. Forty years before this, Louis XI TI. had made a similar grant to the " Company of New France," and for nearly "^ Hence a large portion of this territory was known as Rupert's Land. 1670.] RIVAL FUR COMPANIES. 269 ji a hundred years there was a keen and eager rivalry between these hostile companies. In order to control the lucrative fur trade, the Hudson's Bay Company planted forts and factories at the mouth of the Moose, Albany, Nelson, Churchill, and other rivers flowing into Hudson's Bay. Again and again adventurous bands of Frenchmen, like D'Iberville and his companions,* made bloody raids upon these posts, murdering tlieir occupants, burning the stockades, and carrying off the rich stores of peltries. Grown bolder with success, the French penetrated the vast interior as far as the head waters of the Mississippi, the Missouri and the Saskatchewan, and reached the Rocky Mountains long before any other white men had visited these regions. They planted trading posts and small palisaded forts at important river junctions and on far off lonely lakes, and wrote their names all over this great continent, in the designation of cape and lake and •« river, and other great features of nature. The voyageurs and coureurs de bois, to whom this wild, adventurous life was full of fascination, roamed through the forests and navigated the countless arrowy streams ; and Montreal and Quebec snatched much of the spoil of this profitable trade from the hands of the English company. Every little far off trading post and stockaded fort felt the rever- berations of the English guns which won the victory of the Plains of Abraham, whereby the sovereignty of those vast regions passed away for ever from the [)Ossession of France. After the conquest numerous independent fur traders engaged in this profitable traffic. In 1783 these formed a junction of interests and organized the Nori' west Company. For forty years this was one of the strongest combinations in Canada. Its energetic agents explored the vast North-west regions. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in 1789, traced th^ ^ve-ersons perished of hunger and col *. and many cattle died. With the s|)ring thaw the river rose nine feet in H single day. In three days every house had to be aban- doned. The inhabitants lied to the highest grountl adja- cent. They beheld their houses, barns, ?rops, fences — everything they possessed — swe{)t on the rushing torrent to Lake Winnipeg. The waters continued to rise for nine- teen days. The disheartened colonists proposed abandon- ing for ever the luckless settlement. At this crisis tidings of the abatement of the flood was brought. The weary watchers rushed en masse to the water's side. It was ■t 1 1 K H.- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^^. 1.0 I.I £ Uo |2p M 1^ H U, |L6 ■■■■I ^^^^^^^^BiB iiii^^^B^^^^^ iiinji^^^^^B < 6" ► V. Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 VtflST MAIN STMiT WnSTM.N.Y. I4SM (716) •72-4303 ^ / o 4^ 274 PROSPERITY. [1821. ISl «ven so. They accepted the deliverance as from God. They resolved to remain where they were. A new begin- ning had to be made. The unfortunate settlement was well nigh destroyed. In a somewhat visionary attempt to manufacture cloth from buffaloes' wool, Lord Selkirk, at great cost, intro- duced machinery and workmen from England. This failing, fifteen thousand sheep were purchased in Ken- tucky, two thousand miles distant. Only two hundred and fifty survived the journey, and these soon died of exhaustion. Flax culture and tallow exportation were also tried without success. In these ill-advised schemes Lord Selkirk sank half a million dollars. The popula- tion of the settlement, however, continued gradually to increase, a considerable proportion of it being composed of the half-breed progeny of the early French or English- speaking employees of the trading companies and the aboriginal nice. Exhausted by forty years of conflict, in 1821 the Hud- son's Bay and North-west Companies ceased their warfare and combined their forces, and were confirmed by the Imperial parliament in the monopoly of trade through the wide region stretching from Labrador to the Pacific Ocean. In order to maintain control of the Red River settlement, in 1836 they paid the sum of £84,000 sterling for the land granted to Lord Selkirk twenty-four years before, except that which had been d Mxled to settlers. Sir George Simpson became the Governor of the territory, and continiBd to administer its affairs for forty years. The Council of Assiniboia was organized, consisting of the chief officer of the Company, and councillors chosen from among the most influential inhaV)itants of the region, and having jurisdiction for fifty miles around Fort Garry. The rest of the territory was under the supreme control of the Company. Its government, while jealously exclu- sive of rival influence, was patriarchal in character, and, through tlie exclusion, for the most part, of intoxicating liquors, greatly promoted the welfare of the Indians, and repressed disorder throughout its wide domain. The policy of the Company was advei-se to the settle- ment of the country, and its agents endeavoured as far as possible to retain the fur trade and sale of goods and con 1858.] POPULATION. 275 supplies — the profits of which were very great — exchi^ sively in their own hands. The Red River settlement in 1858 had increased to a population of about eight thousand, and during the next ten years to about twelve thousand. On the forma- tion of the Dominion of Canada, however, it was felt to be highly desirable that it should be included in the new confedeiacy, and also that the Dominion should acquire jurisdiction over the vast regions under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company ; and, as we have seen, the Hon. George E. Cartier and Hon. William Macdoiigall visited Great Britain to promote this object. Some } ears prior to this (late, numerously-signed petitions fioin the inhabit- ants of the Red River settlement were piesented to the Government of Canada, soliciting annexation to that countrv. M' \ CHAPTER XXXIX. THE RED RIVER REBELLION. 1 i 1368. Rnpert's Ijind Act ct'des North-west Territory to the British Crown. 1889. 1'ho Doniinion Government votes |300,000 for the indemnity of th« HiuIsoii'h Bay Company. The lion. William Macdougall proceeds to Red River to assume t^ie governorship of the Territory. Louis Riel organizes a revolutionary council, which prevents th« entrau(!c of Mr. Macdougall, October 20th. The Insurrents Skize Fokt Garry, November 3rd. Colonel Dennis organizes a loyal force. Dr. Sliultz and forty-four Canadians captured and imprisoned, December 7th 1870. Provisional Government of Assiniboia organized, February 9th. Loyal organ'zatiou for the suppression of the revolt. Major Boulton and forty-seven loyalists captured and imprisoned, February 17th. Major liouiton sentonneJ to death, but reprieved. Thomas Scott condic.mned and shot, March 4th. Intense indignation in Canada. Commissioners sent from Ottawa to adjust difficulties. Delegates sent to Ottawa from the Provisional Government, The Manitoba Act fashkd, May 20th. Colonel Wolseloy orgnnizeri Red River Expedition.— It enters Fort Garry August 24th. Hon. A. O. Archibald assumes civil government, September 3rd. Last Fi'.nian attempt at Trout River and Pigeon Hill, May 26th-28th. 1871. British Columbia enters the Dominion. Vancouver's Island discovered, 1702. Colonized by Hudson's Bay Company, 1843. Vancouver's Island a Crown colony, 1849. Inllux of gold hunters, 1858.— British Columbia organized a separate colony. Joint occupation of San Juan by British and Americans, 1854. Vancouver's Island unci British Columbia reunited, 1860. Terms (tf union with Canada. Franco-Prussian War— Outrages of the Commune. I N 18G8, the Rupert's Land Act was passed by the British Parliament, and under its provisions the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered to the crown its territorial rights over the vast region under its control. The conditions of this surrender were as follows : — the Company was to 1868.] NORTH-WEST TERRITORY CEDED TO CANADA. 277 ish Crown, innity of th« ) assume t^e jrevents thu imprisoned, •y 9th. L imprisoned. ut, enters Fort ber 3rd. 25th-28th. :ed a separate |S64. he British son's Bay ial rights onditions iiy was to receive the sum of £300,000 sterling in money, and grants of land around its trading posts to the extent of fifty thousand acres in all. In addition it is to receive, as it is surveyed and laid out in townships, one-twentieth of all the land in the great fertile belt south of the north branch of the Saskatchewan. It retains also the privilege of trade, but without its former exclusive monopoly.* The following April the Dominion parliament passed 18r9+ ^^^ '^^^* granting the necessary appropriation for the indemnity of the Hudson's Bay Company for its territorial rights, and providing for the temporary government of the entire region, under the designation of the North-west Territory. In anticipation of its speedy session, which was appointed to take place on the first of December, surveying parties were sent into the Red River country for the purpose of laying out roads and townships, and making other preliminary surveys, with a view to its I early occupation. Unhappily jealousies were awakened among the settlei*s lest this movement should in some way prejudice their title to their land. It was unfor- uate that no commissioner was appointed at this junc- ture to explain the proposed change of government, in order to remo^'*^ the misapprehensions of the inhabitants. In the luontn of September, the Hon. William Mac- dougall proceeded to Red River in order to assume the duties of Governor of the North-west Territory so soon as the cossion should take place. He was prepared to establish stage and telegraph lines, and to carry out a vigorous policy of internal development and improve- ment. He WPT met near the frontier, on the twentieth of October, by a band of armed men, and compelled to retreat across the border to Pembina. An insurrectionary council was created, with John Bruce as its president and Louis Reil as secretaiy, although the latter was really the leading spirit of the movement. The insurgents set at defiance the authority of Mr. MacTavish, the resident • The price paid for this magnificent territory amounts to only one-Rixth of a cent per acre, or one tifteenth the amount paid per acre by tlie United States for frozen Alaska. t During this summer H. R. H. Prince Arthur Joined his regiment in Canada, lie made a H«>mewhat extended tour through the country, and was everywhere received with the loyal entiiusiaam by which Cauadiaiu testify their regard for the family of their beloved sovereign. pi m 278 Kiel's revolt. [1869. Governor of Assiniboia and the Hudson's Bay Territory, and on the third of November took forcible possession of Fort Garry, a stone-walled enclosure containing the valuable stores of the Hudson's Bay Company, together with a quantity of small arms, several pieces of cannon, iind a large supply of ammunition. Colonel Dennis, a Canadian militia officer, who had V.>een conducting the land surveys, and was commissioned as Deputy-Governor by Mr. Macdougall, hereupon organ- ized a force of the loyal inhabitants, for the suppression of the revolt and the vindication of the Queen's authority. A party of these, forty-five in all, were besieged by the insurgents in the house of Dr. Schult? in the town of Winnipeg, and on their surrender on the seventh of i)ecember, were imprisoned for some months in Fort < larry. The number of prisoners was soon increased by illegal arrests to over sixty. The temporary success of the revolt seems to have com- , o-n pletely turned the heads of its leaders, and to have encouraged them to more audacious designs. Riel demanded a loan of two thousand pounds sterling from ( Jovernor MacTavish, which being refused, he seized and broke open the safe of the Company and pillaged its stores, as well as the property of Dr. Schultz and that of the Canadian Government deposited in his warehouse. He proceeded further to the arrest of Governor MacTavish, then ill with his moi-tal sickness. A convention of delegates from the several parishes of the settlement was now summoned by the Riel faction, and a declaration was issued in vindication of their insur> rectionary movement. A provisional government was created, of which Riel contrived to have himself elected jiresident, February seventh. A bill of rights was formu- lated, the principal feature of which was a demand for local self-government, representation in the Dominion legislature, and an amnesty to be gi*anted to the leaders of the revolt. Riel had now an armed force of some six hundred men under his control, and carried things with a high hand in the settlement, an*esting whomsoevei' he would, confiscating public and private property, and l)anishing from the country persons obnoxious to himself. This usurped authority proving intolerable to the loyal Inhabitants, they organized a movement for the release [1869. erritory, ossession iiing the together cannon, who had aissioned >n organ- ppression uthority. d by the town of veuth of in Fort reased by lave com- d to have ns. Kiel iing from leized and its stores, at of the Liae. He icTavish, Irishes of I faction, eir insur- lent was f elected bs formu- aand for )ominion e leaders of some )d things )msoever >rty, and himself. he loyal release 1870.] EXECUTION OP THOMAS SCOTT. 279 of the pnsoners and the suppression of the revolt. A large body of men, numbering, it is said, some six or seven hundred, were assembled for this purpose in the neighbourhood of Fort Garry. The prisoners in the Fort having in the meantime been released, in order to prevent the effusion of blood and attendant disasters which would probably result in case o^ hostile collision, the movement was abandoned. A party of these loyalists, on their way to their homes, were intercepted by an armed force from the Fort, and im[)risoned, to the number of forty-eight. Their leader, Major Boulton, a Canadian militia officer, was thrown into irons, and after a summary trial by a rebel tri- bunal, was sentenced to be shot. Like a brave man, he prepared calmly for his fate. Intense sympathy was felt among the loyal population, and earnest intercession was made for his reprieve. To this Riel consented, on condition that Archdeacon McLean and Mr. Donald A. Smith, commissioner from the Canadian Government, should endeavour to induce the English-speaking people to send delegates to the so-called "Assembly of the Provisional Government." Shortly after, however, another Canadian prisoner fell a victim to Kiel's usurped and ill-used power. Thomas Scott, a brave and loyal man, for the crime of endeavour- ing to maintain the authority of his rightful sovereign, after a mock trial by a rebel court-martial, was sentenced to be shot at noon the following day. In spite of the remonstrance and intercession of the Rev. 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 self-consti- tuted tribunal was carried into execution. On the fourth of March, Thomas Scott was led from his prison with pinioned arms, and shot in cold blood by a firing party of the insurgents. So unskilfully did the assassins perform their work, that it is said the unfor- tunate man lived and spoke some time after he was thrust into his coffin, and was at last despatched with the stab of a knife. His remains were refused the rit« of Christian sepulture ; and after the sham burial of a box of stones in the court-yard of Fort Garry, his body, it is believed, was thrust beneath the ice of the river. . ^'-'i' m ■■:■ tiS lot, :i' t ' ' • ■.•erior value of her fisheries, the amount of compensation to be decided by a sub-commissicn. The navigation in com- mon of the Canadian and United States canals, and of Lake Michigan, and the transport of dutiable goods in bond through either country, with some mi. or privileges, were mutually granted. The San Juan boundary diffi- culty was referred to the Emperor of Germany, who gave his decision in favour of the United States. The boundary between the North-west Territory and Alaska, recently purchased by the United States from Kussia, was also defined and surveyed. The claims of the Dominion on account of losses sustained and expense incurred by the Fenian raids were entirely ignored by the commission. This gave great dissatisfaction in Canada, as did also the surrender of her valuable fisheries, for which it was felt that no adequate compeifsation would be obtained. Nevertheless, although the power of veto of the fishing clauses of the treaty was t] cl ci o\ ai [1871. merican the siis- ceased. •ight of leans of ist this tly, and aationai ve these govern- 3minent in the Canada 1 one of Grovern- 3sed by )f May. oard of >se deci- of both >pen to )wever, iiperior ion to m com- and of tods in ilegps, \y diffi- who Tlie laska, ussia, losses were great )f her [quate lough was 1871.] HON. E. BLAKE, PREMIER OF ONTARIO. 287 grant«^(l to the Dominion parliament, they were loyally adopted out of consideration for the Imperial policy of Great Britain. The T^ritish Government, in considera- tion of the abandon amt by Canada of the Fenian raid claims, guaranteed a Dominion loan of $3,500,000, and continued its guarantee of the previous fortification loan of $1,100,000. In the Ontario legislature political parties were very evenly divided. One result of confederation had been the accumulation in the treasury of the province of a large surplus — the proceeds of Crown land and other revenue, and of the Dominion subsidy. It was proposed to employ a considerable proportion of this surplus in aiding the con- struction of railways iu the province. Important narrow gauge lines, opening up the Nipissing and Grey and Bruce regions, were projected and prosecuted by the aid of bonuses voted by the municipalities benefited. The discussion of these and other subjects was sufficiently acrimonious. In the month of December, 1871, the Hon. JoIiU Sandfield Macdonald, in consequence of a vote o^ the House adverse to the policy of the Government, in appropriating $1,. 500,000 for railroad subsidies without taking a vote on the appropriations to the several roads, resigned the premiership into the hands of Mr. Edward Blake.* It was objected by the new Opposition that several constituencies were not represented when the Sandfiold-Macdonald Government was obliged to resign ; but Mr. Blake was, nevertheless, enabled to command a good working majority in a full House. Mr. Macdonald died the following summer, respected and regretted by all classes of the community. 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 parlia- * The Hon. Edward Rlake is the son of the late Hon. William Hiinie Blake, ft gcntleir.iin of good Irish faini y, who became Solieitor-Genernl of Canada in the Baldwin-Lafontaino ministry, and afterward Vice-Ciianofcilor of Upper Canada. The younyer Blake was educated at Upper Canada College and Toronto University, whore he gradiimod with honours. He was called to *he bar in 1850. In 1807 he was elected repres-^ntiitive for West Duriiam in iho first Dominion parliament, and for Sontlj Bruce in the Ontario legislature, and became in the latter the acknowledged lender of the Opposition. Mr. Ulako on entering political life at once stepped to the front rank, both at Toronto and Ottawa. His public addresses, both in parliament and out of it, challenge the attention of the country, and he commands the respect even of those who most strenuously oppose his political course. 'i .■ip, '■'■■ji il i I'M _J^ 288 GENEVA ARBITRATION. [1871. ments. In consequence of this Mr. Blake yielded the- office of premier to the Hon. Oliver Mowat, who resigned his position on the bench in order to enter again into political life. The marriage of the Princess Louise to the Marquis of Lome created much social interest in Canada. Toward the close of the year 1871, the dangerous illness of the Prince of Wales awoke profound sympathy. On his restoration to health, Canada joined heartily in the national thanksgiving of the motherland. The visit to Canada and the United States, during the winter, of the Grand Duke Alexis, of Russia, was the occasion of considerable popular interest. In the month of June following, the Earl of DufTerin 1 079 succeeded Sir John Young (now Lord Lisgar) as Governor-General. He brought with him a distin- guished reputation as a statesman and man of letters, and by the urbanit}'' of his manners won a very remarkable degree of popular favour. He promptly identified himself with every interest of the country which was calculated' to promote its happiness and welfare. After having rejected the preposterous claims of the United States for indirect or constructive damages on accouu-; of the piracies of the Coiifedevate crui.sers, the Geneva arbitration commission awarded to that country the sum of $15,500,000 — this amount to be adjudicated to claimants in proportion to their ascertained losses. Thus was an example given of the feasibility of settling vexatious international difficulties by the peaceable arbi- tration of intelligent and dispassionate neutrals, instead of by appeal to the dread arbitrament of war. The Times news[)aper, indeed, in view of the complica- tions in which it conceived that Canada involved the mother country, advocated its political divorce from Great Britain. The laureate, Tennyson, however, in a poetical address to the Queen, more correctly interpreted the feel- ings of the British nation by his indignant repudiation of the sordid feeling that would bid that " true North " to "loose the bond and go," because "so loyal was too- costly." The spontaneous outburst of feeling on both sides of tlie sea proved that the bond between Canada and the aiotherland was one of mutuully strong and in- tense attachment. osses. ttling arbi- Qstead iplica- the Great )etical e feel- iation orth " 18 too both iiiada d in- 1872.] CANADA PACIFIC RAILWAY. 289 I The first Dominion parliament having expired by effluxion of time, a general election was held during the summer and autumn of 1872 (from July fifteenth to October twelfth). The political excitement in all the provinces was very great, but it culminated in Ontario and Quebec, where the most strenuous struggle took place. The elections resulted in the return of a pailia- mentary majority sustaining the ministry of Sir John A.. Macdonald. Sir George E. Cartier, however, was de- feated in Montreal, but was elected for Provencher, in Manitoba. Sir Francis Hincks was also defeated, but found a seat as representative of Vancouver District, in British Columbia, The returns of the census of 1871 were this year made public. The population of the four leading provinces were reported as follows: — Ontario, 1,620,851 ; Quebec,^ 1,191,516; Nova Scotia, 387,800; New Brunswick, 285,594; total, 3,485,761. The construction of a Canadian Pacific Hailway across the continent was one of the conditions of the entrance of British Columbia into the Dominion. For the pur- pose of procuring the contract for this gigantic under- taking, two rival companies obtained incorporation — the " Canada-Pacific," with Sir Hugh Allan, principal pro- j>rietor of the Canadian steamshij) line, at its head ; and the " Intef-Oceanic," with the Hon. Senator Macpherson as its president. The Government was authorized by Act of Parliament to give the contract for building the road to either company, or to the two companies amalgtimated, or to any company distinct from either that would under- take the task. 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. The financial state of the country showed remarkable buoyancy, the surplus of revenue lieing three and a half millions. In consequence of this satisfactory condition of affairs, the duty on tea and coffee was abolished, and also the immigrant tax. During this year a terrible railway accident happened near Belleville, whereby forty persons were killed and many injured. The Wimbledon prize cup, given by the Kajah of Kolapore, was won by the Canadian rifle team. i I ft!" '4 290 MR. HUNTINGDON S CHARGES. [1873. A charter was at length granted (February nineteenth) ,o-.o to a new "Canada Pacific Railway Company." The president was Sir Hugh Allan, and among the directors, seventeen in number, were members of both the former companies, and representative men from the opulation of ninety-four thousand two hun- dred and twenty-one, together with a loan advanced by the Dominion to extinguish the claims of large landed jjroprietors. The consummation of the union was cele- brated with great festivity at Ciiarlottctown, the capital of the island. A general readjustment of the financial relations of the provinces to the Dominion took place. Ontario and Quebec were relieved of a po^^ion of their debt, and the other provinces received an increase in their annual sub- sidy. New Brunswick received in addition an annual grant of $150,000 to compensate for the loss of her timber dues under the Ti-eaty of Washington. During the summer Lord and Lady DufTerin made a progress through tlie maritime provinces, winning all hearts by their refined courtesy. They were everywhere received with the most loyal demonstrations. During the recess of parliament certain correspondence between Sir Hugh Allan and some American capitalists, which was published in the newspapers, seemed to incul- pate the Government in what was now known as the '•Pacific Scandal," and seriously damaged their position. The burden of the chargo was that the Government had received from Sir Hugh Allan and American capitalists, in consideration of gi'anting them the Pacific Railway Charter, large suras of money to be used in carrying the elections in the interest of the Ministerial party. Intense political feeling prevailed throughout the Dominion, and by a large number of persons the case was prejudged and the Government already condemned. When parliament met on the thirteenth of August, the committee of investigation failed to report, as the ence ists, icul- the tion. had ists, way the ense and and 1873.] THE "pacific scandal." 293 Imperial Government had on legal grounds disallowed the Oaths Bill, under which it was authorized to receive sworn testimony. An address, signed by ninety-two members of parliament, chiefly occupants of the Opposi- tion beucnes, was presented to the Governor- General, praying that he would not prorogue the House until the charges against the Government had been fully investi- gated. His Excellency, however, considered himself bound by constitutional reasons to carry out the pro- gramme announced, and amid a scene of extraordinary tumult and commotion, and loud cries of " Privilege," the Usher of the Black Bod sunmioned the Commons to the Senate Chamber for prorogation. A royal commission, composed of Justice Day, Justice Polette and Judge Gowau, was appointed by His Excel- lency to receive the testimony of sworn witnesses on the charges against the Government. Mr. Huntingdon refused to appear before the commis- siCi., on ih.e ground that he considered its appointment an invasion of the privileges of parliament. The com- mission proceeded, however, to the examination of wit- nesses, including the leading members of the Government, and others whose names had been previously cited by Mr. Huntingdon. The testimony of these witnesses seemed considerably to mitigate the burden of the charges. The Opposition »press complained, however, that there was no cross-examination of the witnesses, and the Ministerial press charged the Opposition with seeking evidence in a surreptitious and underhand manner. Party feeling ran very high, and mutual recriminations were very severe. Parliament met again on the twenty-third of October to ^ecei^'e the report of the royal commission, present- ing the unprecedented circumstance of being in session three times within five months. The report of the commissioners was an elaborate and exhaustive docu- ment, but it was confined to a statement of matters of evidence, without expressing any judicial opinion upon the subject. In amendment to the address in reply to the speech from the throne, Mr. Mackenzie, the leader of the Opposition, moved a resolution of censure on the Government. The debate that ensued was one of intense interest. The 294 RESIGNATION OF MACDONALD MINISTRY. [1S73. galleries of the House were crowded day sf+er day with eager listeners from all ^d,rts of the country. For seven days the debate continued. Many former supporters of the Government announced their condemnation of the ministry, and their intention to vote against it. At length, without waiting for the House to come to a vote, Sir John A. Macdonald announced the resignation of his cabinet, November fifth. 187{ 187^ 1875 15. 6. Mr. 187i •Itw H H H H H H H U H H H H H( [S73. with jeven jrs of f the At vote, )f his CHAPTER XLI. THE MACKENZIE ADMINISTRATION, 1873. Mr. Mackenzie forms a New Oovemraent— Its Constitution. 1874. Lord Dufferin Dissolves Parliament, January 3rd. SlMOiTAKEous Elections takis place, January 29th. RiEL Cl.»im3 a Sicat— Is Expelled from the Housk. New Pacif': Railway Act— Empowers the Government to Construct the Roait. The Controvertbd Elkotion Act. Qu 'Apelle Treaty conchtded with North-west Indians. 1875. Ontario Elections— Many Protests Filed— New Election Law RepresHe* Electoral Corruption. Dominion Parliament meets February 4th— Amnesty granted Red Rirer Insurgents — Riel, Lei»ine and O'Donohne exempted. Supreme Court of Appeal Created — Its Constitution. Practical Legislation — Postal Convention with United States. Mounted Police Orqanized in North-west Territory. Depression of Railway Interests — North-Shore Railway Projected. Quibord Riot at Montreal— Pilgrimage Riots at Toronto. Death of Sir William Logan and of Lieutenant-Governor Crawford. New Brunswick School-law Troubles. 13'. 8. Dominion Parliament meets February 10th. Readjustment of Terms with Manitoba. Organization of North-west Council and District of Kewatin. Protection and Free Trade Discussions. Opening of Intercolonial Railway. Progress of Public Works and Pacific Railway. Canada at the Centennial Exhibition. Vice-Regal Tour to British Columbia— Conclusion. Mr. Mackenzie was called upon to form a new govern- ,g_„ ment, which he speedily did.* On returning to their constituencies for reelection its members were It was constituted as follows : — Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, . . . Minister of Public Works. Hon. A. A. Dorion, Minister of Justice. Hon. Edward Blake Member of the Privy Council. Hon. Albert J. Smith, .... Minister of Marine and Fisheries. Hon. L. de St. Just Minister of Agriculture and Statistics. Hon. R. J. Cartwright Minister of Finance. Hon. David Laird Minister of the Interior. Hon. David Christie, Secretary of State. Hon. Isaac Burpee, Minister of Customs. Hon. D. A. Macdonald, .... Postmaster-General. Hon. Thomas Coflln Recieiver-Geneval. Hon. T^leaphore Fournier, . . . Minister of Inland Revenno. Hon. William Ross, Minister of Militia and Defonee. ii .f, , i4) 296 <( CANADA FIRST PARTY. [1873. returned by large majoritios. As a new issue had come before the country sinco the general election, and as it was alleged that several members of the House were returned by corr*" -^ -"••acticeH for the support of the late Aduiinisti-ation, '. Aackeiizie"* requestetl a dissolution of parliament and a fresh appeal to the country. During the year a new political party, not numerous, but embracing among its adherents several gentlemen of distinguished ability who could not give full adhesion to either of the previously existing parties, was organized. It received its name, " Canada First," from an eloquent patriotic pamphlet, inculcating the growth of a national sentiment, written by W. A. Foster, Esq., LL.B., one of the active spirits of the organization. By the principles set forth in this pamphlet the new party is largely charac- terized. It has made its influence felt chiefly thi-ough a periodical litei'ature of free criticism of all public acts, irrespective of party, to which the vigorous and polished writing of Professor Goldwin Smith and other able Httera- teurs has given very great weight. During the Christmas recess the House was dissolved, , r,^. January third. The nominations, with few excep- tions, took place on January twenty-second, and the elections one week later. The political contest was very keen and animated. Old party lines were in many cases obliterated, and not a few life-long Conservatives voted against the party which so long had administered the aflkirs of the country. The night following the election was one of intense excitement. It was the first election for the Dominion parliament at which voting, except in a few outlying con- stituencies, was simultaneous. Through the midnight hours multitudes thronged the streets of the cities to read the successive telegraphic bulletins at the newspaper * Mr Mackenzie, the new premier, like many others of our public, men, has been the architect of his own fortune. He was born near l)unkeld, Perth- shire, in 1822. He received his early education in the public school of hit native fiarish. Left an orphan at the age of fourteen, he earned his living by the labour of his hands, while he continued his unremitting work of self- education. He emigrated .to Sarnia, in Upper Canada, in 1842. He felt a 8tri>ng interest in the struggle for responsible government in his adopted country, and took an active part in the advocacy of liberal princples. In 1801 he was elected member of parliament for Lambtou, which constituency he has ever since represented. On the passage of the Act disallowing dual representation, he resigned his seat in the Ontario parliament for that at Ottawa, where he soon became the acknowledged leader of the Opposition. [1873. 1 come 1 as it 3 were he late ition of nerous, men of ssion to [anized. ioquent lational , one of inciples charac- i-oiigh a ic acts, polished 3 littera- ssolved, V excep- nd, and est was n many vatives listered intense )minion ing con- lidnight kities to [vspaper men, has kid, Perth- lool of his J his living Irk of seli- 1 He felt a Is adopted h.plea. In [istituency wing dual jr that at aitloD. 1874.] RESULT Of ELECTIONS. 297 offices. Tar barrels blazed, and torchlight processions and music celebrated the triumph of the victorious candi- dates. The following morning returns from nearly all the constituencies were published in the daily papers, recording a large majority in favour of the Government. 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 distinguished service to the country, received the condem- nation of a large proportion of the constituencies, espe- cially of those in the proviuco of Ontario. There were, however, many contested elections. The investigation of these had, by an Act of the previous session, been removed from the jurisdiction of a parlia- mentary committee and referred to the civil courts. The hearing of the protests was postponed, in consequence of the inability of the judges to overtake the work, till after the summer parliamentary recess. Parliament met on the twenty-sixth of March. The Hon. T. W. Anglin, of New Brunswick, was elected Speaker of the House of Com- mons, and the Hon. D. Christie was appointed president of the Senate. Arrangements w :q made for the pub- lication of a Canadian Hansard, containing the official report of the proceedings of parliament. The Government had a larger numerical following than any previous ministry ever had in Canada. It was claimed that in a House of two hundred and six mem- bers, three-fourths were supporters of the administration. The Hon. George Brown and the Hon. R. W. Scott entered the Dominion Senate. Before the parliament met, Mr. Blake, ^Tho, under a temporary arrangement, held office without portfolio, resigned. Mr. Louis Biol having been elected representative for Provencher, in Manitoba, appeared in Ottawa and signed the roll of the House, taking the oath required of its mexibers. Mr. Mackenzie Bo well moved his expul- sion from parliament as a " fugitive from justice," a true bill having been found against him as one of the murderers of Thomas Scott, by the grand jury of Mani- toba, and sentence of outlawry pronounced. Evidence substantiating these facts was taken at the bar of the 20 iif I 'I a \iM Mir" m ;%: 298 EXPULSION OP RIEL. [1874. House, and the sentence of expulsion was almost unani- mously carried, only two members voting against it. He was subsequently reelected by the same constituency of Provencher, but did not again attempt to take his seat. The session was a short but busy one. Sir Hugh Allan had found himself imable, on behalf of the Pacific Railway Company, to obtain the money in England for the construction of the roafl, and resigned the charter into the hands of the Government, A new Pacific Railway Act was therefore passed, empowering the Government to construct the road in sections, and to make use of the water stretches on the route till the entire road could bo 'Completed. A more stringent Controverted Elections Act than that •of 1872 was passed, which contributed very greatly to the suppression of corrupt practices. A bill was also passed for reorganizing the militia and for establishing a military college at Kingston- Numerous petitions were presented to the House, praying for the abolition of the liquor traffic. The Government appointed a royal com- mission to investigate the ojieration of the prohibitory law in those states in the Union where it had been intro- duced. The report of this commission established the fact of the general repression of crime and pauperism where the prohibition of the traffic had been enforced. Mr. Cartwright, the Finance Minister, announced an anticipated deficit in the public revenue of $3,000,000, which he proposed to meet by an increase of the customs duties from fifteen to seventeen and a half per cent. He also effected a Dominion loan of $20,000,000 in the London money market at very favourable rates. After the summer vacation protests against the con- tested elections were heard. The new election law was found to be prompt, impartial, and effective in its opera- tion. Every member whose election was protested against was unseated, sometimes on purdy technical grounds, but all but three who offered themselves were reelected. The introduction of the ballot contributed very greatly to elec- toral purity. The elections for the voided seats occupied a considerable share of public attention for the remainder of the year. )■ ' f r i ■ . • ■* ♦ : 4 .1 f-. K->?v^to in of •- C re w C P m ai ta , & w E ti g^ m P tl •7>»* V id ail ),000, jtoms cent. the con- was >pera- (ainst ff but The elec- ipied ider 1874.] -»^.-REp«^OCITY NfcOOTIATIONS. 2ay • DuHng,i\he'9utamer negDtmtions wefQ carrifed-on be- tween Sir Edward Thornton, British minister at /Wash- . ington, a^cltho Hon. Geo.rg"b- Brown, representing Canada, S and 'the Hon. 'Mr. Fish, S^crt{tary of the United • States, .. tiip the .r.Qnewin^ of a recipE9,<;ity treaty. On the twenty- \ t!||ird of J-une a draft of a ti>mty, which had been approved by the Governmehts of Great Britain and Canada as th« .,l:>est that could V® effected under the circumstances, . ailthough.by ho means so advantageous to Canadian itlteresta'as was desirable, was -submitted by President . Grant .to .the/ lUni ted States Senate "for advice." It -ijVJwas, hO^Vever, ultimately vetoed by that body. Its ' fAilurd: c'aiised little regret in Canada, so. unfavourable Were vita conditions. . .\ ..• . v , .. In the Ontario 'parliam.ent a ma^s of useful legislation .was accQtnplished'.- The Public School Act was consoli- " "d^ated. The representation of the province was readjusted. ' •• 3ix new seats were created, increasing the number of >. " maniberV to eighty-^ight. The surplus in the treasury •v^V.,/.>moant!0d to|5;000|000. ' . : . V>*t-' :' '''!^^**^^S. *'^^ summer Loijd DuiFerin made a vice-regal Vi^- tour .through the up^r'lak^s, and evinced his deej> interest in the magnificent scenery and grand resources of that portion of the Dominion. During a brief visit at Chicago, he received the hospitality of the city, and reciprocated the expressions of international courtesy which he received. In consequence of dissatisfaction on the part of British Columbia with reference to the construction of the Canada Pacific Railway, Mr. Edgar proceeded thither as a com- missioner from the Canadian Government, in order to arrive, if possible, at an amicable understanding. Cer- tain modifications and concessions were granted which greatly contrib\ited to that result. In the North-west the Qu'Apelle treaty was concluded with the Indiana having territorial rights between Fort Ellice and the South Saskatchewan, which, in considera- tion of generous reserves and annual presents, extin- guished the Indian title to seventy-four thousand square miles, and prepared" the way for its future settlement. Previous treaties had ceded the whole of Manitoba and the Kewatin District. A considerable immigration of a. , I. if.; li'll ,;'i!i 300 CONTESTED ELECTIONS. [1874. Mennonites and Icelandei's took place into the province of Manitoba. They received generous government aid and favourably situated grants of land. Chief- Justice Richards and the Hon. Judge Wilmot were appointed arbitrators to settle the question of the north and north-west boundaries of the province of Quebec. One of the chief social events of the year was the mar- riage of the Duke of Edinburgh with the daughter of the Emperor of Russia, an alliance which seemed the pledge of the renewal of an international friendship, unhappily interrupted by the disastrous Crimean war. Early in the year the province of Ontario elected its third Legislative Assembly. Additional interest was felt in the election from the fact that voting by ballot was for the first time introduced. No less than twenty- four petitions were filed against members elect, under the provisions of the Controverted Elections Act. The re- sult of the trials, however, did not materially affect the balance of parties either way. Though many seats were voided, this seems to have been generally the effect of minor violations of an extremely stringent law, rather than from any grave or general attempt at electoral corruption. Canadian readers of the daily press followed with espe- cial interest the victorious career of Sir Garnet Wolseley in his conduct of the Ashantee war, and the capture, early in the year, of the barbarian stronghold of Coomassie. The military skill that had been exhibited in penetrat- ing the wilderness of Canada was still more strikingly manifested in conquering the difficulties of the African jungle. The Dominion parliament assembled on the fourth of •torjK February. The session, though short, was busy. A prominent subject of discussion was that of granting an amnesty to persons inculpated in the dis- turbances in the North-west territories during the years 1869 and 1870. Lepine, the associate of Riel in the insurrection, had been tried before Chief -Justice Wood, of Manitoba, for the murder of Scott, and had been found guilty and sentenced to death. Petitions were presented for his reprieve, and the question of a general ai m of 1875.] RED RIVER AMNESTY. 301 amnesty became the subject of a prolonged and ani- mated debate. The policy of the Government qualified the amnesty with regard to the two principal agents in the insurrection, Riel and Lepine, by imposing on them banishment from the country for the period of five years. This was sustained by a vote in the House of one hundred and twenty-six yeas to fifty nays. Riel was disqualified from sitting in the House of Com- mons, having been declared an outlaw by the Court of Queen's Bench, and a writ was issued for a new election. O'Donohue, in consequence of his inculpation in the Fenian invasion of Manitoba in 1871, was excluded altogether from the privileges of the amnesty. Another important piece of legislation was the consti- tution of a Supreme Court of Appeal for the Dominion.* The provisions for improved postal service and free delivery of letters in cities ; and the legislation on banks and banking, insurance, railway traffic, and other subjects of a like practical nature, were highly appreciated by the mercantile community. A bill sanctioning the construc- tion by the Dominion Government of a railway in Van- couver's Island, in accordance with an agreement with the province of British Columbia, was passed by the Com- mons, but was thrown out by the Senate. A postal convention was concluded with the United States, providing for the transmission of letters and papers from either country to the other at single instead of double postage rates. Additional facilities were also given for the difiusion of intelligence by the large reduction of postage on periodicals. Some important changes took place in the personnel of the Government. The Hon. Edward Blake accepted office as the Minister of Justice, the Hon. J. E. Cauchon became President of the Council, the Hon. L. S. Hunt- ingdon become Postmaster-General, and the Hon. W. B. Vail, formerly a member of tlie Government of Nova Scotia, became Minister of Militia j the previous occu- pants of these offices having received civil or legal appointments. m - — ■ , . 1^ . . _ _— , . —— — ■ __— * It was composed of Chief-Justice Richards and the puisne judges, Mr. Justice Strong, Hon. T. Fournier, Mr. Justice Taache-eau, Hou. Mr. Henry, Q.O., and Chief- Justice Ritchie of New Brunswick. i 302 RAILWAY DEPRESSION. [1875. During the summer Lord Dufferin visited Great Bri- tain, and in an eloquent address before the Canada Club highly eulogized the Dominion, and vindicated its claims upon the regard of the mother country. A loan of .£2,500,000 sterling was eflfected in the London money market, at rates that showed the favourable estimate of Canadian securities. A severe monetary stringency led to much commercial and manufacturing depression, which has been more or less felt since, causing many insolvencies, and leading to a wise and necessary decrease in importation, although at the cost of a lessened customs revenue. In the North-west territory the presence of an efficient force of three hundred mounted police, and the appoint- ment of stipendiary magistrates, ensured the preservation of peace and order throughout those wide regions, and have prevented the evils of the liquor traffic — that bane- of their race — among the Indian tribes. A steamboat successfully sailed up the Saskatchewan river, the pioneer of the great commercial fleet that shall yet navigate those inland waters. Successful negotia- tions were also opened with the Plain Indians of the Far West, with a view to the visits of commissioners and the formation of treaties with them. The railway interests of the Dominion suffered from a considerable reduction of traffic consequent on the depressed state of trade, both in the United States and Canada. The Canada Southern Railway came under the control of Commodoi-e Vanderbilt by purchase. A severe attack was made on the Canadian railway system in the London papers by Mr. Potter, the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. As a consequence, the promoters of a direct line from Quebec to Montreal and Ottawa were unable to effect the necessary loan in the London money market. The Quebec Government, however, r^rfolved tO' assume the construction of the road, which will open up a valuable section of country, and will prove an important link in the interoceanic railway communi- cation. The tendency to ecclesiastical consolidation was illus- trated by the union of all the Presbyterian Churches of Canada, following shortly on that of three branches of the Methodist Church. to 1875.] RIOTS. 303 of In two of the principal cities of the Dominion un- happy riots occurred^ which produced intense excitement throughout the country. In Montreal an attempt to bury the remains of Joseph Guibord, in accordance with an order of the Privy Council of England, in the Catho- lic cemetery, from which tliey had been interdicted by ecclesiastical censure, was for a time frustrated by mob violence. The presence of a strong civil and military force, and the pacific counsels of the Roman Catholic clergy, prevented any outbreak of violence on a second attempt, when the interment took place without inter- ruption. A few weeks later, in the city of Toronto, a Catholic procession proceeding from church to church was at- tacked on two successive Sundays — September twenty- sixth and' October third — by a lawless mob. On the second occasion the procession was escorted by a strong force of police, a military <^;or{)s being held in reserve. Several stubborn f^onflicts took place between the mob and the police, in wliioh stones were freely used, several pistol shots fired, and many persons seriously injured. The riot, however, was rigorously suppressed by the civic authorities without the aid of the military, and many of the rioters were arrested, tried, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The military college at Kingston, for the eilucation of officers of the Canadian militia, was successfully inaugu- rated in accordance with an Act of the Dominion legis- lature, and a new Normal School for the training of teachers was opened at Ottawa under the auspices of the Ontario Government. The Prince Edward Island Rail- way was also opened under the management of the Do- minion authorities. A graceful act of justice was done to the sn.. 'i , ing veterans of 1812-15, nearly three thousand in number, by the donation of a gratuity in recognition of their pa- triotic services. During the year the country was called upon to mourn the death of one of her most distinguished sons, Sir Wil- liam Logan, the eminent geologist. In the month of May also die I the Hon. John Crawford, the Lieutenant- Governor of Ontario, greatly respected by all classes of I 304 NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL-LAW TROUBLES. [1875. 18; the community. He was succeeded in office by the Hon. Donald Macdonald, previously Postmaster-General of Canada. In New Brunswick the enforcement of the public school law led to a disturbance and loss of life at Caraquet, and to the trial and conviction of the chief offenders. The Separate School difficulty in that province — which was the occasion of much acrimonious debate in the Do- minion parliament during several sessions, and which involved constitutional issues of the gravest importance as to the relations of the provincial and federal Govern- ments — desgrves a somewhat detailed recapitulation. In 1871 the legislature of New Brunswick passed a Com- mon School Act making assessment compulsory, and enacting that all schools, to be entitled to legislative aid, must be non-sectarian. The immediate effect of this Act was to deprive all denominational academies and schools of the aid from public moneys which they had previously received. The ninety-third clause of the British North America Act gives to the provincial legislatures the exclusive right to make laws on the subject of education, but with the provision that nothing in any such law shall limit any privile(]fes existing at the time of the union. The Catholic minority of New Brunswick asserted that this exception to the education clause of the Union Act gua- i-anteed their right to legislative grants for their denomi- national schools. They therefore petitioned the Privy Council to advise the Governor-General to disallow the Common School Act of the New Brunswick legislature. The Privy Council declined so to advise His Excellency, the Minister of Justice, Sir John A. Macdoi.ald, contend- ing that the jui'isdiction of New Brunswick was supreme in the matter, and that the exception to the education clause of the Union Act did not a])ply in the case. This decision [)roving exceedingly unsatisfactory to the petitioners, Mr. Chauveau, the member for Quebec county, moved a resolution in the Dominion parliament, praying the Queen to cause an Act to be passed amend- ing the Act of Union in the sense understood by the peti- tioners, with respect to educational matters. Hereupon the Government of New Brunswick sent to the Privy Cou the the fron Cha and migl ivy bhe vy 1876.] NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL-LAW TROUBLES. 305 Council an emphatic protest against what it considered the threatened infringement on the constitutional right of the province to legislate on all educational matters, free from interference from the Dominion parliament. Mr. Chauveau's motion was lost by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to tliirty-four ; but a motion was carried expressing a hope that the school law of New Brunswick might be modified so as to remove the discontent of a portion of the inhabitants. To this motion a rider was appended, referring the legal aspects of the question to the law officers of the crown. These officers confirmed the decision of the Privy Council, in which opinion they were corroborated by the judgment of the Supreme Coui-t of New Brunswick, in the case of appeal against the com- pulsory assessment under the new School Act. In the general election of 1872 the New Bruiisw! b school law was in large degree a test question at the polls, and in the first session of the second Dominion jjar- liament a resolution was carried in favour of an appeal to the Privy Council of England ; and the following year, after the change of Grovernment, a vote of $5,000 was granted to defray the expenses of the appeal. The same year the people of New Brunswick entered their vigorous protest against the interference of the Dominion parlia- ment in matters wj'/hin the jurisdiction of the provincial legislature. The elections for a new local legislature turned upon this question. Out of forty-one represen- tatives only five were returned in the interest of the minority in favour of a separate school law. The Attorney-General of the province, the Hon. J. E. King, proceeded to London to defend the acts of tie Government before the Privy Council of England. That highest court in the realm dismissed the appeal and sus- tained tlie constitutionalitv of the New Brunswick school law. Much exasperation was felt on the part of the minority. Several persons refused to pay the obnoxious school tax, A^hich the authorities had to collect by seizure of goods. In 1875, as already mentioned, a serious riot took place at Caraquet, Gloucester county. Some ratepayers met at the school-house to vote money for school purposes. A party of French habitants broke up the meeting and took 306 ORGANIZATION OP NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. [1875. 1876. possession of the building. In endeavouring to suppress the riot one of the officers of the law and one of the rioters were shot dead, and the militia had to be called on to preserve public order. Durin,^ the session of 1875 the Dominion parliament consented, by a large majority, to an address to the Queen, praying Her Majesty to use her influence with the legislature of New Brunswick to procure such a modification of the School Act as would remove any just grounds of discontent to any portion of the popu- lation. As these pages are passing through the press the intelli- gence comes to hand of the large majority of the free- school party in the elections for the local legislature of the province of Prince Edward Island. The contest turned almost exclusively upon the school question ; and it is claimed that the elections which took place on the seventeenth of Auafust returned eifjhteen free school can- didates ..gainst twelve sectarian school candidates. The third session of the Dominion parliament af^^sem- l^-p bled on the tenth of February, and continued for nine weeks. The actual amount of legislation was not great, but some important measures passed the House. A readjustment of terms was made by the Government with Manitoba, by which that province abolished its Upper Chamber or Legislative Council of seven mem- bers, and received an annual grant of $90,000 for govern- mental expenses. Provision was also made for the separation of a portion of the North-west territory for administrative purposes, and for the creation of a new North-west Council, con- sistini; 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 placed under the jurisdiction of 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. In consequence of the continued commercial depression during the recess, the subjects of protection and free trade had been warmly discussed. These discussions were large 1876.], TRADE DISCUSSIONS. 307 ren'*wed with much energy witliin the House. In view, of a prospective deficiency in the revenue, it was antici- pated that the customs tariff would be advanced, thus- giving a further incidental protection to the manufac- turers. Mr. Cartwright's budget, however, introduced February twenty-fifth, met the difficulty by a retrench- ment in the ex{)enditure to the amount of two and a half millions. The fiscal policy of the Government was strongly attacked on several occasions, but the ministry was sustained by large majoi-ities. The provisions of the " Shipping Bill " of the Imperial parliament having infringed on the prerogative of Can- ada, representations were made to the Hoiie Government regarding the rights of colonial ship-owners, le'^„ding to modifications which made the bill more acceptable. During the early part of the summer the Intercolonial Railway was opened for travel and traffic. The magni- ficence of the scenery through which it passes has attracted much attention, and the increased facilities given to inter- colonial trade cannot fail to strengthen the bonds of union with the maritime provinces. The opening of the road has already considerably lessened the time of transit of European mails to and from the West. The public works of the Dominion are being pressed forwai-d with vigour, and very satisfactory progress has feeen made on the new constructions and excavations of the Welland and St. Lawrence Canals. Several contracts have been let for the construction of the Canada Pacific Railway, and considerable progress has been made on some of the sections of this gigantic undertaking. Large quantities of steel rails have been ])urchased and laid down at convenient depots for distri- l)ution ; but the commercial policy of the Government in their purchase has been made the subject of severe criticism. That policy, however, was sustained by a large majority of the Ho\ise. Telegraphic and postal communication along the projected line of railway, and in the newer portions of the Dominion, has been greatly extended, and will contribute in a very large degree to the facilitation of business. The stringency of the money market continued with slight abatement throughout the summer, and the manu- 308 THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. [1876. facturing and other industries of the country suffered considerable depression. The restriction of importation, tind a harvest on the whole of an average yield, will pro- bably greatly relieve the financial pressure. The United States Centennial Exhibition at Phila- delphia attracted large numbers of Canadian visitors. The position occupied by Canada in that great industrial congress of the nations, was in the highest degree credit- able 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 pro- vinces 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 admira- tion. It is just ground for patriotic pride, that in this highest outcome of civilization our country takes the lead of the world, and far surpasses many countries much older and richer in material wealth. The mechanical industries and manufactures of Canada also commanded wide recognition, and in some cases extensive patronage. Among the foreign patrons were Turkish purchasers of large amounts of iron manufactures, notwithstanding the domestic convulsions and revolt of the Christian populations of the Ottoman Empire. There is also the prospect of trade relations being established with the British colonies of the antipodes, the Australian commissioners having opened communication, for the fur- therance of that object, with the principal Boards of Trade of the Dominion. In the month of August their Excellencies, Lord and Lady Dufferin and suite, made a visit to the province of British Columbia by way of the American Pacific Rail- way. They were received with demonstrations of loyal enthusiasm in the westernmost province of the Dominion, and were impressed with the sublimity of its scenery, the extent and import ^ce of its vast natural resources, and the magnificent px^mise of its future. Here, then, closes our necessarily brief and imperfect survey of the history of Canada. If the review of the blended romance and chivalry of its early years ; of the heroic valv^ur of its wars of self-defence against a power- 1876.] CONCLUSION. 309 ful foe; of the gradual development of those principles of constitutional liberty and responsible government which the English-speaking race has everywhere striven to ac- quire ; of the grand expansion of its territory and growth of its power in the recent past ; of the boundless possi- bilities of its future ; — if these shall kindle in the hearts of our readers an intelligent patriotism, a glowing aflfec- tion for the noble country which is theirs, an uncon- querable resolve to cherish its best interests — to promote its material, intellectual and moral progress, to live worthy of the goodly inheritance they have received from the pioneer fathers and founders of Canada — the bravo men who died and the wise men who grandly lived for it — ,to hand down to generations yet unborn the unsullied record of a noble Christian nation — this book shall not have been written in vain. y PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES.' Abenaquis. . . Acadie, or Acadia. . Aix-la-('ha- pelle Algonquin. . . Assiniboine. . Aubry Baudet , B6arne Beaubassin . . Beauharnois. . Beauport .... Beaus^our . . B6cancourt . . Benoit Biencourt .... Boerstler .... Bouganville . . Bouquet Bourdon Bourlamaque. Burgoyne .... Cabot Cahiague .... Callitre.8 Canceau, or Canso . . . ■ Carignan- Salidres . . Carillon . . . Cartier, Jacques . . Cataracoui . . Caughnuwaga Cayugas Ab-en-ali-quis. A'k-ah-dee, or Ak-ii'de-a. Aika-lah-shape'l. Al-gon8-kan8. Ass-in-ib-wawn (or, -oin). O'-bree. Eo-d«y. Bay-a rn. Bo-basa-a'n*. Bo-har-nwa'w. Bo-po're. Bo-say-zho'or. Bay-kanK-koor. Ben-waw. Be-aii«-koor. Burst-ler. Boo-gan8-veel. Bco-ka'y. Boor-donK. Boor-lah-malik. Bur'goin. Kab-ot. Ka-e-a-gu. Kal-e-air. KahnK-ao', or Ka'n-so. Kar-een-yahnK- Sah-le-ai'r. Kar-ee-yon«. Kar-te-ay, Zhak.^ Kat-ar-a-koo-e. Kaw-naw-waga. Kay-yu-gahs. Champlain . . . ShaunK-plan«. Charlevoix.. . . Char-le-vo-ll. ('hauncey .... Chahn-se'. Chippewa .... Chip'-pe-waw. Chouagen .... Shou-a'-gen. Chrysler Kris-lier. Cockburn .... Ko'-burn. Gontrecoeur. . . KonK-tr-keW, Courcelles . . . . K«»or-se'll. Coureurs du ) Koo-rew'r da Bois ) bwaw. Coutume de <) Koo-tM'md-pah- Paris \ re'e. Cr^Vi' Cceur . . Krave Kf ur. Cuvillier Kw-veel-yay* Dablon Dah-blon*. Dauversiere . . Do-vair-se-ai'r. D'Aiguillon . Driy-gee-yon*. D^ Ailleboust. . Dal-boo. D'ArgensoH. . Dar-zhahn8-son«. D'A ulnay. . . . Do'-nay. D'Avaugour. . Dah-vo-goo'r. Dearborn .... Deer-bum. De Bienville . . Du Be-an8-veel. De Caen Du Kahns. De Chastes . . Du Shast. De Guast .... Du Gah. De Monts . . . Du Mon*. De Silleri .... Du Sill-er-y. Denys Day-nee. Deschamps. . . Day-shahn«. Des Meules . . Day-mifMl. D'Hertel, ) Dair-tell, {Bouville). ) (Roo-veelj. D' Iberville. . . . Dee-bair-ve el. Dieskau Dee-e's-ko. Dinwiddle. . . Din-wi'ddv. Druillettes . . . Drw-ee-ye't. • In the pronunciations given, the letters and syllables are to have their ordi- nary English sound, with these exceptions, viz., u and eu, in italics, denot* the corresponding French sounds, which have no exact English equivalent; & represents the short sound of the French e, somewhat like u ui but; ng de- notes the French nas il sound ; g everywhere denotes the hard sound of ihtt letter, an ia go; zh denotes the sound of t in (uiure. PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 311 Duchesneau . . DM-shen-o'. Dupuys Dw-pwe'e, Du PlesHiH.. . . Dit l*less-e'e. Da QwHtie . . . J)u Kai'n. Dulac dcs ) Dulak dais Oriiieaux.. ) Ormo. Duvanlye .... Du-van-ti; Fontainebleau. FonS-tain-blo'. Qaharua Gab-ah-roo's. Qalissonnitre \ C^al.-ec^s-onB-ne- \ air. Oejiessee Jen-e-se'e. Ghent GahnK. Oruyart Grw-e-yar. Hebert A-bai'r. Hennepin .... Hea-ne-panf. Hochelaga. . . . Ho-sh-la'h-gah. Iroquois Ee-ro-quaw. Isle aux JSoix. Eel-o-nwaw. Joliet Jo-li-et. Jowpiihre .... Zhon8-kee-a'ir. Jumonvilk . . . Zhu-mons-ve'el. Kondiaronk. . Kon-de-ar-o'nk. Labrador .... Lab-rah-do're. Lachine Lah-shee'n. Lafontaine . . Lah-fon«-tain. Laliemant. . . . Lahl-ma'hn«. Lauaon Lo-zon*. Lescarbot .... Lay-kar bo. Levi Lev-ee. Longueuil. . . . Lon«-g(?u'-ee. Loyola Loi-o'-lah. • Macomb Ma-koom. Maisonneuve. . Ma'y-8on8-n«M'v. Manitou Ma'n-it-oo. Marquette .... Mar-ket. Meigs Meegs. Mercier Mair-se-ay. Mesnard .... May-na'r. Mesy May-zee. Mononga- ) Mo-non-ga-hee'- Jiela \ lah. Montagnaia . . Mous-ta'u-yay. Montcalm. . . . Montinagny . . Montmorency MonB-kahra. Mdn^-ma'u-yee. Mon8-mo-rahn«- se. Narragansetts Narra-ga'n-setfl. Aemiscean . . . Nem-e-so'. Norembegue. . Nor-em-bay-gu. Oneidas O-nl'-dahs. Onondagas. . . On-on-daw-gahs. Pakenhani.. . . Parrot Pontgravi Pontiac Pouch ot Poutrincourt.. Preaqu'isle.. . . Prevod Prideaux . . . . Pfik'n-am. Pair-ro'. Pou«-grah-va'y. Pou'-te-ac. Poo-sho'. Poo-trahn«-ko()r. Press ke'el. Prii'v-o. Prid'o. Rash's Eahl. Recolle.t Ru-koU-a'y. Recouvrance. . Ru-koo-vra'hn«-S8 Rensselaer . . . Een-se-hir. Richelieu .... Reesb-le-ea. Saskatchewan. Sault Ste. Marie. ... Schultz Schuyler .... Senecas Sioux. Ste. Foye .... St. Pierre .... Stculacond. . . . Stuyvesant . . . Sas-ka'tch-e-wan So-san8t- mah-re'e. Shoolts. Sky'-ler. Se'u-e-kahs- See-oo. San^t-fwaw. Saint Pe-are'. Stad-ah-ko-n»y. Sti'-ve-sant- Tecumaeh Te-cum'-sfi. Utrecht You-trekt. Vaudreuil. Ventadour. ferazzani. Vespucci, . Yo-dreu'-ee-ye. . VahnK-tah-doo'r. . Vay-rah-zaTi-nce I Ves-poot-chee, {Amerigo) ) (Ah-may-ree'-go) Wyandot .... Wy-an-do't. INDEX. Abercrombie, Lord, 85, 90. Abraham, Plains of, 98, 99. Acadians, Expulsion of, 81, 82. Acadie Colonized, 27. Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of, 74. Alabama, The, 242. ' Alabama Claims, 285, 280, 283. America, Discovery of, 9-12; origin of name, 12; whence peopled, itf. American Revolution, 108-112. American War of 1811-15; causes of, 125-127; effects of, 141, 148-151. American Civil War, 235 ; effects on Canada, 240. Amherst, General, 93. Amnesty, lied Kiver, 301. Annapolis, 68. Anti-Confederation movement, 261, 206. Arbitration, Geneva, 288. Arnold, C>:)loncl, 109 ; besieges Quebec, 110,- 111. Aroostook war, 185. Arthur, Sir George, 179. Ash burton Treaty, 185. Assiniboia, Council of, 274. Aylmer, Lord, 164. Bagot, Sir Charles, li)3. Baldwin, Robert, 161, 193, 195, 230. Barre, M. de la, 57. Beauharnois, Marquis de, 72. Beau S^jour Fort, 81. Beaver Dams, Exploit at, 136. Berlin Decree, 125. " Better Terms " given Nova Scotia, 267. Bigot, M., 76 ; his villainy, 87 ; his fall, 103. Blake, Edward, 287, and note. Boulton, Major, .it Red River, 279. Boundary Disputes, 156, 185. Bourlemaque, 93. Braddock, General, 76. Br^beuf, 34, 38 ; his martyrdom, 39. British Columbia, 282, 286, 308. British North America Act, 262-264. Brock, General, Governor of Upper Canada, 120 ; captures General Hull, 128 ; death of, 129 ; Ida monument, 189. INDEX. 313 opled, ', 141. ^ptures ■9. Brown, Cxeorge, 226 ; forms cabinet, 229 ; hia "joint authority " resolutions, 232 ; enters coalition ministry, 244. lirown, John, Death of, 231. Burgoyne, Surrender of, 1 12. 1 jabots, The, 13. Oaena, De, 31. Calli^rcs, ()(), 67. Canada, l^iacovory of, "15; ori;:;in of name, 27 (noff) ; conquest of, 1)0, lOo {^M War of 1812-15) ; Canada Tra-le Act, 158 ; Itebellion in, 1 (iS- 169; defence of, 238 ; Do;iiiuion of, 200 ct nf'(/. "Canada First" Party, 296. Canada Pacific Railway, 2S9, 290, 298, 307. Canals, 159, 161. Carignan iJegiment, 46, 48. Carillon, 80 ; fall of, 94. Carleton, Sir Cuy, 106, 110-112; Lord Dorchester, 115; leaves Canada, 123.' Caroline, Destruction of the, 177, 189. Cartier, Jacques, 14 ; explores St. Lawrence, 15 ; winters at Quebec, 16. Cartier, Sir George E., Death of, 291. Cathcart, General, 190. Cemitalren, 48, 218. Census, 235, 289. Centennial Exhibition, Canada at the, 309. (/hamplain, Samuel de, 26-34 ; founds Quebec, 27 ; discovers Lake Champlain and explores the Ottawa, 28 ; discovers Lakes Huron, Simcoe, and Ontario, 29, 30 ; war with Senecas, 30 ; surrenders to Kirk, 32 ; returns to Canada, 33 ; death, Ih. Charlevoix, Father, 71. Charlottetown Conference, 245. Chateauguay, Battle of, 140. Chauncey, Commodore, 131, 134, 137. Chauvin founds Tadousac, 26. Chesapeake, The, taken, 142. Chippewa, Battle of, 145. Chrysler's Farm, Battle of, 139. Clergy Reserves. loO, 189, 217. Coalition Ministry, 217, 221, 244. Colbert, 44. Colborne, 161.; suppresses rebellion, 166, 167. Columbus, Christopher, 10-12. Commission, Joint High, 286. Commune, The, 284. Company of the Hundred Associates, 32, 36, 37, 44. (Confederation proposed, 245; adopted, 247; accomplished, 261-264. Congress, Continental, 109, 111. Conquest of Canad'i, 101 ; eifects of, 102, 104, 105. Constitutional Act, 114. Constitution of Canada, 262-264. 21 I 314 INDEX. Courcelles, M. da, 46. Coureurs de Bois, 49. Coutume de Paris, 45. Craig, Sir James, 124. Crimean War, 219, 220, 222. Crown Point, 72, 80, 111. D'Ailleboust, M., 42. Dalhousie, Earl of, 152, 153. Daniel, Father, murdered, 39. D'Argenson, 42. Dates of Early settlements, 24 {nole). D'Avaugour, 43. Dead-Lock, political, 244. Dearborn, General, routed at LacoUe, 130 j at York, 134 ; be- leagured in Fort George, 136. Deer field. Massacre of, 67. Dennis, Colonel, at Fort Erie, 155, 156; at Red River, 278. Denonville, M. De, 57. Detroit, fourded, 67 ; Pontiac at, 104 ; captured by Brock, 128. D'lberviUe, 64, 65. Dieskau, Defeat of, 80. Donnacona, 15. Dorchester, Lord, 115, " Double Majoi .cy," 192 ; abandoned, 225. " Double Shuffle," The, 230. Douglas, Lord, 1^70-274. Drake, 25. Drummond, General, 145, 151. Dufferin, Lord, 288, 292, 293, 299, 308. Durham,. T,ord, 167 ; his Report, 186. Earthquake in Canada, 43. Education in Canada, 197, 308. Egg Islands, Catastrophe at, 69. Elgin, Lord, 196 ; mobbed, 203, 204 ; resigns, 219. Erie, Fort, Battle of, 146. Erie, Lake, Battle on, 138. "Family Compact," The, 157, 161. Fenians, The, 252 ; invasion of, 254 ; repulse of, 256 ; trials^ 261 ; last raids of, 281, 282. Fitzgibbon, Lieut., Gallant exploit of^ 136. Five Nations, The, 23. Franco-Prussian war, 284. French Town surprised, 133. Frobisher, 25. Frontenac, 51 ; second administration of, 60 ; d^ath oi, CS. Frontenpo, Fort, 51, 53, 91. Fugitive slave extradition, 234. Fur Companies, Rival, 268 et seq. Fur trade, 49, 70, 71, 268 et seq. INDEX. 315 GaUows HiU, Fight at, 175. Gavazzi Riots, 213. Geneva Arbitration, 288. George, Battles of Lake, 87, 90. Ghent, Treaty of, 148. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 25, 26. Gore, Francis, Governor of Upper Canada, 119; returns, 156. Gosford, Lord, 164. Gourlay, Robert, 157. Griffin, The, 53, 54. Guibord Riots, 303. Haldimand, General, 112. Halifax founded, 75 ; in war time, 124, 154. Hampton, General, 140. Head, Sir Edmund, 221. Head, Sir Francis, 162, 170 ; awaits rebellion, 171 ; resigns, 178. Hennepin, Father, 54. Henry, Captain, 126. Hertel, Rouville, 61. Hincks, Francis, 194, 289. Hochelaga, 15. Howe, Joseph, 184, 261, 266, 267, 291. Howe, Lord, Death of, 90. Hudson, Henry, 27 {iiote). Hudson's Bay Company, 268 et seq. Hudson's Bay Territory, 268 ; ceded to Canada, 277. Hull, General, surrenders, 128. Hundred Associates, The, 31, 36, 37, 44. Hunter, Major General, 118. "Hunters' Lodges," 179. Huntingdon, Mr., Charges of, 290, 293. Huron Missions, 38, 41. Immigration, Large, 164, 200. Indians : origin of name, 18 ; the mound builders, 18, 19 ; char- acteristics, 19 ; dress, 20 ; wars, 21 ; tribes, 22, 23 ; pre- sent locations, 23. See Hurons, Iroquois, etc. Intend ant. The, 44. Iroquois, 23 ; wars with, 27, 29, 47, 57 ; incursions of, 39, 41, 58, 63. Jesuits in Canada. 31, 37 ; missions of, 39 ; explorers, 51. Johnson, Sir William, 79, 80, 93, 105. "Joint Authority Resolutions," 232. Joliet, 52. .lonquiere, M. de la, 74, 76. Judges, Appointment of, 264. Jumonville, M., 76. Keheca Llherata, 62. Kempt, Sir James, 164. 316 INDEX. Kirk, Admiral, captures Quebec, 32. Koudiarak, the Kat, 58. Lachine, Massacre of, 58. Lalemant, Father, 89. I^a Salle, 53 ; his explorations, 54 ; death, 55. Lauson, 42. Laval, 42. League, British North American, 202. Legislatures, Dominion, 2G2, 2G3 ; local, 2G4. Lapine, 300, 301. L3vi, 94, 101. Lincoln, Death of, 248. Loudon, Lord, 85, 8(>. Louisburg founded, G9; siege of, 73, 74 ; second siege, 89. Lower Canada, Organization of, 123 ; civil strife in, 129, 143, 151 ; Rebellion in, 1G3. Loyalists, United P]mi)irc, 1 13. Lundy's Lane, Battle of, 145, 146. Macdonald, Colonel, 129. Macdonald, J. Sandlield, 287. Macdonald, Sir John A., 223 ; resigns Government, 294. Macdougall, Hon. W'illiam, at Red River, 277. Mackenzie, Hon. Alexander, 296, and note. Mackenzie, William Lyon, 160 ; rebels, 162 ; attacks Toronto, 173 ; at Navy Island, 177. Maisonneuve, 37. Maitland, Sir Peregrine, 151, 158. Manitoba Act, 280, 306. Marquottc, Father, 52. McGoe, T. D'Arcy, 228 ; shot, 206. McLean's Setlition, 124. McNab, Col, in rebellion, 175, 177. Meigs, Fort, Siege of, 138. Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 194. Miramichi, Great tire of, 154. Missions, Huron, 38; destruction of, 39, 40; Onondaga, 41. Monck, Lord, 237, 266. ATonroe Doctrine, 260. Montcalm, Marquis do, 84, 86, 88 ; death of, 99. Montgomery, Colonel, 110, 111. Montmagny, 36. Montmorency, .Fight at, 96. Montreal named, 15; foimded, 37; Iroquois deputies at, 66; surrender of, 101 ; riots at, 166, 203, 204, 214. Monts, Des, 26, 28 Moodic, Colonel, killed, 174. Moravian Town, Pattle of, 138. Mound- Builders, The, 18, 19. Mounted Police, 'I he, 302. Municipal Institutions, 192, 211. Murray, General, at Quebec, 100 ; Military Governor, 103, 105. Pari INDEX. 317 Navy Island, 177. Nelson, Robert, 169. Nelson, Wolf red, 166. New Brunswick, 125 ; Organization of Government, 154 ; great fire in, 154 ; Crown land grievances, 183 ; anti- Confeder- ate, 247, 248 ; School-law troubles, 304-306. New England Colonies, 36. Newfoundland Discovered, 13 ; fisheries, 14, 25. New Orleans, Battle of, 148. Niagara, Fort, captured from the French, 93 ; seat of Govern- ment (Newark), 116 ; captured by Americans, 135; burned, 141. Norsemen, The, 9. North-west Company, 269. North-west Territory, 280. Nova Scotia, charter granted, 33 ; government organized, 107 ; in war time, 124, 154; "Family Compact" in, 184; anti- Confederate, 246, 266 ; "Better terms " granted, 267. Oaths Bill, 290, 293. Odelltown, Fight at, 144, 169. Ogdensbui-g captured, 133. Ohio Comj)any, 76. Onondaga Mission, 41. Ormeaux, Dulac des, 41. Oswego taken, 85, 144. Ottawa selected as capital, 229 ; becomes seat of Government, 249. " Pacific Scandal," The, 290-294. Packenhara, General, at New Orleans, 148. Papineau, Louis, 152, 164, 165. Paris, Peace of, 104. Parliament Building at Montreal Burned, 203. Parliament, First of United Canadas, 191, 192; first of l)(miinion, 265. Parr Town, 113. " Patriot " War, 175-182. Peltrio, Madame de la, 37. Pepperell, William, captures Louisburg, 73, 74. Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, 134. Phipps, Sir William, attacks Quebec, 62. Pilgrimage Riots at Toronto, 303. Pitt. William, 84, 89, 92, 103. Plattsburg, Attacks on, 140, 147. Pontiac, Conspiracy of, 104, 105. Port Royal founded, 27 ; captured, 68. Prescott, (General, 123. Prevost, Sir Gt'orge, 124, 134 ; at Sackett's Harbour, 137 ; retreat from Plattsburg, 147. Prince Edward Island, 107 ; enters the Dominion, 292. Prince Albert, Death of, 238. 318 INDEX. Prince of Wales \n Canada, 232-234. Privy Council, First, 265. Proctor, Co]., at French Town, 133; at Fort Meigs, 138; at Moravian Town, lb. Quebec founded, 27 ; origin of name, Tb. {note) ; first capture, 32 ; restored, 33 ; besieged by Phipps, 62 ; Wolfe before, 95-98 ; fall of, 99 ; Quebec Act, 106 ; besieged by Mont- gomery, 110; fires, 196, 261 ; "Quebec scheme," 246. Queenston Heights, Battle of, 129. Quesne, Marquis du, 76 ; Fort, 79, 91. Ptailways, 207, 209; Grand Trunk, 211 ; Canada Pacific, 289, 290, 298, 307. Ealeigh, Sir Walter, 26. Rasles, Father, 71. Rebellion Losses Bills, 196, 201, 205. RebelHon, The, 166—182. Reciprocity Treaty, 207, 214, 250, 299. Red River settlement founded, 270 ; conflicts, 271 ; privations, 272 ; disasters, 273 ; prosperity, 274 ; population, 275 ; Red River Expedition, 281 ; amnesty, .301. Representation by Population, 225, 228. Resolutions, The Ninety-two, 164 ; the Ten, 172. Responsible government demanded, 161 ; conceded, 192, 206. Richelieu, Cardinal, 32. Richmond, Duke of, 151. Ridgeway, Fight at, 255 ; martyrs of, 257. Riel, Revolt of, 277 ; expelled from Parliament, 297. Roberval, 16 Rolph, Dr., 171, 173, 174. Rupert's Land Act, 276. Russell, Lord John, 172. Ryerson, Rev. Dr., 197. Ryswick, Peace of, 64. Sackett's Harbour, Attack on, 137. Salaberry, De, 140. Salle, La, 53-55. San Juan difficulty, 282, 286. Schultz, Dr., 278. Schultz, Von, 181. Scott, Thomas, shot, 279. Set 300. Sea fights, 131, 142. Secession, War of, 235, 238, 240, 248. Secord, Mrs., Bravery of, 136. Seigniorial Tenure, 48 ; abolished, 218. Selkirk, Loyd, 270-274. Senate, The, 262. Senecas, War with, 30 ; punished, 57. Seven Years' War, 84. Sheafife, General, 129, 134. INDEX. 3ia Shei'brooke, Sir John, 151. Simcoe, Governor, 116. Six Nations, The, 23. See Iroquois, etc. Smythe, General, 130. Spanish explorations, 24, 25. Stadacona, 15. ♦ Stamp Act, 109. Ste. Foye, Battle of, 100. Stoney Creek, Battle of, 135. Strachan, Ilev. Dr., 159. St. German-en-Laye, Treaty of, 33. St. John Founded, 113. Southern Haiders, 244. Supreme Council, The, 45. Sydenham, Lord, 189, 19'2, ll 3. t Talon, M., 46. Tecumseh. ''X. Ten Resolutions, The, 172, Thompson, Tion. Charles, 187. See Lord Sydenham. Thorpe, Judge, 119. Ticonderoga, Attacks on, 80, 90 ; fall of, 94. Times, The, on Canada, 288. Toronto founded, 117 ; captured, 134, 137 ; attacked by rebels^ 173. Tracy, Maniuis de, 46, 47. Trent Aliair, The, 137, 138. ft Union Scheme, 152, 15S, 187 ; Union Act, 188 ; Union accom- plished, 191. United Empire Loyalists, 113. Upper Canada, Settlement of, 113; early legislation, 115, 118; origin of parties in, 119 ; eiirly condition of, 120-122 ; " Family Compact " in, 157; grievances of, 158; develop- ment of, 159 ; rebellion in, 170, 182 ; union with Lower Canada, 183, 191, 192 ; military strength of, 187. Utrecht, Treaty of, 69. Vancouver's Island, 282, 283. Vaudreuil, Marquis de, 67, 72. Versailles, Peace of, 113. Vespucci, 12, Victoria Bridge, 232. Vincent, Colonel, 135. Virginia, Settlement of, 35. Wampum, 21. War of 1812-15, Causes of, 125, 127 ; eflfects of, 141, 148, 15L Washington burned, 148 ; Treaty of, 286. Washington, George, 76, 79, HI. West India Company, 45, 49, Wilkinson, General, 139 ; defeated at Odelltown, 144. 3:^0 INDEX. William Henry, Fort, Massacre of, 86, 87. Vvilmot, Hon. L. A., 184. Windmill Point, Battle of, 180. Wolfe, General, 89, 92 ; before Quebec, 95 ; slain, 99. AVolseley, Colonel, 281, 300. • Yeo, Sir James, 130, 137. York foimded, 117; captured, 1.34; second caj^ture, 137. Young, Rev. George, at lied River, 279. Young, yir John, 2(30, LoS. PRINTED AT TrtE STEAM PUeSQ ESTABLISHMENT OF UOPP, CLARK ft COi) eOLBORSB 8TBEET, TORONTO. *' ■f- * # ■ ■■- ' ^s. % • » » *► >. ft. ■ .' « 4, » > f V • I COi| ..^v' \ r:^ ^ j j«c{»33?i33j c v ^ «• \ \, ( N. K X^-*