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(ANSI and ^ TEST CHAIH No. 2)
j4
/1PPLIED IM/1GE
1653 Eott Mom Straat
RochMtv. Nm Yor* 14809 USA
(716) 482-0300 -Phon.
(718) 288-5969 -Fox
The French-Canadian
Bv
BYRON NICHOLSON
s*;. ■••
SIR HENR- JOI.V DE LOTBINlkRR, D.C.t , K.C.M.G., P.C,
(AN EX-PRKMIER OF THK PROVINCE OK OrFBEC
H.
French-Canadian
A Sketch op
His Morb
Prominbmt Charactbristics.
BYION NICBOLSON
TOKONTO :
THE BRYANT PRESS
190Q
1102
C.3
Toronto, i. the o«c. of th. Mlniter Ti^S^ TiSH:::
CONTENTS.
Chapter
Pkbpacb -
I. Introductory
pmc
II. His Patriai, Nams
ID
III. CovK OF Canada and Loyaity to
Britain - - - - i8
rv. Thb Exkrcisb op ths Ei,kctivb Fran.
CHMB 64
V. Thb USB OF THB FRENCH LaNOUAOB IN
QUBBBC - ... 83
VI. Bducation and Rbi,icion
VII. Othbr Craractbristics
VIII. Conclusion
97
XI2
127
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniire. (FrontiKriece) '*' *
Sirl^ouigjetti. - - ...
Hon. 8. N. Parent. ....
Sir Wilfred Lanrier.
Hon. Chas. Fitzpatrick. .
Sir. A. P. Pdletier.
Hon. H. B. Rainville
Hon H. G. Carroll. ....
Hon. I,. P. Brodenr.
Hon. Adelard Tni:geon.
Hon. H. Archambeanlt. ....
Hon. E. J. Plynn. ....
Hon. T. ChaaeCasgrain. ....
Hon. A. E. Poiget. ....
Late Sir Adolphe Chapleau.
Hon. I,. A. Gooin. ....
Hon. P. G. M. mchtee. • . . .
Hon. R. Dandnrand.
Hon. F. L. Beique. ....
Sir Adolphe Caron. ....
Raymond Prefontaine. - - . .
Hon. P. Gameau. ....
Hon. Joseph Shehyn.
Hon. M. E. Bemier. ....
Hon. J. I. Tarte. .....
Late Hon, Honorfc Merder.
Hon. F. Langellier. ....
Fag*
I
6
7
13
13
i8
19
24
as
30
31
36
37
4a
43
48
49
54
55
60
61
«4
65
70
71
II.I,U8TRAnONS.
F.D. Monk.
>. A. Bdootirt. ....
Hen, H. T. Duffy.
Hon. J. J. B. Gnerin.
Hon. ChM. I^ngcllier. .
GraettPtcand. ....
J. B. Lalibertt. ....
A. R. BCacdonald. ...
Late Hon. Arthur Paquet.
Hon. V. W. La Rue.
G. A. Vandry. ....
G. B. Amyot. ....
L. O. David.- ....
LieQt..Col. Pelletier.
Arthur Bmnean. . . . . .
Louis Frechette. . . . . .
A. Malouin. . . . . .
Hon, F. E. A. Evanturel.
Hon. L. P. Pelletier. . . . .
The Sir John Macdonald Monument, Montreal.
A Habitant. • . . . .
A Farm Scene, Quebec. - . . .
The Natural Stepa, Quebec.
A Caliche, Quebec
The Wolfe-Montcalm Monument, Quebec.
The Maisoneuve Monument, Montreal.
The Cbamplain Monument, Quebec.
Abenjtquia Group, Quebec. . . .
Wolfe's Monument, Quebec. . . .
The DeSalaberry Monument. . . .
The City of Quebec
Montmorend Falls, Quebec. - - .
The Citadel, Terrace and Chateau, Quebec. -
OppoaitePage
- 74
7S
78
79
8a
83
86
87
90
91
94
95
96
97
100
lOI
104
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108
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lao
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"5
128
129
13a
133
DEDICATION.
To Sir Henri Joly de Lotbinifere, P.C.,
K C M G., foniierly Premier of the Province
of Quebec, and at present Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of the Province of British Columbia this
sketch of the people of his own race, in whom
he has ever taken a deep interest, and for
whose welfare, in common with that of their
fellow Canadians throughout the Dominion,
he has always exerted his widely ext^ded in-
fluence, is. by his kind permission, dedicated
with every sentiment of esteem and respect, by
the writer.
PREFACE.
The only apology whidi the author wishes
to offer the public for the appearance of this
little work is the earnest hope and sincere
desire which he entertains that it may help to
correct some misapprehensions and to soften,
if not remove, some prejudices whidi, unhap-
pily, prevrtl all too extensively amongst a
certain class of English-speaking people in
various parts of Canada concerning the French-
speaking people of the Province of Quebec.
He himself, bom and educated in Ontario,
once had similar misapprehensions and was
subject to the same prejudices. But actual
intercourse with the people of the lower prov-
ince, during a residence amongst them of some
eleven years, has convinced him that he was
mistaken; and he is persuaded that these people
are much misunderstood, and are accused of
holding certain obnoxious opinions which they
have never entertained, and are not given
credit for many a virtue which they undoubt-
edly possess.
Believing that the continuance of this state
of things, particularly if fomented by unprin'
cipled partizans for unworthy purposes, must
be followed by disastrous consequences in the
PRBPACB.
not distant future, he determined to do what
he could towards correcting it, thus helping to
•upplant feelings of racial strife and bitterness
by those of national brotherhood and a com-
mon citizenship between the two great peoples
to whom Providence seems to have committed
the shaping of the destinies of this wide
Dominion.
In so doing he has tried to avoid giving his
readers an unduly favourable opinion concern-
ing those of whom he writes, or to represent
them as being in every way the most admirable
and lovable people that can be imagined ;
for indeed, human nature as seen in them is
very much like human nature as seen in others
—and, besides, the "'Uennium is still in the
future. But he has made an honest effort to
sketch the French-Canadian as he is seen to-
day in the Province of Quebec, feeling assured
that if the man were only better known than
he is, he would be more fully trusted and more
highly esteemed by a not inconsiderable portion
of his English-speaking fellow-subjects.
The writer has also endeavored to ignore
everything of a purely partizan character, to
eschew partyism of every description ; for his
desire is to obtain an unprejudiced hearing
PREFACE.
from all fair-minded people— no matter what
their politics, their nationality, or their relig-
ion—who may do him the honor to read what
he has written.
The account which he has attempted to
give, being necessarily within very narrow
limits-indeed it is but the expansion of a
lecture which he delivered in Ontario during
the winter of 1900-1901— must be very inad-
equate ; but so far as it goes, it is not unfair
and whatever may be its demerits, it possesses
at least the virtue of being trustworthy.
Moreover, it is written from a disinterested
and patriotic motive.
tt
>f
SIR tons JBTTfc, K.C.M.G..
I.IElTKNA.NT-«OVKR.v„K, l-ROVINCK OF
arKBEc.
Photo by Muntnilny
HON. S. N. PARKNT, K.C., M.I..A.
■■RIME MINISTUK OF THE PkOVINCE OF UfKHEC,
MINISTER OF I.ANII.S, FCIKKNTS ANP FISIIKKIRS.
AND MAVOR OK THE CITY OF QUEHEC.
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Certainly never since the Confederation of
the British Provinces on the continent of North
America in 1867, and perhaps never itince the
Treaty of Paris in 1763, has the newspaper
preii . of Canada so freq'iently and so persis-
tently directed public attention to the people
of French origin in the Province of Quebec as
during the last few years ; which would, of
course, be altogether admirable if the object
had invariably been to promote a better under-
standing and a closer friendship between these
people and their fellow-citizens of British
nationahty than had existed before. But, un-
happily, this praise-worthy object does not
seem to have been always kept in view ; on
the contrary, it seems to have been generally
lost sight of, as is evident from certain inflam-
matory appeals to racial and religious feelings,
as well as from the less open and violent, but
more insidious and mischievous, incitements to
* THB FRBNCH-CANADIAN
sneer and ungenerous sarcasm~or what we
may call the journalistic shrugging of the
shoulders and uplifting of the eyeSows
This appears to be largely traceable, first to
Prfl m" r ''''..^'^ " French-Canadian as
Prime Minister, which is not very grateful to
a certain class of people who Je^oud. and
jus^so^o their British origin; and'secoid"
to the position which a few prominent French '
Canadians are supposed to have assumed with
respect to the war which now for more than
two years has been going on in South Africa
between the Boers and the British. It has
thus come to pass that a deplorable spirit of
antagonism, which it was fondly hoped had
long since passed away, has begun to re-assert
i^ L o^".'^^ ^'"^ ^^^' '^^ ^hich are
settled in Canada, and especially between those
of them who form the overwhelming major-
ities in the most important provinces of the
Dominion— Quebec and Ontario
Unfortunately, too, this spirit of antagon-
ism seems to have become intensified lately
by the result of the last general elections for
INTRODUCTORY
the Commons, and still more so by the result
of the yet more recent elections for the Quebec
Legislative Assembly, during which contest
each race appears to have set itself somewhat
in direct opposition to the other. This un-
fortunate condition of things, so far as it has
existed, it is safe to say would never have
come to pass had it not been for the rabid
partizan press, which, instead of trying to
allay unnecessary strife and to promote a spirit
of kindness and good-will, seems to have acted
on the assumption that the most eflfectual way
of gaining votes for its own party was to give
to each race a false and mischievous impression
of the other's sentiments and intentions And
wonderful to relate, the mischief-makers who
acted in this despicable and dastardly manner
would have us beheve that they were inspired
by patriotic motives ! How true it is that
patriotism, using the word in a special sense,
is the last resort of a scoundrel ! Such
patriots, could they only be expatriated, might
well apply to themselves a couplet said to have
been composed by a couple of felons shortly
before they were taken on board a convict
ship, bound for Van Dieman's Land when that
4 THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
country was used by England as a poenal
colony :
" We are true patriots, for, be it understood,
We leave our couutry for our country's good."
Surely every Canadian who jas at heart the
welfare of his native land must look upon such
conduct on the part of the merely partizan
newspaper with feelings of disgust and horror ;
and those who are guilty of it he, if he belike
the patriots of old Greece and Rome, will rank
with the parricide ! Moreover, he will do all
in his power to make the two great races in
British North America understand each other
better than they have ever done yet, knowing
that he is thereby working for the advent of
the time, so much to be desired, when the only
rivalry between them will be a rivah-y as to
which can best appreciate the other's virtues,
as to which can show the greatest confidence
in the other's loyalty to the glorious Flag
under which both alike enjoy the inestimable
blessings that are the inseparable companions
of freedom, as to which can do the most— and,
if necessary, make the greatest sacrifices— for
the development and progress of their common
country.
I
INTRODUCTORY
The writer of this little work, an Ontario
man who has spent many months of each of
several consecutive years in Quebec, has no
hesitation in expressing his conviction that if
the French-C''r;adian people in general only
knew the true character of the feelings enter-
tained for them by the great mass of the in-
habitants of Ontario, if they only knew how
highly we esteem them and how ready — ^nay,
how glad — we are to acknowledge their many
excellent qualities both of head and heart, all
efforts to stir up amongst them feelings of ani-
mosity towards ourselves would prove unavail-
ing, and that the recent efforts in this direc-
tion — even had it been possible for them to be
made — would have been at first looked upon
with abhorrence, and then treated with the
contempt they so justly deserve.
But upon the other hand, and perhaps still
more emphatically, it may be said that if we of
Ontario only knew the French- Canadian as he
really is, could we but see him in his daily life
and meet him in his own home on terms of in-
timacy, then whatever prejudices some of us
may have against him would be dissipated, and
whatever unfriendly feelings we may entertain
^ THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
towards him would quickly be exchanged for
those of a diflferent character ; we would hon-
estly confess we had been mistaken in our
estimate of his compatriots, and we would
frankly acknowledge that we could wish for
no more desirable people with whom to go
hand m hand working for the advancement of
Canada-moral, educational, material, social,
and political—until 'she became one of the
noblest nations whose deeds have ever illumi-
nated the page of history.
If, instead of prostituting itself to bitter and
unpnncipled party warfare, efforts with the
above object in view had been constantly made
by the journalistic press of the two great pro-
vinces for, say, the last thirty years, how much
better it would have been for the people at
large ; nay, how much better it would have
been for the political parties themselves.
Would they not have learned that so long as
the affairs of the country were well adminis-
tered, the mere name of the party by which
they were thus administered was a matter of
but very secondary consideration? Would
they not have taken an enlightened and com-
prehensive view of their duty as statesmen in-
it
Photo by Montmlny, Quebec.
RIGHT HONOrRABLE SIR WILFRID LAURIER. G.C.M.O., PC.
rRESIDKXT KIX<;'S CANADIAN PRIVY tOfNCII.
PRIME MINISTER OK CANADA.
HON. CHAS. FITZPATRICK, P.c., M.P..
»•■„. Qt'EBEC CITV
INTRODUCTORY 7
stead of trying to hurl each other from power
by charges which, if proved true of a man
simply as a citizen, would send him to the
penitentiary ? Would not the curse of mere
party ism have been cast out, neutralized, ren-
dered harmless, by earnest and conscientious
efforts to promote the common welfare ? The
proceedings which culminated in the federal
union of the provinces show us that this happy
state of things would not have been impossible
of attainment ; and the Fathers of Confedera-
tion will be revered by posterity long after the
bitter and narrow-minded partisan shall have
been consigned to oblivion, " unwept, un-
honoured, and unsung."
However, it is satisfactory to know that not-
withstanding the detestable attempts made by
the miscreants referred to — and nefarious mis-
creants they are, no matter by what party
name they may be called — to stir up strife and
hate between ourselves and our fellow-dtizeus
of French extraction, the relations between us
are not nearly so strained as some pessimists
suppose them to be, and are much more cordial
than some detestable people wish them to be ;
for it must not be forgotten that French-
■ THB FRBKCH-CANADIAN
Canadian electors did, after all, return English -
speaking candidates to the Commons, defeat-
ing those of their own nationality, both in
1896 and 1900, and did the same thing again
at the late provincial elections. Moreover,
this same good feeling has recently been
shown still more plainly and impressively by
something which it is too soon yet to forget-
something which neither Canada nor Great
Britain can ever forget— aai-iely, that French-
Canadian volunteers lately fought and died
on the veldt, side by side with British-Cana-
dian volunteers, to uphold Victoria's rights,
Victoria's suzerainty, in South Africa ; and
even now men of the same two races are there,
in that far-off land, to uphold the rights of
Victoria's son and successor, our gracious
King, the Seventh Edward.
Now, the writer being persuaded, as has
been already implied, that whatever antagon-
istic feelings exist between the two nation-
alities here in Canada may be traced mostly to
the groundless prejudices which have been
caused by almost numberless misrepresenta-
tions and mutual misunderstandings, his one
object in addressing himself to the work before
if
INTRODUCTORY g
him is to try to depict the French-Canadian as
he is, to show him to others as the writer him-
self has found him during an extended inter-
course with him, so that those of his English-
speaking fellow-countrymen who have not had
the same opportunities may understand that
there is no good reason for believing that he is
one whit less true to Canada than they are
themselves, or that he is not just as loyal to
our new King— God bless him !— as are the
people of any other of His Majesty's depend-
encies and possessions ; and that, consequently,
sentiments of mutual esteem, respect, and
friendship should prevail between the two
dominant races of this great Dominion. Once
more let him state that what he shall write is
no mere matter of hearsay, no panegyric jwo-
nounced by a too partial friend, but it is the
result of his own observation during his resi-
dence in the Lower Province. Indeed, all that
he shall say, and much more, in vindication of
these people from unjust aspersions which
have been cast on them, could easily be cor-
roborated by many other English-speaking
residents from Ontario whose intercourse with
them has been still more extensive.
M
/
;
CHAPTER II.
HIS PATRIAI. NAMB.
First of all, it may be observed that the
name, French-Canadian, is somewhat of a
misnomer ; at any rate, the people of the
French race in Canada rarely if ever use it
when speaking of themselves. They do not,
«a a rule, recognize the compound word • they
wmply call themselves Canadians. In Ontario
on the contrary, one man speaks of himself a^
an Insh-Canadian, another caUs himself a
Scottish-Canadian, and a third says he is an
EngUsh-Canadian — unless, indeed, that the
last-named is likely to drop the word Canadian
altogether, and to say proudly, if not super-
ahously, " I am an Englishman." Besidw
there are societies in Canada membership in
any one of which depends on one's nationality
Thus. St George's Society is distinctively
English, St. Patrick's is distinctively Irish
and St. Andrew's is distinctively Scottish •
and we have even St. David's, redolent of
leeks, which is exclusively Cymrian. It is
10 '
HIS PATKIAL NAMK
II
«
»
indeed, quite natural, and evinces an admirable
sentiment, that we should maintain and make
manifest a very warm attachment to those
lands from which we or our fathers have come
by having in this country off -shoots of benevo-
lent associations established in those lands,
and called by the names of their patron saints ;
but, after all, do not the very names them-
selves of these fraternal societies indicate that
we, English-speaking people, are not satisfied
with the common and comprehensive appella-
tive, Canadians?
How different it is with the French-Cana-
dian. In this matter he is less narrow, is more
cosmopolitan, than we are, and it would appear
that he is more patriotic also ; for he is not
only content, but proud to be known by no
other name than one which is derived from
the land in which he lives, and which was dis-
covered by men of his own race ; and whilst
the French-Canadian people remember that
France is the land of their fore-fathers, and
whilst they are proud of France's achieve-
ments in the past and of the prominent place
which she holds to-day amidst the nations of
the world, tliey are not forever flinging in
la
TH« FXBNCH-CANADIAN
your face the fact that they are of French
origin, but teU you they are Canadians. Not
even by membership in a Society of St. Deny,
do they proclaim their French extraction and
their attachment to the land of their fore-
fathers. Possibly they think that no such
adventitious aid is necessary to make them
remember the race from which they have
sprung, and that they best honour that race
by acting in accordance with its glorious tra-
ditions, its instinctive chivAhry, and its high
and delicate sense of honour ; and, so, whilst
they are quite willing to humour the somewhat
insular prejudices of their English-speaking
fnendsby calling them "old-country" peo-
ple, they themselves wish to be known as
Canadians.
True, they have their St. Jean Baptiste's
Soaety, and they celebrate their St. Jean
Baptiste's Festival enthusiastically year by
year ; but, then, do not let us forget that the
Baptist is a saint to whom all orthodox
Christians have a common claim, and that his
festival is religious rather than national. Per-
haps, indeed, it would be none the worse for
others if they celebrated the Feast of the
SIR ALPHONSE PKI.I.KTIKR, P.C.. K.C.M.G., K.C.,
SKXATOR,
KX-SPF.AKF.R OF TIIK CAXAIHAN SKNATK,
ATTORNKY FOR THK CITY OF UfKHKC.
HON. HKNRI B. RAINVIM.E. C R.. M.I..A.,
HLY OK UfKBEC.
SPKAKHK OK THH ...^Z^^':,,,,^
HIS PATRIAL NVMK 13
Baptist (and, for that matter, .^erfain other
^^iastical festivals also) as devoutly as does
the French-Canadian. It would, at any rate
tend to permeate this somewhat materialistic
age with a religious element.
However, we will hardly allow our fellow-
subjects of French extraction the exchisive
use of this name any longer. True, they seem
to have a sort of inalienable right to it, as they
were the first Canadians of European origin •
so that If they have not a better claim, they
have at least an older claim, to be called Can-
adians than we ourselves. But, you see, within
the last few years the name of Canadian has
come to connote so much more than it did
formerly-so much more as to trade, com-
merce, enterprise, manufactures, pubHc spirit
patriotism, military honour and glory, etc '
etc.— that we, Anglo-Saxons that we are, step
m according to our usual custom, and say to
those by whom that name has been used almost
exclusively hitherto : " See here, you know,
this sort of thing is not going to do, and we
have let it go on long enough. The name of
Canadian is not your peculiar property • so far
as we can see, you have no indefeasible right
14
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
to it ; we have just as good a right to it as you
have ; and, you may just as well understand
it at once, we are going to have our rights,
too.
" We did not mind it much so long as the
name was of no great account ; and we were
quite content to let you keep it to yourselves
so long as it did not mean anything particular
except a native of what the people ' at home '
supposed to be a bleak and barren country,
smothered in snow for some seven or eight
months of the year and covered with mud for
the rest of the time, a place which was very
convenient for certain * black sheep ' to be
sent to in order to be transformed into gentle-
men farmers or to fill positions in the Civil
Service, a wilderness inhabited by buffaloes,
Indians, and a few unhappy Europeans. But
now the case is different ; for Canada is
known as a land not ' hard, iron-bound, and
cold,' but as a glorious country where ' the '
rills and rivers sing with pride the anthems of
the free,' a country noted for unexampled pro-
gress and prosperity in nearly every depart-
ment of national life, a country which year by
year is attracting to its shores thousands and
HIS PATRIAl, NAME
«5
thousands of the most industrious and enter-
prising people from the old lands, a country
which bids fair to be in the not distant future
the most prosperous in the Western Hemis-
phere. So we are now as proud of Canada as
you have ever been, and we love the land just
as well as you do ; and therefore we have made
up our minds that we, no less than you, shall
be known as Canadians.
Moreover, we are somewhat particular
about this little matter just at present, because,
you know, the Canadian contingents who vol-
unteered for South Africa a little while ago—
and who were sent no less willingly than they
went — ^have made Canada more widely known
than ever before, more fully and correctly un-
derstood, and their bravery has made her more
highly honoured. But especially are we par-
ticular at this time to be known as Canadians
because we of Ontario and you of Quebec
have, as Canadians, taught the whole civilized
world that when the Mother-land needs men
to defend her rights, or to repel a foe that may
be daring enough— demented enough— to in-
vade any of her possessions, or when she needs
assistance in extending the blessings of civil-
^B
i6
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
ization, Christian civilization, to people who
are plunged in the darkness of nature's night
and in freeing them from the despotism of an
avaricious and ruthless oligarchy, she can de-
pend upon the sons of Canada, the King's
loyal Canadian subjects, to flock to her stan-
dard, to enroll themselves under her banner.
Ay, they are ready to come, they have already
come, alike from the peaceful farm and from
the great centres of trade and commerce, from
lands that are laved by the waves of the Pacific,
from their scattered homes on the treeless
prairie, from the shores of Superior and
Huron, Erie and Ontario, and all along the
banks of the St. Lawrence ; from the bound-
less forests where are heard the reverberations
of the axe that is swung by the stalwart wood-
man, from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and
lonely Labrador, those rugged lands ' that see
the Atlantic wave their mom restore '—known
no longer as Frenchmen or Englishmen, Irish-
men or Scotchmen, Welshmen or Manxmen,
but proud to be known henceforth and forever
as Canadians. We know that this is the name
you have long loved and honoured, we know
you belong to the same race as those brave
HIS PATRIAI. NAME
»7
men and women whose arduous toils and in-
cessant labours have done so much for the
civilization and development of Canada almost
from the time when Cartier, of unfading
memory, first ' reared the Cross and Crown on
Hochelaga's height ' in the presence of his
faithful companions and a number of ' the
Algonquin braves' ; but, see here, from this
time forth we also claim to be known as Can-
adians." And to do our French-Canadian breth-
ren justice, they never question our not al-
together disinterested claim to be called
Canadians and instead of saying; "What
we have we'll hold " they with their kindly
spirit and uniform courtesy, open wide their
arms to welcome us into the great Canadian
Fraternity.
- — ■— ~ ■"^■fc" -■
CHAPTER III.
LOVE OF CANADA AND LOYALTY TO
BRITAIN.
What has been said in the last chapter about
the French-Canadian's patrial name naturally
leads us to speak of his love for the land of his
birth, and also to show that this love for Can-
ada doca not interfere with, but helps to
strengthen, his loyalty to Britain.
That he should love Canada is not a matter
of surprise ; nay, considering his origin and
temperament, it would be a marvel were it
otherwise. Never can he forget that the land
was discovered by the adventm-ous Commodore
of St. Malo, the brave and intrepid Cartier ;
and everywhere, whether in town or country,
he finds something to remind him that his an-
cestors were its first European colonists. In
the provincial capital, old Quebec, he here
and there finds himself in a street so nar-
row and irregular, and bearing such marks of
time, that it must have been laid out, one
would say, before ever Scottish Kelt and Eng-
18 *
HON. H. G. CARROI,I„ K C. MP.,
KAMOtRASKA. QfK ,
SOLICITOR-GEXKRAI. FOR CANADA.
:f
I
"OX. X.. T. BK„nK,-R. ,, ,,. ^ , ^, ^
'^"'''^'^'' "«^«« OK.COMMO.V,.
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN I9
lish Saxon had made their prowess felt on the
Plains of Abraham. On J his side and on that
he sees liouses of such strunge construction,
such pointed gables, such steep roofs, such
odd-looking windows, and altogether with an
appearance so quaint, that they take him back
almost to the time when the city was founded
by Samuel de Champlain, some seventy years
or so after Francis the First of old France ap-
pointed Jean Francois de la Roque the first
Viceroy of the territories then comprised under
the names of Canada, Hochelaga, and Sague-
nay. All along the banks of the St. I^awrence
he sees handsome villas, picturesque villages,
and stately cities, almost all of which present
features which tell him in no uncertain tones
that the land of his sires was the first to
bless the country with the religion symbolized
by " the fleur^lis and Cross," with the ad-
vanced civilization of the most polite people in
Europe, with their arts and sciences, their en-
terprise and valour. Why, the very names
that daily sound in his ears, the names that
are met with here and there from Fort St.
John to old Frontenac, and much more fre-
quently from Frontenac to Notre Dame
30
THK FRENCH-CANADIAN
Mountains, are enough, by their associations,
to make him love Canada with an intensity
unknown, and perhaps impossible, to the more
phlegmatic Saxon.
But it is not alone, not even chiefly, because
of associations with the past that he loves the
land of his nativity. No, he loves the very
land itself ; nor is it any wonder, for where
can one find another land of equal grandeur
and beauty? Oh ! Canada possesses many a
sublime feature and many a lovely scene with
which her children are familiar, and vvhich go
far to justify them in their fond belief that
their native country, which they love so well,
is unsurpassed, if not unequalled, by any other
on the continent. Leaving behmd us the
beauties of the Pacific coa*t, crossing the
mighty mountains of the west and its bound-
less prairies ; passing by the expansive lakes
towards the north, the rugged hills and the
picturesque dales ; with the sound of Niagara
thundering in our ears, and the orismatic
colours of its beautiful bow shining in our
eyes, we sail down the majestic river and find
ourselves on the broad bosom of Ontario.
Gliding through the I,ake of a Thousand
I.OVB or CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 2 1
I«le«, shootin/ through the Rapids of Lachine,
catching a sight of the historic Mount Royal,
and continuing our course over the broad ex-
panse of the splendid river we find ourselves
in the very heart of the province which is
peculiarly the French-Canadian's own— where
his own laws prevail, his own language is
spoken, his own religion is protected— and as
we gaze upon its many beauties we cannot
wonder that he loves it with all the ardour
and devotion of his affectionate and patriotic
race. Let us attempt some sort of description
of one or two of those beauties, and then cease
to wonder— if , indeed, ever we have wondered
—at the French-Canadian's patriotism.
Only a few miles from the provincial capital
we come to the Falls of Montmorenci, that
beautiful cataract with its milk-white waters
glistening in the sunlight as they gracefully
fall over the towering precipice to find their
way to the arms of the mighty St. I^awrence
so that both of them together may seek a home
in the ocean. Though they fall from a much
grater height than those of Niagara, yet,
owing to the comparative smallness of the
stream, the cataract, whilst very charming,
aa
THB PKINCR-CANADIAN
cannot be said to be sublime. The stupendotu
volume of water which is ever roUing over
Niagara's heights, and tossing, foaming, and
seething in the river below, fills the mind with
awe, almost with dread; the picturesque
stream which falls over the heights of Mont-
morenci affords us pleasure and delight.
Niagara is the Homer of waterfalls, their
Ossian; Montmorend, their Virgil, their
Wordsworth. Montmorend is their Pope •
Niagara thdr Milton. Gi-uideur and sub^
limity are the characteristics oi the one ; grace
and beauty, those of the other.
We roam through the delightful little park
close by the Falls of Montmorend, where the
art of the landscape gardener, supplementmg
the beauties so lavishly bestowed by Nature'a
generous hand, has called into existence a
terrestrial paradise " for talking age and whis-
pering lovers made" ; and now and then we
catch a glimpse of the wondrous river whose
mighty current gives "its freshness for a
hundred leagues to ocean's briny wave. ' ' The
sweet music of the falling waters, the vesper
hymn of the feathered songsters of the grove
and the soft sighing of the zephyrs through
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BKITAIN 2$
"the murmuring pines and the hemlocks."
form a concert more entrancing than the tones
of the harp of Orpheus. All too soon, we
fancy, does the setting sun waft his good-
night kiss to the beautiful Palls as they blush
beneath his ardent gaze ; and as we reluctantly
leave the lovely place, we feel that we are bid-
ding farewell to a scene that will always afford
us happy remembrances, for "a thing of
beauty is a joy forever." But just then an-
other charm presents itself, and we understand
something of what Longfellow must have felt
when he wrote the beautiful lines,
"Silently, one by one,
In the infinite meadows of heaven bloaiom the lovely
Stan,
The fofffet-me-nota of the angels."
But delightful as are the Falls of Montmor-
end and their surroundings, there is a much
greater variety of scenery in the more exten-
sive prospect which greets the vision as one
stands on that commanding height known as
Dufferin Terrace, just outside the citadel walls
and close by Governor's Gardens -a terrace
which is named after the most clever, elo-
quent and popular statesman that England
24
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
ever sent out to be the Governor- General of
Canada, the late Marquis of Dufferin, whose
recent death is lamented wherever the Eng-
lish language is spoken, the greatest British
diplomatist of the nineteenth century, one of a
bright and glorious band of statesmen and
warriors for whom England is indebted to the
sister isle. The scene which presents itself to
view from this magnificent promenade pos-
sesses many a feature-here a beauty and
there a sublimity, here a graceful charm and
there a rugged picturesqueness- perhaps un-
rivalled, certainly unsurpassed, by any other
landscape on the continent. There, almost
directly before the beholder, the delightful
Island of Orleans, clad in emerald green
seems to repose in the embrace of the arms of
the parted river. With its shady groves and
purling brooks, its gentle undulations and ro-
mantic dells, the song of the birds amid the
branches of the trees and the ripple of the
waters as they gently lave its romantic shores
— indented here and there with many a dear
little cove -the isle is simply a land of en-
chantment. How happy are those citizens
who here seek a calm and cool retreat, during
HON. ADEI.ARI) TIRGKON, K.C , M.I,. A.,
al'KHKC,
SECMKTARY AND REOISTRAR FOR TIIK PKOVINCK OK UfKUKC.
HON. HORACE ARCHAMBEAUI.T.
AND SptlKER^oi-T^^'"''''' "" a^""=C '
Sl-BAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
I
V
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 25
the heat of summer, from the glare and dust
of the dty, and from the worries and weari-
ness of the cares of business !
At no great distance the peaceful St. Charles
slowly wine . along its sinuous course through
a vale of wondrous beauty and fertility ; and
we think, as we gaze on the lovely scene be-
fore us, of what the poet says of another val-
ley, not more beautiful :
" Oh ! sweet is the vale where the Mohawk glides.
On Its winding way to the sea."
Here we catch a glimpse of some quiet ham-
let, the tin-covered spire of its modest church
glittering in the brilliant sunlight ; there we
see the simple dwelling of the Canadian farmer
peepmg out from beneath the wide-spreading
branches of the umbrageous maple, and we
almost fancy that there come-^ ' o us, wafted on
the air, the sweet perfume the woodbine
and honeysuckle with which its porch is em-
bowered. Surely it is a very fairyland of
beauty, a land which the French-Canadian
loves m the very depths of his heart with a
love no less passionate and absorbing than
that which their fathers felt for /a belle France
alike when defeated at Agincourt and when
26
THE PRKNCH-CANADIAN
victorious at Patay. In the distance the
I^urentian Mountains tower towards the sky,
clear and distinct in the brightness of noon'
day, but impressing us with that feeling of
solemnity produced by the sublime as they
darken beneath the shades of evening. We
almost fancy we can see the broad expanse of
I^ke St. John, or hear the sullen roar of the
Saguenay as it madly rushes between rugged
and precipitous banks of stupendous height-
dashing, tumbling, struggling, tossing, foam-
ing, roaring, raging, raving, until at length it
mingles its tumultuous waters with those of
the greater but less turbulent St. Lawrence.
As we still stand upon Dufferin Terrace,
and feast oiu- enraptured eyes upon the inspir-
ing scene, we cannot wonder that the French
Canadian loves his native land ; and we are
convinced that throughout the whole Domin-
ion no man of another nationality can be
found who loves Canada with a deeper affec-
tion, or would defend her against invasion
with a better will or greater bravery.
But it must not be supposed that his love
for his country impairs his loyalty to Britain ;
nay, but the contrary, for his love for Canada
LJ
WVE OP CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 27
binds him closely to that power from which
she has received so many benefits, which has
conferred upon her so many privileges, and
which aflFords her so many advantages. Yet
it is sometimes said, and oftener hinted, that
he is not true to th'' Empire. There cannot be
a doubt that many of those by whom this charge
is preferred are honest and conscientious men ;
but, still, they would hardly make such an
accusation if they had had, and had used, op-
portunities of forming a deliberate and well-
matured judgment upon the matter from their
own experience or even from their own obser-
vation. As for the others, those who from
some sinister motive iher unworthy influ-
ence scatter broadcast s accusation of dis-
loyalty, well, they are not particularly noted
for their charity, their magnanimity, their
high ideals of honour, or even for their dis-
criminating sense of the claims of common
justice. But even supposing them to be right
m their opinion, supposing their charge to be
true, they— even such people as they— might
be expected to know that constantly taunting
men with being disloyal is not the best way to
make them loyal. But would these accusers
L
a8
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
of the brethren be pleased to see the French-
Canadian's loyalty proved beyond question ?
Would it give them any satisfaction ? Nay,
would they not feel chagrined and mortified ?
One can hardly avoid the belief that they must
be under some malign influence which blinds
them to other people's virtues, some influence
of. let us say, antipathy to people because of
their race, their creed, or their politics— an
antipathy which should never be allowed to
prejudice any man, which cannot prejudice
any true man, who desires to take a broad and
intelligent view of any class of his fellow-citi-
zens. At any rate, the writer has no hesita-
tion in saying that his experience warrants
him in coming to the conclusion that the
charge of disloyalty brought against the
French-Canadian, no matter by whom, rests
generally upon no better foundation than im-
perfect information, partial knowledge, unfor-
tunate misapprehension, groundless suspicion,
or unreasonable prejudice. He has lived
amongst the people of Quebec, has met them
in almost every relation of life, and has been
honoured by many of them with what he may
call their confidential intimacy ; and he feels
LOVK OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 29
free to say— and he says it gladly— that the
better he has known them, the stronger has
become his conviction that no more baseless
notion can be entertained by anyone than that
the French-Canadian is dissatisfied with Bri-
tish institutions or disloyal to British connec-
tion.
But was there not some talk about estab-
lishing a French-Canadian republic somewhere
in the north-east part of the Dominion ? Yes,
there was some little talk of that sort ; but,
almost wholly, it was nothing more than the
wild vapouring, the senseless swaggering, of a
few noisy and irresponsible nobodies, receiving
no support, no encouragement, no sympathy
from any man of light and leading or from any
influential business man throughout the whole
province. But what about the movement,
some few years ago, in favour of annexation
to the United States? There was no such
movement ; there was nothing more than
some foolish chatter which, so far from being
taken seriously by any one, served but to ex-
cite the ridicule of almost every person of
prominence in the country. But wait a mo-
ment, good Ontario brother; just be kind
30
THK FRBNCH-CANADIAK
enough to answer a quesUon in return for the
two or three you have asked. Was there not
in your own loyal province quite as much talk
as in Quebec about this same annexation?
How many years have elapsed ince it was ad-
vocated—somewhat covertly at first, but more
openly afterwards— in one of the leading daily
papers published in Toronto, the loyal city
par excelienee? Well, are the people of the
Upper Province therefore disloyal? " Those
who live in glass houses should not throw
stones."
It may be relied upon that the true French-
Canadian, the man that loves his creed and his
language, his race and his country, will be
amongst the last to advocate either the estab-
lishment of a republic in Canada or absorption
into the incomparably greater repubhc that
was set up to the south of us during the last
quarter of the eighteenth century. Yes, he
will be the last man to do anything of that sort.
He knows too well, and prizes too highly, the
advantages he enjoys under England's benign
sway to desire any change by which he would
become the subject of another power. He has
learned to appreciate his present position too
HON. E. J. FX,YNN, l,l„D., K.C..
(KX-PKK.MIKK OK THE PROVINCE OK QUEBEC),
LEAIIER OK THE PROVINCIAL OPPOSITION.
I I
HON. T. CHASE CASGRAIN, I,I..D.. K.C., MP..
OK QrHBEC).
,„_ MONTR EA I.,
lBX-ATTO«NEY-GENERAL OF THE PROVINCE
I
LOVB OF CAKADA. LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 3 1
highly to wish to transfer his allegiance to an-
other government— ay, though it were even
the Republic of France. He is not oblivious
of the treatment meted out to his Church after
the disastrous campaign of 1870 had brought
to an end the Empire of the Third Napoleon,
when the unbelieving iconoclasts " brake down
all the carved work thereof with axes and
hammers;" and he remembers that the ven-
erable head of that Church, he who claims to
sit in the Chair of Peter, declared, not so many
years ago, that in no non-Catholic country,
and in but few that were Catholic, did his
people receive such kind and magnanimous
treatment as in Protestant England. Nay,
was it not but yesterday that the French-Can-
adian saw thousands of his co-religionists,
reiigieux and rtiigieuse, practically expelled from
France by the passing of the Associations Bill,
but welcomed into British Territory, there
finding an asylum, and there permitted to
carry on those good works of piety and charity
to which they believed themselves called, and
there protected from persecution, and there
receiving at least passive encouragement to
carry out their vocation ; and all this, too,
J
33
THB FKBNCH-CANADIAIt
'\
when, strange to My, they would not be per-
mitted to lettle in the Isle of Jersey, which is
inhabited by people of their own race, and
where their own language is spoken I Time
was, indeed, when no such magnanimity on
the part of England seemed possible; but
those old days— not good old days, but bad old
days— are now, let us hope, gone by for ever.
Why, remembering such generous conduct on
the part of England to those poor exiles from
France, to accuse the French-Canadian, the
man who loves his Church as he does, of being
disloyal to Britain is to accuse him of the
vilest treachery and the blackest ingratitude !
True, he clings jealously and tenaciously to
certain privileges peculiar to his people, privi-
leges which he has enjoyed by right of treaty
almost ever since the French monarch ceased to
guide the destinies of Canada, atd which, to
some extent, differentiate his position from that
of the other inhabitants of the Dominion, thus,
one would suppose at the first blush, tending
to retard what may be called the unification of
the Canadian people. But why does he hold
fast to those privileges ? Not altogether, per-
haps not even chiefly, for his own sake, and
•)
i
lOVn or CAKADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 33
certainly not because he has any pleasure in
knowing that a line of demarcation— a line
that is barely visible, almost only imaginary
- is thus drawn between himself and his fel-
low-Canadians of other nationalities. No;
but because he believes that any attempt to
take those privile^.- a«ajr, to take them away
even by constitutional methods, would be one
of the surest ways of stirring up racial strife,
and would thus interfere with that steady,
gradual, and natural process of unification
which has been going on so satisfactorily ever
since the union of the several provinces mto
the one great confederacy of which we are all
so proud to-day. Nor is he altogether blind
to the fact that the abrogation of those privi-
leges would afford an excuse to certain wicked
and restless spirits— whether of French or of
some other origin, with which every civilized
land is cursed, those who stupidly imagine
they have nothing to lose and everything to
gain by upsetting the lawfully constituted
authorities under which they live- for foment-
ing rebellion, and thus putting back indefi-
nitely, if not making impossible for ever, the
development of Canada by an enlightened and
34
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
prosperous people, under British auspices, into
one of the noblest nations the world has ever
beheld.
It is also true that he does not appear to
take very kindly to what is called Imperial
Federation. Well, the truth is that this,
whether looked at from the racial or the politi-
cal standpoint, is by no means a party ques-
tion in the lyower Province ; and, indeed, the
same thing may be said of every other province
in the Dominion. Men of both races in Que-
bec, and men on both sides of politics from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, are undoubtedly in
favour of it so far as they understand what it
implies, or what they suppose it implies ; and
men of both races in Quebec, and men on both
sides of politics from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, if not positively opposed to it, look
upon it rather askance. Hence a man's stand
as to Imperial Federation, whether favourable
to it or otherwise, has nothing whatever to do
with his appreciation of British institutions or
with his loyalty to the Empire. Fortunate,
too, that it is so ; for up to a comparatively
short time ago this question was regarded by
a good many as a sort of harmless craze with
LOVE OP CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 35
which some well-meaning people had become
afflicted, or at best as being but academical,
and even now it is not within the range of
practical politics, but is, so to speak, only in
the air, dim, shadowy, and indefinite.
Now, the French-Canadian is naturally, al-
most instinctively, conservative in his notions;
and consequently he is very shy of trying new
methods in any department of life, ever the
simplest. Much more sh "s he, then, of trying
untried methods in such an important matter
as the government of the country. He is a
firm believer in the wise old saw, " I<et well
enough alone," as well as in the doctrine of
the honest, old-fashioned Tories that a change
which is plainly unnecessary is of necessity a
change for the worse. He is quite satisfied
that Canada is doing admirably under her
present autonomous system of government,
and so he looks with some suspicion upon any
serious modification of that system no matter
by whom proposed. He is therefore quite
content to leave the present satisfactory state
of things just as it is, trusting (and not with-
out reason) that should any important change
in our autonomy become plainly necessary
36
THE FRBNCH-CANADIAN
\N
or even unquestionably desirable, it will be
effected quietly and peaceably — without a
wrench or a jar— by the good sense and the
patriotism of the vast majority of the inhabi-
tants of every nationality in the Dominion.
Meantime, it may be relied upon that if such
change or modification involve Imperial Feder-
ation no man will welcome it more heartily
than he, or support it more loyally.
No one, then, need entertain any apprehen-
sion of the French-Canadian's appreciation of
British connection or of his loyalty to the
Throne of England. From the day when
Canada was ceded to England up to the present
year of grace he has proved his loyalty over
and over again whenever the occasion presented
itself. Toward the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury he, a British colonial subject of foreign
extraction, successfully resisted British colon-
ial subjects of English extraction, who, having
revolted from the Mother-land, tried to force
Canada to cast in her lot with them ; and by
his loyalty then he saved half the continent to
the British Crown, and regarded the American
Revolution as no better than rebellion. Even
were we to acknowledge— which we do not—
f
HON. A. K. KOKCKT,
I.IKUri;XANT.,...VKkN..K or THK X W. TKKHITOR.KS
'n'
1
■HE I-ATK SIR AOOUPHE CHAPI^HAU.
;.OVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 37
that, s "Max O'Rell" says in the Paris
Figaro, this taking place so soon after the ces-
sion of Canada, the Canadians fought against
the Revolutionists simply because they "hated
the Yankees more than they did the British,"
the same reason cannot be assigned in explana-
tion of their conduct when our neighbours to
the south of us, men of our own kith and kin,
iiivaded our peaceful shores towards the be-
ginning of the last century, for did not the
French- Canadians then fight as gallantly as
any others to drive the enemy back across the
border ? Ay, and they were successful, too.
Still less will " Max O' Hell's " reason explain
the willing aid given by the French-Canadian
in stamping out the recent rebellion in the
North- West, for he then fought against a
leader of his own race and his own religion.
And yet he is disloyal !
True, the people of the I^wer Province
had their Papineau in 1837, but had not we
our Mackenzie? and did we fight one whit
more strenuous!/ against the latter than they
did against the former ? Is it not also rather
soon to forget that as they then fought for the
youthful Queen in 1837, and afterwards for
'N
38
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
the aged Queen in 1886. so also, as already in-
timated, have they lately fought and died
side hy side with their British brothers-in-
arms, to uphold the rights of that Queen's
son, Edward VII., in South Africa? Then,
too, look at the enthusiastic welcome given by
them to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall
and York when, in their tour around the
worid, their Royal Highnesses reached the
French-Canadian's native province. In what
part of Ontario, in what part of the whole of
Canada, did the Heir Apparent and his Royal
Consort meet with a more cordial and joyous
reception ? or where were they presented with
more polished, dignified, and loyal addresses?
Any man who can read the accounts of that
tour through Quebec, as given in the daily
press of the chief cities of Canada and yet
attempt to fasten the stigma of disloyalty upon
the people of that province must be either a
fool or - well, something much more despicable
and malignant.
The French-Canadian disloyal ! Pray, is
Sir Adolphe Carou disloyal? or Si' Henri
Joly de Lotbiniere, a former premier of his
native province and the present Lieutenant-
U)VE OP CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 39
Governor of British Columbia, and therefore
one of His Majesty's representatives in Can-
ada ? or M. Monk, the talented and popular
leader of the Quebec Conservatives in the House
of Commons? Was the Hon. Antoine Dorien
disloyal? or " the silver-tongued " orator Sir
Adolphe Chapleau ? or Sir E. P. Tache, the
former eloquent Speaker of the Legislative
Council? or his most reverend brother, the
famous Archbishop of St. Boniface, who so
cleverly and successfully mediated between the
Government at Ottawa and the rebelUous
Metis in 1870? or Sir N. F. Belleau? or Sir
George E. Cartier, the life-long friend and
colleague of Sir John A. Macdonald ? or any
one of a host of other distinguished men whose
names might readily be mentioned ? One feels
positively humiliated that it should be neces-
sary to particularize in this way in order to
defend his French-Canadian fellow-citizens
from the preposterous, disgraceful, and insult-
ing accusation of being disloyal to Britain— an
accusation recklessly scattered here and there
by people many of whom must be either
thoughtless and ignorant, or mischievous and
envious, or prejudiced and fanatical. But one
■BBi
40
THE PRBNCH-CANAOIAN
N
who has experienced so much kindness at the
hands of the French-Canadians as the writer
has received from them, and who knows them
so well as he does, will willingly submit to
much more than this humiliation if he may
only succeed in convincing his readers that, of
all men in Canada, none is more loyal to Eng-
land's King than that same much misunder-
stood and cruelly vilified French-Canadian.
Unhappily, however, there are people who,
having made up their minds to the contrary,'
will not allow themselves to be influenced by
any such considerations as those above men-
tioned. In fact, proof of this is not far to
seek ; for, over and over again, when, amongst
other evidences of the loyalty of Quebec, those
people have been pointed to the irrefragable
proof of it to be seen in the attitude which the
inhabitants of that Province assumed towards
the war in South Africa-the French-Canadian
volunteering, the French-Canadian going to
the Transvaal, the French-Canadian wounded
in the battle, the French-Canadian dying on
the veldt -they coolly reply that the French-
Canadians of Quebec in general, and the
French-Canadian Premier of the Dominion in
\\
IX)VB OF CANADA, I.OYAI.TY TO BRITAIN 4 1
particular, were not very enthusiastic in sup-
porting the war policy of the Home Govern-
ment when the brave but fanatical Boer threw
down the gauntlet to England by invading
Natal and Cape Colony. But were there not
some of ourselves who were not very enthusi-
astic about the very same thing at the very
same time ? Tell us, now, were all the people
and statesmen of England herself very enthttsi-
astic in supporting Ix)rd Salisbury's Govern-
ment in their policy in South Africa ? Did
not that venerable and patriotic statesman de-
clare, only the other day, that some of them
spoke and acted as if they were in favour of
the Boer and against their own countrymen ?
Even now are all the great newspapers of
England, ay, of England's capital-those ex-
ponents of public opinion— unanimous in their
support of the Government's war policy ? To
say the least, are not some of them quite as
pro-Boer as any newspaper published in
Quebec?
However, letting all this pass without com-
ment, we are warranted in saying that as soon
as ever it was made plain to Canadians, no
matter what their nationality, that the war was
r
4a
THE PKBMCH-CAITADIAN
not for the gratification of the mere lust of
conquest, that it was not a war simply for the
aggrandizement of the Empire, that it was not
a war for the sake of military glory or even
for international influence, that it was not a
war for amassing wealth by promoting the
increase of British trade and commerce, and
especially that it was not a war for robbing a
brave and industrious people of their independ-
ence, but that, on the contrary, it was a war
in defence of British territory that had been
wantonly invaded, a war for the emancipation
of those benighted and down-trodden natives
of South Africa whom the pitiless Boer was
holding in the degrading chains of a practical
slavery, a war for the enforcement of the most
elementary principles of common justice, a war
forced on Britain by the braggart whose
avowed object was to sweep the British from
the continent and " drive them into the sea,"
a war in answer to the cries, and groans, and
tears of the Kaffir and Hottentot who vainly
begged for mercy at the hands of their
ruthless taskmasters -ah ! then all Canada did
become enthusiastic, then all Australia became
enthusiastic, then all New Zealand became en-
HON. I.. A (lOllN. K.C , M.U.A..
MONTRKAI..
MIXISTKR OK COLONIZATION AND HfBLIf WORKS.
PROVINCE gruBix.
^j^m
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HON. F. O. MIVII.LE DECHENK. MXA.
MIMSTKR OF AGKItll.TIRK,
PROVIXCK OK VJl-KBKC.
'^ ''^-" fc-^'air..' »^^t. i.
LOVB OP CANADA, I.OVAI.TY TO BKITAIN 43
thusiastic ; and the enthusiasm of the French-
Canadian rose to as high a pitch as our own,
and he wan just as determined as we were h>
sustain V'ictoria Regina et Impekvtrix
without the loss of a shred of her territr f
on the throne from which for two generraiu;' ;
she had ruled her world-wide empire wuh
unprecedcjited honour to herself, wifl. un-
exampled prosperity to her people, and uiili
unnumbered benefits to humanity at large !
But what about our French-Canadian Pre-
mier ? Was he not very unwilling to send those
contingents of ours to South Africa ? Did he
not dilly-dally with them until compelled to
take action by the force of public opinion >
Unwilling to send them, was he ? Wl-.y, then
did he not do his best to keep them at home
instead of getting them off at the earliest mom-
ent possible? Dilly-dally, did he? How.
then, did it conie that the troops were embark-
ing at Quebec in about three weeks or less
after the first authoritative intimation had been
received that their aid would be welcomed by
the Home Government ? If this be what is
meant by dilly-dallying one would like to be
furnished with an example of promptness and
f
44
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
decision. But did not the other colonies have
their contingents at the seat of war before ours ?
Yes, but they are not so far away from Cape
Colony as we are ; and, what is of much more
importance, their parliaments were in session
at the time, so that there was no constitutional
difficulty to interfere with immediate action,
whereas the Parliament of the Dominion had
been prorogued but a short time before, and
the members of the Ministry had gone here
and there, to one place or another, in the dif-
ferent provinces. If Canada were suddenly
and imexpectedly invaded to-day, as British
South Africa was in the autumn of 1899, would
the Prime Minister of England be justified in
sending troops to our aid on his own individ-
ual official responsibility without consulting
his Ministry, and before Parliament had voted
the necessary supplies? And yet Sir Wilfrid
Laurier is not a thoroughly loyal British sub-
ject because, in sending Canadian volunteers
to fight England's battles— well, the Empire's
battles, if you '.ike — thousands of miles away
from their homes, he was anxious to proceed
in accordance with the constitution of the
country where he is the First Minister of the
I.OVB OP CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 45
Crown ! I/)ok down in pity upon our ignor-
ance and rashness, O shade of Brougham and
of Hallam ! Sir Wilfrid must surely be a man
of almost infinite patience to bear so uncom-
plainingly as he has done with accusations so
unfounded and senseless, if not malicious.
Happy for him that he dwells in an atmosphere
so serene, upon an eminence so high, that he
can afford to treat all such accusations with
the contempt they deserve.
The very worst that can be said of any
French-Canadian, in connection with this mat-
ter of sending troops to South Africa, is that
for a time his attitude was one of indifference.
But as soon as he apprehended the real inten-
tions of the authorities in the Transvaal and
the Orange Free State his indifference was
replaced by enthusiastic support of the Home
Government. The electric current flashed the
news, the cry went forth, that British territory
had been invaded ; and as soon as the French-
Canadian distinctly heard the cry, and under-
stood its import, he, as he had often done be-
fore, buckled on his armor, and went forth to
help to repel the invader.
^aK^?a"S4as
46
THE . PRBNCH-CANADIAN
But is there not a certain French-Canadian
named Bouraasa ? Is he particularly noted for
his attachment to British institutions and to
British conncetion ? It is enough to say here
that, however impolitic some of his utterances
may have appeared to his friends, no one can
possibly accuse him <A not being perfectly
frank and honest in giving expression to his
sentiments on the relation of Canada to Brit-
ain. And, after all the talk about him, what
are those sentiments? Surely every fair-mind-
ed man must see that they are essentially the
same, in their ultimate analysis, as those con-
tained in the eloquent and patriotic address
delivered by that other prominent French-
Canadian, M. Monk, the leader of the Quebec
Conservatives, at a banquet given in his honour
by the Club Cartier in Montreal on Novem-
ber 1 8th, 1901. Now who has ever so much
as dared to breathe a syllable against M.
Monk's loyalty because of his stand as to Can-
adian autonomy ? Why, then, accuse of dis-
loyalty another man who occupies what is
virtually the same position on the same sub-
ject ? Here is a brief letter sent to tlie public
press under his own hand, in which he very
HHI
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 47
plainly denies the charge of being anti-British ;
and surely no one can know his sentiments on
the subject better than himself, and it cer-
tainly shows the man to be much more broad-
minded than some people suppose.
MR. BOURASSA'S POSITION.
Editor Herald :
Sir,— You have found it proper to translate and re-
publish the article of a small country paper giving cred-
it to the absurd charge of Anglo-phobia brought against
me by the jingo press. This paper, alone amongst all
French-Canadian organs, ventures the opinion that I
could not •• say in all the provincesjwhat I said in Mon-
treal.' • As long as this sUtement remained within the
precincts of that little sheet, I paid no attention to it.
But now that you have made it known, allow me to
state most distinctly that I am ready to go and repeat
my utterances in any of the Bnglish-speakiag prov-
inces. It might have no other result than of proving
tomy fellow-countrymen that our ueighbour* are much
broader-minded than most of our political men
and organs make them appear to be. But even this
would be a result which seems to me worth while to
be sought for. I am one of those who think it most
detrimenUl to our national welfare that one race
should be kept under the impression that the other
race is so intolerant as to preclude all public discus-
sion on national problems.
I am greatly amused at the idea of being painted all
over as an Anglo-phobia of the worst type, when I
^
I
48 THE FRBNCH-CANADIAN
remember that for the lait two yeui I have been dia-
caatiag privately with to many politidani of both
parties and fighting contUntly their opinion that the
pnbUc of the Bngliah provinces, of Ontario especially,
is so narrow-minded that it won't even listen to any
contradiction or criticism of the jingo gospel. Yours
truly,
Hbnri Boorassa.
Papineauville, Oct. 29, 1901.
Some Ontario people seem to be under the
impression that the frequent display of the
tri-colourinthe Province of Quebec isconclusive
as to the French-Canadian's disloyalty toward
Britain. It is safe to say that never were
men more mistaken, and that they entirely
misapprehend the sentiment which prompts that
display is admirably shown by the following
brief passage from M. I^uis Frechette's address
before the Royal Society of Canada at their
meeting last year in the dty of Ottawa :
" It may seem," says M. Frechette, "rather
extraordinary to strangers, to see so many
French flags unfurled at our public festivities
in Montreal, Quebec, and even in Ottawa.
Those who know us better, and do not judge us
by hearsay or from a distance, are less aston-
ished, since they are aware that this symbol has
L.
HON. R. OANDrRANI), K.C.,
MOXTKKAI.,
MIMHIR r.l rilK CANADIAN SKNATK.
HON. F. L. BEIQUE, K.C..
MONTREAL,
A MEMBER OK THE CANAPIAX SENATE.
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 49
in our minds no political meaning whatever,
that it is nothing to us but the emblem of our
race ; and that if we are proud to see it wave
over our heads, we are no less grateful to the
British institutions, high-minded and liberal
enough not to take any umbrage at this in-
offensive display.
" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we love the
flag of the land of our forefathers, as the Eng-
lish-Canadians would love the flag of England,
if the positions were reversed ; but it is a loyal
flag, and — I proclaim it here most emphatically
— the day it became significant of disloyalty,
circumstances being unchanged, you would
not see one of them hoisted in the Province of
Quebec!"
Well, then, let M. Bourassa and his com-
patriots enjoy their French sentiments, let them
indulge their love of French classical literature,
let them entertain an undjring affection for the
beautiful country from which their fathers came
to Canada ; for is not all this quite compatible
with loyalty to Britain ? And do we not claim
the same liberty for ourselves? Nor is it
unlikely that either a Scottish- Canadian or an
Irish-Canadian would enjoy the sight of the
<fi
I /I
50
TBB FKBNCH-CANADIAN
flag of the land of his forefathers floating from
the prow of his pleasure boat, as is the case with
M. Tarte, for instance. Some of us have a
very warm feeling for " Merrie England" ;
and others of us, apostrophizing old Scotia,
exclaim with the Scottish bard :
" O Caledonia, stern and wild.
Meet nurse for a poetic child,
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
]>nd of the mountain and the flood.
Land of my sires, what mortal hand
Can e'er untie the filial band
That knits me to thy rugged strand ? "
And, surely, there are others of us who, lov-
ing the Emerald Isle in the very core of our
hearts, say :
" Though bright are Bi^land's fbvntauis.
And fertile are her plains ;
Though Scotia's lofty mountains
Where savage grandeur reifas ;
While 'mid their cbanns I wander
My thoughts I turn the while,
And seem of thee the fonder.
My own Green Isle."
Then, too, if we were bom there, if we Uved
there long enough to know something of its
beauties and to appreciate the warm hearts of
M)VB OF CANADA, M)YAI,TY TO BRITAIN 5 1
the people, and if we begin to realize that we
shall never more look upon Erin's hills and
valle3rs, the tear starts unbidden to the eye,
and with full hearts we are ready to cry out —
the memory of Erin the last to leave us, the
visions of Erin the last to fade away —
" O Sogarth aroon, lore I know life it fleeting.
Soon, soon, in the ttnuige earth my poor bone* will
lie;
I have aaid my last prayer and received my last blesa-
ing.
And, if the Lord's willing, I'm ready to die :
But, Sogarth aroon, can I never again see
The valleys and hills of my dear native land ?
When my soul takes its flight from this dark world of
sorrow
Will it pass through old Ireland to join the bless'd
band?
O Sogarth amon, I have kept through all changes
The thrice-blessed shamrock to lay o'er my clay,
And, oh I it has minded me often and often
Of that bright<smUing valley, so far, far away :
Then tell me, I pray you, will I ever again see
The place where it grew on my own native sod ?
When my body lies cold in the land of the stranger.
Will my soul pass through Brin on its way to our
God"?
5«
TH8 VKBNCH-CANADIAN
Instead, then, of finding fault with the
French-Canadian, or implying that he cannot
be loyal to England, because his heart now
and then prompts him to show that he loves
France, let us rather honour him for the affec-
tion which he entertains for the land of the
indomitable Cartier and Champlain, the land
which gave birth to the saintly and scholarly
Francois de Laval-Montmorend, the land
which, after all's said and done, sent out those
brave and self-sacrificing heralds of the Cross
by whose heroic lives and martyrs' deaths
Canada was first led forth from the gloom and
darkness of barbarism and idolatry into the
sweet sunlight of civilization and Christianity.
But there are some people— at any rate, one
is to be met with here and there — whom it is
exceedingly diflScult to convince of anything
they do not wish to believe. They are not
altogether unknown in this fair Dominion, and
even in enlightened and liberal-minded Ontario
one is now and then to be found. They are
not bigoted, not even stubborn ; oh ! no, not
at all, they are just a little firm, nothing more;
and if there be one thing above another upon
which they pride themselves, it is theu- ' pweet
LOVB OP CANADA. LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 53
reasonableness." Now when it is plainly
proved to those dear souls that there is not the
slightest ground for assuming that the French-
Canadians are not just as loyal to Britain as they
are themselves, they, in their determination to
minimize or otherwise disparage what they can
no longer deny, declare that the French-speak-
ing people of Quebec, if loyal at all, are loyal
from self interest, just because they know they
have priWleges under British rule which they
could never have as the subjects of another
power. Now would it not be somewhat em-
barrassing for these good friends of ours if they
were compelled to furnish a correct analysis of
the motives which lie at the basis of their own
much vaunted loyalty ? Alas ! self, in one or
other of its protean forms, seems to be the
mainspring of most of our actions, even of
those which seem most disinterested ; and per-
haps we are not uninfluenced by it in our loyalty
to the mother country, for is it not true that
a great part of that loyalty may be traced to
the conviction that we are incomparably safer
and better off in every way under British rule
than we could be under any other ?
But, over and above this, we, Bnglish-
■oconr RooumoN mr
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54
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
Speaking people of Canada, are full of British
sentiment— no government so enlightened or
so free as the British Government, no army so
brave as the British Army, no navy so power-
ful as the British Navy, no tar so gallant as
the British tar, no soldier so daring as the
British soldier, and therefore no flag so glor-
ious as the British flag. But are our French-
Canadian brethren altogether devoid of all
thissort of feeling? Mark this: "Under that
flag was I bom, and under that flag will I
die," was the sentiment which the late Sir
John A. Macdonald bequeathed to the whole
people of Canada, that was the sentiment with
which he appealed to them not long before he
was taken away from us by the hand of death ;
and now note this particulariy, the French-
Canadian people showed that they appreciated
the sentiment by the cordial support which
they afforded to the Conservative party at the
general elections which followed immediately
afterwards, when the illustrious chieftain
fought his last battle and won his last victory !
It would appear, then, that with them as weU
as with ourselves, British sentiment, as weU
as self-interest, lies at the root of their loyalty
to the British Throne.
srK ADoij-nK CAko.v k.c.m.i;., m i..,
J
RAYMOND PREFONTAINK, K.C., M.p.
EX-MAYOR OF MON'TREAr,.
LOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO 'miTAIN 55
The writer hopes he may be mistaken, but
he finds it difficult not to believe that the
charge of disloyalty so often brought against
the French-speaking inhabitants of the Pro-
vince of Quebec has its forts et origo in the
narrow though honest minds of certain ultra-
Protestants who seem incapable of believing
that a conscientious Roman Catholic can be a
really loyal British subject — more especially
since the promulgation of the Decrees of the
famous Vatican Council, which was held some
thirty years ago. The fanatical Moslem of
India may be loyal, and so may the idolatrous
Hindu; but the staunch Roman Catholic?
Never, it is impossible ! Well, one can hardly
blame those good Protestants for holding such
an opinion, somewhat uncharitable though it
be, for something of the same sort is implied
in a certain pamphlet published shortly after
the Council had been dissolved, published,
too, by one who was said to be then the
greatest statesman in England, the late W. E.
Gladstone. However, the unsoundness of his
reasoning was shown soon after by one who
was perhaps still greater than he — greater,
that is, intellectually — the late J. H. Newman,
,.»'
56
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
in a letter addressed to the Duke of Norfolk.
But would it not help those staunch Protes-
tant friends of ours above referred to and
make them a little more moderate, if, when
passing judgment on the loyalty of their Ro-
man Catholic fellow-subjects, they would just
remember that the late Sir John Thompson
was a Roman Catholic ; and yet no Colonial
Premier was ever more highly honoured by
his sovereign than he was by Victoria, though
the good Queen can hardly have helped know-
ing that he had been brought up in one of the
strictest sects of Protestants. So are more
than one, it is said, of the most successful British
commanders in South Af ;ca, Roman Catho-
lics ; but who will dare to impugn their loyal-
ty ? So, too, are many of the Irish Fusiliers
Roman Catholics ; and yet by their bravery on
the veldt, by their blood with which the Afri-
can sands were reddened, they won for their
countrymen in the British Army, the boon,
the privilege, the right so long denied, so
tardily granted— to wear "the sweet little
Shamrock of Ireland" pinned on their tunics
as each anniversary of their country's Patron
Saint comes in its annual round. The late
LOVE OP CANADA, LOYALTY TO BRITAIN 57
Marquis of Bute was a Roman Catholic ; and
yet he was loyal enough to have a seat in the
House of Lords with Anglican Bishops and
Scottish Presbyterian nobles. The present
Duke of Norfolk is a Roman Catholic ; but he
is also hereditary Grand Marshal of England,
and showed his loyalty to his Protestant sover-
eign by resigning his position in the Marquis
of Salisbury's Government with the object of
going against the Boers of the Transvaal. If
one does not quite forget one's English His-
tory, many a long and noble line of loyal
Roman Catholics may be traced back, genera-
tion after generation, until we come to the
reign of Elizabeth, when the brave Roman
Catholic, Lord Howard, successfully com-
manded the little fleet of Protestant England
against the ''Spanish Armada" of Catiiolic
Spain. We cannot go much further back than
this ; for, God help us, before the time of
Elizabeth's father, there were no others in
England, to be either loyal or disloyal, than
Catholics. But one can almost see that gallant
English Roman Catholic sailor, Lord Howard,
as with Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, he
plays at bowls on Plymouth Hoe, near the spot
58
THE FKENCH-CANADIAN
where a monument now stands to the memory
of these great men. when the news came on
that July day in 1588 that the Spanish fleet was
almost in sight of land. WeU, Englishmen like
they quietiy finished their game, and then
went aboard their ships, and sailed out to meet
the enemy, and gained for Protestant Elizabeth
one of the most glorious victories ever won bv
even the British Navy !
And yet, you know, the French-Canadians
cannot be loyal because, besides having the
misfortune to be of French extraction, they
have the still greater misfortune to be devout
Catholics ! Positively it makes one feel in-
dignant that any man should be heard even so
much as to hint that either a subject's nation-
ality or his religion is incompatible with the
highest type of loyalty and devotion to his
constitutional sovereign ! Here is where the
real disloyalty is to be found -it is to be found
with those, whether they arc French or Eng-
lish, Catholic or Protestant, who make incen-
diary appeals to racial or religious feelings in
order to promote disunion and bad blood be-
tween the two nationalities, instead of joining
heartily with all good men and true in earnest
WVR OF CANADA. WYAWY TO BRITAIN 59
ffrt^^T""*' «»°vingevery misunderstand-
wg that may exist between the people of Que-
bec and of Ontario, thus helpinHo bind the
mixed population of those two ^eat provinw^
m^doser union, so that both may CkT
getlier harmoniously and effectively for the
p-ogress of the new nation that has'a^'en t
Zf ?' "/^ "°* ^'"^"^t t^ose who. in
1896, sent such representatives to the Com"
mons as would ensure that a French- Canadrn
Canada-not be it observed, [because he wL
e ther French or Catholic, but because it wa^
plainly seen that in the ranks of the Refo m""
And hi ir'!f "°^ ""^P^"^^^^^ P°«'tion.
And the writer. Ontario Protestant though he
IS. has every satisfaction in stating that thou-
sands and thousands of his co-rel^n Lts ^
well ^ he himself, are more than pTeas<^^ha"
English extraction nor of the Reformed Faith •
^rthe^pleof ^is country, by placing s'v
Wilfnd Wier where he is. have shov^ to
the world their true Liberalism, and have de^
6o
THB PRBNCH-CANADIAN
dared in the most emphatic manner their be-
lief that— so far as concerns Canada, at any
rate— a man's being of French extraction or of
the Catholic religion should be no obstacle in
the way which leads to the highest office in
the gift of his lawful sovereign. Many of us
have read something of the flagrant acts of
injustice, of the cruel wrongs, of the horrible
persecutions once perpetrated in another part
of the Empire, under ♦he sanction of the dis-
graceful Penal Laws ; and the people of this
free and prosperous Dominion would indig-
nantly stamp out even the first incipient at-
tempt to introduce amongst them any ap-
proach towards a state of things so dreadful
and horrible. Anything like what may be
called religious disabilities must never find a
place on the statute book of Canada. Mean-
time, to promote feelings of harmony and
good-will between the Protestants and the
Catholics of Canada is one of the most impor-
tant duties of all her patriotic people. The
spirit which animates them in this matter is
admirably expressed by a Catholic poet in the
following stanzas ;
HON. V. GARNEAI-.
Ml.MnEH I.F.OISl.ATtVK tOINtri..
gri.liicc.
HON-. JOSKPH SHKHV \
UlKllKC CITY.
A MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN SENATE.
tOVE OF CANADA, LOYALTY TO WITAIN 6l
®*it".i.'i *•*• ^^ ■*>'**'•' "ho fight, by my .id.
ah!Si^li'*"^ of Buaklnd. If our «w^ i«J?
If h« lne.1 not before the Mme idtl? "5 2. ?
n/^^.u^*T***" •'^ • "ow orthodox kiM ?
rL'Sf*^."" **••,'*• ■»<> »»>• '-w. that SJaldtry
Troth, vdoor or love by • .Undwtl HkrthS. " ^
No one wishes to deny that a good Catholic
woiild refuse to obey a secular command which
conflicted with his religious duties ; but would
not the good Protestant do the same ? Would
not the latter maintain, quite as strongly as
the former, that if obedience to the secular
powers involved doing violence to his con-
science, or-what is virtually the same thing-
if It involved disobedience to God, he must
obey God rather than man ? Taking his
^nt f rd"^ '° P"'^ «> ^^«^^y' ^ou\d
thnl 1^ ^""^ *° f°"°^ "»« «»«Ple of
to^ ' r^^'" ^^'■'^'^^^ ^y th« authorities
to do something which their consciences told
62
THE IfRENCH-CANADIAN
them they ought to do, replied, " Whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto
you more than unto God, judge ye. For we
cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard." Would he not make St.
Peter's words his own, and say, "We ought
to obey God rather than men"? Would he
not remember that many a Christian in the
early days refused to save his Hfe at even so
small an apparent cost as casting a single grain
of incense upon a heathen altar ? Surely if
he were what is called a conscientious man a
God-fearing man, he would refuse to obey
But neither would he rebel ; for whilst dis-
obedience may sometimes be right, rebellion
IS always wrong—that is, rebeUion against
lawfully constituted authority. Does not
every staunch Protestant esteem and honour
the memory of such men as Ridley and Uti-
mer, because they suffered death rather than
obey a command which they conscientiously
believed to be wrong? What Protestant
what real Protestant and not a mongrel, blames
the Scottish Covenanters to-day for refusing
obedience to their lawful king when they
couldnotrenderthatobediencewithaclearcon-
W)VE OP CANADA, I.OYAI.TY TO BRITAIN 63
science? What Protestant to-day blames the
Quaker for refusing to engage in war, when
the conscience of the Quaker tells him he
oughtnot todoso? Surely, not one. But
why? Simply because the Protestant believes
m hberty of conscience. Well, what he be-
lieves in and claims for himself he will hardly
deny to others ; and therefore he should be
the last to blame Catholics if they, sooner than
disobey what they believe to be the Voice of
Ood, should refuse obedience to some com-
mand or commands of the secular power.
However, there is at present no reason to
fear that the lawful authorities in any portion
of the British Empire will ever try to compel
any man -be he Christian, Jew, Mohammedan
or heathen— to do anything contrary to the
dictates of his conscience.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EXERCISE OF THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
An important feature of French-Canadian
life, not readily seen by the English-speaking
visitor, but patent to the English-speaking
resident, is the rapidly increasing circulation
of the magazine and especially of the news-
paper. That home must be very poor indeed
to which a good weekly paper does not
regularly find its way, whilst a daily is much
more common than it was some years ago.
Now whatever may be thought of the French
papers in Quebec, they are singularly and
creditably free — unhappily, they are almost
uniquely free — from everything immoral or
irreligious; and, as a rule, they direct the
attention of their readers fairly and intelli-
gently to the public questions of the day.
Hence the eflfect of the increased circulation
has been altogether good, particularly in the
interest thereby promoted in the government
of the Province and of the Dominion. Now
the French-Canadian has always paid much
A4
HON. M. E. BERNIEK, MP.,
.MINISTER OK INLAND REVKSflv FOR (.ANADA.
HON. J. I. TARTE. PC, M.P.
MINISTKR OK PlULle WORKS
OTTAWA.
EXERCISE OF ELECTIVE FRANCHTSE 65
attention to parochial and municipal affairs
and he has always had very good reason for
beh'..vmg them, in general, to be managed
ho lestly, and with as much economy as is
compatible with efficiency— which, after all
IS the truest economy. Well, his newspaper
has shown him that the same thing cannot
invariably be said of the management of affairs
by the Provincial Legislature or the Dominion
Parliament. He has learned something of the
meaning of such classical terms as. e g " rake
off," "boodle." and so on. Now he. poor
unsophisticated man that he is. cannot under-
st^d why his representatives in the Assembly
and the Commons should not manage the
business of the country just as uprightly and
carefully as his representatives in the humbler
Municipal Councils ; and, so, it has come to
pass, more than once or twice, that when his
newspaper has shown him plainly that those
whom he has sent to either of the two parlia-
ments has been guilty of any act or acts of
corruption-guilty either by suggestion or
partiapation, by advocating or by not oppos-
ing, by word or by deed, directly or indirectly
—he has made his disapprobation felt at the
66
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
polls. There may not have been any uproar,
there may have been no indignation meetings,'
everything on the surface may have remained
undisturbed ; but so surely as he once becomes
convinced of the guilt of his representative in
Parliament, so surely as that representative
has justly forfeited the confidence of the
electors, so surely does the delinquent discover,
to his chagrin, at the next elections that his
somewhat crooked course has not been un-
noticed by his constituents. A solid French-
Canadian vote may , not, perhaps, be cast
against him ; but a great many French-
Canadian votes will be given to secure the
election of his opponent— provided, that is,
that the opponent has never proved himself
unworthy of their confidence as an honest
man, and is in other respects a suitable candi-
date for their suffrages.
How is it, then, that he is accused, in ex-
ercising his franchise, of being governed by
racial and religious prejudices ? Wei", oroud
of his race he certainly is, and with good rea-
son ; and it cannot be denied that, ceteris pari-
bus, the man of his race will, as a rule, be
given the preference over another. But should
EXERCISE OF ELECTIVE FRANCHISE 67
not English, Irish or Scotch Canadians be the
last to blame him for this, seeing that the
same thing is true of themselves ? If he is
proud of the race that has given to the world
such a galaxy of men and women to adorn the
firmament of Science, Art, Literature and Re-
ligion as have had their birth and breeding in
the land of the adventurous Bougainville, the
accomplished Bouguereau, the profound and
versatile Chateaubriand, the eloquent and
saintly Fenelon, the inimitable epistolist
Madame de Sevign^, the celebrated Madame
de Stael, the authoress of De tAUemagne, and
a host of others of honoured memory, are
there not those who think that man to be but
little better than a fool who will not acknow-
ledge that the English are in every way the
finest people the world has ever seen, the
bravest, the noblest, the cleverest, the most
learned, the most inventive, the most honest,
and even (according to the Anglo-Israel craze)
amongst the most ancient ?
But, still, the history of the last few hun-
dred years shows that the EngUshman has a
right to be proud of his race — proud because
of the marvellous progress it has made in the
68
THE FRBNCH-CANADIAN
arts of peace no less than in the science of
war, proud of what his country has done for
almost every land that has been brought under
her bemgn sway, proud because of what she is
now doing for the enlightenment of those peo-
pies who but a few years ago were sitti„iin
dense moral darkness, through which there
penetrated not a single ray of that glorious
hght which IS ever streaming from the Cross
of Calvary! Why, then, should any of us
find fault with the French-Canadian, or sus-
pect his loyalty to Britain, because he is proud
which has been England's not altogether un-
successful rival in working for the world's
welfare ; a nation which some three hundred
Calais-dieir last possession in the i-ind that
witnessed the battles of Agincourt and Poic-
tiers, the land where the Black Prince won his
spurs at Crecy in 1347-50 tt.i no longer can
any Enghsh monarch rightly call himself by
the old title. "King of Great Britain, Fran«
and Ireland " ? Yes indeed, the Freni-Can^
dian IS proud of his race, and it would be a
shame for him if he were not. But this pride
EXERCISE OP ELECTIVE FRANCHISE 69
Of race does not make him bUnd to the faults
of a man of that race who may be a candidate
for parhamentary honours; and whilst he
would prefer to support a man of his own
original nationality, he will vote for an honest
Bnghsh, Irish or Scotch Canadian rather than
for a French-Canadian upon whose honesty he
feels that he cannot depend.
But supposing all this to be true, as to race
IS It equally true as to religion? and if he is
unduly influenced by religious considerations,
how can he be said to exercise his elective
franchise independently or to vote for candi-
dates according to their merits ? Now some
people and probably-no, certainly-the
French-Canadian along with the others, are
foohsh enough to think that a belief in the
Chnstian Religion ought to be an indispensable
requisite in any man who aspires to a place in
the legislative halls of a professedly Christian
country ; for how. such people ask themselves,
can Christians believe that a man will legislate
—or even be able to legislate-for the highest
interests of his country unless he believes in
that revelation of the Divine Will which is
commonly called the Christian Religion > In-
70
THE PKRNCH-CANADIAN
deed, the French-Canadian regards his religion
as the most important subject that can claim
his attention ; and why not ? After his Faith
has triumphantly stood the test of the most
bitter opposition and cruel persecution of the
Jew, the heathen, and the infidel, for some
nineteen centuries, after it has raised him up
to a plane immeasurably higher than was ever
occupied by his heathen ancestors, after it has
done what it has done where its tenets have
been sincerely received and where honest
efforts have been made to obey its commands,
who is to blame him, for loving that Creed
with all the fervour ahd devotion of his warm
and impassioned heart? or for regarding the
profession of it as a sine gua non in any man
who seeks his suffrages? Nay, would it not
be an inestimable blessing for Canada if aU
her people had the same firm belief in and the
same glowing love for the Chiistian Religion
and if they tried to emulate the devout French-
Canadian in living according to its holy
teachings ? But, mark, whibt he loves his race
and his Creed, and is proud and happy to see
a man belonging to that race and believing
that Creed occupying the position of Canada's
i-i
tATK HON HONORK MKRCIKR,
PMKMIKK OK UIKHKC FH..M IS.S7 T(. l>v^.
',
1
3
)
"""■ ■■'■ '■"'"■■m.uKH.
'•■'"•issrssr''"'
8XRKCI8B OP KLBCTIVB PKANCIIISK Jt
Prime Minister, he looks at and discusacs
political questions free from racial and re-
ligious prejudices- though, fortunately, net
free from religious considerations ; and, as a
consequence, he sends to the legislative halls,
to represent him there, those men whom he
believes to be best fitted for the task— not
indeed irrespective of Creed, but irrespective
of ecclesiastical antecedents and proclivities.
How few of those who so glibly accuse him of
Iwing govenied by religious prejudices in his
exercise of the elective franchise ever ask
themselves how many agnostics or other un-
Ijeliever are to be found amongst the men
whom he has sent to Parliament ? Are there
half a dozen ? Is there one ?
Nor does he ask himself what candidate
would, if elected, be most likely to advance
French-Canadian interests alone, but who will
do the best that can be done for the whole
people ; for he knows that under a system of
government like that of Canada, whilst each
Province has certain rights of its own which
must be regarded as sacred, one class of the
inhabitants cannot really prosper at the expense
of another. Hence it is that though a parlia-
i
72
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
m i
I
^1^
mentary candidate may have French as his
vernacular, and may kneel at the Catholic
Altar, these considerations will not necessarily
secure his election over an opponent who
knows little of the French language and
who holds to a somewhat different form of the
Christian Faith, if that opponent be in other
respects the better man of the two. This was
the principal reason why at the last General
Elections for the Dominion the Province of
Quebec gave the present government an over-
whelming majority. It was not because the
members of the govetnment were French or
Catholic ; for they were not, but because the
people of that Province believed the policy of
the government to be the best for the whole of
Canada. Moreover, at those same elections
the French-Canadian voted, in many in-
stances, agai*-st men of his own race and of
his own religion, and supported men of another
creed and another national origin. Similar
remarks apply to the still more recent elections
for the Quebec Assembly.
It is, however, often said, and indeed some-
what flippantly, that the French-Canadian
cannot vote independently because he has to
EXERCISE OP ELECTIVE FRANCHISE 73
do exactly as his " spiritual pastors and mas-
ters" order him. Well, it is not for the
wnter, an Ontario Protestant, to pretend to be
familiar with the relations existing between
the Roman Catholic clergy and their flocks in
Quebec, or, for that matter, anywhere else ;
but he is persuaded that no opinion could be
farther astray or rest upon a more flimsy
foundation than that the clergy exercise an
undue influence over their flocks as to what
political party they shall support. There are
many mortal sins, but to be identified with
either of the two great political parties of
Canada is not included amongst the number ;
it is not even a venial sin, so what have the
clergy to do with it?
Those who make the above charge seem to
be impaled on the horns of a dilemma, at any
rate, if we judge from the results of the last
General Elections for the Dominion ; for these
results plainly show that either the members
of the clergy were divided in their counsels, or
that a large proportion of the laity proved
contumacious. The proof is that out of the
whole total vote cast the Liberals, the vic-
torious party, obtained a majority of only
74
THB FRENCH-CANADIAN
ip
27.873; SO that if the clergy gave uniform
directions about voting, a great part of the
laity refused to obey. The return of the
Liberals to power with a very large majority
as they had, whilst the majority of the total
vote cast was so comparatively small, is, of
course, to be accounted for by the fact that
this majority of votes was divided amongst
many constituencies.
Look also at the federal elections of 1896
and It will be seen to a moral certainty that
the French-Canadian is just as free as any
man can be to vote as he thinks best— free
that is, so far as concerns clerical influence •
otherwise the result of those elections, how
that result was brought about, is veiled in
impenetrable mystery. We all know that the
leader of the Conservatives at that time, the
then Prime Minister, quite believed that the
Roman Catholic minority in Manitoba were
suffenng under a very serious grievance on
account of the Education Act passed by the
Greenway Administration. We know also
that the minority brought their case before
the courts, and that it was at length decided
by the Imperial Privy Council that the min-
F. D. MONK, K.C., M.P.
MONTKIvAI,.
•y^
I!'. A. BEI.COrRT, K.C., M.P.,
OTTAWA.
EXERCISE OF ELECTIVE FRANCHISE 75
ority had just cause of complaint, that they
reaUy had a grievance, and that it lay with
the Dominion Parliament to see that the griev-
ance was removed. Now to carry out the de-
cision thus given, to grant to the Roman
CathoUcs in Manitoba the relief for which
they prayed, was a part of the policy upon
which Sir Charles Tupper appealed to the
country. It was what is known as a burning
question, and provoked the most decided and
bitter ...^position from some of Sir Charles'
own supporters ; nevertheless, he insisted on
making it a plank in his political platform.
We know also, or at least we believe, that the
Roman Catholic Hierarchy of Quebec thor-
oughly approved of and endorsed Sir Charles-
determination to remove the aforesaid griev-
ance. Is it not plain, then, that if the French-
Canadian electors are compelled to vote accord-
ing to the will of their clergy, Sir Charles
should have been sustained ? But what was
the result ? Why. simply that, in spite of
the aUeged clerical despotism, in spite of the
fact that the Roman Catholics of Manitoba—
the French-Canadian's own brethren— were
groaning under a burden which Sir Charles
76
PRBNCH-CANADIAN
had pledged himself to remove if he were
returned to power, that renowned statesman
met with his Waterloo in the Province of
Quebec, and his illustrious opponent won a
brilliant victory. Strange anomaly, too, does
it seem, Roman Catholics of Quebec voting
with the Orange element of Ontario to defeat
a Prime Minister who had pledged himself to
grant relief from a grievance to the Roman
Catholics of Manitoba ! Certainly their mo-
tives were very diflferent, the Orangemen
being determined that Sir Charles should be
defeated rather than t^at the Manitoba School
Act should be disallowed, and the French-
Canadians being equally determined that Sir
Wilfrid should be sustained because they be-
lieved his policy to be for '• the greatest good
to the greatest number"; but none the less,
during the memorable campaign of 1896, did
the fleurde lis and the Orange lily shine side
by side on the same banner ! And yet there
pre those who would have us believe that the
French-Canadian votes according to certain in-
structions which are supposed to be issued to
him by the Hierarchy of Quebec !
EXERCISE OF ELECTIVE FRANCHISK ^^
Supposing, however, that the clergy of the
lower province do exercise a very great influ-
ence over the laity in parliamentary elections
—provided it be a legitimate, and not an
undue influence, is it necessarily an unmixed
evil? is it an evil at all? ]Say, is it not a
positive good? Surely the French-Canadian
clergy, noted for their piety and learning,
their self-denial and self-sacrifice for the sake
of their flocks, their devotion to their sacred
duties, their unremitting care and almost
jealous vigilance for the safety and welfare of
their people, are not to be censured if they do
sometimes warn those placed under their
supervision against the dishonest designs of
the scheming demagogue, and point out to
then the qualities which should characterize
the men who seek their suffrages. If, when
ever elections are held, bold and ignorant
empirics are at work proclaiming political
panaceas for the imaginary ills of the State
and if unprincipled scoundrels are likely to b^
plying their nefarious trade of bribery and
corruption, are the French- Canadian clergy
(or, for that matter, any other clergy) to be
blamed for warning their people against the
78
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
dangers that threaten them, or for giving
them the best advice in their power ? That
the Catholic clergy of Quebec do exercise
their legitimate influence in this as in other
matters is hardly open to question ; but that
they attempt to drive their people to the polls,
and there make them vote for one party or
another upon pain of ecclesiastical censures or
spiritual penalties, we may rest assured there
is not the slightest reason to imagine.
But there are those who profess to believe
that the French-Canadian voted as he did in
1896 in opposition ito the mandate of his
spiritual advisers and directors because if Sir
Charles were defeated. Sir Wilfrid (a French-
Canadian) would become Prime Minister, and
that he voted as he did in 1900 in order that
Sir Wilfrid might remain Prime Minister.
Well, what is the unfortimate man to say ?
First, he is accused of voting in slavish obedi-
ence to the mandate of his clergy, and then he
is credited with voting in direct opposition to
such mandate ! Now would ic not be just as
well to remember that, from the political
standpoint, he voted exactly the other way in
1878, and many a time before and after, from
HON. J. J. E. GrERIN. M.D., M I..A..
MKMBKR aUKBEC PROVINCIAL CABINET.
BXBRCISE OF KtRCTIVK FRANCHISK 79
General Elections for the Commons; and
French-Canadian nor Catholic, but a Scotch-
man and a Protestant, was Prime Minister.
Purely, then, justice alone, without any ad-
.n.xture of charity, should lead us to the con-
cUtsion that the man voted as he did in days
gone by because he believed the then Conser-
TZ^'""" '" "^ ''' "^^ '°^ Canada ; and
that m the more recent elections he voted dif-
ferently because he had come to realize that,
the times being changed, the conditions of the
country being no longer the same, the welfare
of the Dominion would be better promoted by a
somewhat different policy, and that this policy
was presented to the electorate by the Liberal
party. By the way. was not this policy too
almost the same, practically, as that advoirated
bythelateDaltonMcCarthy-amanwhommany
people beheyed to be a clever statesman, and
who certainly was an uncompromising Protest
ant, and could never be accusedof beiugunder
the influence of the Quebec Hierarchy or of
the pr^ent Premier? We may also call to
mind that Sir Wilfrid's policy was endorsed
8o
THE PKRNCH-CANADIAN
by almost every province in the Dominion ex-
cept Ontario ; and we may pertinently ask if
all those provinces supported that policy
either because they were subject to the French
Canadian clergy or because the Prime Minis-
ter, whose policy it was, happened to be a
French-Canadian and a Catholic.
It would be very interesting to enter here
upon some discussion as to the probable re-
sult of the campaign of 1896 if that success-
ful veteran, the late Sir John A. Macdonald,
had then been the Conservative leader. But
it would be useless tp attempt such a specula-
tion, however attractive it may be, within the
limits to which this little work is necessarily
confined. However, we cannot help feeling
persuaded that such a wise and sagacious
statesman as he undoubtedly was would have
seen the desirability of making such changes
in the National Policy as -were demanded by
the changed conditions of the country; and,
with the assistance of his French-Canadian
Ministers, would also have devised some
means of settling the difficulty in Manitoba,
which, whilst satisfactory to the Roman
Catholics of that province, would not have
XXBRCI8B OF SUtCTIVB PKANCHI8X Si
alienated from him any considerable number
of his supporters throughout the Dominion.
The Jesuits' Estates Question was hardly a
less burning one than the Manitoba School
Act, and it produced as many and as deep
"searchings of heart" amongst a certain
class of Protestants ; but Sir John A. Macdon-
ald managed somehow to have it settled in
such a manner that, whilst satisfactory to
Uiose directly concerned, it left him with a
firm grasp of the helm of the Ship of State
Moreover, it was settled so happily as to leave
little or no sore feelip.'j behind, and so effec-
tually as to preclude its ever coming up for
future consideration. The same can hardly
be said about the settlement of the Manitoba
Schools difficulty. At any rate, the follow-
ing dispatch from Ottawa appeared in the
Toronto Zfai/y Mail and Empin of November
27th, 1901 :
" Archbi«hop Ungevin, of St. Boniface, denies that
he haa come east to secure Government aid for Catho-
lic schools in Manitoba. He could not say that the
school question bad been settled. He remarked •
• When I sute that in the city of Winnipeg the Catho-
lics support their own schools without receiving a
cent of assUtance from the Government, and in addi-
jj^tiSI&mm
1/
89
THB FRBNCH-CANADIAN
tion have to pay |8,ooo annually for the rapport of
the Pablic achools, to which they do not send their
children, yon will understand how unsatisfactory ia
the system.
•• ' There was some Ulk of the Public School Board
taking over our schools, but that body objected to any
religious garb for the nuns, and the arrangement fell
through. Our people in Winnipeg are rather hard
pressed financially, because they have to support not
only their own schools, churches and charitable
works, but the Public schools as well. They are a
hopeful, energetic people, however, and the attend-
ance at the Separate schools which they maintain was
never so large, nor has the instruction ever been so
perfect. They certainly ^erit the sympathy and rap-
port of Canadian Catholics. In the country districts
the situation is not embarrassing, and the arrange-
ments are more satisfactory.' "
Some further settlement, it would there-
fore seem, must be made before it can be said
that justice has been done to the Roman
Catholic minority in Manitoba. The old
aphorism. Magna est Veritas et prevalent, would
lose none of its truth if vsritas were replaced
by justitia.
n
HON. CHAS. I.ANOKI.MKR,
SHKRIKF, CITY OF mKIIKC
I.ATK I'ROVIXeiAI, SKCRKTARV.
•^"ECri'ra
ii^-i[^^^^'" "
ERNKST PACAID,
KIIITOR ",y son I.-. ..
CHAPTER V.
THE USE OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN
QUEBEC.
There are few things which any patriotic
Canadian should desire more eamestirfor h s
country than the fusion into one homogeLus
people o the two great races which fo^^
ov«-whelming majority of its inhabitants-if
such fusion were at all possible. But of no-
thing should he be more careful than to avoid
attemptmg what perhaps cannot be done, for
he may thus put back indefinitely the nearest
FK>^^le approach to what he may have most
iJ^ L'^"* ^^ '^^ ^"'^^^ '° Canada may
together zealously and harmoniously for the
Zv'" °L!!;"' ~""°" country ;\ut can
they ever become amalgamated into one homojren.
m^speopiej Does not the fact that theylL-
long to diflFerent races render complete homo-
g^eity impossible ? Universal intermarriage
between them might, after many generations
■PH
84
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
produce a people who would be neither French
nor British ; but would they be really homo-
geneous ? And, at any rate, such general in-
termanying seems to be altogether out of the
question ; so improbable is it, that it may be
regarded as morally impossible.
Nor is it likely that either race will ever
gain a very decided predominance over the
other ; for, even were it possible, neither of
them is ungenerous enough to attempt it.
Happily, too, is this the case ; and if anyone
should dispute this ktatement, a sufficient
answer might be given him in one word, Ire-
land. Attempts at this sort of thing have
been made — perhaps we had better say, vrere
made — in that land for many centuries ; and
the whole civilized world knows the deplorable
and disastrous result. True, there are in-
stances of the English Saxon in Ireland be-
coming more Irish than the Irish Kelt, and
vice versa ; but from the day that Strongbow
sailed into Dublin Bay up to the present (ex-
cept when the Irish were goaded into insurrec-
tion) has there ever been a time when the
two races (speaking in general terms) were
more bitterly opposed to each other than they
i
-; ^■'-'-V*»\.-^.3^ >3
THB FRENCH LAMGUAGB IN QUBBBC 85
are to-day? What is called "the old spite" is
still as bitter as ever.
Now certain of the conditions existing in
Canada are not unlike those existing in Ire-
land many years ago, and still existing there
to a great extent ; that is to say, in each land
there are two races, and each race has its own
form of the Christian Faith. Moreover, the
Irish language has not yet become obsolete ;
and recent efforts which may not be devoid of
the germs of success, have been made for its
revival. It would indeed be a disagreeable
and a humiliating task to write of the means
adopted to make the Irishman forsake the
Faith which he believes to be that of his fath-
ers and to substitute the English I«anguage for
the Irish. The latter has been partly success-
ful, and the former has proved a dismal failure.
The law would not allow Erse to be used offici-
ally, and drove it out of the courts; but the law
that drove it out of the courts gave it a deeper
and warmer place in the Irishman's heart and
thus intensified the strife between the two
races.
What would be a humiliating task has juts
been mentioned ; but, in view of the state of
^^
86
THE FRBNCH-CANADIAN
Ireland for man> years, it would be a sad task
to speculate on what might be the condition
of that land to-day if England had treated the
people as she treated the French-Canadians
when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1761
and had left them in the undisturbed enjoy-
ment of their own religion and language and
in the uninterrupted use of their own customs
Now ought not such considerations as these
be a lesson to those . /ho say that the official
use of the Frcuch language in the Province of
Quebec tends to keep the two races apart, and
that therefore English alone should be recog-
nized? If this were done would there be a
closer union between ourselves and our French-
Canadian fellow-subjects? No, but there
might be disruption ! Does any one say.
I^t the trouble come ; ay. let us even pre-
cipitate It ; and the sooner the better, for then
we'll settle the whole matter over again ; and
we 11 settle it for good and all by sweeping
away every special privilege which England
once guaranteed to the French people in
Canada"? There can hardly be anyone so
unfau-. so lost to all sense of honour, so unjust
so wicked, nay, so down-right stupid, as to
J. ». I.AI.IBKKTk.
rKiosiiiKXT i>i Tin; iio\
A>-U A I.EADINf
KI> l)|' IIAKIIOK CO.M.MISSIONKK'-
MKRCIIAXT OK yriaiKC CITY.
S»!S=!-SC>!HB!=a
A. R. MACDONALD,
Qt'EBEC CITY,
A MKMBKR OF THK MONTREAL STOCK BXCHANG:
H
T£ £ FRKNCH LANGUAGE IN QUEBEC 87
suggest anything of the sort ; but if, perad-
venture, there are any such vile and brutal
people in Canada, they may as well be told
that every honest man throughout the world
would look upon such a proposition with
detestation and horror ! Let us remove the bad
taste which such a supposition leaves upon the
palate of our morals and of our honour by
considering something of a different character.
There cannot be a doubt that the use of the
same language — the language which was heard
re-echoing around the walls of doomed Troy
when the besiegers shouted their fierce battle-
cries, the language of Homer and Hesiod,
Thucydides and Herodotus, Demosthenes and
iEschines, Sophocles and i^schylus — was one
of the great bonds which bound together the
people of ancient Greece, a people of marvellous
enterprise, indomitable courage, transcendent
genius, and undying patriotism. Wherever
they went they were still Hellenes, and where-
ever they dwelt they called the country Hellas.
As the late Prof. Freeman says in one of his
admirable historical sketches, "Thus there
were patches, so to speak, of Hellas anywhere ;
and there were such patches of Hellas round
88
THK PKBNCH-CANADIAN
• great part of the Mediterranean Sea. where-
ever Greek setUers had pknted colonies."
But, mark, besides having a common language,
these people had a common ancestry and a
common reUgion, so that, they consisted of
different tribes rather than of different races,
and they worshipped the same deities. Now
supposmg they had been of two different races
one of which had one form of religion and
spoke one language, and the other of which
had a different form of religion and spoke
another language, would the enforced use of
one of those languages—enforced by the race
that happened to be dominant at the t' ne—
have tended to the unification of the whole
people? Would it not rather have driven
them apart and made them antagonistic to
each other? On the other hand, supposing
that instead of the forcible suppression of one
of the languages, each race had learned to use
both languages— had become bi-lingual—
would not this, though it could never make
them homogeneous, have united them more
closely than would otherwise have been pos-
sible ?
THK PSBNCR I^KOUAOB IK QUBBEC 89
Now.doesnot this suggest to us that thecom-
mon use of both French and English by all the
pe<^le is the ideal to be aimed at in Canada ?
wen, this is what is aimed at in at least some
guts of Quebec, for English, as well as
French, is taught in many of the schools ; and
from a social and business point of view, even
from a comprehensively and inclusively Cana-
dian point of view, would it not be well if the
same oould be said of the schools in all the
other provinces? Does it not seem that the
use of the two languages in common, and not
the suppression of one of them, is the true
policy to pursue if we would see the two races
more c osely united than ever they had been
before? Nor would we, EngUsh-speaking
people, find it nearly so difficult to learn the
wft pelludd tongue of old France as our
French-speaking neighbors find it to learn
Which we're obhged to hi«i, .„d .pit, .nd .putter
with its (seemingly) anarchical orthography
Its bewilderingorthoepy; and its many syntac^
tical Idioms. The difficulties which a French
man has to overcome in learning to speak
wf^^HBP^ t
90
THl PRBNCH-CANADIAN
Bngliah have had almost numberless laugh-
able exemplifications ; and one which appeared
in a Canadian journal is well worth repeating.
A French gentleman was, it seems, chatting
with a young Englishwoman who, he had been
given to understand, had ascended to the sum-
mit of Mount Blanc. In the course of conver-
sation he said to her, " Oh, mademoiselle, dey
do tell me you climb to ze top of Mt. Blanc."
" Yes, sir," was the reply, "and the magnifi-
cent view more than repaid me for all the
labour." '• Ah ! yes truly ; Lut, all ze same,
you do one great foot." " Ono great feat.
Monsieur," quietly corrected the >-)ung lady.
" Vat ! you mean you do him two tine ! By
gar, zat was one more greater foot still."
But some sturdy Britishers, such as those
who used to boast in the days of WelHngton's
military glory that one Englishman could
thrash half a dozen Frenchmen, and eat them
afterwards if necessary, tell us that England
won Canada from France in fair fight, that
Canada belongs to England by right of con-
quest, and that therefore English shoiUd be
the only language recognized by law through-
out the whole Dominion. Wait a minute, my
! i
LATE HON ARTHUR I'AylKT.
WHO WAS A MKMllIK <)1 TIIK tAXAlMAN SKXATK.
NI, A I.KAIllXi. MKRCIIAXT OF TIIK CITY OK yrKlll.t..
HON. V. W. LARUE, M.L.C.,
aPEBEC.
THB PRBNCH lANGUAGE IN QUEBEC 91
honest and outspoken friends. Are you quite
certain that England really won-<x)nquered-
Canada from France ? True indeed it is tha*
our own gaUant Wolfe, as his eyes were clos-
ing m their last long sleep, heard the cry of
factory shouted by his troops, the stalwart
Highlanders and others who had scaled the
towering heights, and fought and won on the
Plams of Abraham ; and it is also true that
the no less gallant Montcalm there met a sol-
dier's death, and that his troops were defeated
m spite of all their bravery. But this battle
no matter how magnificent it may have been,'
this victory no matter how great its glory,
can hardly be said to have decided the con'
quest of C^ada. What about the cession of
Canada to England by the treaty which has
been already referred to? Cession and con-
quest arehardly the same thing. Well, one of
the conditions upon which Canada was ceded
!L i^^u ""^ ^""^ ^^ French-Canadians
should have, amongst other privileges, the use
ot their own language, not merely in all ordi-
nary business, but also in all judicial and
^slabve proceedings. Now would you have
Enghshmen break their word? repudiate this
n
\\
92
THB PKBNCH-CANADIAN
condition of the treaty ? be so ungenerous, and
even unjust, to a brave people who had been
placed under British protection ? If such a
breach of faith were committed Limerick
would not be the only " City of the Violated
Treaty."
The way some people talk about the dual
language ssrstem of Quebec would almost lead
one to suppose they were afraid that English
could not hold its own unless it were given
certain extraordinary, helps, and that in the
near future it would be supplanted by the
French even in the Province of' Ontario. How
much disputing, and hard feeling, and unkind
words, and unpleasant friction would be
avoided if both languages were taught in all
our schools from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
What better way could be devised to keep both
languages in strong and vigorous life through-
out the Dominion, so that those who prefer
the one need not fear any encroachment by the
other?
It will be readily recalled that in 1867 all
Canada, from ocean to ocean, and from the
Arctic to the Great I^akes, was united into
one great confederation of provinces and terri-
THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN QUEBEC 93
tones. Now, amongst the illustrious men by
whom this stupendous and far-reaching tri-
umph of statesmanship was consummated —
all of them men who loved Canada, men who
felt that any sacrifice they could make for her
prosperity would b" well made, men who num-
bered amongst them one who was struck do^ira
by the cowardly and treacherous assassin be-
cause he would not be disloyal to the Empire
—were Sir John A. Macdonald, the ideal Eng-
lish-speaking Conservative ; his esteemed and
honoured colleague, Sir Geo. E. Cartier, the
ideal Frenah-speaking Conservative ; the Hon.
Geo. Brown, the sturdy Scottish Reformer ;
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, the Irish patriot,
poet, orator and historian ; and others as well,
all of whose names will ever adorn the pages
of Canadian history. For the time being they
ceased their party strife, they forgot their
former antagonism, and they joinet together
heartily to legislate for the future greatness
and glory of their common country. Now at
that time, the very time when the Fathers of
Confederation, both French and British, we- e
doing all that could be done to ensure the
safety and prosperity of that Dominion which
94
THU FKBNCH-CANADIAN
they were then calUng into existence, and for
that purpose legisUted with a special view to
the friendly union and coK)peration of the
two great peoples upon whom the welfare of
Canada must ever depend, and were kying the
foundations of their country's greatness both
broad and deep, so that in days to come she
might take her place— and that no inferior
place— amongst the nations of the earth as
well equipped as she could be for doing her
part in the great work of the world's regen-
eration, the world's constant elevation to a
plane ever higher than before,— at that time,
let us ask ourselves, how many of those wise
and patriotic men thought it necessary, or
even desirable, to deprive the people of Lower
Canada of the oflSdal use of their own lan-
guage? Not one. How many of them thought
that the integrity of Canada would be threat-
ened, or the union of her somewhat hetero-
geneous inhabitants retarded by the continued
legal and constitutional recognition of the
French language as the official language in the
Province of Quebec ? So far as we know, not
one. Well, are we more astute than Mac-
donald ? more chivah-ous than Cartier ? more
G. A. VANDRY,
A LEADINc; MKRCHANT OK gfEllKC CITV.
J
G. E. AMYOT,
A LEADING MANUPACTURER OF QUEBEC CITY.
THB FWWCH LAKOUAOB IW QUBBKC 95
prodent Uun Brown ? more patriotic than
McGee? These men and the others who
worked with them well knew that to recognize
but one language would cause danger indeed •
and they knew also that by the recognition of
both languages as official— the one in Quebec
the other beyond Queb«>-that danger would
be avoided ; and so both are recognized to^y
They were indeed too wise to attempt the
impossible task of fusing two distinct races
into one homogeneous people ; but they seem
to have looked forward to a time when all
Canadians would be famiUar with both French
and EngUsh, and would thus, by the common
use of Uxe two predominating languages of the
civilized world, become a people unique
among the peoples of the earth, more closely
bound together than any two races had ever
been before, and doing more to promote the
welfare of mankind. They seem to have
hoped also, and that not without reason that
the country they loved so well would in ' time
become an honour to the land of St. Denys
and of St. George, the land of St. Andrew and
of St. Patrick, and would rival those dear old
Mother-lands by setting the nations of the
96 THS PRBlfCH-CANADIAN
earth an example of national righteousness,
national education, national enlightenment,
national unselfishness and national philan-
thropy-all otamuch higher type than had
ever been known before. But, remember, for
the accompUshment of these glorious results
they did not think it necessary to abolish the
official use of the French language, but the
contrary.
L. O. DAVID,
CITY CLERK, MONTREAL.
UErT-COI,ONEL OSCAR C. I'KUI.KTIEK. D.S.O ,
OIST«ICT OFFICER COMMANKINC. K.C.A.,
m'EBKC,
A MEMBER OF THE FIRST CANADIAN CONTISGEST TO
SOrTII AFRICA.
CHAPTER VI.
EDUCATION AND RSWOION.
To thwe who have but little knowledge of
French-Canadians are quite content to go on
»n the way of their fathers a hundred y^
ago that they placidly look forwar^to^e
next generation pursuing the same mo^
onous course, that they are devoid of Tv^l
a^ow T ^","" ^"^*^"^' '"^'^ ^hey do^
dians A« f« *u ~^ **™e French-Cana-
but, «Wa/« mufandss, it is equally true of tfi
mis respect he reminds us of the
9«
THB PRBNCH-CANADIAN
peasantry of certain parte of Ireland in the old
daya, who, so anxiooa were they that their
children ahould not grow up without at least
some of the rudimento of an education, sent
them in summer to be taught beneath the
shadow of a hedge for want of better accom-
modation, and in winter to con their tasks in
some dilapidated old bam where the rain
came down through the worn-out thatch, and
where the fire at which they warmed their
shoeless feet was made of the turf which they
carried from their homes in the morning. And,
oh I what efforto some of those poor people
cheerfully made, what privations they uncom-
plainingly endured, to send to the college a
son of more than ordinary promise so that in
due time they might see him "wearing the
robes " — that is, celebrating mass af !:er his ad-
mission to the priesthood. It is remarkable,
too, what dignitaries of the Church some of
those poor peasants' sons afterwards became,
and how worthily they filled their positions.
Well, the kabitani of Quebec seems to be as
anxious for the education of his children as the
Irish peasant. Does he himself suffer from
not having been able to obtain a good schooling
•DUCATION AND KKUOION gg
one who bM «« u„ f„ ,h.„,i'f '>>' "»
other p«p,. i' C«^t^3 fXe "^
""OH, it i, no lonwr . »«,;',*' """
that*, many of theoL^ ZT° ""^^
Prndence, m..gri?y_,H., t^ «r»mf?'*'
..^M.r...o^„is.-t„5r~r,[
v-anada's merchant princes.
lOO THE PRBNCH-CANADIAN
Nor Should it be forgotten that in this mat-
ter of education the French-Canadian hasbeen,
and stiU is, encouraged in every way by those
who occupy influential positions in the Churdi
and in the State. Indeed, as might have be^
expected, the educational movement m Quebec
produce was, in the first place, from the top
downward ; and too much credit cannot ^
riven to the hierarchy or the Cml Govern-
ment for what has been already accomplished.
There is now an admirable system of pubUc or
common schools, from which even Ontario
might learn a lesson or two with advantage to
he«elf ; and mdeedof no part of the whole
scheme, from the elementary school up to the
university, has Quebec any reason to te
ashamed when it is compared with the corres
Donding part of the scheme of any other pro-
^nce in Ae Dominion. Still it must not be
supposed that the French-Canadian claims per-
fection for it ; on the contrary, he quite re^zes
that there is room for improvement, and he
Uves with the hope that such modifications
may yet be effected as will place it on a le.el
at least with the systems of older and wealt^er
countries. Nay, he does not despau: of a day
f t
le
IS
el
er
ARTHIR IlKlNKAf.
MANAGER HOCHKLACA BANK
W'KBKC CITV.
,or.SFKKCHHTTH.C.M.O..UX.X...K
CUKKKUK.-..SUAT.VKCOVNO..,.H.
EDUCATION AND REUGION loi
arriving when the several educational systems
of the whole Dominion will be so advanced
that a French-Canadian Uvoisier, a French-
Canadian Dore, and a French-Canadian
I^ Brun will compete in nonourable rivalry
with an Irish-Canadian Boyle, an English-
Canadian Millais, and a Scotch-Canadian
Bums, respectively, in science, painting and
poetry. **
But perhaps no trait in the French-Canad-
lan s character is more decided-decided rath-
er than prominent-than his devotion to his
religion, reasons for wnich have been aUuded
to m a former chapter. The casual visitor
may indeed be more struck with other charac-
tenstics. but those who become intimately ac-
quainted with the man are most impressed by
his rehgiousness-not, bear in mind, his relie-
lomsm. but his rehgiousness. It does not
standout aggressively, or even ostentatiously
but It makes itself felt intensely. In your
close personal intercourse with him you cannot
but become profoundly impressed with the
man's unquestioning and implicit faith in the
awtul Mysteries of the Christian Religion,
with his simple trust in Le ban Dieu, with his
I03
THB FRENCH-CANADIAN
unhesitating acceptance of all that is taught
him by that Church which he unfeignedly be-
lieves to be infallible. He does not care par-
ticularly to discuss these sacred subjects, but
he tries to perform the duties which a
belief of them implies. Moreover, he
avoids religious controversy, unless he is
compelled to strike out in his own defence ;
and it is but fair to him to say that whilst he
conscientiously believes that the Creed he has
been taught contains the unmutilated Gospel,
"the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing
but the Truth," he is perfectly willing that
others should believe the same thing as to the
teaching of their own Communion. You may
be intimate with him for years, and you will
never find him to be the first to introduce the
odium theologicum. You may be " spilin' for a
fight" about religion, but he is not the man to
"tread on the tail" of your polemical coat ;
and even if you drag that unseemly garment
in front of him he will carefully avoid stepping
on it, unless in guarding against i.e Scylla of
controversy he would have to fall into the
Charybdis of moral cowardi-^. But though
not controversial, he is intensely religious.
BDUCATION AND REUGION 103
fhT.'u"^^^ I' "°* ^' *° ^"^ «tent at least,
that he ,s the latter because he is not the for!
^J, .^ , ""^ '.**' '' ^ ^^ '*^"«^°° ^hich
««ms to he at the foundation of his many
ZT' .^"^^^ ^^"^ ^ «**^"»ty ^hich they
iW Z\ 'T''' ^^'' ^^^ -^y should
not be his religion which lies at the founda-
othe«? "^'""^ °^ Peacableness amongst the
not^r.'^'' ^T^r ^"'^ ^*'^°"^' ^°' masons
not far to seek.takes much more kindly to con-
^oversy than his French-Canadian co-religion-
wt, and he may also be more decidedly Ultra
montane ; but is he more religious ? No man
mdeed will go to more trouble to attend Mass
on Sunday and every other Holy Day of Obli-
gation, and his behaviour during the service is
as devout, and in every way as exemplary as
the most exacting celebrant could desire. But
immediately afterwards, aknost as soon as he
has passed out from the vestibule of the sacred
ed^ce. he is ready for an encounter with any
unfortunate heretic that may come in his way
He may not indeed be the first to make the at-
t«:k. but the way he looks out from "the tail
of his eye" at any poor Protestant he may
»««!
I04
THB PKBNCH-CANADIAN
chance to meet, shows that nothing would
please him better at the moment than some
good excuse for having "a bit of an argu-
ment" about reUgion. However, it is not un-
likely that this arises quite as much from
racial antipathy to the Saxon himself as from
religious antipathy to the Saxon's Creed. On
the other hand, the French-Canadian, when
Mass is over, prefers to go quietly home to
breakfast or dinner, as the case may be, and
spend the remainder of the day in mnocent re-
creation. Perhaps no better type of the Irish
Catholic, taken from the clergy, can be found
than the late Father Tom Burk, the eloquent
Dominican, or better yet. Father Tom Maguire,
of controversial fame ; and it would be difi&cult
to give a finer type of the French-Canadian
Catholic than Father Laurent who died last
year at Lindsay, Ontario, regretted by all who
knew him, and at whose funeral every token
of respect for him that was gone was manifes-
ted by the townspeople of all denominati >ns.
The French-Canadian is singularly free
from all taint of any form of infidelity. From
the time of Voltaure down to that of Renan
unbelief has been making more or less head-
ALBERT MAI,oriN, M.P.,
S'KBKC
ii i
HON. V. K. A. EVANTUREt, M.I. A..
SPEAKER OF THE ONTARIO LEOlSLATfRE.
BDUCATION AND RKUOION ,05
way in Fj-anc^-and more'sthe pity • from ti,
time of Hobbes and Hume do,^ to * w !
Bradlaugh it has b«*n .«i«T *^"* °^
onelarire North a«, • . P*°P** O' any
find -n^^a^JiTu:^ ptr^^^^^^^
put together; and he is convin^^aS^l^
them who have moved into other parts otfhl
Dominion and into the ti^vi,!^ -^^ *^®
The statrfv ««^ , °««^^^""n« repubUc
f». ^"^^^ stately and solemn worship offered fo
the adorable Trinitv it, *u • °^^^ to
d«*«t devofon. „. fteir mod«. chaU ; ^
! ^
ii
,06 TH« FRBKCH-CAHADIAN
^giou. in.trttctu« which .'o™.* f^^
^fof the daily exercises in their coUe»es,
^^.mil and primary schools ; the Chnst-
utXts^VetrTd charUy <^.«^-tre
^obtrusivelybyth^m-y-J^^
number of men, women ana cn»«"=
be seen almost any time ^^^^^^^'^^^^
individual devotions in oratory, chapel, cttw^
<^ blSlica- some kneeling at one holy shnne
^d^me at another ; here one ^aytng ^'
^t^TrftWan of an absent father or moOier,
^^^sbt/or:ife.sonordau^t^^^^^
«.i»^>«tir and there another praying lor
prayers lormwiy . .j^ j^j^ppy consum-
here petitions gomg up for tne ^^VPV
nation of some pious work, and Oi^^ » ^^
J ^ «K>/irh^ in the most earnest ana
reaved one absorbed mm ^^
pathetic intercession that r^t ««^
Lht oerpetual may be granted to some oe-
bght Perp«" ' ^^ away and to aU
loved one but recenuy «»->
the faithful departed-these, all these, are
•DUCATIOK AKD ««U010K ,07
t^ writer induWuble .igna «,d incontro-
v«tible proofs of the genuinenea. of the r^
«giou.ne«oftheF^ch-C«nadi«,. Can y^u
wonder, Uien. that the man is proud of h^
race, or that he loves his religioi? c" von
Si ^^^"^ *^*^ '° "»« o»«. ^ a-y slur
tuat may be cast on the other ?
But there are those who teU us that such
zzi"^"^ " ^'^^ ^-* ^« «-ti:n2
'ZofTTu"^'^''^'^'' '^'^ «»d from
thel ? T^ '^''' '^"^y ^h° "'^e use of
^.T. L"*"'^ '^"«*^"*' '^^y «»piy prove
th«a to be superstitious ; and then, by way of
further proof of what they say. they S^nt
~ntemptuously to such devotfons a^ t^
offer«i at. say. the shrine of Our Udy ^
Of the d fferences between what such people
s^tr ^' :'*^ *'^^ PronounceTbe
a^ut Uie wonders said to be performed at
Beaupr<J. for more than once has he visited
,J
i*'.
it"
108
TBS rRBNCH-CANADIAN
thefainotwdirine. He may obterve, /ar/o/-
tntkiM, that as thouaanda of worahippera come
chere who are not French-Canadiana, whatever
force may be in the charge of auperatition
which, on the ground of such devotions, ia
brought against the latter applies equally to
the former, seeing that all. so far as the devo-
tions at the shrine are concerned, must be
placed in the same category.
Is there, then anything to justify belief in
the reality of the miracles which, we are told,
have been wrought at Beaupr* ? Well, when
one sees large collections of artificial aids to
locomotion which were left behind them by
cripples who, when they came there, could not
move about without such appliances, and when
one listens to the testimony of witnesses whose
truthfuhiess seems to be quite unimpeachable,
what can one say ? And, after aU, why may
we not beUeve that He who wrought miracles
of healing in the early days through the
instrumentaUty of His saints— even by a work-
man's apron belonging to St. Paul and by the
mere shadow of St. Peter— works similar
miracles to-day by means of His saints' relics?
All being wrought by the same Divine Power,
-ir\
HON. 1.. P. PKI.I.KTIHR. K.C.. M,L.A.,
gt'ERec.
IT
'I
1.
*s^,
THE SIR JOHN MACDONAlrD MEMORIAt,,
MONTRKAL.
EDUCATION AND REUGION 109
7^^ ?^}f''^ ^ "°^*^ marvellous than the
former? If we should beheve the one why
may we not believe the other ? ^
scorn ^Hr'\'^'„'^P'^" "^^^ '^ ™yi«
scorn, dogmatically declaring in the most
^rh^f::^to^l:r^*^'^^^'"
contrary to what men call the liws of naL^
and that no miracle has ever been oerfornwi
attheShrineofSt.Anneor^CX^
But may there not be " more thingTmlLl^
and earth than are dreamed of "^ e"nZ
0"^phy of a sceptic, aye. though h^Lt
much wiser than others as to feel hiZ^f
warranted in setting down as a f^thf^n
^;fo™«l, are nothing bett„ C^tte o.^
"me of . degraduig superatition.
'He wonders said to b^ H/x-. .•
*'y at Beaapr^ and „«! , "" "" <""
"caupre and other places may not
^
/t
r,
, »
no THE FRBNCH-CANADIAN
indeed seem to tm to be in accordance with the
working of law» m any department of that
domain which we, wHh cm Umited powers of
vision, look upoa as eomprising the whole
realm of nature. But may tkere not be another
realm, a spiritual realm— none the less natural
because it is spiritual, and all the more real
for the same reason— governed by other laws
than those which are known to mortals? and
if so, may not what are commonly called
miracles be just as much in accordance with
those laws as the fall of the apple which is
said to have led Newton to his great discovery
was in accordance with the then unknown law
of attraction of gravitation ? But be all this as
it may, even the most inveterate agnostic will
hardly deny that the faith and hope which
have led people, suffering from varioits dis-
eases, to come long distances to the sacred
Shrine at Beaupr^, and there make holy
vows, and offer almost unceasing prayers in
unison with many other humble believers,
may, in some mysterious manner, have enabled
them to throw off certain diseases and in&v^i-
ties which had baffled the best efforts of the
most skilful physicians.
BDUCATION AND KBMOION ,„
But we must not here discuss the subject of
mrades, for our theme is the French-Cana-
dian So we bid good-by to the old chapel
^d the beautiful church, and the veneraWe
Sca'a Sanaa, and the holy Shrine, and the
sacred ReUcs ; and. as we do so, we pray that
many mmides may yet be there performed
for the rehef of those who suffer. God knows
there is sorrow enough in the world, and little
faith enough, without our trying to increase
the former and lessen the latter by saying a
smgle word to weaken the simple trust of thL
who still believe that the day of miracles has
not passed away forever, and that there is One
who still continues to say to the beUeving
su^liant, ''Be of good comfort: thy faith
hath made thee whole ; go in peace "
It would seem, then, that the French-
C^adian may be a very reUgious man, and
need not necessarily be superstitious, even
though he practise certain devotions sane-
tioned by his Church, and beUeve in the
performance of miracles at some of the shrines
of the saints.
■H
£
CHAPTER VII.
OTHBR CHARACTERISTICS.
HIS FRUGAUTY.
Incom^ete as this little treatise must nee-
«8anly be. ,t would be stiU more so if some-
«ung were not said about the frugaUty of the
Fr«,ch-Ca^an. his courtesy. aTws hts^-
tahty. Indeed the AiAW has to be frugS
„o'.^',rf^,°^ supporting a family-usSy
s frugahty unknown amongst those who are
t^r -.r "^"^ ^^^ circumstances ; no bad
Z?f ^ftu' "^^^ ^""^ ^^ ^rt"« is the op-
posite of the vices, wastefuhiess and extrava-
pmce. But though frugal, the French-Cana-
Wh ' "'' f'^'y ' ""' "'^y ^ impecunious,
but he IS not parsimonious. Fortunately, too
his domestic wants, though many, are skiple
and easily satisfied. It is said that a Scotch-
man could live where an Englishman would
starve; but a French-Canadian could Uve
Where a Scotchman would find it diflicult to
supply himself with the simple but nourishing
112 *
l-lvernols— Photo,
A HABITANT
Krelgoff— Pxtr.
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OTBBR CHARACTBRISTICS uj
water-brose. In this respect he reminds us of
those two delightful characters, Dr. Ricca-
bocca and his servant Giacomo, depicted with
such consummate skill by the inimitable
Irytton.
In the keen competition, and maddening
hurry, and heartless strife of the present day
the peaceful and contented French-Canadian
of this generation, espedaUy if he belong to
the humbler classes, may not be well adapted
to play a a leading part. His natural inclina-
tion not to be grasping, his quiet life, his
domestic disposition, his conservative tend-
ency, all predispose him against wildly
struggling in that mad rush for worldly pelf
which is so distinctive of this plutocratic age.
Ix)ng ago he learned the salutary lesson— in-
deed he seems never to have learned it. but
always to have known it intuitively— "Having
food and raiment, let us be therewith con-
tent." Is he any the worse for it? Is he not
all the better ? Is it really a hindrance to his
true and permanent success in Ufe ? And is it
altogether a disadvantage to us, restless and
dissatisfied Anglo-Saxons as we are, to have
for our neighbours a race of people, who, by
"4
THK PK8NCH-CANAOIAN
i t'^
their comiMrative indifference to Mamnxm,
are constanUy reminding us that this life, with
its many fake ambitions, evanescent honours,
and ephemeral glories, is not everything? Yes
the French-Canadian is frugal, and his domes-
tic economy is one of charming simplicity ;
but in spite of thi»— or is it not because of this ?
—one would have to ti^vd a long way before
coming across a people amongst whom domes-
tic happiness prevailed more generally.
HIS COX7KTBSV.
But it is his courtesy which strikes the
tourist moK than his fn^iality, for it is more
easily seen. One must be soaewhat mcqnm-
ted with his household arrangements, with his
actual home life, to appreciate the latter ; oac
has only to meet witii hm in ordinary inter-
course to notice the former. He evidenUy
belongs to the same race as those old French
Guards who, when they had come face to face
with their British opponents in deadly warfare
poUtely removed their hdawts, and, bowiag
to Uieir saddle-bows, begged tiie gentlemen of
the English Guards to do them the howmr to
fire the first round ! and, todo tiic Englishmen
OTHIR CHAKACTBRISTICS 115
JMtioe, they refused to take advantage of the
Frenchmen's excessive politeness ; and so both
commenced firing at the same time. Whether
you are visiting in the mansions of the seigni-
eurs, the descendants of the meblme of the old
rtgim, or in the comfortable dwellings of ^
skiUed artizans ; whether you find yourself in
one of the great centres of trade and commerce,
where " men most do congregate," or amongst
the picturesque cottages of the humble habit-
nots "far from the madding crowd's ignoble
strife" the universal courtesy of the people is
what first strikes the visitor from any of the
sister provinces. To some this matter may
^em too trifling to deserve notice ; but the
English-speaking people of Quebec, those who
reside there permanently, are quite aware
that It IS a very effective element in the main-
tenance of those cordial and harmonious rek-
tions which so happily prevail between the
two races in their social and business inter-
course with each other. If for no other rea-
son than this— and many people know there
are other reasons— French-Canadian courtesy
is not to be lightly esteemed.
ii6
THB PKSNCH-CANADIAN
But it should, perhaps, be called politeness
rather than courtesy, and it has not of neces-
sity anything to do with what is known as
etiquette— though, of course, from no people
does this last receive mwe punctilious atten-
tion than from the French or those who are of
French extraction. The courtesy which has
been qx>ken of proceeds not so much from any
anxiety to avoid making a faux pas in social
intercourse as from the wish to please others
—or, as we say, to make them feel at home -
even at the cost of some sacrifice of one's own
convenience or comfort. This makes your in-
tercourse with the French-Canadian, however
transient it may be or of how little importance,
a pleasant remembrance ; and so obliging do
you find him, and withal so unobtrusive, that
when you are forced to bid him good-bye you
regret that it is not merely au rewnr.
Having so much delicacy of feeling, he can-
not but be very sensitive— something which
seems to be too often forgotten by certain
thoughtless people who are in the habit of
passing reflections on him which, though not
intentionally unkind, are unjustly disparaging,
and must therefore be irritating.
T. A. Cr¥(rr,r. PxU.
THE 'NATl'RAt STEPS,'
NEAR yrEBEC CITV.
•«««ocopr RMOuiriON tbt OMtr
(ANSI and ISO TEST CHAUT No. 2)
/APPLIED HVMGE
tSSJ Eoit Main Stratt
RochMtar, Hn York 14009 USA
(7t6) 482 - 0300 - Phon*
(716) 288 - S889 - Fo«
THE CAI.ECHE.
'
1
A CORNER OF THE GOVERNOR'S GARDENS,
QUEBEC,
gHOWINO THE WOLFE-MONTCALM MONUMENT.
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS 117
In this matter of politeness the French-
Canadian recalls to our memories the old-time
Highlander, a character familiar to the readers
of Scott's bewitching romances, and described
with such wondrous skill and picturesque
charm by that delightful author as almost
make us wish we had lived in the days of the
Stuarts. No matter what his position in life,
be his fortunes what they may, the true High-
lander is always essentially a gentleman. Nor
is this similarity between him and the French-
Canadian very surprising, for both of them
(so we are told) belong to the Keltic branch
of the great Aryan family of nations. Indeed,
a white blackbird (and some naturalists tell us
of such an ornithological paradox) is not
more rare than either a rude French-Canadian
or a boorish Highlander. By the way, would
I. 11'. be interesting to trace whatever simi-
larity there may be, if any, between the root
of the word Kelt and that of the name of a
certain part of the Highlander's national cos-
tume? and also to examine into the ultimate
etymology of the two words, Keltic and
GaUic ? Is not the common origin of the two
peoples (with a trace of the Romans) assumed
in the couplet,
Il8
THB FRENCH-CANADIAN
" With the garb of old Gaul and the fire of old Rome.
From the hfath-covered mountaitw, from Scotia we
come"?
We cannot, however, account in this v y
for the singular fact that several French-
Cana»lian families are the happy possessors of
Highland surnames, such, *^., as Macdonald
and Macintosh. No indeed, but it is explained
in a way quite as interesting ; for the truth is
that some of those brave fellows who, on the
Plains of Abraham, would ne^er yield to the
valour of the French soldiers, confessed them-
selves vanquished at once by the charms of
those soldiers' sisters and daughters; and
that they quite understood the art of courting
is evident from the numerous marriages be-
tween them. In the same way we may account
for several French-Canadian families being
blessed with old Irish names, such, eg., as
O'Brien and O' Donahue. It would not be a
more difficult thing to give those names a
French form than it was to give such a form
to the name Pat O'Reilly, which belonged to
an Irish labourer who came several years ago
to New York, married an American girl,
identified himself with the Tammany gentle-
OTHBR CHARACTBRISTICS
119
men, made an immense fortmie, took his
family to spend a year in France, and came
back to the New World rejoicing in the new
name of Monsieur Patrique 0-re-lay accent
the last syUable, please. But, mark, all you
good people who beUeve that the two races
may be fused into one homogeneous people,
the famiUes just referred to as having Scottish
or Irish names are them^'tvti disHnetively French-
Canadian. Now one fancies that some honest
old John Bull can be heard saying, " Well,
what else could you expect when Jhe fathers
of these families were only Irishmen and
Scotchmen, men who, as you have just im-
plied, were of the same race as the ' frog-
eaters ' themselves ? I tell you, though, if the
fathers had been English, the families would
have been EngUsh too. Make no mistake
about that!" Wait a moment, my honest
friend. Some EngUsh soldiers, men bearing
such names as Talbot and Harvey, foUowed
the example of their Scottish and Irish com-
rades, and fell before the glances that shot
from the eyes of those Frenchwomen- and
small blame to them, for how could they help
it ?— and (now, keep your temper) the fami-
I20
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
lies of these men are just as French-Canadian
as the others. Well, then, supposing the two
races to become amalgamated, which of them
would be likely to have the predominance, the
French or the British ? which class of charac-
teristics would be the more prominent ?
What memories are brought back by this
little episode as to the common origin of the
French and the Highland Scotch ! It reminds
us that in France the ill-fated Stuarts found
an asylum after the Parliamentary murder of
England's royal martyr ; that the Highlanders
were then, as some of them are still, uncom-
promising Jacobites ; and that both French-
man and Highlander are said to have played
their part in effecting the restoration of the
once unfortunate exile, Charles the Second, to
the throne of his ancestors. But Jacobitism
(though on the death of Victoria somebody,
we are told, had the temerity to post a pubUc
notice claiming the crown for a descendant of
the Stuart line) is now no more than an idle
dream ; for all practical purposes it is dead
and buried. And indeed after the long and
blessed reign which began in 1837, and which
so recently came to an end ; and considering
»
MAISONEUVE MONUMKNT,
MOXTKEAI,.
■—■I
CHAMPI.AIN MONUMENT.
QUEBEC.
i]
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS lai
the happy omens which we have seen already
that our present gradoits Ki Edward is a
man worthy to be the chief and the father of
h« people ; which of us, no matter how deep
our sympathy for the Stuarts in their suffe^
^tilf ^r^" ^ ^"^ °P^"»°° o^ their
Intimate nghts, would care to see the House
of Hanover replaced on the throne by that
IT^f r°"^' ''' "''"^^ ^« beautiful
but unfortunate Queen of Scots and the
l^us monarch under whom England and
S^and became united in the sweet bonds of
peace after centuries of devastating warfare
and reckless bloodshed? Nor need we f^^
hat after all the blood of the Stuarts S
m the veins of England's Seventh Edward •
and perhaps, too-who can tell?-the bloo^
of Jesses youngest son. the royal Psahnist.
the sweet smger of Israel.
HIS HOSPITALITY.
Closely connected with the French-Cana-
fr^!!f ^""^ ^° ^' hospitality. Do they
not mdeed come from the same source ? What
are they but different varieties of fruit bo^e
132
TH8 PKBNCH-CANADIAN
by the same tree ? No matter how poor he
may be, he is ready to share his last glass of
wine, his last wing of a chicken, his last cru'^t
of bread with another, especially if that other
be still poorer than himself. He does this,
too, in such a kind spirit, with surh a modest
manner, and withal so heartily and cheerfully
— not as if he were conferring a favour, but as
if the recipient were paying him a compliment
by partaking of his fare — that one is inclined
to soliloquize something in this way : " Well,
this man may or may not be familiar with
Holy Scripture ; but he certainly seems to be
imbued with the spirit of the Apostolic in-
junctions, ' Let every man do as he is disposed
in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity ;
for God loveth a cheerful giver.' ' To do
good and to distribute forget not; for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased.' " Irish
hospitality is, as every one knows, proverbial ;
and here again, as before in the case of the
Highlander, the French-Canadian shows his
racial origin, for, as historians tell us, the
true Irishman is a Kelt as well as the French-
Canadian.
='^
OTHM CHAJtACTSKISTlCS ijj
" By Mac and O you'U rarely know
True Iriahmcn, they My :
But If they lack both O and Mae,
No Iriihmen are they."
Whatever faults the Kelt may have, even
h» worst enemy wiU not venture to accuse
him of being inhospitable. Go into the
shMling of the poorest Highlander or into the
cabin of the most destitute Irish peasant ; and
Uiere as ,„ the dwelling of the French-
hospitality. Go amongst the labourers who
hve beside the Bog of Allen or amidst the
wilds of Cornemara, and though the fare may
be no less rude than potatoes and milk, thw'll
insist on the stranger, having the best rm^
table. Well, the same warm Keltic heart
beats m the bosom of the French-Canadian
and prompts his hospitality.
But. more than that, it was this community
of race that helped to make the invincible
Irish Brigade feel perfectly at home in the
amy of old France, the Brigade which on
May iTth. 1745, bv their memorable charge
decided the fate of the day at Fontenoy, thus
\
134
THR PR8NCH-CANADIAN
defeating the allied forces under the Duke of
Cumberland. Well might the EngUsh King
almost pronounce an anathema upon the policy
which sent such men to fight in the ranks of
England's hereditary enemy! Alas, how
many mistakes have England's statesmen made
in their government of the Emerald Isle ! Is
it now too late to undo the errors of ihe past ?
Who can tell how great the change for the
better in Ireland's attitude towards England,
which would take place if England even yet
were to grant her privileges similar to those
which she allowed to the people of Quebec,
nearly one hundred and fifty years ago ! What
a wealth of suggestion as to the policy which
should have been pursued sixty or a hundred
years ago in the government of Ireland lies
hidden in this very brief quotation from the
best work of the most philosophical and ac-
complished writer of English fiction produced
by the last century. Alluding to the cause of
a great deal of irritation and bad feeling in
the parish which is the scene of much of his
story, and to the first visit of the then youth-
ful Victoria to Ireland, he says : "Who could
think of the stocks at such a season ? The
AB^NAUriS GROIP AT THE I.EGISI.ATIVK BUILDIXOS,
Ut-EBEC.
WOI^FE'S MONUMENT.
ON THK PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, ai'KBI.C.
OTHKR CHARACTERISTICS 195
Stocks were swept out of fashion-hunted from
remembrance as completely as the question of
Repeal or the thought of RebeUion from the
warm Irish heart, when the fair young face of
the Royal Wife beamed on the sister isle "
Y^, that's it. Had Ireland been treated as
Scotland has during the last reign what would
now be the result? Would Home Rule ever
t^d^'^'^il '°'"- "-"^^'y '' -°"ld, and
^nLi^'l ^" ^""'"^ *°^ •• ^°^ th« fair-
minded Bntish people would so well have un-
derstood the many virtues of their Irish feUow-
subjectsthat they would have seen that to such
a people Home Rule or any other reasonable
privilege could be granted with safety. How
much more loyal and content the Irish would
then have been, and how much better it would
have been for England.
Ut us now finish this chapter with a laugh-
ab e story, which serves to illustrate both fhe
antipathy of a certain class of English people
towards a much humbler class of the Irish ^id
the feehng of the latter towards the very name
of England. Biddy, an Irish cook (so the
story go^) was in London, and out of a situ-
ation. Fortunately she had received some
126
THE PRBNCH-CANADIAN
little education ; and so she was able to read
the papers. She watched the advertisement
columns, and was at last rewarded by seeing a
notice which stated that a good female cook
was wanted at such-and-such an address—
iuf that no applieatton from an Iriikmman could
be entettained. Nothing daunted, however,
Biddy appUedfor the situation. In the inter-
view that followed between herself and the
mistress of the house, the latter soon per-
ceived that Biddy was a daughter of Erin, and
consequently said to her, " Did you not notice
in the advertisement that no Irishwoman need
apply ? " "Of coorse I did, ma'am, but shure
I'm not Irish," was the unblushing reply . The
other, very much surprised, asked, "What are
you then? Not EngUsh certainly." But
Biddy was equal to the occasion, and answered
with seemingly the utmost candour and inno-
cence, •• O no ma'am, glory be to God, Tm not
English /" and then with a most comical glance
from her laughing eye, she continued, "But
I'm Frinch, ma'am ; and, arrah, shure ye
might know that heme axint !" It is not
stated whether she obtained the situation; but
if not, the mistress certainly missed a perfect
treasure.
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS 127
CONCI.USION1
As implied towards the beginning, the
^ter holdsno brief for the French-Canadian!
^ has he been commissioned by anyone to
wnte ^he has done about his fellow-dtizens
Utt^^r"''^^"'^- But. as has been
stated, having been brought up in Ontario
and spending a considerable portion of Teh
year m th s province after he h^ taken uplt
residence in Quebec, he knows how many «^e
the misapprehensions and how unfounded are
the prejudices entertained by some of the
go«i people of Ontario against French-Can^!
r, ^T"^' "'^^ ^^"°^ <=o»vinced that
the long^ the^ prejudices are allowed to re-
main undisturbed the more inveterate they
^^me. and that the more inveterate they
become the more likely will they be to find
expression, and that the more they find ex
pression the more mischievous ^mTZ
consequence, ; and having only too let r^
son to suppose that certain persons for ^^
worthy pur^. ^^, doing ^Ttiy^S^'
feelings they imagined might exist ^tween
the two races ; and plainly seeing, as h^Z
128
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN
heves. that senous danger thereby threatens
the two great provinces which lie side by side
If not the v,hole Dominion.-seeing and know-
ing these things and others of a similar char-
acter, he determined to make some effort to-
wards helping the people of his native prov-
mce as well as any others who might do him
the honour of reading what he has written, to
understand the French-Canadian better than
that the better they understand him, the more
will they esteem his virtues and even respect
his peculiarities. *^
It will be readily seen that the author has
made no attempt to write a philosophical or
otherwise learned treatise on the subject he
has ventured to discuss-indeed he does
not profess to be equal to such a task-but he
has tried to write in such a manner that no
fair-mmded reader will have any reason to
accuse him of being the advocate of either of
the two great political parties which seem to
be indispensable to the practical working of
our present system of government. He has
simply made an earnest and honest effort
towards showing his readers, in a plain and
IMioto. by l.Uernuis.
DE SAI.ABKRRY I.EADINC. THK VOI.TIOEtRS
AT CHATEAIOIAY.
(KROM Tin; STATIK AT glKllKC.)
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OTHER CHAKACTBRISTICS
139
readable sketdi, the French-Canadian people
as he himself has seen them day by day,
during the greater part of each year for con-
siderably over a decade, both under the present
Dominion Government and for some years of
that by which it was preceded. He has made
no attempt, in his allusions to history, to
speak at all from what may be called the
scientific stand-point ; he has not even gone
to the Dominion or the Provincial archives to
seek for information not generally known.
No, he has simply stated facts as they are
recorded in any plain, fair, ordinary Canadian
history, and has not tried to trace these facts
to the motives by which their performance
was prompted.
But what he has written he has written con
amore, and his objeot in writing has already
been stated in general terms. It will, how-
ever, be plain to the reader that the writer
has chiefly kept in view the desirability of
disabusing certain people's minds of the un-
worthy notion that the French-Canadian is
not loyal to British institutions or to British
connection ; and, by implication, to warn
those people that there may be a possible
•1 I
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■\
130
TRB FKBNCH-CAKAOIAN
danger of impdring the French-Canadian's
present high appreciation of aimost everything
British, and of weakening his deep attachment
to British Rule, by making diarges against
his loyalty which are as unwarranted and
unjust as they are ungenerous and undignified ;
for what loyalty can be expected to tnfliti»«iti
its integrity when buried beneath an avalanche
of unworthy suspicion and unfounded accusa-
tion?
The French-Canadian deserves our full and
whole-hearted confidence not only as to his
love for Canada and contentment under British
Rule, but also because of his unwavering
belief in British connection and unswerving
devotion to the British Throne. He may not
indeed love the new King as he loved that
king's revered mother— which of us does ?— the
young queen, the devoted wife, the wise ruler,
the peaceable sovereign, the good woman, the
mourning widow, the bereaved mother, the
beloved Victoria, the departed Christian ! But
he is true and loyal to Edward the Seventh,
whom, under his less august title of Prince of
Wales, he welcomed to the shores of Canada
in 1859 with the same ardent affection, thesame
OTBSK CHAKACTBMISTICS
131
glowing enthusiasm, as that with which he
recently welcomed Edward the Seventh's son
to Quebec more than forty years later in the
history of the Bmpire. True to George III.,
true to George IV., true to William IV., true
to Victoria, true to Edward VII., true to the
Royal Prince who, if it please Providence,
wiU be Edward's VII.'s successor, was it not
much more than a mere figure of rhetoric
when the late Sir E. P. Tache exclaimed that
if any attempt should ever be forcibly made
to severe the union between Britain and Can-
ada the h»t gun to be fired for its preservation
would be fired by a French-Canadian from the
Citadel of Quebec I
The one thing which the author regreU is
that a work like the present should appear to
be necessary, or even desirable, amongst the
people of Ontario— a people by nature so
generous and unsuspicious. However, mis-
takes will be made so long as man is mortal ;
and while selfishness is permitted to rule the
heart, reckless politicians will appeal to in-
sensate passions. But the writer is convinced
that such appeals, so far as concerns the two
races in Canada, would soon lose all their
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THB PRSNCH-CANADIAN
power to harm— if indeed they would not soon
cease altogether to be made— could each race
but perceive the other's virtues and know the
other's sentiments. Nothing can further this
so effectually as actual personal intercourse
between them ; and if the two languages were
only spoken in common, such intercourse
would be easy and delightful. Indeed he is
persuaded, even as things are, that if the
people of both provinces only had more direct
and extensive intercourse with each other
much good would be effected ; and he feels
quite sure that if those of his readers to whom
Quebec is almost a terra ituogniia would only
spend their summer vacation for three or four
years in succession visiting some of the delight-
ful places in the sister province, and mingling
with the French-speaking people there, they
would not only find whai he has written to be
more than justified, but, returning home, they
would have in their minds, if not upon their
lips, the words of the Queen of Sheba when
she had seen the glory of Solomon, " Behold,
the half had not been told me."
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