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6
CANADA
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE COUNTRY
iT,
.*
^i
HER MAJESTY THE QUEENiEMPRESS.
1
CANADA
AN ENCYCLOMDIA OF THE COUNTRY
THE CANADIAN DOMINIOX CONSIDRRi:!) TN ITS HISTORIC RELATIONS, ITS NATURAL
RESOURCES, ITS MATERIAL PROC.RESS, AND ITS NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BY A CORPS OF
EMINENT WRITERS AND SPECIALISTS
IN KIVB VOLUMES
EDITED BY
J. CASTEIvI^ HOPKINS
Author of Life and Work of Sir John Thompson, Life and Reign of Queen Victoria, Life and Work of
Mr. Gladstone, The Sword of Islam : or Annals of Turkish Power.
ILLUaTTRA-TED
VOLUME I.
THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY
TORONTO, CANADA.
Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight,
by the Bradley-Garretson Company, Limited, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
:^
lifi
C9
Ber moit Qractom maldiy
Uictorla
Queen ana Enprm
OQIboee pcrsonaHte bae become cuabrlneO tn tbe affectfone of the
Srtti0b people aU over tbe worie ; wboee ejample baa ctB8tal»3«!^
bigb iOea(0 of purtts ant> bonour in tbe bomes anb Uves
of bee aubjecta; wboae Jnterprctatlon of ConatttutJonal
©ovetnment baa cnaraveO /ISonarcblcal prlnctplea beep
In tbe public minb anb beart of tbe £mplre,
CMS
Record of Her Canadian Dominion
Ts by €xpre$$ Permission
Respectfnfly Dedicated
! I
HIS EXCELLENCY, THE EARL OF ABERDEEN, G.C.M.G., P.C.
Governor General of Canada.
PREFACE
»v
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA
THAT a country should require an Encyclopcedia implies that it has a history and a future. And not only
so, but to justify such an undertaking the country must possess encyclopaedic features : comprehensiveness
in extent, in resources, and in capabilites of development. That these attributes apply to Canada is a
well-ascertained and recognized fact.
The first requisites for the success of such an enterprise as the present, viz. : occasion and scope, being thus
provided, the next essenrial, that of execution, has to be considered. Here, also, there is every ground for
confidence and satisfaction regarding the prospect. Mr. Castell Hopkins, the Editor, has already earned a
reputation and has made his mark in Canadian literature. In particular he has proved that he possesses among
Other qualities those which are the most indispensable in carrying out a work of this kind, including readiness,
energy, facility of expression, and the capacity for rapid accomplishment of work.
The undertaking is indeed no light one. The present volume will comprise the treatment of the early
history and constitutional development of the Dominion, as well as a record of its fiscal and banking progress ;
and four subsequent volumes will be required for the complete treatment of the various subjects included in the
general scheme. The contemplation of these arrangements suggests the thought that while to every literary
undertaking of any magnitude the simile of a vessel is more or less appropriate, the metaphor is more par-
ticularly applicable to surh an enterprise as this. In the present case it may safely be said that the lines of
construction have been carefully devised and prepared, and that an auspicious launch may be anticipated, to be
succeeded by a long and prosperous voyage.
Thus the Encyclopaedia of Canada, fitly inaugurated in this ever memorable year of that inspiring landmark
in British history, the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, may confidently be regarded as a practical advantage
not only to Canada, by means of the information which it will afford to those who are actually engaged in the work
of her development, but also to the people of the Mother Land, by whom Canada is regarded with ever-increasing
confidence and pride.
^!^C < ^«.^
INTRODUCTION
fi
THE DOMINION OF CANADA is set by .lature in a position of which its people have reason
to be proud. It has unbounded agricultural resources and immense mineral wealth. Its inland
lakes and teeming fisheries ; its vast forests and thousands of miles of sea coast ; its geographical situa-
tion in northern and vigourous latitudes midway between Europe and Asia ; its pivotal position in regard to the
maritime supremacy, the commercial progress, and the .rinsportation facilities of the British Empire; combine to
merit, and should produce, both prosperity and power. Canada, in fact, requires only to be known in order to be
great. But its own people are not 3^ well informed of the history, resources and development of the
country as they ought to be, and for that reason, if no other, can well afford to overlook the occasional ignorance
shown by their fellow-subjects elsewhere. The time has passed, however, when this lack of knowledge should be
condoned, and it certainly should now cease to be a factor in holding back the Dominion from progress at home
and success abroad.
Evidences of appreciation, sympathy and kinship have been showered upon the Dominion during the Diamond
Jubilee year of the reign of its gracious Sovereign, but there is ample room for more knowledge in Great Britain and
elsewhere concerning is past, its present, and its future possibilities. There is also scope for a better appreciation
in Canada itself of the lemarkable annals which its dual nationality and complex political evolution have produced
The combination of French enterprise, chivalric bravery, and intense devotion to King and Church, with British
courage, colonizing heroism, and commercial aggressiveness has produced a pioneer history which fairly teems with
incidents of national interiist and international importance. The shrouded figure of the Indian stalks through its
pages in silent, stoical, gloomy picturesqueness ; varied developments of discovery and war, trapping and hunting,
pioneering and settlement, find, or should find, a prominent place in the records of its writers ; a marvellous variety
of fiscal experiment and experience furnishes one of the most interesting economic studies in all history ; while the
story of Canadian loyalty to the Throne and adhere. ice to British connection presents a picture as striking and
stirring as any which has appeared in the annals of the world.
Hence the value which such a work as this should have if properly carried out upon the lines projected.
The co-operation with which the Editor has been honoured is at least an indication of the national desire for
authoritative information about Canada upon a broader basis than that furnished by isolated historical works, or
net'essarily limited official publications. The Editor's aim has been to produce a work which should bear the stamp
of authority through the reputation of its contributors and the character of its contents ; provide all reasonable
information upon every important topic in Canadian history, life, achievement, and development ; convey to those
who seek its ptages a general view or picture of Canada in its internal and external relations ; and give at the same
time details to the specialist which will either afford the knowledge sought or enable him to obtain it elsewhere at a
minimum of time and trouble. Through the help of the many eminent men in Canada and (}reat Britain who
have promised their aid, it is hoped that the work will in reality prove a library of Canadian information.
How far such an ambitious aim may have been realized in the subjects treated of in this present volume it is
not for the Editor to say. He can only labour towards a certain end, and hope that some measure of success will
result. A few words of explanation may not, however, be out of place. The method of arrangement — in fact, the
whole plan of the work— is original, and the reader will look in vain for any exact precedent for its style
and fashion. The designation itself can be merited only by the encycloptedic nature of its contents, and not by
comparison with the construction of other Encyclopaedias — the idea being that each contributor shall have his
signed article under some suitable title, followed by Editorial Notes completing or amplifying his treatment of the
subject, and connecting it with the next article upon the same lines and within the same Section. It will also be
seen that the work is national and not universal in its scope.
For the Notes to the various contributions the Editor desires to assume entire responsibility, and to their
preparation he has given the result of much labour and the study of years. They will probably be found of especial
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
value to the student who has not time, or the reader who has not the inclination, to consult ponderous and scarce
files of daily papers, or almost forgotten records of British, Canadian, and American official documents. Many
points of historic importance now buried in rare volumes, amidst vast library accumulations, will, it is hoped, be in
this way brought to light. It may be also said in passing that, although not in any sense a biographical work, a few
details of men intimately connected with the historical text will be occasionally given, and in connection with
the article in this volume upon Canadian Pioneers of Trade, a few almost random sketches of typical and repre-
sentative men in the earlier days of Canadian development will be found. Every effort has been made to keep the
contents free from political bias, although the special contributions must of course reflect the opinions of the different
writers. In the Trade and Tariffs' Section of this volume it will be noticed that Mr. Charlton's article is of a
controversial nature, and that the Editor, in a separate contribution, has presented some phases of the other side of
the important question discussed. Upon several of the greater topics dealt with in such a work it is indeed
absolutely necessary to have the different schools of political thought and action prese nted. The Tariff policy
of Canada and the Manitoba School (juestion are cases in point.
To attempt more than a general expression of thanks at this stage would be an impossibility. In
the last volume it is intended to publish a bibliography of Canadian works, or works dealing with Canada, which
will show the sources of much information, and where more can be obtained. To His Excellency the Earl of
Aberdeen, who during his residence amongst us as Governor-General of Canada has done much to foster
and encourage Canadian literature, most grateful appreciation is due. To Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime
Minister of Canada, Sir Charles Tupper, the late Premier, Sir Henry Strong, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
and Sir Alexander Lacoste, Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench in Quebec, who have consented to help by
the writing of Prefaces in the forthcoming volumes — as well as to the many eminent contributors in this and other
portions of the work — the Editor's most sincere thanks are offered. His warmest appreciation is also tendered to
Mr. James Bain, Jr., Chief Librarian of the Toronto Public Library, Mr. Avern Pardoe, of the Ontario
Legislative Library, and Mr. George Johnson, Dominion Statistician at Ottawa, for much assistance given.
Grateful acknowledgments are also due to Mr. John B. Magurn, of Toronto, and Messrs. Nbtman Bros., of
Montreal, in connection with some of the illustrations. And it may not be out of place for the Editor to say
something of the hearty co-operation and assistance afforded him by the Publishers, and especially by the President
of the Company, the Reverend T. S. Linscott.
Without further words this Volume must be left to its fate — whether that be one of public appreciation or public
criticism. The latter it will no doubt receive in some measure, but the hope is cherished that the work as a whole
will prove of subs^ntial service to very many seekers .after information, and to others who do not particularly
require works of reference may, through the thoughts and words of its contributors, help towards making
Canada better known as a youthful and rising British nation upon this American continent. May it especially assist
in impressing upon our people, through that greatest of all influences — knowledge — the aspirations so beautifully
embodied in a verse by Miss Agnes Maule Machar :
" The stamp of true nobility, high honour, stainless truth ;
The earnest quest of noble ends ; the generous heart of youth ;
The love of country, soaring far above dull party strife ;
The love of learning, art, and song — the crowning grace of life ;
The love of science, soaring far through nature's hidden ways ;
The love and fear of nature's God — a nation's highest praise."
HyJCjUUi fp/Q»^
^■ii^vKiai
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Queen-Empress Frontispiece
The Earl of Aberdeen, p.c, g.c.m.g 8
Map of Canada 17
Jacques Cartier 27
Samuel de Champlain 28
Sir Sandford Fleming, k.c.m.g., ll.d 32
Niagara Falls — View of the Canadian Side 38
City of Quebec 45
R. W. Shannon 55
Marquess de Montcalm 67
Major-General James Wolfe 68
Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester 87
Field-Marshal Lord Amherst 75
St. John's Gate, Quebec 76
Lieut.-Col. G. T. Denison, f.p.s.c 79
James Hannay 105
Canadian River Scenery— the St. Lawrence 123
Lieut. -General J. Graves Simcoe 141
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock 172
Colonel George McDonell, c.B 183
Colonel C. M. de Salaberry, c.B 194
(ieorge Johnson, Dominion Statistician 205
Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) 207
Canadian Scenery — the Grand River 215
Rev. George Bryce, LL.D., m.a 227
Tecumseh 236
Dr. Oronhyatekha 253
Sir Alexander T. Gait, g.c.m.g., lup 283
Dr. George T. Orton, ex-M.p 303
Hon. Alexander Mackenzie 309
Sir Louis H. Davies, k.c.m.g., m.p. 311
Hon. Edward Blake, q.c, m.p 313
Sir S. L. Tilley, k.c.m.g., c.b 321
A. H. U. Colquhoun, b.a 324
Hon. W. Hamilton Merritt, m.l.a 328
Sir W. P. Howland, k.c.m.g., c.b 335
Earl of Elgin and Kincardine 338
Hon. William McMaster 355
Hon. Joseph Howe 357
Sir Richard J. Cartwright, g.c.m.g 368
John Charlton, m.p 374
The i6th Earl of Derby, k.g 391
Sir John A. Macdonald, p.c, g.c.b 399
Hon. G. W. Ross, ll.d., m.p.p 407
Erastus Wiman 412
Hon. James Young, ex-M.p ; 417
Hon. Edward Murphy 443
Robert Hay, m.p 446
Henry Franklin Bronson 448
Hon. James Gibb Ross 450
Staplelon Caldecolt 451
George Hague, Merchants Bank of Canada 453
Sir Francis Hincks, k.c.m.g., c.b 481
E. S. Clouston, Bank of Montreal . 487
Hon. Peter McGill, m.l.c 489
B. E. Walker, Canadian Bank of Commerce 498
E. H. King, Bank of Montreal 503
R. H. Bethune, Dominion Bank 509
D. R. Wilkie, Imperial Bank of Canada ^13
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION I Dlscovertoi and Explorations.
Voyages and Discoveries of the Cabots :
By the Rev. Moses Harvey, ll.d., f.r.s.c,
F.R.G.S ■ '7-«S
Editor's Notes:
Newfoundland as the Landfall 25
Cape Breton the Probable Landfall 2.S
Memorial Tablet at Halifax 26
Table of Continental Discoveries 26
The Norscnen and America 26
Jacques Cartier and Canada 27
Samuel de Champlain 28
French and English Sovereigns 29
Early Explorations and Discoveries :
By Sir Sandford Fleming, k.c.m.g., ll.d.,
F.G.S., F.R.S.C, F.R.G.S 3^i^
Editor's Notes :
De La Verendrye and the North-West 36
French Pioneers in Canada 36
SECTION II The French and the English.
Origin of the French Canadians :
By Benjamin Suite, f.r.s.c 47-So
Editor's Notes:
Fur-Trading Companies of New France 50
The Hundred Associates 50
Exploits of the French Canadians :
By R. W. Shannon, Editor of the Ottawa
Citizen 51-60
The Struggle between France and England :
By the Editor 61-69
Editor's Notes :
Lord Amherst's Orders 69
The Sovereign Council of Quebec 70
Treaties between France and England 70
Romantic Incidents 72
French Rulers in Canada 73
Sketches of Early Leaders 73
Acadia and the Acadian People :
By James Hannay, Editor of the St. John
{^.^.) Teiegraph 77-83
Editor's Notes :
Early English Governors 84
Official Letter by Governor Lawrence 84
Early French Governors 85
Acadiatis of To-day 85
Canada Under Early British Rule :
By John Reade, f.r.s.c.. Associate Editor of
the Montreal Gazette 148-154
SECTION III — Wars between Great Britain and
the United States.
Canada and the American Revolution :
By the Editor 86-96
Editor's Notes :
British Employment of German Troops 96
Franklin upon the British Connection 97
Character of George III 97
American Commissioners in Montreal 98
American Employment of Indians 98
British Secretaries of State 99
Address from Congress to the People of
Quebec 99
Address to Canadians by Baron D'Estaing. . . 10 1
Washington's Canadian Proclamation 101
French Financial Aid to the Revolution 102
Sketch of Lord Dorchester 103
American Troops in the War 103
British Grants to the Loyalists 103
The United Empire Loyalists :
By Lieut.-Col. George T. Denison, f.r.s.c.
President of the British Empire League in
Canada 104-1 10
Editor's Notes :
Migration of the Loyalists in
Loyalist Regiments in the War in
History and the Loyalists 112
Verses by William Kirby 112
Loyalist Address to George III 113
Canadian Regulations concerning Loyalist
Grants 113
Loyalists of New Brunswick 114
Early Government of New Brunswick 115
The Number of the Loyalists 115
Treaty of Paris and the Loyalists 116
British Parliamentary Debate ti6
American Treatment of the Loyalists 117
Sketches of Loyalist Leaders 117
Modem Loyalist Associations 119
Historical Sketch of the War of 181 2 :
By Iviiss Agnes Maule Machar (Fidelis) iSS-i7S
Editor's Notes :
Canadian Population and Militia 175
The Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper
Canada 175
Protest of a New York Meeting against the
War 176
14
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
Brock's Address to the Legislature 176
General Hull's Proclamation 177
General Brock's Canadian Manifesto ^7^-9
American Forces in Canada during the War. . 179
Legislative Address to the Prince Regent 180
British Capture of Washingtori 180
British Forces in Canada 181
Sketches of British andCanadianCommanders 181-3
The Berlin Decrees 183
Colonel Harvey's Letter 1 84
Admiral Cochrane's Proclamation 184-5
Unveiling of the Monument to Sir Isaac
Brock 185-7
Speech by Sir John Beverley Robinson 187
Bishop Strachan's Letter 187-9
American Expectation of an Easy Conquest... 189
Canadian Finances during the War 1 89
Relative Gain and Loss 190
Table of Canadian Events in the War 190-3
Treaty of Paris 193
Treaty of Ghent 193
Treaty of London 193
Colonel Coffin's Summary 194
SECTION IV.— Early Constitutional Progress.
The Quebec Act of 1774:
By William Houston, m.a , formerly Librarian
of the Ontario I^egislature 1 20-5
Editor's Notes :
Sketch of Baron Masferes 125
Sketch of Chief Justice Hey 125
Message of George III 126
Opinions of Cs^rleton, Maseres, Hey, and
Lyttelton 127
Debate in the House of Commons 127-9
London's Address to the King 129
Statements by Thurlow, Wedderburn, and
Marryott 1 30- 1
Treaties Connected with the Act 131-4
Lord Mansfield's Judgment 135
Sketch of Lord Mansfield 135
Queen Elizabeth's Ecclesiastical Policy 135
The Constitutional Act of 1791 :
By P. F. Cronin, Editor of the Catholic
Register, Toronto 1 36-45
Editor's Notes.
British Governors-General up to 184 1 145
Sketch of Lieut. -General Simcoe 145
Sketch of Adam Lymbumer 146
Opinions of I^rd Dorchester 146
Opinions of Chief Justice Smith 147
SECTION v.— The Indians.
The Indians of Canada :
By the Editor 205-14
Organization and History of the Iroquois:
I. — By Miss E. Pauline Johnson 215-7
II. — By Edward M. Chadwick 217-9
The Indians of Western Canada :
I. — By the Rev. George Bryce, m.a., lud.. 220-27
II.— By the Rev. John Maclean, m.a., PH.D.. 228-35
Editor's Notes :
Origin of the Indians 235
Early Friendship towards the White .Man .... 236
Indian Cruelty Considered 239
Franklin and the Indians 240
Indian Land Question in Canada 240-1
The Micmacs of Nova Scotia *4i-S
Indians of British Columbia 245
The Yukon and Coast Indians 245-9
Sketch and Character of Pontiac 249
Career of Thayendanegea 250
Letter from Thayendanegea 251
Life and Character of Tecumseh 251
Tecumseh's great Oration ... 252-3
Sketch of Oronhyatekha 253
Indians in the War of 1812 253-4
Indian Address to S. P. Jarvis, Chief Super-
intendent 255
The Oka Tribe 256
Statement Regarding the Okas, by Sir Hector
Langevin 257
Commissions of Inquiry into Indian Affairs. . 257-8
The Western Indians and their Canadian
Treaties 258-9
The Indian and the Buffalo 260
Sitting Bull and Major Walsh 261
The Indian Half-Breeds 261-4
Sketch of Hon. John Norcjuay 264
French and Indian Ha f-Breeds 265
Mr. F.N. Blake's Report to U.S. Government. 265-7
Early Official Documents relating to Indians.. 267
Indian Act of 1876 268-70
Indian Population and Expenditure 270
Indian Progress and Present Population 271
Early Treaties with the Indians 272
Hon. Alex. Morris and his Indian Treaties.. , 273-6
Sir F. B. Head and the Indians 276-7
Annual Presents by the British Government... 277
Despatch from Lord Glenelg 278
Lawrence Oliphant and the Indians 278-9
Sketch of I^aurence Oliphant 280
Sketch of Viscount Bury 280
Sketch of Hon. Alexander Morris 280
Sketch of Hon. David Laird 281
Superintendents-General of Indian Affairs. . . 28 r
Indian Display at Regina Exhibition 281
Schoolcraft on Indian Life and Character. . . . 282
SECTION VI.— Trade and Tariffs.
The Fiscal History of Canada :
By the Editor 285-94
Editor's Notes :
British Treaties of Commerce 294-6
Lord Farrer on Commercial Treaties 296
Early Canadian Trade 247
The Financial and Commercial Crisis of 1857 297-9
The Financial and Commercial Crisis of 1893 299
/"
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
»5
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28-35
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iirs . .
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264
265
ment.
265-7
iians..
267
268-70
, • « • ■
270
1
271
272
;ies.. ,
8 73-6
. • • •
276-7
nent.
277
278
....
. 278-9
280
280
280
28t
lirs. .
281'
281
ten.
282
iriffs.
.... 285-94
294-6
.... 296
247
jf 1857 297-9
)f 1893 299
Trade with the West Indies 300
Canadian Tariff Rights 301
The Protectionist Movement in Parliament . . 30 1
The Halance of Trade Question 304
Mr. David Mills on the Depression of 1876. . 305
Report of Parliamentary Commission of 1876 305
Mr. Mackenzie on l'"ree Trade and Protection 308
Depreciation in Values 309
Sii R. Cartwright on the National Policy .... 309
The Liberal Convention of 1893 310
Mr. Fielding on the Tariff of 1897 311
Mr. Blake on the Tariff in i88i and 1887... 312
Conservative Conventions at Toronto in 1878
and 1884 313
The Duke of Newcastle and Mr. A.T. Gait on
Tariff-Making Powers (1859) 314
Sketch of Sir Alexander Gait 316
Sketch of Sir Leonard Tilley 317
Mr. Gait on the Canadian 'lariff in 1859 .... 317
Report of Mr. Hamilton Merritt's Legislative
Committee (185 s) 318
Inter-Provincial Trade in Canada :
By A. H. U. Colquhoun, 11 a., Editor of
McLean's Trade Journals ; late Chief
liilitor of the Toronto Empire 320-8
Editor's Notes :
Report of Legislative Committee in 1855. . . . 328
Report to the Government by Mr. (Sir) VV. P.
Howland in 1862 329
Canadian Internal Trade Tables, 1858 62 . . . 333
Report of House of Commons' Committee . . 334
Statistics of Inter-Provincial Trade 334
The Reciprocity Treatv ok 1854 :
By the Editor 335*43
Editor's Notes :
Sketch of the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine. . 343
Statistics of Trade, 1850-71 344
Speech by Lord Clarendon 345
Report of Hon. Israel T. Hatch, U.S. Com-
missioner • . . 346
Historical Sketch of Trade Relations 346
Resolutions by New York State Legislature . . 348
Canadian Trade with the United States com-
pared with that of other Countries 349
Reply of Mr. A. T. Gait to American Charges 349
Historical Extracts from Sir Edward Watkin's
Memoirs 351
Select Committee of the New York Chamber
of Commerce 354
The Detroit Reciprocity Convention 355
The famous Speech of Hon. Joseph Howe . . 356
Letter from the Rt. Hon. John Bright 357
Report of Canadian Executive Council to
Lord Monck 358
Report of Executive Council Committee. . . . 359
Report of James W. Taylor to United States
Government 359
Report by E. H. Derby to United States
Government 361
Report of Canadian Commissioners to Wash-
ington in 1866 362
Sir John Rose addrusses the Colonial Office
about Reciprocity 365
Terms of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1 854 .... 366
Canadian Trade Relations with the United
States :
By John Charlton, M.i- 371-8
Editor's Notes :
Report upon International Fiscal Relations
by the Hon. Peter Mitchell 379
Report by J. N. I^rned to United States
(jovernment 380 -
Canadian Reciprocity Commission of 1874. . 381
Transportation Advantages of the United
States in 1854-66 383
Memorial of the Dominion Board of Trade in
»873 3S4
The McKinley (U.S.) Tariff Duties 384
Resolutions presented to the House of Com-
mons upon closer Trade Relations 385 -
Canadian Power to make Foreign Treaties. . . 387
Inter-Provincial Conference .at Quebec 388
Mr. Blake and his West Durham Address . . . 389
Resolutions by the Manitoba Legislature .... 390
Reciprocity Negotiations of 1891-2 391
Reciprocity Convention at St. Paul, U.S.A. . . 394
Export Trade of Canada, 1887-96 395
Report of Parliamentary Committee in 1874.. 395
Petitions to United States Congress for Reci-
procity .• 397
Sketch of Sir R. J. Cartwright 398
Si.' John A. Macdonald's Manifesto in 1891... 399
Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Manifesto in 1891 401
Sir W. C. Van Home on Unrestricted Reci-
procity 404
The Dingley (U.S.) Tariff Duties 405
Hon. G. W. Ross on Reciprocity 406
Letters of Mr. Fielding and Sir L. H. Davies
upon Unrestricted Reciprocity 407
Hon. G. E. Foster's Election Address in 1891 409
Sir J. A. Chapleau on the History of Reci-
procity 409
List of Important Documents and Speeches
bearing upon Reciprocity 410
Sketch of the Commercial Union Movement
by Erastus Wiman 411^
The Hitt Resolutions in Congress 414
The Commercial Union Club, Toronto 414
Sir A. T. Gait upon the Zollverein Proposal
of 1862 415
Mr. J. N. Lamed upon the American side of
the Proposal 416
Hon. James Young upon the Probable Results
of Commercial Union 416
Congressman Hitt's Letter to Mr. Wiman 419
Central Faraiers' Institute of Ontario 419
Toronto Young Men's Liberal Club Manifesto 420
Terms of the Congressional Butterworth Bill.. 421
Resolution of the Toronto Board of Trade . . 422
Mr. Ward's Report to Congress in 1862 422 »•
Letter of the Hon. Elijah Ward in 1870 423
16
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Opinions of the Hon. Thomas White 424
Opinions and Position of Mr. Ooldwin Smith. 425
Sketch of Erastus Wintan 426
'liiK Commerce of Canada :
Hy the Hon. James Young, ex-M P., formerly
Treasurer of Ontario 4*7-3'
The Pioneers of Trade in Canada :
By Stapleton Caldecott, ex-President of the
Toronto Board of Trade 432-3
Editorial or Biooraphkai, Notes :
Hon. John Molson, m.e.c 437
Hon. John Molson, M.i.c 437
Hon. James Crooks 437
Hon. lohn Young 437
Hon. Peter McCHll 43»
Senator Skead 438
Hon. Austin Cuvilier 438
Senator Simpson 439
Hon. Isaac Buchanan 439
Hon. John McMurrich 439
Senator Benson 440
Senator Hope 440
James Gooderham Worts 440
William Gooderham 440
Joseph McKay 440
Hon. Henry Rhodes 441
William Workman 441
I )amase Masson 441
Hon. Isaac Burpee 441
Hon. Charles Seraphin Rodier 442
Hon. George MofTatt 442
Senator Murphy 442
1 )avid Torrance 443
Hon. James Ferrier 443
Hon. Isidore Thibaudeau 444
Hon. William Todd 444
Senator Carrall 444
James Macl^ren 445
Hon. Billa Flint 445
Robert Hay, m.p 446
Hon. Elijah Leonard 446
Philemon Wright 446
Senator John Macdonald 447
Hart A. Massey 447
Henry Franklin Bronson 448
Senator Hamilton 448
I ). D. Calvin, m.p.p 449
Hon. James G. Ross 450
Senator McMaster 450
Hon. J. L. Beaudry 451
Senator Turner 45 1
SECTION VII.— Banks and Banking.
An Historical Sketch of Canadian Banking :
By George Hague, General Manager Merch-
ants' Bank of Canada 452-61
Editor's Notes :
Early Stages of Canadian Banking 461
Mr. Breckenridge on Early Bank Charters 463
The Bank of Upper Canada 464
Political Banking 465
The Financial Crisis of 1837 466
Influence of the Imperial Authorities 467
Banking in Nova Scotia 469
Position of Canadian Banks in 1857 470
Montreal City and District Savings Bank .... 471
Banking in New Brunswick 472
Position of Canadian Banks in 1867 473
Review of the System in 1869 by Thomas
Paton 474
Mr. Hague's Comments before the Parlia- '
mentary Committee of 1869 475
Views of the Hon. R. D. Wilmot 477
Bank of British North America 478
Sketch of Sir Francis Hincks 479
Institutions Formed in 1858-66 480
Expansion Period of 1868-74 480
Expansion Period of 1882-6 484
The Manitoba Inflation 485
Number of Canadian Chartered Banks 486
Canadian Bank Suspensions 486
Bank Stock Quotations, 1875-95 486
The Canadian Bankers' Association 487
Sketch of the Bank of Montreal .... 487
History of the Quebec Bank 490
Bank of British Columbia 491
The Merchants Bank of Canada 491
I^ Banciue Du Peuple 493
Canadian Bank of Commerce 493
Some further Historical Details 494
The Canadian and American Banking Systems :
By B. E. Walker, General Manager Canadian
Bank of Commerce 495-504
Editor's Notes :
The P'ree Banking System 505
Mr. Breckenridge compares the Systems 506
Comparative Merits described by Mr. Watson 507
Mr. Arthur Weir upon the United States
Monetary System 507
Mr. W. Weir's Letter to the U.S. Congress . . 508
The Banking System of Canada :
By D. R. Wilkie, General Manager Imperial
Bank of Canada 5 10-15
Editor's Notes :
Mr. Rose's Banking Scheme of 1869 516
Sir Francis Hincks' Banking Measure in 1870 516
Bank Act Renewal proposed by Sir Leonard
Tilley in 1880 517
Bank Act Renewal presented by the Hon.
G. E. Foster In 1890 518
Statistics Regarding Chartered Banks 519
Sketch of Mr. E. H. King 519
The Canadian Currency System 520
Banking Capital, Notes, and Deposits 522
Sketch of Sir John Rose 522
Canadian Bank Statistics in 1897 523
SECTION VIII.— Miscellaneous.
Principal Events in Canadian History .... 37-44
Place Names of Canada ;
By George Johnson 195-205
Index. 5-'.v:*6
466
467
469
470
47'
47a
473
474,
475
477
478
479
480
480
484
485
486
486
486
487
487
490
491
491
493
493
494
505
506
507
507
508
510-15
516
516
517
518
519
5«9
520
522
522
523
37-44
I'opyt'ight
.r^,y
.
. ■ ,;..:S.:/-\ , ■
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(
. ' .
,
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, .■-.,■»•■ '
1
■/
•
.•■.■•l';,^;.
J
■ . i
1 •■ , ,, ,;*;>
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-■■'■-''
,,.'■■,•"'■■■'"
AV'
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i
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.^.iNo .^-.->N,.^r/
...w, .*-•»-■ Vjl'-^'"'".%*r*'
Miv^-*..:-^-.-**-^— t" — .**— -
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.-^. -„«,'««<».
VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES OF THE CABOTS
.^:
THE REV. M. HARVEY. LL.D., F.R S.C.
FOUR hundred years apo, on the 2nd of
May, 1497, a little vessel of some sixty
tons burthen took her departure from
the port of Bristol and turned her prow
towards the stormy, unknown wastes of the North
Atlantic. On her stern she bore the name,
" The Matthew of Hristol." Her commander
was John Cabot, a Venetian by birth, but for
some time resident in Bristol. He had obtained
a patent from Henry VII. of England for the dis-
covery of new lands to the westward, and with a
crew of eighteen stout west country sailors he
now embarked on his perilous enterprise.
The expedition attracted little or no attention.
In silence, without any pomp or circumstance,
the little craft spread her sails on this bright May
morning and dropped down Bristol Channel un-
noticed among the other tiny vessels that then
furrowed its waters.
We do not know the name of a single officer or
sailor on board the Matthew, and even of her
brave commander, John Cabot, we know very
little. We must judge these daring navigators
by their deeds, for perhaps never was there an
enterprise having such far-reaching consequences
and exciting such an influence on the destinies of
humanity of which so little notice was taken at
the time, and so few and meagre records been
preserved. So far as known no diary was kept on
board the Matthew, and her commander gave
to the world but little account of what took place
beyond the bare results of the voyage.
The voyage of Columbus has had thrown
around it the glamour of poetry and romance.
History has gathered into her golden urn every
incident connected with the great enterprise, and
eloquent pens have told the thrilling story in
every variety of picturesque detail. But of the
voyage of Cabot, fraught with such vast results,
almost nothing is known. The records whirh
have floated down to us were mostly written long
after the event, and arc of the most meagre and
unsatisfactory description.
Hence, while from the writings of Columbus
and those of his contemporaries, we are able to
form a vivid idea of the man himself, of his
heroic character and great achievements, so that
his name is a household word, and his life history
a part of our literature, John Cabot is a mere
shadow looming dimly from the darkness of the
past. He has been till recently almost forgotten,
his great discoveries overlooked, and his services
to England and humanity ignored. No honours
have been paid to his memory, and it is only now,
after a lapse of four hundred years, that the pub-
lic conscience seems to be awakening to the
injustice done to the name and memory of a great
man, and that the wrongs of centuries seem likely
to be righted. " The great soul of the world is
just," no doubt, but it is often up hill work to
convince the world as to who have been its true
benefactors, and are entitled to its admiration
and reverence. Cabot's hour has come at last,
and the accumulated dust of centuries will be
cleared away from his memory, and due honour
paid to the man who pioneered the way for the
English speaking race which has now overspread
the continent of North America.
Not for a moment would I attempt to detract
from the glories that encircle the great name of
Columbus. His achievement must be regarded
as the most important in the annals of the world.
He raised the curtain that shrouded the abysses
of the western ocean, and revealed anew world
of boundless wealth and marvellous extent and
beauty. He at once doubled the habitable globe,
and gave a new direction to men's thoughts and
efforts. The new world reacted on the old, and
8
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKOIA.
through the competition which was awakened
among five of the great nations of Europe for the
possession of the new territory, the wliole course
of European politics was altered. Hy Columbus
a connection which could never be lost was estab-
lished between the two hemispheres. His dis-
covery of America was one of those unique achieve-
ments which can never be repeated, and for all
time must encircle the name of the doer with
imperishable renown.
One noble deed leads to others. The grand
achievement of Columbus fired the soul of John
Cabot with the idea that he too could do some-
thing great for the honour and advantage of his
adopted country. The thought that possessed
his mind was that by taking a northwest course
across the Atlantic, instead of the southwest route
of Columbus, he would reach, by a shorter voy-
age, the eastern coast of Asia. He hoped to
open up intercourse with China and Japan, or as
they were called by Marco Polo, Cathay and
Cipango. Like Columbus he achieved far more
than he dreamed of. He little suspected that
between him and the eastern coasts of Asia there
lay a vast continent and the waters of the Pacific
Ocean. But the glory of his achievement lay in
this — that he was the first who saw the mainland
of the American continent ; and a year before
Columbus touched the margin of that continent,
in the neighbourhood of Veragua, and before
Amerigo Vespucci made his first voyage across
the Atlantic, Cabot landed on its shores, and
coasted them for hundreds of miles. His hoped-
for communication with China and Japan, in this
direction, had to be adjourned for three hundred
and fifty years ; but by the energy and enterprise
of the English-speakmg race, whose way he had
pioneered, this intercourse has at length been
established. Roads of steel, steam-driven vessels,
and telegraphic wires have linked Cathay and
Cipango to England and the rest of the world
across the Canadian part of the continent of North
America and the waters of the vast Pacific. The
old idea has been realized in a new and more fully
developed form. After four hundred years the
western path to Cipango and Cathay has been
found. " There is nothing new under the sun."
The discovery of Cabot was only second in
greatness to that of Columbus. Indeed, in some
respects, the former had the more difficult task.
While the path of Columbus lay in genial climes,
amid summer seas and pleasant breezes, Cabot's
course led him across the North Atlantic, the
stormiest sea in the world, strewn with icebergs
and icefields and often swept by fierce tempests.
While the course of Columbus, ever bending to
the south-west, iirought him into " the Mar de
Damas, the ladies' sea," where with "the blue
above and the blue below," there is almost per-
petual summer, and storms are almost unknown,
Cabot had to face the scowling waves of a grim
unknown sea, with its fogs and dangerous currents,
and to grope his way without knowing where
land would be found. Columbus had the Azores
as a half-way port ; Cabot had two thousand miles
of unbroken ocean, never furrowed by European
keel since the days of the Norsemen, five hundred
years before. Equally with Columbus he had to
confront the dark unknown, but under greater
perils, where, as Pasqualigo informs us, " he
wandered about for a long time." It needed a
stout heart und a resolute spirit to launch out into
these wild waters for the first time in a little car-
avel — a mere cockle-shell — in which most men
would now hesitate to take even a short coasting
voyage. But Cabot and his bold west-country
sailors did not quail ; and they have placed their
names high on the rolls of fame by conquering a
new world for England.
For in point of fact, the day on which the
Matthew sailed from the port cf Bristol was an
historic moment, on which hung the destinies ol
millions. Cabot, as we have seen, was the real
discoverer of North America. In virtue of his di"-,
coveries England established her claim to the sov-
ereignty of a large portion of these northern lands.
That passion for colonization which has since
dotted the globe with English colonies was then
first kindled. In Newfoundland, and as a conse-
quence of Cabot's discovery, England was after-
wards to try " her prentice hand " in planting
colonies. Here was her eldest-born colony, "the
beginning of her strength " ; and the "swarming"
tendency thus developed, has gone on deepening
and strengthening ever since.
That England is now a world-empire, and not
confined to her own small islands and narrow seas,
but has spread her millions of sons and daughters
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOlMiniA.
»9
over both hemispheres, is largely owing to Cabot's
great discovery. It led first of all to the occupa-
tion of a large portion of the northern continent.
The fish wealth of tlie surrounding seas first
attracted English fishermen. Battling with the
billows, these hardy fishermen became expert and
fearless sailors ; built up the British navy ; and
helped to lay the foundations of that sea-power
and maritime supremacy which England has pre-
served from the days of Elizabeth to those of
Victoria. Enormous wealth was drawn from
those North American fisheries. For their pro-
tection colonies were first planted, and these led
on to greater developments. Other nations, such
as France, came to share in the spoils, but were
finally compelled to retire from the field. To the
daring genius of the Cabots we largely owe it
that North America is to-day almost entirely
occupied by an English-speaking population, with
all their vast energies and accumulated wealth.
The honour of England was pledged to keep what
the daring enterprise of her seamen had discovered.
But for this voyage of Cabot, Spain might for a
long time have monopolized discovery in North
as well as South America. English and French
enterprise might have taken different directions
and the history of North America might have been
shaped in a different fashion. England might not
have developed into a great mother of colonies,
and have failed to become the dominant sea-power
of the world and the ruler of the waves. The com-
ing of the little Matthew into these western waters
heralded the approaching supremacy of the Eng-
lish race.
Meantime, we must try to follow the little
caravel which left Bristol on the 2nd of May, 1497,
as it struggled westward, a mere speck in the
world of waters. Pacing its deck we see, " in our
mind's eye," the heroic man who is about to throw
open the gates of the North Atlantic. Is there
not a moral grandeur around him, as with eyes
kindling with the fires of faith and hope, he blesses
every breeze that wafts him from the abodes of
civilized men into the grim wilderness of unknown
waters ? His resolution is inexorable as doom as
he Siiils boldly westward, far beyond the bounds
where the most daring have ventured before. The
rude winds pursue their wild revels, indifferent to
his fortunes ; the black billows leap around his
little barque, threatening to swallow it up ; but
the heroic heart refuses to turn back. The invis-
ible seems to him to whisper, " Onward I " A
hand is stretched out to him from the darkness,
and in faith he grasps it. His prophetic eye sees
the fair lands to which he is opening a pathway.
Still, it was a hard battle, and doubtless hope
often wavered. For fifty-two days the tiny craft
had been struggling with the waves, and still there
was not the faintest indication that land was near.
There were no bright tropical birds, as in the case
of Columbus, to alight on his mast-head, and cheer
him onward to the land from which they came.
But as the sun rose on the morning of the fifty-
third day — the 24th of June — th'; welcome cry of
" Land ho ! " rang out from the mast-head of the
Matthew, and west-country sailors greeted the
sight of the new land with hearty English cheers.
It was a memorable day, only second in impor-
tance to that on which Columbus and his com-
panions gazed on the shores of San Salvador.
How we should like to know more of the wel-
come with which these English sailors greeted the
first sight of land ; how they gathered round their
brave commander with cheers and congratula-
tions; and with what ceremonial forms Cabot
landed and planted in the soil the flag of Eng-
land, and that of St. Mark (being a citizen of
Venice), and also a large cross, thus unconscious-
ly taking possession of a continent for his
Sovereign. But of this momentous event we
have but the briefest record, by the hand of an
Italian merchant in London, who met Cabot on
his return. " The English," said Carlyle, " are a
dumb people. They can do great acts but not
describe them. Like the old Romans and some
few others, their epic poem is written on the
earth's surface : England — her mark."
Cabot gave to the spot where he landed the
name of Prima Vista. There is no reason for
supposing that he, any more than Columbus,
knew of the greatness of his discovary, or even
suspected that he had touched the margin of a
new continent. He reported on his return that
he had reached the territory of the Grand Khap,
so that, like Columbus, he thought the western
coasts of the Atlantic, where he landed, were the
eastern coasts of Asia.
After spending some twelve or fourteen days in
ae
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
exploring further along the coast Cabot turned
his prow homeward, his provisions probably
running low, and on the 6th of August he arrived
at Bristol, having been absent ninety-six days.
No cheering multitudes, or waving flags, or
salvos of artillery greeted Cabot on landing, after
his memorable voyage. So far as known his
return received no public or official notice, and
called forth no popular rejoicings. His discovery
was neither understood or appreciated. Probably
his voyage was considered a failure, as it brought
no immediate gain — no news of gold, or spices,
or prospects of profitable trade. Two Bristol
chroniclers, however, took the trouble of making
a note of the event. One old manuscript, still in
existence, records that " This year (1497) on St.
John the Baptist's Day, the land of America*
was found by the merchants of Bristowe, in a ship
of Bristowe called the Matthew, the which ship
departed from the port of Bristowe on the 2nd
day of May, and came home again the 6th of
August following." Another Bristol manuscript
has the following record, in briefer terms : " In
the year 1497, the 24th of June, on St. John's
Day, was Newfoundland found by Bristol men
in a ship called the Matthew." Both of these
ancient documents agree as to the date of the dis-
covery of land and the name of the ship, and both
fail to mention the discoverer whose genius and
courage pointed the way which so many thous-
ands have since followed. Such too often is fame
among contemporaries. The world's great men
— the benefactors of their race — are too frequent-
ly, when living, treated with neglect or bitter
contempt, but after generations recognize their
merits and do justice to their memories. Bristol
will this year make amends for its neglect of the
living Cabot. On the fourth centenary of his
discovery a statue of its greatest c itizen will be
unveiled in Bristol, and a noble orator (Lord
Dufferin) will pronounce his eulogium, and twine
fresh wreaths of immortelles around his name.
It would appear that Cabot made but a brief
stay in Bristol and went on to London, no doubt
to report himself to King Henry. What was his
reception there ? Did his grateful sovereign sum-
mon him to his royal palace, as did Ferdinand in
* '* America " is, of course, a later interpolation.
the case of Columbus, and in the miSst of his
asdeinbleJ courtiers, listen to the tale of his mmr-
vellous achievement, give him thanks for the im-
mense service done to his realm, and heap rewards
and honours on his head ? No such thing.
Henry sent him ten pounds and evidently thought
he acted generously, as he hastened to make an
entry of this benefaction in his Privy Purse
accounts, which are still to be seen in the British
Museum, in the following curt terms : " August
loth, 1497. To Hym that found the New Isle,
£10." This stinginess on the part of Henry is
rendered more flagrant by the fact that in the
patent he granted to John Cabot and his sons, he
stipulated that the enterprise should be carried
out "upon their own proper costes and charges,"
but that " the aforesaid John and his sonnes and
heirs is bounden of all the fruits, gaines and com-
modities growing of such navigation, to pay unto
us, in wares or money, the fifth part of the capital
gain so gotten." Never did a monarch obtain a
continent on such easy terms.
There is an old letter which some years ago
was brought to light in Milan, written by Lor-
enzo Pasqualigo, a Venetian gentleman then
resident in London. It bears the date of August
23rd, 1497, and is addressed to his brother in
Venice. In it the writer says : " This Venetian
of ours, in a ship from Bristol in quest of new
islands, is returned and says that 700 leagues
hence, he discovered terra firma, which is the
territory of the Great Khan. The King is much
pleased with the intelligence. He has also given
him money wherewith to amuse himself, and he
is now in Bristol with his wife who is a Venetian
woman, and with his sons. His name is Zuan
Cabot, and they call him the Great Admiral.
Vast honours are paid to him, and he dresses in
silk ; and these English run after him like mad
people, so that he can enlist as many of them as
he pleases."
It would appear from this record that the
achievement of John Cabot touched the hearts of
some of the people, whatever Henry and his
courtiers may have thought of it. But the shout-
ings of a street crowd soon died away, and the
King's present of ten pounds (equal in purchasing
power to about one hundred pounds of our money)
was soon exhausted in the pleasures of a brief hnii-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
ai
day ; and in a few years Cabot's name was
almost forgotten.
It would, no doubt, be very gratifying if we knew
with certainty the exact spot on which Cabot
landed and planted the banner of St. George. To
erect his statue, or some suitable monument on that
spot, on the fourth centenary of his discovery
would be an act of historic justice, redressing, as
far as we are able, the wrongs of the past. But
even this is impossible. Nothing approaching to
absolute certainty regarding his landfall is now
attainable. Historians and antiquarians differ
widely on this point. It is certain that Cabot
made a record of his landing-place. In the S^ate
Archives of Milan a letter has been found, some
thirty years ago, in which Raimondo di Soncino,
writing under date i8th of December, 1497, to
the Duke of Milan, says among other things :
" This master Zoanne Caboto has the description
of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe
which he has made, and he shows where he landed."
The Spanish envoys, Pueblo and Azala, writing
between August 24th, 1497, and July 25th, 1498,
mention havmg seen such a chart and globe, but
unfortunately they are lost. It can hardly be
doubted that Sebastian Cabot, afterwards, would
write an account of his father's voyage and deline-
ate his course on a chart. Writing in 1582, some
twenty-five years after his death, Hakluyt tells us
that Sebastian Cabot's papers were then " in the
custody of William Worthington, and were
shortly to be printed." In some mysterious way
they disappeared, and not a fragment of them is
known to be in existence ; and not a solitary line
written by John or Sebastian Cabot has escaped
the wreck of time. It is not wonderful, therefore,
that with such meagre and fragmentary records
of contemporaries as are left us, there should be
such a diversity of opinion in regard to Cabot's
landfall.
Among historians and geographers there are at
present three leading theories as to Cabot's land-
fall. Some place it at Cape Bonavista, on the
eastern coast of Newfoundland. Others hold that
it was on the coast of Labrador, but differ widely
as to the latitude of the place ; while an increasmg
number of the ablest writers are in favour of the
most eastern point of Cape Breton Island. The
most recent and the most careful researches point
in the direction of the last-named locality as the
true landfall, and by some of the best authorities
probabilities are now pronounced to be strongly
in its favour. Mathematical demonstration on
such a point is, of course, out of the question ;
moral certainty alone is attainable. But the evi-
dence now accumulated, chiefly from a study of the
oldest and most reliable maps, reaches a high
degree of probability ; while an impartial examin-
ation of the proofs presented by the supporters of
the other two theories shows that they are entirely
insufficient.
In regard to Bonavista, in Newfoundland, its
claim rests on a vague tradition or assumption, for
which no tangible proof can be adduced. Prob-
ably, the name, which is Portuguese, suggested to
after-generations that " happy sight " must also
have signified " first sight " ; and that therefore
Bonavista must have been the first land seen by
Cabot. The mistake crept into general literature,
and has been repeated by many writers who did
not give the matter any consideration. But it
must be remembered that Cabot was himself an
Italian sailing on a voyage of discovery under the
patent of an English monarch, and with an Eng-
lish crew, and was, therefore, very unlikely to give
a Portuguese name to his landfall.
In favour of the Labrador theory many high
authorities might be cited. But without going
into the controversy at any length, there seems to
me to be one conclusive objection to Labrador
having been the landfall of Cabot's first voyage.
He made land on the 24th of June. At that date
the coast of Labrador is beset by ice and icebergs
at the alleged latitudes — 56° to 58"— and is rarely,
if ever, accessible so early in summer, especially
by vessels approaching from the eastward. In
any case, Cabot, had he made his way to this part
of the coast on the 24th of June, must have seen
immense quantities of ice. Now, we have several
accounts of the first voyage, the most reliable
being that of Pasqualigo. He mentions that Cabot
saw " felled trees, and snares for catching game,"
and speaks of the tides being slack, but makes no
mention of ice or any difficulties connected with
it. Further, John Cabot told Soncino, " that the
land he saw was excellent, and the climate tem-
perate." Such description could not apply to
Labrador.
m
33
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^flDIA.
The positive evidence in favour of the Cape
Breton theory is cumulative and derived from sev-
eral reliable sources; and in the aggrefjate, pre-
sents such a formidable array that it would be dif-
ficult, if not impossible, to set it aside. Dr. S. E.
Dawson, of Ottawa, in an exhaustive monograph
read before the Royal Society of Canada, in 1894,
and in a sequel presented in i8g6, has massed his
evidence so skilfully that to the writer he seems
to have settled the long-debated question. No
source of information had been left unexamined.
Dr. Dawson's local knowledge of the region and
of the adjacent islands and coasts is turned to
admirable account ; while his refutation of com-
peting theories is complete. No one who wishes
to study the vexed question should over-look these
important papers which appear in " The Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of Canada."
The brief space allotted to this article does not
permit me vo enter minutely into this controversy.
It must suffice to state that Dr. Dawson rests his
argument mainly on the famous map drawn, in
1500, by the Biscayan pilot, Juan de La Cosa,
who sailed with Columbus on his first and second
voyages. The importance of this map in determ-
ining Cabot's landfall can hardly be over-rated.
Fiske, in his " Discovery of America," writes :
" So far as is known, this is the earliest map in
existence made since 1492, and its importance is
very great. La Casa calls La Cosa the best pilot
of his day. His reputation as a cosmographer is
also high. The map is evidently drawn with
honesty and care." By a careful study of this
map, combined with many other sources of in-
formation. Dr. Dawson has reached the conclusion
that the most eastern point of Cape Breton Island
— indicated on this map as " Cavo Descubierto "
or " the discovered cape," is the prima terra vista.
He also shows that this map of La Cosa's
was beyond all reasonable doubt, based on
John Cabot's own map which Pedro de Ayala,
the Spanish Ambassador, had from him, and
promised in July, 1498, to send to King Ferdinand;
so that we have here John Cabot indicating his
own landfall in a Spanish translation !
A second patent was granted solely to John
Cabot, dated February 3rd, 1498, authorizing
him to sail with six ships "to the land and isles
of late found by the said John in our name
and by our commandment." This patent was
evidently a supplementary commission. Strange
to say from this date John Cabot's name disap-
pears from contemporary records. Whether his
death took place before the expedition was ready,
or soon after its return we know not. No satis-
factory record of this second voyage has been
preserved. A letter from Pedro de Ayala, the
Spanish Envoy then in England, and an entry in
Stow's Chronicle make it certain that the expe-
dition sailed early in the summer of 1498, and
had not returned in the following September. In
fact there is no authentic account of its return,
but from the pages of Peter Martyr, Ramuseo,
Gomara, and Galvano we learn that on this
voyage Cabot sailed far along the Labrador
coast till stopped by masses of ice, that he then
turned south and followed the coast to 38" N.,
thus discovering from 1,200 to 1,800 miles of the
coast of North America, in virtue of which Eng-
land in due time claimed sovereignty over these
northern lands by right of a first discovery.
It is curious to note how historians have dealt
with the memory of the elder and younger Cabot.
For a long period the father's name was ignored
and almost effaced in connection with the great
discovery, while the son's name was unduly and
unjustly exalted, as though he had been the
prime mover and the ruling spirit in carrying
through the great enterprise. It was even de-
clared to be doubtful whether John Cabot had
sailed on the first voyage at all, or that he took
any part in the second, so that the whole glory
belonged of right to Sebastian. Indiscriminating
praise was lavished on the latter, while the name
of the elder was suppressed. In more recent
times fresh documents have been brought to
light, chiefly from Spanish archives, which have
completely turned the scale, and re-established
the reputation of John Cabot on a solid founda-
tion — proving him to have been the real discover-
er and the moving spirit in the whole enterprise ;
a man, too, of a noble spirit and courageous
heart.
Now, the rebound seems to have gone too far,
and some are disposed to deny all merit to the
son, and even refuse to believe that he had any
part in the discovery. His character has been
assailed and he has been painted as an unmiti-
m
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
«3
i
the
D far,
the
any
been
miti-
gated liar, an impostor, and one who endeavoured
to deprive his father of his well-merited fame.
Even nautical skill has been denied him. The
eminent historian and antiquarian, Harrisse, has
gone to great and unwarrantable extremes in his
violent onslaught on the memory of Sebastian
Cabot, As usual, the truth lies between the two
extremes. The reputation of Sebastian Cabot
has suffered not only from eulogiums of over zeal-
ous friends, but also from the fact that no record
from his own hand has escaped the gnawing tooth
of time. We are dependent for information re-
garding the second voyage and the utterances
and after career of Sebastian, on the works of
men who wrote long afterwards, and who wrote
from memory — such as Ramuseo and Gomara —
and whose recollections may have been, in many
cases, dim and mcorrect. Memory, in such cases,
is apt to prove treacherous after a lapse of years ;
or the writers may have partially misunderstood
the voyageur, and unintentionally misrepresented
his statements. They did not know the whole
case. Some of them knew only about the voy-
age of 1498, nothing of the earlier one. Others
confounded the two voyages. It is unLirto con-
demn Sebastian Cabot and to brand him as an
unscrupulous falsilier, on certain conversations
which these writers say they held with him. We
have not the whole case before us ; and many of
his reported statements may have admitted of
explanations, had we the means of sifting
them. If we merely pick out flaws, imperfections,
and failings in a man's character, we shall form
a very false estimate of the man : for the best of
men have plenty of weaknesses and imperfections,
and often yield to selfish considerations or gusts
of passion. The heroic Columbus was far enough
from perfection ; and as some ungracious writers
have tried to prove, was guilty of some very
questionable deeds. But allowance is made for
the influence of his age and training, and not-
withstandmg these, we admire and reverence the
hero for his solid worth, true nobility of soul, and
his great work.
Thus, let us deal with Sebastian Cabot. He
lived at the close of the fifteenth and beginning
of the sixteenth century — an age when scheming
and intriguing, and even lying and deception were
prevalent among the educated classes, and did
not meet with the condemnation they deserved.
Cabot could hardly escape being tainted with the
vices of his age. To seize on some apparent or
real transgression of the laws of veracity and hunt
him down and condemn him for these, is to mis-
judge and deal unfairly with the man. He had
his failings, no doubt, but that he was the per-
tinacious liar and incompetent pretender that
Harrisse has tried to paint him is entirely incred-
ible. He may have been guilty of want of candour
and concealment of facts, we admit; but it must
be remembered, we have no opportunity of cross-
examining the witnesses against him. He was
still a brave and able man, who did a great work
for the world, and on the whole, in a noble spirit.
If we withhold our respects from him and condemn
him for certain flaws of character, what great man
can we reverence ?
For, consider the broad facts of the case. His
name was associated with that of his father in
Henry's first patent. That he accompanied his
father on his first voyage is in the highest degree
probable, though the few meagre records do not
expressly say so. From the fact that his father's
name totally disappears from contemporary
records, and that he is not mentioned as ever
returning from the second voyage, we may fairly
infer that his death took place at that time, and
that Sebastian commanded the second expedition.
It is well known that Sebastian's ruling passion
was to find a passage to Cathay by the northwest.
Hence his father's original programme was altered,
and in his second voyage he boldly steered to the
northwest, and fought the ice-floes and icebergs
along the rugged coast of Labrador as far north as
Hudson's Strait. Therefore, to Sebastian Cabot
must be accorded the honour of pioneering the
way in Arctic exploration, and of kindling in the
bosoms of Englishmen that passion for Arctic dis-
covery in which they have surpassed all others and
put on record deeds of heroic bravery which have
won imperishable renown. Sebastian Cabot led
the way, and a long line of Arctic heroes followed,
the latest being the gallant Nansen. When com-
pelled to turn back by the ice and intense cold,
he sailed south as far as 38" N., thus discov:;ring
the whole coast of North America, from Hudson's
Strait to liorida — an event of the first magnitude
in connection with the settlement of the continent.
24
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Some time after his return to England he was
invited by Ferdinand of Spain to enter his ser-
vice. He had no reason to consider himself under
any obligations to England. His discoveries had
not yet been understood or appreciated by the
English, and no objections were raised to this
tidnsference of his services, in 1512, to Spain.
Ferdinand gave him an honourable position and
a salary of 50,000 maravedis per annum. He
wanted to turn to account Sebastian's knowledge
of the Baccalaos or New Fish-Lands which were
considered of no value in England. Who could
blame him, under such circumstances, for remov-
ing to Spain, and accepting an office of honour
and emolument — that of Grand Pilot of Spain and
head of the Department of Cartography at Seville?
This office he held with credit to himself till 1546,
both under Ferdinand and Charles — two of the
ablest monarchs of those days, and excellent judges
of character. Had Sebastian been the incompe-
tent sham represented by Harrisse, would such
shrewd judges of men and affairs not have speed-
ily seen through him and given him his dismissal,
instead of honouring him as they did for thirty-
four years ?
During those years Sebastian Cabot made sev-
eral more voyages of discovery, actively promot-
ing maritime enterprises and trading adventures;
and by invitation, took part in the famous confer-
ence at Badajos. In his old age he returned to
England, and Edward VI. bestowed on him a
pension oi£i66 as a mark of respect. His mental
activity and interest in maritime affairs continued
to the last, and he died in London, probably about
1557, when close on eighty years of age.
In view of all these facts there seems to be no
reason why the name of Sebastian Cabot should
not be joined with that of his illustrious father,
though of the two we may be found to accord the
higher honour to the memory of John Cabot who
was undoubtedly the originator and leader in the
first voyage. His son, however, is entitled to
high praise for brave and daring deeds, and to an
honoured place in the roll of England's illustrious
sailors. After the lapse of four hundred years it
seems unjust and ungracious "to draw his frailties
from their dread abode," and ignore his vast ser-
vices to the English race, and overlook the part
he took in the expansion of England.
Although the theory that Newfoundland was
Cabot's landfall must be abandoned as untenable,
yet no one has ever doubted or denied that he
discovered the island on his first voyage, and was
the first to report the immense fish wealth of its
surrounding seas. How much of the island he
saw cannot be determined ; but the fact of dis-
covery is indisputable ; and the name " New-
found-land," which included at first the adjacent
coasts and islands, was finally appropriated to the
island which still bears the name.
Still, it must be admitted that no critical author-
ity of eminence can be cited in support of the
theory that Newfoundland was Cabot's landfall.
Harrisse, who has made a most extensive and
minute examination of the old documents, con-
nected with the Cabots and the discovery of
America, does not even mention or discuss it. In
his earlier works he held that the landfall was on
the eastern coast of Cape Breton ; but in his
latest he fixes on Cape Chidley, the most northern
point of Labrador — an impossible landfall, as we
have seen, on the 24th of June. For Newfoundland,
however, Harrisse does not seem to consider there
was any evidence whatever. On the other hand,
many of the most eminent geographers and his-
torians may be quoted in support of the Cape
Breton view. Dr. Bourinot, Dr. Charles Deane,
the Ab'oe J. D. Beaudoin, Francisco Tarducci, an
eminent Italian historian, Breevoort, an Ameri-
can author, and Dr. S. E. Dawson, and many
others, support the Cape Breton landfall.
Except as a matter of historical and antiquarian
interest the mere spot where the Cabots first saw
land is not of any great importance. The map of
La Cosa shows that on his return voyage Cabot
coasted along the southern shore of Newfound-
land for 300 miles, and named many places, thus
closely identifying himself and his famous voyage
with the island. The landfall, about which there
will be perhaps always a difference of opinion, is
comparatively a minor point.
Without laying myself open to the charge of
egotism I may perhaps be permitted to state that
as far as I am aware I was the first to call public
attention to the claims of the Cabots to a centen-
ary celebration. In a paper read before the
Historical Society of Nova Scotia, in 1893, I put
forward the claims referred to, and urged the
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
25
greatness of Cabot's work as a reason for a com-
memoration. Afterwards, in a communication
to the Royal Society of Upper Canada, I called
attention to the matter. The Society then ap-
pointed a committee to report on the proposal.
Their report was favourable, and suitable arrange-
ments were made by the Society for the celebra-
tion. The proposal was favourably received
throughout Canada as well as in England. At a
much earlier date, in a paper published in The
Maritime Monthly Magazine for October, 1874, I
brought forward the same proposal in regard to
" the discoverer of North America." No doubt
the same idea occurred to other minds. To
myself, however, it is a matter of much satisfac-
tion that the idea has been translated into action.
The claim of Newfoundland has for its strong-
est adherent Judge Prouse, of that island. His
views are substantially summed up in the follow-
ing paragraphs :
If Cabot, as the Italians say, had gone north
from Ireland and then sailed west, he would un-
doubtedly in a direct course have made the land
of Northern Labrador ; but he did not go on a
straight course, he was driven up and down by
light east and north-east winds early in May, and
when approaching the land, if the nights were
dark and foggy, he would lay-to, and, probably
during three days passing across the Labrador
current:, which extends in June from 250 to 300
miles from Newfoundland, his vessel would be
drifting south. Cartier, on the same course,
made Cape Bonavista, and John Cabot might
make the land anywhere from Belle Isle to Cape
Race, though it is probable he would, like Cartier,
come up with the great auks off the Funk Islands,
and knowing from the appearance of these birds,
which had very short wings and could not fly, that
he was near the land, he would boldly strike in
and make a landfall, as Cartier did, at Bonavista.
It is quite clear that on this westerly course he
must have made land somewhere on the Labrador
coast or on the east coast of Newfoundland ; to pass
all this long line of coast extending north and
south i,2oo miles and then to make Cape Breton,
is wildly improbable, if not impossible. There
are two other very strong points against the Cape
Breton theory ; one is the name Cape Breton,
which appears in the very earliest maps ; no one
can doubt that this designation was given by
French fishermen, who were amongst the very
first to visit North America ; there is no trace of
Cabot and his discovery in this name. The other
is the undoubted fact that Cape Breton was not
known to be an island, and its insular character
is not shown in any map for forty years after
Cabot's landfall. It was not frequented by
European fishermen until long after Cabot's voy-
age, and there are no names on its coast beyond
Cape Breton, marked on any map prior to 1540.
The claims of Labrador may be summarily dis-
posed of. All the references in the earliest
accounts of the voyage are to an island or islands.
Moreover, Soncino, writing to the Duke of Milan
Dec. i8th, 1497, says; " The land is excellent and
the climate temperate." Reference is also made
to trees on the coast and to the abundance offish.
No discoverer would refer to a great peninsula
like Labrador as an island. The great codfishery
does not begin until July, and its bleak and rug-
ged shores could never be described as wooded or
beautiful and pleasant.
Cape Breton as the land-fall has, however, the
bulk of authoritative opinion. Dr. Charles
Deane, of the Massachusetts Historical Society ;
Sir Clements Markham, President of the Royal
Geographical Society of England; Signor Tar-
ducci, a recent biographer of the Cabots ; Mr. R.
G. Thwaites, Secretary of the Wisconsin Histori-
cal Society ; Dr. S. E. Dawson, of Ottawa ; and Dr.
J. G. Bourinot, of Ottawa ; all favour the Cape Bre-
ton theory, while Dr. Justin Winsor is doubtful,
and H. Harrisse, in his work upon the Cabots, in-
clines to Labrador. The latter location was
favoured by both Humboldt and Biddle who
wrote, however, before the discovery of the Cabot
map oi" 1544 and other documents.
a6
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
On the 24th of June, 1897, His Excellency, the
Earl of Aberdeen, Governor-General of Canada, in
the presence of many representative men, unveiled
a tablet erected in the Provincial Building, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, in commemoration of Cabot's dis-
covery. It bears the following inscription :
" This Tablet is in honour of the famous navi-
gator John Cabot, who, under authority of letters
patent of Henry VII., directing him * to conquer
occupy, and possess for England all lands he
might find in whatever part of the world they be,'
sailed in a British ship, The Matthew, and first
planted the flags of England and Venice, on the
26th of June, 1497, on the north-eastern seaboard
of North America, and by his discoveries in this
and the following year, gave to England a claim
upon the continent, which the colonizing
spirit of her sons made good in later times.
This Tablet was placed in this hall by the
Royal Society of Canada in June, 1897, when the
British Empire was celebrating the sixtieth anni-
versary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria, during whose beneficent reign the
Dominion of Canada has extended from the
shores first seen by Cabot, an English sailor four
hundred years before, to the far Pacific coast.
His Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen, Gov-
ernor-General of Canada. His Honour M. B.
Daly, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. C.
O'Brien, d.d.. President of the Royal Society of
Canada, Archbishop of Halifax. J. G. Bourinot,
C.M.G., Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society
of Canada. City of Bristol delegates, William
Robert Barker, j. p., and William Howell Davies."
The following: table of discoveries and dis-
coverers connected with Canada, and the continent
as a whole, is necessary to a complete comprehen-
sion of its earlier history :
1492 San Salvador Island discovered by Colum-
bus.
1495 Jamaica discovered by Columbus.
1497 John Cabot discovers Newfoundland and the
shores of Nova Scotia.
1498 Sebastian Cabot explores the American coast
from Nova Scotia to Hudson's Straits.
1498 Eastern coast explored by Americus Vespu-
cius, after whom America is named.
1502 Columbus lands on the American Continent.
1502 Cortereal, a Portuguese, explores the Atlan-
tic coast of North America,
1512 Florida discovered by Ponce de Leon.
151J Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.
151 7 Mexico discovered by Franciso Fernandez.
1524 Verrazano of Florence, sent out by the
French King, and explores the coast from
the Caroiinas to Newfoundland.
1527 The Bermudas discovered by a Spaniard
of that name. •
1534 Jacques Cartier discovers the St. Lawrence
River.
1536 California discovered by Cortez.
1541 The Mississippi River discovered by Ferdl*
nand de Soto.
1553 New Mexico discovered by the Spaniards.
1576 Greenland discovered by Sir Martin Fro-
bisher.
1584 Virginia first visited by Sir Walter Raleigh.
1592 Straits of Juan de Fuca discovered.
1609 Hudson's Bay discovered.
1613 Champlain explores the interior of Canada,
and discovers Lakes Huron, Ontario and
Nipissing.
1682 Cavelier de La Salle explores the Mississippi
and the "great west " of the continent.
1778 British Columbia coast explored by Captain
Cook.
The origrinal and first discovery of North
America really lies at the credit of neither Cabot
nor Columbus. There is now little reason to
doubt that the restless Vikings of the Tenth
century found sailing over the known seas of the
world too tame a {>astime for their Norwegian
energies and wild natures, and that they more
than once sighted and visited the shores of this
continent. Iceland and the Faroe Islands were
settled by them in the Ninth century. Eric the
Red occupied the Greenland coast in a.d. g86.
Beorn, one of his colonists, was, not long after-
wards, swept by stormy seas to the west and
south, where he sighted hitherto unknown shores.
Leif Ericson in a.d. iooo, fired by stories of
what his comrade had seen, started out to explore
the new lands on his own account and probably
touched the continent where Labrador is now
located. This desolate region he called Stone-
land. Further south, perhaps the coast of New-
CANADA; AN ENCYCI.OP.l-DIA.
n
foiindlnml, he called Uushland. Still further he
sailed and reached a pleasant country — probably
Nova Scotia — svhich he named Viiieland. Here
he established a village, and here others came
until many ships and large cargoes and a flourish-
ing colony were the result.
But the Indians seem to have been too much for
the settlers and to have ultimately overpowered
and driven them away. Nothing at any rate now
remains but eloquent memories embalmed in two
Icelandic sagas. Europe was too busy with its
internal questions and wars to think or even hear
of such matters, and presently these earlier navi-
gators and settlers were shrouded in a veil of
oblivion which deepened as the centuries rolled on.
Jacques Cartier was the discoverer of the
St. Lawrence, at once the entrance to Canada
and the ocean gateway of its vast fresh water lakes.
A sturdy, courageous, keen, and enterprising navi-
gator, he was born in 1494, at the ancient seaport
of St. Malo, in Brittany, and during the earlier
years of his manhood pursued the calling of the
sea with a success which can best be judged by
the fact that in 1534, he was selected by Philippe
de Brion-Chabot, Admiral of France, and acting
for King Francis I, to lead an exploring expedition
to the New World. Ten years before this date,
Verrazano had been also sent by the French
King with very fair results in the way of coasting
discovery.
Cartier, however, seems to have made up his
mind to do more than that, and to have determined
either to find his way into the interior of the
country, or, as he hoped, into a new ocean and
pathway to the East. During his first voyage he
advanced up the St. Lawrence to Anticosti Island.
Upon his second he started in 1533 with a little
fleet of three vessels — the largest being only 120
tons burden. This time he sailed up the great
Canadian river, and past the grim and frowning
entrance to the Saguenay, until he reached the
Isle D'Orleans— which he called Bacchus, on
account of the grapes found by his delighted crew.
The Indians received him with every mark of
honour and courtesy, and helped him in his further
explorations up to where Montreal now stands.
This kindness was treacherously repaid by his
seizure of the Indian Chief and his transportation
to France where he died a year or so after-
wards. During his third visit, in 1541, Cartier
was able to do little owing to the very natural
hostility and suspicion of the Indians, and Cana-
dian exploration, with the exception of some
efforts made by I)c Roberval, languished until
revived by the spirit and energy of Cham-
plain. Jacques Cartier, the humble sailor, re-
turned to France where he became a noble-
man under the title of Seigneur of Limoilou.
He died in comparative retirement at St. Maio,
in the year 1554. Meanwhile Jean I'rancois de
Jacques Cartier.
La Roque, Sieur de Roberval, who had been
appointed Governor-General of New France dur-
ing Cartier's last voyage and who arrived with his
fleet a year too late to do the former any service,
had made a determined effort to carry on the
work of colonization. He rebuilt Cartier's aban-
doned village and embryo fort where Quebec now
stands, and cleared the fields, sowed crops, and
made other preparations for a permanent settle-
ment. But the coming of winter, the scarcity of
food, and the prevalence of scurvy amongst his
•8
CANADA : AN-ENCVCLOIVK DIA.
men compelled him eventually to return home
with a mere remnant of his expedition. In i.<)4i),
he and his brother, with a large number of
emigrants, many ships, and plentiful supplies,
sailed for the St. Lawrence to try once more the
foundation of a new State in the New World.
But the unfortunate expedition was never deOa-
itely heard of again and its fate remains one of
the secret shadows upon the dial of history.
Samuel de Champlain was the central figure
of Canadian internal exploration and pioneer
colonization. While Cabot hrst touched the
Canadian half of the continent, and Cartier led
the way up the St. Lawrence to vast unknown
fields of discovery and exploration, Champlain
was the pioneer in practical work and in the sys-
tematic examination of the vast interior. Born in
1567 of a noble family, at Brouage, on the west
coast of France, he had seen considerable military,
naval, and engineering service before, in 1603, ac-
cepting association with Pontgrav^, an adventur-
ous merchant sailor of St. Malo, and Pierre du
Guast, Sieur de Monts, a chivalrous noble of Henry
the Fourth's Court, in an expedition to investigate
the deserted regions of New France and establish
a connection which might increase French power
while also preparing the way for a prosperous
personal business in furs.
The expenses of the undertaking were assumed
by M. de Chastes, Governor of Dieppe, who was
anxious to see France in the forefront of American
settlement, and was not dismayed by the disap-
pearance of de Roberval and the disastrous results
of an attempt in 1598 by the Marquess de !a
Roche to found a settlement of convicts on the
bleak and barren shores of Sable Island. Pont-
gravii, who had shared in the latter enterprise, had,
however, succeeded in establishing a small trading
post at Tadousac, at the mouth of the Saguenay,
and this point de Champlain and his associates
reached during the month of May. The former,
with a small party, then sailed up the river in
batteaux as far as the rapids of St. Louis, which
checked his further progress as had previously
been the case with Cartier. After some minor
explorations along the shores of the river he re-
turned to the ships and the whole party sailed for
France.
De Chastes, having meanwhile died, and de
Monts, feeling full of the lire and fever of explora-
tion, the latter fitted out a second and larger
expedition in 1604, and with de Champlain, the
Baron de Poutrincourt, and a very mixed crew,
prepared to take possession of Acadia for the
French King — a vague name or phrase which in
his charter or patent might have included all the
territory from Pennsylvania to the banks of the
upper St. Lawrence. The coasts were pretty
thoroughly explored and names given to many
bays and headlands. Poutrincourt, and indeed
Samuel de Champlain.
all the party, were greatly delighted with the
natural beauty of Annapolis Basin, and the former
obtained a grant of the region immediately sur-
rounding what he called by the afterwards historic
name of Port Royal. The beautiful Passama-
quoddy Bay was next reached, and here, on St.
Croix Island, a settlement was effected. The
winter which succeeded, however, was one long
misery, and the colonists had eventually to aban-
don the place and be transferred to Port Royal.
Meanwhile, Champlain and de Monts had ex-
'i™
CANADA : AN ENrYCI.OI'.i.OIA.
39
plored the coast as fur south as Cape Cod. During
the next few years questions of colonization, sup-
plies, and home interests divided the attention of
the pioneer leaders. De Monts bound up his
fortunes with those of Acadia. A settlement was
made on the shores cf the St. Lawrence in 1608,
by de Champlain, who, accompanied by Pontgravd,
laid the foundations of Quebec in the shadow of
the towering rock which has frowned upon such
varied scenes of historic struggle and individual
suffering. Many explorations into the far interior
followed, together with constant struggles with
the Iroquois, and intense, determined efforts
by Champlain to establish the New France
which he loved, and to which he later on brought
his family, and practically consecrated his career.
The difficulties of local settlement, the abuses of
the fur trade, the indifference or hostility of the
home authorities, the blood-darkened :^.hadow of
savage life, all hampered his successful action.
But still he struggled on, and after the three
years' temporary occupation of Quebec by the
English seemed in 1633 to be entering, with his
colony, upon a period of rest and prosperity. The
hand of death, however, intervened, and within
two years of that time the great Governor of New
France — the Father of French Canada passed
away to his reward.
During the period of discovery and restless
maritime action which lay between the expedi-
tions of Columbus and Cabot, and the ex-
plorations of Champlain and de Monts, much
depended upon the reigning Sovereigns of France
Ucasxi.in.
En|I>nH.
1485
Henry VII.
i5u<J
Henry VTII.
1547
Edward VT.
1553
Mary I.
I55«
Elizabeth.
i6ij3
James I.
1625
Charles I.
1640-58
Cromwell.
and England. Unfortunately, out of the following
list, there are but few who made really good use
of the vast openings for future power and increased
territory which were afforded them by the adven-
turous spirits of their day. But the names arc
historically important to thu continent whose
earlier as well as later annals were more or less
affected by the history of the two rival European
kingdoms.
Accefthlon. France.
1483 Charles VIII.
I4(j8 Louis XII.
1515 Francis I.
1547 Henri II.
1559 Francis II.
1560 Charles IX.
1574 Henri III.
i.vStj Henri IV.
1610-43 Louis XIII.
Of the French Kings, Francis the First, a
gallant, showy, and ambitious monarch, and
Henry the Fourth, who in every branch of
national government and national expansion
proved to be a great sovereign, showed themselves
strong patrons of exploration and colonization.
So far as Canada is concerned Henry VII. in his
encouragement of the Cabots, and James I. in his
patronage of Lord Selkirk, are the most important
of the English rulers. Of course, Henry VIII.
and Elizabeth in their general promotion of
maritime discovery through the active medium
of men like Drake, and Frobisher, and Raleigh
did much to stir up the popular spirit of enquiry
concerning the American continent, but Canada
shared only indirectly in the result.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES
SIR SANDFORD FLEMING, K CM G , LI .D., F.R.S C.
WHF.X the contiiiPiit of America was
first discovered tlie dinuMisions of
the globe were but imperfectly
understood. Its circmnfercnce>\as
thought to be much less than it has since bocn
found to be, and the land discovered by Columbus
and Cabot was supposed to be the eastern shore of
Asia. Spain and Portugal, then the great mari-
time powers of the world, agreed under a Treaty
of Partition, founded on a bull issued by Pope
Alexander VI. in the year 1412, that the Spani-
ards should possess exclusive control over the
western route to Asia, while the Portuguese should
communicate through eastern channels. This
question of jurisdiction having been settled and
affirmed under the authority of the highest powers
the Portuguese pursued their discoveries to the
east by way of the Cape of Good Hope, while the
Spaniards endeavoured to find their way in
a westerly direction, through new seas and
unknown lands, to India. The Spanish ships
cruised along the Atlantic coast of America
in the hope of finding a way to the south of Asia.
In 1513 the Isthmus of Darien was crossed,
and three years afterwards Spanish navigators
passed through the Straits of Magellan. Thus the
Pacific Ocean was discovered at two widely
separated points.
In 1592, Juan de Fuca is reported to have
followed the Mexican and Californian coasts until
he reached the broad inlet of the sea which
to-day bears his name, and forms the southern
limit of Canada on the western ocean. Eight
years after the alleged discovery by Juan de Fuca,
Henry Hudson ascertained the existence of a
great inland sea accessible from the Atlantic side
of the new continent. From Hudson's Bay it
was confidently expected that some passage
would speedily be found \/hich would enable
ships tr traverse from the Atlantic to the
Pacific md shorten the voyage from I'2uroj)0 to
Asia. In 1670, the whole region surrounding
Huil;on s Bay was granted by the British Crown
to ibe society of merchants ever since known as
the Hudson's Bay Company, who, after thorough-
ly exploring its shores, failed in discovering an
outlet to the west. With the view of reaching
Asia by a northwest passage efforts at discovery
were persistently extended until the middle of the
nineteenth century, but they proved completely
barren of useful results. The explorations by land
must be regarded in a different light.
The first civilized men who pierced the interior
were French adventurers, missionaries, and trad-
ers from old Canada, while the country was
in the possession of France. The exploits of
these men, who, without the slightest previous
knowledge of the territory, penetrated amongst
numerous savage tribes, remains of thrilling inter-
est. Finally they passed from the St. Lawrence
through the great lakes of Huron and Superior,
and by the innumerable intricacies of streams,
lakes, and portages to Lake Winnipeg. Thence
they ascended the River Saskatchewan to about
the 103" meridian, where they planted their most
distant trading post, some 2,000 miles from the
the then colonized parts of Canada.
In 1679 Robert Cavalier de la Salle, entertain-
ed the idea of finding a way to China through the
lakes and rivers of Canada. His expedition set
out in the frail canoes of the natives, and his
point of departure above the rapids on the St.
Lawrence, near Montreal, was named, and is still
named, LaChine — in consequence of the daring
project to reach from that point the land of the
Chinaman. Half a century later the attempt was
renewed. In 1731, Pierre Gauthier de la Veren-
drye, under the auspicesof Charles, Marquess de
I
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
3'
?. to the
iiiropo to
rrouiuling
sh Crown
known as
thorouRh-
vt-rinf,' an
f roachint;
discovery
Idle of the
;ompletely
ns by land
he interior
, and trad-
iintry was
:xploits of
St previous
d amongst
lling inter-
Lawrence
1 Superior,
if streams,
Thence
n to about
their most
s from the
entertain-
hrough the
ledition set
es, and his
on the St.
and is still
the daring
land of the
ittempt was
e la Veren-
larquess de
Ucauharnois, Governor of New France, com-
manded the expedition, and although he failed to
leach the Pacific Ocean he advanced farther on the
western prairies than any of his predecessors. In
1762 Fort La Rouge, close to the site of the
future Fort Garry and Winnipeg, was an estab-
lished trading post. Soon after this the conquest
of Canada extinguished French possession and
terminated French exploration in the western
wilderness. Even the French missionaries, who
were the first to preach the Gospel to the
aborigines, abandoned the country, and did not
resume the work for nearly sixty years. A hun-
dred years after the grant to the Hudson's Hay
Company one of their agents, Mr. Samuel
Hearne, was commissioned to examine the
interior. Between 1769 and 1773 that explorer
made journeys, on foot and in canoes, 1,000
miles westerly from the place of his departure on
Hudson's Bay.
He discovered Great Slave Lake and other
large lakes, and traced the Coppermine River to
its mouth in the Arctic Ocean. A hundred and
twenty years ago, and in the year before the sad
death of that most distinguished navigator and
discoverer, Captain Cook touched at Nootka
Sound, on the Western coast of Vancouver's
Island, claimed its discovery, and remaining there
a few weeks, sailed along the coast to Behring
Straits.
After an intermission of eleven years, Alexander
Mackenzie, in the service of the North West Fur
Trading Company, set out on an important ex-
ploration of the interior. Between 1789 and
1793, that intrepid traveller discovered the great
river which justly bears his name, and followed
it to the Arctic Ocean. He ascended the Peace
River to its source, and was the first civilized man
to penetrate the Rocky Mountains, and pass
through to the Pacific Coast. This traveller in-
scribed in large characters on a rock by the side of
Dean Inlet, " Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada,
by land, 22nd July, 1793." On the same day that
Mackenzie placed that memorable inscription by
the side of the Pacific, Captain Vancouver was
pursuing his examination of the coast about two
degrees further north. A short time before Mac-
kenzie emerged from the interior, Vancouver had
visited the spot where Mackenzie slept for one
night within the sound of the sea. Thus these
two distinguished travellers, from opposite direct-
ions and engaged in totally different pursuits,
discovered precisely the same place, and by a
remarkable coincidence, all but met each other.
In 1806, Simon Frascr crossed the Rocky
Mountains from Canada, and descended the great
river of British Columbia, which in his honour
was named after him. I w:»s my good fortune
many years ago to read . .ser's original manu-
script journal, then in the ,i uJs of his son. I
have since witnessed the f ' ng rapids and boil-
ing whirlpools of that wildc... ut all large rivers,
and I cannot be surprised that not many have
attempted, and still fewer have succeeded, in fol-
lowing in the wake of Simon Fraser from its
source to its mouth. Twenty-two years afterwards,
however. Governor Sir George Simpson made the
daring attempt. In 1828, he stepped into a canoe
at York Factory on Hudson's Bay, and stepped
out of the frail craft some time afterwards at the
mouth of the River Fraser, having in the interim
traversed the interior, and carried the canoe as
Mackenzie did before him, from the source of
Peace River to the great northern bend of the
Fraser.
This celebrated traveller, in his journey round
the world in 1841, again crossed the northern, or
Canadian, half of America. His course was by the
St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, Lakes Nipissing,
Huron, Superior, and by the canoe route to Lake
Winnipeg ; then across the prairie via the Sas-
katchewan to the Rocky Mountains, and by
Kootenay to the Columbia River.
Among the officers and others connected with
the great fur trading companies who have left a
record of their travels, the following are the most
noteworthy. David Thompson made extensive
surveys between 1794 and 1811, embracing the
rivers Nelson, Churchill, Saskatchewan, and their
tributari IS, the country of the Mandan Indians,
Lac la Biche, and Athabasca. He crossed the
Rocky Mountains in 1807 by the Horner Pass,
and in 1810 by the Athabasca Pass. In 1811, he
followed the Columbia to the Pacific Coast on
the occasion of Fort Astoria being established,
and was the first civilized man to traverse the
river Columbia from its source. In 1799, .Alex-
ander Henry left Montreal for the interior, crossed
, — Hiimmiumiuianjmt
HmmiRMi
3«
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
the Rocky Mountains in 1811, again in 1813, and
followed the Columbia to its mouth. In 1814,
Gabriel Fanchon having passed round Cape Horn
to the Pacific Coast, ascended the Columbia,
crossed the mountains to Little Slave Lake, and
then found his way easterly by Fort Cumberland
and Lake Winnipeg. Some years later Ross Cox,
after serving the fur company to which he was
attached at various points in what is now known
as the State of Washington, and in British Col-
umbia, returned overland to Montreal.
Between 1800 and i8ig, D. W. Harmin trav-
Sir Sandford Fleming.
elled over a great extent of the interior, and spent
ten years in the Peace River region, and in New
Caledonia, now the northern part of British
Columbia. Harman's journal, published in 1820,
furnishes an interesting narrative of his travels.
Another traveller, Alexander Ross, was connected
with the first establishment of Astoria, and stayed
from 181 1 to 1823 among the Indian tribes. He
returned in company with Sir George .Simpson
across the Rocky Mountains to Edmonton. In a
volume published in 1849, he describe^' the career
of the Pacific Fur Company, its operations, re-
verses, and final discomfiture. His adventures
among the Indian tribes west of the Rocky
Mountains are given in a second narrative publish-
ed in 1855. John McLeod, in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company, crossed the mountains
from the east in 1822 with his wife and two young
children, and descended the River Fraser to the
Strait of Georgia. In 1826 he left Fort Vancouver
to proceed eastward in the company of Edward
Ermatinger, and the distinguished botanist,
Douglas, reaching York Factory after following
the chain of waters to Hudson's Bay. At York
Factory the party met Sir John Franklin on his
arrival tiiere.
Robert Campbell takes a prominent place among
the adventurous explorers of the Hudson's Bay
Company. He travelled from York Factory to
the Stickeen River, discovered Pelly River, which
proved identical with the Yukon, crossed the
height of land to Peel River, and ascended th
Mackenzie. In 1852-53, this traveller made a re-
markable journey from the Yukon territory to Eng-
land. He left the Alaska boundary, ascended the
Pelly and crossed the mountains to the Liard.
Winter having set in he walked on snow shoes to
Crow Wing on the Messenger, extending over
sixteen degrees of latitude and twenty-seven de-
grees of longitude. He had with him three men
and a train of dogs to Crow Wing, where he ob-
tained horses for the journey to Chicago, and
eventually reached London. From his starting
point this traveller had made a continuous journey
of 9,700 miles, nearly half of which was through
an uninhabited wilderness, and of this distance
3,000 miles were passed over in the dead of win-
ter, and much of it walked on snow shoes.
In June, 1843, Captain (afterwards General Sir
Henry) Lefroy arrived at Red River, passed
through to Lake Athabasca, and then remained
from the middle of October to the end of Febru-
ary following, engaged in meteorological and
magnetical observations. In March, 1844, he
started for Fort Simpson, on Mackenzie River,
where for several months his time was occupied in
similar pursuits.
The North -West Passage, a problem which
has baffled the energy and skill of navigators,
remained unsolved at the beginning of the pres •
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
33
ent century, and a series of attempts were made
to throw light on the gloom that surrounded
it. Some of these efforts assumed the form
of expeditions by land, traversing the re^jion
which now constitutes part of central Canada,
and therefore call for notice. The reference to
them must be brief, but the indomitable perse-
verence and heroic endurance which they devel-
oped and displayed demands a passing tribute to
names which will ever be familiar in Canadian
and Arctic story. In i8ig, an Arctic land expedi-
tion was organized under the command of Captain
Franklin. That officer travelled via Red River
to Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan, and
thence by Fort Chipewayan, Fort Enterprise,
and the Coppermine River to the Arctic coast.
This expedition was marked by frightful suffering
and loso of life.
In 1825, Franklin started on a second expedi-
tion. Having reached Lake Ontario, he passed,
via Lakes Huron and Superior, to Red River, and
thence traversed the country to Great Bear Lake,
where he wintered. The following year he pur-
sued his journey to the Arctic Coast, via Macken-
zie River. In 1833, Captain Back, on an expedi-
tion in search of Sir John Ross, passed from
Montreal to Lake Winnipeg and thence to Fort
Reliance, where he wintered ; after which he fol-
lowed the Great Fish River to the Arctic Coast.
In 1836, Messrs. P. W. Dease and Thomas Simp,
son, at the instance of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, started overland from Red River on a joint
expedition. Thev spent the years 1837, 1838, and
1839 in explorations on the northern coast. They
joined the surveys of Franklin and Beechey at
Point Barrow in Behring Strait, and those of
Franklin und Back between the Coppermine and
Great Fish Rivers, making the longest boat voy-
age in the Arctic seas on record.
Dr. Rae in 1845 took his departure from Lake
Superior on the breaking up of the winter, passed
by the common route to Red River, by Lake
Winnipeg to Norway House, and thence to York
Factory, where he wintered. A year afterwards
he wintered at Repulse Bay without fuel, and
subsisted with his party for twelve months on
food obtained with the gun and spear. He united
the surveys of Ross and Parry, a distance of about
700 miles, and made the first long sledge journey
performed in thiat part of the world, the total
distance being nearly 1,300 miles. In 1848, Sir
John Richardson, who already had made two
overland journeys with Sir John Franklin, made
a third in search of that lamented traveller. On
the last occasion he was accompanied by Dr. Rae.
The two volumes published by Richardson on his
return afford evidence of the minute scientific
observations made in the part of Canada which
was traversed by these two celebrated explorers,
and afford ample proof of the value of their
labours.
In 1849, Dr. Rae alone, passed down the Cop-
permine River, pursuing the object of discovering
Franklin with unabated vigour. In the following
year he renewed the search. He wintered at
Fort Confidence, Great Bear Lake ; descended
the Coppermine River ; travelled over ice nearly
1,100 miles at an average rate of from twenty-five
to twenty-six miles a day ; and made the fastest
long Arctic journey which has ever been known.
Subsequently, on the same expedition, he made a
boat voyage almost rivalling that previously made
by Dease and Simpson. In 1853 and 1854 this
indefatigable and justly celebrated traveller was
again in the field. We find him wintering at
Repulse Bay, living nearly altogether on the
produce of the gun, the hook, or the spear. He
made another sledge journey of over a thousand
miles, and joined the surveys of Dease and Simp-
son with those of Ross and Bothea. On this
occasion Dr. Rae was so far successful as set
at rest all doubts as to the sad fate of the Frank-
lin expedition. For this the promised reward,
jfio.ooo sterling, was presented to him *>v the
British Government.
With the exception of a final exploration made
in 1855 by Messrs. Anderson and Stewart, who
passed down the Great Fish River, Dr. Rae's
record above referred to closes the narration of
the overland Arctic expeditions. It cannot be
denied that notwithstanding all the toils, perils,
and privations inseparable from them, these
expeditions have resulted in loss and disappoint-
ment in the main object for which they were
undertaken, viz., a northwest passage for ships.
They have incidentally, however, given valuable
additions to our knowledge of the country and
made important contributions to science.
34
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
These various overland Arctic expeditions, of
which 1 have presented but an outline, extended
over a period of thirty-six years. But for them
the northern regions of Canada would not have
been so thoroughly explored. We have now a
fair knowledge of the northern coasts, with all
their silent and peaceful grandeur, and distance
from the feverish bustle of busy men. The more
Arctic portions of the Dominion are probably
destined to remain for ever undisturbed by the
hum of industry, and to continue as Providence
has hitherto kept them, with the characteristics
of snow and solitude which mark the landscape
in high latitudes.
While investigations were being proceeded with
during a series of years in the northern parts of
North America in connection with the futile at-
tempts to find a practicable north-west passage
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it was
not until a comparatively recent period that special
attention was directed to the southern and far
more valuable portions of the country. Between
the years 1819 and 1855 the northern districts
were traversed in many directions. It was only
subsequent to the later date that regularly organ-
ized efforts were made to gain information respect-
ing the country nearer home. In 1857, on the
recommendation of the Royal Geographical
Society, Her Majesty's Government sent out an
expedition to explore the country between Lake
Superior ami the Rocky Mountains. It was placed
under the command of Captain Palliser, who, with
a staff of scientific men continued his investiga-
tions until 1839. Reports of the highest value
were published on the return of the expedition.
The Government o*^ the late Province of Canada
likewise sent out an expedition in 1857. Its object
was to survey the canoe route between Lake
Superior and the Red River Settlement. Messrs.
Dawson and Hind, who were in charge of distinct
branches of this expedition, pursued their investi-
gations during 1857 and 1858, extending them as
far we.,t as the south branch of the Saskatchewan.
During the same years Captain Blakiston, at
the instance of the Royal Society, was engaged in
nieteonjlogical and other scientific observations.
He began at York P'actory on Hudson's Hay,
passed inland to Lake Winnipeg, and thence by
the Saskatchewan to the Rocky Mountains.
There were other travellers who were not
directly commissioned by the Imperial or Colonial
Governments, who passed through the country,
and on their return added valuable contributions
to the general stock of information. In 1846-48
Paul Kane, of Toronto, who had studied Art in
Europe, determined to devote his time and talents
to the completion of a series of paintings illustra-
tive of Indian life and character. His journey
to the Pacific Coast and his experience among the
Indians is graphically given in a volume published
in 1889, " Wanderings of an Artist from Canada
to Vancouver Island." In 1859 and i860, the
Earl of Southesk followed the Assiniboine and
Saskatchewan valleys to the Rocky Mountains,
and some years afterwards gave the public the
benefit of his observations. In 1862 and 1863,
Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle crossed from the
Atlantictothe Pacific by the Yellow Head Passand
Thompson River, performing a journey in which
they were exposed to many perils, and narrowly
escaped disaster. The volume, "The North-West
Passage by Land," published on their return to
England, is one of the most charming of modern
books of travel. In 1864, we again find Dr. Rae
at work. On this occasion he had abandoned the
Arctic region in favour of a more southern journey.
He cr'^iiacd, as Milton and Cheadle did in the pre-
ceeding years, via the Saskatchewan to Tete Jaune
Cache, but, unlike them, he turned at this point
to follow the River Eraser in place of the River
Thompson, finally reaching the Pacific Coast.
I ought not to omit to mention Messrs. Douglas
and Drummond, both botanists, who spent some
time in the country. To David Thompson,already
mentioned, and after whom the Thompson River
is named, we are indebted to no small extent
for our geographical knowledge of much of the
interior. It would be an injustice to the mission-
aries who have gone forth at different times to
Christianize and civilize the native tribes, did I
overlook the part they have also taken in throwing
light on the physical features of the several
regions they have visited.
Ministers of the Anglican, Wesleyan, Presby-
terian, and Roman Catholic Churches have each
and all done their part. To French priests of the
last named Church, we are greatly indebted.
Nearly a hundred and seventy years ago Per^
,*
S
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Si
- -■'!a
Annaud on his first meeting: with the Indians, fell
a victim, together with Vercndrye and their
party, between Lake Superior and Red River.
The French fathers indeed, furnish a long list of
martyrs to the cause they embraced. Canada owes
much also to the learned Archbishop Tachfc, whose
travels during a sojourn of many years in north-
western Canada have been extensive, and the re-
sults of whose observations in many parts of the
far interior have been given to the world.
This is but a brief reference to some of the
principal explorers. I cannot pretend in this
paper to give even the names of all who par-
ticipated up to the period when the whole
territory formerly known as British North America
came under the name and jurisdiction of Canada.
The Imperial Act by which British Columbia and
the Hudson's Bay territory entered the Dominion,
came into force in July, 1871. On that day strong
engineering parties were sent out by the
Dominion to explore the whole region inter-
vening betvtcen the seat of Government at Otta-
wa in the eastern provinces and the Pacific Coast
at the west. The object was to obtain fuller
information respecting the country than had
previously been placed on record, with the
view of establishing a line to be followed by a
trans-continental railway. The engineering force
engaged in this work reached nearly a thousand
men of all grades. The survey was continued for
a number of years. I have been intimately con-
nected with it myself, and therefore it behooves me
to refrain from saying much in respect to the
manner in which the work has been done. I may,
however, allude to the earnestness and determina-
tion of the Government and people of Canada
with respect to the development of the magnificent
country which then came under their control.
An instance may be given in connection with the
surveys. After three years had been spent by a
large staff in exploring every part of a wild, unin-
habited, and roadless country, extending a dis-
tance of about three thousand miles, a great
amount of exact engineering information had been
obtained at heavy cost, when a serious and dis-
couraging disaster occurred. In 1874, in mid-
winter, the building in which were deposited the
field note-books, the unfinished plans, and nearly
all the information accumulated, was destroyed
by fire, and nearly every scrap of paper consumed.
Thus the labour of three years, the results which
had been obtained at a cost of about £300,000
sterling, were lost. Nothing daunted, the order
was given to commence the work of surveying
afresh.
I shall not attempt to give even an outline of
the details of a work which might fill volumes, and
will simply allude to the general information which
has been acquired, and to some of the more impor-
tant results which have been obtained. It will,
however, enable the reader to form some idea of
the labour expended on this survey when I state
that the total length of explorations made during
the first seven years exceeded 47,000 miles, and
that no less than 12,000 miles were labouriously
measured by chain and spirit level, yard by yard,
through mountain, prairie, and forest. To state
that the Canadian Government, on this special
examination alone, expended about 3f700,ooo
sterling, will not even convey a correct idea of the
energy and determination displayed.
Besides extensive land surveys in Manitoba, the
boundary line between Canada and the United
States has had to be defined from end to end.
The work was performed by a Joint Commission
appointed by both countries. The British section
of the Commission was in command of Major
(now General) D. R. Cameron ; the work occu-
pied three years, and the reports furnished, includ-
ing scientific papers by Captain Anderson Feather-
stonhaugh, and Mr. George M. Dawson, have
largely extended our knowledge of that portion of
the country adjoining the southern boundary line
from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Moun-
tains. A boundary survey west of the mountains
had been previously completed.
The foregoing sketch of the early discoveries
within the limits of that portion of No'-th America,
which together constitute the Dominion of Can-
ada, and the reference to the various explorations
and surveys which from time to time have been
made in different directions, will enable the reader
to judge of the value of the information, geo-
graphical and physical, which has been acquired
respecting much of the country. The several
Provinces on the Atlantic sea-board and the
St. Lawrence, are well known. The southern
margin of the country, extending from these
1
36
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Provinces westerly to the mountains, has been
examined with the greatest care by the Royal
Commission appointed to define the boundary
between Canada and the United States. The
Canadian coast on the Pacific, with its many
deep fiords, flanked in some instances by moun-
tains reaching the limit of perpetual snow, has
been the subject of repeated explorations. The
northern side of the country, with its long sum-
mer day and its equally long winter night, has
been visited in nearly every part by brave and
indefatigable men, who, after perils and priva-
tions of no ordinary kind, have mapped it out.
and left it again to the silence and desolation
which pervades the Arctic circle. The interior is
so vast that it cannot be said yet to have been
completely examined. There are still districts
where the foot of civilised man has never stepped,
but, as I have shown, explorers have laboured in
many directions, and, with unflagging toil adven-
turous men have penetrated the gloomy recesses
of the primeval forest, have peered into the rocky
fastnesses ot the mountains, and with unflinching
endurance, have gained for us a general and rea-
sonably correct knowledge of much of the vast
country now known as the Dominion of Canada.
The opening of the North-West by the Sieur
de la Vereniirye was a remarkable episode in the
history of Canadian e.xploration. In 1731 he
started with his three sons and a small picked
party from Michilimackinac in search of a great
lake which the Indians called " Ouinipon " and
which is now known as Lake Winnipeg. Through
.the wilderness to the north and west of Lake
Superior the party journeyed until they reached
a large boi.y of fresh water which De la Verendrye
called the Lake of the Woods, and on whose
shores he established a Fort, after some prelim-
inary skirmishes with the Sioux. From there
they descended the turbulent Winnipeg river to
the lake for which they were in search. Upon
the other side of that stormy inland sea the party
came to the Rod River and ascended it to its
junction with tlie Assiniboine where a fort was
built on the site of the present Provincial capital.
From these headquarters many exploring expedi-
tions were sent out and trading posts established.
Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis were discov-
ered and the Sackatcliewan River ascended for
some distance. In 1742, one of the sons was the
first European to see the mighty summits of the
Rockies. Their exploration, hov/ever, was left
to others at a later period.
It must not be forgotten that the French were
the pioneers in Continental as well as Cana-
dian discovery. Champlain discovered Lake
Champlain in 1609, the Ottawa river in 161 3.
Lake Ontario and Lake Nipissing in 1615, and
Lake Huron in the same year. Lake Michigan
was discovered by Jean Nicolet in 1634; Lake
Erie, by Chaumonot and Br«5beuf in 1640, and
Lake Superior by some coiireitrs-du-bois in 1659.
The upper waters of the Mississippi were first
sighted by Father Marquette and a merchant
adventurer named Joliette on June 17th, 1673,
when they paddled down the great river past the
mouths of the Illinois, the Missouri, anu the
Ohio. Many adventures and much danger from
the Indians were encountered before they reached
Quebec again in September, and Marquette him-
self died a couple of years later, worn out by the
privations and perils of the wilderness. As a
result of these discoveries and much other daring
exploration by Nicholas Perrot — a famous ct'!»r«>-
de-bois — who was the first European to stand
upon the site of Chicago, the whole great lake
region was formally annexed to France by the
Intendant Talon. So with Hudson's Bay terri-
tory. Father Albanal, in 1671, was the first
European to see from land the stormy and sombre
waters in which Hudson had perished nearly a
century before. The Niagara Falls were dis-
covered by Father Hennepiu, in 1676.
VIEW OF NIAGARA FALLS FROM CANADIAN SIDE.
It !
PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF CANADA
1497.
1500.
1517.
152+.
1534-
1535-
June 24. Cabot discovered Canada.
Gasper Cortereal entered the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
Sebastian Cabot discovered Hudson's Bay.
Verrazano explored the Atlantic coast of
Nova Scotia.
July 1st. Landing of Jacques Cartier at
Esquimaux Bay. Discovery of the St.
Lawrence.
Second visit of Cartier.
August loth. Cartier anchored in a small
bay at the mouth of the St. John River
which, in honour of the day, he named
after St. Lawrence. The name was after-
wards extended to the gulf and river.
Third visit of Cartier.
1542-43. The Sieur de Roberval and party winter-
ed at Cap-Rouge, near where Quebec
afterwards stood.
First visit of Samuel de Champlain to Can-
ada.
Founding of Port Royal (Annapolis), Acadia
(derived from an Indian word " Cadie "
a place of abundance), by the Baron de
Poutrincourt.
1608. Second visit of Champlain. Founding of
Quebec, the first permanent settlement
in Canada. Twenty-eight settlers winter-
ed there, including Champlain.
1611. Establishment of a trading post at Hoch-
elaga.
1613. St. John's, Newfoundland, founded.
i'^'5. Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Nipissing dis-
covered by Champlain. Champlain
sailed up the Ottawa River, crossed Lake
Nipissing, and descended French River
into Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, re-
turning by Lake Ontario.
Population of Quebec, sixty persons.
1540.
1603.
1605.
1620.
1621. First mention of the name "Nova Scotia"
in a grant of the Province to Sir W.
Alexander by James 1. First code of
laws promulgated at Quebec.
1624. Nova Scotia first settled by the English.
1627. Canada granted to the Company of One
Hundred Associates by the King of
France.
July. Capture of Quebec by the English
under Sir David Kirke. 117 persons
wintered there.
Canada, Cape Breton, and Acadia restored
to France by the Treaty of St. Germain-
en- Laye. First school opened 'n Can-
ada at Quebec.
July 4th. The Town of Three Rivers
founded. August 13th. Fort Richelieu
(Sorel) founded.
Sillery founded Jesuits' college in Quebec.
December 25th. Death of Champlain at
Quebec. Lake Michigan discovered by
Nicolet.
Ursuline Convent founded at Quebec.
May i8th. Ville Marie (Montreal) founded
by Maisonneuve.
1642-1667. Frequent and serious wars between
the French and the Iroquois Indians.
1654. Acadia taken by the English.
1659. M. de Laval, first Roman Catholic Bishop
of Canada, arrived from France. Lake
Superior discovered.
1663. Company of One Hundred Associates dis-
solved. Royal Government established.
First Courts of Law.
1667. Acadia restored to France by Treaty of
Breda. White population of New France,
3.918.
1670. May 13th (new style). Hudson's Bay
Company founded.
1629.
1632.
1634.
1635.
1639.
1642.
37
38
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
1672. Count de Frontenac appointed Governor 1759,
of New France. Population, 6,705.
i673' June 13th. Cataraqui (Kingston) founded*
1674. Iroquois established at Caughnawaga.
i68g. August 15th. Massacre at Lachine by
Indians.
1690. Capture of Port Royal by Sir William
Phipps, and unsuccessful attack upon
Quebec.
1692. Population of New France, 12,431.
1697. Treaty of Ryswick and mutual restoration
of places taken during the war.
1698. Death of Frontenac. Population, 13,355.
1701. August 4th. Ratification of a treaty of 1760.
peace with the Iroquois at Montreal.
1709-10-11. Canada invaded by the English. 1762.
Port Royal (Annapolis) taken by Nichol-
son (1710).
1713. Treaty of Utrecht, by which Hudson's Bay 1763.
and adjacent territory, Nova Scotia
(Acadia), and Newfoundland were ceded
to the English.
1715. First ships built at Quebec.
1720. Population of New France, 24,434, and of 1764'
St. John's Island (Prince Edward
Island), about 100.
1721. January 27th. Mail stages established
between Quebec and Montreal.
1722. Division of settled country in Canada into
parishes.
1739. Population of New France, 42,701. First
forge erected in Canada, at St. Maurice.
1745. Louisbourg, Cape Breton, taken by the 1768.
English.
1747. Militia rolls drawn up for Canada. Courts 1769.
of Justice constituted in Nova Scotia.
1748. Restoration of Louisbourg to the French
in exchange for Madras, by the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle.
1749. June 2ist. The City of Halifax founded 1774.
by Lord Halifax ; 2,544 British emigrants
brought out by the Hon. Edward Corn-
wallis.
1752. March 23rd. Issue of the HMfax Gazette,
the first paper published in Canada.
1755. Expulsion of the Acadians from Nova
Scotia — about 6,000.
1758. First meeting of Nova Scotian Legislature.
July 26th. Capture of Fort Niagara by the
English under General Prideaux, who
was killed during the assault. July 25th.
Commencement of the siege of Quebec.
September I2th. Battle of the Plains of
Abraham and defeat of the French by
General Wolfe, who was killed on the
field. Loss of the English, 700, and of
the French, 1,500. September 13th.
Death of General Montcalm, commander
of the French forces. September i8th
Capitulation of Quebec to Geneeral
Townsend.
April. Unsuccessful attack on Quebec by
General de Levis.
British population of Nova Scotia, 8,104.
First English settlement in New Bruns-
wick.
February loth. Treaty of Paris signed,
by which France ceded and guaranteed
to His Britannic Majesty in full right
"Canada with all its dependencies." Cape
Breton annexed to Nova Scotia.
June 2ist. Issue of the Quebec Gazette.
In this year Pontiac, Chief of the Otta-
was, organized a conspiracy for a simul-
taneous rising among the Indian tribes,
and a general massacre of the British.
The plan was successfully carried out in
several places, where not a soul was left
alive, but finally the Indians were forced
to succumb.
General .Carleton, afterwards Lord Dor-
chester, appointed Governor-General.
St. John's Island (Prince Edward Island)
made into a separate Province, with
Walter Patterson as the first Governor.
The first meeting of an elected House of
Assembly took place in July, 1773.
The "Quebec Act " passed. This Act gave
the French Canadians the free exercise of
the Roman Catholic religion, the enjoy-
ment of their civil rights, and the protec-
tion of their own civil laws and customs.
It annexed large territories to the Prov-
ince of Quebec, provided for the ap-
pointment by the Crown of a Legislative
Council, and for the administration of
CANADA : AN ENCVCLOP^EDIA.
39
the criminal law as in use in England.
North-west coast of British Columbia
explored by Vancouver and Cook.
1775. Outbreak of the American Revolution,
and invasion of Canada by the Americans.
Every place of importance rapidly fell
into their hands, irith the exception of
Quebec, in an attack upon which Gcaend
Montgomery was defeated and killed
on 31st December.
1776. Reinforcements arrived from England,
and the Americans were finally driven
out of Canada.
1778. June 3. First issue of the Montreal
Gazette. This paper is still published.
1783. September 3rd. Signing of the Treaty
of Versailles and definition of the boun-
dary line between Canada and the
United States, viz., the Great Lakes,
the St. Lawrence, the 45th parallel of
north latitude, the highland dividing the
waters falling into the Atlantic from those
emptying themselves into the St. Law-
rence, and the St. Croix River.
1784. Population of Canada, 113,012. (United
Empire Loyalists in Upper Canada not
included.) Fredericton, N.B., founded.
Cape Breton separated from Nova Scotia
politically. British population of Nova
Scotia, 32,000 (about 11,000 Acadians
not included).
1784. About this time began the migration into
Canada and Nova Scotia of the United
Empire Loyalists, as they were called —
that is, of those settlers in the American
States who had remained faithful to the
British cause. This migration lasted
for several years, and though it is not pos-
sible to arrive at any exact figures, it is
probable that the number altogether was
not less than 40,000. The Loyalists
were well treated by the British Gov
ernment.
1785. May 18. Date of charter of St. John, N.B.,
the oldest incorporated town in Canada.
Sydney, C.B., founded by Lieutenant-
Governor DesBarres.
August 16. New Brunswick made a separ-
ate province; population 11,457. Re-
introduction of the right of Habeas
Corpus.
1787. First Colonial See established in the Brit-
ish Empire, in connection with the
Church of England in Nova Scotia.
1788. Western Canada (now Ontario) divided
into five districts, and English law intro-
duced. King's College (N.S.) founded.
X79I, Di v isi on of the Province of Quebec into
two provinces, yiz., JJfptt and Lower
Canada. Each Province to have a
Lieutenant-Governor, and a Legislature
composed of a House of Assembly and
a Legislative Council. The members of
the Council were to be appointed by the
Lieutenant-Governor for life, those of
the Assembly to be elected by the peo-
ple for four years. Population of the
two provinces, 161,311.
1792. September 17. First meeting of Parlia-
ment of Upper Canada at Newark
(Niagara), under Lieutenant-Governor
Simcoe. The House of Assembly con-
sisted of sixteen members.
December 17. Opening of the Legislature
of Lower Canada, at Quebec, by General
Clark. The House of Assembly con-
sisted of fifty members.
1793. Abolition of slavery in Canada. Upper
and Lower Canada separated from the
Church of England See of Nova Scotia
and founded as a separate See. Toronto
founded as York. Rocky Mountains
crossed by McKenzie.
1796. The seat of government of Upper Canada
removed from Niagara to York (Toronto).
1798. The name of St. John's Island changed to
that of Prince Edward Island, in honour
of the Duke of Kent — the change to take
effect in i8oo. Population, 4,500.
1800. Jesuits' Estates taken possession of by the
Government. King's College, N.B.,
granted a Royal charter.
1805. Founding of the Quebec Mercury.
1806. November 22. Issue of L/i Canadien, the
first newspaper printe^d entirely in
French. Population of Upper Canada,
70,718, and of Lower Canada, 250,000.
/
4«
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP^CPIA.
i
1812. War decl'.red between Great Britain and
the United States.
August II. Surrender of Detroit by the 1836,
Americans under General Hull to Gen-
eral Brock.
October 13. Battle of Queenston Heights 1837-
and defeat of the Americans. Death of
General Brock.
November. Defeat of General Dearborn
by Colonel de Salaberry at Lacolle River. 1840.
1813. April 25. Capture of York by the Ameri-
cans.
June 5. Battle of Stoney Creek and defeat
of the Americans.
September. Battle of Moraviantown. Re- 1841.
treat of the British and death of the
Indian chief, Tecumseth.
October 26. Battle of Chateauguay. De-
feat of three thousand Americans under
General Hampton by Colonel de Sala-
berry with four hundred French-Cana-
(Jian militia.
November 11. Battle of Chrysler's Farm.
Defeat and rout of General Wilkinson
and the Americans by the Canadian
militia under Colonel Morrison,
1814. July 25. Battle of Lundy's Lane and de-
feat of the Americans.
December 24. War terminated by the
Treaty of Ghent. Population of Upper 1842.
Canada, 95,000, and of Lower Canada
335.000-
1818. October 30. Convention signed at Lon- 1843.
don regulating the rights of Americans 1844.
in the British North American fisheries. 1845.
1821. Commencement of the Lachine Canal.
First vessel passed through in 1825. 1846.
Amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay Com- 1847.
pany and the Northwest Trading Com-
pany.
1827. Guelph founded by John Gait. Treaty of 1848
London. McGill College received its
charter. It was founded in 1811. 1849.
1831. Population — U pper Canada, 236,702 ; Low-
er Canada, 553.134-
1833. August 18. The steamer Royal William
left Pictou, N.S., for Gravesend, Eng- 1850.
land, at which port she arrived after a
stormy passage. She was the first
steamer that ever crossed the Atlantic
with a motive power entirely steam.
July 21. Opening of the railway from
Laprairie to St. John's — the first railway
in Canada.
38. Outbreak of rebellion in both Provinces.
It was suppressed in Upper Canada by
the militia, and in Lower Canada by the
British troops.
Death of Lord Durhatn, to whose exertions
the subsequent union of the Provinces
was mainly due. Quebec and Montreal
incorporated. Montreal AuVy Advertiser
founded. First daily journal in Canada.
February 10. Union of the two provinces
under the name of the Province of
Canada, and nominal establishment of
responsible government. The Legisla-
ture was to consist of a Legislative
Council and Legislative Assembly, each
Province to be represented by sixty-two
members — forty-two elected by the
people and twenty appointed by the
Crown. Population of Upper Canada,
455,688.
May 17. Landslide from the Citadel rock,
Quebec — 32 persons killed.
June 13. Opening of the first united Parlia-
ment at Kingston, by Lord Sydenham.
August 9. Settlement of a boundary line
dispute between Canada and the United
States by the Ashburton Treaty.
Victoria, B.C., founded by James Douglas.
Population of Lower Canada, 696,000.
Large fires in the city of Quebec, 25,000
people rendered homeless.
Oregon Boundary Treaty.
British navigation laws repealed. Electric
telegraph line established between Que-
bec, Montreal, and Toronto.
The St. Lawrence canals open for naviga-
tion.
April 25. Riots in Montreal over the pass-
age of the Rebellion Losses Bill, and
burning of the Parliament library at
Montreal.
The first sod of the Northern Railway
turned by Lady Elgin. The road was
opened from Toronto to Bradford on
-:■*£
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVEDIA.
41
13th June, 1853, and was the first loco-
motive railway in operation in Upper
Canada.
1851. Transfer of the control of the postal system
from the Hritish to the Provincial Gov-
ernments, and adoption of a uniform rate
of postage, viz. : three pence per half
ounce. The use of postage stamps was
also introduced. Population of Upper
Canada, 852,000; of Lower Canada,
890,261 ; of New Brunswick, 193,800 ;
and Nova Scotia, 276,854. Young Men's
Christian Association organized in Mon.
treal — first in America.
1852. Commencement of the Grand Trunk Rail-
way.
1853. The number of members in the Legislative
Assembly increased from 84 to 130, being
65 from each Province.
May 9. First ocean steamer arrived at
Quebec.
1854. January 27. Main line of the Great Western
Railway opened for traffic. Abolition of
Seigneurial Tenure in Lower Canada,
and settlement of the Clergy Reserves
question.
June 5. Reciprocity Treaty with the
United States signed at Washington.
1856. The Legislative Council of the Province of
Canada made an elective chamber.
Allan Steamship Line commenced regu-
lar fortnightly steam service between
Canada and Great Britain.
1857. March 12. Desjardins Canal railway acci-
dent; 70 lives lost.
1858. Adop*'on of the decimal system of cur-
rency. Selection, by the Queen, of the
city of Ottawa as the capital of the
Dominion and permanent seat of gov-
ernment.
April. Gold found in British Columbia.
Gold found in Tangier River, Nova Scotia.
1859. New Westminster, B.C., founded by Colonel
Moody.
i860. Winnipeg founded. First Provincial Synod
of the Church of England held in Mont-
real.
August 25. Opening of the Victoria Bridge
by the Prince of Wales. This bridge
crosses the St. Lawrence at Montreal on
the line of the Grand Trunk Railway.
It is the largest iron tubular bridge m
the world, is 60 feet high in the centre,
and nearly two miles in length.
September i. Laying of the corner stone
of the Dommion buildings at Ottawa by
the Prince of Wales. These buildings,
together with the Departmental build-
ings, have been erected at a total cost,
up to 29th June, 1894, of $4,979,242.
Art Association founded in Montreal.
1861. Population of Upper Canada, i,396,o()i ;
of Lower Canada, 1,111,566; of New
Brunswick, 252,047; of Nova Scoii.i,
330*857 ; of Prince Edward Island, 80,-
857 ; of Vancouver Island, exclusive of
Indians, 3,024.
1864. Quebec Conference held. Resolutions are
passed in favour of confederation of
British North American provinces. Raid
from St. Albans into Canada.
1866. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick accept
confederation with Canada. Great fire
in Quebec ; 2,129 houses burned in St.
Roch's and St. Sauveur suburb.
1866. March 17. Termination of the Reciprocity
Treaty, in consequence of notice given
by the United States.
June I. Invasion of Canada by Fenians.
Battle of Ridgeway, and retreat of the
volunteers.
June 3. Withdrawal of the Fenians into
the United States.
June 8. First meeting of Parliament in
the new buildings at Ottawa. At this
meeting the final resolutions necessary
on the part of the Province of Canada to
effect the confederation of the provinces
were passed.
November 17. Union of Vancouver Islan 1
and British Columbia proclaimed.
1867. February 10. The British North American
Act passed by the Imperial Parliament.
July I. Union of the Provinces of Canada,
Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick under
the name of the Dominion of Canada.
The names of Upper and Lower Canada
changed to Ontario and Quebec respec-
m^^mmt^mm
mmm*
A*
CANADA: AN ENCYr:i,0P.1':DIA.
^i
tively. Lord Monck was the first
Governor-General of the Dominion, and
the first Parliament met on the 6th
November, Sir John A. Macdonald being
Premier.
1868. April 7. The Hon. T. D'Arcy McGee, M.P.,
murdered at Ottawa.
July 31. The Rupert's Land Act passed
by the Imperial Government, providing
for the acquisition by the Dominion of
the Northwest Territories. Uniform rate
of three cents for letters throughout the
Dominion adopted.
l86g. June 22. Bill passed providing for the Gov-
ernment of the North-West Territories.
October 29. Hon. William Macdougall
appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Red
River Rebellion commenced.
November 19. Deed of surrender signed,
Hudson's Bay Company to Her Majesty.
1870. March 4. Thomas Scott shot at Fort
Garry.
September 24. Arrival at Fort Garry of
the expedition under Colonel (now Lord)
Wolseiey, when the rebels were found to
have dispersed.
May 25. I'enians crossed the frontier at
Trout River, in Quebec, but were driven
back by the volunteers.
July 15. Addition of the North-West Ter-
ritories to the Dominion, and admission
of the Province of Manitoba into the
Confederation. This Province was cre-
ated out of a portion of the newly
acquired territory.
1S71. May 8. Signing of the Treaty of Washing-
ton.
July 20. Admission of British Columbia
into the Confederation. Population of
the four Provinces, 3,485,761 ; of Mani-
toba, 18,995 ; of British Columbia,
36,224; and of Prince Edward Island,
94,021. Total, 3,635,001.
November 11. The last British regular
troops left Quebec.
1872. Abolition of dual representation. Dominion
Archives established.
1873. May 20. Death of Sir George E. Cartier in
London.
July I. Admission of Prince Edward Island
into the Confederation.
1875. Rupert's Land and the North-West Terri-
tories placed under jurisdiction of a
Lieutenant-Governor separate and dis-
tinct from Manitoba. Presbyterian
Church in Canada formed by the union
of all the Presbyterian churches.
1876. Opening of the Intercolonial Railway from
Quebec to Halifax.
June 5. Supreme Court of Canada, first
session. Legislative Council of Manitoba
abolished. 'strict of Keewatin created
by Act of ment.
1877. June 20. C re in St. John, New
Brunswick.
November 23. Award by Halifax Fisheries
Commission of the sum of $5,500,000 to
the Imperial Government.
1879. Adoption of a protective tariff, otherwise
called the National Policy.
1880. Death of the Hon. George Brown. All British
possessions on North American continent
(excepting Newfoundland) annexed to
Canada by Imperial Order in Council
from 1st September, 1880. The Arctic
Archipelago transferred to Canada by
Imperial Order in Council. Royal Cana-
dian Academy of Arts founded by the
Marquess of Lome.
October 21. Contract signed for the con-
struction of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way.
1881. April 4. Population of the Dominion,
4,324,810. Royal Society of Canada
founded.
May 2. First sod turned by the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company.
1882. May 8. Provisional Districts of Assiniboia,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca
created.
May 25. First meeting of the Royal Society
of Canada in Ottawa.
June 22. Constitutionality of the Canada
Temperance Act confirmed by the Privy
Council.
August 23. The new seat of Government
for the North-West Territories received
the name of Regina.
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
43
Rail-
-'4
1883. Methodist churches In Canada formed into
one body. I'irst congress of the Church
of England opened in Hamilton.
1884. Boundary between Ontario and Manitoba
settled by decision of Judicial Committee
of the Imperial Privy Council, and con-
firmed by Her Majesty in Council, Aug-
ust II, 1884.
1885. Marc!\ 26. Outbreak of rebellion in the
North-Wcst. Commencement of hostil-
ities at Duck Lake.
Apiil 2. Massacre at Frog Lake.
April 14. Fort Pitt abandoned.
April 24. Engai^ement at Fish Creek.
M ly 12. Battle of Batoche and defeat of
^e rebels.
Ma\ 26. Surrender of Poundmaker.
July i Termination of the fishery clauses
of the Washington Treaty by the United
States.
July 2. Capture of Big Bear, and final
suppression of the rebellion. Total loss
of militia and volunteers under fire,
killed, 38; wounded, 115. The rebel
loss could not be ascertained.
November 7. Driving of the last spike of
the Canadian Pacific Railway.
1886. May 4. Opening of the Indian and Colonial
Exhibition in London.
June 13. Town of Vancouver totally des-
troyed by fire — four houses left standing,
fifty lives lost. First through train left
Montreal for Vancouver. First Canadian
Cardinal — Archbishop Taschereau.
1887. Inter-Provincial Conference held at Quebec.
At this Conference Sir Oliver Mowat was
President. Twenty-one fundamental
resolutions were passed— one declaring
in favour of unrestricted reciprocity in
trade with the United States.
April 4. Important Conference in London
between representatives of the principal
Colonies and the Imperial Government —
Canada represented by Sir Alexander
Campbell and Mr. Sandford Fleming.
June 14. First C.P.R. Steamship arrived at
Vancouver from Yokahama.
November 15. Meeting of the Fisheries
Commission at Washington.
1888. February 15. Signingof the Fishery Treaty
at Washington. Rejected in August
following by the United States Senate.
i88g. September 19. Landslide (second) from
Citadel Rock, Quebec — forty-five persons
killed. Boundaries of Ontario confirmed
by Imperial Statute.
i8go. May 6. Longue Pointe Lunatic Asylum,
near Montreal, destroyed by fire — over
seventy lives lost. The buildings had
been erected at a cost of $1,132,232.
October 6. McKinley Tariff Bill came into
operation in the United States.
1891. April 6. Population of the Dominion
4,833,239. Power given by Parliament
to the Government to refer to the
Supreme Court of Canada for its opinion
important questions of law or fact
touching provincial legislation or the
appellate jurisdiction as to education and
any other matters.
April 29. The first of the new C.P.R.
steamers arrived at Vancouver from
• Yokahama, beating the record by over
two days. The mails were landed in
Montreal three days and seventeen hours
from Vancouver.
June 6. The Right Hon. Sir John A.
Macdonald, G.C.B., Premier of the
Dominion, died.
1892. April 17. Death of the Hon. Alexander
Mackenzie.
May 24. Death of Sir Alexander Campbell,
Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.
September 28. Legislative Council of New
Brunswick abolished.
December 5. Resignation (from ill-health)
of Sir J. J. C. Abbott, K.C.M.G., Pre-
mier of the Dominion. Sir John S. D.
Thompson called upon to form a govern-
ment.
1893. Legislative Council and Assembly of Prince
Edward Island merged into one body.
April 4. The Court of Arbitration, respect-
ing the seal fisheries in Behring Sea,
which met formally on 23rd March, be-
gan its session. Arbitrators : Baron de
Courcel (Belgium), Lord Hannen (Great
Britain), Sir John Thompson (Canada),
44
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
I
1 }
||i
John M. Harlan and J. P. Morgan
(United States), Marquess Visconti
Venosta (Italy), and M. Gram (Norway
and Sweden).
October 30. Death of the Hon. Sir J. J. C.
Abbott.
June 8. First Steamer of the new Australia-
Canada line arrived at Victoria, B.C.
The title " Honourable," as conferred by
the Queen in the Duke of Buckingham's
despatch, No. 164, of 24th July, 1868,
explained by Lord Ripon as extending
to all parts of Her Majesty's dominions.
See Official Gazette (Cc.iada), August
5th, 1893.
1894. June 28. Opening at Ottawa of the Colon-
ial Conference to discuss matters of
interest to the Empire. The Imperial
Government, New South Wales, Cape
Colony, New Zealand, Victoria, Queens-
land, and Canada represented.
July 23. Canadian re-adjusted Customs
Tariff assented to by Governor-General.
December 12. Death of Right Honourable
Sir John Thompson in Windsor Castle.
December 13. Sir Mackenzie Bowell
called on to form a Cabinet.
December 14. Funeral service in London
for Sir John Thompson.
December 20. Franco-Canadian treaty
passed the French Senate.
1895. January i. H.M.S. Blenheim, with Sir
John Thompson's remains, arrived in
Halifax.
January 79. Imperial Privy Council de-
f live.ed judgment in the Manitaba School
"/ Case appeal.
April 4. Canada-Newfoundland Confedera-
tion Conference opens.
April 24. Report of the Royal Commission
on the liquor trafRc submitted to the
House of Commons.
April 30. Sir Henry Tyler, President of
the Grand Trunk Railway, resigned.
May 10. Sir Charles Rivers- Wilson elected
President oftheG.T.R.
May 15. Deadlock in Newfoundland con-
federation negotiations. Royal Society
met in Ottawa.
May 22. Manitoba School Question Con-
ference at Ottawa.
May 29. Principal Peterson appointed to
McGill University.
June 6. Sir John Macdonald Memorial un-
veiled at Montreal.
June 13. Manitoba refused to obey the
Remedial Order.
July I. Sir John Macdonald Monument,
Ottawa, unveiled.
July 7. Cabinet crisis at Ottawa.
July II. Announcement of the Hon. A. R
Angers' resignation from Dominion
Cabinet. End of crisis.
July 20. Private Hayhurst, Canadian Bisley
team, won Queen's prize.
July 25. Lundy's Lane Memorial unveiled
at Drummondville.
September 9. Opening of the Sault Ste.
Marie Canal.
September 25. Chrysler's Farm Monument
unveiled.
September 27. B. C. Sealers ask for arbi<
tration re Behring Sea claims.
October 23. Macdonald monument at
Kingston, unveiled.
October 26. Unveiling of monument to
heroes of 1812, at Chateauguay.
November 25. Copyright Conference at
Ottawa successful. Hall Caine ban-
quetted at Ottawa.
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i1:
THE ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH CANADIANS
BY
DENJAMIN SULTE. F.R.S.C.
WHAT part of France did the French-
Canadians come from ? How did
they acquire their present form of
language? From whence did they
receive their present characteristics ? Why are
not some of the different "patois" spoken in
France heard here ? I intend to try and explain
the transformation of a certain number of French
people into settlers upon the St. Lawrence
during the 17th century and from this to trace
the origin of the present French-Canadian popu-
lation.
Acadia was peopled without any kind of or-
ganization between 1636 and 1670 or thereabouts,
No one has yet satisfactorily demonstrated where
tlie Ficnch of that colony came from, though
their dialect would indicate their place of origin
to be in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the
River Loire. They are distinct from the French-
Canadians in some particulars and not allied by
marriage with the settlers on the St. Lawrence.
Brittany never traded with Canada or New
France, as it then was, except that, from 1535 to
1600, some of the Malo navigators used to visit
the lower St. Lawrence and barter with the
Indians, but there were no European settlers in
the whole of the pretended New France. After-
wards the regimfe of the fur companies, which
extended from 1608 to 1632, was rather adverse
to colonization and we know by Champlain's
writings that no resident, no habiiant, tilled the
soil during that quarter of a century. The men
who were employed at Quebec and elsewhere by
the companies all belonged to Normandy, and,
after 1632, twelve or fifteen of them married the
daughters of the other Normans recently arrived,
and became permanent settlers. Brittany remain-
ed in the background after, as well as before 1632.
This is confirmed by an examination of the par-
ish registers of Quebec, in which seven or eight
Bretons only can be found during the 17th
century.
The trade of Canada remained in the hands of
the Dieppe and Rouen merchants from 1633
until 1663. It consisted solely of fish and fur,
especially the latter. Therefore, any man of
these localities who wished to go to Canada to
settle there was admitted on the strength of the
Charter of the Hundred Partners who were
nominally bound to send in people brought up to
farming in order to cultivate the soil of the colony,
but who did nothing of the kind except transport-
ing certain emigrants who sought of their own
volition to go. There is even indication that the
transport was not free. The other seaports of
France, having no connection with Canada before
1662, five or six families only came from those
ports.
The little colony at Montreal, which came from
Anjou, subsequent to 1640, differed little in char-
acter from the others, except that its members
had not been brought up to till the soil and there
were no women among them. A number, there-
fore, married the daughters of the earlier Norman
settlers. This helped to preserve the uniformity
of the language and general habits of the people.
Had the Company of Rouen and Dieppe mer-
chants continued to control the trade of the
colony, it is certain that the development of the
agricultural population, slow as it had been from
the beginning, would have been altogsther on
Norman lines. But in 1662 another influence
made its presence felt in Canada. A small flow
of immigrants, men and women, set in from the
country parts around Rochelle and from the Pro-
vince of Poitou. These were, year by year, as
they came out, merged amongst older colonists,
assuming their habits and forms of speech.
47
48
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
When the business of the Hundred Partners
collapsed about 1660, Paris and Rochelle came
in for a certain share of interest as they were the
creditors of the expiring company, and soon we
notice additional immigrants arriving from the
neighbouring country places of those two cities.
These settlers (i633b3) came as a rule individu-
ally or in little groups of three or four families
related to each other, as many immigrants from
various countries do at the present day. From
an examination of family and other archives ex-
tending now over thirty years of labour I make
the deduction that Perche, Normandy, Beauce,
Picardy, and Aiijou (they are given in their
order of merit) contributed about two hun-
dred families from 1633 to 1663, the period
of the Hundred Partners' regim^. By natural
growth these settlers reached the figure of 2,200
souls in 1663. In this latter year theri came
about one hundred men from Perche and one
hundred and fifty from Poitou, Rochelle and
Gascony, with a small number of women. This
opened a new phase in the history of our im-
migration by introducing Poitou and Rochelle
amongst the people of the northern and western
provinces of France who already counted two
generations in the three districts of Quebec,
Three Rivers, and Montreal. After 1665, the city
of Paris, or rather the small territory encircling
it, contributed a good share. The whole of the
south and east of France had no connection with
Canada at any time. Normandy, Perche, Maine,
Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois,
Guienne, and Gascony — on a straight line from
north to south — furnished the whole of the fami-
lies now composing the French-Canadian people.
From 1667 till 1673 a Committee was active in
Paris, Rouen, and Rochelle, recruiting men,
women and young girls, for Canada. This
Committee succeeded in effecting the immigra-
tion into Canada of about 4,000 souls. Half of
the girls were from country places in Normandy,
and the other half were well educated persons,
who did not go into rural districts, but married in
Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. Since these
people were brought to Canada by the organized
efforts of a Committee we might expect to find
some detailed record of their arrival and origin,
but as yet no such information is known to exist.
We are merely told by contemporary writers of
that period how many arrived at such and such
date, and the port of embarkation. Happily the
Church registers, notarial deeds, papers of the
Courts of Justice, and several classes of public
documents show abundantly the places of origin
of those who actually established their families
here.
In 1673 the King stopped all emigration, and
this was the end of French attempts to colonize
Canada. The settlers, of course, remained as
they were, and in 1680 the whole population
amounted only to 9,700 souls. Double this figure
every thirty years and we have the present French
population of the Province of Quebec, Ontario,
and that of the groups now established in the
United States. The bulk of the men who came
during 1633-1673 were from rural districts, and
took land immediately on their arrival here. It
is noticeable that a large number of them had, be-
sides, a trade of their own, such as carpenter,
cooper, blacksmith, etc., so that a small com-
munity of twenty families possessed between
themselves all the requirements of that kind which
were needed. No land was given to those who
did not show qualification for agricultural pur-
suits, but they were placed for three years in the
hands of an old farmer before the title of any pro-
perty was signed in their favour.
Discharged soldiers from the Carignan Regi-
ment, in 1670-1673, together with many of the
men from Poitou and Rochelle, who came out
single, married the daughters of the previously
settled Normans. This accounts for the marked
absence at the present time throughout the French
speaking communities of Canada of any but the
Norman accent and forms of speech. All other
accents have been overcome by that of the Nor-
man mothers, and while it is true that the number
of immigrants coming between 1662 and 1674 far
exceed those of the earlier period, yet those first
settlers, through their conservative powers and
clannish tenacity, could not be overcome by the
influx ot numbers, but became, on the contrary,
the conquerors, and that too in a very short space
of time.
After 1674 few, if any, immigrants settled on the
banks of the St. Lawrence. There were at most
not more than thirty or forty a year, which were
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
49
absorbed in the same manner into the general
population. The wars which prevailed from 1634
to 1713 depleted this annual immigration, so that
the census of 1631 is taken as the basis for all
French Canadian genealogical computation even
up to our own time.
In regard to troops disbanded in Canada at
various dates much misunderstanding exists. The
real facts are that before 1663 there were no
soldiers, therefore no disbandment, and from 1665
to 1673 a few isolated cases only. The Regiment
of Caiignan came to Canada in 1665 and left in
1669, with the exception of one company, which
eventually was disbanded here, and from 1673 to
- 1753 the garrisons of Canada consisted as a rule
of about three hundred men in all, under an In-
fantry Captain, sometimes called the Major when
no longer young. Besides that "detachment,"
as it was styled, an addition of six or seven com-
panies was sent to the Colony during the years
1684-1713, on account of the war. From 1753 to
1760 the regiments sent under Dieskau and Mont-
calm (Seven Years' War) do not seem to have left
any number of men in the country. Therefore,
the " military element " had very little to do with
the formation of our French population.
I desire now to deal with La Hontan, a writer
upon whom succeeding historians based their
assertions as to the questionable character of
many of the emigrants who were sent out by the
Home Government. La Hontan, who came to
Canada in 1684, wrote home to his friends describ-
ing the country and his experiences. These letters
were collected and afterwards published in book
form. In some of these letters he describes the
marrying scenes of newly arrived girl immigrants
and other spicy matters which never took place,
and as it is that kind of reading that takes the
eye and remains longest in the popular mind, this
letter is the one most quoted. Now, La Hontan
ill many of his epistles describes most accurately
what occurred before his eyes, but this particular
letter is so untruthful that there is little doubt
that it was never written by La Hontan, especi-
ally as many of the incidents therein referred to
indicate the scenes as having occurred in the West
Indies. The statements, too, from other sources,
that Canada was peopled by discharged prisoners
is manifestly untrue, for the Supreme Council of
Canada exercised the greatest care in the selection
of settlers, and the whole details of the case re-
ferred to are found noted in the deliberations and
correspondence of the Council. Such items as —
"two needle makers having come out with the
last party of immigrants are not desirable settlers,"
are constantly to be found.
On the subject of that uniformity of language
which is so remarkable amongst the French-
Canadians I may observe that it is the best
language spoken from Rochelle to Paris and
Tours, and from there to Rouen. Writers of the
17th century have expressed the opinion that
French-Canadians could understand a dramatic
play as well as the elite of Paris. No wonder to
us, since we know that theatricals were common
occurrences in Canada and that The Cid of Cor-
neiile was played in Quebec in 1645, The Tartiiffe
of Moliere in 1677, and so on. The taste of
music and the love for songs are characteristics
of the French-Canadian race. The facility with
which it learns foreign languages is well known
in Canada, where many speak Indian, Spanish,
and English as well as their own tongue.
There now remains to be considered only the
question of the half-breeds, with regard to which
there need be little doubt, for the civil as well as
the religious authorities were strongly opposed to
inter-marriages with the Indians. Then, too
there exists at the present day such a complete
record of the genealogy of each family, showing
clearly that rarely did such marriages take place.
Of course those who removed to the North-West
are not taken into account when speaking of
mixed marriages, because, far from forming part
of the French-Canadian population, they were
apparently lost to it at the time of migration, as
are those who have since gone to the States.
In this brief glance at the origin of the French-
Canadians nothing has been said of Scotch, Eng-
lish, and Irish elements which have been in many
cases absorbei'> by the original Norman stock
and have become part of the race, but on the
other hand Indian half-breeds of all periods are
looked upon as distinct in race from the white
population. The conclusion which I have arrived
at is that the French- Canadian type is Norman,
whether its origin be pure Norman, mi.xed Nor-
man, Gascon, or French-English.
so
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.^.DIA.
II.
1 '
i:
I '
The Fur-Trade Companies held an Important
place in the history of Canada, and their annals
would furnish a prolonged survey of adventurous
trading, interesting discoveries, perilous positions,
painful hardships, and brave actions. This state-
ment of course applies chiefly to the individuals
who obtained the furs and sl<ins for the Com-
panies. So far as the corporations themselves
were concerned they looked after the business
for which they were organized, and usually had
their headquarters in France. But around them
and through them surged a multitude of woods-
men, hunters, trappers, and explorers amid the
wilds of the new continent. The chief French
Trading Companies, during the hundred years of
English and French struggle were as follows :
St. Malo DupontGrav^ and Chauvin... 1599
De Chaste Aymar de Chaste and Du-
pont Grave 1602
De Monts De Monts, Champlain, and
Dupont Grave 1603
Charter lost in 1607
Restored for one year in 1608
Rouen Formed by Champlain 1614
De Caen Rival of the Rouen Company.1620
Montmorency ..Union of Rouen and De Caen
Companies 1622
The Hundred Associates 1627-63
Habitants" C ompany 1645
Du Nord Formed at Quebec for Hud-
son's Bay trade 1682
Du Canada Formed in Quebec; existed
five years 1700
D'Occident Privileges granted for twenty-
five years 1717
The English Companies were those of the
West Indies formed in 1664, and which lost its
charter ten years later ; the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany organized in England in 1670, and which
still exists ; the Northwest Company of Montreal
formed in 1783 ; and the " X. Y." Company, also
organized in Montreal in 1796. The former was
absorbed by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821,
and the latter only lasted eight years.
The Company of the Hundred Associates
of New France, ;is it was officially called, resulted
from Cardinal Richelieu's desire that only Roman
Catholics should settle the new colony. With
this view the company was chartered, and .^ive u
a'full power of control, a monopoly of trade, and a
large land grant, upon the understanding that
4,000 colonists of the Catholic faith were to be
settled within the country in ten years. The
Governors during this period, 1627-73, were,
therefore, more or less controlled by the Hundred
Associates. The encouragement given to emigra-
tion was very limited. The more settlers and
cultivation the less wilderness and wild animals,
and it therefore calmly ignored this chief con-
dition of the grant. At this time and during the
greater part of the following century the popula-
tion of New France was divided into five distinct
classes :
1. The Seigneurs, who formed a very small and
limited special class, but were influential through
their connection with the Government and the
Fur Companies.
2. The fur traders, who constituted a large
floating population of traders, merchants, and
speculators, with headquarters in France.
3. The Jesuits, who were supreme in the
religious life of the community, and strong enough
in its public life to, in many cases, successfully
oppose the Governors, and control much of the
civil government.
4. The Coureurs-dtt-bois, who were made up of
an adventurous class, fond of a wild and wander-
ing life, and innured to the hardships of the
forest, lakes, and rivers of the new land — men
who often married Indian maidens, and whose
hooded blanket-coats, red sashes, and snowshoes
are the centre of many a romantic description
and stirring tale of adventure.
5. The habitants, who constituted the real
settlers and permanent colonizers, and gradually
grew into the populous French-Canadian people
of two centuries later.
The Company of the Hundred Associates
retained its power until 1663, when the King
became at last aware of its utter neglect of the
fundamental principles of its charter, and found
that the few colonists who hud emigrated were
almost at the mercy of the Iroquois, and were
neither protected by the Company nor helped by
the new settlers whom it was supposed to have
brought out. The charter was taken away and
New France became a Royal Province.
EXPLOITS OF THE FRENCH PIONEERS
BV
R. W. SHANNON, Editor of the Ottawa CUizen.
THE explorers and settlers who came to
Canada in the early days found them-
selves in a position of great hardship
and danger. Beyond them lay the vast
Continent cohered with primeval forest, its only
inhabitants wild beasts and savage men, the latter
thinly scattered over broad areas. Far from their
sunny home in France the new arrivals were ex-
posed to the unaccustomed rigours of a northern
climate and without the knowledge, which experi-
ence alone could impart, of how best to combat
the severe cold of winter and live in comfort and
enjoyment. The constant fear of attack from
prowling Indians made even a scanty cultivation
of the soil difficult and frequently impossible.
Hunting and fishing were almost their only means
of subsistence, and provisions had to be brought
across the ocean from France. But the adven-
turous spirit which led them to desert friends and
firesides, to brave the perils of the deep and the
unknown dangers that might await them in a new
and uncivilized land, was an indication of the
courage and enterprise they were subsequently to
display.
Champlain, the founder of Quebec and father
of New France, was not long in the country when
he was drawn into the conflicts of the Indian tribes.
An historic feud existed between the Iroquois,who
dwelt in the northern part of the present State
of New York between the Genesee and the Hud-
son, and the Hurons, whose home was on the
south shore of the great lake now called by their
name. The Aigonquins of the Ottawa were allies
of the Hurons, and Champlain yielded to the re-
quest of an Algonquin chief to assist them against
their formidable foes. In taking this step he laid
the foundation of the hostility of the Iroquois to
the F'rench which lasted for one hundred and fifty
years and caused his countrymen innumerable
woes.
In June, i6og, Champlain set out with a war
party of savages, which started from the present
location of Quebec and directed its course to the
mouth of the Richelieu at the western end of Lake
St. Peter. He had with him, in a small open
boat, eleven Frenchmen armed with firelocks,
while the Iritiians accompanied them with a flotilla
of canoes. A quarrel arising among the latter on
the way, three-fourths of them turned back and
paddled homewards, but the remainder proceeded
up the river. Finding the course obstructed by
rapids and foaming falls and the dangers that
confronted him being much greater than he had
anticipated, Champlain sent back to Quebec all
his Frenchmen but two, and went forward with
a force of twenty-four canoes containing sixty
warriors. Presently the river widened into a lake
dotted with large islands. This is the body of
water that has retained Champlain's name to the
present day. Pushing along its western shore,
with the Adirondacks on their right and the
Green Mountains of Vermont on the left, the party
pursued their way until they reached a promontory
near the southern extremity, where Fort Ticon-
derogo was afterwards built.
To escape the attention of their vigilant enemies
they spent the day in the forest and paddled for-
ward at night. When they arrived at the point
mentioned they came upon the Iroquois, who
hastily constructed a barricade of trees and
awaited the onset. It was evening when the
enemy were first sighted, and the night was spent
in mutual defiance and menace. In the morning
Champlain arrayed himself in his doublet and
hose, buckled on a steel breastplate and back-
piece, and protected his thighs with ciiisscs and
his head with a plumed casque. At his side was
his sword, and in his hand his matchlock. Before
him were two hundred of the Iroquois warriors —
tall, straight, strong men, the fiercest and bravest
51
s»
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
il 1
,1 (■
' l;
of American aborigines. Champlain stood for-
ward, and when they were about to discharge
their arrows, levelled his gun and shot down two
chiefs, wounding a third. One of his French fol-
lowers then fired from the woods, adding to the
terror of the Iroquois, who forsook the field and
fled far into the forest. Some of them were killed
and some taken prisoners. That night Champlain
beheld for the first time the torture inflicted by
his savage companions on those who fell into their
hands.
The next year he participated in another Indian
fight. This time the struggle occurred near the
mouth of the Richelieu. Here the Iroquois had,
as before, constructed for themselv^ a circular
defence of the trunks and boughs of trees with
heavy foliage. There were about a hundred war-
riors inside this barricade. The Montagnais and
Aigonquins, who were with Champlain, surrounded
them, yelling like demons, imitating the howls
and screeches of wild beasts and fiercely assailing
the enemy with stone-headed arrows. The Iro-
quois fought desperately, but frightened by the
French firearms, they threw themselves on the
earth at every discharge, while their assailants
were for the same reason inspired with unwonted
courage. A boatload of French fur-traders came
to the assistance of Champlain and his compan-
ions and fired in through openings in the loose
wooden wall of the barricade. The Indians, as-
sisted by the French, then scaled the works of
the enemy and slaughtered the Iroquois within,
who fought like tigers to the last. Only fifteen
of them escaped death, and these were made
prisoners. The victorious savages cut one of the
dead bodies to pieces and ate it. One prisoner
Champlain saved, but the rest were kept to be
tortured by the women and children, who dis-
played a fierce pleasure in devising methods of
causing exquisite suff'ering to their victims and
prolonging their pain.
In 1613 Champlain made a trip up the Ottawa
in company with four Frenchmen and one Indian
in two small canoes. The adventure was no
slight one. In many places the current was swift,
and dangerous boulders impeded his course. At
Carillon and the Long Sault were rapids which
prevented the occupants of the canoes from pad-
dling, while the impenetrable forest that lined the
shores prevented them from makingn portage, and
they were compelled to drag their canoes along
the banks with cords. Champlain almost lost
his life. His foot slipped in the rapids. He fell
into the boiling waters, but placing himself
against a rock he was saved from being swept
away, while the cord of his canoe almost severed
his hand. Making his way onward he passed the
falls where the Rideau discharges its tributary
waters into the Ottawa, and came to the cataract
of the Chaudiere where his Indians threw to-
bacco into the foam to propitiate the great spirit,
or Manitou, and implore his protection on their
further course.
Passing up the broad river he came to many
a foaming rapid and open expanse until the
Chats, with their numerous and picturesque falls,
broke upon his view. The unbroken solitude
was all about him, the silence being disturbed
only by the murmur of waters, the crackling of
forest branches, the quivering of leaves, the cry
of the wild bird, and the spb<;h of animals seek-
ing the cool wave. The voyageurs soon came to
AUumette Island where dwelt La Nation de
risle, a stray band of the Algonquins, whose
chief, Tessouat, received the Frenchmen with
kindness and entertained them with savage hos-
pitality. Champlain had been induced to take
the journey by a young man named Nicholas
Vignau, who had ascended the Ottawa two years
before and pretended to have reached a northern
sea and to have seen there the wreck of an Eng-
lish vessel. He found that Vignau was an
impostor, that he had passed the winter at
AUumette Island, and that his pretended discov-
eries were a fraud. Nevertheless the dream ot
finding a western path to the far East with its
silks and spices, which had allured Cartier and
was afterwards to haunt La Salle, and which had
been a main motive in determining Champlain
upon his adventure, still gleamed before him.
Two years afterwards he again made his way
up the Ottawa, this time to engage in an expedi-
tion against the country of the Iroquois. He
had with him two canoes, ten Indians, Etienne
Bruld, his interpreter, and another Frenchman.
With these he pushed forward to his former
resting place at AUumette Island, and from there
followed the river till he reached the Mattawa.
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOr/EDIA.
S3
Ascending this stream he crossed by a short
portage into Laice Nipissing. Thence the party
descended the French Kiver till they came to the
broad expanse of Lake Huron.
Skirting the eastern shore with its rocks, in-
numerable bays and islets, he struck southward
to Matchedash Bay near whose shores the Huron
towns were situated. Here, occupying the east-
ern and northeastern portion of the present
county of Simcoe, Ontario, the Hurons had within
an area of thirty or forty square miles between
twenty and thirty villages with a population of
from five hundred to a thousand each. Champ-
lain collected his Indian allies and in September
the Huron fleet, entering Lake Simcoe, made its
way down the chain of lakes in which the River
Trent has its origin, issued into the Bay of Quinte,
crossed the eastern end of Lake Ontario, landed
near where Sackett's Harbour is situated now,
and struck into the Huron country. They soon
found themselves near the town of the Onondagas,
the tribe which occupied the central position
among the Five Nations. The place was defend-
ed by four rows of palisades thirty feet high,
{(laced at an angle and crossing each other near
the top where there was a gallery for the defen-
ders. Means were provided for extinguishing
fires and a pond had been introduced into the
town as a source of water supply.
Champlain tried to direct the movements of his
red-skinned followers, but found that it was im-
possible to control them. He made wooden
shields behind which they were to shelter them-
selves, but they were too wild and impatient to
make use of them. They ran out into the open
and exposed themselves to the well-directed fire
of the Iroquois. For three hours they attempted
to storm the town, but without success. Cham-
plain was wounded in the knee and also in the
leg with arrows, and disabled. The Hurons
finally became disheartened and gave up the
siege. For five days they waited in vain for
re-enforcements ; then taking their wounded, in-
cluding Champlain, in baskets, they began their
retreat through the woods, re-crossed Lake On-
tario, and made their way northward to their own
home. Here, Champlain spent the winter with
them, making a visit of several weeks' duration to
the Tobacco Nation, and afterwards to theCheveux
Relev^s, a neighbouring band. Then he returned
to Quebec by the long detour by which he had
reached the Huron country the year before.
In 1626 ^)ucbcc was in a bad plight. Of its one
hundred and five inhabitants only one or two
families were able to support themselves by culti-
vating the soil. Two brothers, William and
Emery Caen, Huguenots, had a monopoly o(
the fur trade, and under its baneful influence
private enterprise was blighted. The Indians
prowled about the neighbouring forests and
fields, and made it dangerous for the French
to venture beyond the walls of their fortification.
Provisions were scarce and dear, and the settlers
were on the verge of destitution. The labour and
cares of eighteen years, during which Champlain
had given his best thoughts and energies to the
welfare of the colony, had produced no better re-
sult than this. It was not long, however, before
the eye of Cardinal Richelieu fell upon the suffer-
ing outpost of French power in America. He
formed the Company of Hundred Associates, en-
dowed it with a perpetual monopoly of the fur
trade, and gave it the control of all commerce for
fifteen years, as well as jurisdiction over the terri-
tory extending from Florida to the Arctic seas,
and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence westward.
The Company on the other hand bound itself to
bring out during the next year two or three hun-
dred tradesmen, and to increase the number to
four thousand persons within a few years.
The most urgent need of the settlers was food,
and in 1628 the Company sent out an expedition
with men and supplies for the colony. The fleet
was in charge of de Rocquemont and sailed from
Dieppe, while almost about the same time an
English expedition set out for the purpose of at-
tacking the French possessions in North America.
Among those who had this enterprise in hand was
Gervase Kirke, an Englishman who had lived in
France and married a F'rench woman. Three
small vessels were fitted out and placed under the
command of Kirke's sons. The crews were largely
filled by Huguenot refugees. The English fleet
came up with de Rocquemont's transports in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the provisions
intended for the relief of the suffering colony
were either seized or sunk. Admiral Kirke then
sailed for England, but in July of the following
54
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
year returned across the Atlantic, and when he
reached Tadousac sent his brothers, Louis and
Thomas, to seize Quebec. On the 20th July,
1629, Champlain capitulated, and the Red Cross
of England was raised on the little fort, where
it floated for three years. Kirke then made
his way across the Atlantic fearful of meet-
ing de Razilly, a French naval officer, on
his way to succour Quebec. Instead of de
Razilly, Captain Daniel, with two ships, was
despatched from France. Finding an English
Fort near Louisbourg, Cape Breton, he stormed it,
and made prisoners of the English defenders. On
Christmas day, 1635, Champlain died in Fort St.
Louis, mourned by priests, soldiers and settlers,
who had learned to love him for his integrity and
singleness of purpose, and to admire him for his
chivalrous courage.
Montreal was founded in 1642 as a result of the
missionary zeal of two men. One of these, Jerome
Le Royer dc la Daiiversiere, was a member of the
nobility and receiver of taxes in La Fleche in
Anjou. Tile other, Jean Jacques Olier, was a
priest at Paris. Their object was to establish at
Montreal three religious communities, one of
secular priests to convert the Indians, one of
hospital nuns, and one of teaching nuns. They
found four other associates wlio, with themselves,
constituted the beginning of the Society of Notre
Dame of Montreal, and contributed the sum of
;f75,ooo towards its objects. They obtained a
grant of the island of Montreal from Lauzon, of
the Company of Hundred Associates, and with it
seigneurial privileges empowering them to appoint
a governor, establish courts, etc. For Governor
they chose Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maison-
neuve, a brave and religious man, who had long
served under arms at home and abroad. The
piety of the design attracted the sympathy of a
number of gifted women. Among these were
Mdlle. Jeanne Mance, who set out for the new
world with de Maisonneu ve and a company of forty
men and four women. Three years before this
the Hotel Dieu, in Quebec, had been founded by
the hospital sisters of the Convent of St. Augustine
of Dieppe. The endowment was provided by the
Duchesse D'Aiguillon, niece of Cardinal Riche-
lieu. Four Ursuline nuns came out in that
year — Mdme. de la Peltrie, of a noble house in
Normandy, Marie de St. Bernard, Marie de
rincarnation, Mother Superior of the Ursulines,
and another. Three hospital nuns were with them
and three Jesuit priests.
De Maisonneuve and his party arrived in Quebec
in August, i64i,and next spring went to Montreal,
accompanied by the Governor-General, De Mont-
magny, the Superior of the Jesuits, Father Vimont,
and Mdme. de la Peltrie. On the 17th of May, de
Maisonneuve landed on the island and took up his
abode. He and his men proceeded to erect modest
dwellings, which they surrounded with a picket
fence and protected by cannon. In 1653 Margaret
Bourgeois, a young woman of Troyes, came to
Ville Marie, as the new settlement was called, and
established a branch of the Congregation de Notre
Dame, a community of teaching nuns which still
flourishes throughout French Canada. The pro-
ject of the religious enthusiasts was one fraught
with danger. The Iroquois had been gaining
strength and harrassing more and more the Huron
and Algonquin allies. Having been furnished with
firearms by the Dutch traders at Fort Orange,
near Albany, they had spread terror through the
St. Lawrence, and along the Ottawa, and the fur
trade was almost brought to a standstill. They
sailed down the Richelieu and subjected the in-
habitants of Three Rivers and Quebec to constant
annoyance and alarm. De Maisonneuve chosc for
the site of his settlement a point of land afterwards
known as Point Calliere. In 1643, Louis d'Aille-
boust de Coulonges, a gentleman of Champagne,
arrived in the colony, and being an experienced
military engineer, proceeded to erect solid fortifi-
cations with ramparts and bastions. P'or some
time this new settlement escaped the notice of the
Iroquois, but the peace enjoyed by the colony was
too good to endure. It happened that a small
band of Algonquins, flying from the Iroquois, ran
for shelter to the friendly walls of Ville Marie, and
their pursuers were thus made acquainted with
its existence. The incident put an end to the
security of the colonists. Hereafter, when they
went to work in the fields they went armed, re-
turning together, always prepared for attack.
The situation of the little band at Montreal at
this time resembled that in which the inhabitants of
New France generally found themselves through-
out the country. The Iroquois lurked in the
CANADA: AN ENCYCl.OP.KDIA.
9S
woods and beset the paths. They hunjj upon the
outskirts of the settlements ready to pounce upon
stragglers and carry thorn off. They infested the
usual avenues of intercourse with the western
tribes. Their canoes were constantly seen on
both the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, and it was
dangerous to pass from east to west except in
strongly armed parties.
In 1660 a few young men of Montreal performed
an act which gleams brightly in the annals of
New France, and which saved Montreal, and per-
haps the whole of Canada, from a threatened in-
vasion of savages. Five hundred Iroquois had
encamped below Montreal, and four hundred more
who had wintered on the Ottawa, were on the
point of joining them. It was intended that these
forces should unite, attack Quebec, kill the Gover-
nor, burn the town, and then turn their attention
to Three Rivers and Montreal. At this juncture
the commandant of the garrison of Montreal, a
young officer named Adam Daulac, Sieur des
Ormeaux, formed a desperate plan for checking
the enemy. Calling for volunteers among the
youth of the city he induced sixteen of them to
engage in the enterprise with him. After having
made their wills and received the sacr.iments this
little company passed up the St. Lawrence, crossed
the Lake of Two Mountains and journeyed on-
ward to the Long Sault, where they awaited the
Iroquois. They were joined by a number of
friendly Indians, but these, with the exception of
five, afterwards deserted.
They took up their station in an abandoned
enclosure formed by the trunks of trees which
had been erected by an Algonquin war party of
the year before. Soon the Iroquois were upon
them, over two hundred in number, and the
French, who had strengthened their palisade
with a row of stakes inside, filling up the inter-
vening space with dirt and stones, were attacked
with fury by their savage foes. The latter
attempted to set fire to the rough wooden walls
of the palisade but they were driven back, again
and again. The Iroquois then sent down the
river for their allies who had collected at the
mouth of the Richelieu. For five days, while
awaiting re-enforcements, they maintained a des-
ultory struggle. The French suffered from hun-
ger, thirst, and want of sleep, but still continued
fighting bravely. On the fifth day the expected
allies arrived and with a wild clamour of shrieks
and war-whoops threw themselves upon the little
fort. The defenders had muskets and larger
weapons, and through loopholes which they had
made in the walls of their barricade poured a
steady fire upon their assailants. For three days
the unequal contest waged, but Daulac and his
companions, though fainting with exhaustion,
prayed and fought on. Finally, the Iroquois
made breaches in the palisades. They were cut
down in heaps. Daulac was killed, but his
r - 1
R. W Sliiinii.m.
companions fought desperately till every one of
them was shot down.
Four Frenchmen were found breathing in the
pile of corpses. Three of them were immediately
killed and the other kept to be tortured. Some
Hurons from Quebec who had asked to join the
volunteers, but had deserted to the enemy, received
the just reward of their treachery. The Iroquois
killed some of them on the spot and carried the rest
away to be butchered. This brave deed proved
the salvation of the colony. A handful of men.
56
CANADA: AN HNCYCI.OI'.KOIA.
:1
consisting of seventeen Frenchmen, four Algon-
quin Indians, and one Huron behind a rude and
open fence, had kept seven hundred warriors at
bay and destroyed hirye numbers of them. They
had therefore httle desire to try further the metal
of the colonists by attacking them in their stone
fortifications.
Six years afterwards the Governor, de Cour-
celles, determined to chastise the Mohawks and
set out for that purpose in January, 1666, with
five hundred men, of whom two hundred were
Indians and seventy experienced bushrangers.
The adventure was an exceedingly rash one. A
journey of several hundred miles had to be taken
on snowshoes amidst the severity of the winter,
and with the prospect of shelter only at remote
and scattered points. De Courcelles and his
men went up the St. Lawrence from Quebec to
the mouth of the Richelieu and ascended that
river. Three forts had been placed upon it at
Sorel, Chambly and St. Therese. Leaving these
they made their way along Lake Champlain,
passing from it into Lake George. A short
march took them to the Hudson whence they
attempted to make their way to the Mohawk
towns. They lost their direction, however, as
their guides had become hopelessly drunk at the
last fort, and wandering forward by way of Sara-
toga Lake they came to the Dutch settlement of
Schenectady where they learned that the Mo-
hawl.s and Oneidas were absent on a war expedi-
tion against' another tribe. At the same time
the governor of New York sent three envoys to
ask why they had invaded the territory of the
Duke of York. De Co'ircelles then heard for the
first time that the Dutch settlement of New
Netherlands had come under English sway, and
the invaders began their long and perilous march
back. The snow was thawing under a cold rain
and the Indians hovered about their rear. Chil-
led and famished they pushed resolutely forward,
but sixty men perished before they reached St.
Therese. An English writer of the time speaking
of the expedition says, " So bold and hardy an
attempt hath not happened in any day."
This expedition, unsuccessful as it was as re-
gards its immediate object, had an excellent
effect upon the savage tribes who were taught by
it that their villages were not too distant to be
reached by the French. Nevertheless the Mo-
hawks shortly afterwards attacked a party of
oftkers hunting near Lake Champlain and seven
were killed or captured. In October, 1666, de
Courcelles wont on another expedition, taking
this time seven hundred men. They sailed,
with three hundred canoes, up the St. Lawrence,
the Richelieu, Lake Champlain and Lake George
to where Fort William Henry was afterwards
built. The force contained one hundred In-
dians and six hundred Canadians, of whom a
large party were skilful bushrangers. The Mo-
hawks had intended to defend their town, but
were seized with terror at the last moment
when they discovered the numbers and pre-
parations of the French, and the town was
taken and burned without a blow being struck.
The second, third, fourth, and fifth were cap-
tured with quite as much ease, iiotwithstand-
ing that the Iroquois had been assisted in
strengthening their fortifications by the Dutch,
and had triple palisades, bastions, and supplies
of water to extinguish fires. The French not
only destroyed the palisades and the dwellings, but
burned the stores of food which the Iroquois
had hidden in the ground and left nothing but
smoking embers behind them. There was great
rejoicing at Quebec on the news of this exploit
and a solemn than'
parish church.
The V' nrh !•
the wet
tained a it of li^
offered in the
a monopoly of
La le, who had ob-
. ronti i.ic from the King,
had built .uk >t)ier fo'. i in the Illinois country near
the modern city ' Ottawa, which became the
centre of the trade with the Illinois and Miamis,
while the Sioux, Winnebagoes, and othei mds
who roamed about the head waters of the M ssip-
pi, brought their skins to Michillimacki' here
the Hurons and Ottawas were statii The
stores gathered at these points went d( every
summer to Montreal. The Iroquois, 1 their
hunting grrunds of northern New York, could
obtain but a limited supply of fur, and as they had
grown dependant upon the British and Dutch at
Albany for arms, ammunition, and brandy, and as
beaver skins were the only articles that would
purchase these, it became their policy to detach
the western and northern tribes from the French
B
CANADA: AN KXCYCI.OP.KniA.
57
alliance, become the factors and carriers between
them and the English and Dutch, and obtain for
themselves the proJitP of the traftic.
The western bands, Hurons, Ottawas, Ojibi-
ways, Pottawatamies, I'oxes, Illinois, and others,
were attracted by the superior terms on which
they could dispose of their goods to the English,
and notwithstanding the influence of La Durant-
aye, his successor Louviguy, and Du Luth, or
Duluth, the French commanders in the North-
West, and Nicholas Pcrrot, a famous forest-ranger,
there was imminent danger of their changing their
allegiance, joining hands with the Iroquois, and
engaging in trade with the colonists at Albany.
Dongan, Governor of New York, asserted the
authority of the King of England over the whole
country south of the lakes, claiming the Iroquois
as British subjects, and to give formal effect to
the claim he sent an envoy, Vicle, to set up the
British coat of arms in the Mohawk towns.
Then ensued a long and varying warfare, in
which the French and English struggled for ascen-
dancy in the west. At the same time their rivalry
was breaking out into open conflict in Acadia,
while in Hudson's Bay a French company had de-
termined to expel the English Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, which had established posts on that nor-
thern sea. To accomplish this purpose, in 1686,
the Chevalier de Troyes left Montreal with eighty
French-Canadians to destroy three of the English
posts on Hudson's Bay — Fort Albany, Fort Hayes,
and Fort Rupert. Troyes had under him Iber-
ville, Sainte-Helene, and Maricourt, three sons of
Charles Le Moyne. They made their way north-
ward by a long and tedious journey over the wild
and difficult country and reached Fort Hayes,
which they surprised and took. They then went
on to Fort Rupert and captured it, killing five of
the inmates. They next proceeded to Fort Albany,
thirty miles away, and having obtained possession
of some cannon captured from the English, rid-
dled the stockade and compelled the agent of the
Company, who was within with thirty men, to
capitulate.
A descent of Governor Denonville into the
Seneca country, with between two and three
thousand men, regulars, militia, and Indians, in
1687, and the ravaging of their villages, served to
further exasperate, without greatly injuring, the
Iroquois. In i6go the authority of the French
over tlie Indians had fallen very low. Those in
the north-west, about Michillimackinac, were
disaffected and tiircatcning revolt. The year be-
fore a party of Iroquois had matle a descent upon
Lachine to tiie number of fifteen hundred, and in
the darkness of night and under cover of a tem-
pest had fallen upon the sleeping inhabitants and
murdered men, women luid children, indiscrimi-
nately. They subsequently cut to pieces a de-
tachment of eighty soldiers from one of the
neighbouring forts and made their escape. For
some time afterwards they pillaged the country
around. De Frontenac, the new Governor-Gen-
eral, in order to strike terror into his savage foes,
organized three war parties at Montreal, Three
Rivers, and Quebec, respectively, to march against
Albany, the border settlements of Nesv Hamp-
shire, and Maine.
The first party was led by D'Ailleboust, Man-
tet, and Sainte-Helene supported by Iberville,
Bienville, Repentigney de Montesson, Le Ber
du Chesne and other young men of the Cana-
dian noblesse. This body set out in the mid-
dle of winter, and after a long and toilsome
march of more than three weeks during which
the men suffered terrible hardships from cold,
exposure, and want of food, made its way to
Schenectady, the most northerly village of New
York. The Dutch inhabitants in their heedless
security kept no nightly guard upon their gates ;
they were surprised in their beds, and men,
women, and children tomahawked. Sixty per-
sons were killed outright and between eighty and
ninety captured.
The second party commanded by Francois
Hertel, after journeying through the wilderness
for three months amidst great privations, reached
the town of Salmon Falls on the borders of
Maine and New Hampshire and tomahawked or
shot thirty persons while fifty were made prison-
ers. Hertel then joined forces with the third
party under a Canadian, Portneuf, and Courte-
manche. There were between four and five
hundred men in the party and they proceeded to
Fort Royal, where the present city of Portland
stands. This work was protected by palisades
and had eight cannon. Within it were about a
hundred men, settlers in the neighbourhood, who
S8
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
t
1^
«
hi
is
prepared to defend it. After the place had been
beleaguered for three days the commander of the
garrison, a trader named Davis, agreed to sur-
render on promise that the inmates should be
spared. The condition was granted, but when
the garrison laid down their arms rhe Indians
fell upon them, murdered many and carried off
the rest. After destroying all the neighbouring
settlements the expedition returned home.
The conditions ot life during the long period in
which the Iroquois were the scourge of Canada put
to daily test the valour of the French settlers, and
innumerable instances of heroism brighten the
annals of the time. One of the most romantic
was the defence of the fort at Vercheres, in 1692,
by Madeleine, the daughter of the Seigneur of the
place, a girl onl^ fourteen years of age. The in-
habitants being at work in the fields, no one was
left in charge but two soldiers, two boys, an old
man of eighty and some women and children.
In the neighbourhood appeared forty or fifty
Indians. Madeleine placed herself in command
of the feeble garrison and inspire J them v.ith her
own courage and enthusiasm, although the two
soldiers were so badly frightened that she found
one of them preparing to set fire to a powder cask
and blow up the magazine. Her two brothers, ten
and t\vel\e years old, respectively, assisted the
soldiers in firing upon the Iroquois from loop-
holes in the wall, and Madeleine caused cannon
to be discharged. She placed her young brothers
and the old man in three of the bastions while
she occupied the fourth herself. The two soldiers
and a man who had been brought in covertly from
the outside occupied the blockhouse. For a week
tlie slender garrison was on duty, not resting
night or day until it was relieved by a French
Lieutenant with some forty men.
In 1693 Frontenac prepared a great expedition
against the Mohawks of six hundred and twenty-
five men under the leaders Mantet, Courtemanche
and La Noue. They had one hundred soldiers,
a large number of French-Canadians, as well as
Abenaquis, Huron, and Algonquin Indians, and a
few Christian Iroquois. They captured Ihe first
town without resistencc, most of the warriors
being absent, placed their prisoners in the second
and attacked the third. After a short fight in
which twenty or thirty Mohawks were killed and
three hundred captured, they burned the town
and started on the return with a long train of
prisoners. After a drawn battle with a party of
English and French under Major Schuyler, who
had set out to attack them, they pursued their
return journey northward, as usual, by the Hud-
son, Lake Champlain, and the Richelieu.
As the weather was comparatively mild and the
ice on the lake was insufficient to bear them,
they had to proceed along the shore through the
woods, over rocks, in melting snow and amid
tangled thickets. A store of provisions which
they had left concealed at a point on Lake Cham-
plain had spoiled and they were reduced to the
extremity of chewing boiled moccasins for food
and searching under the snow for hickory and
beech nuts. Some died of famine, and many fell
through exhaustion, while a few struggled on to
Montreal to obtain assistance from De Callieres.
This expedition was called a " glorious success "
by Frontenac because of the moral effect upon
the 'rcquois, but it was dearly bought, and did
not prevent those pests of the forest from con-
tinuing to hover aDout the French settlements.
Throughout the wavering contest between the
French and English, with their savage allies,
which filled the latter part of the 17th and the
early part of the i8th centuries, the native-born
Canadians took their full share of the fighting,
and displayed fine soldierly qualities. The
coureurs-du-bois or bushrangers, accustomed as
they were to the free open life of the woods, and
to long journeys by canoes from Quebec to the far
north, were invaluable aids to the French com-
manders, and the Canadian noblesse, filled with
the spirit of daring and adventure, were well
qualified to infuse enthusiasm and valour into
their followers. The exploit of Courtemanche,
who was sent by Frontenac up the Ottawa in
1693 to rouse the Hurons and Ottawas at Mich-
ilimackinac against the Iroquois was an example
of the hazardous enterprises in which the courenrs-
du-bois were constantly engaged. With ten com-
panions he made his way from Montreal to the
northwestern extremity of Lake Huron, although
the river was alive with watchful foes, eager for
the scalps of Frenchmen.
A remarkable family of the period was that of
Chaiies Le Moyne, of Montreal, with his eleven
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
S9
sons — Pierre, Iberville, Longeuil.Serigny, Assigny,
Maricourt, Sainta-Helene, the two Chateauguays
and the two Bietivilles. These young men were
active and adventurous warriors, and entered with
spirit into all ihe exploits of the colony. The
most distinguished was Iberville, who had been
trained in the French navy and was a skilful com-
mander. In 1696 he attacked the English post of
Pemaquid, north of the Kennebec River, and
destroyed it. He then sailed for Newfoundland
with eighty men, and was joined by as many more
when he arrived. For two months he and his
followers marched along the southern coast, de-
stroying the fishermen's hamlets and carrying
desolation everywhere. The country was bleak
and barren, the settlements sparse, provisions very
scanty, and the climate severe. Yet Iberville and
his hardy followeis allowed nothing to deter them
and in the spring of 1697 the English settlements
along the coast had all been wiped out with the
exception of the post of Bonavista and the Island
of Carbonniere. Iberville then received orders
from the Governor, through his brother Serigny,
to proceed to Hudson's Bay, which he did, with
five vessels of war. The fleet was scattered by a
storm, and Iberville, in his single ship, the Pfi/i'aj;/,
engaged with three English ships, the Hampshire,
Daring, and Hudson's Bay. The first he sank with
repeated broadsides, tha next he attacked with
such vigour that she struck her flag, while the
third fled from the scene. Iberville then attacked
Fort Nelson, a palisautd work, which his bombs
soon reduced. In subsequent years he became
the founder of Louisiana, a French province ex-
tending from the Gulf of Mexico northward, and
embracing the whole of the Mississippi valley,
while his brother, Bienville, was the founder of
New Orleans.
On the 4th of July, i6g6, Frontenac left Mont-
real at the head of twenty-two hundred men. He
made bis way to Fort Frontenac, which he had
built at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, in canoes
and bateaux. He had two battalions of regulars
commanded by De Callieres, a large stock of pro-
visions, cannon, mortars and rockets, eight hun-
dred Canadians under De Kamezay, with more
regulars and Indians commanded by DeVaudreuil.
He crossed the lake to Oswego, and made his way
slowly and painfully up the streams of that name.
Age had robbed thegreat Governor of his strength
and vigour, and he had to be carried in an arm-
chair through the wilderness of forest and rock.
De Callieres, the Governor of Montreal, who was
second in command, was suffering from gout.
Nevertheless, in August they reached Lake Onon-
daga, where they built a fort to protect the bateaux
canoes, and stores.
The Indians burned their towns on the approach
of the Canadians and retreated into the forts. De
Vaudreuil and a detachment of seven hundred men
then went on to the great town of the Oneidas,
and destroyed it, with all its growing corn, seizing
a number of chiefs as hostages. The English
sent provisions to the Onondagas and Oneidas to
support them through the winter and prevent
them from being destroyed by famine, as the
French had hoped they would. Like the attack
of Denonville upon the Senecas in 1687 this cam-
paign was only partially successful. It caused the
Indians some inconvenience and suffering, to
which they were well accustomed ; but it did them
no serious harm. Shortly after this event the
Treaty of Ryswick established peace between
England and France in both Europe and America,
and in 1701 De Callieres, who succeeded Frontenac,
held a great meeting of the Indians of the west,
the Abenaquis and the Iroquois, at Montreal,
when the hatchet was buried and an end put to
the insufferable persecution of French settlers by
the Five Nations.
I have now to say somethmg of the French ex-
plorers who extended the claims of France to the
great lakes and the northwestern country, and
southward along the Mississippi to the sea. Dur-
ing Champlain's life Jean Nicolet went as far west
as Sault Ste. Marie, and passed through the
Straits of Mackinac into Lake Michigan. In
1658 the Sieur de Grosseilliers is thought to have
reached the shores of Lake Superior. In 167 1
Pere Marquette founded the mission of St. Ignace
on the northern side of the Straits of Mackinac,
and laid the basis of a flourishing settlement,
which became a great trading centre for the sur-
rounding country. Here the French built a chapel
and a fort, while the Hurons and Ottawas lived
in protected villages in the vicinity. It was to
this post that the conrcurs-du-bois from Quebec
directed their course for beaver skins in the far
m
6o
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
§
west. The bushrangers wandered far and wide
into the surrounding country and pushed their
way by lake and river into the remotest west and
northwest. Remaricable amongst these were
Nicholas Perrot, who explored the interior of the
continent, and Duluth, who was at the head of a
band of voyagcttrs and who founded posts through-
out the w^st for the convenience of the fur
trade.
In 1671 the Sieur de St. Lusson was commis-
sioned by the government of Quebec to search
for copper mines near Lake Superior and to take
possession of the country bordering on the lakes
through which tributary rivers flowed. With St.
Lusson were two other men who became famous
— Nicholas Perrot, who has been already men-
tioned, and Louis Joliette. S;. Lusson erected a
cross near the rapids of Sault Ste. Marie, and laid
claim for Louis XIV. of France to Lakes Huron
and Superior, the island of Mackinac, Sault Ste.
Marie, and all the adjacent countries, rivers, lakes*
and contiguous streams. Joliette was a native-
born Canadian, who had been educated by the
Jesuits. He, Father Marquette, and five com-
panions, started in 1673 on a journey through the
wilderness lying beyond Green Bay. They
ascended the Fox River and crossed to the Wis-
consin, which carried them forward into the
Mississippi. They recognized the rapid river to
be the great stream of which accounts had so
often reached Canada, and passing downward
they reached the mouth of the Arkansas, when,
learning from some natives that the river upon
which they were embarked flowed to the Gulf of
Mexico, they turned homeward, went up th'e Illi-
nois, followed the Des Plaines, crossed the Chicago
portage, and reached the southern extremity of
Lake Michigan.
Another great name is connected with the ex-
ploration and discovery of the west. La Salle
received from Louis XIV. a grant of Fort Fron-
tenac and the surrounding territories as a Seign-
eury. In 1677 he, having some years before
e-xpiored the country south of Lake Erie, obtained
from the King letters patent, authorizing him to
build forts south and west of the lakes. He
brought with him from France the Recollet
Father Hennepin and Henri de Tonty, the son of
an Italian resident of Paris. On the banks of the
Illinois, and near the present city of Peoria, La
Salle built Fort Crevecour, naming it after a fort
in the Netherlands recently captured by the
French. He left De Tonty in charge of it, but
during a temporary absence of the commander it
was destroyed by some of his own nien. Three
Frenchmen, Father Hennepin and two others,
whom La Salle sent to the upper waters of the
Mississippi, were made prisoners by the Sioux.
Here Father Hennepin met with Duluth, who
had conceived the design of exploring the whole
region beyond Lake Superior. The priest was
set free and allowed to follow Duluth back to the
French post at the Straits of Mackinac. During
the winter of 1681 La Salle remained at a post
he had built on the banks of the St. Joseph in the
land of the Miamis, and in February, 1682, he
descended the Mississippi, accompanied by his
friend De '''onty, and Father Membre, a Recollet
priest. He had with him some Abenaquis and
Mohican Indians, who had come from their homes
by the Atlantic to accompany him. They were
received with friendliness by the Indians en-
camped on the shores of the river, among whom
were the Natchez, worshippers of the sun. On
the 6th of April La Salle, De Tonty and Dautray,
passed in three canoes through the three channels
of the Mississippi and emerged upon the Gulf of
Mexico. On high land, near the mouth of the
river, a column was raised claiming the country
for the King of France. In consequence of this
feat of exploration La Salle was honoured by the
King on his return to France in 1683-4, and was
commissioned to found colonies in Louisiana. He
set out for that purpose and sailed for the Gulf of
Mexico, but passing the mouth of the Mississippi
by mistake he made a French settlement on the
shores of the present State of Texas. His colony
suffered great privations, and La Salle was assas-
sinated by two of his own men. His nephew, his
servant, and a faithful companion, a Shawnee
Indian, who had been with him for years, met
with the same fate. Such was the sad end of the
great explorer of the Mississippi, an achievement
which gave France a claim to the whole terri-
tory stretching from the great lakes to the Gulf of
Mexico.
I
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND
BY
THE HDITOR
AMID the gloomy forests of a vast continent,
through the great lake lands and river basins
stretching from Hudson'sBayalmostto the
Mexican Gulf, in a wilderness peopled by
savages and wild animals, the English and French
foughi for mastery during the greater part of a hun-
dred years. Sometimes with Indian help, some-
times without, sometimes through wars involving
the home nations, sometimes in strife between the
colonists only, the stcuggle went on. No more
vivid panorama of war has ever been presented,
no stronger and more splendid natural setting for
a vital conflict has ever been provided. The
broad aisles of the primeval forest and almost
untrodden wilderness echoed continually to the
war-whoop of the Indian, the tramp of armed
men, or the roar of European guns, while
" The flag of Kn[;lancl and the flag of France,
Waved in wai's alternate chance."
France had the first opportunity in what is now
Canada, if we except the uncertain landing of
Cabot, the vain aspirations of Henry VII, the
sailing expeditions of Frobisher and Drake, the
early settlement and predominance of English
fishermen in Nevvfoinidland. De Monts and de
Roberval, Cartier, and Champlain, between 1534
and 1628, discovered or colonized Nova Scotia and
Quebec, and took nominal possession for the
French Crown of a vast region north and south
of the St. Lawrence. French voyageurs swarmed
in time through the lakes and rivers of the north
as far as Hudson's Bay, and French hunters and
trappers sought sport and furs in much of the
region watered bj' the Mississippi and its more
northern affluents.
Meantime, however, the Spaniards had taken
possession of Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and other
West Indian Islands, and Bermuda; the English
had settled in Virginia and New England, estab-
lished themselves in Newfoundland and upon the
borders of the great northern Bay in whose dark
and often ice-bound waters Henry Hudson met
both fame and death ; the Dutch had founded New
York, and entrenched themselves upon a part of
the Atlantic coast. While these rivals were grow-
ing into prominence, and, in the case of England,
into slow but certain power by a steady process of
settlement, New France remained a very fluct-
uating quantity. With only occasional and
spasmodic help from home, the colonization of
Acadia and Quebec proceeded. The monopoly of
the fur trade was a bait held out to those of sor-
did mindattiineswhen settlement seemed specially
desirable. It was offered in 1600 by Henry IV.
(Navarre), in reward for an attempt at Tadousac
near the mouth of the Saguenay. Shortly after-
wards, De Monts established himself in Nova
Scotia, and Champlain founded Quebec, while
in IJ42, de Maissonneuve founded Montreal.
The little Colonies grew slowly. They had to
contend with the Iroquois, the cold and privations
of winter, the indifference of the Home govern-
ment, and as time passed on, with the oppression
of local governors and corrupt tax-collecting
officials. Acadia was the scene of the first con-
flict between the French and the English, and
here in 1612, Samuel Argall from Virginia, boldly
uprooted Port Royal and established a temporary
British colony in its place. If France claimed
Canada by virtue of Cartier's discovery of the St.
Lawrence and Champlain's explorations, England
claimed the Af'.intic countries and an indefinite
territory inland by virtue of the Cabots' still earlier
voyages. Thus commenced the prolonged con-
test — not always between direct officials or mili-
tary forces of the countries concerned, but between
colonists whose descendants were to occupy ttio
soil either as rulers or ruled.
I
at
61
62
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
But this Virginian expedition was for some time
only an isolated incident. The .".rst French lead-
ers in Can;ula were most ambitious man, and not
deterred so casii\' from attaining their ends. De
Monts and Champlain both contemf' ted and
worked for the establishment of a great French
empire in North America — and it was not their
fault if time failed to realize their wishes.
Naturally, too, the gradual growth of New France
became an object of dislike and jealousy to the
English Colonies. They were antagonists from
national sentiment and history, rivals in trade and
intercourse with the Indians, opponents in reli-
gion and forms of government, in character and
customs. Hence the local conflicts and readiness
with which war was plunged into, with or without
support from the mother countries. Acadia re-
mained for some time the original and chief scene
of struggle. After the first destruction of Port
Royal and temporary cessation of French settle-
ment there, the English left the province. In 1621,
however. Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl
of Stirling, obtained a grant from James I. of
nearly the whole territory now known as the
Maritime Provinces of Canada, and to this great
stretch of country he gave the name of Neva
Scotia. But on trying to make a settlement in
1623, he found the French again in full possession
and returned home with his colonists.
Charles I., in 1628, confirmed this grant, and
as war had just been declared against France on
behalf of the Huguenots he despatched an expe-
dition to capture New France — of which Acadia
or Nova Scotia was supposed ; be a part. Ad-
miral Kirke and his fleet arrived during the sum-
mer in t'" jt. Lawrence, and for the first time in
history the English flag swept at the masthead
of an English ship between the shores of the
great Canadian river. Champlain was in a de-
plorable condition in his newly-built citadel, but
without supplies as he was, with few soldiers and
only a faint hope of better support from home,
he refused Kirke's demand from Tadousac to
surrender, and held on to his as yet poorly forti-
fied capital. The English admiral encountered
shortly afterwards a large French fleet at the
mouth of the Saguenay, which had been sent out
to relieve Champlain, captured part of it and
destroyed the rest. Satisfied with this victory he
returned to England, but in the following year
came out again to find the French settlement on
the point of starvation and under the necessity of
surrender. For three years following all New
France was under the English flag, and much
profit was made out of the fur irade, while a
Scotch settlement was established near Port Royal.
By the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye in 1632
however, the Canadian territory was restored to
France in exchange for a rugar island in the
Pacific and some arrears of money due the Eng-
lish King on his wife's dowry.
During the civil strife which followed in Acadia
between de Charnisey and de la Tour, with its
picturesque and romantic incidents of heroism,
Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, took ad-
vantage of the struggle to help the latter of the
two rivals. As he put the matter in reply to
someone whoopposed this intervention on religious
grounds: " Is it more safe, just and honourable!
to neglect a Providence which puts it in our power
to succour an unfortunate neighbour, at the same
time weakening a dangerous enemy, than to allow
that enemy to work out his purposes." Finally
a short-lived treaty of amity and trade was con-
cluded in 1644 between New England and Acadia.
Ten years later Cromwell sent an expedition to
retake the country, which succeeded in expelling
the French from St. John and Port Royal, and
received some assistance from Massachusetts*
It is stated that atthistime the coureiirs-dubois, or
trappers in the woods, recognized at intervals the
Sovereign of France, the Lord Protector of Eng-
land, or the then Pretender and future Charles the
Second as their ruler — sometimes all three ! In
1667, by the Peace of Breda, all territory was
again mutually restored.
Towards the close of the century the hostility
between the rival colonists increased greatly in
bitterness. In 1664 New Netherlands had been
taken from the Dutch, and the city which they
had founded re-christened as New York. La Salle
and de Hennepin had discovered or explored parts
of the Mississippi, and given the French strong
claims toa vast territory reaching down through the
heart of the continent. Meanwhile both nations
and both classes of colonists were trying to obtain
and keep the alliance of the Indians — notably the
Iroquois — and to maintain supremacy in the great
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
<M
fur trade of the interior. At this time, too, the
French power vastly overshadowed the English
in America, and included under the sway of Louis
XIV. most of the Hudson's Bay country, Acadia,
Canada proper, much of Maine, portions of Ver-
mont and New York, and the whole valley of the
Mississippi. Little wonder, therefore, that the
New Englanders dreaded the further expansion
of those they looked upon as hereditary enemies.
Colonel Dongan in New York and the Marquess
de Denonville in New France succeeded between
them in stirring up the Iroquois and a bloody
war ensued — 1685-89. In the latter year war
was declared against Great Britain by France
and the continent became once more the scene
of a white man's struggle aided on either side by
tribes of its original owners. The French Can-
adian population at this time was about Ii,ooo,
that of the English colonies over 200,000. Both
parties prepared for action. The gallant Fron-
tenac was now Governor-General of New France
and he was an army in himself. By his instruc-
tions from the King the Hudson's Bay territory
was to be at once invaded and the province of
New York over-run. In the former case suc-
cess, owing to the brilliance and dash of Iberville
Le Moyne was immediate. With some French
troops he took possession of various posts, and find-
ing two English war vessels in the Bayat St. Anne's
he drew their men into an ambuscade and cap-
tured the ships. Meanwhile the Iroquois had
glided in their light canoes down the St. Law-
rence, ravaged its shores, and threatened the
very gates of Montreal. On the other hand the
Abenaquis took the part of the French and
struck terror by their raids along much of the
New England border. During the winter Fron-
tenac arranged three expeditions of French troops,
assisted by the Ottawas and Hurons, into the
heart of New York. Schenectady and other ports
were captured and much of the country ravaged
by these intrepid little bands. They had marched
hundreds of miles through snow and ice into the
heart of a hostile territory and their successes
showed what it was to have a great man at the
head of affairs. Frontenac simply compelled
success, and with proper support from France
might have changed the whole history of North
America and the Anglo-Saxon race.
But this after all was only a raid, and when
Frontenac wanted to really invade the Provmce
in the following year (i6gi) the French King
could not spare the troops, and the local garrison
ot a few hundred men was of course insufficient.
If, however, he was unable to take the offensive,
the men of Massachusetts were, and an expedi-
tion was fitted out under Sir William Phipps,
who speedily ovrr-ran Acadia, destroyed Port
Royal once more, and annexed the country to his
own province. Frontenac retorted by worrying
and harrassing the frontiers of the English pro-
vinces, and was soon able to again take possession
of his much harried Atlantic colony. Meantime
William III. (of Orange) was being urged to take
an active interest in the American war, but, like
King Louis, was much too busy in Europe. New
York and Connecticut therefore undertook to
supply a force for the overland invasion of New
France and the capture of Montreal, while Mas-
sachusetts got together a fleet of thirty-five ves-
sels with 44 guns and 2,000 men for the siege of
Quebec by sea. The command of tiie latter
armament was given to Sir William Phipps.
Owing to miscalculation as to the season, various
delays, and some repulses on land by the French,
the fleet eventually had to return home without
accomplishing anything — despite the quaint re-
mark of Cotton Mather that during the absence
of the expedition "the wheel of prayer in New
England has been continually going round." At
the same time the land force under General
Winthrop had to retreat from the banks of Lake
George, where it had awaited tidings from Phipps.
The latter was now sent to England for assist-
ance and the making of some arrangements about
the Provincial charters. He returned with the
promise of ships, and appointment as Governor
of the united provinces of Massachusetts, Maine,
Plymouth, and Nova Scotia, while M. de Fron-
tenac received word about the same time that
King Louis would have sent a fleet to attack the
English colonies had his means permitted. In
1693 the British fleet sailed under Sir Francis
Wheeler, but on its way disease broke out on
board and over 3,000 sailors and soldiers die(^.
Eventually Wheeler and his ships returned with-
out doing anything. During the next three years
the French Governor-General succeeded in check-
64
CANADA: AN ENCVCLOIVKDIA.
ing and chastising the Iroquois, and rebuilt Fort
Frontenac, greatly to the disgust of the English
colonists. He then planned a campaign against
the English, and it was opened by Iberville Le
Moyne, of the famous French-Canadian family,
with the capture and destruction of Pemaquid —
a fort on the Bay of Fundy, and perhaps the
strongest one possessed by the English in North
America. He then captured St. John's, New-
foundland, and with a few hundred men overran
the whole Island. From thence he departed to
the far Hudson's Bay territory, and in a short
time had taken the principal forts, subdued nearly
the whole of the country with a mere handful of
men, and returned laden with booty in furs and
peltry, and a well-deserved reputation for skill
and valour. Later on, in a second expedition to
the northern regions, he defeated some British
ships in Hudson's Bay, and once more maintained
the mastery of his flag in those distant waters.
But the end of this prolonged war had come for
the moment, and by the Treaty of Ryswick, in
i6q7, each nation returned to the other the places
and territory they had captured. William III.
had made his mark in Europe, and weakened the
. immense power of Louis the Great. In America,
after a struggle extending up the Mississippi,
around the shores of the great lakes, into the ice-
bound regions of the north, and along the stormy
shores of Newfoundland, matters were again
restored to their original condition. But no peace
made in Europe could really create peace amidst
the conditions prevalent on this continent.
Whether it was Dongan and Denonville, Phipps
and Frontenac, or others at the head of colonial
affairs, the strife was bound to continue. It
was the rivalry of two great races struggling
for supremacy. Both the French and the Eng-
lish were striving for the control of the trade
routes of the St. Lawrence and the Hudson. To
the former the natural policy, and one pursued by
Talon, de Courcelles, and La Salle, as well as by
later governors, was the surrounding of the Eng-
lish by a vast combination of French settlements
and colonies, and the restricting of their power
and place to a small strip on the Atlantic coast.
And Louis XIV. at one time expected to be able to
deport them altogether from their homes in much
the same way as the Acadians were afterwards
deported by the English. Upon the other hand
the English policy was naturally one of cooping
the French up m the valley of the St. Lawrence
and thus checking their enterprising expansion
north and south. In this \im they were tremen-
dously helped by the bitter hostility of the Iro-
quois to the French name and nationality.
The Treaty of Ryswick only lasted five years,
when the war of the Spanish Succession com-
menced with England, Austria, and Holland pit-
ted against France and Spain. It was a glorious
war for England, though one of varied failures
and successes in America. British victories at
Blenheim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet
rang through Europe like a long sustained peal
of thunder, and the echo in North America indi-
cated at last the line of ultimate success in that
great continental struggle. The war was nomin-
ally based upon a question of succession to the
Spanish throne, practically it was one of bound-
less empire in the New World beyond the seas.
At first it was the old story of petty raids, cruel
surprises and Indian forays. Massachusetts
whaleboats harrassed the Acadian coasts ; a Bos-
ton fleet tried to capture Port Royal, but failed ;
Hertel was sent by the Governor in Canada, de
Vaudreuil, with a mixed war-party and succeed-
ed in surprising and destroying the inhabitants
of Haverhill — an English village on the Merri-
mac ; schemes were laid for the invasion of New
i'ork, and rival preparations made for the con-
quest of Canada ; while the Iroquois played off
one nationality against the other, and profited by
the antagonisms which they greatly e.ihanced.
Finally, in 1709, Colonel Nicholson, an able
officer, organized an expedition of ships and col-
onial troops for the conquest of Quebec. When
ready, however, the season was too far advanced
and he led it to the coasts of Acadia. Port Royal
was taken for the last time, and its name changed
to Annapolis Royal, in honou"" of Queen Anne.
Acadia fell easily into his hands, and with the
later appearance of fifteen men-of-war under Ad-
miral Sir Hovenden Walker — bearing a number of
Marlborough's fighting regiments for the capture
of the great French fortress — it really seemed as if
the knell of French power had rung in North
America. In the spring of 1710, Walker sailed
from Boston, and Nicholson marched overland to
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
6S
Lake Champlain. But the former proved utterly
incapable, and after a series of mishaps and mis-
takes, left half his ships on the reefs of the St.
Lawrence, and with a ruined reputation hurried
away to Enjjland, while the French sang paeans
of gratitude, and Nicholson had to return in rage
and disgust to Boston. In three years more
peace came, and this time nothing was returned.
Acadia, Newfoundland, the Hudson's Bay terri-
tory, and St. Christopher's Island in the West
Indies, were surrendered by France. Cape Bre-
ton, — then known as He Royale — the Island of St.
John (now Prince Edward Island), and other
places in the St. Lawrence were retained by
France.
It was really the beginning of the end, and in-
stead of restricting and hemming in the English
settlements, New France was now mot on the
north, the east, and partly on the south by an
aggressive fringe of growing British colonics or
settlements. She still, however, held firmly the
gates of the two great waterways, had the mighty
inland seas of the continent in her grasp, and
guarded the possibilities of the boundless west.
The future seemed by no means hopeless. Hence
the plots amongst the Acadians; the building of
a strong French fort at Niagara, and a rival
English one at Oswego ; the effort to colonize the
far west and de la Verendrje's explorations in
what is now Manitoba and the North-West.
Hence, too, the building of a French fort at the
head of Lake Champlain, with a view to hinder-
ing any English expansion in that direction — a
fort afterwards famous as Crown Point.
Peace lasted until 1740 when the War of the
Austrian Succession began and gave an oppor-
tunity for France and England to once more
meet in deadly struggle. Nominally it was over
the accession of Marie Theresa to the throne of
Austria, practically it was an effort by France
and Spain to crush the external empire of Eng-
land and sweep to the pit of destruction her
growing commerce. She supported Austria and
its youthful Empress and the result materially
affected matters in America. The French Gov-
ernor of Louisbourg, in Cape Breton, quickly
decided to capture Annapolis Royal and for this
purpose invaded Nova Scotia, captured some
minor places, and laid siege to the English capital.
For weeks he maintained his ground, but the com-
mander, Paul Mascarene, was indomitable and
ultimately the French withdrew. In return, Gov-
ernor Shirley of Massachussetts organized an
expedition of 4,000 farmers and merchants, and a
small fleet for the capture of Louisbourg — a pow-
erful fortification held by trained and experienced
troops. William Pepperell, a man of courage
and resource, but with no military experience,
was appointed to the command, and after swift
preparations reached Canso, a place not far from
the fortress, where he was joined by Commodore
Warren with four British battle-ships. Early
next morning the army of volunteers were in
front of a fortress which a French officer had
declared could be held by an army of women
against assault and which was defended by 1,300
troops under Uuchnmbon, an experienced soldier.
It is not necessary to go into details of the siege.
Ultimately Louisbourg surrendered amid the wild
acclaim of all New England and the utter dismay
of New Franc, and the authorities in Paris.
Pepperell wu^ d^'jrvedly created a baronet for
his great achievf .nent.
Two great fleets were sent out to recapture it.
One of thirty-nine men-of-war met with almost
countless misfortunes and had to return with only
a remnant. The other, in 1747, was met off Cape
Finisterre, in the Bay of Biscay, and utterly an-
nihilated by Admiral Anson. In the succeeding
year peace was formally made at Aix-la-Chapelle,
and France, which had been upon the whole suc-
cessful in Europe, and had won from England the
rich plains of Madras, was able to recover Louis-
bourg in exchange for its Indian conquest — to the
intense chagrin of New England and New York.
The peace was only nominal. The boundaries of
Acadia formed an easy cause of dispute in America,
while Clive and Dupleix kept up a continuous and
open war in India, with ultimatvi victory to the
former. De la Galissoniere was Governor-General
in Canada, and all his activity and skill was
devoted to holding and strengthening French
power. He claimed New Brunswick and Eastern
Maine as Canadian territory, maintained forts
along the borders of Nova Scotia, marked a
boundary line down the valley of the Ohio, and
restricted English trade in all that immense terri-
tory. The English founded Halifax, in 1749,
66
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
brought out settlers to Nova Scotia, expelled the
great bulk of the Acadiaiis for intriguinfj with the
French, and captured Fort Heauscjour, on the
frontier.
During this period there were continual raids
and massacres, chiefly at the hamis of Indians
allied with the Frencii, though both sides seemed
willing to share in the distinction of inciting them,
and both actually did at one time pay a bounty on
their enemies' scalps. What was called the Dart-
mouth massacre on the one side, ami the nmrder
of an Englishman named Howe on the other,
were incidents of the war now being carried on in
Acadia. In the west, the claims of France were
pushed with even more activity after the failure of
a joint commission sitting in Paris which tried
to define the boundaries of the Ohio Valley.
Duquesne, the Governor-General in succession to
the statesman-lil:e de la Galissonniere, and the
corrupt dc la Jonquiere, built several new forts
and strengthened the old ones, while winning
also the alliance of many of the western tribes
of Indians. To meet this aggressive policy, the
English colonists sent a notable protest by a
youth named George Washington, who was
courteously received but did not achieve any
practical result. Then they organized the Ohio
Company, for the purpose of trading in the
disputed region — with orwithout leave — and built
a fort at the junction ot the .Monongahela and
Alleghany Rivers. A French expedition promptly
destroyed it and erected a stronger one whl^h
they called Fort Duquesne.
Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, with equal
promptitude, at once sent a force under Washing-
ton to drive out the French. It was met by a
small contingent, which was cut to pieces, but the
whole expedition was shortly afterwards sur-
rounded by the enemy in far greater numbers and
forced to surrender the temporary entrenchments
which Washington had thrown up. The latter
was allowed, with his men, to retire and return
home with the honours of war. In 1754 two
English regiments were sent out under General
Braddock, and France at once despatched a larger
force under Baron Dieskau with the Marquess de
Vaudreuil as Governor-General. Both Powers
protested against the thought of war — and Brad-
dock prepared to reduce Forts Duquesne, Crown
Point and Niagara. In the following year he
himself led an expedition of 2,000 regulars and
militiamen through the forests of the west toward
Duquesne. In the defiles of the Monongahela
valley his force, however, was surprised by am-
bushed Indians and a party of 200 Frenchmen,
who, unseen and unharmed by answering bullets,
poured down an appalling storm of shot upon the
helpless troops. Braddock was killed, Washing-
ton had two horses shot under him and his clothes
riddled with bullets, and finally, barely 600 shamed
and beaten troops left the field alive.
Governor Shirley's projected expedition against
Niagara was at once abandoned, but Colonel John-
son with a force of braves from the Mohawk Valley
and some Colonial volunteers, persisted in an ex-
pedition againf.t Crown Point. Baron Dieskau,
with his French troops, encountered the invader
at Fort George, which Johnson had just built on
Lake George, fourteen miles from Fort Edwani
on the Hudson — another new English fortifica-
tion. The impetuous Dieskau dashed his men
against the wall of logs and English guns which
barred the way, but in vain, and after losing 600
men and being himself severely wounded and
captured, his repulse became an utter rout. John-
son retained his position, strengthened the post
under the name of Fort William Henry, and was
afterwards made a baronet. Thus, at the close
of the year, and on the verge of the final struggle
for supremacy, the French were triumphant in
the west, beaten back in Acadia, and checked
on Lake George.
Now began the Seven Years' War in which
England had Frederick the Great of Prussia as
an ally, and France, Russia, Austria, and many
minor states as antagonists. Out of this struggle
she came gloriously triumphant. On the plains
of Hindostan and throughout the wilds of Amer-
ica her flag floated in final victory, while the
tireless Frederick maintained a memorable and
grim contest in Europe. But the first years of
the war in America were not very bright for her.
Braddock's defeat left the borders of many Eng-
lish colonies open and subject to relentless and
bloody raids. Local troubles and constitutional
disputes also came to a head in some of the pro-
vinces, and Pennsylvania, while squabbling with
its Governor, refused to protect its own frontier.
-,-JLU
CANADA: AN ENCVCI.OIVKDIA.
67
France had scoreil early and instant success
by stMulnig out tliu f,'allant Marciiu'ssdi.' Montcalm
to CDinmand its forces; Ktif^land did the rtvurse
by despatchinff the ICarl of Loudoun and General
Abercrombie. The I'rench leader had not more
than reached Canada before he captured and
destroyed Oswego (1755). the KiiKlish base for
a projected attack on l'"ort Niajjara. Then lie
hastened up Lake Chaniplain and intrenched
himself at Fort TiconJcrogo. By these rapid
mover, he had secured the west and fastened the
fjates of entrance to Canada. Mcantim(! Lord
Tlie Marquess de Montcalm.
Londoun talked and did nothin;^. In 1757, how-
ever, he sailed for Halifax on tiie way to attack
Louisbourg, but, unlike the j^allant Pi-pperell in a
previous campaifjn, he wasted months of precious
time in spectacular preparations— until tiie place
was strongly re-enforced and twenty-two men-of-
war were guarding the entrance to its harbour.
Seeing Londoun hundreds of miles a.vay playing
the game of war where he was comparatively
harmless to the enemy, Montcalm promptly sallied
out of Ticonderogo and laid siege to Fort William
Henry with 6,000 men. Owing to the cowardice
of the English commander at the neighbouring
I'ort Edward, who had 3,6vj men with him, the
fortress was ultimately compelled to surrender,
under a pledge of protection against the Indians,
and with the right of marching unarmed to the
other Hritish post nearby.
But Montcalm was unable to bind his savage
allies and to his lasting sorrow the glades of the
forest suddenly rang with the Indian war-whoop
and the soil soon ran red with the blood of Eng-
lish men, women, and children. Short of calling
out his own troops to resist the Indians Montcalm
and his officers did everything that men could do
to check the slaughter, but the former's failure to
defend his helpless prisoners with his whole force
remains a stain upon an otherwise noble name and
character. The end, however, of this historic
struggle was near. External more than internal
events were the real causes of the final result and
perhaps the chief of these was the accession of
William Pitt to power in England at the moment
of greatest triumph for the French in America.
Almost in an instant the change came. Pitt, like
all great rulers, recognized that the success of a
war, a battle, or a campaign, frequently depends
upon the men who lead rather than upon the
soldiers themselves — important as the latter may
be. General Andierst, a skilful, cautious officer of
much experience, Major-General Wolfe, a dash-
ing, enthusiastic soldier who had already won the
keen appreciation of the Great Commoner, and
Admiral Boscawen, a brave and experienced
sailor, were despatched in 1758 with an army and
fleet to reduce Lonisbourg.
Within the massive walls of thisgreatly strength-
ened fortress now centered much of French power
and prestige in tha New World. Four thousand
citizens lived behind its mighty ramparts, and
three thousand regular troops guarded what was
supposed to be an impregnable position. Pepper-
ell's original plan of attack was followed by Am-
herst, and after a heavy siege, marked by a con-
stant interchange of courtesies between the leaders
and an equally constant exchange of shot and
shell, the gallant Chevalier de Drucour was finally
compelled to surrender the surviving half of his
garrison and the walls of his fortress. With it
went all Cape I>ret<in, and Prince Etlward Island,
m
iM
68
CANADA: AN ENCVCI.OIM'.DIA.
while the preat fortalico itself was levelled to the
ground after months of labour — and so well was
the work done that i.)-day {jrass grows plentifully
over the almost vanished lines of earthworks,
while the scene of war and tumult and roaring
cannon is now one of quiet pastoral peace and
beauty. The garrison was sent to England as
prisoners of war, and Amherst, through the pro-
longation of the siege, was compelled to defer
aggressive action against Quebec until the next
season.
Meantime, in the west, Abcrcrombie had hurled
Major Gw'iiei al James Walfe.
fifteen thousand men against Montcalm in Ticon-
(ierogo, but the breastwork of stakes and logs and
trees proved invulnerable even to the claymores of
the Highlanders and the dogged obstinacy of the
English charges. After leaving two thousand
dead in the trenches he retired again to Fort
William Henry. Elsewhere, Bradstreet was more
successful, and with a force of Colonial militia
crossed Lake Ontario, surprised and captured
Fort Frontenac with its rich stores, and a number
of French ships. A little later — November 1758 —
General Forbes compelled the surrender of Fort
Duquesne and in its place erected Fort Pitt — the
Pittsburg of to-day. And now the final act in the
great drama of moving war was to come upon
the stage. In the spring three English expedi-
tions were organized. General Prideaux and Sir
William Johnson advanced upon and captured
Fort Niagara and defeated a French relieving
force. General Amherst marched to Lake George,
forced the French to blow up Ticonderogo and
retreat upon Crown Point, where, through their
ships, they still maintained supremacy in Lake
Champlain. The English general then spent the
summer in building ships to meet his enemy — a
sure but slow method of capturing victory which
gave much pleasure to the recently beleaguered
Montcalm.
Wolfe and Montcalm prepared meanwhile for
their face to face and final struggle. The former's
army before Quebec consisted of some nine thou-
sand carefully selected troops, with Moncton,
Townshend, and Murray as Brigadier-Generals,
and the co-operation of a strong fleet under
Admiral Saunders. Montcalm had about fifteen
thousand regulars and a thousand Indians. It
was a tremendous undertaking for the English
commander. The frowning and apparently impreg-
nable ramparts of Quebec, bristling over the great
cliffs of the St. Lawrence, and crowded with the
gallant soldiery of France under the skilled leader-
ship of a great general, might well have proclaimed
it an impossible one. Wolfe's plan at first was to
tempt his opponent out to battle, and for this pur- ,
pose he divided his forces, built various redoubts
and fortified points from which he could harrasa
the defenders with shot and shell and gradually
batter down the walls of the city. And, though he
could not draw Montcalm from his stronghold, he
could seriously weaken his outer defences. Mean-
time, however, the summer was passing and
Wolfe knew something of the winter experiences
of Montgomery and Phipps and others who had
previously besieged the great fortress.
Spurred on by these considerations he made
one desperate attack upon the Beauport lines
behind whose trenches lay the serried masses of
Montcalm. But it was useless, and he withdrew
his men after the loss of five hundred gallant
troops. Autumn came and hope grew high in
CANADA; AN KNCYCI.OIM'.DIA.
69
the hearts of the besieged. W'olfu was ill, food
was growinfj scarce, the men were becotnin^,'
hopeless: the whole prospect was perplexiiif^ if not
paralyzing. Then came the forlorn hope and the
secret advance up the Heights of Abraham. The
discovery of the movement meant the annihila'.ion
oftlie English force; success meant the facing of
an army twice its size and in the best of health
and spirits. But the plan succeeded, and as morn-
ing broke on the 13th of September, 1759, the
British troops stood upon the plains and faced at
last the army of Montcalm. Charging at the
head of his Grenadiers, Wolfe was killed, and in
the succeeding rout of his forces Montcalm was
mortally wounded. The next day he died, and
on the . /th of September the Lilies of France
were hauled down and the Standard of England
waved tiinally over the ramparts of the great
citadel.
This was practically the end. De Levis matle
a gallant struggle to recover ground, defeated
Murray at the battle of Ste. Eoy, and had the
French fleet with re-enforcements arrived before
the English, might really have put a different
face upon affairs. But the reverse was the case
and he fell back upon Montreal. In September,
1760, he there found himself hemmed in by
17,000 British troops and in the ensuing capitu-
lation, de Vaudreuil, as the last Governor-General
of New France, surrendered the whole country.
The Treaty of Paris on loth February, 1763,
closed the struggle of centuries and by it a con-
tinent passed into British hands. Spain gave up
Florida, and France surrendered everything in
America except Louisiana — the islands of St.
Pierre and Miquelon, and certain unfortunate
fishing privileges in Newfoundland.
England had thus become mistress of the New
World, as well as the dominant power in India.
The American struggle had been a peculiar
one. Both races were alike brave, and neither
naturally cruel. Yet, through their Indian alli-
ances, the conflict had been often marked by
most uncivilized and barbaric actions. New
I'rance had been greatly hampered by indiffer-
ence at home, and in later years by the crim-
inal corruption of its ofhcials, and general mis-
government — a situation which all the skill and
force of Montcalm could not overcome or even
greatly modify. The whole French system was
steeped in corruption and internal weakness at the
time of the cession. Yet, with all the faults of
their leaders, and in spite of these fatal difficulties,
it was a gallant and brilliant exploit for 60,000
French — all there were in Canada at the close of
the regime — to face an ever-increasing volume of
English population, and to hold for over a century
the vast territory they so well defended. Of course
the English had their own troubles, and if their
population numbered in 1759, a million and a
quarter souls, it was none the less a divided and
scattered people, with many indications of the
coming internal storm and revolution. The end
of the international duel was, however, a glorious
one, as had been a myriad instances of individual
heroism and collective conflict during its progress.
Beside it all other contests seem dwarfed in the
immensity of the issues involved, and in the vast
field over which the contestants fought, while
in results it prepared the way for the future
establishment of a great English-speaking repub-
lic and a progressive British commonwealth
developing side by side upon the continent of
North America.
^il
Lord Amherst's General Orders to his troops
after the conquest show the spirit in which the
new Government was assumed :
Camp UEFOKii Montkeal, Sept. g, 1760.
" Parole, King George and Canada. — The Gen-
eral sees with infinite pleasure the success that
has crowned the efforts of His Majesty's troops
and faithful subjects in America. The Marques
de Vaudreuil has capitulated ; the troops of
France in Canada have laid down their arms, and
are not to serve during the war; the whole coun-
try submits to the dominion of Great Britain.
The three armies are entitled to the General's
thanks on this occasion ; and he assures them
that he will take the opportunity of acquainting
His Majesty with the zeal and bravery which has
I
CANADA : AN ENCVCLOl'.KDIA.
always been exerted by the officers and soldiers
of tKe reRiilar and Provincial troops, and also by
the faithful Indian allies.
The General is conhdent that when the troops
are informed that the country is the Kin(,''s, they
will not disgrace themselves by the least appear-
ance of inhumanity, or by unsoldierlike behaviour,
in taking any plunder, more especially as the
Canadians now become good subjects, and will
feel the good effect of Hir. Majesty's protection."
(Signed) " AMiiiiusT."
The Sovereigrn Council of New France— or as
it was afterwards called the Supreme Council, —
was created by the King of France in i66j as a
governing body for his possessions beyond the
sea, and it retained its authority for close upon a
hundred years. It was composed primarily of
the Governor-General, who had charge of all mili-
tary matters, the Bishop or chief ecclesiastic in
the Colony, who was supreme in all church and
religious concerns, the Intendant, who was Presi-
dent of the Council, with a casting vote, and com-
plete control over police, trade, justice and simi-
lar departments of the civil administration. With
them were associated six, and afterwards twelve
other Councillors, chosen usually from amongst
the leading residents. The Intendants — really
the chief administrative officers so far as local
government was concerned — included the follow-
ing personages :
1663 M. Robert.
1665 Jean Talon.
n68 Claude de Boutroue.
1670 Jean Talon.
1675 Jacques Duchesneau.
1682 Jacques de Meulles.
1686 Jean Bochart Champigny.
1702 Francois de Beauharnois.
1705 Jacques Raudot.
1705 Antoine Denis Raudot.
1712 Michel Begon.
1726 Claude Thomas Dupuy.
1728 Gilles Hocquart.
1748 Francois Bigot.
The power possessed by these officials was very
great, and its abuse was one of the chief causes
of the corruption which eventually under Bigot
permeated the whole body politic, and so fatally
weakened the hands of Montcalm. Talon, how-
ever, was an exception and a man of great ability
and wise action. Besides its other functions the
Council was a sort of Supreme Court for the
Colony, with itvferior courts at Quebec, Three
Rivers, and Montreal. It thus combined the exe-
cutivc, administrative, judicial, and ecclesiastical
powers in the hands of a body of men who moved
individually in the same circle and were guided
by very similar personal feelings and policy.
Little wonder, therefore, that abuses became
rampant.
The More Important Provisions in the Treaties
made by France and England during their pro-
longed contest in America and wars in Europe —
50 far as they affected Canada — are as follows :
1629. Treaty of Susa.
Article II. provides that no restitution should
be made of anything taken during the war.
Article III. provides that anything taken within
two months after the signing of the treaty should
be restored.
1632. Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye.
By Article III. Great Britain agreed to render
and restore to France " all the places occupied in
New France, Acadia, and Canada by subjects of
His Britannic Majesty, who should be made to
retire from said places."
1655. Treaty of Westminster.
By Article XXV. the claim of France to Penta-
goet, St. John, Port Royal, and LaHfive in Acadia
was referred to a proposed Commission. Under
this article Commissioners were appointed, at the
instance of France, but nothing was effected.
1667. Treaty of Breda.
By Article X. Great Britain agreed to restore
Acadia to France. By Article XI. inhabitants of
Acadia not wishing to remain under the dominion
of Great Britain were allowed a year to depart
and dispose of their lands, slaves and goods.
1697. Treaty of Ryswick.
Article VII. provides for the restoration by both
of all lands held by the other before the declara-
tion of war. Article VIII. provides for the ap-
pointment of Commissioners on both sides to
examine and determine the rights and preten-
sions of both countries to the places situated in
Hudson's Bay, but the possession of those places
which were taken by the French during the peace
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOl'.KDIA.
7«
that preceded the war and were retaken by the
English during the war, is left to the French by
virtue of Article VII.
1713. Treaty of Utrecht.
Article X. provides that France should restore
to Great Britain the Bay and Straits of Hudson
with all lands, seas, sea coasts, and rivers situated
on the said Bay and Straits. Article XI. pro-
vides that France should compensate the Hudson's
Bay Company. Article XII. yielded Nova Scotia,
or Acadia, with its ancient boundary and Port
Royal, or Annapolis, to Great Britain, " so that
French subjects should thereafter be excluded
from all kinds of fishing."
Article XIII. provides as follows : " The island
called Newfoundland with the adjacent islands
shall from this time forward belong of right
wholly to Great Britain, and to that end the town
and fortress of Placentia, and whatever other
places in the said island are in the possession of
the French, shall be yielded and given up . . .
to those who have a commission from the yueen
of Great Britain for that purpose. Nor shall the
Most Christian King, his heirs and successors, or
any of their subjects, at any time, hereafter lay
claim to any right to the said island and islands,
or to any part of it or them. Moreover, it shall
not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify
any place in the said Island of Newfoundland or
to erect any buildings there, besides stages made
of boards, and huts necessary and useful for dry-
ing fish ; or to resort to the said island beyond
the time necessary for fishing and drying of fish.
But it shall be allowed to the subjects of France
to catch fish, and to dry them on land, in that
part only, and in no other besides that, of the
said Island of Newfoundland which stretches
from the place called Cape Bonavista to the
northern point of the said island, and from
thence, running down by the western side,
reaches as far as the place called Point
Riche."
Article XIII. also provides that "the island
called Cape Breton as also all others both in the
mouth of the river St. Lawrence and in the Gulf
of the same name, shall hereafter belong of right
to the French with liberty of fortifying." Article
XIV. provides that French becoming British sub-
jects should " enjoy the free exercise of their reli-
gion according to the usage of the Church of
Rome, as fur as the laws of Great Britain do
allow the satnc."
1748. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Article IX. provides that " Isle Royal, called
Cape Btcton, shall be restored by Great Britain
to France."
176J, Treaty of Paris — between Great Britain,
France and Spain.
Article IV. renounces all pretensions of France
to Nova Scotia or Acadia. Article IV. also pro-
vides as follows : " His Most Christian Majesty
cedes and guarantees to His Britannic Majesty
in full right Canada with all its dependencies, as
well as the island of Cape Breton and all the other
islands and coasts in the Gulf and River St. Law-
rence, and in general everything that depends on
the said countries. His Britannic Majesty on his
side agrees to grant the liberty of the Catholic re-
ligion to the inhabitants of Canada ; he will conse-
quently give the most precise and effectual orders
that his new Roman Catholic subjects may pro-
fess the worship of their religion, according to
the rules of the Romish Church, as far as the laws
of Great Britain permit."
Article V. provides that " The subjectsof France
shall have the liberty of fishing and drying on a
part of the coasts of the island of Newfoundland
such as it is specified in the Xlllth Article of the
Treaty of Utrecht, which article is renewed and
confirmed by the present Treaty (except what
relates to the Island of Cape Breton as well as to
the other islands and coasts in the mouth and in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence) and His Britannic
Majesty consents to leave to the subjects of the
Most Christian King the liberty of fishing in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence on condition that the sub-
jects of France do not exercise the said fishery
but at the distance of three leagues from all the
coasts belonging to Great Britain as well as those
of the continent and those of the island situated
in the said Gulf of St. Lawrence. And as to what
relates to the fishery on the coasts of the Island
of Cape Breton out of the said Gulf, the subjects
of the Most Christian King shall not be permitted
to exercise the said fishery but at the distance of
fifteen leagues from the coasts of the Island of
Cape Breton, and the fishery on the coasts of
Nova Scotia or Acadia and everywhere else out
72
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
of the said Gulf shall remain on the footing of
former treaties."
Article VI. provides that the King of Great
Pritain cedes the "Islands of St. Pierre and Mique-
'on in full right to His Aiost Christian Majesty,
to serve as a shelter to the French fishes len ;
and his said Most Christian Majesty engaj,cs not
to fortify the said islands ; to erect no buildings
on them, but merely for the convenience of the
fishery ; and to keep upon them a guard of fifty
men only for the police."
Article VII. " In order to establish peace on
solid and durable foundations, and to remove for-
ever all subjects of dispute with regard to the
limits of the British and French Territories on
the Continent of America, it is agreed that for
the future the confines between the dominions of
His Britannic Mp.jesty in that part of the world
shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along
the middle of the River Mississippi, from its
sourc to the River Iberville, and from thence by
a line drawn along the middle of the river, and
the Lakes Mauropas and Port Chartram, to the
sea; and for this purpose the Most Chri'-tian King
cedes in full right and guarantees to His Britannic
Majesty the river and port of th, Mobi'e, and
everything which he pcsesses or ou'^ht to pos-
sess, on the left sids of the Rive r Mississippi,
except the town of New Orleans and the island
on which it is situated, which shall remain to
France; provid • ' that the navigation of the
River Mississippi shall be equally free, as well
to the subjects of Great Britain a- those of
France, ii' its whole breadth and lengt i, from its
source to the sea, and expressly tha*: part wh'ch
>s between the sci^l Island of New Orleans dnd
the right bank of that river, as well as the pass-
r^e both iu and out of its mouth. . is further
stipulated that the vcf^sels belonging to the sub-
jects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited,
or subjected to the payment of any duty whatso-
ever. The stipulation inb>.rted in ihe IVth article
in favour of the inhabitants of Canada, shall also
take place with regard t: the inhabitants of the
countries ceded by this a' icle."
Article XIX. Great Britain restores to Spain
itsconquestsin Cuba. Article XX. Spain cedes
and guarantees to Great Britain " Florida with
Fort St. Augustin and the Bay of Pensacola as
well as all that Spain possesses on the Continent
of North America to the east or to the south-east
of the River Mississippi.'
The Romance of Early Canadian History was
by no means confined to the adventures of the
explorers and pioneers who have made their
names famous. The trials and perils of the first
settlers, no matter how humble their origin or
insignificant their position, were as remarkable as
those of the leaders and military commanders.
The multitudinous incidents of storm and struggle
connected with the fur trade and its extension
through the wild forests of the north and west
were more romantic perhaps than any similar
page in history. So with the adventurous lives
of the young French aristocrats and scions of
noble families who poured into New France at dif-
ferent times, in the trains of Governors and Gen-
erals, or upon missions of individual and reckless
enterprise.
At first there were few settlers of aristoci.'tic
origin, and Talon in 1665 found only the families
of Tilly, Repentigny, La Rotherie, and d'Aille-
boust. But with the coming of the Carignan
Regiment and the ensuing Seigneurial grants,
thee followed an infusion of this element into
the population, and Chambly, St. Ours, Contre-
coeur, Varennes, illustiate to-day the names of
noble French families of two centuries ago.
Others which furnished members for pioneer
wurk or adventure in '.he New World were such
families as De Vaudreuil, De Beaujeu, d'Orson-
?ens, De Lanaudiere, De Fresnoy, and De Lot-
binii^re. Some individual rovers were gentlemen
adventurers like the Marquess de la Sabloni<5re,
who accompanied La Salle in his explorations;
the Marquess de Crisasi and his brother, who
were distinguished for their knightly virtues and
chivalrous bearing; St. Luc de la Corne, a wild
and unscrupulous rdventurer; Gilles Le Roy,
who refused to serve as a private soldier because
he was of noble birth ; D'Estrades, a connection
of the fiuuous Marshal, who was recommended
for promotion from the ranks by De la Gallison-
niere in 1748; Sieur d'Orceval, who had got into
trouble at home and was permanently exiled to
the Colony. Others of higher type and perform-
ance were Boucher, Governor of Three Rivers,
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.'I^DIA.
73
and founder of the De Boucherville family and
Seigneury ; Pichereau Duchesnay, Sieur de St.
Denis, who distinguished himself during Phipp's
siege of Quebec in 1690 ; Aubcrt de Gaspes, who
was ennobled for his Canadian services by Louis
XIV. ; Jacques Testard, Sieur de Montigny, who
possessed the scars of forty wounds and thirty-
five years of service ; Hertel, Sieur de la Freniere
and his ten equally gallant sons ; Charles Le
Moyne, Baron de Longueuil and his twelve heroic
sons, of whom three were killed in battle, four
became Governors of towns or Provinces, and all
were famed for skill and courage.
Such were the men who, whether settled along
the shores of the St. Lawrence, plunging after
furs into the primeval forests of a new continent,
fighting Indians aiound the great lakes and from
the Arctic Sea to the Spanish main, exploring the
great regions of the Mississippi and the far west,
or founding Detroit, St. Louis and New Orleans,
were always distinguished for bravery and adven-
turous spirit. Others there were such as Saint
Castin, Du Luth, La Durantaye, La Motte-Car-
dillac, and La Verandrye, who stand out conspic-
uously upon the pages of history. If, therefore,
the French regime was in its later days notable
for corruption in government and public life, it
must also be always memorable for the dashing,
aristocratic spirits who were thus given tiie greater
part of a continent to roam through and possess
— or attempt to possess — for tlieir Crown and
country.
The French rulers and Governors-General of
Canada, or New France, were as follows :
1534. Jacques Cartier, Captain-General.
1540. Jean Francois de la Koque, Sieur de
Roberval.
1598. Marquess do la Roche.
1600. ("apitaine de Chauvin (Acting).
1G03. Commander de Chastes.
1607. Pierre dti Guast de Monts, Lieutenant-
Geii 1.
i6i2. Samuel de Champlain, Lu;iiteiiant-Gen-
eral.
1633. Samuel de Champlain, first Governor-
General.
1635. Marc Antoine de Bras de fer Chateau-
fort (Administrator).
>
1636. Chevalier de Montmagny.
1648. Chevalier d'Ailleboust de Coulonge.
1651. Jean de Lauzon.
1656. Charles de Lauzon-Charny (Adminis-
trator).
1657. D'Ailleboust de Coulonge (Adminis-
trator).
1657. Viscomte de Voyer d'Argenson.
1661. Baron Dubois d'Avaugoui.
1663. Chevalier de Saffray de M^zy.
1665. Marquess de Tracy.
1665. Chevalier de Courcelles.
1672. Comte de Pall/au et de Frontenac.
1682. Sieur de la Barre.
1685. Marquess de Denonville.
1689. Comte de Frontenac.
1699. Chevalier de Calli^res.
1703. Philippe, Marquess de Vaudreuil.
1714-16. Comte de Kamezay (Acting).
1716. Marquess de Vaudreuil.
1725. Baron (ist) de Longueuil (Acting).
1726. Marquess de Beauharnois.
1747. Comte de la Galissonnicre.
1749. Marquess de la Jonquiere.
1752. Baron (2nd) de Longueuil.
1752. Marquess Duquesno-de-Menneville.
1755. Maicjuoss de Vaudieuil-Cavagnal.
The following: sketches describe the salient
points in the lives of the leading men during this
momentous period in Canadian and continental
liistor\- :
I. The career of Sir William Phipps, Governor
of Massachusetts and other Colonies, was one of
romantic interest aside from the sometimec dis-
puted statement that he was the founder of the
family now represented by the Marquess of Nor-
inanby. He was born at Pemaquid, in what was
then the wilderness of Maitie, on February 2nd,
1651 — his father being a gunsmith and pioneer,
with twenty-one sons. At an early age he went
to sea and ultimately won a fortune through the
discovery of a Spanish wreck on the coast of
Hispaniula containing ;ir300,ooo in plate and
jewels, which he divided up with his seamen.
King James knighted him shortly afterwards and
in 1692 he became Governor of Massachusetts.
Meantime he had led British expeditions against
/ 1
J
74
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
Acadia and commanded one in i6go intended for
the capture of Quebec. His administration of
the Government was also notable for the stop-
page of persecutions for witchcraft and the build-
ing of a fort at Pcmaquid which subsequently be-
came historically important. He died in 1695.
2. Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, per-
haps the greatest of the Governors-General of New
France, was born in 1620, and early in 1635 en-
tered the army. He served in various battles and
sieges, and at twenty-three was a Colonel of
Horse. In 1669 Marshall Turenne sent him to
conduct a campaign against the Turks in Candia
(Crete), and in 1672 he was appointed to his high
post in New France. Here he tried to conciliate
the Indians, to reform the system of government,
to modify priestly influence, and to encourage
txploration. His quarrels with the clergy caused
his recall in 1682, but in 1689 he was once more
sent back — this time to save the colony from
threatened and utter .'■uin at the hands of the Iro
quois and English. Of the result Parkman says :
" He finind it in huinilit.tion and terror, and he
left it in honour — almost in triumph." In 1696
the King of France sent: him the Order of St.
Louis, and two years later he died amid the uni-
versal sorrow of New Fiance.
3. Sir William Pepperell, Bart., was born in 1696
at Kittery, Mass., and in 1729 was elected a
inenibor of the Provincial Council — a seat which
he held b-. annual election until his death. He
also bejai'.ie the Colonel of a Provincial regiment
of milicia, and the leading popular personage in
thv =iiri junding colonies. For his achievement
ill rapturing Louisbourg he was created a Baronet.
He visited Englantl in 1759, and was received by
the King uith distinction, and appointed a
Lieuteni'.nt-General. Shortly afterwards he died.
His son. Sir William Pepperell, second Baronet,
was a iiighiy respected Loyalist, and for a time
mcmberof the Council of Massachusetts. After the
Revi'lution he had to retire to EnglanJ.and there
became President of the Loyalist Association, and
one of the founders of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. Born in 1746 he died iri 1816. and
the title became e.xtinct.
4. Major-General Sir William Johnson, Bart.,
who holds such an historic position in connection
with the Iroquois and the French wars, was
born in County Meath, Ireland, in 1715, and at
an early age migrated to New York. There he
purchased large tracts of land upon the Mohawk
river and devoted himself to studying the lan-
guage, manners, and customs of the Indians, and
to cultivating the trade in furs. In 1755 he was
placed in command of the Provincial militia and
a little later was appointed by the King, Superin-
tendent of Indian Affairs. He was also created
a baronet and took part in various campaigns
which marked the fluctuating struggle between
France and England. In 1774 he died at his
handsome seat on the Mohawk river without the
deep grief which a clear knowledge of the coming
rebellion would have brought him. His vast
estates were afterwards confiscated through the
adhesion of his sou to the Royal cause It was
in great part the influence of Sir William which
prepared the Iroquois to side with the British
and thus numbered them ultimately amongst the
loyalist refugees and settlers in Canada.
5. Major-General James Wolfe was born at Wes-
terham, Kent, on January ?., 1726, and obtained
his commission at the age of fifteen. He served
in Flanders, was present at the battle of Dettin-
gen, and fought as a Brigade Major in Scotland
at Falkirk and Culloden. In 1747 he distin-
guished himself at the battle of Laffeldt and was
publicly thanked by t'.ie Commander-in-Chief.
He accompanied the expedition against Roche-
fort in 1757 as Quartermaster-General, but could
make no headway against the incapacity of his
commander. A little later he was selected by
Pitt as one of the Brigadier-Generals in command
of the Louisbourg expedition, and in 1759 v. as
appointed to had the mcmorab'e force against
Quebec. After his death on the 3th of Septem-
ber his body w IS embalmed, taken to England,
r.nd burierl in the fainilv vault of the parish
church in Greenwich amidst every honour which
a grateful people could bestow. On the motion
of Pitt a monument was erected to his memory
in Westminster Abbey, and in after years similar
memorials were erected in the distant city where
he had died for his country.
6. Louis Joseph de Saint-\'eran, Marquess de
Montcalm was born near Mimes on February
,.,»««»•*»■(*■--.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
7S
2Sth, 1712, and entered the French army at the age
of fourteen. He servetl in Italy in 17.54, muler
Belle Isle in (ierniany dtinng the war of the Aus-
trian Succession, and at a later dare earned the
rank of Colonel at the battle of Piacenza in Italy.
In 1756 he was appointed as a Hrif^'adier-deneral
to command the forces in New France. There he
distinguished himself as a ^tegist and general
at Oswego, Fort William jienry, and Ticon-
derogo ; as a Governor in his treatment of the
people and his resistance to corrupt officials ; as
a Frenchman in his determnied and brilliant
Ii'lVre>. Lord Aiiilierst.
opposition to English expansion and English
conquest. He died on September 14th, 1759, from
a mortal wound received during the previous day
in gallantly resisting the British upon the Heights
of Abraham. In (Jueb(!C tiiere now stands a lofty
inemoi ial in joint honour of the victor and the
vanquished.
7. Jeffrey Lord Amherst was born in Kent
County, ICngl.uid, on January 29tii, 1717, and
entered the anny in 17,51. He was aide-de-
camp to Geiu ral Ligonier at the battles of
Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Rocoux, and to H.R.H.
the Duke of Cumberland at the btiftle of Laffeldt.
In 1758 he was appointed a ivIajor-General,
with command of the t, c ;.''t before Louisbour.^
in Cape Breton, and afer he capture of that
fortress succeeded Abercr mbie in command of
the forces in North America. In the spring
of 1759 he led the expedition against Ticon-
derogo, while Wolfe was winning death and
glory before Quebec. On the .Sth of September,
1760, he received the capitulation of Montreal.
In 1771 he was appointed Governor of Guernsey;
in 1776 was made Baron Amherst of Holmsdale,
and afterwards of Montreal; and in 1778 was
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British
Army. He held this position until 1782, and
again from 179.5 to 1795. He died in 1797,
shortly after receiving the baton of a Field
Mar.shal.
ii. Marshal Le Due de Levis was born in 1720,
and early adopted the profession of arms. At
the battle of Carignan he commanded the right
division. When the French repulsed Wolfe in
his attack at Montmorenci, De Levis was in com-
n; aid of one of the divisions. He was at Mon-
treal when the first struggle took place upon the
Plains of Abraham, but at the second one he
commanded, and the victory of Ste. Foy almost
wrested Queb^jc from the English. In the sub-
sequent defence of Montreal he was in favoui of
holding out to the last, but De Vaudreuil, the
Governor-General, wisely intervened, and the
capitulation took place. After his return to
France he again sou;;ht active service, and took
part in the battle of JohaiHiisbourg, where the
Prince of Coude won a signal victory. In 17S3
he was created a Marshal of I'rance, and in the
succeeding year a Duke and Peer of the realm.
He died in I7^^7.
(). Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, k.h., will live
in Canadian history as the naval commander and
able coadjutor cf Wt)lfe during the siege of Que-
bec. He early entered the navy, and steadily
struggled upwards, winning reputation as one of
the most gallant of Lord Anson's officers. His
achi'jvements in 1747 while coinanding The Yiii-
vionih were specially noteworthy. Pitt was no
doubt influenced bv his name for skill andcoura 'e
w
f I
M
76
CANADA: AN ENCVCLOP.-EDIA.
il
when appointing h<ni in 175S to tiie command of
the brilliant fleet intended for the capture of Que-
bec. There Admiral Saunders siiowed himself
the rlo'ht man in the right place, and in the fol-
lowing year was rewarded by the King with ap-
pointment as Lieutenant-General of Marines. In
1765 he became a Lord of the Admiralty, and in
the succeeding year First Lord of the Admiralty.
For some time he sat in Parliament. He died in
1775-
10. Field Marshal the Marquess Townshend
was born in 1724, and had King George the
First as a godfather. He was very young
when he entered the army, and fought at Det-
tingen, Fontenoy, Cr.lloden, and Laffeldt. In
Wolfe's expedition against Quebec, he was se-
lected to command a brigade, and for a brief
interval, between the death of the leader and
the handing of the command over to General
Murray, Lord Townshend supervised the military
operations. In 17G7 he became Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, and ultimately attained the rank of
Field Marshal and Privy Councillor. He was
also Colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Dragoon
Guards, High Steward of Tamworth, Norwich,
and Yarmouth, Governor of Jersey, and Master-
General of the Ordnance. He died in 1807.
II. General the Hon. James Murray was a son of
the fourth Lord Elibank,and entered the army at an
early age. After seeing much service in Europe,
he was sent out with Wolfe, and commanded a
brigade at the battle of the Plains of Abraham
and during the siege of Quebec. On the capture
of the fortress, he succeeded Wolfe in command —
Moncton being wounded, and the Marquess
Townshend about to return home. The defence
of the city against De Ltivis during the winter, and
the drawn l)attle upon the Plains in the spring be-
tween 3,500 British troops and about 12,000
French, was followed by his junction in June, 1760,
with Lord Amherst's forces, and the surrender of
Montreal. General Murray was Governor-Gene-
ral from this time until 1767, and distinguished
himself by efforts to conciliate the French-Cana-
dians. In 1781 he defended Minorca against the
French witii great gallantry — so much so that the
Due de Crillon offered him a million pounds ster-
ling to surrender. The bribe was refused with
the contempt which might have been expected
from a British officer. He Jied in 1794.
St. John's Gale, Qiiebec.
ACADIA AiND THE ACADIAN PEOPLE
BY
JAMES HANNAY, Editor of the S/. John Telegraph.
1' L
A CADIA is the name which was given by
/\ the French to that portion of North
/ % America which now comprises Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, and that part
of the state of Maine which lies east of the Ken-
nebec River. It was, and to a large extent still
is, a land of magnificent forests, beautiful rivers,
and innumerable brooks and streams, its shores
washed by seas which swarm with fish, and pos-
sessing large areas of fertile soil, so that nothing
necessary is lacking for the maintenance of its
people in comfort. Here the Acadian people
have lived for more than two centuries and a-half,
and have grown from very small beginnings to be
an important factor in the affairs of two important
provinces of Canada, while they enjoy that cele-
brity which attaches to having had sorrows
which have been sung by a great poet, and have
attracted the notice of the who'e civilized world.
Acadia was first brought to the notice of the
people of Europe by Champlain, who was with
De Monts in an expedition sent to its shores
under the patronage of Henry IV. of France in
the year 1604. A settlement was founded on a
small island in the St. Croix River, which is now
a part of the boundary between the United States
and Canada, but the place proved unsuitiible. A
large number of the colonists died during the
fir?! winter, and in the spr.ng of 1605, St. Croix
Island was abandoned an! the colony removed
to Port Royal, the na.ne then given to the
modern town of An; apolis. There on the uorth-
ern S'de of the Annapolis River, at its junction
with ihe Basin, a small fort was erected and the
beginiii.ig of a settlement made. Some attempt
was made to ^idtivate the so'l, and the colony
night have been established on a satisfactory
footing but for thi> jealousy of the English who
about the same time founded a colony iii Virginia,
and sent an armed force under Captain Samuel
Argall to break up the French settlements in
Acadia. Argall destroyed the Port Royal estab-
lishment in 1613, and for several years after this
event there were no French settlements in Acadia.
Indeed it was not until the year 1632, when
Isaac de Razilly became commander of Acadia
under the Company of New France, that any
more French colonists were added to its popula-
tion. De Razilly brought out some forty fami-
lies, and De Charnisay, who succeeded him, some
twenty more, and these, and sixty other persons,
who were brought to Acadia in 1671 by Grand-
Fontaine, who was then its Governor, were the
ancestors of the Acadian pf pie. Besides these
there were two or three Scotch families belonging
to a colony settled by Sir William Alexander at
Port Royal, who remained in Acadia after that
settlement was broken up. The Acadian families
of Vincent and Martin are supposed to be des-
cended from these Scottish ancestors. Two other
families, bearing the names of Peters and Granger,
are also of British origin.
Most of the Acadians, who were settled by De
Razilly and De Charnisay, came from Rochelle,
Suintonge, and Poitou, so that they were drawn
from a limited area on the West coast of France
now covered by the modern departments of
Vendee and Charente Inferrieure. When the first
censuc of Acadia was taken in 1671 it contained
but 441 inhabitants, most of whom were living at
Port Royal. These people had originally been
settled at La Hove but had been removed by De
Charnisay to Port Royal some thirty years before.
Port Royal then became, and continued to be for
a hundred years, the principal settlement ia
Acadia, but at the time of the deportation oi the
Acadians in 1755, the settlements at Minas and
Chignecto had become the most populous.
t^
11
78
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
Tlie original Acadian names contained in the
census of 1571 were fifty in number and were as
follows: — Aucoin, Habin, Belliveau, Haiols, Belou,
Bertrand, Blanchard, Boudrot, Bourc, Bourgeois,
Breau, Brun, Comnieaiix, Cormie, Corporan,
Daif^le, Doucet, Dugast, l)e Foret, Gaudet, Gau-
terot, Girouard, Gougeon, Grange, Guillebaut,
Hebert, Kuessy, Labathe, Lalloue, I.anaux, Lan-
dr\-, Lebland, Martin, Melanson, Mius, Morin,
Pelerin, Petipas, Poulet, Poirie, Pitre, Richard,
Rimbaiit, Robichaut, Scavoye, Sire, Terriau,
Thibeadeau, Trahan, and Vincent. All of these
names are to be found among the French of New
Brunswick and Nova Srotia at the present day.
The people who bear tiiese names may be re-
garded as the representatives of the ancient
Acadians, having the same rr;lation to the other
Acadian families that the descendents of the
Mayflower Pilgrims bear to the other people of
New England.
The second census of Acadia was taken in 1686
and it gives us nearly fifty names which were not
found in the census taken fifteen years before.
These names were Arsenault, Barilost, Baster-
ache, Benoit, Biossard, Blon. Leblanc, Lt borgne,
Brien, Colson, Conio, Cochin, Cottard, Douaron,
Dugas, Fardel, Gerault, Guillaume, Goho, Godet,
Godin, Gourdcaux, Henry, LaV'oye, Lort.Leuron,
Labarre, Lavalle, Lagasse, Laboue, LaRoche,
Labal, Lejeune, Leprince, Leperriere, Margc;ry,
Mirande, Mignault, Mercier, Michel, Peltiet,
Prijean, Pinet, Provost, Rivet, Toan, Tourangeou,
and Vesin. Most of these names are still to bo
found in Acadia, although some of them have
disappeared. The new names are evidently those
of the settlers who were brought out by Grand-
I'ontaine, only five of whom were women. The
surnames in Acadia continued to increase in
iiinnbLr down to tiie time of the English occupa-
tion of the country, in 1710, and by a census
taken in 1714 it appears that there were one
hundred and twenty names of families residing
at Port Royal and Minas, which did not exist in
Acadia prior to i()S(). The origin of th(-se nanv .
may be accounted for by the fact that many dis-
banded soldiers of the French garrison married
and settled in Acadia and became the founders of
new families. These people were grafted upon
the original stock, yet they probably did not affect
it to any material extent, for with the exception
of five women who were brought out by Grand-
Fontaine, no females appear to have come to
Acadia from France after the original immigra-
tion prior to 1628. This fact has made the
Acadian people homogeneous to a greater degree
than almost any other race that can be named.
Coming, as they did, from a single limited area
of France, the unity of race was not affected by
the addition of the few individuals who married
among them and whose descendents could not
be distinguished from the rest of the Acadian
people.
Most of the original settlers of Acadia appear
to have been farmers and they found on this side
of the Atlantic conditions similar to those to
which they had been accustomed when they lived
in France. They came from a country of mar-
shes,, where the sea was kept out by artificial
dikes, and they found in Acadia similiar marshes,
which they dealt with in the same wa}' that they
had learned to practise in France. The Acadians,
during the long period in which they had the
whole country to themselves, made hardly any
impression upon its forests. Governor Phillips,
writing to the Lords of Trade in 1754, states that,
in almost a century, they had not cleared more
than three hundred acres of forest land. They
were guided in their places of new settlement by
the presence or absence of marsh land, and the
e;iistence of immense areas of such lands at
Minas and Chignecto was the reason why the
settlements at those places grew so rapidly in
wealth and importance. Diereville, who visited
Acadia in 1699 and wrote a book in which he
gives a description of the place, tells his readers
that the Acadians stopped the current of the sea
by erecting large dikes which they called "abo-
teaux." He says, " They plant five or six row:;
of trees, all entire, in the places where the sea
enters into the marshes ; and between each row
trey lay down other trees lengthwise, on top of
each other, and fill up the vacant spaces so well
with clay, well trodden dovn, that the tide can-
not pass through it. In the rniddie of these
works they adjust a flood gate, in such manner
th..t it allo'V;? the water of the marsh to flow out
at low tide without pfrmitting the sea water to
prss in. A work of this naturi', which can be
gg'WW^i^MBIpggS
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.^DIA.
79
carried on only at certain times when the tides
do not rise too ' ,'h, is very expensive, and de-
mands much labour ; but the abundant harvests
tbev obtain after the second year, when the
water from Heaven has washed these lands, com-
pensates them well tor the outlay. As these
marshes are owned by many persons they work at
them in concert." This ancient plan of excluding
the sea water from the marsiies is still practised
in Acadia by the men of another race who occupy
the lands which were once owned by this unfort-
unate people.
James Haniiay.
It has been already stated that in i6;i the total
number of persons in Acadia was only 441:, Of
ther.e, however, 40 were soldiers or fishermen, 30
that the actual niinil'er of settlers w;is 401, com-
prising 74 families, of which 68, numbering 363
souls, were at Port Royal. In 16S6 the popula-
tion of Acadia had more than doubled. Fort
Ro)al then contained 05 families, numbering 5CJ2
persons. Chij^necto, which had been settled in
the meantime, contained 17 families, numbermg
127 persons ; and at Mmas there were 10 families
and 57 persons. The settlement at Minas, like
that of Chignecto, had been founded after the
census of 1671 was taken. When these two set-
tlements were fairly established they increased
very rapidly, drawing off a considerable number
of the inhabitants from Port Koyal. This was
more particularly the case after the English took
possession of the country. In 1693 the popula-
tion of Acadia was l,oog, of whom 500 persons,
divided into 88 families, resided at Port Royal.
In 1701 the population of Port Royal had fallen
to 456 persons, but that of Minas had increased
to 4(jo, while Chignecto had 188 inhabitants, In
1703 Port Royal had a population of 485 and
Cliignecto 445 ; while Minas, including Cobeqiiid,
which name appears in the census for the first
time, had 514 inhabitants. In 1714 a census of
Port Royal and Minas was taken by Felix Pain,
a missionary priest. At that time Port Royal
contained 895 French inhabitants, while Minas
with its outlying settlements had 878. We have
no census of Chignecto for the same date, but
making due allowance for the natural increase
over the figures of 1703, we may assume it to
have had 300 inhabitants, so that the total popu-
lation of Acadia at that period did not exceed
2,200 persons. The date of this census, it will be
observed, is four years after the English became
possessed of Acadia by the capture of Port Royal,
It shows very clearly also that the Acadians,
under French rule, were a very small people in
point of numbers, and that the results of more
than eighty years of French colonization in Acadia
were very slight. Indeed it was not until the
English took possession that the French inhabi-
tants became numerous enough to be important
in a political sense.
Tht Acadiai: were all farmers ; the only other
trades which were represented in the community
being those arising out of the necessities of an
agricultural life. They we-e large producers of
grain and cattle, aiul they found a market for
their products at the garrisons which were kept
in the couni; \- by the French king. The first cen-
sus of Port Koyal, taken in 1671, shows that the
363 persons who then resided there possessed 829
horned catflc and 399 sheep, and had harv 'sted
that )ear 4,.io«i bushels of grain. These fii^ures
show that the Acadians. even at that early day.
r i
80
CANADA: AN ENCVCI.OIVKDIA.
were, in a material sense, well off, because they
must have produced a very largo surplus of food.
Twenty-two years later, in iCyj, when the three
principal settlements in Acadia, Port Royal,
Minas, and Chignecto had 916 inhabitants, they
were the owners of 1,648 horned cattle, 1,910
sheep, and 1,164 swine. The Acadians continued
to increase their wealth in live stock down to the
time of tlieir deportation in 1755, and many of
them had also accumulated considerable sums in
specie by the sale of their cattle to the garrisons
of Annapolis and Louisbourg. The mode of life
of the Acadians was simple, as was to be expected
in a people who themselves produced nearly every
article which they required for their own use, and
who were brought but little in contact with the
outer world. They were almost wholly without
education, even the deputies whom they elected
to represent them before the English Governors
of Nova Scotia being, in general, unable to write
their own names. The Acadians were obedient
to their priests, and regular in the <^xercise of
their religious duties, but there is no reason to
believe that they were superior in character or
virtue to the people of other rural communities
whose lives were passed under similar con-
ditions.
The picture of the lives of the Acadians given
by the Abbe Kaynal has been accepted, by those
who knew no better, as an accurate view of this
people, but it is almost wholly fictitious. He
represents them as a people without quarrels, with-
out litigation, without poverty, " where every mis-
fortune was relieved before it could be felt, with-
out ostentation on the one hand, and without
meanness on the other." Whatever little differ-
ences arose among them from time to time, he
says, were amicably adjusted by their elders.
" They were," says Raynal, " a society of breth-
ren, every individual of which was equally ready
to give and to receive what he thought the com-
mon right of munkind." After this the reader
will be surprised to learn that the Acadians,
according to the united testimony of al! the Gov-
ernors of the country, French and English, were
a very litigious people, and were constat ly at law
with each other about the boundaries of their
lands. So keen were they in these disputes that
they frequently carried their appeals to Quebec
which was then harder to reach than Australia is
at the present time.
In the year 1710, Port Royal, which was then
the only French fortress in Acadia, was captured
by the English, and the authority of the French
in the country which they had discovered and
colonized passed away for ever. By the terms of
the capiti'l.ition it was agreed that " The inhabi-
tants within cannon shot of Port Royal shall
remain upon their estates, with their corn, cattle,
and furniture during two years, in case they are
not desirous to go before, they taking the oaths
of allegiance and fidelity to her sacred Majesty
of Great Britain." This distance, " within can-
non shot of Port Royal," was interpreted to mean
within three English miles, and it was ascertained
that the number of persons residing on the area
thus defined was 481. By the Treaty of Utrecht,
which was made in 1713, France ceded all Acadia
to Great Britain, and, by the fourteenth article of
that treaty, it was agreed "that the subjects of the
King of France may have liberty to remove them-
selves within a year to any other place, with all
their movable effects. But those who are will-
ing to remain, and to be subject to the King of
Great Britain, are to enjoy the free exercise of
their religion, according to the usages of tlie
Church of Rome, as far as the laws of Great
Britain do allow the same." On the 23rd of June,
1713, nearly three months after the Treaty of
Utrecht was signed. Queen Anne wrote to Nich-
olson, the Governor of Nova Scotia, as follows :
" Whereas our good brother, the most Christian
King, hath, at our desire, released from imprison-
ment on board his galleys such of his subjects as
were detained there on account of their professing
the Protestant religion : We being willing to
show some mark of our favour towards his sub-
jects and how kind w»; take his compliance there-
in, have therefore thought fit hereby to signify
our will and pleasure to you, that you permit
such of them as have any lands or tenements in
the places under your government in Acadia and
Newfoundland, that have been or are to be
yielded to us by virtue of the late Treaty of Peace,
and are willing to continue our subjects, to retain
and enjoy their said lands and tenements without
any molestation, as fully and freely as other of
our subjects do cr may possess their lands or
CANADA ; AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
8t
estates, or to sell the same if they shall rather
choose to remove elsewhere."
The terms of the Treaty of Utieciit xnd oftiie
Queen's letter show that the French inhabitants
of Acadia were to be permitted to remain in the
country, and to continue in possession of their
lands and other property on becoming British
subjects. No government could have made a
conquered people a more generous offer, and if
it had been accepted in the spirit in which it was
made, there never would have been any difficulty
between the British Crown and the Acadian people.
There seems to be no reason to doubt that if the
Acadians had been left to themselves and had
followed their own inclination they would have
complied with the terms of the Queen's letter.
But the French authorities at Quebec did not
desire them to become British subjects. They
then had in view the construction of a great fort-
ress on the island of Cape Breton and they got
the Acadians to consent to remove to that island.
Accordingly, when the contents of the Queen's
letter were made known to them, they expressed
their intention of remaining subjects of the King
of France and of removing to Cape Breton so
that they might continue under the French flag.
This intention, however, was never carried out.
A few Acadians, indeed, removed to Cape Breton
but they soon became dissatisfied with their con-
dition there. Instead of the fertile, diked mar-
shes of Acadia they were required to settle on
tracts of forest land which had to be cleared, and
which involved much labour and delay. Most of
those wl'.o went to Cape Breton returned to
Acac'ia, but the vast majority of the Acadians
never made any pretense of removing, but con-
tinued to live on their own lands, as they had
done when the French were masters of the
country.
But while they continued in this way to enjoy
all the privileges of British subjects and to occupy
the finest farms on the continent of America they
refused to take an unconditional oath of allegi-
ance to the British Crown. They claimed the
right to remain " neutrals," as they termed it,
and pretended that they feared the Indians and
would require to be protected from them if they
complied with the demand that was made upon
them that they should take the oath of allegiance.
This of course was only a pretext, for the Indians
had no politica' views of their own and would
have been quite willing to remain at peace with
the English if they had not been stirred up to
make war bv the French Governor at Quebec.
The Acadians had intermarried to some extent
with the Indians and if the Indians ever menaced
them, which is doubtful, they did so under the
orders of the Governor. All the French priests
who ministered to the spiritual wants of the
Acadians were under the control of the Quebec
authorities, and through them the Acadians were
kept faithful to France, and ready to take part
against the monarch under whose flag they lived
whenever there was war between the two Crowns.
They were also constantly in communication with
the French officer who commanded the fortress
of Louisbourg, and actf d under his advice. These
facts have been many times demonstrated by
reference to the official despatches of the French
government, obtained from the Archives of Paris
and other sources. These disclosures have ma-
terially altered the former estimate of the char-
acter of the Acadians, and also of the necessity
for the extreme measure which was resorted to
when they were removed from Nova Scotia in
1755-
Many attempts were made by the English
authorities in Nova Scotia to induce the Acadians
to take the oath of allegiance and become British
subjects in the fullest sense of the term. The
first of these was in 1715, when Messrs. Capoon
and Button were commissioned by Governor
Nicholson to proceed in the sloop-of-war Crtr/Z/z^/i
to Minas, Chignecto, River St. John, Passama-
quoddy, and Penobscot to proclaim King George
and to tender and administer the oaths of alle-
giance to the French inhabitants. The French
refused to take the oaths, and some of the people
of Minas said that they intended to withdraw
from the country, but these people a year later
notified Lieut. -Governor Caulfield that they in-
tended to remain. Caulfield summoned the in-
habitants of Aiinapolis and tendered them the
oath of allegiance, but they also refused to take
it. In 1717, Doucette, who had succeeded Caul-
field, summoned the people of Annapolis to sign
a declaration acknowledging the King of Great
Britain the sole King of Acadia, and promising
,.: tl
83
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
to obey him as his true and lawful subjects. The
French of Annapolis sent in a written answer to
this request refusing to take the oaths unless the
King provided them with some means of shelter
from the savage tribes.
In 1720, when Governor Phillips arrived, he
tendered the oaths to the inhabitants of Annapo-
lis and other parts of Acadia, but met with no
better success than his predecessor. Indeed the
Acadians had become so bold by this time, owing
to the weakness displayed by the English authori-
ties, that they treated the demands of the latter
with contempt. On the third day after Governor
Phillips arrived at Annapolis, he was visited by
Father Justinian Durand, the priest of the settle-
ment, who was attended by one hundred and fifty
young men. The object of this demonstration
was evidently to impress the Governor with the
force he could command. Yet on being asked to
take the oaths these people refused, alleging their
fear of the Indians, and stating that in Governor
Nicholson's time they had bound themselves to
remain subjects of France and to retire to Cape
Breton. A proclamation which the Governor
sent to the various settlements, demanding that
the inhabitants should take the oaths, only
brought forth another refusal. In the meantime
the Acadians sent Father Durand to Louisbourg
with a letter, asking the assistance of M. St.
Ovide de Brouillan, the Governor of that place.
In this communication they say: " We have up
to the present time preserved the purest senti-
ments of fidelity to our invincible monarch. The
time has come when we need his Royal protec-
tion and assistance." It is well for the reader to
bear in mind that this letter was written ten
years after Acadia had passed into the hands of
the English and seven years after it had been
ceded by France to England under the terms of
the Treaty of Utrecht. At that time and always,
until they were finally expelled from the country,
the Acadians looked upon themselves as subjects
of the King of France.
In 1726 Lieut. -Governor Armstrong succeeded in
inducing the inhabitants on the Annapolis River to
take a qualified oath of allegiance with a clause
not requiring them to take up arms. The inhabi-
tants of Minas and Chignecto, however, refused to
take this qualified oath, and sent back an insolent
answer to the effect that they would take no oath
but to, " our good King of France." When tha
death of George I., in 1727, rendered it necessary
to require the inhabitants of Annapolis to take
the oath of allegiance again they refused the oath
which they had accepted the previous year, a fact
which shows that they were largely guided in
their conduct by secret influences. This was
still further exemplified by their action in 1730,
after Governor Phillips returned to the province.
Then all the French inhabitants of Acadia took
the oath of allegiance without any qualification
as to not bearing arms. The Acadian^ after-
wards declared that when they did this it was
with the understanding ''hat a clause was to be
inserted relieving them from bearing arms. If
this was the case, it only goes to show that,
twenty years after Acadia had become a British
province, the French inhabitants still refused to
regard themselves as British subjects.
Thirteen years of peace followed the year 1730,
and during that period no difficulties in respect
to the Acadians arose, but in June, 1743, the
British and French crossed swords at the battle
of Dettingen and in the following March, France
and England mutually declared war against each
other. A few months later an attempt was made
to capture Annapolis by a French force from
Louisbourg under DuVivier, but it failed. At
that time the French inhabitants showed no dis-
position to assist their countrymen from Louis-
bourg, except under compulsion, and if they had
continued in that frame of mind they would have
escaped all their subsequent misfortunes. Louis-
bourg was captured by a force from New England,
in 1745 and the formidable fortress which had
become a menace to all the British colonics in
America ceased to be an object of anxiety. It
would have been well if the British had resolved
to retain it, but, unfortunately, it was restored to
France in 1748 under the terms of the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, and thus the French were en-
couraged to indulge in further hopes for the pos-
session of Acadia.
When the Treaty of Utrecht had been signed
there was no question as to the boundaries of
Acadia. The French had always claimed th^t
their territory extended to the Kennebec River
and that Acadia included all the territory east of
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
that bound.iry. A few years after the Treaty was
signed Governor de Vaiulreiiil wrote to the Eng-
lish Lieutenant-Governor at Annapolis claiming
the river St. John as French territory. This
claim was made in 17 18 and subsequently it was
declared by the I'rench that Acadia only included
a portion of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. It
was in accordance with this claim that the erec-
tion of Port Beausejour was commenced by the
French in 1750. This fortification was situated
on the north side of the Misseguash River which
is now the boundary between Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. The inhabitants of Chignecto,
who resided south of the Misseguash, were com-
pelled by the French officers at the Isthmus to
abandon their habitations and remove to the
north side of this river, and as soon as they had
evacuated them the houses were burned down by
the Indians. The principal agent in this work
was a priest named La Loutre who was in con-
stant communication with the French authorities
at Quebec. To the malign influence of this man
the misfortunes of the Acadian people were mainly
due. He compelled them to obey his orders and
brought them into conflict with the English
authorities in Nova Scotia. While the French
held Quebec and all Canada, and also Louisbourg
and Heausejour, the fabric of French power in
America seemed strong and imposing, and the
Acadians therefore had some grounds for believing
that the country in which they dwelt might again
become a part of the territories of the King of
France. The result showed that they made a
grave miscalculation as to the outcome of the
contest between France and England and they
had to suffer the consequences of their error.
In 1755 Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia
resolved that the capture of Beausejour was nec-
essary to the safety of the province in which he
held command. About two thousand troops
were raised in New England to effect that object
and placed under the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Winslow. The general command of the
expedition was given to Colonel Monckton who
had also with him three hundred regulars of
Warburton's regiment and a small train of artil-
lery. Beausejour capitulated on the i6th of June
after a siege of a few days and Fort Gaspcroau,
at Baie Verte, surrendered on being summoned.
This completely obliterated the power of the
French military authorities in Acadia, and Gov-
ernor Lawrence thought the time was opportune
to compel the Acadians to take their choice be-
tsveen becoming British subjects, by taking an
unconditional oath of allegiance, or leaving the
country. This alternative was placed before
them in the plainest terms and they refused
absolutely to take the oath of allegiance, as de-
manded of them by Governor Lawrence. The
full details of this transaction can be found in the
twenty-second chapter of the History of Acadia,
by the writer of this article.
The expulsion of the Acadians was carried out by
troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Winslow at Minas, and by the officers in com-
mand at Chignecto and Annapolis. It is not easy
to ascertain the precise number of persons who
were removed from the province at that time, but
the total number seems to have been a little more
than 6,000, of whom 2,242 were sent from Minas,
1,100 from Piziquid, 1,664 from Annapolis, and
1,100 from Chignecto. These people were shipped
in transports to the British colonies to the south
— Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Massa-
chusetts. A few were sent to England and some
to the West Indies. North and South Carolina
and Georgia also received some of these unfor-
tunate exiles. They became a public charge on
the colonies to which they were sent, and were
naturally encouraged by the authorities of the
colonies to go elsewhere. Many of them hired
vessels and got back to Acadia, and in one way
and another it is supposed that at least two-thirds
of those who were exiled succeeded in returning.
That the attempt to exile the Acadians was very
far from being a success is proved by the fact that
when the last census of Canada was taken there
were upwards of one hundred thousand persons
of French origin in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
and Prince Edward Island, nearly all of whom
were descendants of the ancient Acadians, now
loyal and satisfied British subjects.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
(••
The early Engflish Governors of Acadia or
Nova Scotia — as the English first called the ter-
ritory included in the Maritime Provinces of
Canada, and a part of the State of Maine — were
as follows :
1 7 10 Colonel Samuel Vetch.
1714 General Sir Francis Nicholson.
1720-31 Colonel Richard Phillips.
1749 Hon. Edward Cornwallis.
1752 Colonel Peregrine T. Hopson.
1756 Colonel Charles Lawrence.
1 76 1 H'^nry Ellis.
1764 Ivi )) 'ague Wilmot.
1766 Lord William Campbell.
1773 Francis Legge.
1782 John Parr.
1792 John Wentworth.
1808 Sir George Prevost.
181 1 Sir John Coape Sherbrooke.
1816 George, Earl of Dalhousi ..
The Lieutenant-Governors, who very often gov-
erned the Province during this period, in fact, if
not in name, were as follows :
1722 Captain John Doucetti
1725 Lawrence Armstrong.
1 73 1 Lawrence Armstrong.
1739 John Adams.
1740 Major Paul Mascarene.
1753 Colonel Charles Lawrence.
1760 Jonathan Belcher.
1763 Montague Wilmot.
1766 Benjamin Green.
1766-8 Michael Francklin.
1771 Benjamin Green.
1772 Michael Francklin.
1776 Mariot Arbuthnot.
1778 Sir Richard Hughes.
1781 Sir Andrew Snape Hammond.
1791 Richard Bulkeley.
1808 Alexander Croke.
181 1 Alexander Croke.
18 14 Major-General Darrock.
1816 Major-General George Stracey Smith.
The letter transmitted by Colonel Lawrence,
Governor of Nova Scotia, to the Governors of
the various English Colonies to which the Aca-
dians were expatriated, contains the historic jus-
tification of the strong measures taken. It was
as follows :
" The success which has attended His Majes-
ty's arms in driving the French from the en-
croachments they had made in this Province, pre-
sented me with a favourable opportunity of reduc-
ing the French inhabitants of this colony to a
proper obedience to His Majesty's government,
or forcing them to quit the country. These in-
habitants were permitted to remain in quiet pos-
session of their lands upon condition that they
would take the oath of allegiance to the King,
within one year after the Treaty of Utrecht by
which this Province was ceded to Great Britain.
With this condition they have ever refused to
comply, without having at the same time from
the Governor an assurance in writing that they
should not be called upon to bear arms in defence
of the Province, and with this General Phillips
did comply, of which step His Majesty disap-
proved. The inhabitants pretend therefrom to
be in a state of neutrality between His Majesty
and his enemies ; and have continually furnished
the French and Indians with intelligence, quar-
ters, provisions, and assistance in annoying the
Government ; while one part have abetted the
French encroachments by their treachery, the
other have countenanced them by open rebellion,
and three hundred of them were actually found
in arms in the French fort at Beausejour when it
surrendered.
Notwithstanding all their former bad behaviour,
as His Majesty was pleased to allow me to extend
still further his Royal grace to such as would re-
turn to their duty, I offered such of them as had
not been openly in arms against us a continuance
of the possession of their lands, if they would take
the oath of allegiance unqualified with any reser-
vation whatsoever ; but this they have most
audaciously as well as unanimously refused, and
if they would presume to do this when there is a
large fleet of ships of war in the harbour and a
considerable land force in the Province, what
might we not expect from them v/hen the ap-
proaching winter deprives us of the former, and
when the troops which are only hired from New
England occasionally, and for a small time, have
returned home ?
As by this behaviour the inhabitants have for-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
8S
feited all title to their lands and any further
favour from the Government, I called together
His Majesty's Council, at which the Hon. Vice-
Admiral Boscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn
assisted, to consider by what means we could
with the greatest security and effect rid ourselves
of a set of people who would forever have been an
obstruction to the intention of settling this colony,
and which it was now, from their refusal of the
oath, absolutely incumbent on us to remove.
Astheir numbers amount to near seven thou-
sand persons the driving them off, with leave to
go whither they pleased, would have doubtless
strengthened Canada with so considerable a num-
ber of inhabitants ; and, as they have no cleared
land to give them at present, such as are able to
bear arms must have been immediately employed
in annoying this and the neighbouring colonies.
To prevent such an inconvenience it was judged
a necessary, and the only practicable measure, to
divide them among the colonies, where they may
be of some use, as most of them are healthy,
strong people ; and as they cannot easily collect
themselves together again, it will be out of their
power to do any mischief, and they may become
profitable, and, it is possible, faithful subjects.
As this step was indispensably necessary to the
security of this colony, upon whose preservation
from French encroachments the prosperity of
North America is esteemed in a great measure
dependent, I have not the least reason to doubt
of Your Excellency's concurrence, and that you
will receive the inhabitants I now send, and dis-
pose of them in such a manner as may best
answer our design in preventing their union."
The Governors of Acadia duringr the French
settlement and period of control were as follows
— including the English interregnum of 1657-70 :
1603 Pierre du Guist de Monts.
1610 Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt.
1632 Isaac de Launoy de Razilly.
^ (Charles de Menou D'Aunay Charnisay.
^ tcharlesde St. Etienne de LaTour.
1641 Charles de Menou D'Aunay Charnisay.
1651 Charles de St. Etienne de LaTour.
1657 Sir Thomas Temple.
1670 Hubert d'Andigny de Grand-Fontaine.
1676 Jacques de Chambly.
1684 Francois Marie Perrot.
1687 Robineau de Menneval.
1690 Robineau, Chevalier de Villebon.
1701 Jacques Francois de Brouillon.
1706 Daniel d' Auger de Subercase.
The Lieut.- Governors or Deputies during this
period were Charles de Biencourt in 1611-1623;
Charles de LaTour in 1623-1632 ; Jacques de
Chambly in 1673-6 ; Pierre de Marson and Michel
de la Valliere in 1678 ; Sebastian de Villieu in
1700-1, and Simon de Bonaventure in 1704-6.
As Illustrating the Influence of this interesting
people upon the public life of the Canadian com-
munity it may be said that Gilbert W. Ganong,
M.P., R. Blanchard, m.p., the Hon. Pascal Poirier,
Senator of Canada, Alphonse Bertrand,M.P.P.,P.J.
Verriot, m.p., Pierre H. Leger, m.p.p., P. E.
Paulin, M.P.P., the Hon. Charles H. La Billois,
M.P.P., the Hon. A. D, Richard, m.l.c, the
Hon. O. J. Le Blanc, m.l.c, of New Bruns-
wick ; the Hon. A. H. Comeau, m.p.p., the
Hon. Isadore Le Blanc, m.l.c, the Hon. Henri
M. Robicheau, m.l.c, the Hon. John Lovitt,
Member of the Canadian Senate, in Nova Scotia ;
and the Hon. J. O. Arsenault, member of the
Canadian Senate from Prince Edward Island;
are at the present time (1897) descendants of
Acadian settlers, and members of the Dominion
Senate, the House of Commons, or the Local
Legislatures respectively.
' ■■"!
I ■
;'iiv"<..'l
.J
CANADA AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
BY
THE EDITOR.
THE British conquest of Quebec in 1759
made the United States possible. With
a strong French power entrenched to
the north of the great lakes and stretch-
ing down the continent until it reached Louisiana,
a small independent group of English colonies
would have been out of the question. The Thirteen
Colonies themselves thoroughly recognized this
fact and thenecessity of winning in the prolonged
duel between France and England. More than
once indeed they rushed into hostilities on their
own account, and as a result of the ambitious
rivalries which existed for a hundred years between
New France and New England. Upon other
occasions their local troops co-operated with the
British regulars '.n both defensive and offensive
warfare.
But in the victory at Quebec and the fall of
Louisbourg — the two pivotal events of the final
struggle — they had little share. To the defence
of their homes ana firesides againsl French and
Indians they had frequently supplied isolated con-
tingents and expeditions, but in the main England
gave the soldiers and supplied the means by which
the continent was eventually brought under the
control of its English-speaking population. With-
out the red-coated regulars who afterwards came
to be so intensely hated, the settlers along the
Atlantic shores would have become subject to the
permanent presence of an over-shadowing Power
to the north and east — one which seemed also able
to obtain the more or less constant alliance of a
large number of the American Indians.
In extending and maintaining her supremacy
upon the continent, and in protecting the Colon-
ists and cniiuring their future immunity from the
presence and pressure of such a formidable rival as
France, England incurred a national debt which
in those days was looked upon as tremendous,
with no other apparent result than that of free-
ing her Colonies from a shadow lying athwart
their progress towards separation, revolution, and
independence. So great was the Colonial dread
of this P'rench rivalry that when Baron d'Estaing,
during the ensuing rebellion, tried to obtain, by
means of a manifesto and suggested personal
intervention, the aid of the French-Canadians,
Washington would not hear of French troops or
ships approaching Quebec — even though at that
moment the cause of Congress depended for its
success upon the guns and money of Napoleon.
During the years immediately following Wolfe's
victory upon the Heights of Abraham, and the
bon-fires which blazed for the last time on the
hills of New En[|;land because of a British success,
the history of the Thirteen Colonies is a medley
of misunderstandings, mistakes, and misgovern-
ment. England had poured out blood and treasure
like water for her Colonies, and she naturally
thought that they should make some return. The
English peasant was being taxed to defend his
fellow-subjects in America against foreign ene-
mies — and Indian forays often brought on by
local inability to deal justly and honestly with
the untutored red man. The American colonist,
on the other hand, was without representation at
home, though not without the powerful sympathy
of Chatham, and Burke, and Fox. He was the vic-
tim of unjust commercial laws which restricted
his progress and hampered his prosperity. He
was, especially in New England, the product of a
migration which made each man believe in per-
sonal liberty as something almost equal in sacred-
ness to his religion and his Bible.
The feeling in England resulted in the Stamp
Act — afterwards repealed ; in legislation enforc-
ing the collection of revenues from customs duties
which then formed part of the established law of
86
GUY CARLETON, LORD DORCHESTER.
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
89
the realm, and which at first the Colonists did not
dispute in principle though they disliked them in
practice ; in taxes upon products such as tea and
molasses, and in active efforts to prevent the
wholesale smuggling which was going on. It is easy
now to see that all this English interference with
the internal affairs of the Colonies was a mistake,
but it is equally clear that in principle it was not
wrong. There were then no precedents to go
upon in the government of distant dependencies,
nor was there any very pronounced comprehen-
sion at home as to what the Colonists really
wanted. Self-government was hardly as much a
fact in the England of that day as it was in the
Provinces of New York or Georgia. Yet the
former was soon honey-combed with disloyalty,
while the latter was loyal almost to the last.
George the Third believed that the Colonies
should do something, no matter how little, in
return for all that England had done for them.
Theoretically many did not dispute this, practically
they repudiated all obligation when it came to the
test. No doubt the wrong method was adopted ;
equally beyond doubt the hostility aroused and
the disloyalty displayed by a section of the popu-
lation from 1765 to 1776 was far beyond the
causes alleged. Had a feeling of sympathy, or
even friendship upon general grounds, existed in
the minds of the aggressive Colonial minority
towards England in those years the rebellion need
never have occurred. It did exist amongst the
majority and might have been enormously devel-
oped by wisdom in government and by an earlic.
enforcement of King George's belief that in the
interest of England and the Empire the union
must be preserved. Under such circuir.stances
the unjust commercial laws and the unwise
schemes of taxation would not have sufficed to
light the flames of revolution.
But the King was badly advised and weakly
supported. He had ministers at home such as
Lord George Germaine, the Colonial Secretary —
perhaps the most utterly incapable man whoever
wielded great power at a critical juncture — and
the intense opposition to his Government of men
like Burke, and Fox, and others, who appeared
entirely indifferent as to the connection with the
Colonies if they could make a point against the
sometimes arbitrary and personal rule of the
Sovereign in England. Hence the mistaken
popular idea that the questions at issue in America
involved the progress of liberty at home. And
every word of indirect support that the lawless
element in the Colonies received from the elo-
quent exponents of theories in England, weak-
ened the hands of the King and of his adminis-
trators abroad until mobs in New York and Bos-
ton and other American centres assumed practi-
cally the control of government, and the Royal
representatives could neither enforce the laws,
use their troops, nor command respect. Out of
such conditions revolution naturally grew.
There is indeed little to be proud of on either
side during the miserable years which preceded
the declaration of independence. If there was
irresolution and ignorance at home, and blunder-
ing in the Royal administration of the Colonies,
there was much of demagoguery and interested
falsehood in the statements and agitations pre-
valent in America. The British regulations re-
garding the Indians were wise and honourable,
but to the American colonists, who neither then
nor since have been able to treat the red men
justly, they caused intense dissatisfaction. This
fact is illustrated in the almost unanimous adhe-
sion of the Indians to England when the war
came. Enforcement of the laws against smug-
gling cannot fairly be denounced. The law might
be bpd, but while it remained on the statute book
it should be observed. And there were two sides
even to the question of these commercial regula-
tions. When Canada lost a modified form of
li.cm in 1846 the result was almost bankruptcy.
For twenty years after the revolution, and the
obtaining of complete liberty of trade, the United
States was also in a deplorable commercial con-
dition. But however that may be, ail the indig-
nation and hostility caused by this and other
items in account were given full vent in the final
denunciation of the Stamp Act. The latter was
a simple enough means of taxation, and surely,
had moderate counsels prevailed, some com-
promised method of contributing to the Imperial
exchequer might easily have been reached. The
better men, such as Washington, were willing,
but those of the type of Samuel Adams and
Patrick Henry would admit of no arrangement.
When the latter as a slave-holder, who until
.m
m
90
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
m
• " (is
the day of his death owned and bought and sold
slaves, denounced the tyranny of the King — who
in all this question of Colonial taxation embodied
the wishes of a parliamentary and popular ma-
jority at home — and asked whether life was so
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be " purchased at
the price of chains and slavery," he voiced the
feeling of those who wanted separation upon any
pretext whatever And when he declaimed his
famous words, " give me liberty or give me death,"
he simply represented the class of demagogues
who were striving to develop difficulties into cause
for a hopeless and permanent division of the race
and to pave the way for the war and devastation
of ten years later. When Thomas Paine, the
storm centre of so much international lawlessness,
crime, and misery issued his famous pamphlet
entitled "Common Sense" — which stirred up all
the bad blood and ignorant prejudices of a scat-
tered people — he did an injury to the peace and
Christian growth of the world which all his per-
sonal hatred of Christianity could not have affect-
ed in a thousand years of direct denunciation.
It is said that separation was inevitable. No
greater mistake or mis-statement was ever made.
Upon this belief was founded the Manchester
school theory that Colonies were like ripe fruit
and must eventually drop from the parent stem.
Canada and other great countries have proved
this idea to be false, and had the principles of
constitutionalism advanced as far and as quickly
in England as they had in America at this date,
all the discontent of factions and the demagogueism
of individuals could not have brought on the war-
But, unfortunately, English public opinion was
still a halting power, and though Chatham at one
time might have saved the union, he was never
given the chance, and Burke and Fox were often
more intent on party advantage than national
good. There were periods during the war itself
when vigour in the field and wisdom in council
would have averted disasters, conciliated public
sentiment, rallied the loyalists, and depressed the
battling colonists to the point of apparent sub-
mission, but ultimate constitutional victory.
Speculation of this kind is of little avail now,
but history has its lessons, and this period was a
very important one for Canada. Certainly the
better class of the American leaders did not want
separation, and it is an extraordinary fact, ad-
mitted by American writers like Sabine, that up
to the day when the sound of the guns at Lexing-
ton "echoed around the world " the idea of inde-
pendence was kept so much in the background as
to be practically out of sight in the popular dis-
cussions. Franklin himself declared a few days
after that opening shot in the Revolution that he
had more than once travelled almost from one
end of the continent to the other and kepi a vari-
ety of company, eating, drinking, and conversing
freely with every one and " never had heard in
any conversation from any person, drunk or sober,
the least expression of a wish for a separation or
a hint that such a thing would be advantageous
to America." Thomas Jefferson stated that be-
fore the commencement of hostilities " I never
heard a whisper of a disposition to separate from
Great Britain ; and often that its possibility was
contemplated with affliction by all." Washing-
ton and Jay have made similar statements, whilst
James Madison in 1776 declared that "are-estab-
lishment of the colonial relations to the parent
country, as they were previous to the controversy,
was the real object of every class of the people "
at the beginning of the war.
These utterances indicate that the better class
of the leaders were deceived by the demagogues
with whom they were associated, into action
which made retreat impossible and attempted
separation certain — or else that they were them-
selves deceiving the public. They prove the
strong, logical, and patriotic position of the
Loyalists, who fought against what even their
opponents declared to be undesirable until the
war had begun. They reveal the shocking injus-
tice and cruelty of the treatment accorded to the
latter for opposing what Washington referred to
in October, 1774, when he said, " I am well satis-
fied that no such thing as independence is de-
sired by any thinking man in all North America."
It is the fashion nowadays to pervert history and
facts by unstinted laudation of everyone con-
nected with the victorious side in this contest
and equally unstinted condemnation of all who
opposed the movements which resulted in the
Revolution. Yet George the Third was no more
the tyrant which he is described as being in the
Declaration of Independence and in Fourth of
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
9»
July orations of a succeeding century, than Abra-
ham Lincoln was the character which Southern-
ers in later days painted him. If the King wanted
to retain some control over his Colonies in times
when the modern form of constitutional govern-
ment was only in its preliminary stages of little
understood evolution — and when, in England
itself, he had more or less complete control over
his ministers — he cannot be properly called a
tyrant. Nor can he fairly be denounced for a
desire to retain his Empire unbroken.
When he wrote to Lord North on June 13th,
1781, that " we have the greatest objects to make
us zealous in our pursuit, for we are contending
for our whole consequence, whether we are to
rank amongst the great Powers or be re-
duced to one of the least considerable," he had
surely as patriotic a basis for action as any ruler
in history. Throughout his long struggle with
incompetent ministers, periods of personal men-
tal aberration, politicians who cared more for
partisanship than for empire, foreign enemies
who soon included France and Spain and Hol-
land as well as the revolted Colonies, relations
such as his eldest son, who tried to make his
Court a pandemonium, he yet held to his faith and
hope as truly as did Lincoln in his subsequent
struggle for national unity. Writing to Lord
North on November 3rd, 1781, the King again
declared that " I feel the justice of our cause ;
I put the greatest confidence in tha valour of
both army and navy, and, above all, in the assist-
ance of Divine Providence."
But his hopes of Empire were not to be real-
ized except in another age and under very dif-
ferent conditions. Let it be repeated, how-
ever, as it should be remembered, that the
faults of George II L were those of the age
in which he lived ; that his virtues and patriot-
ism were purely his own, and stand out brightly
amid most gloomy surroundings; that his mis-
takes of administration in the Colonies were
due in the main to inefficient officials there
or at home ; that the pages of English his-
tory do not show him a tyrant in any form but
merely a strong-willed ruler of the day with cer-
tain unfortunate personal prejudices which had
nothing to do directly with the American Colo-
nies. He certainly held the respect of his people
in the British Isles, and no amount of misfortune
or the vituperation of American literature has
ever lost him this. Even John Wesley at that
time lectured the Colonists on the wickedness of
their insurrection, and declared that " our sins
shall never be removed until we fear God and
honour the King." Yet the founder of Method-
ism has never been denounced for thus giving
support to " a tyrant." The fact is that the King
represented his country and Parliament through-
out this struggle, and can therefore in no sense
be called by that name — or if so, only in the way
in which the same phrase might be applied to
Lincoln. One, however, failed, and the other
succeeded.
So much for the environment of the revolution.
It may be summed up in a sentence or two. A
well intentioned King in conflict with the Whigs
and Radicals at home. A Tory ministry com-
posed of men who could not understand the fact
that they had to do with a people in America
who by the very circumstances of their migration
and birth were advanced Radicals in their views
and intensely jealous of their liberties. A Colonial
population divided into an aristocratic class of
office-holders, large land-owners, and gentry, a
second and larger class of merchants and traders,
a third class of farmers and mechanics. The
first was strongly British, the second gradually
became anti-British, the third was divided even
to the end of the war, with a tendency at first
amongst the farmers, of the southern provinces
especially, to remain loyal. They had not suffered
like the commercial classes from the taxing and
anti-smuggling laws.
But the war came despite the feelings of men
like Washington and the hopes of leaders like
Chatham. The Stamp Act of 1763 was repealed
three years later, practically in response to mob
violence and fierce protests. The tax upon tea
brought into Colonial ports caused the famous
Boston riot of 1773. The Continental Congress
for united action and protestation met at Phila-
delphia in 1774, and amongst other things de-
nounced the Quebec Act, just passed in connection
with the Canadian Province and by which the laws
and religion of the French population were estab-
lished, in the most unmeasured terms. The fol-
lowing is an extract in this connection from the
I j
92
CANADA: AN ENCYLOl'.KDIA.
'ill
Addres3 of Congress to the people of England,
dated at Philadelphia, the 5th of September, 1774 :
" We cannot help deploring the unhappy con-
dition to which it (the Quebec Act) has reduced
the many English settlers who, encouraged by
the Royal proclamation promising the enjoyment
of all their rights, have settled in that country.
They are now the subjects of an arbitrary gov-
ernment, deprived of trial by jury, and when im-
prisoned, cannot claim the benefit of the Habeas
Corpus Act, that great bulwark and palladium of
English liberty. Nor can we suppress our
astonishment that a British Parliament should
ever consent to establish in that country a religion
that has deluged your island in blood, and dis-
persed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and
rebellion through every part of the world."
These vigourous defenders of liberty for them-
selves were thus put on record as opposed to
granting it to others. The following year Con-
gress met again at Philadelphia amidst the stormy
period succeeding the fight at Lexington, and an
urgent appeal was made to the Colonists in Que-
bec and Nova Scotia — the religion of whose
majority had been so fiercely denounced in 1774
— to help them in withstanding " British tyranny."
The document is signed by Henry Middleton,
President, and is most curious in its terms.
Needless to say the appeal was not appreciated
by the wise ecclesiastical leaders of Quebec,
though its translation into French and distribu-
tion amongst the Habitants undoubtedly produced
a marked effect. Meanwhile the publication of
all kinds of inflammatory literature had been per-
mitted in the Colonies, and with a fatuity that is
difficult to understand, no organized attempt
seems ever to have been made to answer the
wholesale charges and calumnies which were
afloat. The advocates of revolution, under the
disguise of patriotism, were allowed to preach
doctrines which could not but result in creating
the very conditions which men like Franklin so
strongly reprobated, and enable the violent min-
ority to ultimately stampede the country into
separation.
But this seems to have been a part of the gen-
eral policy of drift. George HI. and his P.irlia-
ment drifted from the mere assertion of a right to
tax the Colonists into an attempt to enforce that
right — without vigour, without continuity of
effort, without organization. The Colonists drifted
from discontent into denunciation, from riots into
revolution. Canada was allowed to drift along
without adequate forces for defence, and only in
the Quebec Act and the local policy of conciliating
the French was any statecraft shown. Then came
the fight at Lexington on April 19th, 1775, that
of Bunker's Hill two months 1 ter, the capture by
Ethan Allen of the forts at Ticonderoga and
Crown Point, the opening of the war-path into
Canada and the invasion of that country by j.ooo
men under General Montgomery and 1,200 men
under Colonel Benedict Arnold.
Then, and throughout the war, matters contin-
ued to drift so far as England was concerned.
There was no energy or ability shown in its prose-
cution, and more than one English General acted
like a secret ally of the Colonial forces rather
than as the leader of an aggressive army. There
were two exceptions — Sir Guy Carleton in Canada
and Sir Henery Clinton in New York. But the
former was hampered by the constant unfriendli-
ness of his incapable Chief in the British Govern-
ment — Lord George Germaine — and was eventu-
ally superseded by the shcwy and unfortunate
Burgoyne. The other only inherited the com-
mand after Howe had almost blasted every hope
of success.
To General Carleton — afterwards Lord Dor-
chester — is due the fact that Canada to-day is a
British country. Astonishing as it may seem, he
had only a few hundred regulars under his com-
mand, and when he sent to General Howe for
help in 1775 that officer was unable to forward
troops because Admiral Graves would not supply
the ships for transport — a very ordinary condition
of affairs throughout the years which followed.
He could depend upon little aid locally. The
English settlers were a mere handful and were
naturally dissatisfied with the Quebec Act. The
French Canadians were at the best neutral, and
in many places threatened active hostility owing
to the false statements of alien agitators whose
first act under successful conditions would have
been to abolish the religious privileges and im-
munities of which the British Government had
been the grantor and guardian.
The American advance under Montgomery was
at first eminently successful. They forced their
way across the Richelieu, took St. John's and
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOI'.KDIA.
9S
Chambly, and compelled the Governor-General
with his small armed force to leave Montreal at
their mercy, and retreat to Quebec. There he
displayed consummate skill, weeded out and ex-
pelled the rebel sympathizers, enrolled several
hundred loyalist volunteers, and finally with i,6oo
men-at-arms awaited the strugRle. Meantime
from different directions and through wintry
wilds and varied difficulties Montgomery and
Arnold converged upon Quebec, where towards
the end of November they demanded the sur-
render of the city — the last spot in the Province
where waved the British flag. But to this and
other communications no reply was given. Gen-
eral Carleton would have no intercourse with
one whom he considered a rebel and nothing
more.
The invaders, however, were greatly disap-
pointed. They had not been able to obtain the
active support of more than a handful of the
French-Canadians, and indeed, by the payment of
worthless paper money for supplies, and a general
indifference to the religious convictions of the
populace, had estranged most of the sympathy
previously gained. Even General Washington's
address to the inhabitants of Canada calling them
" friends and brethren," pointing out the success
which Congress was having, and asking them to
support " the standard of general liberty against
which all the force and artifices of tyranny will
never be able to prevail," had little or no effect.
The French settlers, after all, had had enough of
fighting, and neither appeals to liberty from the
Americans on the one hand nor pressure by clergy
and Seigneurs on the other, would stir them from
a practically general neutrality.
The intense cold of a Quebec winter was also
added to the difficulties of the American com-
manders, to say nothing of the certainty of a
British relief fleet arriving in the spring. So a
desperate and final assault was decided upon, and
amid the thick darkness of a stormy night on the
31st of December, 1776, they attacked the walls
in two assaulting columns. The force under
Arnold fought its way into the city, but was ulti-
mately driven back, and four hundred out of seven
hundred invaders were captured. Montgomery's
men were met at once with a deadly fire, and the
General himself was killed whilst leading the
charge. The latter has been much praised as a
man and an officer, and his death naturally in-
clines history to look favourably upon his memory.
But a man who, like Carleton himself, had served
under Wolfe in other days should have known
better than attempt such a deed, brave as it
undoubtedly was, and he should certainly have
hesitated long before he issued a general order on
December 15th promising his troops the plunder
of the city in the following words : " The Troops
shall have the effects of the Governor, Garrison,
and of such as have been acting in misleading the
Inhabitants and distressing the friends of Liberty,
to be equally divided among them."
After this repulse the enemy maintained simply
a strict blockade and were greatly cheered by the
arrival of re-enforcements in the spring. But al-
most simultaneously British ships arrived in the
St. Lawrence, and the Americans prepared to
retreat. Carleton followed them, captured their
guns, and finally turned the retreat into a flight
and utter rout. Shortly afterwards a small force
of British regulars and Indians captured " The
Cedars," a fort on the St. Lawrence, and in June
an American attack upon Three Rivers was re-
pulsed by a small force of Canadians and regular
troops. British aid was now pouring into the
Province, Montreal was evacuated, and soon the
invaders were driven to Lake Champlain where,
through the possession of a small fleet, they man-
aged to hold their own until the autumn. Mean-
while the British had also built a fleet, and after a
hot battle the rebel forces were driven from the
lake, the ramparts of Crown Point blown up in
their retreat, and the inland gates of Canada once
more taken possession of by Carleton and the
British.
In New York, New England and elsewhere the
war continued for years to drag its weary and
bitter course. The hollowness of the claim made
by many public men in the revolted Colonies that
they only desired the right to rule themselves under
the Crown found ample evidence in this aggres-
sive campaign against Canada and received its
final seal in the Declaration of Independence by
Congress, on July 4th, 1776. All this time the
British troops were doing little except holding New
York. A vigourous military policy in 1775 might
have averted the war by over-awing the riotous,
ri
f,
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
ll
encouraging the loyal, and forcing into ct nsistent
allegiance many who affected to favour union
whilst working for separation. General Gage,
who was in command of the troops, seems to have
been undecided and incapable to the point of a
practical abdication of power. In May, 1776,
Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne arrived
on the scene with re-enforcements and the first
named took command.
Sir William Howe was a brave but self-indul-
gent, frivolous, and incapable officer. During the
year which followed he won possession of all New
York and New Jersey, defeated Washington at
the Brandywine, and captured Philadelphia.
Here the ball was at his feet. He had already
made serious mistakes and delays which- were
deeply injurious to the loyalist cause. But activ-
ity might now have regained all that was lost and
crushed the rebellion before French assistance
came. Washmgton, during the winter of 1776-7,
was almost in despair. His small army was en-
trenched at Valley Forge in a fairly strong posi-
tion, but one which Howe with his superior force
and more disciplined troops might have easily
stormed, or else surrounded and starved the de-
fenders into submission. The prestige of the revo-
lution was gone, the people were sick of civil
strife, the situation was so gloomy that Washing-
ton could get neither money, food, nor supplies,
and one brilliant stroke might have settled the
question so far as arms could do it. Time could
fiave been trusted to do the rest as it afterwards
did in England regarding Catholic emancipation,
and in Canada concerning Responsible Govern-
ment. But instead of doing his duty, Howe rested
for the winter at Philadelphia, where he flung
away precious months in idle sport and amuse-
ment.
Meantime the tide turned. Burgoyne, under
the control of Lord George Germaine, was sent
out to supersede Sir Guy Carleton in Canada and
to lead an army of 8,000 men from Lake Cham-
plain down the Hudson to New York. It is
needless to repeat the story of a disastrous march
preceded by apparent victories such as the cap-
ture of Ticonderoga and the defeat of one oppos-
ing army. The farther he penetrated into the
enemy's country the more of them he had to en-
counter, until finally at Saratoga, surrounded by
30,000 Congress troops, his now depleted force
was compelled to surrender. He had sworn in
his vanity that British soldiers never retreat.
History declares that his misplaced obstinacy,
combined with Howe's inaction, ruined the Royal
cause and gave the victory to the republicans and
their able leaders. Immediately upon hearing
of this surrender and the evidence it afforded of
possible American success, the Court of France
accepted the proposals which Franklin had been
long pressing upon them, and not only recog-
nized the independence of the United States but
formed an alliance with its provisional Govern-
ment and prepared for the war with England,
which at once commenced. Spain shortly after-
wards joined in a declaration of war. Holland
followed suit, owing to some commercial dispute,
and the hour of the American republic had come
at last.
Even this condition of affairs did not disturb
the pleasures and ostentatious gaities of Howe,
and he idled on at Philadelphia until spring,
when he suddenly resigned and returned to Eng-
land. Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the com-
mand, and was at once ordered to evacuate the
Quaker City. Washington meanwhile had once
more got his troops into shape, while the assist-
ance of France had changed the whole surface of
affairs and the spirit of the people. Clinton,
however, pushed the war with some activity, and
seized Charleston, while Lord Cornwallis over-
ran the Carolinas and Georgia, and by 1781 had
much of the South under control. Then came
the great disaster at Yorktown. It was the result
of French support to the Revolution, and was
occasioned by the most miserable exhibition of
incapacity seen even during this war.
New York was apparently threatened by a com-
bined French and American attack, and Clinton
sent to Cornwallis for re-enforcements. The latter,
with about 6,000 troops, evacuated Charleston and
marched northwards. When he reached Chesa-
peake Bay he found himself menaced by about
18,000 of the enemy, and at once entrenched him-
self at Yorktown, facing the ocean — a point from
whence he could receive by sea the help which he
at once asked Clinton for. The latter replied
that by a certain date it would be there. Mean-
while De Grasse, with large French re-enforce*
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
'•3
ments, had been allowed by Rodney for some
inscrutable reason — supposed in part to be the
failure by Lord George Gennaine to advise him
of the strength of the French fleet — to slip past
the West India station. On the American coast
he had an undecided conflict with Admiral Graves
— a most incapable officer — and was allowed,
after some days' manoeuvering, to return to
Chesapeake Bay and thus cut off Cornwallis in
the rear. Even with these difficulties, however,
the latter might yet have been relieved had
Graves only been amenable to haste and reason.
Clinton had promised aid by October 5th, but
despite all his efforts the fleet did not sail till the
19th. On the 17th of October, after nearly two
weeks' sicRe, and hopeless of aid from New York,
Cornwallis had surrendered.
This practically ended the war. Germaine re-
signed his place in the Ministry at home, after he
had done all the evil possible. Cornwallis re-
turned to England, and afterwards distinguished
himself as Governor-General of India ; Clinton
retired from the command in America and died,
in 1795, as Governor of Gibraltar ; Sir Guy Carle-
ton was sent out as commander-in-chief, and
supervised the evacuation of New York. Had
he been appointed a few years earlier he might
have saved the Thirteen Colonies to the Crown
as he did Canada. The Treaty of Peace was
signed at Versailles on September 3rd, 1783.
Instead of feeling beaten, sore, and angry as
American history would lead one to suppose she
did, England seems, however, to have been in
rather a friendly and generous mood.
The union of the Powers against her had re-
vived the national spirit, and it is probable that
the close of the war saw her better able to cope
with enemies than the beginning. But it was all
over now, and she evidently hoped to win back
the friendship of the Americans by open-handed
generosity. Franklin wanted Canada to be given
up, but this was a little too much even for Lord
Shelburne, and the Government compromised by
making the new-born Republic a present of the
rich Ohio valley and all the southern part of
what was then called Quebec. On the east the
fatal blunder was made of defining the boundary
as the St. Croix River, and thus inserting a wedge
of alien territory between Lower Canada and
Nova Scotia and depriving th'?. future British
Dominion of a winter sea-port. Canada has
indeed as little reason to be grateful to Lord
Shelburne in these negotiations as it afterwards
had to Lord Ashburton. But a statesman can
almost be pardoned for not anticipating the result
of a hundred yeara of American and Canadian
development. The citizens of the United States
should, however, remember this generosity and
appreciate it. And it would be well also if a few
cardinal facts in the history of this struggle were
borne in mind by Canadians :
I. The English were not really beaten by the
revolted Colonists. Washington never won a
pitched battle in the Revolutionary War, and the
victory at Saratoga was due to Burgoyne's inca-
pacity, while the surrender at Yorktown was the
result of French support.
II. The whole war was a long series of blunders
on the part of English generals and admirals, only
equalled by the patience and skill of Washington.
III. The first aggressive actions were by the
Americans — at Boston, at Lexington, and in the
invasion of Canada.
IV. No taxation without representation, was the
cry, but representation was never asked for, and
was refused when offered in 1783, whilst contribu-
tions to Imperial taxation and defence were never
squarely offered by the Congress or provincial
assemblies.
V. George the Third was acting in support of
the supremacy of Parliament over the Colonies,
and this supremacy was not theoretically denied
even at times when the King was being fiercely
denounced as a blood-thirsty tyrant.
VI. When the Revolution broke out it was the
voice of an active minority which only became a
majority after long and bitter strife and the weak-
ness of Royal generals who alienated the loyalists
and practically encouraged their enemies.
VII. The Declaration of Independence was a
distinct breach of faith on the part of the aggres-
sive section in the Colonies toward their friends
and sympathizers in England. With the possible
exception of Fox, many leaders of that day — Chat-
ham, Camden, Shelburne, the Duke of Richmond,
Burke, Dunning, and others — supported the Co-
lonial protests and even approved Colonial vio-
lence because they believed the American leaders
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96
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OIVF.DIA.
to be honourable men pledged ui to the lips so
far as British connection was concerned. So with
many English city corporations and masses of
other Colonial supporters amongst the people.
VIII. The independence which eventually came
was Won, so far as force was concerned, by the
aid of France and Holland and Spain. French
gold and French soldiers and sailors did for the
rebels of that day what English gold and English
ships might have done for the Southern rebels of
eighty years afterwards.
IX. England at the close of the war was not
exhausted and worn out with her struggle against
the great coalition of which the thirteen colonies
were after all but a small fraction. In another ten
years she was fighting the vast power of Napoleon
almost single-handed. She was, however, really
weary of divided counsels at home, which for
years had weakened her power in America, and
which finally won a hearty consent to the separa-
tion—a result followed by many tokens of friend-
^jhip and conciliation.
A feature of the American Revolutionary War
which should be more clearly understood in
British countries than is the case at present, was
the use of German troops by Great Britain. His-
torians and writers in the United States have
condemned it in the most wholesale and sweeping
fashion, regardless altogether of the fact that
f'om the very commencement of the struggle the
Colonies, through Franklin and others, made un-
ceasing efforts to obtain the co-operation of
French troops against the Mother Country. It
was far more natural for King George to receive
and accept German aid. Through his sovereignty
over Hanover, as well as by partial descent, he
'vas a German Prince, while the bulk of the rulers
of Germany were his allies in war against the
common enemy — Napoleon — who was first r
secret and then an open ally of the Thirteen
Colonies.
Dr. Kingsford, in his Canadian History, has
gone into this subject very thoroughly, and points
out that : " It was not in the light of Sovereigns
furnishing troops for payment of a wage that
George III. appealed to the German Princes. He
asked their co-operation as allies, binding himself
to protect their country in case of attack. It was
an alliance for defence and offence. Any hostile
attitude of France threatened equally Hanover,
Brunswick, and Hesse, and those states could
with justice make common cause for their own
national preservation.
" German writers of history, not led away by
political passion, agree in the fact that the enlist-
ment was voluntary. Doubtless the recruiting
sergeant, true to his calling, was profuse in prom-
ises, and not particularly scrupulous in the de-
scription of the service to be rendered ; but the
presence of the men in the rank!< was a sponta-
neous act, and force was not used to compel
enlistment. One feature in the composition of the
troops was that men of good family, many pos-
sessing property, held the position of officers.
Such had always been the case from the days
when the contingents had been placed at the ser-
vice of Christian V. of Denmark, and troops had
been sent in 1687 to aid Venice in its wars with
the Porte. That the men who were engaged
were, as a rule, greatly interested in the enter-
prise is established by the journals which remain,
and the letters written home by officers and men.
"In December, 1775, Colonel Faucit proceeded
to Brunswick to conclude the arrangement which
had been unofficially discussed in London. The
proof that the prospect of foreign service was
welcomed by the troops of the German Princes
is established by the fact that in the numerous
contemporary letters and journals which have
been preserved there is no expression of dissatis-
faction either with the rulers or the generals.
The question never presented itself to the German
mind as a matter of bargain and sale. The com-
mon sentiment was that it was a national duty
not to abrndon an ally in a situation of trial and
difficulty ; and in thos3 days the blood relation-
ship of Sovereign.<5 told powerfully on the feelings
of a people. It is unjust and without warrant to
regard the presence of the German troops in
America only from the moral standpoint of their
engagement to fight in a cause in which they were
in no way interested."
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
97
That the money arrangements were liberal on
the part of Great Britain, and profitable to the
ruHng German Powers, can easily be seen by the
following table procured from the Parliamentary
documents of Great Britain by a German writer
named Von Eelking :
Country. Taynients during war.
Hesse Cassel (8 years) ;C2, 959,800 sterling.
Brunswick " 750,000 "
Hesse Hanau " 34J.130 "
Waldeck " 140,000 "
Anspach Bayreuth (7 years) 282,400 "
Anhalt Zerbst " 109,120 "
According to the agreement these subsidies
were to be paid for two years after the close of
the war. It is estimated that the annual payment
to the German Princes was six million thalers, or
about £875,000 sterling, or about $40,000,000
altogether. The total number of continental
troops sent to America during the war between
1776-1782 was as follows:
Brunswick , 5.723
Hesse Cassel 16,992
Hesse Hanau 2,422
Waldeck 1,225
Anspach 1 ,644
Anhalt Zerbst 1,160
Of these about three-fifths never returned.
Many, of course, settled in Canada or the Re-
public.
It is curious to note how clearly some of the
American leaders were able to look into the
future, and write of the form of Colonial Govern-
ment which has now become the established Brit-
ish system. The following extract from a letter
of P'ranklin to M. Dubourg, dated October 2nd,
1770, illustrates this fact :
" We of the Colonies have never insisted that
we ought to be exempt from contributing to the
common expenses necessary to support the pros-
perity of the Empire. We only assert that hav-
ing Parliaments of our own, and not having repre-
sentatives in that of Great Britain, our Parlia-
ments are the only judges of what we can and
what we o ight to contribute in this case ; and
that the English Parliament has no right to take
our money without our consent. In fact, the
British Empire is not a single state ; it compre*
hends many ; and though the Parliament of Great
Britain has arrogated to itself the power of taxing
the Colonies, it has no more right to do so than
it has to tax Hanover. We have the same King,
but not the same legislature."
The argument sounds all-powerful to nineteenth
century Canadians and British subjects, but it
must be remembered that this is not the way in
which Great Britain was appealed to. No offer
of contributions was ever made by the Colonial
legislatures, nor was any definite demand for
representation ever submitted. Every concession
by England seemed to result only in further steps
toward independence, and this naturally inclined
the King and his ministers to assert vigourously
the principle of the right of taxation. The delega-
tion of Royal authority through a Governor at the
head of a distant Parliamentary system was not
of course understood, or thought of as possible.
So much the greater was the responsibility of men
like Franklin, who seemed in some measure able
to grasp the skirts of the future, and who might
have guided American public opinion in such a
different direction.
The character and policy of George the Third
has not \et been done justice to in American his-
tory. The time for impartial treatment of the
subject in the United States seems indeed to be
sHll rather distant. But in the pages of British
historical works it is different. English writers
are so accustomed to criticize and study, without
fear or favour, the characters of their Sovereigns,
that much ground he , been prepared in recent
years for a complete comprehension of King
George and his environment. Lord Mahon — the
late Earl Stanhope — in his " History of England"
contributes some valuable reflections in this con-
nection.
" Of Washington " he declares, " I most firmly
believe that no single act appears in his whole
public life proceeding from any other than public,
and those the highest, motives. But my persuas-
ion is no less firm that there would be little flat-
tery in applying the same terms of respect and
commendation to the ' good old Kin,']f.' I ilo not
deny, indeed, that some degree of prejudice and
pride may, though unconsciously, have mingled
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i
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOr/EDIA.
with his motives, I do not deny that at the out-
set of these troubles he lent too ready an ear to
the glozing reports of his governors and deputies,
the Hutchinsons or OUvers, Gateses, Dunmores,
etc., assuring hiin that the discontents were con-
fined to a factious few and that measures of
rigour and repression alone were needed. For
such means of rigour he may deserve, and has
incurred, his share of censure. But after the
insurgent colonies had proclaimed their independ-
ence, is it just to blame King George, as he
often has been blamed, for his steadfast and
resolute resistance to that claim ? Was it for
him, unless after straining every nerve against it,
to forfeit a portion of his birth-right and a jewel
of his crown ? Was it for him, unless through
the clearest case of necessity, to allow the rend-
ing asunder of his empire ; to array for all time to
come several millions of people against the rest ?
" After calling on his loyal subjects in the col-
onies to rise, after requiring and employing their
aid, was it for him on any light grounds to re-
linquish his cause and theirs, and yield them
over, unforgiven, to the vengeance of their coun-
;trymen ? Was it for him to overlook the conse-
iquences, not even yet, perhaps, in their full extent
unfolded, of such a precedent of victory to pop-
ular and colonial insurrection ? May not the
King, on the contrary, have deemed that on such
a question, touching as it did both his honour
and his rights, he was bound to be firm — firmer
than even the firmest of his ministers? Not, of
course, that he could be justified for persevering;
but, in truth, he did not so persevere after every
reasonable hope had failed. Not, of course, that
he could be excused from continuing to demand,
or to expect, unconditional submission ; but, as
his own letters to Lord North assure us, such an
idea was never harboured in his mind. To do
his duty conscientiously, as he should answer for
it to God hereafter, and according to the lights
he had received ; such was his unceasing aim and
endeavour from the day when, young but superior
io the frailties of youth, he first assumed the reins
of government, until that dismal period, half a
century later, when, bowed down by years and
sorrows, and blind, doubly blind, he concluded
his reign, though not, as yet, his life."
in 17.S3, as is now known. Royal Commis-
sioners were empowered to offer the colonists
representation in the Imperial Parliament and
even the right to elect their own Governors as
well as to maintain free State Legislatures. But
the suggestion was hardly considered by Congress.
At the time when the American troops in
Montreal had but a precarious hold upon their
position, three Commissioners were sent by Con-
gress — on the 27th of April, 1776 — to try and
counteract the efforts of Carleton. The duty
entrusted to them was to judge of the condition
of the Province, and especially to exercise a con-
ciliatory influence upon the French-Canadians.
The Commission consisted of Benjamin Franklin ;
Chase, of Maryland, who had taken part in the
Continental Congress of 1774 ; and Charles Car-
roll, of CarroUton. The latter, a Roman Catholic,
was accompanied by his brother, a Jesuit, and
afterwards the first Roman Catholic Archbishop
in the United States. Both the CarroUs had
been educated in Europe.
The constitution of the Commission was there-
fore another distinct appeal to Catholic senti*
ment, with the expectation that it would influence
the Canadian ecclesiastics to actively support the
American occupation. There was even a quasi-
suggestion, says Dr. Kingsford, that Canada
might be allowed to retain an independent posi-
tion in its relations with the more southern Pro-
vinces. The Commissioners declared that they
themselves had no apprehension that the Cana-
dians would side with Great Britain, for it was
their interest, and the Commissioners had reason
to believe, their inclination, to cultivate a friendly
intercourse with the revolted colonies. Self-
government was again promised to Canada, with
the right of following the religion the inhabitants
professed, and an assurance was given that all
abuses would be reformed. But it was useless,
and in a few months Carleton had driven the last
invader across the frontier.
The British employment of Indians during
this war is greatly condemned and denounced by
American writers. Yet their aid was freely ac-
cepted by Montgomery, when obtainable, in his
invasion of Canada in 1775. During the autumn
of that year the question of their general employ-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
99
ment was considered by a Committee of Congress
in conference with Washington and special dele-
gates from various Provincial governments.
Washington's chief objection then, as shown in a
letter to General Schuyler on January 27th, 1776,
was that of expense. Or April igth following,
he publicly advised Congress " to engage them on
our side," and Congress itself, on June 3rd — a
month before the Declaration of Independence
which denounced King George for having " en-
deavoured to bring on our frontiers the merciless
Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is
an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes,
and conditions " — passed a resolution to raise
2,000 Indians for the Canadian service.
Shortly afterwards General Washington was
authorized to employ such Indians as he could
obtain for service, and to offer them bounties for
every officer and soldier of the King's troops
whom they might capture. Comparatively few
responded, and it is hardly to be wondered at
when we remember that only twenty years before
the Province of Massachusetts (according to
Ludlow's " History of the War of Independ-
ence ") had offered a bounty of ;f 20 for the scalp
of every Indian warrior and child found within
that territory, and £^0 for those of Indian males.
The latter figure was afterwards raised to 3^300.
Duringr the period of strife and ultimate war
between the American Colonies and England
some changes took place in the composition of
the Home Government. Prior to 1768, and as
far back as 1660, the affairs of the Colonies had
been managed by a Council of Plantations or of
Trade and Plantations, but in the former year
stress of circumstances so enhanced the import-
ance of this department that a Secretary of State
for American and Colonial Affairs was appointed,
and so remained until 1782. The following were
the holders of this office :
Appointed. Name.
January, 1768 Wills, Earl of Hillsborough.
August, 1772 William, Earl of Dartmouth.
November, 1775 Lord George Sackville Ger-
maine.
February, 1 782 Rt. Hon. Welbore Ellis.
March, 1782 William, Earl of Shelburne.
July, 1782 Thomas, Lord Grantham.
From 1782 to 1794 the much lessened Colonial
business was under the direction of the Home
Office, with a separate department called the
Office for Plantations. The Secretaries of State
during this period were as follows :
April, 1783 Frederick, Lord North.
December, 1783 George, Earl Temple.
December, 1782 Thomas, Lord Sydney.
June, 1789 William Wyndham Granville.
June, 1791 Rt. Hon. Henry Dundas.
In the year 1794 the office of Secretary of State
for the Colonies was once more established, and
Henry Dundas (Lord Melville) was appointed to
the post in conjunction with the Secretaryship at
War. The two departments remained united
until 1854. During the period following this, and
including that of the War of 1812, the Secretaries
were :
March, 1801 Lord Hobart.
May, 1804 Earl Camden.
July, 1805 Lord Castlereagh.
February, i8o6 William Windham.
March, 1807 Lord Castlereagh.
Noveh'.ber, 1809 Earl of Liverpool.
June, 1812 Earl Bathurst.
Lord Bathurst held the position during the
whole of Lord Liverpool's prolonged Administra-
tion — from 1812 to 1827 — and therefore occupies
no small place in the earlier history of Canada,
It was, however, an influence which did not ap-
pear greatly upon the surface of affairs, so that
hi^ name is not so familiar as that of many less
important personages.
The Address issued by the American Congress
on October 26th, 1774, and referred to in the text,
was an extraordinary document. It is a little
difficult to understand how a body which had
denounced the Quebec Act in such unmeasured
terms ; which had stigmatised the Catholic faith
in an equally strong manner; which had criticised
severely the re-establishment of French laws ;
could issue a proclamation to the Canadians,
urging them in the sacred name of liberty to unite
their destinies with those of the Thirteen Colonies I
But it was nevertheless done. The famous mani-
festo is addressed, *' To the inhabitants of the
.,'tl
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100
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
i
Province of Quebec. Friends and fellow-subjects,"
and continues as follows :
" What is offered to you by the late Act of
Parliament (1774)? Liberty of conscience in your
religion ? No. God gave it you ; and the temp-
oral powers with which you have been and are
connected firmly stipulated for your enjoyment of
it. If laws, divine and human, could secure it
against the despotic caprices of wicked men it
was secured before. Are the French laws in civil
cases restored ? It seems so. But observe the
cautious kindness of the Ministers who pretend to
be your benefactors. The words of the statute
are that those "laws shall be the rule until they
shall be varied or altered by any ordinances of the
Governor and Council." Is the certainty and
lenity of the criminal law of England secured to
you and your descendants ? No. They are sub-
jected to arbitrary alterations by the Governor and
Council, and a power is expressly reserved of
appointing ' such courts of criminal, civil, and
ecclesiastical jurisdiction as shall be thought
proper.'
" Such is the precious tenure of mere will, by
which you hold your lives and religion. The
Crown and its Ministers are empowered, so far as
tiny could be by Parliament, to establish even the
In(]uisition itself among you. Have you an
Assembly, composed of worthy men, elected by
yourr.elves, and in whom you can confide to make
laws for you, to watch over your welfare, and to
direct in what quantity and in what manner your
money shall be taken from you ? No. The power
of making laws for you is lodged in the Governor
and Council, all of them dependent upon and
movable at the pleasure of a Minister.
" Your Judges and your Legislative Council, as
it is called, are dependc'^ vour Governor, and he
is dependent on the s( , ." the Crown in Great
Britain. The legisla.. .._, executive, and judging
powers are all moved by the nods of a Minister.
Privileges and immunities last no longer than his
smiles. When he frowns their feeble forms dis-
solve. Such a treacherous ingenuity has been
exerted in drawing up the code lately offered to
you that every sentence beginning with a benevo-
lent pretension, concludes with a destructive
power, and the substance of the whole, divested
of its smooth words, is that the Crown and Min-
ister shall be as absolute throughout your extended
province as the despots of Asia or Africa.
" Seize the opportunities presented to you by
Providence itself. You have been conquered into
liberty if you act as you ought. This work is not
of man. You are a small people compared with
those who, with open arms, invite you into a
fellowship. A moment's reflection should con-
vince you which will be most for your interest and
happmess, to have all the rest of North America
your unalterable friends or your inveterate
enemies. The injuries of Boston have roused and
associated every colony from Nova Scotia to
Georgia. Your province is the only link wanting
to complete the bright and strong chain of union.
" We are all too well acquainted with the liber-
ality of sentiment distinguishing your nation to
imagine that difference of religion will prejudice
you against a hearty amity with us. You know
that the transcendent nature of freedom elevates
those who unite in her cause above all such low-
minded infirmities. The Swiss Cantons furnish
a memorable proof of this truth. Their union is
composed of Roman Catholic and Protestant
states, living in the utmost concord and peace
with one another, and thereby enabled, ever
since they bravely vindicated their freedom, to
defy and defeat every tyrant that has invaded
them. In order to complete this highly desirable
union, we submit it to your consideration
whether it may not be expedient for you to meet
together in your several towns and districts and
elect deputies, who afterwards, meeting in a Pro-
vincial Congress, may choose delegates to repre-
sent your province in the Continental Congress to
be held at Philadelphia on the loth of May, 1775.
" In the present Congress, beginning on the fifth
of the last month, and continued on this day, it
has been with universal pleasure, and an unani-
mous vote, resolved, that we should consider the
violation of your rights by the Act for altering the
government of your Province, as a violation of
our own, and that you should be invit j to accede
to our Confederition which has no other object
than the perfect security of the natural and civil
rights of all the constituent members according to
their respective circumstances, and the preserva-
tion of a happy and lasting connection with Great
Britain on the salutary and constitutional prin-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.^•:DI A. •
lOI
ciples hereiiibeiore mentioned. For effecting
these purposes we have addressed a loyal peti-
tion to His Majesty praying relief of our and your
grievances, and have associated to stop all impor-
tations from Great Britain and Ireland after the
first day of December, and all exportations to
those Kingdoms and the West Indies after the
tenth day of next September, until the said griev-
ances are redressed.
" That Almighty God may incline your minds
to approve our equitable and necessary measures,
to add yourselves to us, to put your fate when-
ever you suffer injuries which you are determined
to oppose, not on the small influence of your
single province, but on the consolidated powers of
North America, and may grant to our joint exer-
tions an event as happy us our cause is just, is
the fervent prayer of us, your sincere and affec-
tionate friends and fellow-subjects.
By order of the Congress,
Henuy Middi.kton, President."
Specious however as was the appeal from
Congress, and bitter as was its denunciation of a
Power which had just beaten the French m their
struggle for the possession of the continent, that
of Baron D'Estaing, Commander of the French
fleet, which eventually came to the rescue of the
American revolutionary party, was still more so.
Dated 28th October, 177S, it was eminently fitted
to stir up the natural pride and antagonisms of
the French heart. This document read as follows:
" I shall not ask the military companions of
the Marquess de Ldvis, those who shared his
glory, who admired his talents and genius for
war, who loved his cordiality and frankness — the
principal characteristics of our nobility — whether
there be other names in other nations among
which they would be better pleased to place their
own. Can the Canadians who saw the brave
Montcalm fall in their defence — can they become
the enemies of his nephews ? Can they fight
against their former leaders, and arm them-
selves against their kinsmen ? At the bare men-
tion of their names tiie weapons would fall out of
the-r hands. I shall not observe to the ministers
at the altars that their evangelical efforts will
require the special protection of Providence to
prevent faith being diminished by example, by
worldly interest, and by Sovereigns whom force
has imposed upon them, and whose political in-
dulgence will be lessened proportionately as those
Sovereigns shall have less to fear.
" I shall not observe that it is necessary for reli-
gion that those who preach it should form a body
in the State ; and that in Canada no other body
would be more considered, or have more power
io do good than that of the priests, taking a part
in the government, since their respectable con-
duct has merited the confidence of the people. I
shall not represent to that people, nor to all my
countrymen in general, that a vast monarchy
having the same religion, the same manners, the
same language, where they find kinsmen, old
friends, and brethren, must be an inexhaustible
source of commerce and wealth, more easily
acquired and better secured by their union with
powerful neighbours than with strangers of an-
other hemisphere, among whom everything is
different, and whose jealous and despotic sover-
eigns would, sooner or later, treat them as a con-
quered people, and doubtless much worse than
their late countrymen, the Americans, who made
them victorious. I shall not urge to a whole
people that to join with the United States is to
secure their own happiness, since a whole people,
when they acquire the right of thinking and act-
ing for themselves, must know their own interest.
But I will declare, and I now formally declare in
the name of His Majesty, who has authorized and
commanded me to do it, that all his former sub-
jects in North America who shall no more
acknowledge the supremacy of Great Britain may
depend upon his protection and support."
The fact that neither of these appeals to popu-
lar prejudice and patriotism were effectual, illus-
trates as no other fact could the importance of
Sir Guy Carleton's policy, and the value of the
Quebec Act in preserving Canada to the British
Crown.
The Proclamation issued to the Canadians by
General Washington was received by Arnold on
September 25th, 1775, and promptly distributed.
It was addressed to the mhabitants of Canada in
the following terms :
" Friends and Brethren :
The unnatural contest between the English
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.0P.1:DIA.
colonies and Great Britain has now risen to such
height, that arms alone must decide. The Col-
onies, confiding i.i the justice of their cause, and
the purity of their intention, have reluctantly
appealed to that Being in whose hands are all
human events. He has hitherto smiled upon
their virtuous efforts, the hand of tyranny has
been arrested in its ravages, and the British
arms, which have shone with so much splendour
in every part of the globe, are now tarnished
with disgrace and disappointment. Generals of
approved experience, who boasted of subduing
this great continent, find themselves circumscrib-
ed within the limits of a single city and its sub-
urbs, suffering all the shame and distress of a
siege, while the free-born sons of America, ani-
mated by the genume principles of liberty and
love of their country, with increasing union, firm-
ness, and discipline, repel every attack, and
despise every danger.
Above all we rejoice that our enemies have
been deceived with regard to you. They have
persuaded themselves, they have even dared to
say, that the Canadians were not capable of dis-
tinguishing between the blessings of liberty, and
the wretchedness of slavery; that gratifying the
vanity of a little circle of nobility would blind the
people of Canada. By such artifices they hope
to bend you to their views, but they have been
deceived ; instead of finding in you a poverty of
soul and baseness of spirit, they see with a
chagrin equal to our joy that you are enlightened,
generous, and virtuous ; that you will not re-
nounce your rights, or serve as instruments to
deprive your fellow-subjects of theirs. Come, then,
my brethren, unite with us in an indissoluble
union ; let us run together to the same goal. We
have taken up arms in defence of our liberty, our
property, our wives and our chddren ; we are
determined to preserve them or die. We look
forward with pleasure to that day, not far remote
we hope, when the inhabitants of America shall
have one sentiment, and the full enjoyment of the
blessings of a free government.
Incited by these motives, and encouraged by
the advice of many friends of liberty among you,
the Grand American Congress have sent an army
into your province under the command of General
Schuyler, not to plunder, but to protect you ; to
animate and bring into action those sentiments of
freedom you have disclosed, and which the tools
of despotism would extinguish through the whole
creation. To co-operate with this design, and
to frustrate those cruel and perfidious schemes
which would deluge our frontiers with the blood
of women and children, I have detached Colonel
Arnold into your country with a p)art of the army
under my command. I have enjoined it upon
him, and I am certain that he wdl consider him-
self, and act, as in the country of his patrons and
best friends. Necessaries and accommodations of
every kind, which you may furnish, he will thank-
fully receive and render the full value. I invite
you, therefore, as friends and brethren, to provide
him with such supplies as your country affords,
and I pledge myself not only for your safety and
security, but for an ample compensation. Let no
man desert his habitation. Let no one flee as
before an enemy.
The cause of America and of liberty is the
cause of every virtuous American citizen ; what-
ever may be his religion or descent, the United
Colonies know no distinction but such as slavery,
corruption, and arbitrary dominion may create.
Come, then, ye generous citizens, range your-
selves under the standard of general liberty,
against which all the force and artifices of tyranny
will never be able to prevail !
(Signed) George Washington."
The flnanoial aid griven by France to the
Thirteen Colonies was very considerable, amount-
ing to nearly nine million dollars. On the appli-
cation of the United States to France, in 1793,
for a loan of six million livres, it was agreed that
the financial relations of the two countries should
be specified, and the money received by the
United States, whether as loans or as gifts,
scheduled in due form. The following was the
result :
Amount set forth... 18,000,000 livres or $3,600,000
Loan by Holland,
guaranteed by
France 10,000,000 " 2,000,000
Loan of 1783 6,000,000 " 1,200,000
Total 34,000,000 livres or $6,800,000
This amount the United States undertook to
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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repay. The second item was the amount given
by France for which no payment was demanded,
and previous to the treaty of alliance —
1778 3,000,000 livres or $ 6od,oo».)
1786 6,000,000 " 1,200,000
Total 9,000,000 livres or $ i ,800,000
Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, who was
mainly instrumental in saving Canada to the
Crown in 1776, war born in Cornwall in 1725,
and at an early age entered the army. He ac-
companied Wolfe to Quebec, and was promoted
to a Brigadier-Generalship after the second battle
of the Plains. In 1767, on the departure of
General Murray for England, the Government
devolved on Carleton, who made himself greatly
liked by the French. The Quebec Act of 1774
was his handiwork, and the neutrality of the
French-Canadians during the Montgomery inva-
sion the general result. In 1777 he retired, upon
the appointment of Burgoyne, and returning to
England was knighted by the King. He suc-
ceeded Clinton in 1782 as Commander-in-Chief
of the forces in America, and, in the evacuation
of New York which followed, did much for the
Loyalists and their settlement in Canada. In
1786 he was created Baron Dorchester, and given
a pension of ;f 1,000 by Parliament, and later in
the same year was again appointed Governor-
General ot Canada. There he remained for ten
years. He died in 1808. Of his services during
the American invasion Sir James Le Moine de-
clares that " Had the fate of Canada on that
occasion been confided to a Governor less wise,
less conciliating than Guy Carleton, doubtless
' ihe brightest gem in the Colonial crown of Bri-
tain ' would have been one of the stars of Colum-
bia's banner, and the star-spangled ensign would
now be floating on the summit of Cape Dia-
mond."
On Hay 11th, 1790, General Henry Knox,
Secretary of War, communicated to the United
States Congress a Report of troops, including
militia, "furnished by the several States during
the War of the Revolution," which was after-
wards published in the 12th volume of the
American State Papers.
In September,
1776, according
to the
figures
thus given, quot
as were
fi.\ed by
Congress for
three years, or during the
war:
Strength of tht
Sut*.
Reqnirad.
TrooM
Regular or Con-
tiaaiual Armv.
*..r.
Troon.
New Hampshire
10,194
6.653
1775
27.443
Massachusetts...
52,728
38,091
1776
46,901
Rhode Island....
5.694
3.917
T-111
34,820
Connecticut
23.336
21,142
1778
32,899
New York
15.734
12,077
1779
27,694
New Jersey
11,396
7.534
1780
21,015
Pennsylvania
40,416
19,689
1781
13.292
Delaware
3.974
1,778
1782
14.256
Maryland
26,608
13,275
1783
13.476
Virginia
48,322
23.994
20,491
6,129
North Carolina..
South Carolina..
13,932
4,348
Georgia
3.974
280,502
2,328
157,452
Add Continental
Troops for year
1775
27,443
Add Continental
Troops for year
1776
46,901
231,796
231,796
The number of Continental troops from New
England was therefore 118,350; from the Middle
States, 54,116; and from the Southern States,
59,330. Of course, there were not 231,796 dif-
ferent individuals really enlisted, because the
army at its strongest consisted of only 46,901
men. As is well known, the same soldier en-
listed once, twice, and in some cases thrice.
The British Parliament in 1783 commenced to
deal with the claims of the Loyalists and by the
time an award was made, through the Commis-
sioners then appointed, the claims passed upon
numbered 3,225, valued at £10,358,413. Of these
553 were not pressed, 38 were withdrawn, and
343 disallowed. Of the 2,291 claims investigated
and amounting to ;f8,2i6,i26 only ;f3,886,o87
sterling, or $18,912,294, were eventually found to
be fully proven and accordingly paid. This was,
however, a pretty large sum when added to the
general cost of the war and the voluntaiy sur-
render of valuable territory.
■)•
1- ;
1; : '.■
f'f .'■•■•'.
\%m.
«.^
THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS
LIEUT.COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON, FR.S.G.
THE United Empire Loyalists were the
founders of this Province of Ontario, and
their ideas and actions have had a great
influence upon the affairs of this country.
Their history has never been thorouj^hly written.
A most valuable and important work on the
subject is from the pen. not exactly of an enemy,
but of an adherent of the opposite view, a citizen
of the United States and a strong supporter of
the revolution and the revolutionary ideas. This
author, Lorenzo Sabine, has explained the cause
of the difficulty of writing a complete history of
the Loyalists. He says : " Of the reasons which
influenced, of the hopes which agitated, and of
the miseries and rewards which awaited the
Loyalists, but little is known. The reason is
obvious. Men who, like the Loyalists, separated
themselves from their friends and kindred, who
are driven from their homes, who surrender the
hopes and expectations of life, and who become
outlaws, wanderers, and exiles, such men leave
few memorials behind them. Their papers are
scattered and lost, and their very names pass
from human recollection."
In the space of a short paper I can only touch
lightly upon the striking points in the career of
these men, and give a brief general idea of the
principles which animated them, the sacrifices
they matle, the sufferings they endured r.nd the
lessons they have handed down to us, their des-
cendants. It would be quite impossible for me
to detail all the various causes that led to the
conflict between the American colonies and the
mother country. Tiiere can be no doubt that
there were many grievances and many just
grounds of complaint. Tlie legislation of the
Imperial Parliament was all in the interest of the
mercantile classes of England, and restrictions
of the most harassing nature crippled the trade
and enterprise of the growing colonics. The
precedence given to the Established Church was
a source of annoyance ; the distribution of public
offices almost altogether amongst those of P-ng-
lish birth, to the neglect and exclusion of native
talent in civil life, naturally irritated the colonial
classes ; while the denial of promotion to officers
of distinguished military ability, as well as the
studied insult of allowing a captain in the " reg-
ulars " to rank and to command a colonel in the
"provincials" alienated many of the best and
ablest defenders of the constitution.
In addition to these grievances, which affect-
ed the pride and sensitiveness of the colonists,
Sabine says that there were no less than twenty-
nine Acts of Parliament which restricted and
bound down colonial industry. They forbade
the use of waterfalls, the erection of machinery
and looms and spindles, and the working of wood
and iron. Colonial vessels were forbidden to
engage in foreign commerce, and could only trade
with England and her possessions. The mer-
chants and ship-owners were the first persons in
America who set themselves in array against the
measures of the Ministry. They demanded the
free navigation of the ocean, and but for the
refusal of this right and the right to use the
waterfalls of New England the dispute might
have been alm'ost indefinitely postponed. F^or
years these laws affecting trade had been practi-
cally a dead letter. Up to 1763 nine-tenths,
probably, of all the tea, wine, fruit, sugar and
molasses constuned in the colonies were smug-
gled. A financial crisis in England, and the
expenses caused by the long P'rench war forced
the Home Government, however, to take special
steps to enforce the payment of the duties on
goods imported into the colonies in order to help
pay the enormous cost of a war which had been
104
CANAT)A : AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
fought principally in the interest of the colonirs.
Twelve ships of war were sent to Boston to be
employed in the revenue service. The merchants
of the sea-ports were roused to preserve their
business. The contest soon waxed hotter. Law-
yers, who had espoused the cause of the shippers
in the ordinary course of professional duty,
became the most active advocates of the revolu-
tionary cause. One quarter of the signcis of the
Declaration of Independence were engaged in
trade or in the command of ships, and some of
them were smugglers. Hancock, who was the first
Lieut. -Colonel George T. Denison.
to sign, was, at the outbreak of the revolution,
the defendant in suits brought by the Crown to
recover nearly $500,000 of penalties for wilful
infractions of the law. The indications of the
coming storm continued from 1763 until the
outbreak of hostilities in 1773. Those colonists
who obeyed the laws and strove to uphold them ;
who were true to their allegiance and to consti-
tuted authority; who valued their birthrignt as
British subjects and hoped to retain it; whose
great moving idea was to maintain the unity of
the empire, and who fought on that side during
the revolutionary war ; were known then and
since as the United Empire Loyalists. Their
sufferings and losses began long before the actual
commencement of civil war.
Lawless mobs attacked unoffending and peace-
able citizens simply because they desired tu
obey the law, or to remain neutral in the dis-
cussion. Numbers were tarred and feathered,
their property destroyed, their houses burned.
As early as 1764 a mob attacked the house of
Robert Hallowell, tore down his fence, broke his
windows, destroyed his furniture, stole his money,
scattered his books and papers, and drank the
wines in his cellar to drunkenness. In 1768 another
mob so brutally injured him that for a time his
wounds seemed mortal, while, in 1774 his brother
Benjamin was pursued by 160 men on horseback
and with difficulty escaped. Another mob of 500
attacked Sheriff Tyng; 1,000 lawless rebels shut
up the courts of law in Berkshire ; 5,000 did the
same in Worcester ; judges were insulted and
threatened, hissed and hooted. David Ingersoll
was seized by a mob and imprisoned, his house
attacked and his property destroyed. Josiah
Edson, described by Sabine as "a respectable
virtuous man," and "that old simplicity of
Edson," was driven from his home by a mob and
compelled to go to Halifax. Chief Justice Ropes
was attacked in his house while on his deathbed,
and his dying moments were passed to the re-
quiem of the shouts of " Sons of Liberty," the
smashing of his furniture, and the crash of his
broken windows. General Ruggles had his
cattle painted, shorn, maimed and poisoned. He
was pursued on the highway by day and night,
his dwelling broken into, and he and his family
driven from it. Colonel Saltonstall refused to
enter the service of the Crown, but could not
concientiously advocate rebellion. Ke was driven
from his home by mobs and went into exile.
Leonard was fired at while in his own house.
Israel Williams, old, feeble and infirm, was taken
from his house by a mob at night, and carried
several miles, put in a room with a fire, when the
doors and the top of the chimney were closed and
he was kept several hours in the smoke, and only
released on signing a paper dictated by his tor-
mentors. Ladies also were insulted, pelted and
4r f
io6
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPiflDIA.
'i!
abused. All these outrages, it must be remem-
bered, occurred before tlie outbreak of the revo-
lution, or before 1775, and are only a few samples
of what was goin); on all over the country.
' In 1775 hostilities broke out, and then the
treatment of the loyal men became much more
cruel. In Rhode Island death and confiscation of
estate were the penalties provided by law for any
person who communicated with the Ministry or
their agents, or who afforded supplies to the for-
ces or piloted the armed ships of the King. In
Connecticut the penalties were liot so severe,
three years' imprisonment and loss of estate being
the punishment. In Massachusetts people sus-
pected of loyalty to the sovereign could be arrested
or banished unless they would swear fealty to the
" Sons of Liberty." The State also banished by
name 308 of her people. All the States passed
laws against the loyal, the penalties often varying,
but in all instances including confiscation of
property. The above instances of cruelty to
the U. E. Loyalists are taken from Sabine's work,
and as a citizen of the United States, writing
with a strong bias in favour of the revolutionary
principles, he must be considered a good authority
for a melancholy record of oppression and
cruelty done in the name of freedom. In fact, the
boasted struggle for liberty was closely mixed up
with a desire on the part of the masses to rob and
despoil those who had acquired property. Not
only were known Loyalists banished and robbed,
but in South Carolina 14 men were banished and
deprived of their estates, beciuse they were " ob-
noxious." No trials took place, no witnesses
were called, no verdict of any courtor jury given,
and yet, in this way, peaceable citizens were de-
prived of their lands. Another historian states:
" The most hellish means were adopted at times
to force away persons of property, that the so-
called ' Sons of Liberty ' might enjoy their sub-
stance and homes. Attending these scenes of
desolation and refined cruelty, imprisonment
and torture, were incidents of thrilling interest, of
fearful suffering, of hair-breadth escapes, of forlorn
rescues."
To show the idea of liberty and freedom held
by the fathers of the Revolution, I quote an ex-
tract from a letter written from Amsterdam, 15th
December, 1770, by Mr. John Adams, a signer of
the declaration of independence, a member of the
secret committee of Congress, Ambassador from
Congress to Holland, and afterwards second
President of the United States:
" It is true, I believe, what you suggest, that
Lord North showed a disposition to give up the
contest, but was diverted from it, not unlikely, by
the representations of the Americans in London,
who, in connection with their coadjutors in
America, have been thorns to us indeed, on both
sides of the water, but I think their career might
have been stopped on your side if the executive
officers had not been too timid in a point which I
so strenuously recommended at the first, viz. : To
fine, imprison, and hang all inimical to the cause,
without favour or affection. I foresaw the evil
that would arise from that quarter, and wished to
have timely stopped it. I would have hanged my
own brother had he taken part with our enemy in
the contest."
When so prominent a leader could advocate
such atrocious treatment of law abiding citizens
one does not wonder at the violence and outrages
of the " Sons of Liberty " and other lawless ele-
ments which formed the great strength of the dis-
loyal party. These cruelties and persecutions
added bitterness and animosity to the struggle,
and no doubt largely increased the number of
native Americans who took up arms and fought
through the war on the Royal side.
It is computed that at least 25,000 natives of
the colonies served in the Loyalist ranks during
the war. There is no necessity to refer here to
the military operations, further than to state that
the Loyalists did their full share in the fighting
during the long seven years' struggle. As is well
known the rebels succeeded, not through their
own strength, but through the assistance of
France, Spain, and Holland. France took the
most prominent part, and her soldiers fought in
the war. The retribution upon her government
was quick and terrible. The ideas of law-
lessness, liberty, and licnnse gathered by the
French soldiers through contact with the " Sons
of Liberty " were carried home, and within ten
short years an improved doctrine of universal
liberty, equality, and fraternity was established
in France under the perfect and accomplished
freedom of the " Reign of Terror " with its
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi«DIA.
107
guillotine, its noyadcs, the " Republican marri-
ages " of Carrier, and its massacres of innocent
women and children. During the war the Ameri-
can Loyalists were banished and proscribed, and at
its conclusion tens of thousands of the best people
in the colonies left, or were driven into exile. Large
numbers went to Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick, and some went to England, while Ontario,
then a wilderness, received its firsi settlers in the
thousands of loyal fighting men of the Kevolution
who came and settled in the Niagara district, and
by the Bay of Quinte, and along the shores of the
St. Lawrence. I take from Mr. William Kirby's
address on the U.E. Loyalists a few extracts
showing the class of men who thus left the colon-
ies at the conclusion of the war :
" It is estimated that at the close of the war a
hundred thousand loyalist Americans left the port
of New York alone. The world had not seen such
flight of the best elements of the population of
any country since the exile of the Huguenots from
France, over a century before. The fugitive
Loyalists, who left their native country, were dis-
persed all over the Empire. Many went to Great
Britain, many to the West Indies, many to the
wilds of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and
thousands came to Canada (Ontario).
Upwards of ten thousand of the best people
of New York and Pennsylvania found their way
through the wilderness to this province, and amid
privations, toils, and sufferings — the story of
which is not yet forgotten — here set up their new
homes in the forest, and courageously and cheer-
fully started life anew, and began the career of
honour and felicity, which is our inheritance in
Canada to this day.
Providence had great ends in view when it
settled Canada with men of such heroic strain
and of the purest blood of America. It has been
cast as a reproach upon the U. E. Loyalists that
they were largely the gentry and not the populace
of American society. They formed, undoubtedly,
the best and wealthiest class in the old colonies.
But all classes were present among them, judges,
lawyers, legislators, clergymen, soldiers, merch-
ants, yeomen, and handicraftsmen. All filled the
ranks of that great emigration. Christian men of
all the churches were there, but not one infidel of
the type of that arch traitor, Tom Paine. He
belonged emphatically to the rebellion. The
Loyalists came with their penates and household
gods, their Bibles, the sacred communion vessels
of their altars, the tables of the Ten Command-
ments from the chancels of their churches — these
sacred objects they brought with them out of
their abandoned temples.
Here came the great body of the adherents of
the Church of England, mainly under the lead of
that good man, the Rev. Ur. John Stewart, who
founded the first Episcopal churches in Upper
Canada. Here came also the pious and zealous
John Ashbury, and that godly woman, Barbara
Ileck, who, after founding Methodism in the city
of New York, led a band of loyal Methodists to
the Bay of (,Juinte, and there laid the foundation
of the Methodist Church in Canada. The old
Wesleyans, like their founder, John Wesley, were
ever loyal to King and country, and, perhaps, be-
cause they were Methodists were also U.E. Loy-
alists when the day of trial came that proved the
spirit of men to the uttermost, whether they were
faithful or whether they were untrue to the sacred
precept of Scripture, ' Fear God and honour the
King.'
Here came also a numerous and gallant band
of loyal Roman Catholics, led by their priests, the
MacUonells from North Carolina and other
southern States, Scottish Highlanders for the most
part, who settled our district of Glengarry, and
formed the nucleus of that Highland community
so distinguished for its loyalty and valour in the
subsequent history of Upper Canada.
Here, too, somewhat later came a great num-
ber of the peaceful Quakers and Mennonites of ■
Pennsylvania. The fidelity of the Quakers to
their lawful government drew upon them a cruel
persecution from the rebels, who sustained their
record by trying for high treason and hanging
two of the most respectable Quaker gentlemen of
Philadelphia, guilty of no other offence in the
world but loyal adherence to their King and coun-
try. This persecution drove some of the Quakers
into the army, who were among the hardest fight-
ers in our forces during the revolutionary war.
The Quakers bore with characteristic patience the
persecution of their enemies, but they flocked into
Canada after the peace to enjoy the protection of
English law, and live in allegiance to their native
Sovereign."
The Pilgrim Fathers, a few in number, came to
America leisurely, bringing with them all their
goods and the price of their possessions, at peace,
and secure under charter granted by their Sov-
ereign. The U.E. Loyalists, unlike them, came
to Canada bleeding with the wounds of seven
years of war, stripped of every earthly possession,
and exiled from their native land. From
Sabine we get the character of their oppon-
ents, the men who took the disloyal side,
i'
i;
w
lo3
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOl'vliUlA.
rniseil the standard of rebellion, and drove the
Loyalists from their homes. His comments
are very strikinR and severe. As an .American
author his testimony is most important, and I
will quote his own wonls :
" Avarice and rapacity were seeminKly as com-
mon then as now ; indeed, the stock johbin^i the
extortion, the forestalling, the low arts and de-
vices to amass wealth that were practised durinp
the struggle are almost incredible. WashinRton
mourned the want of virtue as early as 1775, and
averred that he 'trembled at the prospect.'
Soldiers were stripped of their miserable pittance
that contractors for the army might become rich
in a single campaign. The traflic carried on
with the Koyal troops was immense. Men of all
descriptions finally engaged in it, and those who
at the beginning of the war would have shuddered
at the idea of any connection with the enemy
pursued it with avidity. The public securities
were often counterfeited, official signatures were
forged, and plunder and robbery openly indulged
in. Appeals to the guilty from the pulpit, the
press, and the halls of legislation were alike un-
heeded. The decline of public spirit, the love of
gain of those in oflke, and the malevolence of
faction became widely spread, and in parts of the
country were uncontrollable.
The useful occupations of life and the legiti-
mate pursuits of commerce were abandoned by
thousands. The basest of men enriched them-
selves, and many of the most estimable sunk into
obscurity and indigence. There were those who
would neither pay their debts nor their taxes.
The finances of the state and the fortunes of in-
dividuals were, to an alarming extent, at the
mercy of gamblers and speculators. . . . There
were officers, destitute alike of honour and patri-
otism, who drew large sums of public money
under pretext of paying their men, but applied it
to the support of their own extravagance ; who
went home on furlough and never returned, and
who, regardless of their word as gentlemen, vio-
lated their paroles ; who were threatened by
Washington with exposure in every newspaper in
the land, as men who had disgraced themselves,
and were heedless of their associates in captivity
whose restraints were increased by their miscon-
duct. At times courts-martial were continually
sitting, and so numerous were the convictions
that the names of those who were cashiered were
sent to Congress in lists, ' Many of the sur-
geons,' are the words of Washington, ' are very
great rascals, countenancing the men to sham
complaints to exempt them from duty, and often
receiving bribes to certify indispositions, with a
view to procure discharges or furloughs ' ; and
still further, he declares they used public ' medic-
ines and storcsinthe most profuse and extravagant
manner for private purposes.' In a letter to the
Governor of a State, he affirmed that the officers
who had been sent him therefrom were ' general-
ly of the lowest class of the people,' that they ' led
their soldiers to plunder the inhabitants, and into
every kind of mischief.' To his brother, John
Augustine Washington, he declared that the diff-
erent States were nominating such officers as were
• not fit to be shoeblacks.' "
How great the contrast between the adherents
of the opposing parties I How vast was the differ-
ence between the loyal and the disloyal ' We
Canadians should thank God that our country
was founded by so grand a type of men as the
U.l-;. Loyalists. We ure reaping the benefit of
their honest character and lofty aims to-day.
The U.E. Loyalists, therefore, came to Canada,
having lost everything, and, leaving the homes of
their ancestors and the graves of their dead, they
plunged into an unbroken wilderness. The hard-
ships and sufferings they endured for years seem
almost incredible. They were supplied by the
Government with a few of the most indispensable
tools, such as axes, saws, sickles, etc., and for
a time received issues of rations. Dr. Canniff, in
his History of the Settlement of Upper Canada,
describes the details of the arrangements very
fully. The Loyalists settled near one another in
groups and thus was initiated the "institution"
of " bees." Each with his axe on his shoulder
turned out to help the other, and in this way the
humble log shanties were built. The trees were
labouriously cut down with ship axes, which were
not suited for the work. Split logs furnished the
floors of the little cabins, and the clumsiest kind
of furniture, roughly made out of split wood, served
many who had been nurtured in comfortable
homes amid all the conveniences of a refined and
cultivated civilization.
''I
CANADA! AN ENCYCI.OIVKDIA.
rog
Their progress toward comfort was slow and
labourious. There were no villiiKcs, no shops, no
posts, no newspapers, no roads, no churclics, no
schools, none of the conveniences, and hardly any
of the necessities of life. AlthoiiRh later settlers
who arrived after a few years had passed, under-
went preat hardships, they were infinitely better
off than the Rallant band of U.l£. Loyalists who
had to break the first openings in the forest. It
is recorded, and it is a touching ill istration of the
feeling of the Loyalists, that iu l\tc early days it
was a common practice to sing " God Save the
King " together before going to rest. The Pilgrim
Fathers were able at the end of their first year to
keep a " harvest home," but it was years before
the Loyalists had means to keep any such festi-
val. In fact, their third or fourth year was the
worst of all. The winter of 1787-8 is known as
the "scarce" or "hungry " year, and the suffer-
ings of the refugees during that period were uni-
versal and terrible. The pinch of famine was
everywhere felt. Cornmeal was meted out by the
spoonful. Wheat flour was unknown, and millet
seed was ground for a substitute. One man sent
money to Quebec for flour ; his money was sent
back, as there was no flour. Wheat bran, bought
at a dollar a bushel, was made into a kind of stir
about and greedily eaten. Indian cabbage, a
plant with a large leaf, and ground nuts, were also
used. When potatoes could be had the eye alone
was planted, the rest being reserved for food.
One of the little daughters of a settler, in her
extreme hunger, dug up some of the potato rind
and ate it. Her father caught her, and seizing
her arm to punish her, found her arm so emaci-
ated with hunger that his heart melted with pity
for his starving child. The majority of the settl-
ers had no salt, and game and fish, when caught,
were eaten without it. When the buds on the
trees began to swell in the spring, they were
gathered and eaten. The bark of certain trees
was stripped off and eaten. One family lived for
a fortnight on beech leaves. Some of the settlers
were killed by eating poisonous roots, and some
died of starvation. In one township on a south-
ern slope people came from far and near to a field
of early wheat to eat the milk-like heads of grain
as soon as they were sufficiently grown. One
family lived for months on boiled oats. Beef and
mutton were unknown for many years. Once
when an ox was accidentally killed, the neighbors
were invited for .50 or 40 miles around to taste an
article of diet so long unknown. Tea, now con-
sidered an indispensable luxury in every family,
was quite beyond the reach of all for a long tmic,
because of its scarcity and high price, and for a
while, until they had learned to make maple
sugar, they were without sugar of any kind.
Under such hardships, toiling incessantly from
y»,ar'3 end to j'ear's eml, the Loyalists slowly be-
gan to secure a few home comforts around their
humble shanties in the lonely clearances. Their
families grew up and increased, and after 1793 a
few new settlers began to arrive. Some came
from the mother country, and still more from the
United States. The province slowly progressed,
till in 1812 the population had increased from its
first settlement of probably 15,000 to about 70,000.
The year opened with the mutterings of war.
Once more their old enemy was preparing to at-
tack them, to conquer, if possible, their country,
and to deprive them of their flag and their alleg-
iance, and that connection with the Empire for
which they had made such immense sacrifices,
and suffered such cruel hardships. Once again
they had to take up arms to defend the little
homes so labouriously carved out of the forest.
The quarrel was none of their making. The or-
ders in council of the Imperial Government, which
were made the pretext of a war commenced really
for aggression and conquest, were at once repealed,
but still the contest was forced on us.
Before the war, American emissaries were busily
engaged in preparing the way for an expected easy
conquest. Joseph Willcocks, the then leader of
the Opposition, and Benjamin Mallory, a Yankee
settler, were the moving spirits on the disloyal
side in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada,
and took every step to embarass General Brock
in his preparations for the defence of the province.
They continued the policy of obstruction till the
war broke out, when they deserted to the enemy,
Willcocks taking up arms and commanding a
corps in the Yankee army. Mallory was major in
the same corps. Willcocks was killed in action
in 1814 at Fort Erie fighting against Canada.
Although, as we see, there were even then a few
traitors, the old Lojalists and their sons turned
t
tio
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
:;:'t:
out everywhere in defence.of their country. The
odds were enormous, the invasions constant, and
in apparently overwhelming numbers. It is not
necessary here to enter into any account of the
war ot 1812, further than to say that through the
united determination and bravery of the U. E.
Loyalists, and other true Canadians, aided by the
British troops, some twelve or thirteen distinct
invasions of large armies were driven back in con-
fusion across the border, and that after three years
of incessant war, the enemy did not hold one inch
of Canadian territory. The fighting was desper-
ate, and our whole frontier is dotted over with
battle fields, in which lie the bones of our loyalist
fathers, who died for the independence of Canada
and the unity of the Empire.
This war pioved that the Canadian people
did not intend that their country should be
conquered by any foreign power, or that they
should lose the monarchical institutions which
they valued so highly. This should have taught
strangers and new comers, that if they
admired the republican institutions of the
United States, it was their duty to go where their
fancies would be gratified, and not to settle among
a people who had so emphatically declared their
love and affection for a different system. After
the war of 1812, Canada had peace for twenty-five
years. Emigrants from the old world came to
Canada or to the States, as their predilections
guided them ; the loyal British subjects coming
to Canada, valuing their allegiance and their flag
more than the greater facilities for getting rich in
the republic to the south. Men who did not have
these sentiments, and who were without fixed
principles, tempted by the greater opportunities
in the States, went there, and so by a kind of
natural selection the different types have been
separated, and have grown side by side together
on this continent.
In 1837, the descendants of the Loyalists
and their loyal comrades and fellow-Cana-
dians were obliged to once more take up
arms in defence of the same idea. This
time the trouble came from within. A stranger
named Mackenzie, a dissatisfied Scotchman,
found fault with everything in Canada, its system
of government and methods of admmistration.
Although there were then grievances which have
long since ceased to exist, and although all con-
stitutional means had been unsuccessfully em-
ployed to redress them, and although he had many
sympathizers, yet the instant he raised the stan-
dard of revolt, the Canadian people replied so
clearly and emphatically that the result should
have proved conclusively that under no circum-
stances would they accept Republican principles
or approve of any movement hostile to the inde-
pendence of the Provinces upon this continent
and their union with the Empire of Great
Britain. For two years they had to resist attacks
all along the border, fostered and encouraged
by our neighbours. These attacks were sternly
resisted and put down, and peac^ was again
restored.
In 1866, Canadian lives once more had to be
sacrificed for the defence of our borders from
Fenian attacks, organized in the United States.
Canadians have therefor never yet failed to show
their confidence in their country, their love for
its institutions, and their determination to uphold
the honour and autonomy of their native land.
Canada has been assailed, not only by armed
men, but trade restrictions and hostile tariff laws
have also been used to coerce the Canadian people
from their steadfast adherence to the principles
for which their fathers fought and suffered. In
spite of it all they have been true to their country,
and they will in the future, as in the past, suffer
hardships and trials, and rise unitedly and loyally
for the defence of their native land should the
occasion ever require it.
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
The migration of the Loyalists will some day
come to be recognized as one of those movements
which have changed the course of history. It
will be acicnowledged as not less significant and
far-reuching in its results than the landing of the
Pilgrim Fathers. It has been said by a Canadian
writer that they brought to the making of Canada
about 30,000 people of the choicest stock the Amer-
ican colonies could boast. They were an army
of leaders, for it was the loftiest heads which
attracted the wrath of the revolutionists. The
most influential judges, the most distinguished
lawyers, the most highly educated of the clergy,
the members of Council of the various colonies,
the Crown officials, people of culture and social
distinction ; these, with the faithful few whose
fortunes followed theirs, were the Loyalists.
Canada owes deep gratitude indeed to her south-
ern kinsmen, who thus, from Maine to Georgia,
picked out their choicest spirits and sent them
forth to people her northern wilds.
The Governor-General, Sir Guy Carleton, was
the chief mover in the work of rescuing those who
had been thus driven from their homes, but Gov-
ernor Haldimand, in Quebec, and Governor Parr,
in Nova Scotia, lent effective aid. It was decided
that the refugees should be located in Western
Canada, in Nova Scotia, and on the Island of St.
John ; that they should be given grants of land
according to their rank and standing, in extent
from one hundred acres up to several thousand ;
and that they should be fed by the Government
till their lands should begin to make return. The
Loyalists of the Atlantic coast gathered in the
seaport towns, where ships were speedily pro-
vided. Others, dwelling inland, were directed to
make their rendezvous at Niagara, Sackett's Har-
bour, Oswego, and the foot of Lake Champlain.
I n the years 1783-4 the great exodus took place, and
the Loyalists flocked across the border into the
land which they and their descendants have made
great. They divided into two main streams, one
moving eastward to the Maritime Provinces, the
other flowing westward to the region north of the
Lakes.
From 1783 to 1790 the British Government
kept commissioners at work enquiring into the
claims of the Loyalists and granting them partial
indemnities. The total amount paid out by
Great Britain in this way was nearly $19,000,010,
which does not include the value of the general
land grants, implements, and supplies of food
which were issued. The sons of the Loyalists,
on coming of age, were entitled to certain grants
and privileges. In 1789, therefore, was compiled
that roll of honour known as the United Empire
List, consisting of the names of all the Loyalists
who had ilcd out of the republic during the pre-
vious five years. These were to be known thence-
forward as the United Empire Loyalists, and after
their names they were entitled to place the letters
U.E.L.
All the northern shore of Lake Ontario was thus
more or less occupied, as well as the fruitful coun-
try^he garden of Canada — which forms a sort of
peninsula lying between Lakes Erie and Huron.
Many of the Hudson River Loyalists, Sir John
Johnson's disbanded " Royal Greens," and the
Mohawks who had so faithfully adhered to the
cause under their great chief, Joseph Brant, set-
tled along the St. Lawrence shore between Fort
Frontenac and Montreal, and soon tilled up the
country now known as " the Eastern Townships,"
and still forming a distinctive English portion of
the Province of Quebec. For reasons connected
with a lack of the self-government to which they
had been accustomed, and to the fact that Sir
Frederick Haldimand discouraged settlement so
near the frontier, many of them emigrated later
into the upper lake districts.
There were many corps and regiments of
Loyalists taking part in the Revolutionary war,
whose members haJ, in the main, been born and
bred in the Thirteen Colonies. Amongst them
were the King's Rangers, the Royal Fencible
Americans, the Queen's Rangers, the New York
Volunteers, the King's American Regiment, the
Prince of Wales' American Volunteers, the Mary-
land Loyalists, De Lancey's Battalions, the Second
American Regiment, the King's Rangers, Carolina,
the South Carolina Royalists, the North Carolina
Highland Regiment, the King's American Dra-
goons, the Loyal American Regiment, the Ameri-
can Legion, the New Jersey Volunteers, the
British Legion, the Loyal Foresters, the Orange
Rangers, the Pennsylvania Loyalists, the Guides
'i i
,1. i.
tia
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
and Pioneers, the North Carolina Volunteers, the
Georgia Loyalists, the West Chester Volunteers.
These corps, according to Dr. Canniff, were all
commanded by colonels or lieutenant-colonels,
and as DeLancey's battalions and the New Jersey
Volunteers consisted each of three battalions,
there were altogether twenty-eight of them. To
these, the Loyal New Englanders, the Associated
Loyalists, and the Wentworth Volunteers, might
be added. Still further. Colonel Archibald Ham-
ilton, of New York, commanded at one period
seventeen companies of loyal militia.
It should be remembered in connection with
the Loyalist period and history, that for more than
a century the press of the dominant and victorious
faction in that struggle — the entire literature of a
great people — has teemed with misrepresentation
and calumny. The newspapers and school books,
histories and biographies, have assiduously taught
that "the Tories" of the Revolution were only
worthy of popular and international execration.
In the British Isles, and even in Canada, for a
brief period, these teachings were frequently
accepted as accurate. The facts are exactly the
reverse, and the United Empire Loyalists are now
recognized by all who understand the history of
their times as having been patriots who sacrificed
homes and property, and sometimes life itself, for
principle and honour, just as sincerely as did
many of the rebels who fought for liberty and self-
government. Englishmen like Sir Walter Besant,
or Sir Edmund Monson, who have gone out of
their way to justify or to praise Washington and his
compatriots, should not have allowed nineteenth
century ideas to cloud their appreciation of
eighteenth century principles of right and wrong.
To this American view there were, of course,
some exceptions, and Professor Hosmer, in his
" Life of Henry Adams," declares that " The
Tories were generally people of substance ; their
stake in the country was even greater than that
of their opponents, their patriotism was no doubt
to the full as fervent. There is much that is mel-
ancholy, of which the world knows little, con-
nected with their expulsion from the land they
loved sincerely. The estates of the Tories were
among the fairest, their stately mansions stood
on the sightliest hill-brows, the richest and best
tilled meadows were their farms. The long
avenue, the broad lawn, the trim hedge about the
garden, servants, plate, pictures, the varied cir-
cumstances, external and internal, of dignified and
generous housekeeping — for the most part these
things were at the homes of the Tories. They
loved beauty, dignity, and refinement."
So with the modem British school of histori-
cal thought. The Rt. Hon. W. E. H. Lecky
states with truth that in those days " There were
brave and honest men in America who were
proud of the great and free empire to which they
belonged, who had no desire to shrink from the
burden of maintaining it, who remembered with
gratitude the English blood which had been shed
around Quebec and Montreal and who, with no-
thing to hope for from the Crown, were prepared
to face the most brutal mob violence and the
invectives of a scurrilous press, to risk their for-
tunes, their reputations, and sometimes evon
their lives, to avert civil war and ultimate separa-
tion. Most of them ended their days in poverty
and exile, and as the supporters of a beaten cause,
history has paid a scanty tribute to their memory.
But they included some of the best and ablest
men America has ever produced, and they were
contending for an ideal which was at least as
worthy as that for which Washington fought."
The following verses by William Kirby,
F.R.S.C., of Niagara, mark not only a high level
of poetic patriotism, but illustrate the new and
true conception of these national pioneers :
" The world goes rushing by
The ancient landmarks of a nobler time.
When men bore deep the imprint of the law
Of duty, truth, and loyalty unstained
Amid the quaking of a continent.
Torn by the passions of an evil time.
They counted neither cost nor danger, spurned
Defections, treasons, spoils ; but feared God,
Nor shamed of their allegiance to the King.
To keep the empire one in unity
And brotherhood of its Imperial race.
For that they nobly fought and all but won.
Where losing was to win a higher fame
In building up our northern land to be
A vast dominion stretched from sea to sea.
I
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
"1
''"•.'I
1
A land of labour but of sure reward,
A land of corn to feed the world withal,
A land of life's best treasures, plenty, peace,
Content and freedom, both to speak and do,
A land of men to rule, with sober law.
This Christian commonwealth, God's gift, to keep
This part of Britain's empire next the heart.
Loyal as were their fathers, and as free."
The address presented to King: Georgre, in 1789,
by Sir William Peppereli, Bart., on behalf of the
Agents of the American Loyalists is of historical
interest :
" Most Gracious Sovekeign : —
Your Majesty's ever dutiful and loyal subjects,
the Agents of the American Loyalists, who have
heretofore been the supplicants of Your Majcjty
in behalf of their distressed constituents, now
humbly beg leave to approach the Throne to pour
forth the ardent effusions of their grateful hearts
for your most gracious and effectual recommenda-
tion of their claims to the just and generous con-
sideration of Parliament.
To have devoted their fortunes and hazarded
their lives in defence of the just rights of the
Crown, and the fundamental principles of the
British Constitution, were no more than their
duty demanded of them, in common with Your
Majesty's other subjects, but it was their peculiar
fortune to be called to the trial, and it is their
boast and their glory to have been found equal
to the task.
They have now the distinguished happiness
of seeing their fidelity approved by their Sove-
reign and recompensed by Parliament, and their
fellow-subjects cheerfully contributing to compen-
snte them for the forfeiture their attachment
to Great Britain incited them to incur, thereby
adding dignity to their own exalted character
among the nations of the world, and holding out
to mankind the glorious principles of justice,
equity, and benevolence as the firmest basis of
empire.
We should be wanting in justice and gratitude
if we did not, upon this occasion, acknowledge
the wisdom and liberality of the provisions pro-
posed by Your Majesty's servants, conformable to
Your Majesty's gracious intentions for the relief
and accommodation of the several classes of suffer-
ers to whose cases they apply ; and we are con
vinced it will give comfort to your royal heart to
be assured they have been received with the most
general satisfaction.
Professions of the unalterable attachment of
the Loyalists to Your Majesty's person and govern-
ment we conceive to be unnecessary ; they have
preserved it under persecution, and gratitude
cannot render it less permanent. They do not
presume to arrogate to themselves a more fervent
loyalty than their fellow-subjects possess; but
distinguished as they have been by their sufferings,
they deem themselves entitled to the foremost
rank among the most zealous supporters of the
British Constitution. And while they cease not
to offer up their most earnest prayers to the
Divine Being to preserve Your Majesty and your
illustrious family in the peaceful enjoyment of
your just rights, and in the exercise of your royal
virtues in promoting the happiness of your people,
they humbly beseech Your Majesty to continue to
believe them at all times, and upon all occasions,
equally reaily, as they have been, to devote their
lives and properties to Your Majesty's service and
the preservation of the British Constitution.
W. Peppereli, for the Massachusetts Loyalists-
J. Wentworth,for the New Hampshire Loyalists.
George Rowe, for the Rhode Island Loyalists.
Jas. De Lancey, for the New York Loyalists.
David Ogden, for the New Jersey Loyalists.
Joseph Galloway, for the Pennsylvania and
Delaware Loyalists.
Robert .\lexander, for the Maryland Loyalists.
John R. Grymer, for the Virginia Loyalists.
Henry Eustace McCultoch, for the North
Carolina Loyalists.
James Simpson, for the South Carolina Loya-
lists.
William Know, for the Georgia Loyalists.
John Graham, late Lieutenant-Governor of
Georgia, and joint agent, for the Georgia Loyalists.
The final regulations gfoverning the grants of
land to the Loyalists were made at a meeting of
the Provincial Council in the council chamber at
Quebec, on Monday, 9th November, 1789. There
were present, according to the official report :
His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord
Dorchester,
I''-"
i'
I '■ • "J
J 14
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
The Honourable William Smith, Esquire, Chief
Justice,
Hugh Finlay,
Thomas Dunn,
Edward Harrison,
John Collins,
Adam Mabane,
J. C. C. Delery,
George Powell,
Henry Caldwell,
William Grant,
Francois Baby,
Chas. DeLanaudiere,
Le. Cte. Dupre.
The document is signed by J. Williams, C.C.
" His Lordship intimated to the Council that it
remained a question, upon the late Regulation for
tlie disposition of the waste lands of the Crown,
whether the Boards constituted for that purpose
were authorized to make locations to the sons of
Loyalists, on their coming to full age, and that it
was his wish to put a mark of honour upon the
families who had adhered to the unity of the
empire, and joined the Royal Standard in America
before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783.
The Council concurring with His Lordship, it
is accordingly ordered :
That the several Land Boards take course for
preserving a registry of the names of all persons
; falling under the description aforementioned, to
the end that their posterity may be discriminated
from future settlers in the parish registers and
rolls of the militia of their respective districts, and
other public remembrancers of the Province as
proper objects, by their persevering in the fidelity
and conduct so honourable to their ancestors, for
distinguished benefits and privileges.
And it is also ordered, that the said Land
Boards may in every such case provide not only
for the sons of those Loyalists, as they arrive to
full age, but for their daughters also of that age,
or, on their marriage, assigning to each a lot of
two hundred acres, more or less, provided never-
theless that they respectively comply with the
general Regulations, and that it shall satisfactorily
appear that there has been no default in the due
cultivation and improvement of the lands already
assigned to the head of the family of which they
are members."
In St. John, New Brunswick, the eighteenth
day of May, is celebrated as the natal day of the
city. On that day, in 1783, took place the landing
of the Loyalists. The mouth of the St. John
River is a secure haven, but fenced about with
grim and sterile hills which belie the fertile country
lying inland. Hither, says Mr. Charles G. D.
Roberts, in his History of Canada, came the
ships of the refugees from New York, and all
through the summer they continued to arrive.
At the harbour mouth they built a city which
they called Parrtown, in honour of Nova Scotia's
Governor. Many went on through the rocky
defile of the Narrows, and spread up the
beautiful shore of the great river, a distance of
eighty-four miles, to St. Anne's Point. Five
thousand Loyalists came to St. John during this
memorable summer. These were, for the most
part, officers and men of disbanded regiments,
who had fought bravely for the King — among them
the famous Queen's Rangers, — and their temper
toward the Maugerville settlers, who were known
to have sympathized with the rebels, was by no
means friendly. The Maugerville settlers were
known as the " old inhabitants." Where these
" old inhabitants " could show titles to their lands
they were secure ; but in other cases, where titles
were not forthcoming, the Loyalists were very
ready to seize the farms of the squatters in revenge
for what they had themselves been forced to
endure.
While the St. John River valley was thus filling
up with strong settlers, and a busy city rising at
the river's mouth, other Loyalist bands went to
Nova Scotia, and to the fertile gulf province which
still bore the name of St. John's Island. On the
tidal meadows of the Bay of Fundy waters they
settled, and at Digby, and along the Atlantic
coast to eastward of Halifax ; but their great settle-
ment was made at Port Razior, near the south-
west corner of the peninsula. Here was a superb
and land-locked harbour which captivated the
exiles. As it were in a night there sprang up on
its shores a city of twelve thousand inhabitants,
which took the name of Shelburne. But the site
had been ill-chosen ; Shelburne had nothing but
its harbour. The country about was not fertile.
There was nothing to nourish a town of such size
and pretension. So the city which had sprung up
like a gourd in a single night, withered as it were
in a day. Its people scattered to Halifax and
other parts of the Province, some even going up
the St. Lawrence and westward to the Lake
:
\
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
IIS
rngion. And in three years from its sanguine
foundation, Shelburne had dwindled to a small
village. In some cases the very houses of this
fleeting city were taken down and carried away,
to be set up again at Yarmouth or Weymouth.
The Loyalists of the St. John River were no
sooner settled than they demanded representa-
tion at Halifax. When this was refused by Gov-
ernor Parr they at once agitated for a division of
the province. In spite of the Governor's opposi-
tion this was granted, for they had strong friends
in England ; and in 1784 Nova Scotia was shorn
of her great territory to the north of the Bay of
Fundy. This region was erected into the pro-
vince of New Brunswick, with Colonel Thomas
Carleton, Sir Guy's brother, as its Governor. He
was assisted by a Council of twelve members, and
an elective Assembly of twenty-six representa-
tives. Cape Breton, at the same time, was made
a separate province, under Major DesBarres as
Governor ; and its capital was removed from Louis-
bourg to the new town of Sydney. About eight
hundred Loyalists moved into Cape Breton, sett-
ling at Sydney, Louisbourg, St. Peters, and Bad-
deck, where during their first winter they suffered
terribly from storm and famine. The existence of
Cape Breton as a separate Province was brief. In
1820, it was re-absorbed in Nova Scotia.
Soon after the establishment of New Brunswick,
Parrtown was incorporated as a city, and its name
changed to St. John. Two years later (1786), the
capital was removed to St. Anne's Point, eighty-
four miles up the river, where the city of Freder.
ickton was built. The main object of this removal
was greater security from attack, the object which
Villebon too, had sought, when he removed thither
from Port Royal. It was also the Governor's
purpose to escape from the distractions of a stirr-
ing commercial centre, which St. John very
rapidly became. The Province of New Brunswick
like its mighty sister, Ontario, was thus peculiarly
a child of the Loyalists. It is estimated that the
Loyalist migration brought not less than twenty
thousand people into Nova Scotia, New Bruns-
wick, and Prince Edward Island. In New Bruns-
wick, the new comers so overwhelmingly out-num-
bered the old inhabitants that they gave their own
character and type to the whole province. The
result is naturally a strongly British population.
The early Government of New Brunswick was
almost entirely composed of United Empire
Loyalists. There were amongst these settlers
very many men of great talent, who had occupied
before the war, positions of influence in their
native States. Chief Justice Ludlow had been a
Judge of the Supreme Court of New York ; James
Putnam was considered one of the ablest lawyers
in all America ; the Rev. and Hon. Jonathan
Odell, first Provincial Secretary, had acted as chap-
lain in the Royal army, practised medicine, and
written political poetry; Judge Joshua Upham, a
graduate of Harvard, abandoned the Bar during
the war, and became a colonel of dragoons ;
Judge Isaac Allen had been colonel of a New
Jersey volunteer corps, and lost an estate in
Pennsylvania through his devotion to the Loyalist
cause ; Judge Edward Winslow, nephew of
Colonel John Winslow, who executed the decree
that expelled the Acadians from Nova Scotia, had
attained the rank of colonel in the Rojal army ;
Beverley Robinson, had raised and commanded
the Loyal American Regiment, and had lost great
estates on the Hudson River; Gabriel G. Ludlow
had commanded a battalion of Maryland Volun-
teers ; Daniel Bliss had been a commissary of the
Royal army r Judge John Saunders, of a cavalier
family in Virginia, had been captain in the
Queen's Rangers, under Colonel Simcoe, and had
afterwards entered the Temple and studied law in
London. He was appointed to the Council after
the death of Judge Putnam.
The following: is an authoritative estimate
of the numbers and distribution of the Canadian
Loyalist settlers :
Settlement on the St. Lawrence 4.487
Refugees reported by Colonel Morse in
Nova Scotia, including the River St.
John, New Brunswick, and Prince
Edward Island 28,347
Cape Breton. 6jo families 3.150
Total number given as being settled
about Montreal, Chambly, St. John's
and the Bay of Chaleurs 5,628
Estimated Ontario settlers io,ouo
5t,6i2
Some of those who settled on the St. Lawrence
if
Ii6
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOI'^:niA.
and in the Eastern Townships afterwards migrated
to Upper Canada or Ontario, and are probably
included in the estimate for that part of the
country.
The foUowingr Clause in the Treaty of Paris,
in 1783, is that which provides for the protection
of the Loyalists, and gives pledges which were
never apparently intended to be kept :
" It is agreed, that the Congress shall earnestly
recommend it to the Legislatures of the respective
States to provide for the restitution of all estates,
rights and properties which have been confiscated,
belonging to real I3ritish subjects, and also of the
estates, rights, and properties of persons resident
in districts in the possession of His Majesty's
arms, and who have not borne arms against the
said United States, and that persons of any other
description shall have free liberty to go into any
part or parts of any of the Thirteen United States,
and therein to remain twelve months unmolested
in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of
such of their estates, rights, and properties as
may have been confiscated, and that Congress
shall also earnestly recommend to the several
States a reconsideration and revision of all acts or
laws regarding the premises, so as to render the
said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only
with justice and equity, but with the spirit of
conciliation which, on the return of the blessings
of peace, should universally prevail. And that
Congress should also earnestly recommend to the
several States that the estates, rights, and proper-
ties of such last-mentioned persons shall be
restored to them, they refunding to any persons
who may be now in possession the bona fide
price (where any has been given) which such
persons ma\- have paid on purchasing any of the
said lands, rights, or properties since the confis-
cation.
And it is agreed that all persons who have any
interest in confiscated lands, either by debts,
marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet
with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of
their just rights. That there shall be no future
confiscations made, nor any prosecutions com-
menced against any persons, for or by reason of
the part which he or they may havj taken in the
present war, and that no person shall on that
account suffer any future loss or damage either in
his person, liberty, or property, and that those
who may be in confinement on such charges at the
time of the ratification of the Treaty in America
shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prose-
cutions so commenced to be tliscontinued."
Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
apd John Hay, this Treaty was entirely and
absolutely disregarded so far as any fair treatment
of the Loyalists was concerned. Persecution of
every kind continued, confiscation in all ttie
States was rampant, many thousands were liter-
ally driven out of the country. The debates upon
the clause in the British House of Commons
sufficiently indicate the fears which prevailed
there, and the following extracts are historically
valuable as throwing light upon the situation, and
the subsequent grants of money and land.
Lord North, who had been Prime Minister
during the twelve years which included the war
period, observed :
" And now let me, Sir, pause on a part of the
Treaty which awakens human sensibility in a
very irresistible and lamentable degree. I cannot
but lament the fate of those unhappy men, who,
I conceive, were in general objects of our grati-
tude and protection. The Loyalists, from their
attachments, surely had some claim to our affec-
tion. But what were not the claims of those
who, in conformity to their allegiance, their cheer-
ful obedience to the voice of Parliament, their
confidence in the proclamation of our generals,
invited under every assurance of military, parlia-
mentary, political, and affectionate protection,
espoused with the hazard of their lives and the
forfeiture of their properties, the cause of Great
Britain ? I cannot but feel for men thus sacri-
ficed for their bravery and principles — men who
have sacrificed all the dearest possessions of the
human heart. They have exposed their lives,
endured an age of hardships, deserted their inter-
ests, forfeited their possessions, lost their connec-
tions, and ruined their families in our cause.
Could not all this waste of human enjoyment
excite one desire of protecting them from a state
of misery with which the implacable resentment
of the States has desired to punish their loyalty
to their Sovereign and their attachment to their
Mother Country ? "
Mr. Secretary Townsend (afterwards Lord
Sydney) said that " he was ready to admit that
many of the Loyalists had the strongest claims
upon the country, and he trusted, should the
recommendation of Congress to the American
States prove unsuccessful, which he flattered him-
self would not be the case, this country would
feel itself bound in honour to make them fnl
I
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.'EniA;
"7
compensation for their losses." Mr. Edmund
Burice said that " At any rate it must be agreed
on all hands that a vast number of Loyalists had
been deluded by this country, and had risked
everything in our cause ; to such men the nation
owed protection, and its honour was pledged for
their security at all hazards." The Lord Advo-
cate declared that " With regard to the Loyalists
they merited every possible effort on the part of
this country."
The Treaty recognizing the Independence of
America could not be reversed, as an Act passed in
the previous Session had expressly authorized the
King and his Cabinet to make it. But it was
denied that a treaty sacrificing the Loyalists and
making the concessions involved had been author-
ized ; in consequence of which an express vote of
censure was passed by the Commons by a major-
ity of seventeen. The Earl of Shelburne, the
Prime Minister, resigned in consequence of this
vote of censure, and it was nearly three months
before a new Administration could be formed.
Of course some of the quoted criticism was
partisan, and certainly Mr. Hurke, who had done
so much to weaken the Governiiient's hands dur-
ing the war, had no right to speak of " deluding "
the Loyalists.
The Loyalists soon realized how far the pro-
mises of the Treaty of 1783 were to be observed.
In April, 1784, and in direct violation of the spirit
of its conditions, the New York Legislature passed
an " Act for the immediate sale of certain for-
feited estates," enacting that they were to be paid
for only in silver and gold. On the 12th of May
another Act was passed, which after recapitulat-
ing every possible mode in which a Loyalist could
have taken part in the war, enacted that all such
found within the State should be adjudged guilty
of misprision of high treason.
Further, it declared all such to be forever
ineligible as voters, and disqualified from enjoy-
ing any legislative, judicial, or executive office.
The same penalty was directed against all those
who remained in New York during its possession
by the British, or had joined or remained in their
homes after the occupation of any place by the
Royal troops. The design of this legislation
was partly political, as it was considered by this
proceeding that all moderate men would be dis-
franchised, and thus an assurance obtained of the
continuance in power of those who were then in
possession.
Another Act was passed on the same day for
the speedy sale of confiscated property. As all
the vindictive laws passed during the war re-
mained unrepealed, it was made impossible for a
Loyalist to claim his property without serious
risk. It was intended by those interested in re-
taining possession of the confiscated estates to
make all attempt at their reclamation as difficult
as possible.
A few particulars regarding some of the
Loyalist immigrants who prominently assisted in
the making of Canadian history may be given
here :
Sir John Johnson, Bart., was the son of Sir Wil-
liam Johnson, first Baronet, also an interesting
figure amongst the early British leaders in New
York. Born on Nov. 5th, 1742, the former escaped
from his home in the Mohawk Valley in 1776 with
200 other loyal subjects and came to Canada.
He formed and commanded the King's Ro\al
Regiment of New York during the war, and at its
close became Superintendent-General of the Six
Nation Indians, as well as Colonel-in-Chief
of the six battalions of militia in the Eastern
Townships. He had been knighted by the King
in 1765, and succeeded to the baronetcy on his
father's death in 1776. In 1797 he became a
member of the Legislative Council of Lower
Canada, where he also owned the Seigneury of
Argenteuil. One of the boldest, most spirited,
and active Loyalists of the period, he died in iSjo.
In 1790 he had been nominated by Lord Dor-
chester as Liput. -Governor of Upper Canada, but
the Imperial Ministry thought it better to appoint
Major-General Simcoe.
The Hon. William Smith, who accompanied
Lord Dorchester to Canada in 1786 as Chief
Justice, was born in New York in 1728. His
father was a Provincial judge, and at the age of
twenty-five he had himself become Chief Justice
of New York. During the years preceding the
war he seems to have endeavoured to remain neu-
tral, and succeeded in retaining his estates until
1778, when he finally came over to the British
f :
'■''L
..^
li8
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP^.DIA.
side. He then took up his residence in New York,
where he was treated with every consideration,
and at a later date won the complete confidence
of Dorchester — then Sir Guy Carleton, With the
British general he went to England after the
Peace, and with him also he went to Canada four
years later. Chief Justice Smith was the author
of a " History of New York," which his son com-
pleted, and in 1775 he wrote an intimate friend of
General Washington, outlining a Constitution for
the Colonies very similar to that which was
afterwards adopted, and for which Thomas Jeffer-
son has obtained all the credit^-or the reverse.
The Hon. Jonathan Sewell, ll.d., was born
of an old Colonial iamily, in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, in 1776, and was educated in England.
He joined the Loyalist migration, and in 1785
settled in New Brunswick, studied lav;, and four
years afterwards commenced to practise in Que-
bec. There he soon attained distinction, and in
1773 became Solicitor-General. In 1795 he was
appointed Attorney-General and Judge of the
Court of Vice-Admiralty. For seven years he
was a member of the Provincial Legislature.
From 1808 until 1829 he was Chief Justice of
Lower Canada, and from the former date until
1838 President of the Executive Council. From
1809 until his death in 1839, he was also Speaker
of the Legislative Council. Harvard University
made him an honorary ll.d., and his abilities
gave him a high place in the history of the period.
Chief Justice Sevvell's father, of the same name,
was in Colonial days Attorney-General of Massa-
chusetts, and a personal friend of John Adams.
He was also a Loyalist emigrant, and for many
years a Judge of the Admiralty Court in New
Brunswick.
General Sir Charles Frederick Philipse Robin-
son, G.C.B., was a distinguished U. E. Loyalist,
a son of Colonel Beverley Robinson, of New
York, and a relative of Chief Justice Sir J. B.
Robinson, of Upper Canada. In February, 1777,
he became an Ensign in the Loyal American
Regiment. He served through the Revolutionary
War, at the capture of the West India Islands,
and the siege of Fort Bourbon, in Martinique.
In i8oo,after four years' home service, he attained
the rank of Lieut. -C(jloncl, and from 1812 to 1814
served in the Peninsular War. He commanded
a brigade at Vittoria, at the siege of San Sabas-
tian, and at the Passage of the Nive. At the close
of the French war he was sent to Upper Canada
as Commander of the Forces, and for a year also
administered the Government. In 1816 he be-
came a Knight of the Bath, and from 1816 to
1821 was Commander of the troops in the West
Indies. In 1838 he was made a g.c.b., in 1840
Colonel of the 39th Regiment, and in 1841 a full
General. He died in 1852.
The Rt. Rev. and Hon. Charles Inglis, d.d..
Bishop of Nova Scotia, was born in 1734, and
became assistant Rector of Trinity Church, New
York, in 1764. In 1777 he succeeded Dr. Auch-
muty as Rector, and retired from force of circum-
stances in 1783, migrating with other Loyalists
to Nova Scotia. During his ministration in New
York he held a prominent place in the com-
munity, and strongly upheld the Royalist cause
from the beginning. He answered Paine's
" Common Sense " pamphlet in 1776, and, in
spite of Washington's request when he entered
the city, persisted in reading the prayers for the
King and Royal family. He has stated that with
one exception all the Episcopal clergy and mis-
sionaries remained faithful to the Crown, and no
doubt his influence and example had much to do
with the result. After a prolonged period of
threatenings, violence— extending even to the
burning of his Church and plundering of his
home — he was compelled at last to leave New
York. In 1787 he was appointed Bishop of Nova
Scotia — the first Colonial Bishop in British do-
minions, and in 1809 became a member of the
Provincial Council. His American estates had,
of course, been confiscated. He died in 1809.
One of his sons became Bishop of the Province,
and a grandson was the well-known Major-
General Sir John Eardley Wilmot Inglis.
Christopher Robinson, the founder of a well-
known Canadian family, was of Yorkshire de-
scent, and a kinsman of Colonel Beverley Robin-
son, of New York. When the Revolutionary war
broke out he was a student at Williamsburg, Vir-
ginia, and promptly cast in his lot with the Loy-
alists, and received an Ensign's commission in
the Queen's Rangers, then commanded by Colonel
Simcoe. With this famous Regiment he served
throughout the struggle, and at its close repaired
CANADA : AN ENCYLOP/EDIA.
119
to the new Loyalist settlement on the St. John
River in New Brunswick. In 1788 he removed
to L'Assomption, Quebec, later on to Berthier,
and in 1792 to Kingston, Upper Canada, where
he lived for six years, and then removed to York
(Toronto). He practised law, became a Bencher
of the Law Society, and was for some years a
representative of Lennox and Addintjton in the
Provincial Assembly. The Hon. Peter Robinson,
the Hon. William Robinson, and the Hon. Sir
John Beverley Robinson, Bart., were sons of this
Loyalist pioneer, and leaders in the early history
of Upper Canada. Christopher Robinson died
in 1798, shortly after moving to York. Colonel
Beverley Robinson, who in pre-revolutionary days
was the head of this family, organized the Loyal
American Regiment, in which his son of the same
name was Lieut.-Colonel. The former died in
England in 1792, where he had been awarded
£17,000 compensation. The latter was for many
years member of the New Brunswick Council
and commander of a local regiment. He died in
1816.
The Hon. Isaac Allen was born in 1741 in
England, and migrated to Trenton, New Jersey,
where he became a Judge of the Supreme Court
of the Province. When the Revolution broke
out, Judge Allen, who was an uncompromising
Loyalist, took the command of a regiment of
New Jersey volunteers, and served with them
throughout the war. At its close he removed to
Nova Scotia, and then to New Brunswick, where,
in 1784, he was made a Judge of the Supreme
Court, and appointed a member of the Executive
Council of the Province. These positions he held
until his death in 1S06. His son. Captain John
Allen, was for 36 years a member of the Local
House of Assembly, and his grandson, Sir John
Campbell Allen, was for a prolonged period Chief
Justice of the Province.
The United Empire Loyalists of the present
day have formed a number of organizations with
the general objects of perpetuating British con-
nection, preserving family records and traditions,
collecting historical data, and associating together
a class who are numerically and influentially
strong in nearly all the older provinces of the
Dominion. There are four of these Loyalist
Societies, and the names of the officers for 1897
are interesting as indicative of the important part
taken in the public affairs of the Empire, as well
as of Canada, by the descendants of the refugees
of 1783. The Ontario United Empire Loyalist
Association has the following officers :
President, George Sterling Ryerson, m.d., m.p.p.
Hon. Vice-Presidents: The Earl of Carnwath ;
The Hon. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., g.c.m.g.,
c.H. ; Sir Arthur L. Haliburton, g.cb. ; Sii Hugh
G. Macdonell, K.C.M.G., c.b., British Minister at
Lisbon ; Sir Roderick W. Cameron, Knt.; Major-
General C. W. Robinson, c.b.; Major Charles
Crutchley, d.a.a.g.
Vice-Presidents: Lieut.-Colonel, the Hon. D.
Tisdale, Q.c, m.I'. ; Allan McLean Howard ;
Mrs. J. D. Edgar ; John A. Macdonell, q.c.
Hon. Secretaries: W. Hamilton Merritt, Mrs.
Margaret I. M. Clarkson.
The Officers of the Quebec Association are as
follows :
President, The Hon. J. S. C. Wurtelc, d.c.l.
Vice-Presidents, Lt.-Colonel A. L. Strathy;
George Dunsford.
Hon. Secretary, J. C. A. Heriot.
The New Brunswick Association is officered as
follows :
President, William Bayard, m.d.
Vice-Presidents : The Hon. Sir John C. Allen ;
Alfred A. Stockton, d.c.l., ll.d., q.c, m.p.p.;
W. S. Harding, m.d.
Hon. Secretaries: D. H. Waterbury and C. A.
McDonald.
Those for Nova Scotia are composed of the
following :
President, The Hon. A. G. Jones, ex-M.P.
Vice-Presidents : The Rev. Dr. White ; The
Hon. W. T. Almon ; The Hon. Sir Charles Hib-
bert Tupper, k.c.m.g., q.c, m.p. ; Mrs. Anne
McCauley ; W. Chamberlain Silver ; The Kev.
Dr. Watson Smith.
Hon. Secretaries: Miss M. A. Fitch and Harry
Piers.
1 .i . '-ir:
THE QUEBEC ACT OF 1774
■v
WILLIAM HOUSTON, M.A.
IT is impossible to obtain any clear idea of the
motive, character, and effect of the Quebec
Act of 1774 without taking into account the
course of events which led on the one hand
to the British conquest of French Canada in
1760-63, and on the other to tiie revolt of the
British Colonies ajjainst the Mother Country,
which culminated in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence in 1776.
There was a marked difference between the
ideals of those who founded the French Colony
in the valley of the St. Lawrence, and those who
founded the British Colonies along the Atlantic
coast from Maine to Georgia. The leading ob-
jects of the French occupation of the country
were to develop the fur traiie, to evangeli/e the
Indians, and to establish military rule over as
iar^e an area as possible. The main purpose of
the British colonists was to make a home for
themselves in the fertile wili rness, where they
might be free from interference with their chosen
mode of worshipping God. French colonial ad-
ministration was centralized, bureaucratic, and
systematic. British colonial administration was
carried on in a number of local centres, with
democratic freedom, and in a hap-hazard way.
The policy of France was for a time successful,
so far as acquisition of territory was concerned,
and when Fort Duquesne was erected where
Pittsburg now stands, it was apparently destined
to be the threshold of a French territory of in-
definite extent, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico
through the valley of the Mississippi, the Ohio,
and the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic ocean. The
realization of this ideal would have hemmed the
British colonies in between the Alleghany mount-
ains and the Sea, and have forever prevented
their expansion over half a continent and into the
northern, middle, and western states of the future
Union.
It is not necessary here to i^o into the deta'ls
of the long struggle for supremacy in North
America. The issue was virtually decided when
Quebec was taken by Wolfe in 1759 ; the decision
was emphasized by the surrender of Montreal and
all Can.ida with it in 1760 ; and it was formally
and permanently affirmed by the Treaty of Paris
in 1763. The French plenipotentiary, during the
negotiations which led to that treaty, warned the
representative of Great Britain that the with-
drawal of French influence from America would
pave the way for the development of a tendency
on the part of the British colonies toward poli-
tical independence. Few historical predictions
have ever been so completely or so swiftly ful-
filled. The Stamp .\ct was passed in 1765 in the
face of strong remonstrances from the colonies.
In the following year it was repealed, but at the
same time the right of the British Parliament
" to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever "
was formally asserted by statute. An attempt
was made in 1767 to collect taxation from the
colonists through enforcement of the customs
duties, but this also was resented and resisted.
The people of the different colonies began to co-
operate in their efforts to secure the successful
assertion of their right to exemption from fiscal
burdens imposed by a legislature in which they
were not represented, and this led by rapid steps
to the Revolutionary war. Of this long contro-
versy the Canadian colonists, both British and
French, were more than interested spectators,
because but for it the Quebec Act of 1774 would,
in all probability, have never been passed.
Canada, after the capitulation of Montreal, in
1760, remained under military administration
until it was formally ceded to Great Britain by
treaty three years later. How much territory
was included in the cession has never been, and
cannot now be, accurately defined, but it may
120
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
131
safely be assumed to have extended as far west
as the Upper Mississippi and as far south as the
Ohio. The articles of capitulation mention the
forts situated on our frontiers on the side of
Acadia, at Detroit, Michiliiiackinac, and other
forts, but the description was no doubt purposely
left vague by the Marquess de Vaudreuil, when he
drew up the articles at his leisure, so as to have
them ready for submission to General Amherst.
Louisiana, on the Lower Mississippi, remained in
the possession of France, and there was always a
chance of enlarging that region at the expense
of Canada when the time should come for fixing a
definite boundary between them.
Military rule in Canada was terminated by the
Royal Proclamation of 1763, which announced
that Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of
Great Britain, had been issued " to erect within
the countries and islands ceded and confirmed to
us by the said Treaty (of Paris, 1763), four dis-
tinct and separate Governments styled and called
by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West
Florida, and Grenada," and very shortly after-
wards a commission was issued to General Mur-
ray apppointiiig him " Captain-General and Gov-
ernor-in-Chief in and over our Province of
Quebec, in America," the boundaries of which,
both in the proclamation and commissions were
given as follows : " Bounded on the Labrador
coast by the River St. John ; and from thence by
a line drawn from the head of that river through
the Lake St. John to the south end of Lake
Nipissing; from whence the said line, crossing
the River St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, in
forty-five degrees of north latitude, from along
the high lands which divide the rivers that empty
themselves into the said River of St. Lawrence
from those which fall into the sea ; and also along
the north coast of the Baie des Chaleurs, and the
coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape
Rosieres ; and from thence crossing the mouth of
the River St. Lawrence by the west end of the
Island of Anticosti, terminated at the aforesaid
River St. John."
Governor Murray was authorized in the formula
that had been in use for more than a century
" to summon and call general assemblies of the
freeholders and planters " of the new province,
ao soon as its " situation and circumstances "
would admit of so doing; to " constitute and ap-
point judges, and, in cases requisite, commis-
sioners of oyer and tcrmUter, justices of the peace
and other necessary oflicers and Ministers for the
better administration of justice and putting the
laws into execution " ; and to exercise the Royal
prerogative of pardon, and at his own discretion,
in all criminal cases, except those convicted of
"treason and wilful murder." The laws for
the enforcement of these regulations were, of
course, British laws, but as a great majority of the
people were entirely unacquainted with them, and
as a large part of French Canada was left entirely
outside of the Province of Quebec, it was quite
obvious that the experiment of civil government
was tried under conditions which made success
impossible. General Murray seems to have acted
with discretion, and to have devised a modus
Vivendi, which made the work of administration
feasible, but of which it is impossible to give any
accurate description. He was fortunate in having
for his chief legal advisers two men of learning,
ability, and common sense — Chief Justice Hey
and Attorney-General Maseres — but some system
at once more definite in its form and more intelli-
gible to the mass of the conquered and still alien
habitants soon became an absolute necessity.
General Carleton succeeded General Murray as
Governor, in 1776. As Sir Guy Carleton and as
Lord Dorchester his personality is familiar to
every student of Canadian history. He was en-
dowed with an heroic temperament, a military
genius, and a capacity for statesmanship which
enabled him to render exceptionally important
service to the British Empire. To him person-
ally is mainly owing the repulse of the joint inva-
sion of the Province of Quebec by Montgomery
and Arnold in 1775, and there is good reason to
believe that if the conduct of the campaign of re-
prisal in the following year had been entrusted to
him instead of to General Burgoyne, Great Britain
would have been spared the Saratoga humiliation.
He had not been long in Canada before he saw
the necessity of giving the Province a more defi-
nite boundary, and a more workable constitution.
He saw also the danger, that, in the event of the
quarrel between the Mother Country and the
Colonies resulting in war, a successful effort
might be made to induce the French population
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131
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
I'l^
to cast in their lot with the revolutionists. The
best way, in his opinion, to prevent such a
catastrophe was to make the subject race recon-
ciled to British rule by satisfying the reasonable
desires of the people, and redressing; as far as
possible their unquestionable grievances. After
malting as thorough a study of the conditions as
possible he returned in 1769 to England, which
he never left until he had secured from Parliament
the reforms in the constitution of the Province
which he deemed necessary to its safety and pros-
perity. Though he was effectively aided by Chief
Justice Hey, who accompanied him, and by the
ex-Attorney-General, Baron Masisres, who had
preceded him on his retirement from office, it took
four years to obtain the legislation he desired,
and it might have taken a great deal longer had
the fears of George III. and his Ministry not
been at last thoroughly aroused by the rapidly ap-
proaching American crisis.
The incidents which led up to and accompanied
the passage of the Quebec Act have fortunately
been made abundantly accessible to the student
of Canadian history, not merely through the pre-
servation of original documents relating to it by
Baron Mas^res and others, but also through the
singularly accurate and interesting report of the
Parliamentary progress of the Bill contained in
the volume known as the " Cavendish Debates."
From these sources of information it appears that
at the cession of Canada the population of the
ceded territory amounted to above 65,000. A few
of these were Seigneurs under the feudal system
mtroduced during the r/gime of Louis XIV., but
the mass of the people was made up of tenants
who were subject in a variety of ways to petty but
irritating exactions and humiliations at the hands
of their poverty-stricken over-lords. During the
period between 1760 and 1774 the French popula-
tion increased to about 150,000, while the British
population, according to a census prepared with
great care at the instance of Governor Carleton,
amounted in 1770 to between 360 and 400 men,
besides women and children. Even this small
number was reduced by emigration before 1774.
Practically all the British were Protestants; all the
French were Roman Catholics.
It was Carleton's policy : (i) to enlarge the
area of the Province of Quebec so as to include
within it as much as possible of the territory
which had once belonged to French Canada ;
(2) to centralize both legislation and administra-
tion as much as possible under the control of the
Crown ; (3) to secure the active influence of the
Roman Catholic Church on the side of Great
Britain in the impending struggle between her
and the rebellious colonies ; (4) to allay as much
as possible the hostility of the conquered race by
conceding to them the system of law to which
they had been accustomed before the conquest ;
and (5) to make financial provision for the cost of
government without resorting to the imposition
of unpopular taxation. How far he succeeded in
securing these various objects may best be ascer-
tained by a careful analysis of the Quebec Act
itself, and by a candid attempt to trace the effect
of its operation on the subsequent history of the
Province. The difficulties he had to overcome
are obvious enough ; the evolution is one for
which he must be held mainly responsible.
Efforts were made by the French and British
settlers, respectively, to secure legislation of a
different sort, but the British Ministry and Parlia-
ment seem in a grave crisis to have acted on the
not unwjse principle that it was safest to take a
competent officer's advice as to the kind of insti-
tutional machinery to supply, and then give him
a comparatively free hand in operating and con-
trolling it.
The boundaries of the " Province of Quebec,"
as vaguely detined in the Royal Proclamation
which created it, were found by experience to be
too limited to include all those French settlers
who were entitled to take advantage of the very
liberal terms of the Treaty of Paris. The enquir-
ies which were carried on for several years with a
view to ascertaining the exact boundary of the
Province of Ontario, subsequent to the creation
of the Province of Manitoba nearly a century
later, showed that the excluded settlers were
located at many points besides those mentioned
in the Articles of Capitulation signed at Montreal
— namely Detroit and Michilimackinac. They
were distributed along the great lakes ; over the
region between Lake Erie and the Ohio River as
far West as the Mississippi ; over the territory
between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi ; and
over the district tributary to the Red River and
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
12.^
Lake Winnipeg. In order to make sure of in-
cluding them all, the Quebec Act defined the en-
larged Province as comprising : " All the terri-
tories, islands, and countries in North America
belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, bounded
on the south by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs
along the high lands which divide the rivers that
empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence
from those which fall into the sea, to a point in
forty-five degrees of northern latitude on the
Eastern branch of the River Connecticut, keep-
ing the same latitude directly west through the
Lake Champlain until in the same latitude it
meets the River St. Lawrence ; from thence up
the eastern bank of the said river to the Lake
Ontario; thence through the Lake Ontario and
the river commonly called Niagara, and thence
along the eastern and southern brcnch of Lake
Erie, following the said branch until the same
shall be intersected by the northrrn boundary
grantee ">y the charter of the Province of Pennsyl-
vania, in case the same shall be so intersected,
and from thence along the said northern and
western boundaries of the said Province, until the
said western boundary strike the Ohio ; . . .
and along the bank of the said river westward to
the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to
the southern boundary of the territory granted
to the Merchant Adventurers of England, trading
to Hudson's Bay."
As determined by Act of the British Parliament
in 1789, the western boundary of the Province
was the River Mississippi, and not the meridian
of the mouth of the Ohio, for many French
settlers along the former river would still have
been excluded had the boundary been located
along a line due north from the mouth of the lat-
ter. The disaffected British colonists protested
against the inclusion within the Province of
Quebec of so much outside territory, but a
candid consideration of the terms of the Articles
of Capitulation and of the Royal Proclamation
shows that the definition in the Quebec Act was
entirely reasonable.
Carleton's policy of centralization was effected
by the creation of a " Council " for the affairs of
the Province of Quebec, to consist of such persons
resident there " not exceeding twenty-three nor
less than seventeen, as His Majesty, his heirs and
successors, may be pleased to appoint ; . . .
which Council, or the major part thereof, shall
have power and authority to make ordinances for
the peace, welfare, and good government of the
said Province, with the consent of His Majesty's
Governor, or, in his absence, of the Lieutenant-
Governor or Commander-in-Chief for the time
being."
The preamble to this enactment expressly de-
clares that it was inexpedient to " call an As-
sembly," as the Governors had been by their
commissions authorized to do " so soon as the
situation and circumstances " of the Province
would admit. The disproportion in number be-
tween the subjugated French and the dominant
British races — 65,000 to less than 2,000 — was
reason enough for not summoning a representa-
tive legislature, and at a time when a foreign war
was imminent, the policy of a Crown appointed
Council may, in the light of history, be not un-
successfully defended. As a matter of fact,
Carleton made a wise selection of advisers, and
an enlightened use of his extraordinary powers.
It was provided in the Quebec Act that the
Council should not have authority to impose
taxes on the people of Quebec except for ordinary
local public works; that every Ordinance of
Council was subject to disallowance within six
months by the King ; that Ordinances affecting
religion or imposing severe penalties should have
the King's " approbation " before becoming oper-
ative ; that His Majesty should still have the
right to establish courts of law ; and that nothing
in the Act should be construed as repealing or
making void any of the Acts already passed for
" prohibiting, restraining, or regulating the trade
■ or commerce of His Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations in America."
There was scarcely any pretence of conceal-
ment of the design of Governor Carleton and
Lord North tor use the new measure for the pur-
pose of keeping the authorities of the Roman
Catholic Church on the side of Great Britain in
the threatened conflict with her American colon-
ies. The Montreal Articles of Capitulation had
guaranteed to the French-Canadians certain con-
cessions in the matter of religion, pending the
conclusion of a treaty of peace ; the Treaty of
Paris three years later bound His Britannic
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124
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP.K OIA.
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Majesty "to grant the liberty of the Roman
Catholic religion to the inhabitants of Canad.i,"
and permission to his " new Roman Catholic sub-
jects to perform tiie worsliip of their religion
according to the rites of the Romish Church, as
fir as the laws of Great Britain permit." The
Quebec Act went further, and authorized the
Roman Catholic Clergy to " hold, receive, and
enjoy their accustomed dues and rights with re-
spect to such persons only as shall profess the
said religion." It also freed Roman Catholic
" ecclesiastical persons and officers " from the
necessity of taking the Elizabethan oath of supre-
macy, and substituted therefore a simple oath of
allegiance.
It, however, expressly excepted the " religious
orders and coniinunities " from the enactment
that all His Majesty's Quebec subjects might
" hold and enjoy their property and possessions
together with all customs and usages relative
thereto in as large, ample, and beneficial manner
as may consist with their allegiance to His
Majesty, and subjection to the Crown and Parlia-
ment of Great Britain." But in the case of all
the orders except that of the Jesuits — which had
been suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement IV.,
"with their functions, houses, and institutions" —
the exception was from the first allowed to remain
inoperative Lord North went so far daring the
Session of 1775 as to declare in his place in Par-
liament, during the debate on a motion to repeal
*.he Quebec Act, that " if the refractory (Ameri-
can) colonies cannot be reduced to obedience by
the present forces, he should think it a necessary
measure to arm the Roman Catholics of Canada,
and to employ them in that service." Such a
purpose, so openly avowed, was sure to embitter
the New Englanders and make them still more
difficult to manage, but there can be no doubt
that the Quebec Act fulfilled its intended purpose
of conciliating the Roman Catholic Clergy.
The British petitioners in Quebec for its repeal
hoped to receive the co-operation of their French
fellow subjects who were also dissatisfied with
some provisions of the law, but the latter declined,
with some exceptions, to join with them, giving
as their reason the fact that " they were withheld
by their superiors, and commanded not to join in
the English representations," and that if they did
they would infallibly be deprived of their religion,
while if they remained quiet they were assured
that the English laws vrould not be changed.
But for the passage of the Quebec Act ihe Pro-
vince would almost certainly have joined the
Thirteen Colonies in the Revolution, whiie on the
other hand there is no strong reason te believe
that if it had not been passed the Revolution
would not have taken place. The outcome must
therefore be regarded as a proof of Carleton's
sagacity, whatever may be thought of the measure
upon its own merits.
This policy of securing the co-operation of the
clergy was further supplemented by a device to
secure the goodwill of the habitants. From 1763
to 1774 they had been under a British system of
administration. The criminal law was simple,
intelligible, and not unacceptable to the people,
but the common law, enforced in an imperfect
and indecisive way, was the very reverse. The
Quebec Act provided that " in all matters of con-
troversy relative to property and civil rights, re-
sort shall be had to the laws of Canada, as the
rule for the decision of the same." An exception
was made with respect to lands granted either be-
fore or after the passage of the Act " by His
Majesty, his heirs, and successors, to beholden in
free and common soccage" as contra-distin-
guished from those which had been granted dur-
ing the French r^f^ime, on the feudal or seigneurial
tenure. No provision of the Quebec Act has been
more severely condemned than this reversion to
the old leg?', customs of French Canada, but it
may be said for Governor Carleton that at least
it was with him a deliberate policy long and per-
sistently adhered to, and not a piece of political
strategy suddenly adopted in a dangerous crisis.
As early as 1769, before the danger of Revolu-
tion became acute and while there was still time
to conciliate the colonists by a policy of good
sense, he was opposed to Chief Justice Hey and
Attorney-General Mas^res in their recommend-
ation to the Lords of Trades and Plantations to
enforce British civil law. He favoured the revi-
val of " the whole body of the P'rench laws that
were in use before the conquest with respect to
civil matters," and in this, as in other affairs, he
was allowed by the British Parliament to have his
way in 1774. It should be added that this part
1
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CANADA; AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
"5
,'.■'.'1
of the Quebec Act has never been repealed by the
Imperial Parliament, that when the Legislatures
of Lower and Upper Canada were organized
under the Constitutional Act of 1791, the latter
passed an Act substituting the English common
law for the French-Canadian law as the rule of
decision in Upper Canada; and that the French
laws of Quebec ultimately became the basis of
the Civil Code, which was enacted for Lower
Canada more than forty years ago, and is still the
law of the present Province of Quebec.
It would have been easy by any attempt to levy
a burdensome ta.x on the people of the new Prov-
ince, to completely alienate them from the British
Crown, and especially at a time when the Ameri-
can colonists were rising in rebellion against an
imposition of this very sort. To avoid this dan-
ger there was passed in 1774 a second Quebec
Act, the object of which was, while abolishing all
previous duties on imported goods, to raise suffi-
cient revenue by imposing others on alcoholic
liquors, molasses, and syrups. They were fixed
so as to discriminate in favour of liquors manufac-
tured in Great Britain as against those imported
from the rebellious colonies or from foreign coun-
tries. This Act was amended in the following
year in matters of detail. The revenue raised by
the operation of this statute was administered by
the Imperial Government until 1831, when the
British Parliament passed an Act amending that
of 1774, so as to place the net revenue over the
cost of collection at the disposal of the Legisla-
tures of Upper and Lower Canada.
It is useless to speculate as to the effect which
the Imperial legislation of 1774 might have had
upon the Colonial system of this continent, had the
Revolutionary War not taken place, or had it re-
sulted otherwise than it did. - By the Treaty of
Paris in 1783 all the territory south of the lakes
as far as the Mississippi was surrendered to the
United States. The replacement of Governor
Carleton, the sagacious author of the Quebec Act,
by General Haldimand, a purely military ruler,
made it more difficult to give the system a fair
trial — though the latter did his best in the e.x-
tremely complicated situation. The advent of the
United Empire Loyalists, who were accustomed
in their former homes to real representative gov-
ernment, made it necessary to try and adapt the
legislative system ir Quebec to their ideals. By
the Constitutional Act of 1791 an attempt was
therefore made to improve the system of Colonial
government in Canada, and Sir Guy Ciirleton,
under the title of Lord Dorchester, was once
more sent out to supervise the working of a con-
stitution in the formulation of which he had again
contributed an important, if not controlling in-
fluence.
m^i''
Francis, Baron Maseres, m.a., f.k.s., was one
of the most extraordinary men in the early history
of Canada. He was born in London of a French
Huguenot family on December 15th, 1731, and
graduated as an m.a. from Cambridge in 1755.
Three years later he published a learned " Dis-
sertation upon Algebra," was called to the Bar,
and in 1770 appointed Attorney-General of
Quebec. This position he held during three very
important years. His chief works were upon
mathematical subjects — notably one 'entitled
" Scriptoris Logarithmici," and a treatise upon
the "Negative Sign." His "Treatise on Life
Annuities " is well known, as are his writings
upon Colonial and historical topics, such as the
Irish Rebellion, the position of Roman Catholic-
ism, the hundred years preceding the Revolution
of 1688, the " Canadian P'reeliolder," the obtaining
of a Canadian House of Assembly, etc. His list
of works is a very long one. In 1773 he became
Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, and in 1774
Judge of the Sheriff's Court, London, a position
which he held until i8.i2. Two years later he
died at Reigate, Surrey.
The Hon. William Hey, Chief Justice of Can-
ada, was an English lawyer of some distinction
prior to his appointment as Chief Justice in 1766.
He took an immediate and continuous part in all
the questions connected with the early history
and growth of the country, at a period when his
office was one of oxenitivo notion as well as Judi-
th' '
130
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
cial duty. He opposed the too early grant of
legislative liberty to the people, and in 1773 went
to England with M. de Lotbiniere to help in
securing the passage of the Quebec Act, and
strongly favoured its terms when examined before
the House of Commons. In 1775 he prepared, by
request of Lord Dartmouth, War and Colonial
Secretary, a measure for the Imperial Parliament
re-establishing in Quebec, or Canada, the habeas
corpus, trial by jury in civil cases, and the English
law relating to commercial matters. In 1774 he
was returned to Parliament, and in 1776 was
appointed a Commissioner of Customs in Eng-
land. In 1777 his successor in Canada was
appointed. He died in 1797.
The foUowinfc is the text of the Message sent
by King George to the Commons in connection
with the piuposed mudihcation of the Quebec
Art, Marrh 4th, 170T :
" His Majesty thinks it proper to acquaint the
House of Commons that it appears to His Ma-
jesty that it would be for the benefit of His
Majesty's subjects in his Province of Quebec that
the same should be divided into two separate
Provinces, to be called the Province of Uppe ;
Canada and the Province of Lower Canada, and
that it is accordingly His Majesty's intention so
to divide the same whenever His Majesty shall
be enabled by Act of Parliament to establish the
necessary regulations for the government of the
said Provinces. His Majesty, therefore, recom-
mends this object to the consideration of this
House. His Majesty also recommends to this
House to consider such provisions as may be
necessary to enable His Majesty to make a per-
manent appropriation of lands of the said Prov-
inces for the support and maintenance of a Pro-
testant clergy within the same, in proportion
to such lands as have already been granted
within the same, in and by His Majesty;
and it is Majesty's desire that such provi-
sion may be made with respect to all future
grants of land within the said Provinces respect-
ively as may best conduce to the same object in
proportion to such increase as may happen in the
population and cultivation of the said Provinces ;
and for this purpose His Majesty consents that
such provisions and regulations may be made by
this House respecting all future grants of land to
be made by His Majesty within the said Provinces
as this House shall think fit."
On the 26th of May, 1774, the Governor-Gen-
eral of Canada, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-
General Mas^res, and M. de Lotbiniere, were
examined before the Bar of the House of Com-
mons. Their views may be very briefly summar-
ized.
Sir Guy Carleton stated that English criminal
law was acceptable in Quebec, but that there were
numerous objections to English civil law. The
French-Canadians did not know what it was, and
they naturally expressed dislike at being governed
by a law of which they were ignorant, written in a
language which they did not understand. They
were willing enough to praise the provisions of
English law, when it favoured their own cause.
The French-Canadians had no desire for an
Assembly. There were 360 Protestant families in
Canada, and about 130,000 Catholics, all told. The
majority of the Protestants were men of small sub-
sistence, and by no means eligible for an Assembly
to be chosen from them. The cultivation of laud
and the development of trade had increased since
the conquest. The Province had passed from a
state of war to that of peace, population had be-
come much greater, and the operations of agricul-
ture much extended.
' M. Mas^res declared that the French in Canada
had noclear notions ofgovernment,indulgedinfew
speculations, and would be content with any form
given them, if it wereonly well administered. They
objected to jury trials in civil cases, from the ex-
pense entailed, but a small allowance would satisfy
them and reconcile them to the system. An
abolition of their law as to descent, dower, and
transfer of land, would be very offensive. They
could not object to the habeas corpus, as it was
impossible for any people to do so. They had
only a confused idea of what an Assembly was.
He was of opinion that there might be a judicious
mixture of law. On being asked by Dunning, if,
in the event of French law being extended to
Canada, the Governor could issue lettres de cachet
for the imprisonment of parties, he replied that the
Governor would have no authority to issue such
letters ; but if blank forms, signed by the
I
CANADA : AN ENCYLOP^DIA.
187
King, were sent out, he could act upon them.
Chiet Justice Hey, in his examination, said that
he differed with Sir Guy Carleton on the subject
of the code. He had thought that the laws of
Canada might be blended with those of England,
to form a system adapted to the wants of Can-
adians, and at the same time accord with the
policy of Great Britain. When the question was
asked whether arbitrary government was con-
sidered possible under French law, Hey replied,
that as Chief Justice, if he knew of a man's im-
prisonment without cause, and found no law for
the purpose of having the prisoner brought before
him, he would be induced to make one for the
occasion.
De Lotbiniere's evidence was to the effect that
if the question of land was kept to Canadian law,
the Canadians liked the English judicature very
well. He had never heard the question of the
Legislative Council much discussed ; the Can-
adians might be satisfied if the Canadian noblesse
was admitted.
In commenting upon these statements. Lord
Lyttleton used words in the House of Lords on
June 17th, fairly typical of the feeling enter-
tained by a large majority in England at
that date, concerning the then approaching
American revolution : — " If British America was
determined to resist the lawful power and pre-
eminence of Great Britain, he saw no reason why
the loyal inhabitants of Canada should not co-
operate with the rest of the empire in subduing
them and bringing them to a right sense of their
duty, and he thought it happy that from their
local situation there might be some check to those
fierce fanatic spirits that were inflamed with the
same zeal which animated the Roundheads in
England, who directed that zeal to the same pur-
poses, to the demolition of Royal authority, and
to the subversion of all power which they did not
themselves possess ; that they were composed of
the same leaven, and, whilst they pretended to be
contending for liberty, they were setting up an
absolute independent republic, and that the
struggle was not for freedom, but power, which
was proved from the whole tenor of their conduct."
During: the debate in tlie House of Commons
on the 8th of June, 1774, the proposed Quebec
Act was vigourously attacked and warmly defend*
ed. rhe following are some historic extracts
from the speeches delivered :
Edmund Burke. Instead of making them free
subjects of England, you sentence them to French
government for ages. I meant only to offer a
few words upon the part of the Canadians, and
leave them to their misery. They are condemned
slaves by the British Parliament. You only give
them new masters. There is an end of Canada.
Sir, having given up a hundred and fifty thou-
sand of these people, having deprived them of the
principles of our constitution, let us turn our
attention .to three hundred and sixty English
families. It is a small number ; but I have heard
that the English are not to be J'udged of by num-
ber, but by weight ; and that one Englishman
can beat two Frenchmen. Let us not value that
prejudice. I do not know that one Englishman
can beat two Frenchmen, but I know that, in this
case, he ought to be more valuable than twenty
Frenchmen, if you estimate him as a freeman'
and the Frenchmen as slaves. What can com-
pensate an Englishman for the loss of his laws?
Do you propose to take away liberty from the
Englishman, because you will not give it to the
French ? I would give it to the Englishman,
though ten thousand Frenchmen should take it
against our will. Two-thirds of the whole trad-
ing interest of Canada are going to be deprived
of their liberties, and handed over to French law
and French Judicature. Is that just to English-
men ? Surely, the English merchants want the
protection of our law more than the noblesse !
They have property always at sea, which, if it is
not protected by law, every one may catch who
can.
Thomas Townshend. I cannot but confess
that the noble lord has shown an amazing degree
of foresight in fixing, above all other days in the
year, on the loth of June, for finishing a Bill
which goes to establish Popery. For God's sake.
Sir, let us come down with white roses in our
hats. A day more propitious for a bill of this
complexion could not have been fixed on. On
the report of the Bill I shall propose a clause for
rendering it temporary, and if the noble lord will
suffer it to pass, he never had at his levee a more
humble suppliant for a boon for himself, than I
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
am for the Canadians. This Bill will make the
Canadians the detestation of the English col-
onies.
Colonel Barre. This Bill, Sir, originated with
the House of Lords. It is Popish from the be-
ginning to the end. The Lords are the Romish
priests, who will give His Majesty absolution for
breaking his promise given in the Proclamation
of 1763. In this Bill they have done like all other
priests — not considered separately the crimes with
which the Bill abounded, but have bundled them
all up together, and, for despatch, given absolu-
tion for the whole at once. When, however, the
measure came down to this House, its members,
not being so Popishly inclined, wished to have
some information.
GovKRNOR Johnstone. The English colonies
have flourished more than others ; they have
found out the secret of carrying freedom to the
distant parts of the empire. I hope gentlemen
will not come to the conclusion because certain
Assemblies in America have recently been tumult-
uous on a nice point, that therefore all assemblies
are to be discountenanced. I see throughout the
whole that the interest of the Governor, and the
interest of the Receiver-General, are the pre
dominant features of the Bill ; together with sur-
rounding our own colonies with a line of despot-
ism. As an Irishman said to me, in that nice
metaphorical language that belongs to his country,
you are coming round and round, till, like water
flowing in upon an island, encroaching upon it
more and more, you will ncit leave a foot of ground
for the fowl of the air to rest upon. I fear you
will not leave a foot for liberty to rest upon.
Loud Morth. In the first place, Sir, I cannot
admit that the evidence taken at our Bar has been
in opposition to the principle of the Bill ; on the
contrary, I think it confirms the most material
partsofit. Withregard to the particular clause be-
fore us what have the witnesses at the Bar said ?
The Governor certainly is evidence against an
Assembly ; the Chief Justice certainly is evidence
against an Assembly ; Mr. Maseres is for an
Assembly. But, in point of fact, what came out
in evidence. That there were in the province at
present one hundred and fifty thousand Roman
Catholic subjects, and about three hundred and
sixty Protestant families, whose numbers we will
suppose to be a thousand or twelve hundre j jei-
sons ; but very few of them are possessed of any
property at all. The fair inference, therefore, is
that the Assembly would be composed of Roman
Catholics. Now, I ask, is it safe for this country
— for we must consider this country — to put the
principal power into the hands of an Assembly of
Roman Catholic new subjects ? I agree with the
honourable gentleman that the Roman Catholics
may be honest, able, worthy, sensible men, enter-
taining very correct notions of political liberty ;
but I must say there is something in that religion
which makes it not prudent in a Protestant gov-
ernment to establish an Assembly consisting en-
tirely of Roman Catholics. The honourable
gentleman is of opinion that more is to be dreaded
from the Seigneurs than from those in the lower
ranks. Sure, I am, that the Seigneurs, who are
the great possessors of the lands, would be the
perjons who composed the Assembly, and some
of them will, I hope, be admitted to the Legisla-
tive Council ; but then the Governor will choose
those on whose fidelity he has the greatest reason
to rely. They will be removeable by the King-in-
Council, and will not depend wholly upon the
Roman Catholic electors, or be removable at
their pleasure.
It is not at present expedient to call an Assembly.
* That is what the Act says, though it would be con-
venient that the Canadian laws should be assimi-
lated to those of this country, as far as the laws
of Great Britain admit, and that British subjects
should have something or other in their constitu-
tion preserved for them, which the}' will probably
loose when they cease to be governed entirely by
British laws. That it is desirable to give the
Canadians a constitution in every respect like the
constitution of Great Britain, I will not say ; but
I earnestly hope that they will, in the course of
time, enjoy as much of our laws and as much of
our constitution as may be beneficial for that
country, and safe for this. But that time is not
yet come.
Mr. Sergeant Glvnne. The omission of this
right to appeal to a jury in civil causes appears to
me an insuperable objection to the Bill. To any
predilection of the Canadians for their ancient
laws and customs, I should be inclined as mucii
as any one to yield, as far as I could do so with
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
.2(>
safety ; but to carry my compliance to the exclu-
sion of the laws of England — to consent to sub-
stitute in their place the laws of France — and to
add to all this a form of Legislature correspondent
to that of the Kingdom whence those laws were
borrowed, is what I can never consent to. And
I own my objection to the measure was strength-
ened when I was told that there was a prejudice
and predilection in these people favourable to
those laws, and that it was considered good policy
to avail ourselves of this predilection to build a
system of government upon it so contrary to our
own. I should have thought it was rather our
duty, by all gentle means, to root those prejudices
from the minds of the Canadians, to attach them
by degrees to the civil Government of England,
and to rivet the union by the strong ties of laws,
language and religion. You have followed the
opposite principle, which, instead of making it a
secure possession to this country, will cause it to
remain forever a dangerous one. I have contem-
plated with some horror the nursery thus estab-
lished for men reared up in irreconcilable aver-
sion to our laws and constitution.
The Address and Petition prosented to the
King by the Corporation of London, prior to His
Majesty's signing of the Bill for the better gov-
ernment of Quebec was as follows :
" Mof t Gracious Sovereign.
We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal sub-
jects, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common
Council of the City of London, in Common Coun-
cil assembled, are exceedingly alarmed that a Bill
has passed your two Houses of Parliament, en-
titled " An Act for making more effectual provis-
ion for the Government of the province of Quebec,
in North America," which we apprehend to be
entirely subversive of the great fundamental prin-
ciples of the constitution of the British monarchy,
as well as of the authority of the solemn acts of
the Legislature. We beg leave to observe that the
English law, and that wonderful effort of human
wisdom, the trial by jury, are not admitted by this
Bill in any civil cases, and the French law of
Canada is imposed on all the inhabitants of that
extensive province, by which both the person and
properties of very many of your Majesty's subjects
are rendered insecure and precarious.
We humbly conceive, that this Bill, if passed
into a law, will be contrary not only with the
compact entered into with the various settlers of
the reformed religion, who were invited into the
said province under the sacred promise of enjoy-
ing the benefit of the laws of your realm of Eng-
land, but likewise repugnant to your Royal Pro-
clamation of the 7th of October, 1763, for the
speedy settlement of the said new Government.
That consistent with the public faith pledged
by the said proclamation, your Majesty cannot
erect and constitute courts of judicature and pub-
lic justice for the hearing and determining all
cas^s, as well civil as criminal, within the said
province, but as near as may be agreeable to the
laws of England ; nor can any laws, statutes, or
ordinances, for the public peace, welfare, and good
government of the said province be made, con-
stituted, or ordained, but according to the lawr. of
this realm.
That the Roman Catholic religion, which is
known to be idolatrous and bloody, is established
by this Bill, and no legal provision is made for
the free exercise of our reformed faith, nor the
security of our Protestant fellow-subjects of the
Church of England in the true worship of Al-
mighty God. according to their consciences.
That your Majesty's illustrious family was
called to the throne of these Kingdoms in conse-
quence of the exclusion of the Roman Catholic
ancient branch of the Stuart line, under the ex-
press stipulation that they should profess the
Protestant religion, and according to the oath
established by the sanction of Parliament in the
first year of the reign of our great deliverer. King
William the Third. Your Majesty at your cor-
onation has solemnly sworn that you would to the
utmost of your power maintain the laws of God,
the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protest-
ant reformed religion established by law.
That although term of imprisonment of the sub-
ject is limited to three months, the power of fin-
ing is left indefinite and unrestrained, by which
the total ruin of the party may be effected by an
enormous and excessive fine. That the whole
legislative power of the province is vested in per-
sons to be wholly appointed by your Majesty, and
removable at your pleasure, which we apprehend
to be repugnant to the leading principles of \h:>.
IS
w
130
CANADA : AN KNCYCLOr^.DIA.
11. !'
free constitution, by which alone your Majesty
now holds, or legally can hold, the Imperial
Crown o( these realms.
That the said Bill was brought into Parliament
very late in the present session and after the
greater number of the members of the two Houses
were retired into the country, so that it cannot
fairly be presumed to be the sense of those parts
of the Legislature.
Your petitioners, therefore, most humbly sup-
plicate your Majesty, as the guardian of the laws,
liberty, and relision of your people, and of the.
great bulwark of the Protestant faith, that you
will not give your Royal assent to the said Bill.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound,* will
ever pray."
In connection with the evolution of the Que-
bec Act two important statements or preliminary
reports were submitted to the Imperial Govern-
ment. They were prepared respectively by At-
torney-General Thurlow and Soliciior-General
Wedderburn and had much influence in deter-
mining the policy ultimately pursued. Bo'th of
these men were eminent lawyers. Edward Thur-
low, who was born in 1732 and died in 1806, had
reached his present office in 1771, and during
fourteen years from 1778 — with a very brief inter-
val — he was Lord High Chancellor of Great Bri-
tain under the title of Baron Thurlow. Alexander
Wedderburn, who was born in 1733, and died in
1805, became Solicitor-General m 1771, Attorney-
General seven years later. Lord Chief Justice in
1780 — when he was created Baron Loughborough
— and Lord High Chancellor in 1793. This posi-
tion he held some years, and in 1801 was made
Earl of Rosslyn. It was natural that reports
submitted by men of such notable ability should
carry weight and it is equally natural that they
should become of much historic value.
Thurlow, whose statement is dated January
I2th, 1773, entered very fully into the causes
which made an established form of government
in Canada absolutely necessary. He traced the
condition of the country prior to and following
the Conquest — not always with precise accuracy
— and declared that the French-Canadians were
■jntitled to their property and personal liberty,
tie thought that the laws which created, defined,
and secured property should be maintained with,
out serious change from the old code. He believed,
however, that the right of conquest was as strong
a title in the British Sovereign as any given the
French by private rights and ancient usages.
Modifications in the old French system were,
therefore, quite justifiable if thought necessary to
establish the King's authority or ensure popular
obedience. Cogent necessity, however, would be
the only valid excuse for such changes. His view
has been summarized as that of non-inter-
ference with existing civil laws so far as to
allow every consideration for the old French laws
bearing upon private rights, minor public affairs,
prevalent customs and manners, and inherited
religious privileges. He made little reference to
the future and did not propose any definite remedy
for existing embarrassments.
Wedderburn, on the other hand, in his Report —
dated December 6th, 1772 — dealt with the future as
much as with the past. He thought the Capitu-
lation (Montreal) pledges only secured to the
French-Canadians the temporary enjoyment of
certain rights and that the Treaty of Paris con-
tained only " a very vague reservation " as to the
exercise of the Catholic religion. But he con-
tended, nevertheless, that no right could be
founded upon conquest other than that of " regu-
lating the political and civil government of the
country, leaving to individuals tlie enjoyment of
their property and of all privileges not inconsist-
ent with the security of the acquired territory."
He referred at length to the diiBculties of estab-
lishing a House of Assembly at that time and the
practical impossibility of deciding upon its com-
position so as to exclude an overwhelming French
representation, without displeasing . the greater
part of that population which it was exceedingly
desirable to placate. He favoured, upon the
whole, a Council having the right to make laws
under certain limitations. The subject of religion
and religious privileges was fully considered, and
he expressed the opinion that while the articles in
the Capitulation and the Treaty were of little real
effect, yet true policy dictated the retention of
these religious privileges by the French-Canadians,
and the protection and maintenance of the prie'^iy
under assured laws. He thought also that the
monastic orders should be tolerated, with the ex-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.-KDIA.
»S«
ception of the Jesuits, whom he declared to be
aliens to every government. Their lands should,
therefore, be vested in His Majesty and gradually
applied to educational purposes. His Report then
went into a general consideration of the code of
law, referred to opinions expressed by the author-
ities who had been heard at the Bar of the House,
and declared the French inhabitants of Canada
entitled to the habeas corpus by common law. But
he thought that the right should not be given by
statute until popular loyalty was fairly assured.
He leaned towards the creation of a new code
rather than the adoption of the old one, but like
Thurlow, made no definite recommendations.
Marryott, the Advocate-General, also wrote a
Report which was published in 1774, after the
passage of the Act. He contended that the cir-
cumstances of Canada made a change in its laws
absolutely necessary ; expressed the opinion that
the criminal law of England became that of Can-
ada at the moment the conquest was completed
and recognized ; that an Assembly was inexpedi-
ent — partly because of the statement made under
examination by M. de Lotbiniere that only four
or five persons in any parish could read ; and that
a Council would answer all present purposes. He
thought four measures should be passed :
1. To regulate the Courts of Justice. '
2. To declare the common law.
3. To regulate the revenue.
4. To permit the profession of the Roman Cath-
olic religion.
The pleadings in the Courts he considered
should be in French and English. If the French
civil law relating to property was maintained the
extent of its application or adoption should be
left to the knowledge, discretion and experience
of the judges. He disbelieved in any formal
establishment or recognition of the Roman Cath-
olic faith, and thought it should only be " tolerated
in a way not to violate the Royal Supremacy."
The sections of various treaties and legal, con-
stitutional, or international pledges in connection
with the underlying principles of the Quebec Act
are of great historical importance and may be
given here in their order. The Articles of Capit-
ulation of Quebec as demanded by M. de Ramezay
the French commander and granted by Admiral
Saupders and General Townshend, are first in the
order of time and bear date September 20th,
1759. The religious clause is as follows :
" That the exercise of the Catholic, Apostolic
and Roman religion shall be preserved ; that safe-
guards shall be given to the houses of the clergy,
to the monasteries and the convents, especially to
His Lordship the Bishop of Quebec, who, full of
zeal for religion and of love for the people of his
diocese, desires to remain constantly in it to exer-
cise freely and with the decency which his stand-
ing and the sacred mysteries of the Catholic,
Apostolic and Roman religion requires, his episco-
pal authority in the town of Quebec whenever he
shall think fit, until the possession of Canada has
been decided by a treaty between His Most Chris-
tian Majesty and His Britannic Majesty."
This was accepted and " the free exercise of
the Roman religion granted, likewise safe-guards
to all religious persons as well as to the Bishop."
By the terms of the Capitulation of Montreal
— and practically Canada — signed on 8th Septem-
ber, 1760, by General Amherst and M. de Vau-
dreuil, the following pledges were asked and
made :
Article 27. The free exercise of the Catholic, '
Apostolic and Roman religion shall subsist entire,
in such manner that all classes and peoples of the
towns and rural districts, places, and distant posts
may continue to assemble in the churches, and to
frequent the sacraments as heretofore, withtJot
being molested in any manner, directly or in-
directly. These people shall be obliged by the
English Government to pay to the priests, who
shall have the oversight of them, the tithes and
all the dues they were accustomed to pay under
the government of His Most Christian Majesty.
" Granted as to the free exercise of their reli-
gion ; the obligation of paying the tithes to the
priests will depend on the King's pleasure."
Article 28. The Chapter, priests, cures, and
missionaries, shall continue with entire freedom
their parochial services and functions in the par-
ishes of the towns and rural districts.
" Granted."
Article 29. The Grand Vicars named by the
Chapter to administer the diocese during the
vacancy of the Episcopal see shall have liberty
to dwell in the towns or country parishes as they
if
«■: : - •■ , i
■ t^',.
I3»
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOlMiDIA.
i
shall think proper. They shall at all times be
free to visit the different parishes of the diocese
with the ordinary ceremonies, and exercise all the
jurisdiction they exercised under the French
dominion. They shall enjoy the same rights in
case of the death of the future Hishop, of which
mention will be made in the following article.
" Granted, except what regards the following
article."
Article 30. If by the treaty of peace Canada
should remain in the power of His Hritannic
Majesty, His Most Christian Majesty shall con-
tinue to name the Bishop of the colony, who shall
always be of the Roman communion, and under
whose authority the people shalle.xercisethe Roman
religion.
" Refused."
Article 32. The communities of nuns shall be
preserved in their constitutions and privileges.
They shall continue to observe their rules. They
shall be exempt from lodging any military, and
it shall be forbidden to molest them in the religi-
ous exercises which they practise, or to enter
their convents. Safeguards shall even be given
them, if they demand them.
" Granted."
Article 34. All the communities and all the
priests shall keep their movables, the ownership
and usufruct of the seigneuries, and other property
which both possess in the colony, of whatever
nature it may be, and the said property shall
be maintained in its privileges, rights, honours,
and exemptions.
"Granted."
Article 35. If the canons, priests, missionaries,
the priests of the Seminary of the Foreign Mis-
sions and of St. Sulpice, as well as the Jesuits
and the RecoUets, wish to go to France, passage
shall be given them on the vessels of His Britan-
nic Majesty, and all shall have leave to sell, in
whole or in part, the fixed movable property which
they possess in the colony, either to the French
or to the English, without the British Govern-
ment being able to impose the least hindrance or
obstacle. They may take with them, or send to
France, the produce, of whatsoever nature it be,
of the said property sold, on paying the freight
as mentioned in Article 26, and those of the
priests who wish to go this year shall be main-
tained during the voyage at the expense of His
Biitannic Majesty, and shall be allowed to take
with them their baggage.
" They shall be masters to dispose of their
estates, and to send the produce thereof, as well
as their persons, and all that belongs to them to
France."
The religious clause of the Treaty of Paris in
ij^ii by which Canada was formally recognized
as British territory, is given elsewhere. The
Royal Proclamation, which was immediately
issued by King George III., is of importance, and
has been declared in Chief Justice Mansfield's
famous judgment upon the case of Campbell v. Hall
to have really served as the Imperial Constitution
of Canada from the Conquest up to 1774. The
following clause is the most important :
" And whereas it will greatly contribute to the
speedy settling oiir said New Governments, that
our loving subjects should be informed of our
paternal care for the security of the liberty and
properties of those who are, and shall become,
inhabitants thereof ; we have thought fit to pub-
lish and declare, by this our Proclamation, that
we have in the letters patent under our Great
Seal of Great Britain, by which the said Govern-
ments are constituted, given express power and
direction to our governors of the said colonies
respectively, that as soon as the state and circum-
stances of the said colonies will admit thereof,
they shall, with the advice and consent of the
members of our Council, summon and call gen-
eral Assemblies withm the s.iid governments re-
spectively, in such manner and lorm as is used
and directed in those colonies and provinces in
America, which are under our immediate govern-
ment ; and we have also given power to the said
governors, with the consent of our said councils
and the representatives of the people so to be
summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and
ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances for the pub-
lic peace, welfare, and good government of our
said colonies, and of the people and inhabitants
thereof, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws
of England, and under such regulations and re-
strictions as are used in other colonies, and in the
meantime, and until such Assemblies can be
called as aforesaid, all persons inhabiting in or
resorting to our said colonies may confide in our
Royal protection for the enjovment of the benefit
of the laws of our realms of England ; for which
purpose we have given power under our great seal
to the governors of our said colonies respectively
to enact and constitute, with the advice of our
said councils respectively, courts of judicature
i7 ■ .
CANADA: AN KNCYCLOIVKDIA.
13S
and public justice within our said colonies for the
henring ;ind deterniininK all causes, as well crim-
inal as civil, accordiii); to law and equity, and, as
near as may be, agreeable to the luwis of England,
with liberty to all persons who m.ay think them-
selves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts in
all civil cases to appeal under the usual limitations
and restrictions to us in our Privy Council."
Ky the terms of the Quebec Act many of these
rights or privileges were maintained, in accordance
with the practical promises of Great Britain.
The following are th« chief sections or Articles of
that measure, aside from the one dealing with the
boundary, which is given in the text :
Article V. And for the more perfect security and
ease of the minds of the inhabitants of the said
Province it is hereby declared, that His Majesty's
subjects professing the reiigion of the Church of
Rome, of and in the said Province of Quebec,
may have, hold, and enjoy the free exercise of the
religion of Rome subject to the King's supremacy,
declared and established by an Act made in the
first year of the Reign of Que-n Elizabeth over
all the Dominions and Countries which then did,
or thereafter should, belong to the Imperial Crown
of this realm; and that the clergy of the said
Church may hold, receive, and enjoy their accus-
tomed dues and rights with respect to such per-
sons only as shall profess the said religion.
Article VI. Provided, nevertheless, that it shall
be lawful, for His Majesty, his heirs and successors,
to make such provision out of the rest of the said
accustomed dues and rights, for the encourage-
ment of the Protestant religion and for the main-
tenance and support of a Protestant clergy within
the said Province as he, or they, shall from time
to time think necessary or expedient.
Article VII. Provided always, and be it enacted
that no person professing the religion of the
Church of Rome and residing in the said Province
shall be obliged to take the oath required by the
said statute in the first year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, or any other oaths substituted by any
other Act in the place thereof; but that every
such person, who by the said statute is required
to take the oath therein mentioned, shall be
obliged, and is hereby required, to take and sub-
scribe the following oath before the Governor, or
such other person, in such Court of Record as
His Majesty shall appoint, who are hereby auth-
orized to administer the same ; vidilicet.
I, A. H., do sincerely proiinsc and swear that I
will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His
Majesty King George and hitii will defend to the
utmost of Miy powers, against all traitorous con-
spiracies and attempts whatsoever, which shall bo
made, against his person, crown, and dignity;
and I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and
make known to His Majesty, his heirs and suc-
cessors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies
and attempts, which I shall know to be against
him or any of them ; and all this I do swear with-
out any equivocation, mental evasion, or secr> i
reservation, and renouncing all pardons and dis-
pensations from an\' power or person whatsoever
to the contrary. So help me (jod.
And every such person who shall neglect or
refuse to take the said oath before mentioned,
shall incur and be liable to the same penalties,
forfeitures, disabilities and incapacities as he
would have incurred and be liable to for neglect-
ing or refusing to take the oath required by the
said statute passed in the first year of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth.
Article VIII. And be it further enacted by the
authority aforesaid, that all His Majesty's Can-
adian subjects within the Province of Quebec, the
religious orders and communities only excepted,
may also hold and enjoy their property and posses-
sions, together with all customs and usages rela-
tive thereto, and all others their civil rights, in as
large, ample, and beneficial manner as if the said
Proclamation, Commissions, Ordinances, and
other Acts and Instruments had not been made,
and as may consist with their allegiance to His
Majesty, and subject to the Crown and Parlia-
ment of Great Britain ; and that in all matters of
controversy relative to property and civil rights,
resort shall be had to the laws of Canada as the
rule for the decision of the same ; and all causes
that shall hereafter be instituted in any of the
courts of justice, to be appointed within and for
the said Province by His Majesty, his heirs and
successors, shall with respect to such property
and rights be determined agreeably to the said
laws and customs of Canada, until they shall be
varied or altered by any Ordinance that shall
from time to time be passed in the said Province
by the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Com-
mander-in-Chief for the time being, by and with
the advice and consent of the Legislative Council
.1.
;i:- '■^'■. -:i
114
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
of the same, to be np|)ointcd in manner herein-
after nu-ntitined.
Article IX. Providoil alw.iys, that nothing in
this Act contained shall extend or be construed
to exti-nd, to any lands that have been granted by
His Majesty, or shall hereafter be Rrantod by His
Majesty, his heirs and successors, to be holden in
free and common soccaRc.
Article X. Provided also, that it shall and may
be lawful to and for every person that is owner of
any land, goods or credits in the said Province, and
that has a right to alienate the said lands, goods
or credits in his or her life-time, by deeds of sale,
gift, or otherwise, to devise or bequeath the same
at his or her death, by his or her last will and
testament ; any law, usage, or custom heretofore
or now prevailing in the Province, to the contrary
thereof in anywise notwithstanding; such will
being executed either according to the Laws of
Canada, or according to the forms prescribed by
the Laws of England.
Article XI. And whereas the certainty and lenity
of the Criminal Law of England and the benetits
and advantages resulting from the use of it, have
been sensibly felt by the inhabitants from an ex-
perience of more than nine years, during which
it has been uniformly administered ; be it there-
fore further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that the same shall be observed as law in the
Province of Quebec, as well in the description and
quality of the offence as in the method of prosecu-
tion and trial, and the punishments and forfei-
tures thereby inflicted, to the exclusion of every
other rule of criminal law or mode of proceeding
thereon, which did or might prevail in the said
Province before the year of our Lord one thou-
sand seven hundred and sixty-four ; everything
in this Act to the contrary thereof in any respect
notwithstanding ; subject nevertheless to such
alterations and amendments as the Governor,
Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander-in-Chief for
the time being, by and with the advice and con-
sent of the Legislative Council of the said Pro-
vince, hereafter to be appointed, shall from time
to time cause to be made therein in manner here-
inafter directed.
Article XII. And whereas it may be necessary to
ordain many regulations for the fut r.~'j wizlfare and
good government of the Province of Quebec, the
occasions of which cannot now be foreseen, nor
without much delay and inconvenience be pro-
vided for, without intrusting that authority for a
certain time and umler proper restrictions to per-
sons resident here ; and whereas it is at present
inexpedient to call an Assembly, be it therefore
enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and
may be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs and suc-
cessors, by warrant under his or their signet or
sign manual, and with the advice of the Privy
Council, to constitute and appoint a Council for
the affairs of the Province of Quebec, to consist
of such persons resident there, not exceeding
twenty-three nor less than seventeen, as His
Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall be pleased
to appoint ; and upon the death, removal, or
absence of any of the members of the said Coun<
oil, in like manner to constitute and appoint
such and so many other persons as shall be
necessary tu supply the vacancy or vacancies ;
which Council, so appointed and nominated, or
the major part thereof, shall have power and
authority to make ordinances for the peace, wel-
fare, and good government of the said Province,
with the consent of His Majesty's Governor, or,
in his absence, of the Lieutenant-Governor or
Commander-in-Chief for the time being.
Article XIII. Provided always that nothing in
this Act contained shall extend to authorize or
empower the said Legislative Council to lay any
taxes or duties within the said Province, such
rates and taxes only excepted as the inhabitants
of any town or district within the said Province
may be authorized by the said Council to assess,
levy, and apply, within the said town or district,
for the purpose of making roads, erecting or
repairing public buildings, or for any other purpose
respecting the local convenience and economy of
such town or district. ■
Article XIV. Provided also, and be it enacted
by the authority aforesaid that every Ordinance
so to be made shall within six months be trans-
mitted by the Governor, or in his absence by the
Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander-in-Chief for
the time being, and laid before His Majesty for
his Royal Approbation ; and if His Majesty shall
think fit to disallow thereof, the same shall cease
and be void from the time that His Majesty's
order-in-council thereupon shall be promulgated.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiUDIA.
ijS
Lord Mansfleld's Judgrment as rendered upon
Noviinber 2iStli, 1774, is oiio upuii which much
8ul)se(|ueiit constitutional controvcMsy turned.
His fjcncral view of what he terms " projjositions
in which both sides exactly a^rce, or which are
too clear to be denied," has never been authorita-
tively controverted. He states these propositions
as follows :
1. A country conquered by the British arms
becomes a dominion of the Kinn in the right of
his crown, and therefore necessarily subject to
the legislative power of the Parliament of Great
Britain.
2. The conquered inhabitants once received
into the conqueror's protection becomi; 'ibjects ;
and are universally to be considered in ti ' light,
not as enemies or aliens.
3. Articles of capitulation, upon which the
country is surrendered, and treaties of peace by
which it is ceded, are sacred and inviolate, accord-
ing to their true intent and meaning.
4. The laws and legislation of every dominion
equally affects all persons and property within the
limits thereof, and is the true rule for the decision
of all questions which arise there. Whoever pur-
chases, sues, or lives there, puts himself under
the laws of the place, and in the situation of its
inhabitants. An Englishman in Ireland, Minorca,
the Isle of Man, or the Plantations, has no privi-
lege distinct from the natives while he continues
there.
5. The laws of a conquered country continue
in force until they are altered by the conqueror.
The justice and antiquity of this maxim are incon-
trovertible ; and the absurd exception as to
Pagans mentioned in Calvin's case, shows the
universality and antiquity of the maxim. That
exception could not exist before the Christian era,
and in all probability arose from the mad enthusi-
asm of the Crusades. In the present case the
capitulation expressly provides and agrees that
they shall continue to be governed by their own
laws, until His Majesty's pleasure is further
known.
6. If the King has power (and, when I say
" the King," I mean in this case " the King with-
out the concurrence of Parliament ") to alter the
old and to irake new laws for a conquered coun-
try — this b>;injj a power subordinate to his own
authority as a part of the supremo legislature
and parliament — he can make none which are
contrary to fundamental principles; he cannot
exempt an inhabitant from the laws of trade, or
the authority of Parliament, or give him privileges
exclusive of his other subjects ; and so in many
other instances that might be put.
William Murray, Earl of Man^Aeld, whose
fame as a jurist is of Imperial proportions and
importance, was born in 1705 and died in I7<}.5-
At a very early age he became engaged in cases
bi.fore the House of Lords, and soon obtained an
immense practice and an unusual reputation for
eloquence. In 1742 the "silver-tongued Murray,"
as he was called, became Solicitor-General, in
1754 Attorney-General, and two years later was
appointed Lord Chief Justice of England, with
the title of Baron Mansfield. In 1776 he was
raised to the earldom. His most famous judg-
ment was perhaps the one mentioned above in
connection with the Quebec Act.
The reference In the Quebec Act to an enact*
ment in the reign of Elizabeth dealt with the law
entitled " An Act to restore to the Crown the
Ancient Jurisdiction over the Estates Ecclesiasti-
cal and Spiritual, and abolishing all foreign Powers
repugnant to the same." The following is the
quotation from Section 16, which enacts that " no
foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate,
spiritual or temporal, shall at any time, after the
last day of this session of Parliament, use, enjoy,
or exercise any manner of power, jurisdiction,
superiority, authority, prominence, or privilege,
spiritual or ecclesiastical, within this realm, or
within any other your Majesty's dominions or
countries that now be, but from thenceforth the
same shall be clearly abolished out of this realm,
and all other your Highness' dominions for ever ;
any statute, ordinance, custom, constitutions, or
any other matter or cause whatever to the con-
trary notwithstanding."
1; . '
ilSI
THE CONSTITUTIONAL ACT OF 1791
p. F. CRONIN, Editor of 77ie Catholic Kcsiiter.
THE close of the eighteentli century was a
period of terrible uplie;ival. l.ike earth-
quake shocks felt on both sides of the
Atlantic ocean, the disturbances of that
time appear to have travelled to and fro between
tiie new world and the old. Indeed, throu>,diout
\\- wliole of civilized society national and poli-
'\.?:\ institutions were more or less forcibly
ctf,uateil by the spirit of unrest. While it is not
to the present purpose either to describe or
account for this phenomena, I cannot better in-
troduce the subject I am dealinfj with than by
showing its very real connection with the feeling
produced upon the minds of the then Sovereign
and statesmen of Great Britain by the revolution-
ary convulsions occurring all around them. The
duty was theirs by all possible and proper means
to pievent the disorder, in any form, affecting the
constitution and development of the British
Empire.
A notable authority of the last century on the
character of George the Third, Dr. Adam Clarke,
informs us that during every year of his reign the
King " most conscientiously watched over the
constitution committed to his care." The history
of the Imperial statute known as the Constitu-
tional Act of 1791 is not the least convincing evi-
dence in support of this assertion, for the King
took an active interest in the political conduct of
those at the helm of affairs in England when the
measure in question was presented to Canada.
In a sense they seem to have been governed reso-
lutely by a patriotic faith in the wisdom of the
British constitution, and in the safety from revo-
lutionary contagion which it should afford to sub-
jects residing in a distant colony. Let it be borne
in mind that Quebec, or Canada, as it was then,
occupied a position conspicuously exposed to the
tendencies of the period. The influences of the
French Revolution were too far-spreading not to
have occasioned just alarm as to the feeling ex-
isting amongst the French-Canadians who then
composed the bulk of the Canadian colonists.
But those were not the r .{[y influences that con-
tributed to give determined direction to the Im-
perial policy. The internal affairs of the colony
were not so satisfactory as to guarantee the pre-
servation of patience amongst the io»ooo Loyal-
ists in Upper Canada who had commenced their
settlement in 1784. They had located alon,^ the
northern bank of the St. Lawrence and in the
Niagara Peninsula, and although much endurance
might have been expected from men who had fol-
lowed the British flag northward out of the
American revolted provinces, the Quebec Act had
been productive of little else than dissatisfaction
amongst them. Their irritation was naturally in-
creased by the small minority in the lower section
of the Province having adopted towards their
French fellow-subjects an apparently irreconcil-
able attitude.
A representative merchant of Quebec, Mr.
Adam Lymburner, who was for some time a
member of the Quebec Executive Council, figures
as the historical exponent of this antipathy be-
tween English and French. As an accredited
representative of the former, he declared to the
Home government that the Quebec Act had not
merely been a disappointment and a failure, but
that things had reached such a deplorable state
that tl.ere was nqt a court house in the province,
not a suflicient prison, not a house of correction,
and not a public school house. When Mr. Pitt
finally concluded that the separation of the two
sections was essential it was " because he could
not otherwise reconcile their clashing interests."
Among the frequent and heavy complaints of
the British settlers to the Home authorities was
136
CANADA : AN I
the statement that they had been obliged to de-
pend for justice on the vague ideas of the Judges,
and that under the Quebec Act it had not \et
been settled whether the whole of the French
laws, or what part of them, composed the "custom
of Canada." The judges sometimes rejected and
sometimes admitted entire Codes of the French
law. Even the great constitutional authorities of
the day in England were very niucli at sea re-
garding this matter. Pitt, speaking upon one
point in the House of Commons, said that " the
doubt arising from the law of insolvency arose from
its being a question whether the Code Marchand
of Louis XIV. was ever adopted in Canada. It
was contended on the one hand tliat it did not
appear even to have been registered in tlie
Supreme Council ; on the other hand it was in-
sisted that it had been sutficiently acted upon to
show that it might have been registered or in
some other manner adopted. In this consisted
tile great complaint of uncertainty."
The Mother Country owed her English and
French subjects an equal measure of considera-
tion in their widely different circumstances, and
to both, laws that would ensure common attach-
ment to the United Kingdom. Had the intention
of George III. and his Ministers been restricted
to the remedying of this unhappy condition of
things in Quebec and to counteracting those pos-
sible external influences already alluded to, the
Constitutional Act which resulted would have
merited the eulogium of Edmund Burke, who,
summing up the whole intention of the Imperial
policy said (Clarendon's Parliamentary Chronicle)
that: "The Upper Colony had migrated from
America and England, and they would wish to
have the British Constitution. The French would
prefer the French laws. The English were a
body attached to the English laws and the English
Constitution. Let each act on tiie ground of
their own laws, and they would have a solid founda-
tion for their Government."
The history of the Constitutional Act, however,
demands distinct attention to the fact that the
moment was considereil opportune by the King
and the Ministry to play a much more decisive
part in Colonial affairs generally than had been
the case even before the American war. In this
connection, next to the grant of self-government,
;ncyclop.edia.
137
it may be described as marking the most import-
ant epoch in Colonial history. Merivale, in his
work on " Colonization," says that " the greater
degree of control which the Mother Country then
undertook to e.xercise botii in the formation of
theii constitutions and in the internal arrange-
ments of the Colonies may be estimated from
various circumstances; the reservation of land
by the authority of the Mother State for
tile Church establishment ; the control exer-
cised by the Mother State over the sale of
other waste lands — perhaps the most important
function of government in new countries, and one
altogether inconsistent with the principles of the
founders of most of our North American colonies."
Sir Erskine May, in his " Constitutional His-
tory of England," states that, "from the period
of the American war the Home government
awakened to the importance of Colonial adminis-
tration, displaying greater activity and a more
ostensible disposition to interfere in the affairs of
the Colonies. Until the commencement of the
difficulties with America, there had not even been
a separate department for the Government of
the Colonies, but the Board of Trade exercised a
supervision little more than nominal over Colonial
affairs. In 1768, however, a third Secretary of
State was appointed, to whose care the Colonies
were entrusted. In i7iS2 the office was discon-
tinued by Lord Rockingham after the loss of the
American Provinces ; but it was revived in 1794,
and became an active and important department
of the State. Its influence was felt throughout
the British colonies. However popular the form
of their institutions they were steadily governed
by British Ministers in Downing Street."
On the 4th of March, 1791, a message from the
King, dealing with the future of the Province of
Quebec, was transmitted to the House of Com-
mons. This document displays the mind of
George III. on the religious question. It is pio-
bable that he was entirely responsible for the idea
contained therein of providing for a Protestant
clergy, but not for the special provision itseU',
which declared that as the majority there were
Catholics, it should not be lawful for the King to
assent to future grants without first submitting
them to the consideration of the British Parli -
ment.
V
'38
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
\'A
im^
It is not required here to deal with more than
the main features of the Act dividing Quebec into
Upper and Lower Canada, and which, in addition
to repealing so much of the Quebec Act as related
to the appointment of a Council for the affairs of
the Province of Quebec, and the powers given to
it to make ordinances for the government thereof,
provided: («) For His Majesty's intention to erect
two distinct provinces, and to constitute within
each a Legislative Council and Assembly ; (6) For
His Majesty's authority to the Governor or Lieu-
tenant-Governor of each Province to summon
members to the Legislative Council, not fewer
than seven for the Province of Lower Canada ;
(c) For members of the Legislative Councils to
hold their seats for life, and for His Majesty to
annex to hereditary titles of honour the right of
being summoned to the Legislative Council ; (d)
For the Governor of the Province to appoint and
remove the Speaker of the Legislative Council ;
{e) For the Governor of the Province to appoint
returning officers for the term of two years from
the commencement of the Act ; (/) For the
whole number of members in the Province of
Upper Canada to be not less than sixteen, and in
the Province of Lower Canada not less than fifty ;
(g) For the Governor to give or withhold His
Majesty's assent to bills passed by the Legislative
Council and Assembly, or reserve them for His
Majesty's pleasure, and for His I lajesty in Coun-
cil to disallow any bill within two years ; (ft) For
the establishment of a Court of Civil Jurisdiction
in each Province; (i) For His Majesty's authority
to the Gov nor to make allotments of lands for
the support of a Protestant Clergy in each pro-
vince, the rents arising from such allotment to be
applicable to that purpose solely; (;) For the
Governor, with the advice of the Executive Coun-
cil, to erect parsonages, and the enjoyment of
them to be subject to the jurisdiction granted to
the Bishop of Nova Scotia ; (k) For lands in
Upper Canada to be granted in free and common
soccage, also in Lower Canada if desired. It was
further provided that the Act should not prevent
the operation of any Act of Parliament establish-
ing prohibitions or imposing duties for the regula-
tion of navigation and commerce ; such duties to
be applied to the use of the respective provinces.
Pitt, when introducing the measure to the
House, announced that in order to prevent any
such dispute as that which had separated the
Thirteen States from the Mother Country, it was
provided that the British Parliament should im-
pose no taxes but such as might be necessary for
the regulation of trade and conMnerce ; and to
guard against the abuse of this power such taxes
were to be levied and disposed of by the Legisla-
ture of each division of the Province. The text
of the Bill had not been sent to Canada, but Pitt
had held frequent conferences in London with
Mr. Adam Lymburner and others, who were fully
informed concerning the scope and meaning of
the measure. When the Bill came up in the
House on April 20th, Sheridan was apparently
ignorant of this fact, as in Lord Clarendon's
Parliamentary Chronicle we find him making
the objection that : '' It was not till lately he un-
derstood that the very persons had not been con-
sulted in this business who were most interested
and best qualified to give information. By some
strange neglect he (Pitt) had not had communica-
tion on the subject with those very people from
whom he was most likely to have received infor-
mation and advice." As a matter of fact Mr.
Lymburner had be'jn examined at the Bar of the
House on March 23rd, almost a month before
Sheridan made this charge against Pitt. Mr.
Lymburner had then ^-cme exhaustively into the
condition of the Province and its requirements;
and his statement, along with the petition which
he presented on behalf of certain of the inhabit-
ants, remains to-day t highly interesting his-
torical document.
The case he presented declared that while the
Province belonged to France the country was
thinly inhabited ; agriculture and commerce were
neglected, despised, and discouraged ; credit and
circulation were confined ; and mercantile trans-
actions were neither numerous, extensive, nor in-
tricate because the India Company had been
permitted to retain the monopoly of the fur trade
which was almost the only export during that
period from the Province. The French Govern-
ment seemed to have been totally unacquainted
with the mercantile resources of the country, and
to have estimr^ted the possession of it merely as
being favourable to their policy of distressing the
neighbouring British Colonies. The inhabitants
m.^
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVEDIA.
139
were miserably poor, and the province was a
dead weight upon France.
Taking up the provisions of the proposed Act,
Mr, Lymburner, in the first place, called attention
to the preamble which stated that the Quebec
Act was in many respects inapplicable to the
present condition and circumstances of the Prov-
ince. He asked for the repeal of the (,)(iebec Act
absolutely, saying : " I cannot perceive any reason
for retaining that Act as part of the new Consti-
tution." Again he declared : " I stand before
this Honourable House, the agent, I have no
hesitation to say, of a number of the most respect-
able and intelligent of the French-Canadians to
solicit the total repeal of the Quebec Act. My
constituents wish to receive from the British
Parliament a new and complete constitution, un-
clogged and unembarrassed by any laws prior to
this period."
The division of the Province was strenuously
opposed by Mr. Lymburner. " I have not heard,"
he observed " that it has been the object of
general wish on the part of the Loyalists who are
settled in the upper parts of the Province, and I
can assure this Honourable Honco that it has not
been desired by the inhabitants of the lower parts
of ♦lie country." He represented the proposed
division as an unwise step because " if from ex-
perience the division shall be found dangerous to
the security of the Government, or to Me general
interests of the people, it cannot again be
united." Further he declared that :
" The new Province of Upper Canada will be
entirely cut off from all communication with Great
Britain, their government will be complete within
itself, and as from their situation they cannot
carry on any foreign commerce, but by the inter-
vention and assistance of the merchants of Quebec
and Montreal, they will, therefore, have very little
reason to correspond with Great Britain and few
opportunities of mixing in the society of Britons.
How far these circumstances may operate in
gradually weakening their attachment to tliis
Kingdom I shall leave to the reflection of the
honourable members.
The geographical features of Upper Canada
furnished the speaker with another argument that
is not uninteresting in this age of triumphant
engineering, and is illustrative of how mistaken a
man may be in making prophecies. " The falls
of Niagara," he urged "are an insurmountable
barrier to the transportation of produce. Detroit
can never be made more than a small settlement ;
Quebec is nearly in the centre of the cultivable
part of the Province. The new settlers might be
content to (.boose for their Deputies gentlemen in
Quebec and Montreal, connected with them in
the line of business." Mr. Lymburner also vigour-
ously objected to the proposal of the Bill touching
the constitution of the Legislative Council. Of
this he said : " It is proposed that the office of
member of the Legislative Council may, at His
Majesty's pleasure, be made hereditary, so as to
form a kmd of nobility or aristocratic body in that
Province. This, Sir, is going further than the
people have desired, as this Honourable House
will see by their petitions, for they have therein
only requested that the Councillors should hold
their places during life and reside in the Province."
This was one of the points of sharp debate in the
House though Pitt declined to give way upon it.
It was not until May 6th that the historic debate
upon the measure was opened by Burke. Some
of his utterances, found in Lord Clarendon's
Parliamentary Chronicle of that date, cannot be
ignored in any survey of the passage of the Act.
He began his argument by pointing out that the
Province of Quebec had been acquired by con-
quest, which carried with it all the rights of anci-
ent government and all its duties to govern by
the rules of justice and equity, and to promote the
essential interests of the persons governed. Th«
British nation had been in the undisputed posses-
sion of Canada for more than thirty years, and
they were consequently bound to give that country
what in their estimation was the best form of
government. They ought to employ their utmost
exertions for the happiness, quiet, satisfaction,
and rational liberty of the people they governed ;
and on the other hand the inhabitants of Canada
were bound to obey. This was the law of nations,
and for that reason and upon that ground he
found a competency in the House to make laws
for Canada. The question of competency being
settled, the next thing to which they were to pro-
ceed was upon what principles they were to make
those laws.
Canada stood in a double relation to Great
Britain with regard to its internal happiness and
with refard to its external security. A new light
«./'■
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MO
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Ill
■-I
a
i 5
had arisen upon the horizon of France. The
French Academies uniting with French clubs, had
discovered a new mine of wisdom which their
forefathers dreamed not of. They had excited the
blaze of liberty with the torch of sedition, and
had diffused the flame of freedom by the help of
La Lanterne. With respect to this new species of
humanity which had lately made its appearance
in France, and which a rebellious, frantic, and
murderous democracy had dignified with the
name of government, he held it utterly unworthy
the attention of any legislator whatever. There
were three authorities in the modern world which
he conceived would be of great weight. The first
was the American Constitution, the next the
French Constitution., .and the third was the British
Constitution. He knew no others that were likely
or fit to be resorted to as precedents. With re-
gard to the American Constitution there was no
doubt, when they were making laws for a province
in the vicinity of the United States, that very great
consideration should be used so that the inhabi-
tants of Canada might see nothing in the situa-
tion or government of the American States to
excite their envy or their discontent.
" If Parliament," he continued, " should offer
them the British Constitution, there was no danger
that they would prefer the American Constitution
to it, since they had emigrated from the United
States and had fled from the constitution which
might be supposed to be an object of their jealousy.
This they had deserted, and had taken refuge
under the British Monarchy, and therefore the
British Constitution, it was clear, had not dis-
pleased the people of that country to such a de-
gree as to shock their inveterate prejudices."
The speaker continued in a long and powerful
speech to contend that in giving them the British
Constitution they were in no danger of giving
them what would make them envy their neigh-
bours. If he chose the British Constitution for
them he should offer no violence to their minds,
nor afford them any subject of jealousy. With
respect to the Frenchmen who were established
in Canada, humanity to a conquered people re-
quired perhaps that Parliament should consider
whether Great Britain should not, on their ac-
count, establish the system of France. The
province being a conquered country was, however,
no reason for treating the inhabitants hardly, or
using them ill.
On the contrary it ought to operate as a double
reason for behaving to them with justice and
equity. And they were also entitled to all possi-
ble tenderness and respect. He would ask what
was the consideration with respect to them which
should induce the adoption of the French Con-
stitution for Frenchmen. The constitution was
founded on principles diametrically opposite to
those he had stated, no part of what had been
done in France being at all applicable to the
British system. The French Constitution was,
in fact, directly the reverse of the English one.
It was in all its parts vicious and impracticable.
It could not be engrafted on the English Consti-
tution. It was as distant from it as Heaven from
earth and wisdom from folly, and they ought not
to give their colonies, for the sake of experiment,
what they would not take themselves.
In the course of this impassioned speech its
author had been repeatedly called to order, and
Fox reflected bitterly upon the course Burke had
taken. The latter retorted that the address of
Fox was the most disorderly ever delivered in the
House. The Parliamentary Chronicle says : " Mr.
Fox rose again ; but so much was his heart and
mind affected by the circumstances of the debate
that it was some moments before he could proceed.
Tears rolled down his cheeks and he strove in
vain to give utterance to feelings that dignified
and exalted his nature. We never saw him so
moved, and in justice to the House W2 must say
that they sympathized in the sufferings of his
ingenuous temper."
During the subsequent debate Fox defended
himself against the accusations made by both Pitt
and Burke that his principles trenched too much
on Republicanism. Pitt had declared that Burke's
struggle in favour of the constitution justly en-
titled him to the warmest gratitude of his fellow-
subjects. Burke, returning to the attack on Fox,
continued : " With whatever craft or subtlety
gentlemen might endeavour to gloss over their
proceedings, he boldly avowed in the face of the
public that there was a section in this country,
restless and turbulent, who wished to supplant
the British Government by the introduction of
the French Constitution." Pitt again defended
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CANADA : AN ENCYCL0P.4:DIA.
«4^
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the provision for an Hereditary Council, in imita-
tion of the House of Lords, on the ground that an
elective council would have too strong an infusion
of Republican principles.
Fox expressed vigourous opposition upon this
point. The Parliamentary Chronicle reports him as
declaring that upon every ground of consideration
it would be wise, and what was more, indispens-
ably necessary, that an aristocracy should not be
made a branch of the constitution in Canada.
Having described what was the aristocracy form-
ing part of the British Constitution, he said no
aristocracy could be obtained for the proposed
constitution of Canada. He would ask whether
there was any one who from services could claim
the distinction of nobility in that province ;
whether there were any that the prejudices of the
people respected as nobility ? He believed none.
Therefore the institution of an aristocratic power
must be the work of time. Distinctions in soci-
ety, he observed, operated more powerfully on
man than any lucrative acquisition. It was the
medicine of the mind which cured the evil result-
ing from the boldest enterprise and gratified the
anxieties of ambition. But how the honourable
gentleman (Pitt) could infuse these transcendent
qualities into the hearts of an upstart nobility in
Canada remained for him to determine. Although
he might astonish the world when least expected
by his wonderful political sagacity, yet he advised
him to desist from his present absurd plan, which
contained nothing of a conciliatory nature. Fox
then made the substitute proposal that the Legis-
lative Council should be elected, not from those
who composed the Assembly, nor from those who
elected the Assembly, but from a superior body of
men possessed of certain property which gave
them a qualification.
Pitt defended his views. He strictly wished,
he said, to give Canada as perfect a constitution
as possible, and therefore he should give it the
aristocracy of Great Britain. The outline of the
British Constitution and the mixture of monarchy,
aristocracy, and democracy formed what it was
the intention of the Bill to transmit to Canada,
and to apply the constitution entire in all its parts,
not in any particular one. Aristocracy must have
a beginning, must come from the King. The
increase of riches and commerce which he believed
would arise from the new constitution in Upper
Canada would soon furnish more than would be
fit objects of preferment to honours and distinc-
tion, and though emancipated from their old sys-
tem, he was not afraid they would throw off their
allegiance as other colonies had done, and this
was one reason why the same system had not
been offered to them as had been formerly abused
by others.
Burke advanced the views expressed by Pitt
still further by declaring that it was true they
could not have in Canada an ancient hereditary
nobility because they could not make one hun-
dred years old what was but of a day ; but an
elective council would clearly be a democratic
council. Wilberforce advocated the same policy
by saying that though at first they could produce
only saplings of an aristocracy, in the course of
years these would become forests capable of bear-
ing up against any innovation of the Crown or
people. The debate was then diverted by Fox to
the provision for a Protestant clergy. It was im-
proper, he said, to provide for a Protestant clergy
only. Pitt answered that the clause in the Bill
allowed the Governor the discretion of distribut-
ing lands to Protestant clergy of any description ;
and though those belonging to the Church of
England would be most encouraged, provision
would no doubt be made for others where it might
be found necessary.
On the motion to read the Bill a second time
Fox brought on a division over the clause provid-
ing for hereditary legislators in Upper and Lower
Canada, also on that admitting the number thirty
to be sufficient for the Assembly of Lower
Canada. The majority against him was 49 ; Ayes
88, Najs 39. Pitt then immediately moved to
make the number fifty instead of thirty. This
was carried over an amendment by Fox that the
number be one hundred.
On May 30th the Bill was discussed in the
House of Lords. Counsel were called to I he Bar
in support of a petition that had been presented
against the Bill. This debate is interesting as
throwing some light on the character of (Colonel
Simcoe, the first Governor chosen for Upper
Canada. Lord Rawdon said that their choice had
fallen on a gentleman who was, he was persuaded,
of all the men in England the most adequate to
F ■
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»44
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
1 i
the situation. Intelligence, liberality and a spirited
activity were decided requisites, which it was
more easy to point out as peculiar qualifications
than to find united in one individual. Such, how-
ever, he could tike upon himself to say, were
eminently possessed by the intended Governor.
He hoped the Ministers would properly reward a
man who was about to give up the tranquil enjoy-
ment of ease and affluence and devote himself at
a critical period to a public service.
Having followed the Constitutional Act in its
passage through both the Imperial Houses, it is
only necessary to record a few dates relating to
its operation. On August 24, 1791, two orders
were passed by the King-in-Council, one making
the division of Quebec into the provinces of Upper
and Lower Canada, the other authorizing the
Governor to fix a day for the Act to go into opera-
tion. Lord Dorchester had left on August the
17th, and the Government being in the hands of
Major-General Alured Clarke, he as Lieut-Gov-
ernor, proclaimed Dec. 26th, 1791, as the day
when the division of the Province should take
place. H.R.H. Prince Edward — afterwards Duke
' of Kent — commanding the Royal Fusiliers, arrived
on H.M.S. Ulysses on August 12th to be pres-
ent on the occasion. By a Proclamation dated at
Quebec, 7th May, 1792, Lower Canada was
divided into counties, cities, and towns, defined
as follows in regard to representation in the
Assembly : (Counties) Cornwallis, Devon, Hert-
ford, Dorchester, Buckingham, Richelieu, Surrey,
Kent, Huntingdon, York, Montreal, Effingham,
Leinster, Warwick, St. Maurice, Hampshire,
Quebec, Northumberland (18) entitled each to
two representatives; (Counties) Gaspe, Bedford
and Orleans (3) each of which was to return but
one representative ; (Cities and Towns) Quebec
and Montreal respectively to return four repre-
sentatives Three Rivers two, and William Henry
one — in all 50.
The Proclamation dividing Upper Canada for
the purposes of representation was issued at
Kingston by Lieut. -Governor Sinicoe, on July
16th, 1792, as follows : Glengarry, two ridings,
each to have one representative ; Stormont, Dun-
das and Grenville, each to have one representa-
tive ; Leeds and Frontenac to be represented
together by one member ; Ontario and Addington
to be represented together by one member ; Prince
Edward with part of Lennox, one member ; Hast-
ings and Northumberland, one member ; Durham
and York and the first riding of Lincoln one mem-
ber: the second riding of Lincoln one member ;
the third riding of Lincoln one member ; the
fourth riding of Lincoln, together with Norfolk,
one member ; Suffolk and Essex together one
member; Kent two members ; in all 16.
Lieut.-Governor Clarke's proclamation an-
nouncing the issue of writs for the election of the
First Assembly of the Province of Lower Canada
was dated May 14th, 1792, the writs being made
returnable July loth following. The first parlia-
ment of Lower Canada met at Quebec on Decem-
ber 17th, 1792; the first parliament of Upper
Canada met at Niagara (Newark) on September
17th, 1792. The Constitutional Act was thus put
into operation in Upper and Lower Canada. For
twenty years it continued to give a fair measure of
satisfaction. I have stated that it was framed at a
moment when Western civilization had arrived at
a crisis of the most vital character ; also that it
was designed practically to attach to Downing
Street the administration of a weak, divided, and
exposed colony. However, the constitution
whose agis it spread over the heads of distant
Colonists was then, as it is still, undergoing a slow
but certain development. As the constitution of
a century ago produced and maintained security
long enough to avert the dangers that existed at
its origin it cannot be considered a failure. All
of its provisions were not suited to the absolutely
unique needs of the people for whom it was in-
tended to provide a system of government, but in
some respects where it was calculated to run
counter to progress and Imperial unity, no effort
was made to force Colonial feeling. The provis-
ion to make the office of Councillor hereditary
was never once acted upon either in Upper or
Lower Canada.
The general effect produced by the measure
was immediately favourable. An unanimous de-
termination would in fact seem to have manifest-
ed itself in both Provinces to co-operate in the
policy of the Home government. This feeling in
itself helped temporarily to promote harmony
between the two races ; but whether the opera-
tion of the new constitution ever got beyond the
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.i:i)IA.
145
experimental staple is a question to be examined
altogether apart from the success achieved during
the period — 1792 to 1810 — when the Act was work-
ing well. Thenceforward the tendency of Canadian
political development seems to have turned sharp-
ly upon the popular dislike to any power-holding
class in the State. The growth of a party spirit
doubtless gave definite aim to this new influence
in the field of politics, and also weakened the bar-
riers that had arisen against the old evil of race
prejudices. An irruption of this latter disintegrat-
ing influence quickly followed, making the fate of
the Colonies more and more to depend on the
exercise of the Imperial authority. Of course the
further events drifted in this direction the more
pronounced grew the general discontent.
This revival of Canadian distractions happened
at a time of embarrassment and anxiety in Eng-
land. War and commercial depression were the
conditions which marked the closing years of
George the Third's reign. The personal influence
of the King, which had been so weighty a factor
in the Imperial policy of twenty years before, was
no longer felt, and it cannot be doubted that a
growing sentiment of mistrust was abroad in
Canada in 1812. That year, however, stands
forth like a milestone marking the final stage of
the better feeling produced by the Constitutional
Act. When the crisis of war came it was met by
a patriotic and almost unanitnous response to the
American invaders. But the stirring events of
1812-14 could not arrest the Canadian political
evolution which, keeping pace with the spirit of
reform in England, was gradually but surely pre-
paring the way through devious by-paths of agita-
tion and constitutional storm for the re-union of
the provinces in 1841 and for a subsequent period
of intense disquiet.
The British Governors-General of Canada.
from the cession until the Union of 1841 must
not be confused with the various Lieutenant-
Governors of Upper or Lower Canada — some of
whom acted as administrators from time to time.
The Governors-General were as follows :
1760. General Lord Amherst.
1764. General James Murray.
1768. General Sir Guy Carleton.
1778. General Sir Frederick Haldimand.
1786. Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester.
7.797. Major-General Prescott.
1807. Sir James H. Craig.
1811. General Sir George Prevost.
1816. Sir John Coape Sherbrooke.
1818. Charles, Duke of Richmond.
1820. George, Earl of Dalhousie.
1831. Matthew, Lord Aylmer.
1835. The Earl of Gosford.
1838. The Earl of Durham.
1839. Sir John Colborne (Lord Seaton).
1839. Charles Poulett Thompson ( Lord Syden-
ham).
The Administrators included Sir Gordon Drum-
mond. Sir Peregrine Maitland, and Sir James
Kempt.
Lieut.-General John Graves Simcoe, the flrst
Lieut. -Governor of Upper Canada, was born in
Northamptonshire, England, in 1752. His father
was a Captain in the Navy and was killed during
the siege of Quebec in 1759. The son was educated
at Eton and Oxford, and at the age of nineteen
entered the Army as Ensign in the 35th Regiment.
After serving in America at the battle of the
lirandywine and elsewhere, he obtained in 1777
the command of the Queen's Rangers — a Royalist
Regiment which soon became famous and took
part in nearly every battle of the Revolutionary
war until its unfortunate surrender with Corn-
wallis at Yorktown. After this Colonel Simcoe
returned to England. He was cordially received
by the King, elected to Parliament, and married
to a daughter of Admiral Graves. In 1791 lie
returned to Upper Canada as its first Lieut. -Gov-
ernor, after the passage of the new Act, and served
with distinction for five years, when he was ap-
pointed Governor of St. Domingo with the rank
of Lieut.-General. In 1801 the command of Ply-
mouth was entrusted to him at a time when the
146
CANADA; AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
tj i
1;'
m
French invasion was anticipated, and in 1806 he
was despatched with the Earl of Rosslyn and
Admiral, the Karl of St. Vincent, upon an impor-
tant expedition to Portnj,'al. Upon the voyage,
however, bo was taken ill and returned home to
die. His siirvicis to Canada, and Ontario in par-
ticular, rank with those of better known though
not greater nion.
Adam Lymburner was a native of Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire, and was born in 1746. He succeeded
to the business of his brother John, when the lat-
ter, in 1775, sailed from Ouehec, and was lost at
sea. He was for many years a member of the
Executive Council of the Province, but finally
took up his residence in London, where he died
on the loth of January, 1836. He lived to see
the completion of the first Lachine canal, in 1823,
and the Carillon-Grenville canal, with the Kideau
navigation to Kingston, in 1832. The Welland
canal had been completed in 1829. '^.v these im-
portant works the district of Niagara, which he
had described in London as the limit of civiliza-
tion, had become the central part of Upper Can-
ada, while the province to its western limit at the
Detroit river had become well inhabited. His
selection by the English-speaking merchants and
settlers in Canada to present their views upon the
workings of the Quebec Act to the British Gov-
ernment, and his eloquent speech at the liar of
the House of Commons, will preserve his name
j)roniincntly upon the pages of Canadian history.
When the changes of 1791 were contemplated
the Colonial Secretary called upon Lord Dorches-
ter to report upon the form of civil government
and code of law which it might be advisable to
introduce. Dorchester's statement declared that
any change in the constitution should be gradual
and that a firm and paternal administration was
the best cure for existent troubles. The Loyalist
settlement in the west he regarded as unprepared
for any organization higher than that required for
a county, and he thought that no time should be
lost in selecting an able Lieut. -Governor for the
four western districts. He strongly counselled an
early decision on this subject. In case the divi-
sion of the Province was to take place, he sub-
mitted suggestions as to the best line of separa-
tion. In 1789 he was notified that the division
was definitely determined upon and a draft of tiie
proposed Hill was sent to him for consideration
and any observations he might deem expedient.
On October 20th, Grenville, then Colonial
Secretary, gave a general view of the policy which
it was proposed to inaugurate, in the following
words :
" Your Lordship will observe that the general
object in this plan is to assimilate the constitu-
tion of that Province to that of Great Britain, as
nearly as the difference arising from the manners
of the people and from the present situation of
the Province will admit. In doing this, a consid-
erable degree of attention is due to the prejudices
and habits of the French inhabitants, who com-
pose so large a proportion of the community, and
every degree of caution should be used to con-
tinue to them the enjoyment of those civil and
religious rights, which were secured to them by
the Capitulation of the Province, or have since
been grunted by the liberal and enlightened spirit
of the British Government."
From the first it had been resolved to make the
office of Legislative Councillor hereditary, but the
proposal (lid not receive Dorchester's support. He
pointed out that if the prosperity of the country
furnished the means of supporting the dignity,
some advantages might result from the systetn.
But as the changeable conditions of wealth in a
new country might expose hereditary honours to
possible contempt, he recommended that for the
present members should only be appointed during
life, good behaviour, and residence in the Prov-
ince. This wise recommendation was not accept-
ed and the clause conferring hereditary honours
was retained in the Act, though it was never put
into force.
During this constitutional controversy it is
interesting to note that the establishment of the
present Dominion Parliament was clearly antici-
pated by Chief Justice Smith. Of course circum-
stances hardly admitted any practical considera-
tion of the idea owing to the small, scattered
population and the expense which would have
been entailed. The theory, however, received a
certain recognition in the appointment of Lord
Dorchester as Governor-General in 1786. He
then entered upon his duties as Governor-General
of British North America, which included Canada
CANADA: AN KNCYCLOIMIDIA.
M7
and tlic two provinces of Nova Scotia and New
Briinswicl<.
The suKKCstion referred to was contained in a
letter from Chief Justice Smith to Lord Dor-
chester, and was by iiim forwarded to the Home
Government. The Chief Justice pointed out that
the new Act was laying the founthition of two
flourishing provinces " for mure to grow out of
them, to conipose at no remote peiioti a mass of
power very worthy of immediate attention." What
was needed in order to form them into one general
combination for the " united interests and safety
of every branch of the empire," was a sort of federal
system. He believed the revolt in the old (Ameri-
can) provinces to have been due to the fact that the
country had outgrown its government. The dif-
ficulty had arisen from the exercise of government
by many petty legislatures with no controlling
power, and from the fact that those constituting
them had been taught to consider they were the
true substance of authority and the Provincial
Governor and Council only its shadow. Thus a
democratic spirit had been encouraged, uncon-
trolled by a central administrative authority which
might have developed some common political life
and formed the self-governing provinces upon
lines of Imperial policy in which their own safety
and the common welfare would have beep equally
consulted.
With this view the Chief Justice recommended a
Legislative Assembly and Council for the whole of
Hritish America south of Hudson's Hay and north
of Bermuda, to make laws for the good government
of all the provinces. The members of the Coun-
cil were to be appointed for life ; the Assembly
was to be elected by the Provincial House of
Assembly of each province, and to be summoned
once in two years ; the Legislature was to con-
tinue for seven years ; the Governor-in-Chief was
to have the power to assent to a Bill or to leave it
for the Royal pleasure, and to hold power above
that of the Lieutenant-Governors. The Provin-
cial Acts were to be submitted to the central gov-
ernment for approval, which, if expedient, could
be withheld. All acts of the central Council were
to be subject to Imperial disallowance.
nr
CANADA UNDER EARLY BRITISH RULE
JOHN READE. F.R.S.C.
THE closing years of IVencli power in Can-
ada were characterized by much which
made the memorable change of rule not
only tolerable, but desirable. Apart
from any consideration of the almost constant and
decimating warfare which had been waged be-
tween the French settlers and the British and
Indians, the rapacity and venality of such men as
Intendant Bigot and his accomplices had served
in no small degree to make the French Govern-
ment of Canada odious and contemptible in the
eyes of the French-Canadians themselves.
Agriculture was neglected. To such an extent
was the farmer a prey to the exactions of the
rulers, the seigneurs and the soldiery that he had
no heart to apply himself diligently to the tillage
of the land. He was, moreover, liable at any mo-
ment, perhaps in the very work of harvesting, to
be called away for military service. He had rea-
son to be satisfied, considering the precaviousness
of his circumstances, if he gained sufficient to
clothe and feed his body and those of his family.
The implements which he used were such as his
ancestors had brought from France generations
before, and of science in connection with his la-
bours he had never heard. His mode of farming
was, therefore, of the rudest kind, as, indeed, that
of the Canadian habitant still is in districts re-
mote from the influence of progress. Nor was
there any apparent prospect of improvement.
Of manufactures there were none worth speak-
ing of, and trade was in the hands of a few. Com-
merce was forbidden fruit to all but the favourites
of the existing government. To these, and to
adventurers who had no stake in the country, be-
longed the produce of river and lake and forest —
the fish, the fur, and the timber. The popula-
tion, which was estimated at 60,000 at the time
of the conquest, was, as may be imagined, scat-
tered over a large aron. With the exception of
Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers, there were
no towns worthy of the name. There were the
beginnings of villages at St. John's, L'Assomption,
Berthier, Sorel, and other places, but the great
mass of the inhabitants was settled along the banks
of the St. Lawrence or its tributaries. Some of
the more adventurous had taken to the wild, free
life of the woods, and had identified themselves
by habits or inter-marriage with the aboriginal
tribes.
Small as the population was, it was distinctly
marked by lines of social partition — the influen-
tial middle class of the present day being, how-
ever, wanting. The noblesse, the gentry, the
higher clergy, and the few wealthy traders,
formed a society which was modelled on that of
the French mother-country. Between this class
and the mechanics and peasantry there was n>i
connecting link except what was supplied 1" hf
ministers of religion, whose office made
common to all. There are still in the rural s-
tricts of Lower Canada communities which re-
semble in most respects those into which the
population of New France was divided before the
conquest. An earnest quest might still discover
many villages of Longpr(5, a few " Evangelines,"
and an occasional " Basil the Blacksmith," in the
Arcadia, if not the Acadia, of our Dominion.
And they are certainly not less prosperous and
happy to-day than their forefathers were in the
days of Intendant Bigot, or would ever have been
under the rule of France either before or since
the tragic disappearance from the stage of life of
" Monsieur and Madame Capet." It is, neverthe-
less, heartily to be wished that they were more so.
During the period between the conquest and
the Treaty of 1763, many of the French residents
of the towns returned to France, but the greit
148
CANADA. .\N ENCYCLOPi^iDIA.
'40
bulk of the people chose to remain. A Rood
number of the soldiers who took p.irt in the sub-
jugation of the country settled in Canaila, and
not a few of them chose wives from anionj,' the
daughters of the habitants, as their descendants
are still liviu},' to attest. Scotch names especially
abound in the French Canada of to-day. There
are Camerons, Frasers, Morrisons, Armstrongs,
Reids, Murrays, and McKenzies, who never
spoke a word of English, and who are quite un-
conscious of any anomaly in their names and
speech. English, Irish, Welsh, and German
names are found, though in less number. There
were also, probably, occasional accessions of
British blood by immigration from the British
colonies before the conqueet. To such immigra-
tion, no doubt, the latter event gave a consider-
able impulse. But however the British coloniza-
tion of French Canada began, the English-
speaking portion of the population had acquired
considerable influence and wealth before the first
lustrum after the Battle of the Plains had passed
away. The establishment of the Quebec Gazette
by an English-speaking firm in 1764 is sufficient
proof of this, which proof receives additional con-
firmation from the many and various English
advertisements which its first numbers contained.
Whatever shock the change of masters may
have given to the few who were most deeply in-
terested in the continuance of the old regime,
there is little reason to doubt that it was soon
considered as generally satisfactory. The victors
imposed no hard yoke on the vanquished. On
the contrary, the latter were left in undisturbed
possession of all those institutions which they
most valued, while many oppressions under which
they had long suffered were removed. There
was, naturally, some jealous impatience of the
power of officials who were aliens in blood and
language, but disputes of any importance on
grounds of origin were not destined to arise till
long afterwards. Eleven years after the con-
quest, among some verses read by the pupils of
the " Petit Seminaire " of Quebec to Governor-
General Sir Guy Carleton, on the occasion of a
visit paid by His Excellency to that institution,
occur the following words :
" Apprends done en ce juur de fete
A ne plu* (leplorer ton tort,
Peuple, Aux juHtei loi* plu« fnrt
Suumis par le <lr<jit <le conquete."
Much of the contentment manifested by the
French-Canadians of that time with the English
Government was undoubtedly due to the clergy,
who, besides their ordinary pastoral influence,
had also charge of the houses of education.
Patriotic sentiment apart, they had little cause
to be dissatisfied with the change, and the time
was soon to come when they might well re-
gard it as a blessing. The chief difficulties
between the two sections of the population
arose with regard to the laws for the ad-
ministration of property and the use of the
French language in the courts of law. But
these difficulties were settled with equitable
consideration for the majority. At all times,
however, there was an extreme F'rench party
amongst the French, and an extreme English
party amongst the English. To what dissension
and bloodshed the high-handed conduct of the
latter afterwards led is well known ; yet, ulti-
mately, through the sinuous course of events, it
was the means of producing the constitution, so
fair for all parties in the State, which is now en-
joyed. Sic itiir ad astra.
One has only to recall the ideas which actuated
the policy of British statesmen a hundred years
ago, or even at a much later period, as to all
questions connected with popular representation,
to be aware that this ripe fruit of modern liberty
had no place in the system of government
which was established after the conquest. The
Governor and Council were the Legislature.
The people's duty was to be ruled and taxed, and
to obey the laws. Still, from the conquest to the
Constitutional Act of 1791 (in which year, also.
Upper Canada became a separate Province), it
does not appear that Canada laboured under
greater disadvantages of administration than the
rest of the world. Quite otherwise; she is the
gainer in the comparison. Her refusal to join
with the thirteen insurgent colonies goes far to
prove that her people were fairly treated, and
were happy enough to be sturdily loyal. The
general results of the change which was effected
by Wolfe's victory were well summed up by
' * 'tl
H'.i ■■■:,
'f:i\
■,h? "^
■'■:[''
. /
*K
150
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKOIA.
I
.•li ,1
li
?n
i!
Si
the late Mr. Papineau, one of the ablest men
whom Canada h^s produced, in a speech which
he delivered to the electors of Montreal West in
the year iS.^o. Speaking of his country as it was
under French rule, he says : —
" Canada seems not to have been considered as
a country which, from fertility of soil, salubrity of
climate and extent of territory, might then have
been the peaceful abode of a numerous and happy
population ; but as a military post, whose feeble
garr'son was condemned to live in a state of per-
petual warfare and insecurity ; frequently suffering
from famine, without trade, or witli a trade mon-
opolized by private companies, with public and
private property often pillaged, and personal lib-
erty daily violated. Year after 3'car the handful of
inhabitants settled in the Pi vince, were dragged
from tlieir homes and families to shed their blood
and carry murder and havoc from tlie shores 01
Mic great lakes, the Mississippi and Ohio, totiiose
of Nova Scotia, NewfounJiand and Hudson's Bay.
ii'uch was the situation of our fathers."
He then goes on to contrast with this sad
picture the condition of the country under British
protection: "Behold tlie change George III.,
a Sovereign revered for his moral character,
attention to hi.; Kingly duties, and love of his sub-
jects, succeeds to Louis XV., a prince tiien
deservedly despised for his debauchery, his in-
attention to the wants of his people, and his lavish
profusion of public moneys upon his favourites
and mistresses. From that day the reign of law
su ;ceeded to that of violence ; from that day the
treasures, the navy, and the armies of Great
Britain are mustered to afford us an invincible
protection against external dangers ; from that
day the better nart 01 her laws became ours, while
our religion, property, and the laws by which they
were governed remained unaltered." Such an
acknowledgment from such a man is right worthy
ofbemg had m remembrance. To Sir Guy Carle-
ton, afterwards Lord Dorciiester, who governed
Canada altogether for nearly twenty years, and
who took a deep and practice! interest in its well-
fare from the con(iuest (in •v'.iich he had a share)
till his death in 1S08, is due in no small degree
whatever of prosperity came to be its lot during
the period of British possession in the last century.
As a leader in peace and war he has had few
equals. His administration, which was just with-
out being harsh, firm and yet conciliatory; his
bravery as asol'fjer and his skill as a general, as
well as his private virtues, deservediy won for him
the admiration, esteem, and affection of all who
came within the circle of his influence.
Let us now enquire what was the social condi-
tion of Canada under British rule in the last cen-
tury.
If there were nothing left to the enquirer but
the single advertisement of John Baird, which
appeared in the first number of the Quebec
Gazette, as the basis of information, he might,
with a moderate power of inductiveness, con-
struct a very fair account of the mode of living
pursued at Quebec a hundred years ago. But the
fact is that he is overwhelmed with data, and his
chief difficulty is to choose with discrimination.
There is certainly ample evidence to show that
the inhabitants of the ancient capital did not stmt
themselves in the luxuries of their day and genera-
tion. The amount of wine which they consumed
was something enormous, nor are we v/anting in
proof that it was used among the better classes
to an extent which public opinion would not allow
at the present day. A correspondent, more in-
clined to sobriety than his fellow-citizens, after
complimenting Quebec society for its politeness
and hospitality — in which qualities it still excels —
finds fault with the social custom by which " men
are e.xcited and provoked by healths and rounds
of toasts to fuddle themselves in as indecent a
manner as if they were in a tavern or in the most
unpolished company." In connection with this
state of affairs it may be interesting to give the
prices of different wines at that period : Fine Old
Red Port was sold at 17 shillings a dozen ; Claret
at I2S.; Priniac at 17s.; Muscat at 24s.; Modena
at 27s.; Malaga at 17s.; Lisbon at 17s.; F}all
at 15s.
Mr. Simon Eraser, perhaps one of those con-
'. erted Jacobites who scaled the Heights of Quebec
in 1759, and then turned civilian, gives us the
prices of tea : Single green tea is 13s. a pound ;
best Hyson, 25s.; Bohea, 6s. 6d. Pity that tea
was so dear and wine so cheap I Bread was very
cheap, and large quantities of wheat were exported
— whereas now Lower Canada has to import the
most of its cereals. Great attention was jiaid to
dress, and though no sumptuary laws were in
force, the principle on which they we. ^ founded
was still remembered, and attire bespoke the
h
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
'SI
position of the wearer. The articles and stjles
advertised by drapers and tailors were, of course,
in accordance with the manufacture and fashion
of the time. The list of dry-poods and fancy
Roods was very full, but to those engaged in the
business the antique nomenclature mii^'ht be puz-
zling now. Irish linen was sold at from i/6 to
7/0 per yard, and Irish sheeting at from 1/6 to 2/6.
We are not told the prices of tammies or durants,
romals or molletons, cades or shalloons, but we
are always carefully informed that they may be
had at the lowest prices. Pains were also taken
in many instances to indicate the previous experi-
ence of the advertisers. Thus tailors and mantua-
makers generally hailed from London. Mr.Hanna,
the watchmaker, whose timekeepers still tick
attestation to his industry and popularity, was
proud to have learned his trade by the banks of
the Liffey. Mr. Bennie, tailor and habit maker,
from Edinburgh, in the pages of the Gazette,
" begs leave to inform the public that all gentle-
men and ladies svho will be so good as to favour
him with their custom may depend upon being
faithfully served on the shortest notice and in the
newest fashion for ready money or short credit,
on the most reasonable terms." There were
peruke-makers in those days, and they seem to
have thriven well in Quebec, if we may judge by
their advertised sales of real estate. Jewellers
also seem to have had plenty to do, as they adver-
tised occasionally for assistants instead of cus-
tomers. Furriers, hatters, couturiers, and shoe-
makers also presented their claims to public
favour, so that there was no lack of provision for
the wants of the outer man.
From the general tone and nature of the adver-
tisements it is easily inferred that the society of
Quebec, soon after the conquest, was gay and
lu.\urious. We are not surprised when we find
that a theatrical company thought it worth their
while to take up their abode there. Among the
pieces played we find Home's " Douglas " and
Otway's " Venice Preserved." The doors were
opened at five o'clock, and the entertainment be-
gan at half-past six ! The frequenters of the
" Thespian Theatre " were a select and privileged
class, and only subscribers were admitted. Pri-
vate theatricals were much in vogue ; and, indeed,
there was every variety of amusement which cli-
mate could allow or suggest, or the lovers of
frolic devise.
For education there does not seem to have
been any public provision, but private schools for
both sexes were numerous. These were probably
expensive, so 'hat the poorer classes were virtually
debarred from the advantages of learning. The
instruction of Catholic children was in the hands
of the clergy, and it may be that in some of the
conventual schools a certain number were ad-
mitted free of expense or at reduced rates. It
would appear that some of the young ladies wei c;
sent to England to boarding-schools, if we may
judge by advertisements in which the advantages
of these institutions are set forth. It may bo
inferred, then, that the wealthier classes of Can-
ada in those days had much the same advantages
of culture as their friends in Lngland. Inter-
course with the mother country was much more
general and frequent than might on first thought
be imagined, and, no doubt, many young gentle-
men, after preliminary training at a colonial
academy, were sent home to enter some of the
English public schools or universities. From the
higher ranks downwards education varied till it
reached the " musses," with whom its index was
a cipher. There is no reason to suppose, how-
ever, that the population of Canada, taken as a
whole, was less cultivated during the last forty
years of the eighteenth century than that of any
European nation during the same period.
From the consideration of education one nat-
urally passes to that of crime. Thefts were fre-
quent, and sometimes committed on a large scale.
The punishment was whipping at a cart-tail
through the streets of the city — the culprits them-
selves being whipped and whipsters in turn.
Assault, stealing in private houses, and highway
robbery were punished with death. The expia-
tion for manslaughter was being branded in the
hand which did the deed. Desertion was very
frequent, especially among the Hessians and
Brunswickers then stationed in Canada. In some
cases they were promised pardon if they returned
to their regiments, but woe to them if they re-
turned against their will ! Towards the end of
the year 1783 " Gustaviis Lcight, a German doc-
tor, conlined for felony, broke out of His Majesty's
gaol at Quebec." He was " 25 years of age, about
IS*
CANADA: AN ENCYCr.OP^DIA.
(I
5 feet high." We are not told whether he was
captured, as the advertisement is continued to the
end of the year, but if he did not change his dress
he could not have succeeded in baffling verj' long
the keen eye of a detective, for " he had on, when
he made his escape, a brown coat, red p'ush
waistcoat, white stockings and a cocked hat." If
such a gentleman made his appearance in the
streets of any Canadian city to-day he would
certainly be requested to " move on " or asked to
" explain his motives." One thing is certain,
that prisoners for felony in the year 1783 had not
to submit to any arbitrary sumptuary arrangement
—at least in the Quebec goal. The general state of
society in Montreal, as well as in Three Rivers,
St. John's, L'Assomption, Terrebonne, Sorel, and
the other towns and villages in existence at the
period which we are considering was, in all prob-
ability, very like that of Quebec — the last men-
tioned place having, of course, a .certain prestige
as the capital.
It would be futile to attempt to give an accur-
ate picture of the appearance of Montreal or
Quebec at that distant date, and a description
pretending to accuracy would not be possible with-
out the collation of more ancient records than are
easily obtainable by one person. The names
of some of the streets, such as Notre Dame, St.
Paul, and St. Aiitoine in Montreal, and St. John's,
Fabrique, St. P-^ter, and others in Quebec, are
still unchanged. Villages near these towns, such
as Ste. Foye, Beauport, Charlesbourg, Sault-aux-
Recollets, St. Denis, Ste. Therese, etc., are also
frequently mentioned in the old Gazettes. De-
troit and Niagara were places of considerable
importance, and St. John's, Chambly, Berthier,
L'Assomption, L'Acadie, and several other places
were much more influential communities in com-
parison with the population of the country than
they are to-day. The authorities at Quebec and
Montreal were not wanting in endeavours to keep
these cities clean, to judge, at least, by the pub-
lished " regulations for the police." Every house-
holder was obliged to put the Scotch proverb in
force, and keep clean and " free from filth, mud,
dirt, rubbish, straw, or hay " one-half of the street
opposite his own house. The " cleanings " were
to be deposited on the beach, as they still are in
the portions of Montreal and Quebec which bor-
der on the river. Treasure-trove in the shape of
stray hogs could be kept by the finder twenty-four
hours after the event, if no claim had been made
in the meantime ; and if the owner declared him-
self in person or through the bellman, he had to
pay los. before he could have his pork restored.
Five shillings was the penalty for a stray horse.
The regulations for vehicles, slaughter-houses,
sidewalks, markets, etc., were equally strict.
Among other duties, the carters had tu keep the
markets clean. The keepers of taverns, inns, and
coffee-houses had to light the streets. Everyone
enter'ing the town in a sleigh had to carry a
shovel with him for the purpose of levelling cahots
which interruDted hi= progress, " at any distance
within three leagues of the town." The rates of
cabs and ferry boats are fixed with much preci-
sion. No carter was allowed to plead a prior
engagement, but was to go " with the person who
first demanded him, under a penalty of twenty
shillings." The rate of speed was also regulated,
and boys were not allowed to drive.
Constant reference is made to the walls and
gates of Montreal as well as Quebec, and there is
reason to believe the smaller towns were similarly
fortified. Beyond the walls, however, there was
a considerable population, and many of the mili-
tary officers, government officials, and merchants
had villas without the city. The area in Mont-
real which lies between Craig, St. Antoine, and
Sherbrooke streets were studded with country
houses with large gardens and orchards attached.
The seigneurs and other gentry had also fine,
capacious, stone-built residences, which much
enhanced the charm of the rural scenery. Some
of the estates of those days were of almost im-
mense extent. The Kings of France thought
nothing of granting a whole Province, and, even
in British times, there were gentlemen whose
acres would have super-imposed an English coun-
ty. The extraordinary donation by James I. of
a large portion of North America to Sir William
Alexander was not long since brought before the
public by the claims of his descendants. Large
tracts of land were given away by Louis XIII.,
Louis XIV., and other French Kings, as well as
by Oliver Cromwell and the Stuarts ; while the
same extravagant system of entailing unmanage-
able wealth on companies and indivi lunls was
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
153
continued to some extent after the conquest.
It would be interesting to know what was the
kind of literary fare on which the intellect of
Canada subsisted in those days. It cannot be
supposed that the people spent all their time in
business and social pleasure. There must have
been readers as well as cariolers and dancers, and
the literature of England and France was by no
means scanty. Great writers on every subject
have flourished since that time, but some of the
greatest that ever lived, some of those whose pro-
ductions are still read with the highest pleasure,
were the offspring of the two centu'^ies which pre-
ceded the conquest. No one will be surprised to
find, then, that in the year 1783 a circulating
library at Quebec numbered nearly 2,000 volumes.
Nor is the enquirer left in the dark as to its prob-
able contents. In the Quebec Gai'd/c of the 4th
of December a list of books is given which
" remained unsold at Jacques Perrault's, very
elegantly bound " — and books were bound sub-
stantially as well as elegantly in those days. In
this list are found " Johnson's Dictionary," then
regarded as one of the wonders of the literary
world ; " Chesterfield's Letters," long the vade-
mecum of every young gentleman beginning life,
and which, even in our own days (and perhaps
still), were frequently bound along with spelling
and reading books ; the " Pilgrim's Progress,"
which it is not necessary to characterize; Young's
"Night Thoughts" ; the Spectator and
Guardian; Rapin's "English History";
" Cook's Voyages " ; Rousieau's " Eloise " ;
" Telemaque " ; " Histoire Chinoise"; "Esprit
des Croissades " ; " Lettres de Fernand Cortes " »
" Histoire Anciennes," par Rolin ; " Grammaire
Anglaise et Francaise " ; " Dictionnaire par
I'Academie " ; " Dictionnaire de Commerce " ;
" Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences " ; "Smith's
Housewife"; "The Devil on Sticks"; "Vol-
taire's Essay on Universal History"; "Dic-
tionnaire de Cuisines," and several others on vari-
ous subjects; " Oeuvres de Rabelais"; "Ameri-
can Gazetteer," etc. These, it will be remem-
bered, had remained unsold, but among the sold
there must have been copies of the same.
It is, according to our notions of to-day, a
meagre collection ; but, no doubt, many families
possessed good libraries brought with them from
over the sea, and the bookseller may not have
kept a large stock at one time. It was the cus-
tom for merchants to sell off all their overlying
goods before they went or sent to Europe for a
reinforcement. Many Canadians have seen, and
a few still possess, one of those old libraries, of
which the general public occasionally have a
glimpse at auction rooms, composed of standard
authors, and beautifully and solidly bound, which
adorned the studies of the fathers of our country.
They contain all that was best in the French and
English literature of the last century — history,
poetry, divinity, belles lettres, science, and art.
From these may be best gathered what were the
tastes, the culture, and the thought of our peo-
ple in the last century.
The settlement in Canada of the United
Empire Loyalists after tne peace of September,
1783, by which the independence of the revolted
colonies was recognized, must have had a consid-
erable influence on Canadian society, and more
than atoned for sufferings inflicted on the colony
during the progress of the war. Repeated efforts
had been made by the Americans to engage the
affections of the Canadians. Among those whom
Congress had appointed commissioners to treat
with the Canadian people on this subject was the
renowned Dr. Benjamin Franklin, whose visit to
this country, however, was not the most success-
ful portion of his career. Although in some in-
stances there was a manifestation of disaffection
against the British Government, the great bulk of
the population remained unmistakably loyal. In
the Quebec Gazette of October 23rd, 1783, is found
the Act of Parliament passed in favour of the
Loyalists, in which the 25th day of March, 1784, is
fixed as the limit of the period during which
claims for relief or compensation for the loss of
property should be received. How many availed
themselves of the provisions of this act it is not
easy to say, but the whole number of persons dis-
possessed of their estates and forced to seek
another home in consequence of their allegiance
is set down at from 25,000 to 40,000. Of these
the great majority took up their abode in the
Canadas, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, while
a few went to the West Indies, and others
returned to England. The biographies of some
of these Loyalist settlers in British North America
,' ;''
•;\'.y
m
'•% rfrnt
'54
CANADA : AN ENCYLOP.KDIA.
would be full of interest and instruction. But
records of family movements and vicissitudes are
very rarely kept — most rarely in those cases in
which adventures are most frequent and the
course of events most changeful. I have, how-
ever, seen accounts of early settlements in the
Eastern Townships, P.Q., and in different por-
tions of Ontario, which were full of the romance
of faith, of courage, and of perseverence.
It is worth mentioning here that between the
Maritime Provinces and the sister Colonies of the
interior there existed in these years a friendly, if
not a frequent, social intercourse. In 1765 the
people of Halifax raised contributions in money
for the relief of those who had suffered by fire in
Montreal. After the war of 1812, the Legislature
of Nova Scotia also granted $10,000 to the Cana-
dian sufferers. In its progress to its present pros-
perous condition, the ancient territory of L'Acadie
was subject to the same fluctuations and vicissi-
tudes which distinguished the Province of Que-
bec. During the latter half of the last century
the composition of its population underwent con-
siderable change, by military settlements, by im-
migration from England after the peace of 1763,
by the accession of American Loyalists, and by
the return of banished Acadians. It was not till
1784-5 that New Brunswick became a separate
Province. And in the same year Cape Breton
was made a separate government, but was re-
rnited to Nova Scotia in 1820. St. John, or
Prince Edward Island, had been separated in
1770, and the original constitution of that little
Province lasted for more than a century afterwards.
Meanwhile, the British Government gave much
to the Colonies, and asked nothing in return.
The following patriotic communication, addressed
to the Montreal Gazette in French, gives a fair
summary of the state of Canada in the year 1789,
and will furnish a concluding illustration of the
general situation in this respect :
"All Europe is at war ; fire, carnage, and death
are there, making ravages which cannot be de-
scribed ; Great Britain, that great and magnani-
mous nation, has alone been able, up to the pres-
ent, to arrest with glory the progress of the
ambitious nation which desires to swallow up
everything; Great Britain, I say, the arm, the
strength, and the hope of oppressed nations,
receives, without distinction, the unfortunate
fugitives who find an asylum only in her heart,
which burns with the noblest humanity.
All the Provinces of the Empire have taxed
themselves to aid her in sustaining the heavy
burden imposed on her by this cruel war ; Can-
ada alone has done nothing for that country
which has done everything for her ; Canada,
which, in the shade of the laurels of her generous
protectress, enjoys her own laws, her own cus-
toms, her own usages, and the most profound and
happy peace. Her agriculture prospers, and is not
interrupted by bodies of militia which a war would
require her to raise ; and her commerce is carried
on with advantages not enjoyed by the other
Provinces of the mother country."
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WAR OF 1812-14.
BY
MISS AGNES MAULE MACIIAR.
A GENERATION had scarcely passed away
since the long wasting struggle of the
American Revolution. Canada and her
neighbour, the young repubhc, had
barely settled down to a peaceful development of
the resources of their great continent when a tram
of complications resulting from the gallant struggle
which Great Britain was leading against the usur-
pations of Napoleon, once more lighted the flames
of war on the Canadian frontier. The war of 1812
- as it is called — being out of the stream of
European history, and dwarfed by the tremendous
conflict for the liberties of Europe, has hardly
attracted the attention it deserved. Yet, inde-
pendently of special interest for every Canadian,
it is as notable for heroic deeds, brilliant exploits,
thrilling adventures, and picturesque situations as
many a more celebrated campaign.
The sources of the war of 1812 are naturally
traceable to the events of the preceding century.
The smouldering sparks of hostility left between
Great Britain and her revolted colonies by the War
of Independence had not yet been completely ex-
tinguished. The mother country had not yet per-
haps entirely forgiven her vigourous and indepen-
dent scion for the rough repudiation of her author-
ity, nor had the latter got over the acrimony of
the separation. The Americans had scarcely been
able to appreciate the fact that the Government
of the day was not England, and that a large por-
tion of the British people had sympathized with
them in their struggle for constitutional liberty ;
and among a numerous class of the population
there existed a latent and too easily excited hatred
of everything British. In Canada, on the other
hand, the settlers being chiefly composed either
of old British soldiers, or of United Empire Loy-
alists who had left their comfortable homesteads
in the United States, and come to make new
homes in Canada under tne shelter of their dearly
loved Union Jack, reflected the British feeling to
an intensified degree. An animosity — the more
bitter, because the neighbourhood was so close —
sprang up between the two countries.
This international asperity was of course much
aggravated by the measures to which Great Britain
had to resort in her almost single-handed struggle
with the disturber of Europe ; a struggle in
which — while she was fighting the battle of con-
stitutional liberty — she received no sympathy
from the young republic that had so recently
been contending for its own. The retaliatory
" paper blockades " of 1806 and 1807 by which
Britain and France respectively placed the
whole coast of the other under a " construct-
ive blockade," bore very hardly on neutrals,
especially on America, whose merchant marine
had, during Europe's absorption in the great con-
flict, almost monopolized the carrying trade of
the world. As Mr. Green states the case in his
" Short History ": — " The orders in council with
which Canning had attempted to prevent the
transfer of the carrying trade from English to
neutral ships, by compelling all vessels on their
way to ports under blockade to touch at British
harbours, had at once created serious embarrass-
ments with the United States. Not only had the
English Government exercised its right of search,
but it asserted a right of seizing English seamen
found in American vessels, and as there was no
means of discriminating between English seamen
and American, the sailor of Maine or Massachusetts
was often impressed to serve in the British fleet."
The irritation caused in the United States by these
unhappy complications was kindled into a flame
of excitement through the arbitrary action of a
British commander. The "right of search" for con-
traband goods or deserters, which England claimed,
iSS
wr
«56
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIMvDIA.
ami the United States denied, was rudely asserted
when by command of Vice-Admiral Berkeley,
Captain Humphries of the Leopard overhauled the
frigate Chesapeake, and made a demand for the
surrender of alleged deserters. The demand
being refused was enforced by a broadside, which
compelled the Chesapeake to strike her colours and
surrender the deserters, who were afterwards tried
and convicted at Halifax, one of them being exe-
cuted. This iiigh-handcd and unauthorized act
was at once officially disavowed by the British
Government, before a word of remonstrance from
the republic could reach it. The Captain was
recalled and the Admiral superseded, while it
was officially declared that " the right of search
when applied to vessels of war, extended only to
requisition, and could not be carried into effect
by force."
The United States, however, was less forbearing
than was Britain on the occasion of the Trent affair,
half a century later, and the rising storm was
fanned by the mflamatory appeals of demagogues
and journalists. Without waiting to hear of the
prompt and spontaneous reparation, Jefferson
resorted to the celebrated " embargo," excluding
British ships from all American ports — declaring
that in doing this he wished to avert war, and to
introduce into the disputes of nations "another
umpire than that of arms." This embargo had
certainly a most injurious effect on the trade and
commerce of the republic, depreciating property
and paralysing industry, especially in New England
where a war with England, and French connec-
tion, were equally deprecated, and where the feel-
ing thus excited called forth one of. the earliest
poetic efforts of Lowell, then a boy of thirteen.
In the following year, the ineffective and unpopu-
lar embargo was exchanged for an act of non-
intercourse with France and England alone.
Even this the States had no means of enforcing
either by land or sea, and it was eventually
repealed altogether. But all attempts at a final
reconciliation of existing difficulties tailed owing
to diplomatic complications, although the United
States maintained an offer that, if either Power
would repeal its edicts, it would suspend commerce
with the other. Napoleon, seeing his opportunity
to checkmate Britain, accepted the offer. In Feb-
ruary, iiSii, the United States declared all inter-
course with Great Britain and her dependencies
at an end. The immediate result was the reduc-
tion of British exports during the year by one-
third of the whole amount, and the British artisan
population starving for lack of the corn of which
the States possessed such abundance, while
American planters were half ruined, and all
industry crippled, by the refusal to admit British
merchandise, or permit the exportation of the
cotton which was glutting the home market.
Meantime various isolated occurrences seemed
to point to the desire cherished by a certain class
of Americans to provoke Britain into the declar-
ation of hostilities which the American nation as
a whole was not yet prepared to make. As early
as 1808, as we learn from the words of General-
Brock himself, a convoy of seven merchant boats,
quickly passing along the Niagara River, were
fired upon from the American Fort Niagara, and
actually captured. Fortunately for the mainten-
ance of peace, the Commandant of the British
Fort was out of the way ; but when a representa-
tion of the affair was made at Washington, the
complainants were referred for justice to the or-
dinary course of the law I In May, 1811, the
American gun-frigate President, in defiance of the
fact that the United States was nominally at peace
with the whole world, and that, on American
principles, vessels of war were not liable to right of
search, provoked an encounter with the Little
Belt — a small sloop of eighteen guns — and shot
the latter to pieces. The American captain
was tried by court-martia!, and acquitted amid
national exultation ; but Great Britain at once
forbearingly accepted the official disavowal of
hostile instructions.
Notwithstanding this forbearance, however.
President Madison, in November 181 1, appealed
to the nation for the "sinews of war," securing in
response, large votes of money and of men — war-
like armaments being prepared during the winter.
A large class of the American people, including
such leading men as Eustis, Secretary of War,
and the Hon. Henry Clay, were full of sanguine
hopes of an easy conquest of Canada. It was
presumed that political trouble, and transient
dissatisfaction caused by grievances connected
with the Executive, had so far undermined Cana-
dian loyalty that the colonists would interpose but
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/F-DIA.
'57
a slight resistance, if they did not even welcome
the ideal of American connection. It was known
that Honaparte was desirous of wresting from
Britain the " New France " of the early French
colonists, and even General Brock believed that
with a small French force, armed with plenty of
muskets, he could easily attain this end, and that
in such a contingency the French Canadian popu-
lation would join the invaders almost to a man.
It was at that time fully expected that Napoleon
would become sole master of Europe, and that
the Americans by joining hands with him — Re-
publicans as they were — would divide with him the
empire of the world. As for Britain, then con-
tending almost single-handed against the usurper
who was pressing on to Moscow, while Welling-
ton was engaged in the Peninsular struggle, it was
believed that she would have neither leisure nor
power to defend her distant colony, which would
" fall like a ripe pear " into the possession
of the American republic. Subsequent events
showed how far these calculations were mis-
taken.
But, as Mr. Green observes, the statesmen of
that day were not willing to face the conse-
quence of such ruin of English industry as might
follow from the junction of the United States with
Napoleon. They were, in *^act, preparing to with-
draw the Orders in Council, when their plans were
arrested by the dissolution of the Perceval Minis-
try, but in the confusion which followed the mur-
der of Perceval, the opportunity was lost. On
the 23rd of June, only twelve days after the Min-
istry had been formed, the Orders were repealed;
but when the news of the repeal reached America,
it came six weeks too late. On the i8th of June,
an Act of Congress had declared the United
States at war with Great Britain.
A close embargo had been previously placed on
all American ports with the double purpose of
reducing their risks at sea, and of manning more
efficiently their own military marine, as well as of
intercepting communication with Great Britain.
The opportunity was also seized of attacking at
an advantage the homeward-bound West India
fleet, which was accordingly done by Commodore
Rogers, the hero of the Little Belt encounter.
The frigate Bdvidere, however, single-handed,
defended the merchantmen against a pursuing
squadron of three frigates and two sloops, and
brought her charge safely home.
It may be doubted whether even the earlier re-
vocation of the Orders in Council would, at this
crisis, have averted hostilities; so strong was the
pressure of the party determined on war. The
step was not, however, unopposed. Virginia
strongly denounced the propo&ed invasion of a
peaceful and unoffending Province, and especially
the ideal openly expressed of endeavouring to
seduce the Canadians from their loyalty, and, as
Randolph expressed it, " converting them into
traitors, as a preparation for making them good
American citizens." Despite such manly opposi-
tion, however, the declaration of war was carried
by seventy-nine votes against forty-nine, its sup-
porters being the representatives of Southern and
Western States, while its opponents represented
the East and North. It should never h>: forgot-
ten that in New England the oppositio.i i war
was intense, and Boston, foremost in the I, evolu-
tion as a champion of American liberty, displayed
her flags half-mast high in token of mourning,
while a mass meeting of the inhabitants passed
resolutions protesting to the utmost against a war
so ruinous, so unnatural, and so threatening from
its connection with Imperial France to American
liberty and independence.
In Canada, the impending storm had of course
long been dreaded ; and General Brock, at that
time acting not only as Commander but as admin-
istrator of the Government in Upper Canada, had
not been slow in reading the signs of the times,
and in taking, as far as he could, measures for de-
fence. In opening the Session of the Legislature
at York, in February 1812, while expressing the
hope that " cool reflection and the dictates of
justice may yet avert the calamities of war," he
urged the importance of early adopting '* such
measures as will best secure the internal peace of
the country, and defeat every hostile aggression."
It was, indeed, to this wise, energetic and brave
commander — the man of the hour in Canada as
truly as was Wellington in Europe — that the col-
onists looked as their stay and hope at a time when
Great Britain, harassed with European compli-
cations, had treated the representations of the ex-
posed conilition of Canada with a natural but un-
fortunate lack of efficient response.
-,(■ ;'
w
138
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.K DIA.
-III
ll
General Brock, who, thouRh still comparatively
a young man had already distinguished himself,
with his brave itjth Kcfjimcnt in Europe and the
West Indies, had been detained in Canada long
beyond the time when he had reasonably hoped
to return to the European service then so full of
fascination for an ardent patriot and enthusiastic
soldier. The long delayed fulfillment of this hope
had seemed within his reach at last, when, in i8ii.
Sir George Prevost, the Governor-General, was
authorized to permit General Hrock's return to
England for Continental service, solely in order
to promote his wishes and advantage. But Brock,
realizing the critical position of affairs in Canada,
and acting in accordance with his own sense of
duty, no less than the wishes of his colleagues,
magnanimously sacrificed his own interest and
preferences in order to give his services to Canada
in the impending crisis. By this decision, al-
though he met a too early death on a compar-
atively obscure battle-field, he became a chief in-
strument in saving Canada to Great Britain and,
no less than his like-minded predecessor, General
Wolfe, an honoured and unforgotten hero in the
; estimation of the Canadian people.
The young colony, with its magnificent dis-
tances and scattered population, could scarcely
have been less prepared for war, or worse equipped
for defence. The population of Upper Canada
was only about 30,000 ; that of the whole colony
did not exceed 300,000. To defend a frontier of
1,800 miles there were but 4,450 regular troops of
all arms, of whom only about 1,500 were in Uj per
Canada. It is not strange that at first some dis-
may and despondency should have prevailed
among the colonists when they found themselves
launched into war with a powerful neighbour, in
a quarrel which was none of theirs. But the true
British spirit lingered in the hearts of the sturdy
Canadian yeomen, many of whom had already
sacrificed much to their loyal love for the old flag;
and the confidence of the people in their brave
General acted as a rallying-point of courage and
hope. The militia did not disappoint the expec-
tations Brock had formed of " the sons of a loyal
and brave band of veterans," and troops of volun-
teers poured into all the garrison towns, many,
however, being obliged to retire disappointed for
lack of arms wherewith to equip them ; for the
King's stores of all kinds were lamentably inade-
quate. The whole of the arms at the disposal of
the General were, he tells the Governor, "barely
sufficient to arm the militia immediately required
to guard the frontier."
The declaration of war reached Canada through
a private channel, neither the British Minister at
Washington nor the American authorities having
taken any efficient means to transmit the informa-
tion thither. The moment it was made known,
however. General Brock's measures were prompt
and energetic. He called a meeting of the Legis-
lature, established his headquarters at Fort
George, asked for reinforcements from the Lower
Province (which could not be granted until the
arrival of more troops from Britain), appointed a
day of fasting and prayer in recognition of the
impending crisis, looked to the frontier forts and
outposts, and paid special attention to the secur-
ing of the allegiance of the Indians, and the equip-
ping, drilling, and organizing of the militia. Of
arms — as has been said — there was a great scarcity,
many of the men being wretchedly provided with
clothing also, and many being without shoes —
articles which could scarcely be provided in the
country. As to weapons, some enthusiastic vol-
unteers temporarily supplied the lack from their
implements of husbandry.
On the nth of July, General Hull, with an army
of 1,500 men, crossed into Canada from Detroit,
issuing from Sandwich a proclamation to inform
the Canadians that he did not ask their aid,
because he came with a force that must overpower
all opposition, and which was only the vanguard of
a far greater one. He offered the Canadian peo-
ple, in exchange for the tyranny under which they
were supposed to groan, " the invaluable blessings
of civil, political, and religious liberty," ending
with the hope that they might be guided to a
result the most compatible with their " rights and
interests, peace and prosperity." From Fort
George, Brock issued a counter proclamation,
reminding the people of the prosperity of the col-
on-- under British rule, and assuring them that
the mother country would defend Canada to the
utmost; impressing upon them the sacred duty of
keeping their oaths of allegiance to the British
Government ; exposing the inconsistency of the
American professions of lo"e of freedom, with their
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi^DIA.
'59
alliance with the French tyrant ; and pointing out
the injustice of the threat to refuse quarter, should
Indians be permitted to fight side by side with
their British allies in defence of their rights and
their lands, against those who had on almost every
occasion over-reached and deceived them. On
July 27th, he opened the extra session of the
Legislature at York recognizing, in his address,
the loyal response of the colonists to the call
for action and closing his earnest and spirited
appeal with the assurance, amply justified by the
event, that " by unanimity and despatch in our
councils, and by vigour in our operations, we
may teach the enemy this lesson, that a coun-
try defended by freemen enthusiastically devoted
to the cause of their King and constitution,
can never ba conquered." The action of this
Legislature somewhat disappointed his expec-
tations, for such an invasion, in such circutn-
stances, had naturally produced some despon-
dency ; the Indians of the west were known to be
wavering; a portion of the population about Sand-
wich, of French and American extraction, and
lying exposed to the first onset of the enemy,
were disaffected, and some of them even sought
American protection. But General Brock's strong
and hopeful attitude rallied the waverers, and,
inspired by his example and its own brave heart,
the country braced itself gallantly to a defence
against fearful odds, with a courage which may
well e.\cite our admiration and remain a bright
example to future generations of Canadians.
Meantime, hostilities had actually commencedi
with the first honours for Canada. General
Brock had early seen the importance of strength-
ening the western post of Amherstburg, on the
Detroit or St. Clair River, as an indispensible
point of defence for the western peninsula. He
had also seen the importance of taking possession
of the strategic points of Detroit and Michili-
mackinac, not only in order to secure the active
co-operation of the Indians, but also because,
without them the whole of western Canada, per-
haps even as far as Kingston, would have to be
evacuated. Immediately on the landing of Gen-
eral Hull, he had despatched Colonel Procter to
Amherstburg, with a reinforcement of the 41st.
He had also, in the spring, stationed Captain
Roberts with a detachment of troops at St. Joseph,
an outpost at the head of Lake Huron. Imme-
diately on hearing of the declaration of war ha
sent orders to Captain Roberts to attack Michili-
mackinac if possible, and in his prompt fulfilment
of this order, that gallant officer scored the first
success of the campaign. Advancing with soma
forty-five regular troops, and nearly six hundred
Canadians and Indians, he ordered the small gar-
rison there to capitulate at once, and its stores
and furs became the prize of the captors. In tha
Amherstburg district, a little later, came the suc-
cess of a small British force at Tarontee, in the
western marshes, in which two privates of the 41st
" kept the bridge " till one was killed and the
other disabled— an exploit worthy of the " brave
days of old." About the same time, the famous
Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh, with his Indians and
a few regular soldiers, captured a provision con-
voy of General Hull's, along with important cor-
respondence, the despondent tone of which gave
fresh stimulus to the plans of Brock, while the
discouraged American General re-crossed the river
to Detroit with his army, on the 7th and 8th of
August. A conflict at Maguaga on the following
day, between a, small detachment of the 41st
reinforced by Indians, and a force of 705 Ameri-
can troops, ended adversely to the former. But
Brock was at hand.
On the 15th of August, after a toilsome march
from Burlington Heights to Long Point, on Lake
Erie, and four days and nights of hard rowing in
tempestuous weather along a dangerous coast, he
arrived at Amherstburg at the head of a small
force of regulars and militia — about 700 in all,
400 being militiamen disguised in red coats. To
the courage and endurance of his men during this
trying journey. Brock bore emphatic testimony.
Immediately after his arrival. General Brock met
Tecumseh, who had already distinguished himself
and who, at once recognizing in Brock a true
leader, offered himself and his braves as allies in
the attack on Detroit. With quick decision.
General Brock resolved on prompt action, and
General Hull was startled, first by a summons for
the immediate surrender of Fort Detroit, and next
by the crossing of the British force— General
Brock, to quote the graphic words of Tecumseh,
" erect in his canoe, leading the way to battle."
Before the well-concerted plan of assault could be
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CANADA: AN ENCYCl.Ol'.KDIA.
fully carried out, the garrison, startled by the
effects of the lirst (ire from the iKiiteries, surren-
deree' to the Hritisii arms. This surrender gave
to tnc British, not only I'ort Detroit, with Hull's
force of 2,500 men, thirty-three pieces of cannon,
and large quantities of much-needed military
stores and arms, but also the Michigan territory— a
tract of country almost as large as what was then
known as Upper Canada. This swift and almost
bloodless success was, of course, of the utmost
importance in inspiring the inexperienced militia
with hope and confidence, securing the hearty
support of the wavering Indians, and interposing
a formidable check to the enemy's advance, while
the effect in the United States, in crushing the
extravagant expectations of an easy conquest of
Canada, was proportionately strong. It is, indeed,
difficult to understand General Hull's hasty capit-
ulation, except on the supposition that he had
either greatly exaggerated the attacking body, or
that he supposed that reinforcements were imme-
diately expected. It was not the last occasion
during tin; war in which Hritish pluck in advanc-
ing boldly on a greatly superior force signally over-
reached the enemy.
After issuing a proclamation to the scattered
inhabitants of the Michigan territory, securing
them in their private property and the free exer-
cise of their civil and religious rights. General
Brock left Procter to hold Detroit with as large
a force as he could spare, and hastened back to
Yjrk on the schooner Chippewa, h'oping now to be
r.ble to sweep the Niagara frontier clear of every
veFcige of invasion ; and, by securing the Ameri-
can port, Sackett's Harbour, on Lake Ontario, to
remove all danger of attack from the lake. But,
on Lake Erie, he was met by t he armed schooner.
Lady Prevost, bearing the first intelligence of the
most untimely armistice which Sir George Fre-
est had unfortunately concluded with General
Dearborn. The temporizing nature of the Gov-
ernor-General, backed by pacific instructions from
home, was influenced by the hope that the news
of the revocation of the " Orders in Council "just
received would call forth a more pacific spirit in
the American people. In vain Brock wrote
urgently from Kingston : " Attack Sackett's Har-
bour from hence. With our present naval superi-
ority it must fall. The troops at Niagara will be
recalled for its protection. While they march>
we sail, and before they can return, the whole
Niagara frontier will be ours." But eager as he
was to follow up the brilliant success he had
achieved and to put an end to the invasion, his
hands were tied by orders to do nothing— the
effect of the armistice being simply to give the
Americans time to recover from their reverses —
to concentrate the naval force at Sackett's Har-
bour, and to build vessels on Lake Erie, while
Brock, with hands tied, but open eyes, had to
remain passive, playing into the hands of the
invaders by a forced inaction.
It soon became known that the American
President disapproved of the armistice, and its
first fruits was the capture, at Black Rock, by an
armed American schooner of the brig of war
Detroit and a private brig, Caledonia, laden with
arms and provisions from Detroit, as well as a
valuable load of furs. Meantime, the American
General, Van Rensellaer, burning to retrieve the
humiliating surrender of Detroit, had concen-
trated a force of more than 8,000 strong on the
Niagara frontier, thirty-six miles in length. Gen-
eral Brock, distressed by the loss of the brigs
with their cargoes, but still restrained from taking
action, was convinced early in October, that an
attack from the enemy was impending.and had ac-
cordingly issued particular directions to all the out-
posts where a landing might be effected. A large
force assembled at Lewiston, about seven miles
below the Falls, where the river is very narrow,
and opposite the beautiful wooded plateau of
Queenston Heights. Early on the morning of
October nth, a crossing was attempted, but
failed, owing to unfavourable weather and lack of
boats. But on the 13th, before daybreak, the
crossing was effected by an advance guard of the
American army, protected by a battery at every
point at which they could be opposed by musk-
etry. The landing was gallantly resisted by a
small outpost force of regulars and militia, backed
by an eighteen pounder on the Heights, and by
another gun about a mile below. Both assault
and resistance were resolute and brave, but fresh
detachmentsof troops followed, till about i,xoo men
were in line, fronting the British outposts. Both
captains of the two companies of the 4gth had
fallen wounded, and the fire of the eighteen
CANADA; AN ENCYCKOP/EDIA
lA
pounder was of no avail over a larjje part of the
field. The en{ja>jenieiit was Rrowint; hot, with
serious loss of life on both sides, Colonel Van
Rensselaer himself being danfjerously wounded.
Meantime, Sir Isaac Hrock, as he should now
be ca'led, though he died unwitting of the honour
just conferred upon him, was at Fort George, and
on Hrst hearing of the cannonade, galloped up
to the scene of action, and threw himself into
the engagement. Hefore he had even time to
reconnoitre the field, a lire was opened in rear,
from a height above the path which, having been
reported maccessible, had been left unguarded
but had been gallantly scaled by a detachment of
American troops, led by Captain Wood. In the
rush that followed, Hrock and hisrt;</<;s were swept
back with the twelve men who manned the
battery. A charge by Williams of the 49th was
met by a counter charge, and, in the struggle
which ensued, the whole were driven to the edge
of the bank. Brock, conspicuous by his height,
his dress, and his enthusiastic bearing, had just
shouted, " Push on the York Volunteers," when
he received a ball into the right breast, and fell,
living only long enough to ask that his death
might not be noticed, or prevent the advance of
the troops, and that a message should be sent to
his sister. His brave aide-de-camp, McDonell,
was also struck down and fatally wounded, while
leading on the brave York Volunteers in a charge
which compelled the enemy to spike the eighteen-
pounder and retire from the battery.
The great loss sustained on both sides, now
caused a lull in the fighting, the American force
retaining the perilous foothold it had gained at
such a cost, while the British force retired under
cover of the village, awaiting reinforcements.
These were already on their way Hastened by the
tidings of the calamity which had befallen the
country in the death of Brock. General Sheaffe,
who had followed Brock's directions to collect all
available troops on the first alarm, speedily came
up with about 380 regulars, two companies of
militia and a few Indians, reinforced at yueens-
ton by more militia and Indians, making up his
command to about 800 men. With this force he
outflanked the enemy, and surrounded them in
their dangerous position between the Heights and
the river, from which a determined and successful
onset forced them to a headlong and fearful .e-
treat, many being dashed to pieces in descending
the precipitous rocks, or drowned in attempting
to cross the tumultuous river. The surviving
remnant of the invailers, who had numbered
about 1,100, mustered on the brink of the river,
and surrendered unconditionally, with their Gen-
eral, Wadsworth, as prisoners of war. The loss
on the American side had been about 400 killed
and wounded— besides 9G0 prisoners. That on
the British side w,is about 80 killed and wounded.
Sheaffe, having thus bravely won the day, was
unfortunately led to throw awny most of the ad-
vantage of the victory by signing another armis-
tice, this time disapproved by even Sir George
Prevost. Had Brock survived, there can be little
doubt that he would at once have crossed the
river, and carried Fort Niagara, at that particular
moment abandoned by its garrison. Sheaffe seems,
however, to have shrunk from opposing his small
force of less than a thousand to the American army
of 8,000. Certainly a defeat would in the circum-
stances, have been disastrous. But the unhappy
interruption of an armistice, liable to be broken
off at thirty hours' notice, gave no real repose to
the country and the harassed and suffering militia,
while it gave the enemy time to recruit and reor-
ganize, and to collect a large flotilla at the
lower end of Lake Erie. So far from becom-
ing more pacific in their spirit, the Americans,
through some recent naval successes over Britain,
had become still more eager for conquest and
more sanguine of success.
.\s autumn passed into winter, some ineffectual
skirmishes occurred along the St. Lawrence and
the eastern frontier, the militia of the Montreal
district meeting Dearborn's demonstrations from
Champlain with such effect as to induce him, foi
the present, to retire to winter-quarters with his
sickly and enfeebled troops. The inland .American
marine, less successful than the Atlantic one,
made ineffectual attempts to capture two British
schooners, the Royal Geori^e and the Siincoe, both
of which escaped into Kingston harbour ; though
a smaller bark, the Elizabeth, was captured by
Commodore Chauncey, with some of General
Brock's effects and correspondence on board,
under the charge of a relative, who was, however,
paroled, and had the effects returned to him. On
¥
fit
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
I
Novomher 20th, at the conclusion of the armis-
tice, Kingston was cannonaded, siistaininR littlt^
damage, and returning the attention with inter-
est. At the same time, deneral Smyth, the suc-
cessor of Van Kensselaer, made an effectual de-
monstration against Fort Erie, after which he
went into winter-quarters, and thus closet! the
campaign of 1812.
The Legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada
meeting at the close of the old, and beginning of
the new year, passed large votes for the equip-
ment of a strong force of militia, anil recruiting
went on with such success that the liefensive
force, including regidars, militia and Indians soon
amounted to about S.coomen, opposed, however,
by an American army of about 27,000 regulars
and militia. About the same time was formed a
" Loyal and Patriotic Society," to provide succour
and compensation for the brave men and helpless
families on whom had fallen the chief brunt of the
invasion, the losses from fields left untilled or laid
waste, and property plundered or destroyed. Be-
sides a generous support in Canada, liberal contri-
butions were received from Nova Scotia, from the
West Indies, and from Great Britain under the
patronage of the Duke of Kent.
The campaign of 1813 opened at a very early
date, while the frozen rivers afforded easy passage
for troops on their icy surface. Skirmishes took
place during January, February, and March, along
the frontier at Amherstburg ; at Gananoque and
Hrockville, (recently named after the lamented
General) both of these latter being unimportant
raids from the American side ; and at Ogdens-
burg, against Fort Presentation. The latter was
a brilliant exploit under the leadership of Colonel
McDonell, at the head of the gallant Cana-
dian "Glengarries," with other regulars and
militia, to the number of about 400. They took
the enemy by surprise, drove them from each suc-
cessive position, stormed and carried the battery,
burned the barrackr and four armed vessels frozen
into the harbour, anc' captured eleven pieces of can-
non and a large amount of military stores, besides
a number of prisoners of war. The achievement
was a brilliant and important one, putting a stop
to border forays of Americans on that frontier
during the wmter, and, in all probability, saving
Kingston from an intended advance of troops
which were to have been concentrated at Ogdcins-
burg with the view of advancing westward.
The reverses encountered by the British arms
in Canada during the early months of the cam-
paign of i8i.5 were the natural result of the tim-
orous and short-sighted policy pursued by Sir
George Prevost, probably based on the general
tenor of his instructions from home, the determ-
ination of the Americans to achieve the contiuest
of Canada being little realized by the British Gov-
ernment. Had General Brock's statesman-like
and chivalrous policy prevailed, and had he been
allowed by the bold dash he contemplated in the
previous year, to take possession of the important
naval station of Sackett's Harbour, the enemy
never would have been in a position to send a
fleet to carry the land force, and support it in tak-
ing York, without which the subsequent capture
of I'ort George and the successful occupation of
Canadian territory would hardly have been possi-
ble — at least had Brock lived to carry out his own
vigourous designs. To his untimely death, and to
the way in which his generalship was hampered
during his life by a superior who was only too
ready to take the credit of achievements in which
he had no share, were due the wasting and harass-
ing attacks which Canada had to suffer during
the summer of that unhappy year from an ever
increasing swarm of invading forces. No rein-
forcements had as yet arrived from Britain, and,
in contrast with the absence of any effort on the
part of the Home Government to strengthen the
British position on the lakes, Commodore
Chauncey had been most active in adding to his
little fleet, and manning and training their crews.
Between the apathy of a harassed Home Govern-
ment, and the feeble policy of Sir George Prevost,
the outlook for Canada was gloomy indeed.
The gravity of the situation was soon felt in
the too successful attack on the little town of
York, then having a population considerably under
1,000, and destitute of any adequate military
defence. The old French fort had become simply
a land-mark, and a rude block-house and fort at
the entrance of the harbour with some intrench-
ments and batteries, poorly armed, were the sole
attempts at fortification — a state of things for
which Sheaffe, as administrator and commanding
officer, must be held responsible. On the evening
CANADA : AN KNCYCLOP.K DIA.
I6j
of the 26th of April, the ominous sound of the
alarm |:;un startled the inhabitants as the signal
of the enemy's approach. Morninfj showed
Chauncey's fleet of sixteen vessels lyiriR in the
near vicinity of the town. The landing was
effected at Hiimber Hay, and was opposed only
by a band of forty Indians, a Glenparry Company
ordered out for their support, having, tiirough
some mistake, arrived too late. Hy the brave re-
sistance of a small force of little more than three
hundred regulars and militia, the invaders were,
for a time, held in check, but being reinforced by
overwhelming numbers, the British line was out-
flanked, and compelled to retire, with a loss of
nearly 100 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. An
accidental explosion at one of the batteries
silenced the fort guns, and as there was then no
hope left of successful resistance, Sheaffe, taking
all the stores he could carry, ordered a retreat,
and marched away in the direction of Kingston.
Meantime, the enemy's advance-column, having
taken possession of the fort was nearly destroyed
by the explosion of the powder-magazine, which
was probably accidental, the American com-
mander. General Pike, losing his life in the catas-
trophe. A ship then being built in the dock-yard
and a quantity of marine stores had been des-
troyed or removed by the retreating Hritish force,
and although Sheaffe left one of his officers to
arrange a capitulation, which was not ratified till
next day, the public buildings were burned and
the church and library pillaged, while all the
money in the Provincial treasury, about £200, fell
into the hands of the enemy.
General Dearborn did not attempt to pursue the
retreating forces under Sheaffe, who was soon
after superseded in Upper Canada by General de
Rottenburg. Newark, now Niagara, defended by
General Vincent, with barely a thousand troops
stationed at Fort George, was the next point of
attack, and upon it advanced the American force
of about 7,000 men, not counting the marines and
crews of the transports and vessels of war. On
the 27th of May, after having received strong rein-
forcements sent on without obstruction from
Sackett's Harbour, a landing was effected, which
was sharply contested by about 200 men of the
Glengarry and Newfoundland corps, but the guns
of the shipping overpowered them and forced
them to fall back upon the main body. Vincent
and his men did all that bravo soldiers could do to
oppose the advance; but.aftt-r a desperate struggia
of three hours against heavy odds, in which both
officers and men suffered severely, he determined
by an orderly retreat to save the remainder of his
men, about 350 of the regular troops, ami 85 of
the militia having been left killed or wounded on
the ground. Fort George, with spiked guns, of
course fell into the enemy's hands, while Vincent,
retreated upon the strong position of the " Beaver
Dam," leaving behind him more than 400 of his
best and bravest men. At Beaver Dam, some
twenty miles to westward, he had ordered Colonel
Bisshoppfrom Fort Erie, and Major Ormsby from
Chippewa to join him. Reinforced by these de-
tachments and supported by a small force of the
Royal Navy, under Captain Barday, he reached
Burlington Heights in safety, and established him-
self in a strong position on what is now the site of
part of the city of Hamilton, to await orders from
Quebec.
Meantime, a demonstration had been made from
Kingston, which, if the feebleness and indecision
of the Executive had allowed it to become any-
thing more than a demonstration, might have
somewhat retrieved the fortunes of war in the
harassed colony. At the opening of navigation,
Sir James Yeo, with a party of naval officers and
seamen under his command, had arrived at Que-
bec, and, proceeding to Kingston, had at once
begun the work of equipping vessels for service on
Lake Ontario. So energetically did he push on
this much- needed work, that, on the same day
when York was taken by the Americans, a little
fleet of half a dozen large and a few smaller ves-
sels left Kingston harbour bearing an expedition
of about 751 troops, under the command of Pre-
vost and Yeo. Sackett's Harbour was reached at
noon, but though there was no sign of any resis-
tance to the landing of the troops, and though the
men had already been placed in the boats, the
intended landing was relinquished without any
apparent reason and the ships left to hang ineffec-
tively about till the morning of the 28th, of course
giving time for the small garrison on shore to
summon the militia, and make better arrange-
ments for defence. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, the landing was gallantly effected, the Ameri-
. 'V
I6.'
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOl'.KDIA.
i
Ml
can regular troops were routed and driven into
their stockaded barraci;s and f:rt, which wore
aftaciteci with so nuich prospect of success that
the naval barracks and storehouses were lired, and.
in twenty minutes tnore, even the Americans
heheved that this important depot would have
fallen into British hands. At this critical moment,
Prevost — the evil genius of the campaign — ordered
a retreat, under the impression that a movement
Jn the woods might cut off the troops from their
posts. Despite the gallant remonstrance o( the
brave Colonel Drummond of the loth (afterwards
killed at Fort Eric), Provost obstinat.-ly carried
out this unfortunate tactical blunder, thus throw-
ing away the fruits of a hard won success which
might have been the means of saving the British
arms from the defeats afterwards sustained at
Amherstburg and on Lake Erie. Even the
wounded— three of them being o Ticers— were
'^leserted, although the embaikation tt)ok place
with perfect deliberation and order, Uiid it is a just
Nemesis on the inefficient leader who iiillicted on
ijis men, and even on his Indian allies, so bitter a
mortification, that the result w;'.s a shock to his
reputation from which it never recovered.
Though Dearborn had not sliowod any parti-
cular energy in following up his successes at York
and Niagara, he could not Oi* f( el the importance
of dislodging Vincent from his position on Bu' •
hngtou Hoig'.its, and, on the 5th of June, the latter
was apprised of the ad'anco of a large Ameri-
can force "f some 3,500 men, under Brigadiers
ChardUr and '.Vinter. Colonel Harvev, who had
just ma.jf" his way through the wilderness from
New Brunswick, to lake the post of Jeputy-.-djut-
ant-grneral, offered to lead a night atta:': against
the approaching force — in p'lrsuarce of his policy
of " bold offensive operation'^ " — so as to throw the
enemy on the defensive. A surprise at Stoney
Creek was successfully carried out; the unpre
pared American troops were surrounded and
routed ; and after a sharp conflict of only an hour
and a half, t^ie small British force retired a: day-
break, in good onler ; having routed the ei ;:iy
and captured about a hundred prisoners, incl'id-
ing the two Generals, Chandler and Winter, and
Several guns, whiie the enenij', thoroughly de-
moralized, after destroying ail their baggage and
ammunition, made a precipitate retreat to the spot
now known as Grimsby. This successful attack
on a force numbering five times its assailants,
rallied ihe discouraged defenders of Canada, and,
for the time, turned the fortunes of war, saving
Kingston and the Niag ..a district. The .Ameri-
can troops, now thrown back on the edge of the
frontier at Fort George, determined to surprise
the British depot at Beaver Dam, with the small
detachments of troops posted in the vicinity. This
attempt was happily frustrated by the gallant
exploit of a brave woman — Laura Secord— the
wife of a militia officer crippled in the battle of
Queenston Heights, who, hearing at yueonston of
the intended attack, undertook a perilous expedi-
tion of some twenty miles through the woods, in
order to warn Fitzgibbon, the officer in command.
This timely warning enabled the scattered little
companies to concentrate their forces, and prepare
for the arrival of the enemy, so that Fitzgibbon
with some three-scoro regulars and about 250
Indians was able, not only to repulse the attack,
but also to capture the wh:le attacking force of
542 men, two field-pieces, two ammunition wag-
ons, and the ( lours of the 14th United States
reginioiit. Tl-is brilliant exploit was speedily fol-
lowed up, rarlj in July, by dashing sallies on Fort
Schlosser and Jlack Rock. In th-j latter, under
Colonel Bisshopp, the British troops burned the
Block-house barracks, naval arsenal, and a fine
schooner, carrying off all thj mov ible stores, but
carefully respect':^", all private property. The
death of the gallant leader. Colonel Bisshopp, dur-
ing th(i attack .V .. a calamity regretted scarcely
less than had boon that of Cieneral Brock himself.
We have now to turn back from these encour-
aging successo' m the Niagara frontier, to Ihe
conduct of the campaign in the western peninsula
— closing a painful record of ill-judged attempts
and partially relieved defeat with the catastrophe
follev mg th' evacuation of Detroit. This event
was due to three combined causes : the fail-
ure of the British Government to meet the crisis
witli suft'icient reinforcements, either naval or mil-
itary ; the indecision and inefficiency of Procter ;
and the utter incapability of the Governor-General
to rise to the emergency in which he was called to
act. Very early in the year. General Procter
had made two ineffective attempts on F^-'t
Wayne and Fort Meigs, followed b, a success.' iil
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KOIA.
165
assault upon Frcnclitown, where he surprised
Winchester's camp, took the Gcru.ral and his son
prisoners, and drove the Amcricaii forco, with lieavy
loss, back upon Fort Meifjs. For this success,
Procter was made a Hripadier-Gencral; but unhap-
pily the temporary prcsti^t^c it pave him was wholly
unsusfained by his subsequent conduct of the
campaign. Harrison was stimulated by his defeat
to strengthen his position at Fort Meips, from
whence with the expected American command of
Lake Erie, he could advance to attack I'ort Mai-
den and Detroit. In order to anticipate him,
Procter, in Ajiril, advanced upon his position ; but
though he pained some success in action through
the gallant conduct of his men and the fait'iful
support of TeciHiiseh and his Indians, he was
finally obliged to give up the attempt to drive the
enemy from their entrenchment, and to retire from
Amherstburg before the middle of May. A second
expedition against b'ort Meigs, and one against
Sandusky in July, were equally fruitless, and only
diipirited the troops, besides wasting strength,
which, had it been directed towards Presqu'ile,
where the American naval force was organizing
for attack, might have averted the coming l^ritish
defeat on Lake Erie.
Sir James Yeo, in command of the navy,
had been doing his best under the disadvantage
of utterly inadequate means at his disposal and
the failure of adequate reinforcements, to main-
tain that command of the lakes whicli was so
essential to the defence of Canada. ^.'aptain
Barclay had been placed in charpe of the little
flotilla on Lake ICrie, consisting of one vessel
— the Queen Charlotte— of 280 tons and 16 guns,
and four others of much smaller calibre, while
Barclay had done his utmost, by fitting out the
Detroit, a much larger vessel, to enable his little
squadron saciiess/ully to hold its grouml against
Commodore Perry— much better supplied with
ships, men, and provisions. Procter and Barclay
were both almost destitute of food supply, and an
engagement was forced upon them by a necessity
which should have been foreseen and guarded
against — there being, in Barclay's own -.vords,
" not a day's flour in th ■ ■■\ and the squadron
being on half allowance , • niy things." On the
iqth of September, a desperat-.- naval , igagtment
took place, lasting for about live hours, in which
the mixed crews of the British flotilla, of which
only a small proportion were real seamen, fought,
as true Britons will fight, until overpowered by
superior numbers and superior metal. At first,
with a favourable wind, the Detroit disabled the
St. Lawrence, Perry's flag ship, and forced her to
strike her flag, but a change of wind gave the
enemy a decided advantage, added to their superior
weight, and Barclay was at length forced to sur-
render — only, however, after every vessel had
become unmanagable, every officer killed or
wounded, the fleet wiped out, and one-third of the
crews put hor$-de-comhat. On the British side, there
were, out of a total of 384, 1.53 killed and wounded,
while on the American side, out of a total of 650,
only 123 were killed or disabled. Barclay himself,
when some months later, maimed and broken
down, he appear?;d before the Admiralty, pre-
sented a spectacle which moved stern warriors to
tears, and drew forth a just tribute to Ins i)atriot-
ism and courage.
This defeat was a fatal one for General Procter.
It destroyed his last hope, and ruin or retreat
seemed to be his only alternative. Me was now
without supplies, without even necess;iry clothing
for his men, among whom disease had made seri-
ous ravages, and deprived of the artillery and
ammunition of which Amherstburg had been
stripped in order to equip the fleet, while it lay
exposed not only to an attack from land, but also
to that of gunboats from the river. Calling a
council of war, he pointed out tin- impossibility
of maintaining their present position, and the
neci'ssity of destroying the forts of Detmit and
Andicrstburg, and retiring on the central posi-
tion of Burlington Heights. The heroic Tocum-
seh — grieved and indignant — remonstrated against
the abandonment of his people to the mercy of
the United States, a step strongly opposed by all
the Indians present, who, however, finally ac-
'epted the decision to retreat, and adhered to tlu'
Uing fortunes of their British allies with noble
and unwavering constancy. The retreat began
on the 27th of September; and it would seem
from the carelessness and lack of precaution with
which It was conducted, that Procter did not
expect to be followed up by Harrison ; though it
had been arranged that a stand was to bo made at
Moraviantown, wrongly supposed to be about
i66
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
m
m
lit.
half way to their destination. The bridges were
left standing, the inen were badly and irregularly
fed, orders were absent or conflicting, and the
troops, dispirited by the utter lack of plan or
energy at headquarters, were in no condition to
resist a superior force. Harrison's unencumbered
troops marched in pursuit much more swiftly than
it was possible for the retreating body to do, ham-
pered as it was with baggage-wagons and gun car-
riages, and especially by the commander's anxiety
for the safety of his wife and personal baggage,
unfortunately accompanying the expedition.
The pursuing force came up with the British one,
two miles from Moraviantown,avillage of Christian
Indians, on a situation which a leader like Harvey
could have fortified and made capable of holding
out for some time. The point where the halt was
made had the river Thames on its Hank, and
a cedar swamp on its right ; but the o[)en woods,
in wliich the men were formed, was the v/orst
place possible for resisting a charge of mounted
rirtemen of whom Harrison had sonic fifteen hun-
dred—his force being about 3,500 in all, while the
total British force numbered about 400, with 8go
Indians under Tecumseh. They had only one six-
pounder with them, and Procter seems to have
had about 300 men at Moraviantown, where he
remained— not being himself even present at the
action. Although the British force had plenty of
axes, no attempt was made even to constiuct an
ahattis. Tecumseh ha.J begged Proc'.er to " have
a big heart." It was cftainl; .."t he most
lacked. Defeat was inevitaule for tn^j little band
of foot-sore and weary men, dejected, hopeless,
exhausted by lack of food and the fatigue of a
depressing retreat, weakened by exposure and
fever, insufficiently clothed, and demoralized by
the lack of discipline and decision whicli char-
acterized Procter's command. The charge of
American infantry and mounted riflemen soon
dispersed the small band of regulars, and though
Tec'imseh and his men thus left unsupported,
fought on gallantly in the swamp, they were
eventuall forced to give ' ly, with the loss of
their noble chieftain, .vho teU during the engage-
ment, as faithful and courageous an ally as ever
fought under the Union Jack. Some .'i'"ty men
managed to escape dirougli the woods, but many
were taken prisoners and nmrched to Ohio, where.
instead of being honourably treated as prisoners
of war, they were eventually consigned to a Ken-
tucky penitentiary. Procter, with his remnant
of 250 men, managed to effect his retreat on
Burlington Heights. But his military career was
closed forever, dishonoured irretrievably by the
catastrophe which constituted the saddest reverse
of the war ; giving to the Americans the command
of a large extent of frontier and greatly increas-
ing their hopes of eventual success while, at the
same time, it awoke in the hearts of Canadians a
spirit of more intense and dogged resolution to
defend their country to the last.
On the appearance of the defeated remnant at
Burlington Heights, Vincent, who had established
his headquarters witliin seven miles of Fort
George, where Prevost had made one of his
feeble and ineffectual demonstrations, withdrew
to Burlington Heights an( resolved to make
a s.'and for the defence of the western fron-
tier, in the expectation of Harrison's advance.
Unexpectedly, however, the American General
was recalled to Detroit, just when his advance
wouid have been most disastrous to the small
British force, the tactics of the enemy being
directed mainly to the control of the lake and the
River St. Lawrence, in order to intercept the con-
voys of batteaux bringing the Irish mess-pork and
"hard-tack" from Portsmouth, England. To
force the various garrisons to surrender for lack
of food seei,.ed to be the policy of the enemy,
and the St. Lawrence and the western frontier
became the chief scene of conflict. Meanwhile,
on the wide Atlantic, British and American
men-of-war had been engaged in a sharp con-
test, of alternate success and defeat on either
side. Chauncey and Yeo had been fighting a
naval duel on Lake Ontario with some British
success arising from, the adroit tactics of the
latter ; and Chauncey had made a second de-
scent upon defenceless York, demolishing bar-
racks and boats, thro\iring open the gaol, and ill-
treating and plundering the inhabitjints. Amid
the land-locked, mountain-girdled bays of the
beautiful lake Champlain, several naval encoun-
ters took place, an American expedition unsuc-
cessfully attempting to surprise the British port
of Isle-aux-Noix, while on the othe* hard, des-
tructive reprisals were made by the British on
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
167
Plattsburg, Burlington, Scranton, and Champlain.
During the summer, the British force was
increased by the arrival of two regiments at Hali-
fax which were immediately sent to the front.
In September a body of some 8,000 American
troops was collected at Sackett's Harbour, having
in view the descent of the St. Lawrence and the
conquest of Montreal, and were landed in four
brigades, under Generals Boyd, Covington,
Swarbiot, and Brown, with a reserve under
Macomb. Wilkinson, following the example of
Hull and Harrison, issued a proclamation offering
protection to all who would remain quietly at home
should victory incline to the American standard.
The embarkation took place on October 17th, and
was immediately known at Kingston, whence
eight gunboats, with three field-pieces, and a
military force of goo strong followed the flotilla.
On arriving near Prescott the American force
landed — continuing their march along the shore,
while the boats cruised close to the American
shore. The British troops under Colonel Morri-
son, with Harvey as Adjutant-General, landed at
Point Iroquois, numbering, with reinforcements
received at PrLSCott, about 800 men. On the iilh
of November they came up with Boyd's division
of 2,500 men and six field-pieces, at a point half
way between Morrisburg and Aultsviile, called
Chrvsler's Farm, where Morrison, considering
the 'round advantageous, offered battle to the
enemy. Wilkinson seems to have supposed that
Boyd's division alone would be sufficient to meet
the British force, but after a sharp engagement
of little more than two hours the American
brigade gave way and retreated, with a loss of 339
men — the British losing iSi out of their 800.
About 100 prisoners were taken, but there was no
attempt at pursuit, the British force being worn
out with fatigue, and having neither cavalry nor
reserve.
As Morrison, however, continued his advance
wiili his remaining 600, Wilkinson seems to have
believed the British force much stronger than it
actually was, and determined to relinquish the
proposed attack on Montreal, removinj^ his troops
to a safe distance from the St. Lawrence, and en-
trenching thei.i at French Mills, not far from the
village of Malone, where they reinnincd until
February, when boats, block-houses, and barracks
were burned and the place abandoned, a division
of the troops going back to Sackett's Harbour
while Wilkinson led the remainder to Plattsburg
and Burlington.
Meantime Hampton, in command on Lake
Champlai. "lad entered Canada at Odelltown on
the 22nd September, with more than 5,000 men.
Finding that his advance was opposed by the
outposts under De Salaberry he retraced his steps,
and made a fresh advance by the roads leading
northerly to the Chateauguay. DeSalaberry, with
a small force of 300 Canadian Fencibles and Voltig-
eurs, advanced to oppose him at Chateauguay,
two leagues above the Forks, where he fortified
his position with a block-house and an abattis.
Here he was unexpectedly reinforced by the
gallant McDon=ll of Ogdensburg fame, who had
been sent by I'revost from Kingston, and had
made one of the most rapid marches on record in
Canada. On the 28th of October two columns of
the enemy, seven thousand strong, advanced from
opposite points with the intention of of surround-
ing and crushing the small force of DeSalaberry,
not being aware that he had been joined by Mc-
Donell, While one column under Purdy en-
gaged and dispersed a few Beauharnois militia,
the other, under Baird, attacked the first line of
Voltigeurs, which was driven back upon th-j
second line, with the notable exception of Dj
Salaberry himself and a small drummer boy, com-
pelled by the gallant leader to remain, sounding
the unheeded advance. McDonell, however, was
ready for the advancing enemy, and by an adroit
disposition of the buglers in the woods, sounding
the advance at great distances apart, he induced
the loe to believe that a numerous force was ad-
vancing upon him from different directions, while
the yells of the Indians added to the impos-
ing effect. The American column broke and fle I,
and when the other column under Purdy attempt-
ed to cross the ford in the rear he was met with a
heavy fire in front and flank, and being similiarlv
led to believe he was: opposed by overpowering
numbers, retreated in his turn, leaving the field
and the honours of the daytothegallcnt little force
who, with some three or four exceptions, wore en-
tirely composed of French Canadian troops. This
brilliant exploit — a sort of Therniopylai in its
way — along with the victory at Chrysler's Farm
■..-I'S- :
■fh
w
ii
I '8
CANADA : AN LNCVCLOP.KDIA.
1:;^;'
a few days later, completely frustratec* the pro-
jected attack on Montreal by the combined forces
of Hampton and Wilkinson, and terminated the
invasion of Lower Canada.
Harrison's troops had been meanwhile pillaging
and harassing the settlers in the neighborhood of
Fort George, and, when he, with a part of his
corps, left Niagara for Sackett's Harbour, McClure,
his successor in command, continued to carry out
his barbarous policy of driving the peaceful inhabi-
tants from their houses. Colonel Murray, a gal-
lant leader, advanced to check his operations with
^yS men of the looth regiment and a few volun-
teers and Indians. McClure retreated to his out-
posts and was followed by Murray to the im-
mediate vicinity of Fort George ; where, no
doubt, intimidated by the reverses in Lower Can-
ada, he determined to retire to the American side
of the river, first, however, burning the pictur-
esque and inoffensive village of Niagara on a
December evening, giving the unfortunate inhabi-
tants only an hour's notice to remove such effects
as they could carry away ; and thus leaving some
400 women and children, whose protectors were
eitlier absent or taken prisoners, exposed to the in-
clemency of the wintry weather, to lament over
the smouldering ruins of their property and their
homes. Murray at once proceeded against Fort
George, which was abandoned without almost
any attempt at defence, McClure leaving behind
in his panic a number of heavy guns, magazines
of shot and ammunition, and camp equipage for
4,500 men ; the fortifications also having been
greatly strengthened. Furthermore, with the
approval of Sir Gordon Drummond, now Lieut.-
Governor of Upper Canada, and a man of experi-
ence anddecision, Murray planned and successfully
carried out a dashing night attack on Fort Niagara
to which McClure had retired. The expedition
landed at four on a December morning three
miles above the fort, surprised it by a bayonet
attack, and with the loss of only six killed and five
wnnnd^'d, took a fcjrt defended by seventeen guns,
captured some 318 prisoners, 3,000 stand of arms,
and large commissariat stores, besides releasing
eight of the inhabitants of Niagara, kidnapped for
no crime but that of loyalty to their country.
Drummonii, in conjunction with General Kiall,
with the Royal Scots and 41st regiments, pushed
on to occupy various points on the frontier, took
Black Rock after a shnrp contest, and pursued the
retreating American militia to Buffalo, which was
also taken, and, with the village of Black Rock,
met the same fate to which McClure, without
provocation, had consigned Newark. Three ves-
sels of Perry's squadron, laid up near Buffalo,
shared in the genera! destruction, and after in-
flicting this stern retribution for the ashes of
Niagara, the British force retired, leaving the
American frontier, from Ontario to Eric, one
desolate scene of ruin. Thus the campaign of
T813 closed, with the preponderance of success
strongly on the side of the British and Canadian
forces. The invaders, despite the reverses sus-
tained by Barclay and Procter, hud not yet
secured a position on Canadian soil, with the one
exception of Amherstburg in the far west, for the
loss of which more than an equivalent had been
gained in the possession of Fort Niagara. On
the other hand, the Americans, in their seaboard
blockaded by British ships, in their paralysed
commerce, and their heavy burden of taxation,
felt the war they had forced on Canada press
severely on themselves, a pressure by which the
peace party in the United States found their most
powerful argument in awakening a spirit of con-
ciliation.
The Legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada,
meeting early in 1814, again voted provision for
the defence of the country, that of Lower Canada
also voting an address to the Prince-Regent set-
ting forth the inadequate equipment of that
province in particular to meet the exigencies
of the war. Sir Gordon Drummond, in Upper
Canada, took the first steps towards the re-build-
ing of the public offices and l^rliamentary build-
ings which had been destroyed at York. The
campaign of 1814 was opened by Wilkinson's ad-
vance from Plattsburg, on the Champlain frontier,
with a force of 4,000 men. General Macomb,
with his brigade, took possession of the village of
Phillipsburg, a mile within Canadian territory,
but soon rejoined the rest of the division which
advanced against Lacolle's Mill. This was a
small stone building on the LacoUe River, having
only a common shingle roof, defended simply by
extemporized wooden windows loopholf.-d for mus-
ketry, and garrisoned by about 180 men, the wholi-
• ;f
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOrvEDIA.
i6g
available British force on that frontier being about
looo regular troops, with some 439 militia. The
surrender of this primitive fortress was regarded
as so certain that a detachment was sent to the
rear to cut off the escape of its defenders. Mean-
time, soon after the cannonade from three guns,
within 250 yards of the Mill had begun, two com-
panies of reinforcements arrived from Isle-aux-
Noix, in response to Major HandcocU's request
for aid.
An attempt was made to charge the guns in
front, but the heavy fire from the surrounding
infantry in the woods, forced the troops to retire
to a small house beyond the little river, which
had been hurriedly converted into a " block-
house," by a breast-work of logs. A second brave
charge forced the artillerymen, for the time, from
their posts, but the odds were too great for this
kind of warfare, and during the remainder of the
attack, Handcock prudently confined himself to
the defence of the fort from within, somewhat
assisted in this by the firing from a sloop and two
or three gunboats, which had come as near to the
Mill as the ice would allow. For four hours this
unequal combat continued, but, though the Mill
was several times struck by the guns, and the
ammunition was scarce, there was no sign of sur-
render. About dusk, the American force, exhaus-
ted by cold and fatigue, and apparently under the
impression that without heavier guns than could
be brought on, the post was impregnable, retired,
ingloriously defeated, leaving to the brave little
garrison the honour of one of the truest exploits
of the war. Having a strong force assembled
immediately after, at Isle-aux-Noix and St. John,
Prevost migiit have proceeded to destroy two
vessels in course of preparation at Vergcnnes, but
with characteristic hesitation, he took no action
till the vessels had been launched when Captain
Pring made a slight demonstration with his small
flotilla, which, unsupported by any land force,
turned out a failure. Could Prevosl have acted
even then with energy and foresight, t' disaster
at Platt(=burg which afterwards finally wrecked
his own reputation, might have been averted.
It was in line with the same lack of vigour and
decision that he also refused to adopt the project
of Sir Gordon Urummond to make a vigourous
attack on Sackett's Harbour, so necessary in
order to break the power of the American vessels
on the lakes. But Prevost was so prepossessed
with the idea of protecting Montreal, that he
refused to risk withdrawing even 100 rnen from
Lower Canada. He was, however, induced by
Drummond's earnest representations to agree
to an attack on the post of Oswego, then a
small village, with a well defended fort. The
British fleet, consisting of two frigates, six other
vessels and eleven gun-boats, and carrying 1,080
troops, sailed from Kingston on the 4th of May,
and on the morning of the 6th, the troops wcie
successfully landed under a hot fire from the bat-
teries and the discharge of 500 muskets. Ad-
vancing steadily up the hill under this destructive
fire, the British force gained the summit, to find
the defence abandoned and the defenders put to
flight, the Union Jack floating from the flag-staff
within ten minutes of their entry. The loss of
the British was heavy, numbering 81 killed or
wounded. Of the American garrison, 59 were
killed or wounded and 50 taken prisoners, the
rest making their escape. Nine guns, and some
schooners and other craft, with large quantities of
provisions, were captured, ammunition was de-
stroyed, and the barracks and ramparts of the fort
burned. Chauncey was next blockaded in Sackett's
Harbour, and part of his expected supplies inter-
cepted by the gun-boats, though an attempt to pur-
sue a convoy retreating into a creek in that neigh-
bourhood ended in defeat with heavy loss to the
British detachment, and the unavoidable sur-
render of 120 men.
The chief interest of the campaign now, how-
ever, again shifts to the West. Skirmishes, more
or less important, had been occurring from time
to time along the Niagara frontier where the
American foraging parties, encouraged by settlers
from the United States who sympathized with
the invasion, had been most harassing and de-
structive in their raids on the unfortunate colonists.
A militia lieutenant named Medcalf, had, in De-
cember, on his own responsibility and with a party
of only thirty men, attacked one of these plunder-
ing parties and taken forty prisoners, for which
gallant action he received praise and promotion
from Druinmond, who in March, sent a detach-
ment of 195 to attack a United States foraging-
post at Longwood. Holmes, its commanding
170
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP.T:nrA.
I?i"i.
officer, had entrenched himself in a strong posi-
tion, defended by an abattis, and Basden, the
leader of the attack, through his lack of prudence
and rash determination to storm the place, failed
in the attempt, and was obliged to retire with
heavy loss. In May, an American force of 1500
under Colonel Campbell, made a descent on Port
Dover, defended only by a troop of dragoons and
a few militiamen, and driving these away, burned
the whole place to the ground, a malignant act of
sheer destructiveness, which was characterized by
even Winfield Scott as "an error of judgment."
Meantime, large bodies of American troops were
being massed and drilled at Buffalo ; and Drum-
mond with an effective force of only 4,000 to op-
pose them, watched the preparations with much
anxiety, though Prevost either could not, or would
not, understand the imminence of the danger in this
quarter, being still more occupied with the danger
from the force collected on Lake Champlain.
Detachments were, however, posted to watch the
two opposite directions from which it was likely
that Riall at Burlington Heights might be as-
sailed — Sackett's Harbour and Buffalo ; and a
new fort was built at the entrance to the Niagara
River and known as Fort Mississaga. Fort
George and Fort Niagara, on the American
shore, were alsc held by British troops, and
Riall's force was still further divided by being
posted at various points, from Chippewa to
Fort Erie, as it was uncertain from what point
the attack might be made. Early in June, the
American General, Brown, crossed the river at Fort
Erie with an invading army of some 5,000 men.
The fort which had been only lately re-occupied
after a year's abandonment, was very poorly forti-
fied, and held by about 100 men. Defence would
have been useless, and Colonel Buck, in command,
surrendered with his men, who were marched into
the back country as prisoners. The inability of
the fort to hold out enabled the army to push on
towards Chippewa where Pearson was in com-
mand with about 700 regulars, 300 militia and
300 Indians.
Pearson at tirst advanced with his light troops,
but finding the American force well advanced,
he was obliged to retreat, breaking up the bridges
behind him. On the whole frontier, there were
not quite t8oo British troops to oppose to
the two strong brigades under Winfield Scott
and Ripley, of much more than double their
number. General Riall, however, determined to
endeavour to check the enemy's advance by a vig-
ourous resistance at a point known as Street's
Creek, where the main body of the American
army had encamped. Kingsford calls this action
the " Balaclava of the campaign." Again and
again the British columns gallantly charged
against the solid American line, and as often were
forced back by the volleys of grape, cannon, and
musketry from massed battalions to front and
right. At last Riall, after suffering severe loss,
was obliged to order a retreat towards Niagara.
The brave attempt, though unsuccessful, was not
by any means fruitless, for its demonstration of
British and Canadian pluck and determination
produced a moral effect which had at least the
result of deterring the enemy from following up
his success even so far as to molest the retreating
force, which made its way to Fort George without
interruption. Brown's army advancctd leisurely
with considerable caution, and occupied Queen-
ston Heights, where it remained for some time
nearly inactive, while the light cavalry and In-
dians made marauding excursions in every direc-
tion, plundering and destroying the property of
the unfortunate colonists, and burning the village
of St. David's, where, however, a British detach-
ment surprised a raiding-party and tool; many
prisoners. Some disaffected American settlers,
headed by a man named Willcocks. took a con-
spicuous part in these plundering raids.
General Brown had been expecting the assist-
ance of Chauncey's fleet to enable him to take
Fort George, but owing in part to the illness of
Chauncey, and partly to the fact that he was now
effectually held in check by Yeo's fleet. Brown
gave up his design on the fort, and retreated
towards Chippewa, closely followed by Riall, who
took up an advantageous position on rising
ground in a country road called Lundy's Lane,
while awaiting reinforcements in order to proceed
to action. Meantime Drummond, at Kingston,
on hearing of the affair at Street Creek had
ordered a new levy of the militia of the Province,
an<l a nuiiibcr of the settlers who had temporarily
returned to their fields and farms loyally respond-
ed to the call. Urummond himself hastened on
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
'7'
to York, disbant'ed all the less able-bodied militia-
men, and with 400 men of the 89th and other
companies on theii way from Kingston, he
hastened to Niagara. Finding that Kiall had
advanced already he sent a detachment under
Colonel Tucker against an American force at
Lewiston, while he himself pushed on to Queens-
ton. The enemy having disappeared from Lewis-
ton Tucker re-crossed the river with his detach,
ment, and Drummond's re- united column of 800
men advanced to join Riall's, of about the same
number. Meantime Winfield Scott, believing
that the force opposed to him at Lundy s Lane
was greater than he had at first thought, sent for
reinforcements, and General Brown, with Ripley's
and Foster's brigades, hastened to his support.
Riall, finding that he was about to be attacked by
an overwhelming force, had commenced a retreat
countermanded by Drummond, who came up to
find himself with 1,600 men, confronted by an
American force of at least 5,000, part of which
had arrived within 600 yards by the time he had
reached the top of the hill at Lundy's Lane. The
engagement began with Scott's attack before
Riall had completed his formation, though he lost
no time in establishing a battery of two guns on
the small eminence now crowned by an observa-
tory.
From thence, on a summer's day, the eye
can take in a large expanse of sunny, peaceful
country, rich woodlands, peach orchards and
vineyards, tranquil homesteads, and fields of liv-
ing green. But on that July evening, from six
o'clock till midnight, the peaceful landscape was
clouded with heavy sulphurous smoke, the sweet
summer air was filled with the dull boom of
artillery, the rattle of musketry, the sharp crack
of the rifle, the shout of the charge, and the groans
of the wounded, ail blending strangely with the
solemn, unceasing roar of the great cataract close
by. The battle, the most fiercely contested of the
whole war, raged with fier :e obstinacy and severe
carnage, and an obstinate determination on both
sides. About nine a brief lull in the fighting
occurred while the rear guard of the American
force under (leneral Brown took the place
of Scott's brigade, which had suffered severely.
At this critical moment Sir Hercules Scott with
i,aoo men arrived on the spot, after a inarch
of twenty-one miles, and between the two unequal
forces thus reinforced the sharp contest was
renewed. The chief struggle was for the posses-
sion of the guns on the height, and through
a successful dash of the American Colonel Miller
they were taken for a time, but quickly recovered.
The darkness was so great that two guns were ex-
changed in the hurried retreat. " Nothing," says
an onlooker, "could have been more terrible
nor yet more solemn than this midnight contest.
The desperate charges of the enemy were suc-
ceeded by a deathlike silence, interrupted only by
the groans of the dying, and the dull sound of the
Falls of Niagara." About midnight Brown, having
unsuccessfully tried for six hours, with his force
of 5,000 against half that number, to force the
British fromtheir position, retreated toChippewa,
with a loss of 930; that on the British side num-
bering 870. Riall had been wounded and taken
prisoner early in the action, and both Scott and
Brown were wounded, as was Drummond himself,
though retaining his command until the end of
the battle, cheerily urging on his men to " fight
to the last." On the ne.xt morning — the 26th —
the American commander having destroyed the
bridge over the Chippewa, burned Street's Mill,
and thrown much of his equipage and provisions
into the river, retired to Fort Erie, which had
been greatly strengthened since it had surrendered
to Brown. Drummond followed so soon as his
troops had recovered from the fatigue of Lundy's
Lane and, after failing in a well-directed attack on
the provision depot at Black Rock, made a gallant
attempt to storm the fort which was partially
successful, but just as his first column had enter-
ed the embrasures an accidental explosion killed
many of the storming party, and caused a panic,
which forced Drummond to retire with the loss of
more than 500 men. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, being reinforced by the 6ist and Jind Regi-
ments, he was able despite an unwholesome
site and alai ning sickness among his men to
keep the American troops blockaded throughout
September in Fort Erie.
Meantime British reinforcem^jnts of 16,000 men
from the Duke of Wellington's army had arrived, —
men admirably disciplined, and sup()lied with
skilled and experiencetl generals and excellent artil-
lery. Yet Frevost, with his usual fatuity, at the
»7»
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
J' I
,•1. ^
headof 12,000 of these troops suffered an inglorious
defeat before Plattsburg which stands in strange
and unhappy contrast with the gallantly fought
actions against greatly superior numbers just
related. The departure of a large force under
l2zard to reinforce the blockading troops on Lake
Erie had left General Macomb with only 1,500
troops, and some 3,000 militia newly called out.
Prevost might easily have overpowered his weak
enemy, but he was obstinately determined to
await the attack of the newly collected fleet,
commanded by Downie, who was almost a strang-
er to his command, and who was prematurely
hurried into action by Prevost. Downie was
killed fifteen minutes after the firing began, and
the British vessels were overpowered. Instead of
attacking simultaneously with his artillery he
waited till the fleet had been defeated by the
greatly superior squadron opposed to them, when
he countermanded the advance of the troops
he had so irresolutely put in motion, and ordered
a retreat, without even an attempt at an assault.
The indignation of the disappointed troops was
almost uncontrollable, and Macomb could scarcely
believe his good fortune. For the lamentable in-
competency manifested in his conduct of this affair
Prevost was to have been tried by court-martial,
but died before this could take place. At Fort
Erie the tidings of Prevost's failure encouraged
the blockaded garrison to make a vigourous sortie,
which was repulsed by Drummond's force,
though with the loss of 600 men, half of whom
had been made prisoners in the trenches.
The end of this long and exhausting v/ar was,
happily, near at hand. The close of the general
war in Europe, early in 1814, had left Great Britain
free to begin a retaliatory naval war on the United
States, the effects of which were soon felt. The
American sea-board, from Maine to Mexico, suf-
fered from the inroads of British squadrons, whose
attacks forced therecailof a portion of the American
land forces then in Canada. Sir John Sherbrooke,
Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, made suc-
cessful attacks on the coast of Maine, carrying
one point after another, till the whole border from
Penobscot to New Brunswick was under British
rule, and so continued till the ratification of peace.
Farther south. General Ross ascended the Patux-
ent to Benedict, whence he marched upon Wash-
ington, dispersed its defenders, and burned the
Capitol and other public buildings together with
the great bridge across the Potomac. An attack
on Baltimore was partially successful, but Genera)
Ross lost his life in it, and the attempt to take it was
eventually relinquished, with considerable loss on
both sides. In Florida, the British established
themselves for some time, but were defeated
before New Orleans. Previous to this, however, in
August, 1814, British and American Envoys met
at Ghent to consider terms of peace, and in
December of the same year, a fortnight before the
attack on New Orleans in January, 1815, and after
some further hostilities of minor importance on
Lake Ontario, the Niagara frontier, and the far
West, the treaty of Ghent was ratified. Thus
closed this most unjustifiable war, so disastrous
in its immediate effects, and so fruitless of results
to both nations.
To the United States, the war brought neither
glory nor substantial benefit, but only heavy
loss. Her merchantmen had been captured to
the number of nearly three thousand, her for-
eign trade almost annihilated, her revenues im-
mensely decreased, direct taxation increased fifty
per cent., and the credit of the country so im-
paired that the Government found it impossible
to negotiate a loan. The original sources of dis-
pute, the right of search, and neutral immunity in
time of war, remained untouched by the treaty,
which concerned itself chiefly with the restitution
of the territory taken in the war to its former
owners, the boundaries of Maine and New Bruns-
wick being left for adjustment to a Commission.
One article, however, securing the extinction of
the American oceanic slave trade, conferred at
least one material boon on humanity. To Canada,
the war was, from a material point of view, an
almost unqualified misfortune ; and devastated ter-
ritory, neglected farms, depredations by plundering
expeditions, sacrificed lives and desolated homes,
were for long the evident marks of the invasion.
Forced into hostilities through no quarrel of her
own, but simply in virtue of her being an integral
part of the Britis.i empire, Canada never wavered
in her loyalty though frequently contending at a
disadvantage against overwhelming odds. During
nearly the whole duration of the war inadequate
military forces, insufficient supplies of provisions
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and materkil of war increased the inequality of
the contest, while the incapacity of the Governor-
General in such a crisis, and at times the in-
efficiency of leaders, repeatedly betrayed the
British cause. Yet the loyal Canadian yeomen
willingly threw themselves into the breach, and
fought gallantly for their homes and their flag ;
and the heroic struggle was far from being fruit-
less in moral benefit to the country.
It gave unity and esprit de corps to its diverse ele-
ments. French-Canadians and British-Canadians
fought side by side, and vied with each other in
their devotion to their common country. The very
Indians proved unflinchingly steadfast, and many
of those who had emigrated from the United
States, willingly joined in repelling the invasion^
Increased self-respect and self-reliance fltted and
educated the colony for the self-government it
was ere long to enjoy ; while numbers of new sett-
lers were attracted to Canada, among them many
military veterans, who, by the traditions they
carried with them, rivetted the already strong
links with the mother-land. The opening national
life of the country was ennobled by its sufl'ering
for the cause it deemed the right; and strengthened,
elevated, and purifled by its sacrifices in resisting
an unrighteous invasion, it emerged from its
" baptism of fire," all the more fitted to become a
noble and vigourous nation. And the lot into which
its struggling infancy refused to be forced is not
likely ever to become the choice of its vigourous
prime.
/<''!
When Congrress declared war in 1812, Napol-
eon had 400,000 armed men at his command, and
England had for years been fighting a desperate
financial, military, and naval conflict for the liberties
of Europe. During 1812-13-14, the final struggle
in that great duel took place, and it was at the
most crucial period that occasion was taken by
the United States to help the French Emperor
and invade British America. The population of
the Republic was then 8,000,000, and that of all
Canada 300,000. From the Detroit River to
Halifax, there were scattered British regulars,
numbering all told only 4,500. The people of
Upper Canada, where the bulk of the fighting took
place, were only 77,000 in number. The Can-
adians and British were out-numbered in almost
every battle, sometimes four to one, and yet they
were successful in all the more important contests.
By the end of 181 2, Michigan had been conquered.
During the succeeding year it was recovered, but
at the close of the war Maine was in British
hands.
An important organization during the war
was the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper
Canada. Established at Toronto, it extended its
branches to different parts of the Province during
1812 and 1815, and did a great deal for the relief
of sufferers by the war. The treasurer and or-
f»3nizer of the Society, was the Rev. Dr. Strachan,
afterwards first Bishop of Toronto. He had just
been appointed first rector of York. The directors
were : William Campbell, afterwards Chief Justice,
John Small, W. Chewett, J. Beverley Robinson,
afterwards Chief Justice, William Allan, Grant
Powell, and Abel Wood. On the destruction of
the town of Newark (Niagara), large subscriptions
were obtained and distributed for the relief of the
sufferers. The following are extracts from its
recorded proceedings :
"The inhabitants came forward in the most
noble manner, as well as the gallant officers of
His Majesty's troops :
Major-General Sheaffe £ 200
Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshopp 100
with a vast number of liberal subscriptions, ac-
cording to the means of the donors, so that in a
short time upwards of ;£'2,ooo was raised to com-
mence with.
City of Kingston sent £ 500
Amherstburg sent 300
City of Montreal sent 3,000
Quebec sent 1,500
The amount raised in the first year was
£10,000, and eight hundred and sixty-four families
were relieved from starvation by this timely aid.
The following summer a large meeting was held
in London (England), at which the Duke of Kent,
who had visited Canada twenty years before, pre-
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^.DIA.
sided. By his influence a veiv large sum was
subscribed. The Bank of England graced the
list with £1,000. This effort produced another
;f 10,000.
Kingston, in Jamaica sent £"2,000
Nova Scotia sent 2,500
Indeed, the liberality evinced in all quarters
was of the greatest service to the sufferers, and
gladdened many bowed down by sorrow and
indigence."
Aside from the undlss^ised hostility of the
New England States towards this unjust and
aggressive war there were many other expressions
of dissatisfaction within the Republic. Amongst
them was a resolution passed at. a convention of
delegates from several counties of the State of
New York, held at the Capitol, in the city
of Albany, on the 17th and i8th days of Septem-
ber, 1812, as follows:
" Resolved, That we shall be constrained to
consider the determination on the part of our
rulers to continue the present war, after official
notice of the revocation of the British Orders in
Council, as affording conclusive evidence that the
war has been undertaken from motives entirely
distinct from those which have been hitherto
avowed, and for the promotion of objects wholly
unconnected with the interest and honour of the
American nation.
Resolved, That we contemplate with abhor-
rence, even the possibility of an alliance with the
present Emperor of France, every action of whose
life has demonstrated that the attainment, by any
means, of universal empire, and the consequent
extinction of every vestige of freedom, are the sole
objects of his incessant, unbounded, and remorse-
less ambition. His arms, with the spirit of free
men, we might openly and fearlessly encounter,
but of his secret arts, his corrupting influence,
we entertain a dread we can neither conquer nor
conceal. It is therefore with the utmost distrust
and alarm that we regard his late professions of
attachment and love to the American people,
fully recollecting that his invariable course has
been by perfidious offers of protection, by deceit-
ful professions of friendship, to lull his intended
victims into the fatal sleep of confidence and
security, during which the chains of despotism
are silently wound roimd and rivetted on them."
On the 4th of February, 1812, Major-Gentsrat
Brock, accompanied by a numerous suite, opened
the session of the Legislature at York with the
following memorable Speech from the Throne :
" Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative
Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assem-
bly.
I should derive the utmost satisfaction, the first
time of my addressing you, were it permitted me
to direct your attention solely to such objects as
tend to promote the peace and prosperity of this
Province.
The glorious contest in which the British em-
pire is engaged, and the vast sacrifice which
Britain nobly offers to secure the independence
of other nations might be expected to stifle every
feeling of envy and jealousy, and at the same
time to excite the interest and command the ad-
miration of a free people ; but, regardless of such
general impressions, the American Government
evinces a disposition calculated to impede and
divide her efforts.
England is not only interdicted the harbours of
the United States, while they afford a shelter to
the cruisers of her inveterate enemy but she is
likewise required to resign those maritime rights
which she has so long exercised and enjoyed.
Insulting threats are offered, and hostile prepara-
tions actually commenced ; and though not with-
out hope that cool reflection and the dictates of
justice may yet avert the calamities of war, I can-
not under every view of the relative situation of
the Province be too urgent in recommending to
your early attention the adoption of such measures
as will best secure the internal peace of the coun-
try, and defeat every hostile aggression.
Principally composed of the sons of a loyal and
brave band of veterans, the militia, I am confi-
dent, stand in need of nothing but the necessary
legislative provisions to direct their ardour in the
acquirement of military instruction, to form a
most efficient force. The growing prosperity of
these Provinces, it is manifest, begins to awaken
a spirit of envy and ambition. The acknowledged
importance of this colony to the parent state will
secure the continuance of her powerful protection.
Her fostering care has been the first cause, under
Providence, of the uninterrupted happiness you
have so long enjoyed. Your industry has been
:'}
!M'I
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
177
liberally rewarded, and you have in consequence
risen to opulence.
These interesting truths are not uttered to ani-
mate your patriotism, but to dispel any appre-
hension which you may have imbibed of the
possibility of England forsaking you ; for you
must be sensible that if once bereft of her sup-
port, if once deprived of the advantages which
her commerce and the supply of her most essen-
tial wants give you, this colony, from its geo-
graphical position, must inevitably sink into com-
parative poverty and insignificance. But Heaven
will look favourably on the manly exertions which
the loyal and virtuous inhabitants of this happy
land are prepared to make to avert such a dire
calamity. Our gracious Prince, who so gloriously
upholds the dignity of the Empire, already appre-
ciates your merit, and it will be your first care to
establish, by the course of your actions, the just
claims of the country to the protection of His
Royal Highness.
I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of an-
nouncing to you from this place, the munificent
intention of His Royal Highness the Prince
Regent, who has been graciously pleased to sig-
nify that a grant of £560 per annum will be pro-
posed in the annual estimates for every future
missionary of the Gospel sent from England who
may have faithfully discharged, for the term of
ten years, the duties of his station in this Pro-
vince.
Gentlemen of the House of Assembly :
I have no doubt but that, with me, you are con-
vinced of the necessity of a regular system of
military instruction to the militia of this Province ;
on this salutary precaution, in the event of war,
our future safety will greatly depend, and I doubt
not but that you will cheerfully lend your aid to
enable me to defray the expense of carrying into
effect a measure so conducive to our security and
defence."
The following^ Proclamation was issued in
July, 1812, to the people of Canada, by Brigadier-
General Hull, at the village of Sandwich :
" To inhabitants of Canada :
After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the
United States has been driven to arms. The
injuries and aggressions, the insults and indigni-
ties of Great Britain have once more left them no
alternative but manly resistance or unconditional
submission. The army under my command has in-
vaded your country, and the standard of union now
waves over Canada. To the peaceful, unoffend-
ing inhabitant it brings neither danger nor diffi-
culty. I come to find enemies, not to make them.
I come to protect, not to injure you.
Separated by an immense ocean and an exten-
sive wilderness from Great Britain, you have no
participation in her councils, no interest in her
conduct. You have felt her tyranny, you have
seen her injustice — but I do not ask you to avenge
the one or redress the other. The United States
are sufficiently powerful to afford you every
security, consistent with their rights and your
expectations. I tender you the invaluable bless-
ings of civil, political, and religious liberty, and
their necessary result, individual and general
prosperity — that liberty which gave decision to
our councils and energy to our conduct in our
struggle for independence, and which conducted
us safely and triumphantly through the stormy
past of the Revolution — that liberty that has
raised us to an elevated rank among the nations
of the world, and which has afforded us a greater
measure of peace and security of wealth and
improvement, than ever yet fell to the lot of any
people.
In the name of my country, and by the author-
ity of my government, I promise protection to
your persons, property, and rights. Remain at
your homes ; pursue your peaceful and customary
avocations ; raise not your hands against your
brethren. Many of your fathers fought for the
freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being
children, therefore, of the same family with us,
and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an
army of friends must be hailed by you with a
cordial welcome. You will be emancipated from
tyranny and oppression, and restored to the dig-
nified station of freemen.
Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might
ask your assistance ; but I do not. I come pre-
pared for every contingency. I have a force
which will look down on all opposition, and that
force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If,
contrary to your own interests and the just expec-
tation of my country, you should take part in the
v;,.:
■■^lmtt''^;\i
178
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
h
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^:'^!
approaching contest, you will be considered and
treated as enemies, and the horrors and calam-
ities of war will stalk before you. If the barbar-
ous and savage policy of Great Britain be pur-
sued, and the savages be let loose to murder our
citizens, and butcher our women and children,
this war will be a war of extermination. The
first stroke with the tomahawk, the first attempt
with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one
indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white
man, found fighting by the side of an Indian, will
be taken prisoner — instant destruction will be his
lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and
humanity cannot prevent the employment of a
force which respects no rights and knows no
wrong, it will be prevented by a severe and relent-
less system of retaliation.
I doubt not your courage and firmness — I will
not doubt your attachuient to liberty. If you
tender your services voluntarily, they will be
accepted readily. The United States offer you
peace, liberty, and security. Your choice lies
between these and war, slavery, and destruction.
Choose, then, but choose wisely ; and may He
who knows the justice of our cause, and Who
holds in His hand the fate of nations, guide you
to a result the most compatible with your rights
and interests, your peace and happiness.
By the General,
A. P. Hull."
Headquarters, Sandwich,
July 12, 1812.
The eloquent and forcible manifesto which
follows was General Brock's first reply to the in-
solent words of the invader. His second was the
capture of Michigan :
"The unprovoked declaration of war by the
United States of America against the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and its
dependencies, has been followed by the actual
invasion of this Province, in a remote frontier of
the western district, by a detachment of the
armed force of the United States. The officer
commanding that detachment has thought proper
to invite His Majesty's subjects not merely to a
quiet and unresisting submission, but insults
them with a call to seek voluntarily the protection
of his government.
Without condescending to notice the epithets
bestowed in this appeal of the Am.erican com-
mander to the people of Upper Canada on the
administration of His Majesty, every inhabitant of
the Province is desired to seek the confutation of
such indecent slander in the review of his own
particular circumstances. Where is the Canadian
subject who can truly affirm to himself that he
has been injured by the Government in his person,
his property, or his liberty ? Where is to be found,
in any part of the world, a growth so rapid
in prosperity and wealth as this colony exhibits ?
Settled, not thirty years, by a band of veterans
exiled from their former possessions on account of
their loyalty, not a descendant of these brave
people is to be found who, under the fostering
liberality of their Sovereign, has not acquired a
property and means of enjoyment superior to
what were possessed by their ancestors.
This unequalled prosperity would not have
been attained by Ine utmost liberality of the
Government or the persevering industry of the
people had not the maritime power of the Mother
Country secured to its colouists a safe access to
every market where the produce of their labour
was in request.
The unavoidable and immediate consequences
of a separation from Great Britain must be the
loss of this inestimable advantage ; and what
is offereo you in exchange ? To become a terri-
tory of the United States, and share with them
that exclusion from the ocean which the policy
of their government enforces; you are not even
flattered with a participation of their boasted
independence, and it is but too obvious that once
estranged from the powerful protection of the
United Kingdom you must be re-annexed to the
dominion of France, from which the provinces of
Canada were wrested by the arms of Great
Britain, at a vast expense of blood and treasure,
from no other motive than to relieve her ungrate-
ful children from the oppression of a cruel neigh-
bour. This restitution of Canada to the Empire
of France was the stipulated reward for the aid
afforded to the revolted colonies (now the United
States). The debt is still due, and there can be
no doubt but the pledge has been renewed as a
consideration for commercial advantages, or
rather for an expected relaxation in the tyranny
CANADA; AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
179
of France over the commercial world. Are you
prepared, inhabitants of Canada, to become
willing subjects, or rather slaves, to the despot
who rules the nations of continental Europe with
a rod of iron ? If not, arise in a body, exert your
energies, co-operate cordially with the King's
regular forces to repel the invader, and do not
give cause to your children, when groaning under
the oppression of a foreign master, to reproach
yoii with havmg so easily parted with the richest
inheritance of this earth — a participation in the
name, character, and freedom of Britons !
" The same spirit of justice which will make
every reasonable allowance for the unsuccessful
efforts of zeal and loyalty will not fail to punish
the defalcation of principle. Every Canadian
freeholder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the
most solemn oaths to defend the monarchy, as
well as his own property ; to shrink from that
engagement is treason not to be forgiven. Let
no man suppose that if in this unexpected
struggle. His Majesty's arms should be compelled
to yield to an overwhelming force the Province
will be eventually abandoned ; the endeared rela-
tions of the first settlers, the intrinsic value of its
commerce, and the pretensions of its powerful
rival to re-possess the Canadas, are pledges that -
no peace will be established between the United
States and Great Britain and Irehnd of which
the restoration of these provinces does not make
the most prominent condition.
" Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of
the commander of the enemy's forces to refuse
quarter should an Indian appear in the ranks.
The brave bands of aborigines which inhabit this
colony were, like His Majesty's bther subjects,
punished for their zeal and fidelity by the loss of
their possessions m the late colonies, and reward-
ed by His Majesty with lands of superior value in
this province. The faith of the British Govern-
ment has never yet been violated — the Indians
feel that the soil they inherit is to them and their
posterity protected from the base arts so
frequently devised to over-reach their simplicity.
By what new principle are they to be prohibited
from defending their property ? If their warfare,
from being different to that of the white people,
be more terrific to the enemy let him retrace his
steps — they seek him not — and cannot expect to
find women and children in an invading army.
But they are men, and have equal rights with
all other men to defend themselves and their
property when invaded, more especially when
they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and
mortal foe, using the same warfare which the
American commander affects to reprobate.
" This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of
refusing quarter, for such a cause as being found
in arms with a brother sufferer in defence of
invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain
assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited
operations of war in this part of the King's
dominions, but in every quarter of the globe, for
the national character of Britain is not less
distinguished for humanity than strict retributive
justice, which will consider the execution of this
inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which
every subject of the offending power must make
expiation.
Isaac Brock,
Major-General and President."
Headquarters :
Fort George, July 22, 1812.
By order of His Honour thi President,
J, B. Clegg,
Captain and A.D.C.
The invasions of Canada by the Americans
during the war have been summarized as follows :
1. General Hull, at Sandwich.... 3,000 men.
2. General Van Rensellaer, at
Queenston 2,000 "
3. General Smyth, at Fort Erie.. 3.000 "
4. General Pike, Toronto 2,500 "
5. General Dearborn, Fort George 3,000 "
6. General Winchester, Chrys-
ler's Farm, for Montreal.... 3,000 "
7. General Hampton, Chatea-
guay River, for Montreal... 8,000 "
8. General Brown, Fort Erie 5,000 "
9. General Brown, Lundy's Lane 5,000 "
10. General Izzard, Fort Erie 8,000 "
II. General Wilkinson, Lacolle
Mills, L.C 2,500 "
Total number of invaders 45,000 men.
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.'EDIA.
III' I
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An Address to the Prince Regent was passed
by the Legislature of Upper Canada, on March
6th, l8i3, expressive of the popular sentiment
regarding Sir Isaac Brock. The following extract
is interesting :
" While we pray Your Royal Highness to accept
our most cordial congratulations on the splendid
achievements of His Majesty's forces, and of those
of his allies in various parts of the globe, and in
particular on the extraordinary successes which,
under Divine Providence, have attended His
Majesty's arms in this portion of his dominion ;
we should do injustice to the memory of our late
truly illustrious President, Major-General Brock,
under whose auspices the latter were, during his
lifetime, principally achieved, did we omit to
accompany them with feelings of the most poig-
nant sorrow for his fall.
He had endeared himself to us by his able,
virtuous and disinterested administration of the
civil government, and by the zeal, military talent,
and bravery, which characterized and marked his
conduct in the field.
To his energy, his promptitude, and his decision,
do we feel ourselves in a great degree indebted,
for having, at this moment, the happiness of en-
joying the privileges of your Majesty's subjects.
His disinterested and manly conduct aroused the
spirit of the country, and called it forth for self-
defence against a most insidious foe.''
An interesting episode of the war is the Brit-
ish capture of the American capital. The
Rev. Dr. Withrow, in his History of Canada,
states that in 1814 the British maintained a most
harassing blockade along the Atlantic seaboard.
The close of the Continental war had enabled
Great Britain to throw more vigour into the con-
flict with the United States. Her giant navy was
freed from service in European waters, and Ad-
miral Cockburn, with a fleet of fifty vessels, about
the middle of August, arrived in Chesapeake Bay
with troops destined for the attack on Washing-
ton. Tangier Island was seized and fortified, and
fifteen hundred negroes of the neighbouring plan-
tations were armed and drilled for military ser-
vice.
There were two rivers by which Washington
might be approached — the Potomac.on which it is
situated, and the Patuxent, which flows in its rear.
The British commander chose the latter, both on
account of the facility of access, and for the pur-
pose of destroying the powerful fleet of gunboats
which had taken refuge in itacreeks. This object
was successfully accomplished on the 20th of
August, fifteen of the gunboats being destroyed
and one captured, together with fourteen mer-
chant vessels. The army, under the command of
General Ross, on the following day disembarked
at Benedict. It numbered, including some mar-
ines, three thousand five hundred men, with two
hundred sailors to drag the guns — two small
three-pounders.
For the defence of Washington, General Win-
der had been assigned a force of sixteen thousand
six hundred regulars, and a levy of ninety-three
thousand militia had been ordered. Of the latter,
not one appeared ; of the former, only about one-
half mustered. The Americans had, however,
twenty-six guns against two small pieces possessed
by the British. General Winder took post at
Bladensburg, a few miles from Washington. His
batteries commanded the only bridge across the
East Potomac. Ross determined to storm the
bridge in two columns. Not a moment did the
bronzed veterans of the Peninsular War hesitate.
Amid a storm of shot and shell they dashed
across the bridge, carried a fortified house, and
charged on the batteries before the second column
could come to their aid. Ten guns were captured.
The American army was utterly routed, and fled
through and beyond the city it was to defend.
The lack of cavalry and the intense heat of the
day prevented pursuit by the British. The bril-
liant action was saddened to the victors by the
loss of sixty-one gallant men slain and one hun-
dred and eighty-five wounded.
Towards evening the victorious army occupied
the city. The destruction of the public buildings
had been decreed, in retaliation for the pillage of
Toronto and the wanton burning of Niagara. An
offer was made to the American authorities to
accept a money payment by way of ransom, but
it was refused. The next day the torch was ruth-
lessly applied to the Capitol, with its valuable
library, the President's House, the Treasury, War
Office, arsenal, dockyard, and the Long Bridge
across the Potomac. A fine frigate, a twenty-gun
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiflDIA.
i8i
sloop, twenty thousand stand of arms, and
immense magazines of powder had already been
destroyed. The town of Alexandria was saved
from destruction by the surrender of twenty-
one vessels, sixteen hundred barrels of flour, and
a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. A few days
later aiid General Ross retired once more to his
ships.
At the time when war was declared there
were but few regular British troops in the coun-
try. Dr. Kingsford states the number at 4,450,
and of these 1,500 only were above Montreal.
They were the 8th, 41st, 49th, and looth Regi-
ments, with a small detachment cf artillery. There
were also present the loth Royal Veteran's Regi-
ment, the Newfoundland Fencibles, and the
Glengarry Fencibles, — lately raised and dis-
ciplined. The force above Montreal consisted
of the $
41st Regiment 900
loth Veterans 250
Newfoundland Regiment 250
Roya! Artillery 50
Provincial Seamen... 50
Total 1,500
The British and Canadian Commanders in the
war of 1812 were nearly all menof ':xperience and
seme of them afterwards attamed high rank.
Thi! following personal detj.ils are of value in con-
nection with the history of the struggle :
Major-General Sir I .aac Brock was born in the
i'lsUind of Guernsey, on Ociober 6th, 1769 — the
yuar which gave birth to Napoleon aad Welling-
ton. In his fifteenth year he joined the army as
an Ensign, and in 1797 became a Lieut.-Colonel
by purchase. He saw active service in Holland,
was wounded at the battle of Egmont-of-Zee in
1799, and was second in command of the land
forces at Lord Nelson's attack on Copenhagen in
1801. In the succeeding year he sailed for
Canada in command of the 49th Regiment,
and in 1805 became a full colonel. During
the succeeding year he was appointed to the
command of the troops in Upper and Lower
Canada with rank as a Brigadier ; in 1810 as-
sumed command in Upper Canada alone ; and
in 1811 became a Major-General and President
and Administrator of the Government in that
Province. On October 12th, 1812, he died
at Queenston Heights, one week after being
gazetted an extra Knight of the Order of the Bath
for his victory at Detroit.
General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Bart., was born
in Boston in 1763 and entered the army in 1778.
He served in Ireland for some years, in Canada
from 1787 to 1797, in Holland, and in the Baltic.
From 1802 until 1813 he served again in Canada
— first under the command of Brock and then as
his successor for a year. He was created a bar-
onet in 18 13 and became a full General in 1828.
He died in 1851.
General Sir George Prevost, Bart., was born on
May 19th, 1767, distinguished himself in the
West Indies, became Governor of Dominica, and
in 1803 was created a baronet. In 1805 he was
appointed Lieut. -Governor of Portsmouth, and in
1808 Lieut.-Governor and Commander of the
troops in Nova Scotia. He was second in com-
mand of the expedition sent tocapture Martinique,
and in 1811 was appointed Commander-in-Chief of
the forces in all British America, and became
Governor-General in July, 1812. As such he served
through the war with the Americans. Towards
the close of 1814 he was recalled and was to have
been tried by court-martial. He died in 1816,
however, before the trial could take place.
Colonel the Hon. Charles Micheld'Irumberry de
Salaberry, c.B., SeigneurdeChamblyetdeBeaulac,
was born at the Manor House of Beauport, on No-
vember 19th, 1778. HeservedintheWestlndies for
eleven years under General Prescott, and fought
at the siege of Fort Matilda and the conquest of
Martinique. He was aide-de-camp to Major-
General de Rottenburg in the Walcheren expedi-
tion, and on his return to Lower Canada organ-
ized the Voltiguers and became the first Lieut.-
Colonel of the regiment. At the close of the war
of 1812 he was made a c.B., given the gold medal
struck by Great Britain in honour of the battle of
Chateauguay, and awarded a vote of thanks by
the Provincial Legislature. From 1818 until his
death in 1829 he was a member of the Legislative
Council of Lower Canada.
General Sir Phineas Riall, K.C.B., entered the
army in 1794 as an Ensign of the 92nd Regiment
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CANADA : AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA. .
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and rose by purchase to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of
the 15th Foot in 1806. He commanded a brigade
in the expedition apainst Martinique, in that
against Saintes in i8og, and in the capture of
Guadaloupe in 1810. For these services he was
given a medal and clasp, and in 1813 became a
Major-General. After the close of the American
war he was appointed, in 1816, Governor of the
Island of Grenada. He was made a Knight Com-
mander of the Hanoverian Order in 1831 ;
knighted in 1833 ; appointed Commander of the
75th Regiment in 1835, and of the 15th Regiment
in 1846; and was made a General in 1841. He
died in 1851.
Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison, c.u., the
hero of Chrysler's Farm, was born at New York
on May 4, 1783, and entered ihe army as an En-
sign at the a ,'e of ten years. He served during
the campaign in Holland and in the Mediter-
ranean until 1802, when he purchased a Majority.
In 1804 he was appointed inspecting field officer
of yeomanry in Ireland, and in 1809 became
Lieut.-Colonelof the ist West India Regiment at
Trinidad. In 181 1 he was removed to his former
regiment, the 89th, and in the following year was
sent to Halifax. For his services at Chrysler's
Farm he received a vote of thanks from the House
of Assembly of Lower Canada and was presented
with a sword by the merchants of Liverpool. He
was severely wounded at Lundy's Lane and had
to return to England, where, in 1819, he became
a full Colonel. After serving gallantly in India
as a Brigadier-General from 1822 to 1826 he died
at sea on his wr.y home in the latter year.
General Sir tjeorge Gordon Drummond, G.c.B.,
was born at Quebec in 1771 and entered the army
as an Ensign in 1789. His promotion was rapid
and in 1794 he was appointed to the command of
the 8th Regiment. In this command he served
in Holland under the Duke of York, and dis-
tinguished himself at the Siege of Mineguen. From
the Netherlands he was sent to Minorca in 1800,
and during the following year served under Sir
^j^alph Abercombie in Egypt. From 1806 to 1808
he was second in command in the West Indies,
and in the latter year was appointed on the staff
in Canada. In 181 1 he had become a Lieut. -
General, and in August, 1813, was appointed
second in command under Sir G. Prevost. To-
wards the close of 1814 he succeeded the latter as
Commander-in-Chief, and was also made Admin-
istrator of the Government of the Canadas. This
position he held until relieved at his own request
in 1816. In 1S15 he was made a k.c.b., and
two years later a g.c.b. In 1825 he became a
full General and died in 1854.
General Sir John Harvey, k.c.b., k.c.h., was
born in 1778 and entered the army in 1794 as an
Ensign in the 80th Regiment. He served in
Holland in that year, on the coast of France in
1795, ait the Cape of Good Hope in 1796, in Cey-
lon for three years from 1797, and in Egypt in
1801-2. He was with the Madras army in the
Mahratta war of 1803, and for several years fol-
lowing with the Bengal army under Lord Lake.
In 1808, his health being impaired, he accepted a
staff appointment in England, and from 1809 to
1812 commanded a regiment in Ireland. In June,
i8i2, he was sent to Canada as Deputy Adjutant-
General, and served throughout the war with
boldness, skill, and success." In 1824 he became
a K.C.H. , and in 1838 a k.c.b., and Colonel of
the 59th Foot in 1844. Sir John Harvey was
Governor of New Brunswick in 1837-41, Governor
of Newfoundland in 1841-46, and Governor of
Nova Scotia in 1846-52. He died in the latter
year. ' ^
Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, r.n., k.c.b.,
was born at Southampton in 1782, and en-
tered the Royal Navy at a very early age, becom-
ing lieutenant at fifteen. He served in various
parts of the world during the prolonged war with
France, and was made a post-captain for services
at the conquest of Cayenne in 1809, besides re-'
ceiving signal Spanish honours. His exploits on
the lakes in the American war contribute a bright
page to Canadian history, despite some reverses.
He died in 1810 while on a voyage home from the
African coast.
Lieut.-Coloncl Cecil Bisshopp, a British com-
mander who gave up his life in the war of 1812,
was a son of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, Bart. — afterwards
Baron de la Zouche — and was born in 1783. He
entered the army at the early age of sixteen,
represented Newport for some time in the House
of Commons, and was attached for a year to the
Russian embassy of Sir John Borlase Warren.
After serving with distinction in Flanders, Spain
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.flDIA.
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and Portugal, he was sent to Canada in 1812.
Here he showed much gallantry and skill upon
several occasions until he met his death in July
of the following year at the battle of Black Rock.
Lieut.-General Francis, Baron de Rottenburg,
K.C.H., became major of Hompesch's Hussars
in 1795, and Lieut. -Colonel of the Goth Foot in
1797. He served in Ireland during the Rebellion
of 1798, and was present at the capture of Sur-
inam in 1799. After holding various staff ap-
pointments at home he was in command of the
light infantry in 1809 during the Walcheren expe-
dition, and in May, 1810, took command of the
garrison at Quebec with the rank of Major-Gen-
eral. In 1812 he was appointed to the command
of the Montreal district, and in 1813 assumed
command in Upper Canada, and also became Ad-
ministrator of the Government. He attained the
rank of Lieut.-General, and died in England in
1832.
Colonel George McDonell, c.b., was a member
of the well-known Glengarry family of that name,
and was born in 1770. After serving for some
years in the King's Regiment and attaining the
rank of captain, he organized in 181 1 the Glengar-
ry Light Infantry and became its Major. Shortly
afterwards he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel and
commander and distinguished himself by the
capture of Ogdensburg in February, 1813, For
his brilliant services at the battle of Chateauguay
he, as well as Colonel de Salaberry, was awarded
the C.B. and a gold medal. After the close of the
war he became Lieut.-Colonel of the 79th Foot,
married a daughter of Lord Arundel of Wardour,
and died in 1870.
Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. John McDonell was
born at Greenfield, Inverness, Scotland, in 1787.
He was brought to Glengarry, in Canada, three
years later by his father, studied law, and was
called to the Bar in 1808, and became Attorney-
General of Upper Canada in 181 1. At the break-
ing out of the war he was appointed A.D.c. to
General Brock and took a prominent part in the
capture of Detroit. His death at Queenston
Heights, in trying to avenge the fall of Brock, is
embalmed in Canadian history, and his remains
now rest with those of his leader under the me-
nporial overlooking the Niagara river.
Colonel James Fitzgibbou was born near the
River Shannon in Ireland, Nov. 16, 1780, joined
the army in 1799 as a sergeant, and in the be-
ginning of i8i3was Lieutenant of the 49th Regi-
ment. His exploit at Beaver Dam made him a
Captain in the Glengarry Regiment. After the
war he held several minor civil cilices in Upper
Canada, and in 1822 became Assistant Adjutant-
General. In the same year he was appointed
Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the Masons.
In 1826 he was gazetted Colonel of the West York
Militia Regiment. In 1827 he was appointed
Clerk of the House of Assembly, and in 1828
Colonel George McDonell, C.B.
Registrar of the Court of Probate. During the
rebellion of 1837 ^^ ^'^ good service in the de-
fence of Toronto. In 1850 he was appointed one
of the Military Knights of Windsor, where he died
in December, 1863.
By the Berlin Decrees Napoleon, after winning
the battles of Jena and Austerlitz, and entering
the capiti 1 of Prussia as a conqueror, proposed to
crush England through its commerce and to prac-
tically compel all other nations to act as his allies.
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
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The United States, which was thus forbidden
intercourse with a friendly power, dia not greatly
resent the action, but the moment Great Britain
retaliated upon France by her Orders-in-Council,
the American republic, instead of sympathizing
with the cause of liberty in its struggle against the
great despot of Europe, rang with threats of war.
The following were the chief " orders " given in
the Berlin Decrees as published in Le Moniteur,
5th December, 1806 :
1. The British Isles were to be in a state of
blockade.
2. Intercourse with them by Neutrals was pro-
hibited.
3. Every British subject within the limits of
French authority was to be held as a prisoner of
war.
4. All British property, private and public, was
declared the prize of war.
5. Merchandise from England was declared a
prize of war.
6. Half of the product of confiscations was to
be applied to indemnify merchants for the pro-
perty captured by British cruisers.
7. No British ships were to be admitted into
any port of France, or her allies.
8. Every vessel eluding this rule was to be con-
fiscated.
The French naval strength was not sufficient to
enforce^ these commands, while the British fleets
were quite able to carry out the Orders-in-Coun-
cil. Hence the injury done American commerce
by England was very much greater than that
inflicted by France. But the principle was the
same and both powers were equally striving to
exclude American ships from each other's ports.
Above all, Napoleon was the aggressor.
The followingr letter from Colonel (afterwards
Lieut.-General Sir John) Harvey was written from
Kingston on gth February, 18 15, to the Rev. Dr.
Strachan.at York, and gives an important histori-
cal view of the war through which the writer had
just served so gallantly :
" I rejoice to find that the population of this
Province, even on the most exposed frontier, is
beginning to feel present security and confidence
for the future. This is the first fruits of the influx
of regular troops into the Province. The good
effects of the money which the war has been the
means of introducing into the pockets of the
yeomanry, will now begin to be experienced.
Henceforward I trust that the inhabitants of the
Province will not otherwise feel the inconvenience
of a state of war (should it please Mr. Madison to
prolong it) than in the aid which all must occa-
sionally contribute to the indispensable service of
the transport of the army.
When I am told how many millions of money
have already been poured by the parent State into
these Provinces the sensation excited in my mind
is not that of regret, nor do I feel disposed to join
in the not infrequent exclamation that they are
not worth one-tenth of the sum, but I reflect
with satisfaction that by this most fortunate in-
flux of wealth these colonies have received a stim-
ulus (or an impetus, or both) which will propel
them on the road to prosperity, to population, to
national importance, more than would fifty years
of dull, stagnant peace.
I view it as a solemn pledge that the interests
of a country on which such treasure and blood
have been lavished has not been abandoned. The
advantages of this war, independent of the influx
of wealth, are incalculable. The country will be
purged of its rank and noxious subjects, and
every man will know his neighbour. The test
will have been applied to all, and it will be the
duty of all to bear in recollection to a more tran-
quil period how each has conducted himself
under it."
After the Burningr of Niagara and similar oc-
currences, Sir George Prevost referred to the out-
rages in his communications with Admiral Sir
Alexander Cochrane, at Bermuda. The latter
finally issued a much discussed Proclamation in
which a system of retaliation was declared to be
a part of warfare. It was on this principle that
Washington was taken, and its public buildings
made to suffer the fate inflicted by the United
States on York and Niagara. It has been
greatly misrepresented by American writers
owing to publication in an imperfect manner.
The following is the complete document, and
it may be noted that the words in brackets
were withdrawn by a general Order dated July
26th:
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
•85
" Proclamation, i8th July, 1814.
By the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane, C.B.
Whereas, by letters from His Excellency,
Lieut. -General Sir George Prevost, of the 1st and
2nd of June last, it appears that the Ameri-
can troops in Upper Canada have committed the
most wanton and unjustifiable outrages on the
unoffending inhabitants, by burning their mills
and houses, and by a general devastation of pri-
vate property. And whereas. His Excellency has
requested that in order to deter the enemy from a
repetition of similar outrages I would assist in
inflicting measures of retaliation.
You are hereby required and directed to destroy,
and lay waste such towns and districts upon the
coast as you may find assailable. You will hold
strictly in view the conduct of the American
army towards His Majesty's unoffending Canadian
subjects, (and you will spare merely the lives of
the unarmed inhabitants of the United States.)
For only by carrying this retributary justice into
the country of our enemy can we hope to make
him sensible of the impolicy, as well as the in-
humanity of the system ho has adopted.
You will take every opportunity of explaining
to the people how much I lament the necessity of
following the rigourous example of the command-
ers of the American forces. And as these com-
manders must obviously have acted under instruc-
tions from the Executive Government of the
United States, whose intimate and unnatural con-
nection with the government of France has led
them to adopt the same system of plunder and
devastation, it is therefore to their own govern-
ment the unfortunate sufferers must look for in-
denmification for the loss of property.
And this order is to remain in force until I re-
ceive information from Sir George Prevost that
the Executive Government of the United States
have come under an obligation to make full remu-
neration to the injured and unoffending inhabi-
tants of the Canadas for all the outrages their
troops have committed.
Given under my hand at Bermuda, 28th July,
1814.
(Signed) Alex. Cochrane."
In 1824 a monument was erected on Queens-
ton Heights in honour of Brock and McDonell.
In 1840, a mass meeting of the people of the
Province was called on Queenston Heights to
take steps to rebuild the monument, which
had been partially blown up by an American
miscreant named Lett. It was by proclama-
tion a public holiday. Fourteen steamers came
up the river majestically from Niagara — larger
average boats than are found now on Lake
Ontario, such boats as the Great Britain and the
William IV., with four funnels. Behind them
came an armed steamer, The Traveller, with the
Governor of Upper Canada, Sir George Arthur,
on board. Patriotic speeches were made by some
of the leading men of the Province, and subscrip-
tions to build a new monument were soon received
amounting to $50,211. The present imposing
structure, with the adornment of the grounds, was
finished at a cost of $47,944, leaving a surplus un-
expended of about $2,267. At the inauguration
of the Memorial in 1859 a great gathering was
present on the Heights and the chief speech was
delivered by Colonel the Hon. Sir Allan N. McNab,
A.D.c. to the Queen. In the course of his pat-
riotic address he made most eloquent allusions to
the hero of the war of 1812 and gave the following
history of the monument :
" The deep hold which General Brock had ac-
quired in the affections of the people is manifested
by the lively interest which, from the day of his
death to the present hour, has been universally
taken in his cherished memory and undying fame.
This universal feeling of respect prompted the
Legislature, soon after the peace, to erect a monu-
ment on these Heights sacred to the memory of
the illustrious dead. It was done ; and his remains,
with those of his steadfast friend, McDonell, re-
posed beneath the lofty and imposing pile — fit
emblem of a people's admiration, reverence, and
gratitude. Of its wanton and malicious spoilation
you are well aware. Let the corrupt heart that
conceived the design, and the coward hand that
polluted a hero's unguarded shrine, under the
cloak of midnight darkness, remain in darkness
to the end of time. We would not give a further
thought to the reprobate perpetrator, but leave
him to the contempt and scorn of all mankind.
The flame of indignation which the act lit up
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP^-DIA.
I I
throughout Canada bla/ed conspicuously upon
these Heights in the year 1840. We here saw a
roighty host assembled from all parts of the Pro-
vince, not only to express their resentment but to
show forth to the world their lasting veneration
for the departed warriors whose tomb had been
thus desecrated.
It was there, amidst the vehement acclamation
of thousands, resolved to reconstruct by private
subrcription another trophy, n)ore towering than
the first, in proof that the feeling which animated
the Legislature in 1815 and the men of that day,
had not waned, but still glowed in every breast,
and to testify that the lamented soldiers, though
dead, did indeed live in the hearts of their coun-
trymen. The fruits of that day's resolution now
covering the bodies of Brock and McDonell appear
in the beautiful column which stands before us :
Esto perpctua. It may be proper for me to give
here a brief outline of the proceedings which have
led to this result. It being rightly apprehended
that the former monument had been so much
shaken that it must soon fall in fragments, the
necessity' for taking steps to replace it became
urgent. The initiative was taken on the 4th of
June, 1840, by the men of Gore, whom I had the
honour to command. These gallant men, on the
occasion of their annual parade, passed a series
of resolutions, expressing, in strong terms, their
solicitude on this subject. Those resolutions,
having been by me transmitted through the
Adjutant-General, Colonel Bullock, to the Lieut.-
Governor, Sir George Arthur, were cordially re-
sponded to by His Excellency. He, in compliance
with the wishes expressed by the men of Gore,
and in furtherance of the desired object, sum-
moned the militia and other inhabitants of Upper
Canada to assemble on Queenston Heights on the
30th of July of the same year. In obedience to
the call, a meeting of many thousands took place
at the base of the shattered column, and there
resolutions were passed which I need not detain
you by repeating. Suffice it to say that all offerings
were to be spontaneous, and that the opportunity
might, without inconvenience to the contributors,
be extended as widely as the inclination prevailed,
the amount to be subscribed by the officers and
men of the militia was limited to one day's pay of
their respective ranks when on active service.
Subscriptions were from time to time received
from thousands who were thus appealed to, and
additional sums were received froiu other sources
— among others, the officers and men of several
rcgmicnts of the loyal New Brunswick Militia
presented their donations, and expressed in warm
terms their respect for the metnory of General
Brock, and their sympathy with the object in
contemplation. Very handsome contributions
were also .nadc by the brave Indian chiefs and
warriors, many of whom rendered such good ser-
vice on the memorable 13th of October, and on
many other occasions, some of the most trying
that occurred during the war. The remittances
of these brave and faithful warriors were accom-
panied by addresses to the Queen's Representa-
tive, expressive of their indignation and disgust
at the atrocious act of desecration which had ren-
dered their assistance necessary. These addresses
emanated from the chiefs of different tribes, scat-
tered throughout Upper Canada, and all breathed
a similar feeling, expressed in the native elo-
quence and beauty of language for which the war-
rior chiefs of the ' red men of the forest ' are so
justly celebrated.
In acknowledging their liberal gifts they were
assured that their names should be honourably
associated with those of their white brethren in
this laudable undertaking, as their money would
be mingled with the common fund raised for the
accomplishment of a common object. And it has
been done. It may be proper hereafter to pub-
lish the whole correspondence and proceedings
which ensued after the meeting of the 30th of
July, 1840, includmg the names of all the militia-
men and others thiough whose pecuniary aid the
Committee was, after much unavoidable delay,
enabled to commence and eventually to finish the
structure which we are now assembled formally
to inaugurate. I will add that donations were
received from gentlemen in England, including
General Brock's brother ; from Lord Aylmer,
Lord Sydenham, and Sir John Harvey; from
militiamen of Lower Canada and New Bruns-
wick ; but principally from the officers and men
of the Militia and the Indian chiefs and warriors
within the limits of Upper Canada. Designs were
called for, and the one submitted by the talented
architect, Mr. William Thomas, was selected.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP/KDIA.
187
Under his superintendence the whole has been
satisfactorily completed by Mr. John Worlhing-
ton, the builder, in the style you see."
At the meetlnfrln 1840 Chief Justice Sir John
Beverley Robinson, who, as a youth, had served at
th^ battle of Queenston Heijjhts, made an elo-
quent speech, from which the following is an extract:
" Among the many who are assembled here
from all parts of this Province, I know there are
some who saw, as I did, with grief, the body of
the lamented General borne from the field on
which he fell, and many who witnessed with me
the melancholy scene of his interment in one of
the bastions of Fort George. They can never, I
am sure, forget the countenances of the soldiers
of that gallant regiment which he had long com-
manded, when they saw deposited in the earth
the lamented officer who had for so many years
been their pride ; they can never forget the feel-
ings displayed by the loyal militia of this province
when they were consigning to the grave the noble
hero who had so lately achieved a glorious triumph
in the defence of his country ; they looked forward
to a dark and perilous future, and they felt that
the earth was closing upon him in whom, more
than any other human means of defence, their
confidence had been reposed. Nor can they forget
the countenances, oppressed with grief, of those
brave and faithful Indian warriors, who admired
and loved the gallant Brock, who had bravely
shared with him the dangers of that period, and
who had most honourably distinguished them-
selves in the field where he closed his short but
brilliant caraer."
Bishop Strachan's Letter to Thomas Jefferson,
ex-President of thu United States, narrating how
the war had been conducted by the Republic, is a
most important historical document. It was
dated at York, 30th January, 1815, and the first
part reads as follows :
" In your letter to a member of Congress, re-
cently published, respecting the sale of your
library, I perceive you are angry with the British
for the destruction of the public buildings at
Washington, and attempt, with your accustomed
candour, to compare that transaction to the de-
vastations committed by the Barbarians in the
middle ages. As you are not ignorant of the mode
of carrying on the war adopted by your friends,
yon must have known that it was a small retalia-
tion, after redress had been refused for burn-
ings and depredations, not only of public but
private property, committed by them in Canada ;
but we are too well acquainted with your hatred
to Great Hritain to look for truth cr candour
in any statement of yours where she is con-
cerned. It is not for your information, there-
fore, that I relate in this letter those acts of
the army of the United States in the Canadas,
which provoked the conflagration of the public
buildings at Washington, because you are well
acquainted with them already ; but to show the
world that to the United States and not to Great
Britain must be charged all the miseries attending
a mode of warfare originating with them, and
unprecedented in modern times.
A stranger to the history of the last three years,
on reading this part of your letter, would natur-
ally suppose that Great Britain, in the pride of
power, had taken advantage of the weak and de-
fenceless situation of the United States to wreak
her vengeance upon her. But what would be his
astonishment when told that the nation, said to
be unarmed and unprepared, had provoked and
first declared the war, and carried it on offen-
sively for two years, with a ferocity unexampled,
before the British had the means of making effec-
tual resistance. War was declared against Great
Britain by the United States of America in June,
1812 — Washington was taken in August, 1814.
Let us see in what spirit your countryman carried
on the war during this interval.
In July, 1812, General Hull invaded the British
province of Upper Canada, and took possession
of the town of Sandwich. He threatened (by a
proclamation) to exterminate the inhabitants if
they made any resistance ; he plundered those
with whom he had been in habits of intimacy for
years before the war — their plate and linen were
found in his possession after his surrender to
General Brock ; he marked out the loyal sub-
jects of the King as objects of peculiar resent-
ment, and consigned their property to pillage and
conflagration. In autumn, 1812, some houses
and barns were burnt by the American forces
near Fort Erie, in Upper Canada.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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In April, 1813, the public buildings at York, the
capital o J Upper Canada, were burnt by the troops
of the United States, contrary to the articles of
capitulation. They consisted of two elegant halls,
with convenient offices for the accommodation of
the Legislature and of the courts of justice. The
library and all the papers and records belonging
to these institutions were consumed at the same
time. The church was robbed, and the town
library totally pillaged. Commodore Chauncey,
who has generally behaved honourably, was so
ashamed of this last transaction that he endeav-
oured to collect the books belonging to the public
library, and actually sent back two boxes filled
with them, but hardly any were complete. Much
private property was plundered, and several
houses left in a state of ruin. Can you tell me.
Sir, the reason why the public buildings and
library at Washington should be held more sacred
than those at York ? A false and ridiculous story
is told of a scalp having been found above the
Speaker's chair, intended as an ornament.
In June, 1813, Newark came into the posses-
sion of your army (after the capture of Fort
George) and its inhabitants were repeatedly pro-
mised protection to themselves and property,
both by General Dearborn and General Boyd. In
the midst of these professions, the most respect-
able of them, although non-combatants, were
made prisoners and sent into the United States ;
the two churches were burnt to the ground ; de-
tachments were sent, under the direction of Bri-
tish traitors, to pillage the loyal inhabitants in
their neighbourhood, and to carry them away
captive ; many farm houses were burnt during the
s'unmer ; and at length, to fill up the measure of
iniquity, the whole of the beautiful village of
Newark, with so short a previous intimation as to
amount to none, was consigned to the flames.
The wretched inhabitants had scarcely time to
save themselves, much less any of their property.
More than four hundred women and children
were exposed without shelter on the night of the
loth of December, to the intense cold of a Cana-
dian winter, and great numbers must have per-
ished had not the flight of your troops, after per-
petrating this ferocious act, enabled the inhabi-
tants of the country to come in to their relief.
your friend, Mr. Madison, has attempted to
justify this cruel deed on the plea that it was
necessary for the defence of Fort George. No-
thing can be more false. The village was some
distance from the fort ; and instead of thinking to
defend it. General McClure was actually retreat-
ing to his own shore when he caused Newark to
be burnt. This officer says that he acted in con-
formity with the orders of his government; the
government, finding their justification useless,
disavow his conduct. McClure appears to be the
fit agent of such a government. He not only
complies with his instructions, but refines upon
them by choosing a day of intense frost, giving
the inhabitants almost no warning till the fire
began, and commencing the conflagration in the
night.
In November, 1813, the army of your friend,
General Wilkinson, committed great depredations
in its progress through the eastern district of
Upper Canada, and was proceeding to systematic
pillage when the commander got frightened, and
fled to his own shore on finding the population in
that district inveterately hostile.
The history of the two first campaigns proves
beyond dispute that you had reduced fire and pil-
lage to a regular system. It was hoped that the
severe retaliation takenfor the burning of Newark,
would have put a stop to a practice so repugnant
to the manners and habits of a civilized age ; but
so far was this from being the case that the third
campaign exhibits equal enormities. General
Brown laid waste the country between Chippewa
and Fort Erie, burning mills and private houses,
and rendering those not consumed by fire unin-
habitable. The pleasant village of St. David was
burnt by this army when about to retreat.
On the 15th of May a detachment of the Ameri-
can army, under Colonel Campbell, landed at
Long Point, district of London, Upper Canada,
and on that and the following day, pillaged and
laid waste as much of the adjacent country as
they could reach. They burnt the village of
Dover and all the mills, stores, distillery, and
dwelling houses in the vicinity, carrying away
such property as was portable, and killing the
cattle. The property taken and destroyed on this
occasion was estimated at fifty thousand dollars.
On the igth of August some American troops
and Indians from Detroit surprised the settlement
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
189
of Port Talbot, where they committed the most
atrocious acts of violence, leaving upwards of 234
men, women and children, in a state of nakedness
and want. On the 20th of September a second
excursion was made by the garrison of Detroit,
spreading fire and pillage through the settlements
in the western district of Upper Canada. Twenty-
seven families on this occasion were reduced to
the greatest distress. . . . Early in Novem-
ber, General McArthur, with a large body of
mounted Kentuckians and Indians, m^ide a rapid
march through the western and part of the Lon-
don districts, burning all the mills, destroying
provisions, and living upon the inhabitants. If
there was less private plunder than usual, it was
because the invader:; had no means of carrying it
away."
General Hull was not the only American leader
who anticipated an easy conquest of Canada.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1812 that " the acqui-
sition of Canada this year as far as the neighbour-
hood of Quebec will be a mere matter of march-
ing and will give us exj)erience for the attack on
Halifax, and the final expulsion of England from
the American continent." During the summer
of the same year Dr. Eustis, Secretary of State
for War, declared in Congress that " we can take
the Canadas without soldiers ; we have only to
send officers into the provinces and the people,
disaffected toward their own government, will
rally round our standard." About the same time
Henry Clay announced that " it is absurd to sup-
pose we shall not succeed in our enterprise against
the enemy's provinces. We have the Canadas as
much under our command as she (G^eat Britain)
has the ocean. ... I would take the whole
continent from them and ask them no favours. /
wish never to see a peace till we do."
An important incident and feature of the war
was the management of the Provincial finances
and military expenses. They were well arranged.
On the 15th of February, 181 2, an existing Act
was enlarged to admit of the circulatioa of Army
bills to the value of £500,000 currency (|2,ooo,-
000). The issue was authorized of bills not bear-
ing interest of the denomination of $1, $3, $8, $12,
$16, and $20, which with the $4 issue, were not to
exceed in amount $200,000. A third Act was
passed in January, 1814, by which the amount
authorized was extended to ;f 1,500,000— f6,ooo,-
000 in Provincial currency.
The first legislation provided for the payment
of the interest, and guaranteed the ultimate pay-
ment by the Province, if any remained unpaid at
the expiration of five years. The second change
limited the amount of interest payable by the
Provincial exchequer to the original obligation of
;£'i 5,000 ($60,000), and gave no security for
payment beyond the original loan. According to
Dr. William Kingsford, in his History of Canada,
it does not appears that the circulation ever ex-
ceeded $4,820,000. " 0\\ing to the inconveni-
ence arising from the scarcity of small change,
authority was given for the issue of the notes of
smaller amount to the extent of eight hundred
thousand dollars. These bills bore no interest,
but the holders had the right of demanding £50
bills and upwards bearing interest, in exchange.
This legislation answered every purpose both in
carrying on the war, and meeting the require-
ments of life. Sheriffs and bailiffs were held ac-
countable for the interest of the bills which they
received, and it was distinctly enacted that no
public officer should profit by any interest re-
ceivable."
These bills remained in circulation until the
close of the war. They were redeemed in cash in
December, 1815. On the 23rd of November,
1815, Sir Gordon Drummond issued a proclama-
tion that the army bills would be paid in cash,
and that no interest would be allowed after the
X4th of December. The bills were thus called in.
In his speech to the Legislature on the 20th of
December, he told the members that they had the
satisfaction of seeing that the Executive Govern-
ment had redeemed its pledge, by pa) inent of the
Army bills in circulation. The House replied ex-
pressing its satisfaction, adding that it was " a
measure which exemplifies in a most striking
manner the national good faith, and which will
facilitate similar arrangements hereafter, should
the public interests ever require a renewal of
them." The operations of the Army bill office
continued after the ist of August, 1817, from time
to time, until the 24th of December, 1820, when
the office regulating their issue was finally closed*
190
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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Dr. Kingsford points out that by the operation
of this Act the war was carried on with spirit and
energy, relieved from the privation arising from
an insufficient currency. Never for a moment
was any failure of confidence felt in the bills in
circulation. The advantages of this currency
seem to have been incalculable, both to the Im-
perial and Provincial governments. In Febru-
ary, 1815, it was estimated that $5,200,000 had
been issued, of which $3,200,000 only was bearing
interest at 6 per cent., amounting to $192,000,
and of which the Province paid $60,000, so that
the mterest paid by the Imperial government did
not amount to 2^ per cent.
There are many different views of the relative
gain and loss to Canada and the United States in
this struggle. The Rev. Dr. Withrow summar-
izes the situation at the close of the war as
follows : " The calm verdict of history finds much
ground of extenuation for the revolt of 1776, but
for the American declaration of war in 1812 little
or none. A reckless Democratic majority want-
only invaded the country of an unoffending
* neighbouring people to seduce them from their
lawful allegiance and annex their territory. The
long and costly conflict was alike bloody and
barren. The Americans annexed not a single foot
of territory. They gained not a single permanent
advantage. Their seaboard was insulted, their
capital city destroyed. Their annual exports
were reduced from ;f22,ooo,ooo to ;fi,500,ooo.
Three thousand of their vessels were captured.
Two-thirds of their commercial class became in-
solvent. A vast war tax was incurred, and the
very existence of the Union imperilled by the
menaced secession of the New England States.
The ' right of search ' and the right of neutrals
— the ostensible but not the real causes of the
war — were not even mentioned in the treaty of
peace. The adjustment of unsettled boundaries
was referred to a commission, and an agreement
was made for a combined effort for the suppres-
sion of the slave trade. The United States, how-
ever, continued its internal slave-traffic, of a
character even more obnoxious than that which
it engaged to suppress.
On Canada, too, the burden of the war fell
heavily. Great Britain, exhausted by nearly
twenty years of conflict, and still engaged in
a strenuous struggle against the European despot.
Napoleon, could only, till near the close of the
war, furnish scanty military aid. It was Canadian
militia, with little help from British regulars, who
won the brilliant victories of Chrysler's Farm and
Chateauguay, and throughout the entire conflict
they were the principal defence of their country.
In many a Canadian home bitter tears were shed
for son or sire left cold and stark upon the bloody
plain at Queenston Heights, or Chippawa, or
Lundy's Lane, or other hard-fought fields of
battle.
The lavish expenditure of the Imperial author-
ities for ship-building, transport service, and
army supplies, and the free circulation of the
paper money issued by the Canadian government
greatly stimulated the prosperity of the country.
Its peaceful industries, agriculture, and the
legitimate development of its natural resources,
however, were very much interrupted, and vast
amounts of public and private property were
relentlessly confiscated or destroyed by the
enemy."
The foUowingr table of the more important
Canadian events in the war has been compiled
by Dr. William Kingsford :
1812. .
July 3rd. Lieutenant Rolette, in the Hunter, on the
Detroit river, captured the American schoon-
er Cayuga, with baggage and hospital stores.
I2th. General Hull invaded Canada from
Detroit, and issued proclamation.
17th. Attack and capture of Michilimackinac
by Captain Roberts.
Aug. 5th. Major Van Home's detachment defeat-
ed near Brownstown, 18 miles south of De-
troit. His force, with much loss, pursued
for seven miles by Tecumseh.
7th. Lieutenant Rolette captured American
batteaux on their way from Maguaga to De-
troit.
8th. Brock, with re-enforcements in open
boats, left Long Point, Lake Erie, for Am-
herstburg. Arrived on the 13th.
8th. Hull re-crossed river to Detroit, aban-
doning the position taken by him in Canada.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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9th. Affair at Maguaga, 14 miles south of
Detroit, Major Muir, of 41st, sent to inter-
cept convoy ; outnumbered and ordered
retreat to boats.
i6tli. Surrender of Detroit by General Hull
to Brock, with 2,500 United States troops ;
the brig Adams, 33 pieces of cannon, 2,500
stands of arms, the military chest, and a
large quantity of stores. The territory of
Michigan surrendered to the British.
Sept. 2ist. Midnight raid upon the sawmill at
Gananoque. Mrs. Stone wounded in her bed.
. Major Muir's expedition against Fort
Wayne, in Ohio. Learning that the place
was too strongly garrisoned to be attacked, he
retreated unmolested.
Oct. gth. Brigs Detroit and Caledonia cut out
under the guns of Fort Erie, by Lieutenant
Elliott and party. United States navy.
13th. Attack on Queenston Heights, by Gen-
eral Van Rensselaer. Defeat of the United
States force, with great loss of killed and pri-
soners. Death of Brock.
23rd. Attack on small pi'^ket of the Indian
post of Saint Regis.
20th. Unsuccessful attack by Dearborn on
Odeltown, near the Richelieu, Lower Can-
ada.
28th. General Smyth's advance to the Upper
Niagara River, on Canadian territory, oppo-
site Black Rock. Expedition failed.
1813.
Jan. iSth. Attack on British picket at French-
town, River Raisin, in force under Colonel
Lewis.
2ist. Attack and defeat of General Winches-
ter's force, by Procter, at this spot.
Feb. 6th. American raid on Elizabethtown(Brock-
ville) ; 52 non-combatants carried away pri-
soners.
23rd. Attack on Ogdensburg, by Major Mc-
■ Donell, the British having crossed from
Prescott on the ice. Eleven cannons taken,
with a large quantity of stores, four officers,
70 rank and file prisoners. The barracks,
with armed schooners, and two large gun-
boats, burned.
April 27th. York (Toronto), taken by United
States troops. All the public buildings
burned. Much private property plundered.
Public property seized.
May 1st. Procter opens fire against Fort Meigs
on the Maumee. Abandons operations. Ar-
rives at Amherstburg on the 13th.
27th. Attack and capture by United States
troops of Fort George, River Niagara. Vin-
cent retreats to Burlington Heights.
29th. Unsuccessful attack on Sackett's Har-
bour, Lake Ontario, by British — Sir George
Prevost in command.
June 3rd. Capture of the U.S. gun-boats Growler
and Eagle on Lake Champlain.
5th. Attackonthe United States camp, Stoney
Creek, seven miles east of Burlington Heights,
under Harvey. Its perfect success. The
two brigadiers. Chandler and Winder, taken
prisoners.
8th. Capture of boats and stores on Lake
Ontario, after Stoney Creek.
24th. Surrender at Beaver Dam of Colonel
Boerstler and the United States force to
Lieut. Fitzgibbon.
July 4th. Colonel Clarke's successful attack on
Fort Schlosser.
nth. British capture of Black Rock. Death
of Lieut. -Colonel Bisshopp.
17th. Fifteen batteaiix and small gun-boats
taken by United States vessels from Sackett's
Harbour.
20th. Failure of attempt to retake the fifteen
batleanx at upper part of Goose Creek, by
three gun-boats and a land force.
Procter ascends Maumee against Fort
Meigs, and then abandons expedition.
31st. Second capture of York (Toronto) by
United States troops.
31st. Destruction of public buildings and
stores at Plattsburg, Lake Champlain, by the
British troops.
Aug. 2nd. Vessels destroyed by the British before
Burlington, Lake Champlain.
3rd. Failure of Procter's attack against fort
at Sandusky.
20th. Prevost's reconnaissance of Fort George
from Saint David's.
Sept. lotn. Defeat of the British flotilla on Lake
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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Erie, under Barclay, by the United States
fleet under Perry.
nth. Naval action near Niagara.
22nd. Hampton attempts to enter Lower
Canada by Odeltown, and retires.
24th. Procter abandons Amherstburg.
28th. Naval action on Lake Ontario.
Oct. 5th. Procter defeated by Harrison on the
Thames, two miles west of Moraviantown.
Death of Tecumseh. Prevost orders abandon-
ment of Burlington Heights. The order not
obeyed. Colonel Bostwick captures eighteen
marauding traitors near Port Dover.
loth. British gun-boats, with force, land at
Hamilton, on the St. Lawrence.
26th. Action at Chateauguay. British force,
under De Salaberry, repulses Hampton with
force of not less than 6,000 men.
Nov. nth. Battle of Chrysler's Farm. United
States force, under General Boyd, defeated
by Morrison.
Dec. loth. General McClure, N.Y. Militia, burns
Newark (Niagara).
loth. Fort George evacuated by McClure.
15th. Arrival of Sir Gordon Drummond at
St. David's.
19th. The United States Fort Niagara,
stormed by the British, and held to the close
of the war.
loth. Lewiston, Youngstown, Manchester,
Indian Tuscarora, burned and Fort Schlosser
destroyed, in retaliation for the burning of
Niagara.
2ist. Attack on Black Rock by the British ;
public buildings burned. Buffalo captured
and burned. Defeat by Metcalf of United
States marauding party under Lieutenant
arned, at Chatham.
1814.
March 4th. Attack of United States foraging
parties from Detroit, at Longwood, under
Captain Basden, repulsed.
30th. Failure of attack by Wilkinson on
Lacolle Mill in Lower Canada.
April 22nd. Exjjedition for relief of Michili*
mackinac, under Colonel McDouall, arrives
loth of May.
May 5th. Capture of Oswego, by expedition
under Sir Gordon Drummond.
gth. Pring's unsuccessful naval attack upon
Otter Creek, Lake Champlain, U.S.
15th. Port Dover burned by Colonel Camp-
bell, of the U.S. nth Regiment, on his own
authority.
31st. Attack by British gun-boats on the
batteaux in Sandy Creek ; defeat of detach-
ment, and surrender of 120 British seamen
and marines, with Captains Popham and
Spilsbury.
June i.3rd. Capture of Prairie-des-Chiens, on
the Mississippi.
July 3rd. United States force under General
Brown, crosses to Canada from Buffalo.
3rd. Fort Erie surrendered to United States
force.
5th. Action at Street's Creek. British com-
manded by Riall. They retreat unmolested
after loss of 511 killed and wounded. Brown
advances to Queenston.
I2th. Skirmish. General Swift, United
States force, killed.
19th. Skirmifh at St. David's. Village
burned by U.S. troops.
July 20th. Eight Canadian traitors hanged at
Ancaster ; seven reserved for Royal pleasure.
20th. Brown advances to Chippawa.
20th. Attack and plundering of Sault St.
Marie by United States force.
24th. Sir Gordon Drummond arrives at
Niagara.
25th. Marches to Queenston and Lewiston.
25th. Battle of Lundy's Lane; defeat of
United States force, and their retreat to Fort
Erie.
26th. Ripley fortifies Fort Erie.
Aug. 3rd. Attack on magazines at Black Rock
and Schojeaquady Creek. Failure and re-
treat of British force.
4th. Attack on Michilimackinac by United
States expedition. Failure and retreat:, of
force.
6th. Raid on Port Talbot by United States
force ; place burned.
I2th. Capture of the United States schoon-
ers Ohio and Somers at Fort Erie, by Capt.
Dobbs.
15th. Storming of Fort Erie by British.
Failure of attack.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
193
Sept. 3rd. Capture of United States armed
vessels Tigress and Scorpion on upper Lake
Huron.
nth. British fleet, under Downie, defeated
on Lakp Champlain. Prevost's retreat from
Plattsburg on commencement of land attack.
17th. Sortie from Fort Erie. Repulsed by
British.
Oct. loth. The St. Lawrence open for service.
British masters of Lake Ontario.
19. Reconnaissance in force by the United
States army at Lyon's Creek.
Nov. 5th. Fort Erie evacuated; United States
force leaves Canadian soil.
6th. Raid of Kentucky Rifles stopped by
strong force on the Grand River.
By the Treaty of Paris in 1783, peace had been
made between England and the United States.
The following were the most important provis-
ions of the arrangement :
Article L recognized the independence of the
Thirteen Colonies.
Article IL pro.ided that the boundary should
be generally as at present to the north-west angle
of the Lake of the Woods, thence west to the
river Mississippi, thence along the middle of the
Mississippi to the 31 N. lat., thence east by that
parallel to the river Apalachicoia, by the river to
its junction with the Flint River, and thence to
the head of the St. Mary River and along it to
the Atlantic Ocean.
Article IIL continued the right of United States
to fish on banks of Newfoundland, in Gulf of St.
Lawrence, etc., also to fish on such part of coast
of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use
(but not to dry or cure fish on the island) ; also to
fish on all the coasts, bays, and creeks of the
British dominions in America and to dry and
cure fish ir any of the unsettled bays, harbours
and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands and
Labrador, but not after settlement.
Article VIII. provided for the free navigation
by British subjects of the Mississippi, from its
source to the ocean.
Tlie Treaty of Ghent in 1814 provided for the
mutual restoration of all territory taken during
the war, while by later oflicial correspondence
arrangements were made as to the naval force
which each Power should maintain on the great
lakes.
Sir Charles Bagot, His Brittannic Majesty's
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotenti-
ary, in a note addressed to Mr. Rush, Acting
Secretary of State for the United States, on April
28, 1817, acceded on behalf of the Prince Regent
to the proposition of the United States made on
August 2, 1816, that the naval force to be main-
tained on the American Lakes by His Majesty and
the Government of the United States should be
confined to the following vessels on each side :
On Lake Ontario to one vessel not exceeding
one hundred tons, burthened and armed with one
eighteen-pound cannon.
On the Upper lakes to two vessels not exceed-
ing like burthen each, and armed with like force.
On the waters of Lake Champlain to one vessel
not exceeding like force.
It was also agreed that all armed vessels on
these lakes should be forthwith dismantled and
that no other vessels of war should be there built
or armed. It was further agreed that if either
party should desire to annul this stipulation it
should cease to be binding after six months from
notice. Mr. Richard Rush, Acting Secretary of
State, on April ig, 1817, acknowledged the receipt
of this note, and on behalf of the United States
Government repeated the above agreement in
identical terms.
Under the terms of the Treaty of London
in 1818, it was agreed that fishermen of the
United States should have the liberty in com-
mon with British fishermen to catch any kind
of fish on the coast of Newfoundland, from
Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands, and from
the Cape to the Quirpon Islands, on the shores
of Magdalen Islands, and also on the coasts,
etc., from Mount Joly on the southern coast
of Labrador to and through the Straits of Belle-
isle, and thence northward indefinitely along the
coast, " without prejudice, however, to any of
the exclusive rights of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany," and that United States fishermen should
have the right to dry and cure fish on the unsettled
parts of Labrador and the southern coast of New-
foundland. The United States renounced any
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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liberty of their fishermen to taiie, dry, or cure fish
on or within three miles of the coast of British
North America, but was to have the right to enter
bays or harbours for shelter, for wood and water,
or for repairs.
Article II. provided that the international
boundary should be along the 49th parallel of north
latitude from the north-western point of the Lake
of the Woods (or a line drawn north or south from
it) to the Stony or Rocky Mountains.
Article III. provided that the country west
of the Rocky Mountains claimed by either party,
should be free and open to the people of both
nations for ten years.
Let the eloquent words of Colonel W. F. Coffin
in his History of a struggle which should be
cherished by all Canadians, conclude these notes :
" 1812 — like the characters on the laburnum of
Constantine is a sign of solemn import to the
people of Canada. It carries with it the virtue of
an incantation. Like the magic numerals of the
Arabian sage, these words in their utterance
quicken the pulse and vibrate through the frame,
summoning from the pregnant past memories of
suffering and endurance, and of honourable exert-
ion. They are inscribed on the banner and
stamped on the hearts of the Canadian people —
a watchword, rather than a war cry. With these
words upon his lips, the loyal Canadian as a vigil-
ant sentinel, looks forth into the gloom, ready
with his challenge, hopeful for a friendly response,
but prepared for any other.
The people of Canada are proud of the men
and of the deeds and of the recollections of those
days. They feel that the war of 1812 is an episode
in the history of a young people, glorious in itself,
and full of promise. They believe that the infant
which in its very cradle could strangle invasion.
Struggle and endure bravely without repining, is
capable of a nobler development if God wills fur-
ther trial."
1:
Colonel C. M. Je Salaberry, C.B.
r^;
THE PLACE-NAMES OF CANADA.
■V
GEORGE JOHNSON, F.RS.S.. Dominion Statistician.
.r
CANADA lias about 10,000 place-names,
more or less. How have these names
been given ? Whence their origin ?
Much diifxulty is experienced in deal-
ing with the place-names of the Dominion, largely
in consequence of the relays of nomenclators who
have successively tried their 'prentice or their
practised powers in that direction. Two illustra-
tions will serve to show the origin and nature of
this difficulty.
Take the word Canada. At least five deriva-
tions for it have been suggested. First from the
Algonquin word Cantata, meaning "welcome,'*
supposed to have been used by the Indians when
they first saw Cartier, whom they received with
many demonstrations of joy. Second, from the
Iroquois word Canatha, meaning " a collection of
huts," and being the word the Algonquins
applied to their chief town. Third, from a Span-
ish word Acanada, meaning " there is nothing
there," indicating that the Spaniards saw no signs
of gold as they skirted the coast of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence. Fourth, from a Portuguese word
Canada, meaning " narrow passage," and implying
that the Portuguese, long before Cartier's time,
sailed up the St. Lawrence and gave the name
Canada to the country through which the com-
paratively narrow river flowed, viz., that above
Quebec. Those who advocate Portuguese origin
point to the fact that Montreal is not the French
from Montroyal, but the Portuguese Montreal.
Fifth, Cordeiro says the word is Basque for Canal,
which would convey the same idea as " strait, or
narrow passage." The Micmac Indians of Nova
Scotia call a narrow passage like that between
Halifax Harbour and Halifax Basin, Quebec, and
the Algonquins have the same word for the same
purpose.
•95
The Rev. George Patterson (Transactions of
Rojal Society of Canada, i8go, page 159) says :
" Canada is a Portuguese word in use in the
fifteenth century, and to this day in the islands,
to denote a narrow road, or especially one bor-
dered by walls or traced in an unknown wilder-
ness." How it came to be employed to designate
this country he thus explains : " When Cartier on
his second voyage had reached the west point of
Anticosti, he says that the Indians whom he had
taken on board the year before at Gaspe (and who
are supposed to have been from one of the tribes
up the river) told him that there began the great
river Hochelaga, the highway to Canada (Chemin
do Canada) ; that the further up it went the nar-
rower it became even into Canada, and that there
(viz., in Canada) the fresh water began, which
went so far up that they had never heard of any
man who had reached its source, and where there
was no passage except by boat." While conning
over the various derivations of Canada, and with
that of Mr. Patterson specially in my mind, I hap-
pened to take up Bret Harte's " Susy, A Story of
the Plains." There I found frequent mention of
the Canada, meaning thereby a narrow road or
passage closed in on both sides by forest and high
rocks — the word distinguishing the narrow, con-
tracted passage from the turnpike at either end
with its wide expanse of plains on the right hand
and on the left. This is the Spanish term in use
to this day in various parts of this continent. The
two words at once ranged themselves in " the
deadly parallel column " of the newspapers.
It seems reasonable to suppose that the word
Canada has the same meaning as the word Quebec,
the one being Indian and the other a word common
to both the Spanish and Portuguese languages.
Looking at the map one can see that the most
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
:5!i|
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striking fact to Indians and to navigators on the
great river would be its sudden narrowing where
Cape Diamond thrusts its huge flanks athwart the
waters. The Portuguese and the Spanish would
say Canada to-day just as their forebears centuries
ago said it. The Indians would to-day say Kebec
—just as those whom Cartier talked with said
Kebec. Quebec is the inchorial word, Canada is
its translation. Thus from the peculiar conflgura-
tion (a prolific source of place-names) of the river
at the point at which the City of Quebec stands
che whole country has received its name as well as
the Province and City itself.
The other illustration is the word Labrador
respecting the origin of which there are six stories
ascribing the name to Basque, Portuguese, Indian,
French, and English origin and giving several rea-
sons, all potent and convincing, why the origin
should be any one of the six — Labrador, the name
of the man who discovered it, being the most
likely. It will, therefore, be seen at a glance into
what a linguistic labyrinth one has to plunge if he
essays to undertake an eponymous pilgrimage
through the Dominion.
In this new world, from some cause or other, we
have not been subject to the same tendencies that
directed our ancestors in their choice of place-
names. As a rule there are not the same mean-
ings to be found in them as can be extracted from
many of the place-names of England. Thus the
suffix ham, which is very frequent in English names,
is comparatively rare in Canada, and in very few
instances does it suggest the same derivation. In
England it expresses the sanctity of the family
bond. It is the old Anglo-Saxon word for home.
What few of these words we have such as Durham,
Chatham, Farnham, Brigham, Walsingham, sug-
gest their origin as fiom places in England or from
persons famous in English story. They do not
suggest the deep, endearing, old-world meaning.
I know in Canada of a few place-names which
were evidently created on the old Anglo-Saxon
plan. In Drummond County there is Grantham
— the home of the Grants, so named after William
Grant the original holder of the land grant. In
Missisiquoi County, Dunham was so named after
Thomas Dun, the leader of a band of associates
who came across the seas like the early Anglo-
Saxon rovers, and obtained the grant of the town-
ship. In these instances there is a curious sur>
vival of the custom which dotted the English
counties with so many hams.
Several events have naturally seized the public
mind and had great influence in suggesting the
place-names of our country. Perhaps as good an
illustration as there is of the way in which place-
names have been so given is the city of Victoria,
British Columbia. It was first Camosun, (the old
Indian name) then it became, under Hudson's Bay
Company rule, Fort Camosun ; then Fort Albert,
then Fort Victoria, finally it shed the " Fort "
and full-fledged it appears as Victoria. The streets
of Victoria were named by the then colonial
surveyor in the year 1858. That officer decided
upon the following plan of naming the streets :
1st, in honour of the Governors of the Island,
Blanchard and Douglas ; 2nd, in mindful regard
for distinguished navigators on the British Col-
umbian coasts, — Vancouver, Cook, Quadra, Mears,
Roberts, Gordon, Johnson, etc. ; 3rd, in remem-
brance of the British ships of war which had visited
the port in the earlier years of its history — " Dis-
covery," " Cormorant," " Cadboro," " Pandora,"
"Herald," "Fisguard," "Constance," etc.; 4th, in
commemoration of noted Arctic explorers, — Frank-
lin, Kane, Rae, Scoresby, Parry, Richardson, etc. ;
5th, in compliment to Eastern Canada, her lakes,
rivers, cities, and towns, — St. Lawrence, Montreal,
Quebec, Simcoe, etc. Thus a walk through Vic-
toria is most suggestive. Every street recalls
some event, person, or place of interest in our
history. Here also are to be found the germs of
the nomenclature of Canadian places. Expanded
we have :
1. The navigators who explored the coasts and
rivers of the country.
2. The occupation of the country successively
by the Indian, the French, and the English races.
3. The coming of the Loyalists.
4. The political condition of Canada which
gives the hegemony to Great Britain.
5. The settlement of the country by means of
land companies and the French Seigneurial
system.
6. The development of the country by railway
companies.
7. T'.ie political changes which have taken
place in the vast region now called Canada.
^pp
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/tlDIA.
'97
8. The piety of the people which is commem-
orated in the place-names derived from the Roman
and the Saxon hagiologies.
g. The regard in which we hold the Sovereign,
the historians, the warriors, the explorers, the
poets, heroes, orators, sages, and scientists of the
Empire.
10. The prominence of individuals of local
fame.
11. Accidents which have happened and have
been commemorated by those to whom they
happened.
12. Physical characteristics impressed upon
the minds of the early nomenciators, and transla-
tions of the same by subsequent travellers of
different races.
13. Besides these there are others which evade
any classification, except the vague one, " Nobody
knows how or why."
Examples of all these sources for geographical
nomenclature in Canada abound. The Redman's
memory is embalmed in hundreds of their names
of music which linger on mount, and stream, and
bay. Thus Manitoba is the " Strait of the
Spirit" in the language of the Saulteaux. As-
siniboia is from the Indian tribe of Assiniboines.
The word means " stone builders," and they were
so named from the way in which they boiled
meat. Having killed a buffalo they scooped out
a round hole in the ground and lined it with the
skin of the beast. Then they poured water into
it, placed pieces of the meat therein, and then in
a neighbouring fire heated stones very hot. These
were dropped into the water till it boiled. Dr.
Bryce, quoting from Dr. Neill, the historian of
Minnesota, U.S.A., states that the Dakota tradi-
tion is that a quarrel over a love affair took place
between two Sioux families resulting in the
separation of one of the families from the rest of
the tribe, and its settlement near Big Stone Lake,
hence the progeny were called Stone Indians
or Assiniboines. These two stories have one fact
in common, viz. : that the name resulted from a
family broil.
Other Indian words are those ending in "Aska"
as Yamaska, meaning "shore covered with weeds";
Kamouraska, " there are weeds on the shore " ;
Athabasca, " there are rushes here and there " ;
Madawaska, "there are rushes on the shore."
Nipissing, is " the little body of water " — little by
comparison with the Great Lakes ; Quebec, in the
Cree meaning, " it is shut or narrowed," the river
appearing to be shut or closed whether one comes
from above or below the promontory, and in the
Micmac, " a strait or narrow passage," the river
widening both above and below ; Stadacona,
signifying " wing " and therefore applied because
the point between the St. Lawrence and the St.
Charles rivers on which it was built suggested to
the Indian the form of an outstretched wing.
These instances could, of course, be multiplied
indefinitely. Most of the Indian names are in-
teresting because of the description embalmed in
them, as Cacouna, " the home of the porcupine" ;
Rimouski, " the home of the dog " ; Chicoutimi,
" the end of the deep water " ; Winnipeg, " dirty
water"; Ashuapmouchouan, "a place to watch
the moose " ; Caughnawaga, " at the rapids " ;
indicating the place of abode of this tribe near the
rapids of St. Louis; Metapedia, " musical river."
For word-building, the Indians of the past rival
the Germans of to-day. Some of the names are
so long as to make undue demands upon the
alphabet and upon space on the official envelope.
Gaduamgoushout is the name of a river in the
County of Bonaventure. Ketegauneseebe in AI-
goma was such a jaw-breaker that the inhabitants,
thinking life too short, changed it to Garden River.
Magaguadavick in New Brunswick was such a
mouthful that the people with true Saxon instinct
huddle the syllables together and call it " Maca-
davie." Quatawamkegewick river in New Bruns-
wick ; Kennebeccasis, the snake river, (so named
because of its many windings and twistings) ;
Punkutlooencha Lake in British Columbia ; Why-
cocomagh (shortened to Hugoma) in Cape Bre-
ton ; Penetanguishene (boiled down to Penetang)
in Ontario are other examples. The Indian words
ending in atagane, meaning " the Portage," are
interesting specimens of word-building, thus :
Matehouskacapatagane, " the portage of the bad
precipice " ; Nitchuccapatagane, " the portage of
the otter"; Mouchouechescoutecapatagane, "the
portage of the burnt country " ; Casseouetsata-
gane, " the portage cutting the two headlands " ;
Askicetacapatagane, "portage of the Chaudiere
Falls " ; Capatagane, " portage where is a small
lake half way."
1 1
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198
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP-KDIA.
I
u
The French have left their impress all over the
country in the names they conferred upon places.
Cartier was a great nomenclator. L'Abbe Verreau
mentions thirty place-names given by Cartier,
many of which remain to this day, others having
been supplanted by more recent names. St.
Lawrence River, named by Cartier because he
anchored in a small bay on the river on the day
dedicated to the Saint ; St. John River, named
by De Monts in 1604, because he first saw it on
St. John's day ; Montreal, named by Cartier,
because of the Royal Mount there ; Bale dcs
(.'haleurs, in New Brunswick, also named by
Cartier, because of the great heat he experienced
there ; Port Mouton, in Nova Scotia, named by
De Monts, because one of the sheep he had brought
from France jumped overboard there and was
lost ; the Isle-aux-Coudres, " the island where
grew the hazel bushes " ; and Bonne Esperance,
meaning " Good Hope." These are a few of the
names given by the early French which serve to
illustrate the way in which the name-fathers gave
places their names. Bellechase, "happy hunting
ground " ; Terrebonne, " good land " ; Bonaven-
lure, " good luck," are other examples. Later on
came the names of men who had been connected
in one way and the other with New France. From
this source we have the names of the counties of
Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Lotbiniere, Laval,
Levis, Montmagny, Montmorency, Rouville,
Vaudreuil, and Vercheres. The Basques are
suggested to us in the names Port Aux Basques,
L'ile Aux Basques, Basque Point in Cape
Breton, as well as the place-name. Cape Breton,
itself.
The English have left their mark deep and
broad all over the land. Naturally many place-
names are the outward and visible sign of the
loyalty of the people. There are fourteen Vic-
torias, and sixteen variations of Victoria, such as
Victoria Beech, Victoria Dale, Victoria Peak,
scattered all over the country to testify to our
love and esteem for the gracious Sovereign of
the British realms, while the French Canadians
have done even better, and have placed Her
Majesty among the Saints as Ste. Victoire, and
have gone back to the Oueen's aunt and canon-
ized her as Ste. Adelaide, apparently to insure
that yueen Victoria shall be doubly a saint, —
firstly, in her own riglu, and secondly in that of
her ancestor.
King George UL took a great and natural inter-
est in the fortunes of the United Empire Loyal-
ists whose zeal for the unity of the Empire had
caused them to uphold their principles and incur
obloquy, confiscation of property, and banishment
at the hands of the merciless Revolutionary lead-
ers. These patriots endured the perils of the
pathless wilderness and came to the British Prov-
inces of Canada, or, crowded in schooners, sought
freedom along the coasts of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia. Here they were welcomed to the
estimated number of 40,000. Many of them had
to be fed and clothed by public charity. For
three years the government granted rations of
food while the refugees were settling upon their
grants of land and beginning their new life. The
nature of the welcome they received may be
judged from the fact that the British Parliament
voted fifteen million dollars for the indemnifica-
tion and assistance of these true patriots.
To express in some measure, and in almost the
only way they could, their gratitude to the King
for his exertions in their behalf they took the
names of his children for place-names. Fortu-
nately George lU. had a large family — fifteen
children. Each child with one exception is com-
memorated in a place-name. George in George-
town ; Frederick in Fredericksburg in Lennox
County; William Henry, in Prince William
Henry Isles in Matchedash Bay ; Charlottenburg
in Glengarry, (Charlotte County in New Bruns-
wick and Charlottetown in P.E. Island are
named after the wife of George III.) ; Augusta in
Grenville ; Elizabethtown in Brockville District ;
Matilda in Diindas ; Edwardsburg in South
Grenville ; Sophiasburg, Marysbur<T and Amelias-
burg in Prince Edward County as well as the
county itself; Ernestown and Adolphustown in
Lennox ; Alfred in Prescott — these are all monu-
ments of the gratitude of the United Empire Loy-
alists to the good old King whose homely virtues
and right royal adherence to his pledged word
were household topics in the rough homes of the
thousands who esteemed home virtues and honour
better than ignoble acquiescence in the revolu-
tionary doctrines enunciated by men of low lives
such as Samuel Adams and other leaders.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
199
Th«re is scarcely a Colonial Secretary whose
memory is not perpetuated in Canada. We have
Hillsborough, Dartmouth, Sackville, Ellisville,
Shelburne, Grantham, Townsend, Sydney, Guild-
ford, Leeds, Grenville, Portland, — names of the
Secretaries for the Colonies between 1768 and
1794. From 1794 to 1854 the Colonial Secretar-
ies whose reigns are remembered in our place-
names are Dundas, Buckingham, Hobart, Cam-
den, Londonderry, Liverpool, Hathurst, Ripon,
Murray, Goderich, Stanley, Montcagle, Aber-
deen, Glenelg, Normanby, Russell, Derby, Glad-
stone, Grey, Newcastle, in fact all of them down
to 1834, except Huskisson (1827). From 1855 to
1896 we have Herbert, Molesworth, Taunton,
Lytton, Cardwell, Chandos, Granville, Kimber-
ley, Carnarvon, Stanhope, all excepting Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach, who presided over the
Colonial Office in 1878, and the Right Hon.
Joseph Chamberlain, who is at present (1897) the
Colonial Secretary. The Under-Secretaries of
State for the Colonies have also been honoured
in many instances in Canada's place-names. Thus
we have Howick, Hope, Lyttleton, Peel, Chiches-
ter, Norton, Monsell, Knatchbull, Ashley, Dun-
raven, Onslow, Hay, Merivale, Stephen, Sand-
ford, and Fairview.
The land companies and the great railway
companies have had a large share in the naming
of places. The Company of One Hundred Asso-
ciates have contributed such place-names as
Richelieu, Ouelle, Lauson, Magdeleine, etc. The
Canada Land Company has given us Gait, Mc-
Gillivray, Williams, Logan, Hibbert, Usborne,
and several others commemorative of directors of
that Company. The Hudson's Bay Company
has supplied place-names by the score. Halibur-
ton, in Ontario, commemorates Canada's great
humorist " Sam Slick," in his capacity of chair-
man of one of the land companies.
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company have
been great place-name givers. Along their
system in Canada there are over 1,000 railway
stations, a large proportion of which were named
by the heads of that railway. For instance, the
higher prominences of British Columbia's moun-
tain ranges have been selected by the C.P.R. to
preserve the memory of those who took a prom-
inent part in the movements connected with the
spanning of Canada by the railway. Mount
Macdunald and Mount Agnes in the Rockies
commemorate Sir John and Lady Macdonald. I
remember when the officials of the railway
broached to Sir John, in 1886, the propriety of
naming the mountain, at the foot of which wc
stood, after him, how he shrank from the pro-
posal, his face showing how unwelcome the idea
was to his modest simple nature. I believe that
he never gave his assent to the proposal ; at any
rate he did not on the day it was first men-
tioned to him. Mount Stephen, named after Sir
George Stephen, the first President of theC.P.R.,
has given a title to the British Peerage. Rogers'
Pass commemorated the perilous journeys of
Major Rogers, who for many months wandered
through the Rockies, enduring great privations
and often risking his life in the attempt to find a
pass through which the transcontinental railway
could be taken, and Palisser's affirmations of the
utter impracticabilityof buildinga railway through
the " sea of mountains " proved to be absurd.
Anyone who visits the pass will wonder at the
genius of the man who descried a route for a
railway through that mountain-tossed region.
The piety of the people has been mentioned as
one of the sources of place-names of Ca nada. We
have culled from the Roman and Saxon hagiol-
ogies over 400 names of saints, and have employed
them to designate rivers, capes, lakes, cities,
towns, and villages. To study them all out would
task the patience of most of us. Yet each and all
mean something good and noble. Each speaks
to us of devotion, of faith, of confidence in Divine
Providence. The titular saints of France, Eng-
land, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales present them-
selves in every part of Canada. Nearly a score
of St. Mary's, as many of St. John's, nearly a
dozen St. Paul's, as many St. Peter's, half a dozen
St. Patrick's, eight or ten St. Andrew's, a couple
of St. David's, a dozen St. George's, tell of the
influence of the patron saints upon our geogra-
phical nomenclature.
The regard in which we hold the great names
of the Empire is seen in the place-names of Tenny.
son, Hallam, Macaulay, Murchison, Faraday,
Palmerston, Gladstone, Wellington, and many
others. The Governors-General of Canada have
given many names to the country. Cartier, Champ-
'■ r .1
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIM':i)IA.
1:|
Iain, and Robervnl, already mentioned, Mont-
tnagny, Frontenac, Vaiidreuil, Longueuil, Beau-
harnois, Kamczay, D'Aileboust, Jonquiere, Lau-
son, recall governors of the French regime ; and
Amherst, Murray, Carleton, Haldimand, Dor-
chester, Prescott, Driimmond, Sherbrooke, Rich-
mond, Dalhousie, Kempt, Ayimer,Colborne, Mait-
land, Durham, Metcalfe, Elgin, Monck, Lisgar,
Dufferin, Lome, Lansdowne, and Stanley, remind
us of the Englishmen who followed their illustrious
predecessors in the gubernatorial chair, while
British Columbia, to make sure of priority of
possession, has already appropriated Aberdeen,
and Ontario, Haddo.
Political changes have been great place-name
creators. The two old Provinces of Quebec and
Nova Scotia are the original centres of population
in the Dominion. In the early timt;s they were
known as New France and Acadia, and place-
names were scattered freely about. Thus New
France, according to a map published by Ortelius
in 1572, was divided into Canada, Chiloga, Sague.
nai, Moscosa, Avacal, Norumbya, and Terra Cor-
terejilis. These sufficiently indicate that the
French geographers and politicians were then hard
at work to ear-mark the whole country as their
own.
Then came English occupation, and with it new
names, each successive occupation leading to a
change in place-names till the seaboard of the
country, from the Passamaquoddy Bay round
Nova Scotia and the Gulf shore and up the River
St. Lawrence, has accumulated winrows of names
— has become a great kitclteniiiiiiden of old, lapsed
and superseded pl.ice-names.
On the 24thof July, 1788, Lord Dorchester, Gov-
ernor-General, under authority of two Acts passed
by the Legislature, divided the then Province of
Quebec into seven districts, viz., Gaspe, Quebec,
Montreal, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau and
Hesse. A few years later the old Province of
Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Can-
ada. In May, 1792, a proclamation was issued
dividing the Province of Lower Canada into
twenty-one counties, all of them, with six excep-
tions, bearing English names, as Devon, Hert-
ford, Kent and York. In July, 1855, the Prov-
ince of Lower Canada received many new elec-
toral district names, and such was the reversal
that there were in a few years forty electoral dis-
tricts with French names, and ten each with Eng-
lish and Indian place-names.
In July, 1792, Governor Simcoe, by prcJama-
tion under the Constitutional Act, divided Upper
Canada inU) six districts, (i) Eastern, (2) John-
stown, (j) Midland, (4) Home, (5) London,
(6) Western. In 1795 the Home was subdivided
into Home and Newcastle, and the London into
London and Niagara. These districts were sub-
divided into counties and ridings numbering 158.
In 1867 the division of the old Province of Que-
bec continued, but the separate parts were named
Quebec and Ontario and new electoral districts
were created. The changes that have been
brought about by the addition of Manitoba and
the Northwest Territories have necessitated an
enlarged list of place-names. Thus the political
changes are responsible for much place-naming
and are more or less clearly mirrored in the place-
names of Canada.
The explorations of the Arctic circle in search
of the Northwest Passage and the North Pole
have resulted in a large crop of place-names.
Franklin, Richardson, Back, Simpson, Dease and
Rae may be said to have explored, outlined and
named the whole coast of ihe Arctic Ocean from
Point Barron to Hudson's Bay. Their names are
all attached to rivers, straits, islands and capes
discovered by them.
Some of them are : Baffin Land, after William
Baffin, 1615-16; Davis Strait, after John Davis,
1585-6-7 ; Frobisher Strait, after Martin Frob-
isher, 1576-77 ; Hudson's Bay, after Henry
Hudson, 1610 ; Fox Channel and Island, afte*
Luke P'ox, 1631 ; James Bay, after Capt. James,
1631 ; Mackenzie River, after Alex. Mackenzie,
1789; Back River, after Sir George Back, 1819;
Dease Strait, after Capt. Dease, 1837-9 '> Parry
Sound and Islands, after Sir Edward Parry, 1818 ;
Franklin Bay and district, after Sir John Franklin,
1818 ; McLeod River and Fort, after John
McLeod, 1822-26; Boothia, after Sir Felix
Boothia, 1829; McClintock Channel, after Sir
Francis L. McClintock, 1848-54; Rae Isthmus,
after Dr. John Rae, 1846.
The Fathers of Confederation are well repre-
sented in Tache, Macdonaid, McDougall, Brown,
Campbell, Mowat, Langevin, Tupper, Tilley,
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP^:niA.
301
Johnston and Chapais. There are yet several of
the names uf the Fathers unappropriated and open
to the Railway companies and the Post Office
Department. Other names have been suggested
by the prominence of pioneer settlers whose
energy and perseverance have been rewarded
after long years of toil by the settlement gradually
obtaining sufficient population to be entitled to a
name, and thus we havo Smithville, Nutt's Corn-
ers and all that class of place-names.
The Post Office list for 1896 contains hundreds
of place-names which have been given in honour
of the first appointed Postmaster. There are over
500 post offices in Canada whose names have come
from the Postmasters and Postmistresses actually
in charge. Thus Adamsville in North Hruce has
for its Postmaster, Samuel Adams ; Adamsville in
Brome has for its Postmaster, George A. Adams ;
Albertine in Victoria Co., N.B.,hasa Postmistress
in Mrs. F. Albert ; Ashdown, Ashworth, Asseltine,
Babington, Beaton, l^eckstead, Blackwood, Bryer-
ton, Burtch, Colbeck, Durland, Daigle, Edginton,
Fairley, Finlayson, Freeborn, Garnham, Under-
hill and Wilson Croft are all, with scores and hun-
dreds more that might be given, names applied
because the Postmaster's name was the handiest,
and local custom had given the name to the local-
ity before the Post Office authorities designated it
a Post Office.
Ivy Lea suggests a retreat where ivy grows in
abundance. It is really an adaptation of the
Postmaster's name, Ivey, whose Christian name
is John. Flowers' Cove has an odour of roses and
heliotrope and that sort of thing about it ; Mrs.
Mary Flowers is the Postmistress and the family
name is really all that suggested the name of tlie
Post Office. Kilburn suggests a Scotch burn
where murder was wrought. It really comes from
the Kilburn family, Benjamin of that ilk being the
present Postmaster. Libbyton has a flavour of
Libby prison about it and transports one to the
Southern war of thirty-five years ago, but Charles
W. Libby, the Postmaster, or his immediate fore-
bears, are responsible for the place-name ; Long
Settlement has a hint in it of a long, straggling
place, but as J. C. Long is Postmaster it is not a
great stretch of imagination to suppose that the
long and short of it is that the Longs gave their
name to the place. McAllister has nothing to do
with the immortal McAllister and Ne'V York's
400, Walter McAllister, the Postmaster, knowing
better than that. Pelissier is not a corruption
of the name of the famous traveller nor has it any-
thing to do with Capt. Palliser's cold canon balls,
nor yet was it given by some enthusiastic Bona-
partist to commemorate Marshal Pelissier and the
Crimean War, and the Anglo-French alliance of
the " fifties." It simply tells that Clotilde Pelis-
sier in Wakefield, Wright Co., the Postmaster
occupied a somewhat prominent place, possibly
had a central business store and in all likelihood
was a good Tory. Riviere des Plantes is not a
river or place -on a river noted for its exuber-mt
vegetation as one might imagine from its name.
It is really the River of the Plantes, a representa-
tiveof which family — to wit George Plant — is Post-
master. McCarthy suggests Justin, or D'AIton,
but you would be away out if you thought either
of these Irishmen had their memories perpetuated
in this place-name of Canada. One Samuel Mc-
Carthy is the Postmaster. Marchbanks is not the
correct spelling but is the correct pronounciation of
Lady Aberdeen's family name.asone might think it
to be on hearing it mentioned, but it is named after
the Postmaster, A. W. Marchbanks. Littlewood
has in it a hint of an limbrageous retreat of narrow
dimensions or stunted growth, a descriptive place-
name in fact. It is descriptive but not of any fea-
ture of the landscape. It is the family name of
James Littlewood, the master of Her Majesty's
Post in a particular part of the electoral district
of Shelburne and Queen's, N.S. Singleton brings
up, by association of ideas, the very reprehensible
act of some whist players, leading from a single-
ton, but it has no such origin as a possible dispute
on the spot about the proper leads of whist. Its
sponsor is William T. Singleton, who gives out
and receives the letters and papers of Her
Majesty's liege subjects in that part of the South
Riding of Leeds where the Singletons flourish.
Underbill might call up the picture ofa snug little
village, sheltered from fierce winds of winter and
fierce heats of summer by an overhanging bluff.
But if it did it would not be because of the situa-
tion, for the name comes by derivation from the
Underbill family, one of whose scions is Post-
master.
Taking the nth heading " Physical character-
;'' '
r
im
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S
istics as a source of place-name." — I may expand
somewhat on this prolific spring. Speaking Rcn-
erally these names of places are derived from
words denoting, first, relath'c magnitude, as
Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis, respectively,
the great and little " dirty water." There are in
the Post Office list twenty-four " Bigs," of which
seventeen are in Cape Breton, fifty " Littles," as
Little Lake, fourteen " Petits," and " Petites,*'
twenty-one " Longs," as Long Lake, Long Reach,
and several " Shorts," as Short Beach. There
are forty-four "Grands," — Grand Pre, Grand View.
Second. Relative position. — East, West, North,
and South. There are sixty " Easts;" as East
Dover, East Mountain, East Side of Ragged
Islands ; one hundred and one " Norths," as is
quite natural in a country where settlement began
so largely in the south and worked northward :
eighty-eight " Souths," and ninety-four " Wests."
The Eastern Townships are so named because
the British Government after the cession of this
country surveyed the then wilderness lands of
what is now Ontario, and divided them into town-
ships in accordance with a plan adopted by the
United States. When the great region between the
St. Lawrence, below Montreal, and the boundary
line was opened up, the original intention was to
settle it with persons of British origin, and a
similar system of surveys being adopted, the
region on that account became known as the
Eastern Townships in contradistinction to the
western or those higher up the St. Lawrence,
where the British from the revolted States found
a home. From the same reason of relative
position we have " Lower," " Upper," and
" Middle," ^ term confined chiefly to the Mari-
time Provinces.for of the ninety-six " Uppers " in
Canada, eighty-eight are found there, forty-two
being in New Brunswick, and forty-six in Nova
Scotia ; while of seventy-five " Lowers," seventy
are found in the Maritime Provinces, twenty-seven
being in New Brunswick, and forty-three in Nova
Scotia. Thus there were Upper, Lower, and
Middle Musquodoboit in Halifax County.
Third. Relative age, indicated by the word
" New," — New Brunswick, New Germany, New
Westminster, New I'rance, the hitter word offic-
ially used to designate Canada under the French
regime. ,
Fourth. Numerals, as Seven Oaks, Eight Island
Lake, Nine Mile River, Two Rivers, Three
Rivers. One Hundred and Fifty Mile House is
the name of one of the post offices in British
Columbia.
Fifth. Natural productions, as Basin Minas,
" the Bay of Springs." These may be divided
into (a) Minerals. — Garnet, Emerald, Gold River,
Irondale, Jasper, Marble Rock, Moonstone, Oil
Springs, (b) Woods, etc. — Ash, Oak Bank, Aspen,
Willow Bunch, Balsam Bay, Beech Ridge, Cedar
Dale, Cypress River, Birch Grove, Box Grove,
Poplar Grove, Broom Hill, Bush Glen, Spruce
Lake, Elm Croft, Elm Tree, Bois Franc, Forest
Glade, and Glen, and Hill, Hazel Cliffe, Clover
Bar, Corn Hill, Pumpkin Plains, Juniper Island,
Hemlock, Lily Lake and Rose, and Roseberry.
(c) Animals. — Herring Cove, Horse Fly (in B.C.),
Moose River, and Jaw, Bear Cove, Owl's Head,
Wolf Cove, Pij^eon Lake, Beaver Bank and
Beaver Dam, Salmon River, Sea Cow Head,
Crow's Lake, Bird's Hill, Deer Lake, Seal Cove,
Shad Bay, Duck Lake, Cariboo, Eagle, Raven's
Glen, Eagle's Nest, Eel Covu, Egg Island, Fox
Bay, Goose River, Gull Cove, Hamtown, Pike
Bay, Heron Bay, and Red Deer, (d) Fruits. —
Berry Hill, Cherry Grove, Cherry Vale,
Apple River and Island, Gooseberry, Plum
Hollow.
Sixth. Excellence or the reverse. — Pessimism
did not rule the minds and hearts of those who
selected such place-names as Pleasant Vale,
Pleasant Bay, Pleasant Home, Welcome Pass,
Fair Valley, Fair View, Garden of Eden, Para-
dise, Glen Uig (pleasant glen). Of " pleasants "
there are fifteen in English, and the French, not
to be outdone, have " beaus " and " belles " to
the number of sixteen, as Beaumont, Beaupre,
Beaubien. Point Comfort, in Quebec, suggests
pleasant experiences. Danger Cape expresses the
reverse of pleasant. Cape Desolation has a world
of disappointment in it. We have not an Anxiety
Bay as they have in the sister colony of Australia,
but we have a Repulse Bay and a Fury Strait.
Seventh. Colours. — Black, twenty of them, as
Black Ban!., Black Brook. Blue, eight, — Blue
Bonnets, Blue Rock. White, thirty-two, — White
Rose, White Heads, White Sands, etc. Then
there are Emerald Hill, Green Bush, Green Hill,
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.i; DIA.
aej
Purple Hill, Red Bay, Red Wing, Violet, Red Isle.
Eighth. Configuration. — yuebec, "the strait or
narrow passage " ; Detroit (once a part of Can-
ada), "the narrows"; Point, forty of them, as
Pointe Claire, Point aux Anglais — about half of
them in the Province of Quebec. Of Glens there
are ninety-six ; of Mounts, sixty, — Mount Horeb,
Mount Hope, Mount Uniacke; of "lac" and
" lake " there are sixty-seven. In the same
category may be placed the rivers and rivieres,
of which the post office list gives sixty-five, as
River Dennis, Riviere Hois Claire, and Riviere
du Loup, etc.; and the Ports, of which the list
gives eighty-five ; and the bays and baies, which
number thirty.
Many names were given by the aborigines,
translated into French by the French voyageurs,
and into English by the English-speaking people
v/ho followed the French. Thus Lac Traverse,
so named by tiie French as being if triwers, or
athwart the river, is now known as Cross Lake.
Lac Vaseux bears the translated name of Muddy
Lake. Grand Remous is called Big Eddy. Lac
Orignal is Moose Lake. La Fouche des Gros
Ventres, from the Indian tribe found there, is
translated Big Belly Forks. LeCoude is the
Elbow. In some cases the Indian name has
been translated by the French and the French
name has held the fort, thus Rivieres des Canards,
now Canard River, in Nova Scotia, is French for
Duck River, and is the translation of the Micmac
word, meaning " great place for ducks," and
though there has not been a Frenchman there
since Governor Lawrence's order for their disper-
sion, in 1755, was carried out, nor a duck for
a century, still the name holds its grip.
The Cree word Catabuysepu, means "the river
that calls," the Indians believing that the river
was hauntad by a spirit, whose voice was often
heard wailing at night. The French named the
river and its valley Qu'Appelle and Qu'Appelle it
remains to this day — the " calling river." Some
place-names there are which suggest grotesque
humour. Tobby Guzzle is the name of a railway
station in Mew Brunswick. Others suggest a
cynical spirit, as- Lachine, the name given, no
doubt derisively, to La Salle's seigneury owing
to his failure to discover ia that direction the
passage to China.
Sometimes the place-nami^s have been giver
from some haphazard remark. There was an
old apple-woman in the Parliamentary build-
ings in Quebec, devoted to the administrative
work of the province in pre-confederation days.
The Civil Service clerks with reminiscences of
heathen mythology floating about their brains
had christened her in due form ami with becom-
ing ceremony, I'omona, after the goddess of fruit
trees, not because she carried the fruit in her
bosom and waved a pruning knife, but because
she was associated in their minds with that most
luscious of fruits — the Canadian apple. On one
occasion the naming of a post office came before
the Department, and Mr. W. D. LeSueur,
then, as now, one of the officials, said, as
he and a fellow-official passed Pomona's apple
stand, " why not name the place Pomona ?" Tlie
suggestion was acted on, and Pomona in the
County of Grey (Ontario), perpetuates the mem-
ory of the old apple-woman of Quebec, rather than
that of the Goddess of fruit trees.
In the newer portions of tlio country we have
other influences at work in place-naming. The
various immigrations have contributed their quota.
Thus Haldur in Manitoba tells its own tale. It
steps into this new world out of the N irse Sagas,
in which BaUiur, son of Otien and Freya, ligures
as the God of summer sunlight. Hccla, Geyser,
and Husavick, also in Manitoba, an; monuments
of the Icelandic emis^ration. Tiie liking for old
world names with such distinguishing marks as
will prevent confusion in the Post Office Depart-
ment is seen in the fact that there are in Canada
about one hundred place-names with t'le prefix
"New" — New Brunswick, New Westininstor,
New Glasgow, New Canaan, New Edinburgh,
New Jerusalem, New Ontario, etc. The concen-
trated essence of newness as expressed in place-
names is found in Lunenburg County, N. S.,
in which one of the divisions is named New Dub-
lin, and among the sub-divisions of New Dublin
are. New Canada, New Italy, New Germany, New
Cornwall, New Cumberland and so on.
The reading of the people expresses itself in
other names; Oberon reminds one of Shakespeare's
Fairy King ; Lenore tells of Poe's heroine ;
Lothaire, of Disraeli's hero ; Pendennis, of Thack-
eray's gentleman. Warrington may also come
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
ill!
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trom Thackeray's novel, Dante, in Bothwell,
suggests the great Italian poet, and Lucille recalls
Lord Lytton's poem. It is hard to tell what
spirit, if not that of mischief, suggested the names
of Flos, Tiny, and Tay, in Simcoe County, since
these were the names of three poodle dogs belong-
ing to Governor Colborne's wife. Mongolia, in
East York, was named after a dog owned by
Cunningham Stewart, of the Post Office Savings
Branch.
In some place-names are embalmed frustrated
hopes and disappointed ambitions. Thus London
was so named by Governor Simcoe in connection
with a grand scheme he had evolved and com-
municated in 1791 to Sir Joseph Banks, President
of the Royal Society — after whom " Banks' Land,"
in the very centre of the kingdom of" Our Ladye
of the Snows" (in the Arctic circle), was named.
The Governor to the President wrote : " For the
purposes of commerce, union, and power I propose
that the site of the colony should be in that great
peninsula between Lakes Huron, Erie, and
Ontario — a spot destined by nature sooner or
later, to govern the interior world. I mean to
establish a capital in the very heart of the country,
upon the River La Tranche. This capital I mean
to call Georgina." From his purpose he never
swerved. He changed the proposed name to
London. He proclaimed tlie River La Tranche
to be, from July i6th, 1792, the Thames. In 1793
he made a journey, partly in sleighs, but chietly
on foot, and when he reached the forks of the
Thames, he spent a day there. Littleiiales (after-
. wards Sir E. B.) was the diarist, and he writes :
" The Governor judged it to be a situation emi-
nently calculated for the metropolis of Canada.
Among many other essentials it possesses the fol-
lowing advantages : command of territory, internal
situation, central position, facility of water com-
munication up and down the Thames into Lakes
St. Clair, Erie, Huron, and Superior, etc." The
Governor's correspondence con tains frequent refer-
ence to his plans for establishing the capital of
U|>per Canada at the upper forks of the Thames,
to be called Georgina, London, or New London,
and maintained the wisdom of his plans down to
his departure in 1796. But in spite of guberna-
torial purposes, despite all his plans for making
the new London to Upper Canada what the old
London was to the British Ides, the best he could
do was to duplicate the place-names of the Thames,
of London, Middlesex, and other surroundings and
adornments of old London in the heart of the
Canadian forest. Governor-General Lord Dor-
chester was too strong for Lieutenant-Governor
Simcoe.
Some place-names have had a hard struggle
before the form and spelling have become finally
settled. Mr. Suite tells that he has found fifteen
different ways of spelling the name of the explorer
Verendrye. Winnipeg has had nearly as varied
a career. " In Canadian Geography it has settled
into the form Winnipeg, after long fluctuations in
many different shapes from such as the early
French Ounipigon through Winnipegon, Wine-
pegon." Mr. Bell in the "Transactions of the
Manitoba Historical and Scientific Society, 1885,
gives :
Ouinipigon Verendrye 1734
Ouinipeque Dobbs 1743
Onipignon Gallissoniere 1750
Ouinipeg Bougainville 1750
Ouinipique French map 1776
Winnipeek Carver 1768
Winnipegon Henry 1775
Winnipec Ross Cox 1817
Winnipec School Craft 1X20
Winnipeek Keating 1823
Winipeg Beltrami 1S23
Winnipeg Back 1833
Saskatchewan is another word that had a simi-
lar struggle before securing a universally recog-
nized form. It has been spellud,
Kisiskatchewan, Saskutchewin,
Kisiscachiwin, Saskowjawin,
Sisiscatchewin, Saskaugewun,
Saskawjawun, Kejeechewon,
and the present recognized form differs from all
these. It is therefore apparent that the sources
of our place-names are very numerous. In fact
they range from the Archangel Michael through
apostles and prophets, sovereigns and saints, war-
riors and scientists, civil administrators and explor-
ers, Indian vocabularies, and French, English,
Scotch, Irish repertoires of place-names, down to
— poodle dogs. The subject is capable of almost
indefinite expansion, but sufficient has been said to
give a general idea of the sources from which have
f
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPiBDIA.
ao5
come the place-names of Canada. The task of
preparing a complete list of these names would
involve much study of old books and documents,
much inquiry of the oldest inhabitants, and much
sifting of evidence, especially in respect to the
names of prominent men in connection with which
latter task one instance may be given. Governor
Simcoe, the first Governor of Upper Canada, one
would naturally suppose gave his own name to
the Lake and County of Simcoe. Research
shows that the lake was named out of respect to
Capt. Simcoe cf the Royal Navy, who died on the
St. Lawrence in the expedition against Quebec, in
1739, and after that the extension of the name to
the County was quite natural. So with very
many other historic names.
George Johnson.
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THE INDIANS OF CANADA
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THE EDITOR
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THERE has been no figure in all history
so picturesque and peculiar as that of
the North American Indian. The
storm-tossed life of the various na-
tions or tribes ; the concentrated cruelty of
individual character, combined with loyalty and
honour in tribal relations ; the constant and
bloody struggles between each national unit and
the prolonged conflict with the white invaders of
a continent ; the complexity of the savage tem-
perament in its mingled simplicity and guile, its
courage and endurance, its treachery towards
foes and cruelty in war, its pride and prudence
combined with periods of insane recklessness and
a humility akin to that of a beggar, its self-
restraint and moments of unbridled rage, its
strange conjunction of greatness and littleness ;
stamps the American aborigine as the most ex-
traordinary product of the vast wilderness and
forest home of his wandering race.
History has yet to do him justice. The pen of
the poet, the voice of the preacher, or the thought
of the philosopher, seem alike unfitted to cope
with his difficult environment and curious char-
acter. Cold and hard, passionate and revengeful,
ignorant and superstitious, keen and quick in
thought, he has ye", never in pre-civilization days
been guilty of the effeminate and meaner vices
which destroyed peoples such as the Roman or
the Aztec. Love of liberty in its wilder forms,
and contempt for all arbitrary rule or personal
control, he carried to an extreme greater than can
be elsewhere paralleled. Sleepless suspicion of
others was a part of his surroundings of war and
treachery. Like the Itahan he preferred to send
a secret blow, or despatch the shaft of an am-
bushed arrow, to open fighting or public revenge.
Like the Spaniard he was dark and sinister in
his punishments and retaliations. Like nearly
all savage races his warfare was one of sudden
and secret surprise, ruthless and unhesitating
slaughter. A native of the wilds, a product of
primeval conditions, he could not change his
character without deterioration, or his mode of
life without physical and mental injury. Civ-
ilization, indeed, has destroyed the Indian. In
curbing his wilder passions it has usually devel-
oped the meaner ones, and in destroying the
environment which made him the barbarous yet
noble owner of a boundless continent it has
cramped his intellectual acuteness, dulled his
powers of perception, starved his wonderful phy-
sical qualities, and fatally affected the peculiar
morality which he undoubtedly possessed. Chris-
tianity and agricultural pursuits may flt the sur-
vivors for life amidst new conditions, but the
result of this development is no more the Indian
of past centuries than the Greek of to-day is the
true heir of Leonidas at Thermopolyae or the
modern native of Rome the just inheritor of Imp-
erial valour.
When the first discoverers and explorers found
their way amidst the wilds of Canada, they came
into collision with various Indian nations. The
great family of the Algonquins extended right up
through the centre of the continent. They formed
the chief Ck'Utral race of early Canada, and reached
in scattered masses from the Atlantic to Lake
Winnipeg and from the Caroiinas to Hudson's
Bay. Cartier met them when he ascended the
St. Lawrence, the early English settlers encount-
ered them along the coasts of Virginia, the people
of New England fought them under the King
Philip of historic memory. William Penn made
peace with them under the trees of the Keystone
State, and the French Jesuits and fur traders
found the same race in the valley of the Ohio, on
the shores of Lake Superior, and at the rapids of
Sault Ste. Marie.
Of this race were the Delawares and the
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JOSEPH BRANT— THAYENDANEGEA.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P.4?-DIA.
309
Shawnees. The latter were a strange and
wandering people, whose location it was always
difficult to fix, but who are known to have
more than once come into coniiict with the
French. They eventually settled on Canadian
soil and played a brief but important part under
the great Tecumseh. The former were at one
time conquered by the Iroquois and compelled
to bear the opprobrious Indian name of women,
but in one of the French and English wars
they recovered at once their courage and their
position by espousing the side of the French.
Other branches dwelt along the Canadian shores
of the Atlantic and in the wastes north of Lakes
Michigan, Superior and Huron. The latter tribes
included the Ojibiways, Pottawatamies and Ot-
ta\yas, who at one time formed a sort of loose
union and offered a yielding but efficient check
to the course of Iroquois conquest. In this
region also were the Sacs, the Foxes, and other
smaller divisions of the Algonquin race. Other
branches in Nova Scotia were known as the
Micmacs, in western New Brunswick as the
Etchemins, in Quebec as the Montagnais, and in
the far North as the Nipissings.
The Iroquois stretched across what afterwards
became the State of New York into Ontario and
Quebec, and included the Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. Though
united in a sort of loose confederacy and by a
system of clanship, they seem to have had no
clearly defined and continuous ruler, but to have
trusted their joint affairs to the central council at
Onondaga. And though numbering only about
four thousand warriors in their day of greatest
power, they were able to make the name of the
Five Nations a word of terror to all the tribes
from Quebec to the Carolinas and from the far
West to the Atlantic shores. To the French and
the American Colonists they were a continuous
source of dread, and to the English forces in
Canada at a later period they became an arm of
military strength a little difficult to define in
degree.
A people not inferior in courage but not nearly
so aggressive in character as the Iroquois were
the Hurons, whose name is so well known through
their intercourse with the brave French Jesuit
priests. Their population is estimated by Park-
man as having been about 10,000 souls, though
other writers place the number at double that
figure. In the superior nature of their dwelling
houses, in their manners and customs and super-
stitions, they closely resembled the Iroquois. They
met destruction at the ruthless hands of the great
confederacy, and after 1680 disappear from view,
except in a few isolated settlements under French
protection. The Neutral nation, living along the
north shore of Lake Erie and remaining for a long
period neutral between the Hurons and the Five
Nations ; the Andastes, dwelling in fortified vill-
ages in the valley of the Susquehanna ; the Eries,
living in the vicinity of the lake which bears their
name ; were all of kin to the Iroquois and were all
conquered and practically destroyed in time by
that most powerful of the savage nations of North
America. Then followed the conquest of the
Delawares, or Lcnapes, and the expulsion of the
Ottawas from the vicinity of the great river which
now runs by the Capital of Canada and onward
through the towns and villages of a peaceful civil-
ization. In 1715 the Iroquois were strengthened
by the admission of the Tuscaroras, a warlike
people of admitted kinship, to the confederacy as
a sixth nation.
These confederated peoples seem to have been
at once the best and the worst of all the Indian
nations. Their pride was intense and over-mas-
tering, their lust of conquest was individually and
personally as strong as that of an Alexander or
Napoleon, their savage passions and cruelties were
vented to an indescribable degree uoon their
enemies. Yet in courage, constancy, and concen-
trated energy it would be difficult to find their
equal amongst the savage races of the world. As
with most Indians, though in perhaps greater de-
gree, where they inflicted pain they were ready to
endure it, and the cruelties perpetrated upon their
miserable captives were those which they would
themselves receive without murmuringin the event
of defeat .
The original population of these various tribes
and races and nations of kindred origin, can,
of course, only be estimated. Garneau, in his
History of French Canada, puts the Algonquin
total at 90,000 souls, the Hurons and Iroquois
together at about 17,000, the Mobiles of the
far south at 50,000, and the Cherokees, of what
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
is now the centre of the United States, at
12,000. His total is 180,000 for the greater
part of the continent, and in view of the con-
stant condition of warfare in which they were
involved, and the statements of travellers like
Cartier, Joliette, Marquette, De la Jonquifere,
etc., it is probable the estimate is not too small.
Even as it is, however, the fact of the dominating
power of a few thousand Iroquois during so many
years illustrates the romantic possibilities of
conquest amongst savages as well as civilized
peoples.
In conduct it should be remembered the early
Indian was kind and hospitable to the exploring
European. The Jesuit and Recollet missionaries
bear testimony in many cases to this fact. Hakluyt
in his account of Cartier's first visit to Hochelaga
(1535) says that " the Indians brought us great
store of fish and of bread made of millet, casting
them into our boats so thick that you would have
thought it to fall from Heaven." In Turnbull's
work upon Connecticut we are told that the
Indians at the first settlement of the English per-
formed many acts of kindness towards them.
"They instructed them in the manner of planting
and dressing the Indian corn . . . and by
selling them corn when pinched with famine they
relieved their distress, and prevented them from
perishing in a strange land." This is an excep-
tional American tribute, and deserves considera-
tion. So with regard to the first landing of nearly
all the explorers and early travellers upon this
continent we find a kindness of treatment which
made Cartier no exception to what was rather a
general rule. Deceit or indignity from visitors
met swift 'resentment and revenge, but otherwise
they were usually sure of good treatment. The
special ability of the Iroquois has met with distinct
modern recognition, and has forced it even from
their enemies, the Americans. The Hon. Cad-
wallader Colden, of New York, in his well-known
historical work of over a century ago, says :
" Each of these nations is an absolute republic
in itself. . . . The authority of the rulers is
gained by and consists wholly in the opinion the
rest of the nation have of their wisdom and
integrity. They never execute their resolutions
by force upon any of their people. Honour and
esteem are their principal rewards, as shame and
being despised are their punishments. . .. Their
great men, both sachems and captains, are gener-
ally poorer than the common people, for they
affect to give away and distribute all the presents
and plunder they get in their treaties or in war,
so as to have nothing for themselves. There is
not a man in the ministry of the Five Nations
who has gained his office otherwise than by merit,
and there is not the least salary or any sort of
profit annexed to any office to tempt the covetous
or sordid, but on the contrary every unworthy
action is attended with the forfeiture of their
commission, for their authority is only the esteem
of the people, and closes the moment that esteem
is lost. Here we see the natural origin of all
power and authority amongst a free people."
Indian appearance, customs, and beliefs have
been often described and with niost varying de-
grees of accuracy or the reverse. The fact is
that changing conditions brought about frequent
changes in manners and appearance. The Huron
or Wyandot in days when he was a successful
rival of the Iroquois could hardly be recognized
in the fearful and unaggressive convert of the mis-
sionaries during the years of his final massacre
and disappearance. The Delawares in their
period of active life and power were not the same
people as the subject slaves of the Iroquois, nor
were the latter in their earlier times of peace and
trade like the fiery savages whose conquering war-
whoop became a signal of death from the great
lakes to the Mississippi.
The Indian races were emphatically the product
of nature, however, and amongst them all were
similarities which stamped them as of the same
origin and as possible descendants of migrating
Tartars from the Steppes of Central Asia. They
were as a rule tall and slender and agile in form,
with faces bronzed by sun and rain and winds.
Their expression was stern and sombre, seldom
or never marked with a smile. Their heads had
high cheek-bones, small, sunken, and keenly flash-
ing eyes, narrow foreheads, thick lips, somewhat
flat noses and coarse hair. The senses of sight,
and sound, and feeling were developed into a sort
of forest instinct which seemed almost super-
natural to the first white settlers and finds most
vivid expression in Fenimore Cooper's wonderful
romances.
Their costumes of deer-skin and moccasins,
their necklaces of wampum, beads, or shells, their
ornaments of feathers and claws and scalps are
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPil^UIA.
311
well known, as is the vermilion paint with which
they delighted to daub their faces and bodies.
The only weapons they possessed before the
Europeans came were the arrow and the toma-
hawk. Hunting or fishing was their occupation,
war their pastime. Both these pursuits made per-
manence of dwelling very difficult and involved
naturally a life of ceaseless wandering — one in-
deed which made them the Arabs of the Ameri-
can wilderness. Their religion was always a
peculiarly mixed quantity. Champlain states
that the Micmacs had neither devotional ideas
nor ceremonies. Other tribes assured him that
each man had his own god whom he wor-
shipped in silence and secretness. They seem,
however, to have all worshipped somethmg,
whether the spirit of good, the spirit of evil, the
spirit of storm, the god of war, the spirit of the
mountains, or a spirit of the waters — lake, or sea,
or river.
Sacrifices were not uncommon, and Father
Jogues is authority for having seen at least one
human sacrifice amongst the Iroquois. How far
they really worshipped one Great Spirit is a mat-
ter of some uncertainty and it has been claimed
"that the early missionaries rather suggested to
their minds an idea which they were quick to
absorb through the questions and answers natur-
ally given. However that may be, there can be
no doubt of their intense belief in spiritual mani-
festations and interventions. They peopled the
very air with friendly or hostile spirits and creat-
ed amongst themselves those powerful manipu-
lators of superstition — the medicine men — to con-
trol the surrounding demons of storm and famine,
and disease and death. To the same men were
given the care of the sick, and, mixed up with
much that was harmful, there were no doubt many
simple remedies used amidst the mass of incanta-
tions and superstitious mummery.
Dreams they put great faith in, and oratory
was almost as much a factor in success as bravery.
But the chief and all important customs of the
Indians turned upon war and its occasionally
brief concomitant, peace. A struggle between
two tribes or nations could be brought on by the
most trivial cause, or by almost any ambitious
and restless individual. When determined upon,
it became the source of uncontrollable joy,
of wild dances, of eloquent harangues, of multi-
tudinous prayers and sacrifices, of feasts, and
endless bravado and boasting. Then followed
silence and secret departure on the expedition,
and a long patient waiting for the return. Per-
haps the warriors never came back, but if they
did, and brought a prisoner with them, the wel-
coming din of shouts, and shrieks, and tom-toms
presented a perfect pandemonium of sound. Then
followed the frightful and indescribable torture of
the captive, modified if he were of low degree or
ordinary position, but always borne with a stoical
endurance not excelled by the Protestant victims
of the Inquisition, the Jesuit missionaries to the
Hurons, or the southern victims of the Spaniard.
In the wars between the French and English
and Americans, which devasted parts of North
America during nearly three hundred years, the
Indians exercised a large influence, and had they
been united might more than once have expelled
the white invader altogether. Roughly speaking
the Algonquins and Hurons stood by the French,
the Iroquois and some minor nations by the Eng-
lish. When the Five Nations had beaten the
Algonquins and destroyed the Hurons, they turned
their attention to the French, and several times
brought the settlements on the St. Lawrence to
the very verge of destruction. After the suprem-
acy of England seemed finally established there
existed for some years a sort of brooding stillness
which might well have boded trouble. The New
England colonists had never treated the Indians
upon their borders well, and the result had been
a long series of reprisals and wasting war.
Greedy traders and unscrupulous speculators in
land had robbed the Indians of their intellect by
brandy, and of large tracts of land by fraud. The
American Colonies, indeed, claimed the whole
soil, and without British permission, though in
the King's name, made frequent and large grants
of Indian territory and then seemed surprised
when the tomahawk and scalping knife were used
in response by the untutored savage.
Finally, land regulations were made by the
Home Government which to some extent stopped
this sort of lawlessness, and were respected in
Canada, though more or less disregarded in the
Thirteen Colonies as the spirit of local revolt
developed. Sir William Johnson, of the Mohawk
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Ml!
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Valley, in New York, was appointed Superintend-
ent General of Indian Affairs, and he did his best
to enforce these regulations. Indirectly they were
one great cause of the subsequent rebellion
through the dissatisfaction created amongst mass-
es of traders and border settlers. After the Revo-
lution, it may be said here, they were repealed,
and the course of unwise oppression entered upon
which has made the modern history of the Indian
a standing reproach to the United States and a
blood-red blot upon its annuls. In Canada they
were maintained.
Meantime, the trouble already hinted at silent-
ly developed, and in 1763 what is known as the
Conspiracy of Pontiac set the whole frontier in a
blaze of flame-lit villages. This great savage
stands out with Tecumseh and Thayendanegea
upon the pages of American history as illustrating
the possibilities of his race, though, unfortunate-
ly, his intellect was directed very differently from
that of the other two chiefs. Though only a
chieftain of the Ottawas, he had succeeded in
extending a sort of personal influence over the
Sacs, the Pottawatamies, the Ojibiways, the
remainder of the Hurons, the Uelawares, the
Shawnees, and had even detached the Senecas
frou' he Six Nations. Hispower reached from the
Ottawa River down to the far frontiers of Virginia.
He had accepted the sovereignty of the English
at first, but speedily saw that the victory of Wolfe
had rung the death-knell of Indian influence in
America.
His people were no longer the balance of power
between rival nations of white men, and he saw a
vision of the united white race of Englishmen
extending over the whole continent and driving
before them the one-time rulers of the forest and
prairie. There is little doubt too that the haughty
chieftain was not treated with the respect and
conciliation which was his due. Gifts and com-
pliments were no longer showered upon him, and
his consequence seems to have become suddenly
shrivelled up. The result was a scheme to unite
all the Indians, to surprise and massacre the
English by wholesale, and drive them into the
sea. The conspiracy was well planned. On
the day arranged, Pontiac just failed to capture
Detroit through the plot being revealed by
a squaw. Michilimackinac, Sandusky, Presqu' He
and other places were captured and destroyed,
while Detroit itself was closely besieged and
a relief party from Niagara surprised and cut
to pieces. The borders of Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, and Virginia were the scenes of slaugh-
ter and untold suffering. For three years the
war continued, and then at last Sir William
Johnson obtained the submission of Pontiac, and
with it peace upon the frontiers. Two years later
the great chieftain was killed in some trivial
quarrel with another Indian — probably by treach-
ery.
When the Thirteen Colonies plunged into revo-
lution it was natural that the bulk of the Indians
should stand by Great Britain. Those who did
not take an active part with the Iroquois stood
aloof — with the exception of the Oneidas and
Tuscaroras — and refused all the efforts of Con-
gress to obtain their co-operation. The result is
a bitterness traceable through many American
histories of the period ; a hatred wreaked at the
time upon the unfortunate Mohawk residents of
the peaceful, beautiful, and highly cultivated valley
which bore their name ; a prejudice which has
had its effect upon all the subsequent national
treatment of the race; a misrepresentation which
in this war and in that of 1812 denounces every
form of cruelty upon the Indian allies of England.
Aside from these greater wars, however, the
English Colonies had just cause to fear the In-
dians. The sweeping plot disclosed by Poca-
hontas in 1609; the struggle of eight years when
the settlers from Naragansett to Penobscot were
swept away by pestilence and the savages com-
bined ; the massacre of 347 Virginians by the In-
dians in 1622 ; the Connecticut .var with the
Pequot tribes fifteen years later ; the second raid
into Virginia in 1644; the New England war with
King Philip in 1675-6, when the chief was ulti-
mately killed and his tribe destroyed ; the eight
years, or King Wjlliam's war, of 1689-97 > *he
death of 137 people at Roanoke at the hands of
the Tuscaroras in 171 2, and the driving of this
nation out of North Carolina after three years of
war; were incidents of struggle which provoked
naturally hostile recollections. How far the trou-
bles themselves were caused by wanton Colonial
aggression or dictatorial conduct it is not neces-
sary here to discuss. They form pages of Indian
\::
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi«DIA.
ai3
annals which have not yet been wriiten except by
the historic and natural enemies of the Indians
themselves.
Two events connected with the War of the
Revolution should, however, be referred to. One
is the massacre of Wyoming, to which Campbell
has given as poetical and inaccurate a colouring
as Longfellow did to the expulsion of the Acadians.
In 1778 this little town, which was filled with sup-
porters of Congress, was attacked by a force of
Loyalists and Indians sent from Niagara under
Colonel Butler of the Rangers, and a number were
killed. Hence the designation of massacre for an
attack which averted one from the enemy upon
Niagara itself. The expedition was carried out
with little regard to considerations of mercy
towards armed opponents, and so far it may be
condemned.
But the second instance was a far worse illus-
tration of merciless warfare. The Continental
leaders had determined to seek vengeance upon
the Six Nations for their support of the British,
and in 1779 a force of 6,000 men under General
Sullivan was sent to destroy the villages, crops,
and means of subsistence of the Indian inhabi-
tants — mainly women and children — of the Mo-
hawk valley. Eighteen villages were accordingly
devasted, and a smiling, fruitful region reduced
to a wilderness.
At the close of the Revolutionary War the
Iroquois were given large grants of land, and
under the guidance of Joseph Brant— Thayen-
danegea — the brilliant chief who had led them
throughout the contest, they settled in various
parts of the new Province of Upper Canada. In
1812 many served again under the British flag,
while other nations and tribes were brought
together by the genius and influence of Tecumseh
— a leader worthy of being associated with Sir
Isaac Brock, and one who fills a page of high
martial deeds in Canadian history. Since then the
Indians of Canada, with the exception of a very few
who were led astray by Louis Riel in the North-
West troubles of 1885, have lived at peace with
themselvesand the white man. and have been trying
to accustom themselves to a life of monotonous
civilization, and, to them, somewhat degrading
labour. Very different has it been in the United
States. The increasing power and population of
the Republic was amply sufficient to overcome
the natural Indian turbulence of character, had
only justice marked American treatment of their
claims and peculiar position. But the unfortunate
Indian was driven from pillar to post, from one
treaty to another, from surrender to surrender,
from the rapacious control of one set of agents to
those of a still worse lot, from reserve to reserve,
until at lust, in sheer desperation, he would turn
like a tiger upon his prey and rend the nearest
victims of his savage passion. In 1790 there
were Indian wars in Ohio and Indiana. In 181 1,
during a war with the Shawnees in Indiana, Gen-
eral Harrison won his famous victory of Tippe-
canoe. The following year saw a fierce and merci-
less conflict with the Creeks of Tennessee. In
1817-18 occurred the first Seminole war in Florida,
a ruthless struggle on both sides, though with the
Indians it was a desperate effort to retain their
soil from the steady pressure of the advancing
host of settlers. From 1835 to 1842 the second
and last Seminole war raged. In 1869 there were
troubles with the Arapahoes, in 1870 with the In-
dians of Texas, in 1871 with the Sioux in Dakota,
and a little later with the Apaches in Arizona.
The so-called Custer massacre — a straight fight
between Indians and United States troops in
which the latter were worsted — and many subse-
quent little wars with the Sioux under Sitting
Bull, and other northern and western tribes,
marked the closing years of this civilized century.
Altogether the history of the Indian is a mel-
ancholy one. Nature cast him in a noble mould
and gave him at first a vast and splendid environ-
ment. That he was ignorant of his opportunities
and became subservient to the passions of pride
and cruelty was his misfortune though, perhaps, not
altogether his fault. Compared with the greater
knowledge, the gentler faith, the more cultured
surroundings, the kindlier home life of the white
man, his chances were, after all, very little and
his faults not colossal. The Christian Spaniard
with his brilliant and advanced civilization was
more inherently and remorselessly cruel than ever
was the Indian of the American wilds. The
Italian bravo was as stealthy and treacherous as
ever was an Indian brave. The Puritan New-
Englander who burned witches to death, the
Englishmen who guided the fires of Smithtield,
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314
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
the rulers who executed the decrees of Titus
Oates, the woman who directed the massacre of
St. Bartholomew, the Russians who used to flay
their prisoners ahve, the Turits who have filled
the pages of history with nameless atrocities, all
had advantages and powers and privileges which
the wandering and ignorant Indian never pos-
sessed or dreamed of.
But his career as a nomadic race of free-born
savages is closed. It is aa extraordinary page in
history and one which Canadians upon the whole
have little to regret in their contemplation of.
The Indian has always been faithful to those who
have been true to him, true to their individual
engagements, true to their national pledges. To
the British Crown and the Canadian Provinces
he has in the past century been friendly and this
fact speaks abundantly for itself, for the credit of
the flag of England, and for the honour of the
Dominion of Canada.
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THE ORGANIZATION OF THE IROQUOIS
MISS E. PAULINE JOHNSON (Tckahionwake).
",;J
WHEN the Iroquois first settled in
Canada after their long and stormy
battle for Britain, and loyal adher-
ence to her flag through the Ameri-
can war of independence, they were a wealthy
people so far as real estate was concerned. At
that time the Imperial grant to the Six Nations
comprised the territory lying within six miles on
either side of the Grand River from its source to
its mouth, a tract that embraced the larger portion
of the present counties of Wellington, Waterloo,
Brant, and Haldimand.
That was more than a century ago, and to-day
all the land that these Indians can call their own
is the little corner situated along the boundary of
the last two named counties, and known as the
Grind River Reserve, consisting of fifty-three
thousand acres of uninteresting, timberless, and,
in many instances, marshy land, which, however,
is yearly improving under the industry of farming,
and the Statute Labour Law, which is most
urgently enforced by the native pathmasters. The
history of the Iroquois is unquestionably the most
interesting of the myriad native tribes in the
Americas, from the formation of the great Iroquois
Confederacy more than four hundred years ago,
down to the present day, when the sons and the
daughters of this notable race are beginning to hold
their own in social, political,and Collegiate Canada
and to fear no excellence in advancement that
they cannot rival.
To be the offspring of a people that held the
balance of power in their red palms during the
most tempestuous period in the history of the
New World, is no small heritage, and, probably,
no nature in the world possesses the almost rabid
patriotism of the Iroquois, though he can to-day
call no country his own, save the little corner that
a greater power than he vouchsafes to allow him
to live in. This corner was at one period a hunt-
ing and fishing ground unequalled in the country,
but a century of insidious inroads made by incom-
ing settlers of a civilization not always wisely
conducted, has despoiled the Iroquois of his game
and the greater portion of his lands, which latter
slipped out of his possession in a frequently unre-
corded manner. But as the pioneers settled the
country the demand for river lands in Upper Can-
ada became urgent and the Iroquois were induced
to surrender their territory bit by bit, much of it
being purchased by the Government, and honour-
ably paid for, until now in lieu of their erstwhile
real estate the Six Nations have deposited with the
Dominion Government upwards of eight hundred
thousand dollars, the interest on which they draw
bi-annually and individually — the amount varying
in accordance with the expenditure they make on
public works within their own Reserve.
Some ten years ago these Indians received in
common with various other tribes throughout
Canada the franchise, which entitles them to a
voice in the Dominion Government, a privilege
whicii, though long delayed is well merited, con-
sidering the facts that they keep their Reserve up
to, and, in many instances, above the standard of
the surrounding counties; that they cost the white
voters nothing; and that they pay with their own
moneys a large and efficient staff of clerks in the
Government at Ottawa to attend to their business
without further cost to the country.
No greater argument for the principles of sound
government can be advanced than a glance at the
history of the Iroquois. Always a thrifty peoplct
the first explorers found them settled in the lands
of what is now northern New York State, living
in log houses, farming in a crude fashion, and
astonishing the Europeans with their fields of
maize and pumpkins. They were never a nomadic,
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
IHV
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although a fighting race, for later it was this seem-
ingly peaceful people that produced the few thou-
sand fighting men who held the balance of power
when France and England battled for the Conti-
nent and the red arm of the Iroquois helped to
wni it for the latter.
Perhaps the secret is one that has only recently
come to light through the researches of a careful
and philosophic investigator, the Hon. L. H.
Morgan, that their internal polity was marked by
equal wisdom, and had been developed and con-
solidated into a system of Government embodying
many of what are deemed the best principles and
methods of political science — representation, fed-
eration, self-government through local and general
legislatures, all resulting in personal liberty, com-
bined with strict subordination to public law. As
Dr. Horatio Hale says, however, in his Law-Giver
of the Stone Age, " it has not been distinctly known
that for many of these advantages the Five
Nations were indebted to one individual, who
bore to them the same relation which the great
reformers and law-givers of antiquity bore to the
communities whose gratitude has made their
names illustrious."
The name of this individual, Hiawatha, has
been singularly, fatally, denied its historical claims,
through the unintentioned errors of Longfellow,
who having clothed it in immortal guise, denuded
it previously of the place it rightfully occupies, as
the name borne by one of the greatest statesmen,
politicians, and reformers known to the world's
history. About the middle of the i5th century
lived this Hiawatha, a chief of high rank and of
Onondago blood, a tribe ruled under the iron rod
of a crazy and tyrannical chief, Atotarho by name.
Dreaded, hated, and feared by his people, Atotarho
waged incessant war against the Cayugas and
Senecas, whose tribes bordered on his territory.
At the same period the Mohawks, lying east of
him, together with the Oneidas, were bearing the
brunt of constant onslaught from the Mohicans,
who possessed the tracts along the Hudson River
south of them. Feuds, bloodshed, extermination
threatened the entire Five Nations. The earth
was soaked in blood, the very air impregnated
with it. Then stepped forth Hiawatha out of the
pages of Indian history, braving his terrible chief,
Atotarho, with a scheme that could only have
had its birth in the brain of a perfect diplomat.
Referring again to the writings of the late Dr.
Hale (and no more authentic translations of the
Iroquois Wampum records are in existence than
those which he made his life study), this scheme is
best given in the eminent historian's own words :
" With much meditation he (Hiawatha) had elab-
orated in his mind the scheme of a vast confeder-
ation which would ensure universal peace. . . .
The system which he devised was not a transitory
league, but a permanent government. Each
nation was to retain its own council and its man-
agement of local affairs, the general control was
to be lodged in a federal senate composed of
representatives elected by each nation, holding
office during good behaviour and acknowledged
as ruling chiefs throughout the confederacy. Still
further and more remarkably this confederation
was not to be a limited one ; it was to be indefi-
nitely expansible. The avowed design of its pro-
poser was to abolish war altogether, and he wished
the Federation to extend until all the tribes of
men should be included in it, and peace should
reign everywhere."
Twice did this young reformer summons his
tribe together to debate the advisability of adopt-
ing his proposals. Twice the dreaded Atotarho
scowled upon the procp^dliigs and dispersed the
people in fear and trembling. At the third sum-
mons not a single warrior attended the council,
and Hiawatha realized that his own tribe had
rejected his movement for reform. Then he
formed a bold project, an J decided that if the
councils of his own people were closed to him he
would appeal to those of other tribes Briefly,
after many and various discouragements, he suc-
ceeded in winning, by his marvellous eloquence
and sincerity, the great Chief of the Mohawks —
DeKanawidah. Then followed the Oneidas,
Cayugas, and Senecas, only the great Atotarho of
the Oneidas refusing to consider the project, and
rejecting again t!ie proposal to come into the
League. In desperation, the now enthusiastic
tribes sent an embassy to the lordly Onondago
with Mattering proposals and inducements. Ato-
tarho yielded to these, where sound argument had
failed previously, and thus was founded the great
Confederacy which lived through centuries of war
and devastation, and is to-day solid, intact, pow-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^.DIA.
2'7
erful as ever — the basis of rule amongst the Iro-
quois in the Grand River, and the government
acknowledged by many able thinkers of our day
as the purest polity known to civilization.
That Hiawatha, unaided, devised and executed
a federal system that has lasted unshaken for four
centuries ; that he swayed the first council of
fifty-two chiefs from hatred and bloodshed to
peace and brotherhood ; that he consolidated a
government which exists to-day, conducted by
the lineal descendants of those very fifty-two
chiefs, is what has made him immortal to his own
people, and should entitle him to a high place
amongst the world's reformers.
It is a curious fact, though one which has fre-
quently repeated itself in history, that Hiawatha's
own tribe was the last to acknowledge his genius.
The always fighting Mohawks were first to lend
their ear to peaceful measures, going so far as to
eventually adopt the young patriot into their
tribe. Embassies to extend the " Great Peace,"
as the League was called, were sent in all direc-
tions, even as far as the distant Cherokees, who,
however, declined their advances. Later the Tus-
caroras joined the confederation, which was
known far and near as the Iroquois Nation.
Subject to the criminal and civil laws of Canada,
the Six Nations' Council now conducts its own
local laws and affairs with a wisdom worthy its
noble progenitor. Wisely the old Chiefs pass no
Bill they know will be rejected by the Govern-
ment at Ottawa. With equal tact Ottawa inflicts
no measure upon the Indians which she knows
their Council will fail to pass. Herein perhaps
lies the success which Canada has always enjoyed
with her Red compatriots.
To those who still cling to Longfellow's beau-
tiful but erroneous interpretation of the greatest
of all Indian historical legends, the writer urges
the authenticity of the ancient Wampum records
of the Iroquois, which are as undeniably accurate
as the jealously guarded literature and chronicles
of any extremely conservative nation can well be.
These Wampum records of great age and value
are the national treasures of the Iroquois, and
during the American war of independence were
buried for a considerable period for safe-keeping.
The writer also takes this opportunity to ex-
press in the name of the Iroquois nation a sin-
cere and affectionate tribute of gratitude to the
memory of the late Dr. Horatio Hale, whose un-
tiring and faithful application to the study of the
most sacred and ancient ordinances of the Iro-
quois Confederation has been the means of giving
our national history an accurate place in the lit-
erature of the English-speaking peoples of our day.
I. ;■ '.q
From the annual Report on Indian Affairs
of 30th June, 1896, it appears that of the Six
Nations or Iroquois there are 3,667 res)d"int in
the Grand River Reserve, 1,151 (Mohawks) on the
Bay '-^f Quinte, 799 (Oneidas) in the Thames Re-
serve, 1,889 at Caughnawaga, in the Province of
Quebec, 1,254 ^t St. Regis, in the same Province,
and T24 known as the Oka Band — an offshoot
from the Caughnawagas — on the Watha Reserve
in Muskoka, and 84 on " Michel's Reserve,"
near Edmonton, in Alberta, making, without in-
cluding a few who are in Reserves of other Tribes,
a total in Canada of 8,963 officially enumerated.
This is known, however, to be about 400 less
than the actual number, as the official enumera-
tion does not include every individual.
The following dates and events in Iroquois
history have been compiled from various sources
by Mr. E. M. Chadwick, of Toronto. His authori-
ties include the History of the Five Nations, by
the Hon. Cadwallader Colden, London, 1750 and
1755. League of the Hodfenosaunee or Iroquois,
by Lewis H. Morgan, Rochester, N.Y., 1851.
History of the Six Nations, David Cusick, Tus-
carora, N.Y., 1825, 1828 ; Lockport, N.Y., 1848.
Iroquois Book of Rites, Horatio Ha)e, Philadel-
phia, 1833. He gives the time of organization
into a Confederacy as about 1459.
In 1609 the Dutch arrived and founded a col-
ony at New Amsterdam, now New York, and
extending their possessions up the Hudson River
came into contact with the Five Nations, with
whom they formed a " Covenant Chain," or com-
pact to maintain friendly relations.
I
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
ill'
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Six years later, the Five Nations being at war
with their old enemies the Adirondacks or Algon-
quins, the latter were joined by the French under
Champlain. The Five Nations had no knowledge
of the French previous to this time, nor any
quarrel with them. This also was their first
experience of firearms, by the use of which they
were, at the first, surprised and easily defeated.
Thus, too, was founded the hostility which long
prevailed betsveen the Five Nations and the
French.
In 1643 the Five Nations conquered the " Neu-
tral Nation " or Attiwondaronks, who occupied
what was subsequently known as the Niagara
District of Upper Canada, and destroyed them
as a separate tribe, reducing them to a few scat-
tered i' ople, of whom some no doubt found a
home among other tribes, while the remainder
were absorbed by their conquerors through the
process of adoption, which was a frequent method
of treating captives in war — such persons becom-
ing in all respects one with the tribe into which
they were adopted.
The English superseded the Dutch in 1664 and
assumed their " Covenant Chain," which may be
said to have continued ever since unbroken. Dur-
ing the succeeding year the French,under De Cour-
celles, invaded the Five Nations' territory inef-
fectually ; and again under De Tracy, when they
destroyed a Mohawk Village, with a force of
1,200 French and 600 Indians. In 1670 the Five
Nations, by successful war against the Hurons
and Algonquins (Ojibiways, Ottawas, and others),
became dominant in all Upper Canada between
Lake Huron (south of Georgian Bay) and the
Ottawa. About this time also they broke up the
New England Indians and reduced them to a con-
dition of dependence, exacting from them a yearly
tribute paid in wampum.
About 1680 the Senecas invaded and defeated
the Illinois. At different dates, which cannot be
stated with any degree of accuracy, the Five Na-
tions overcame and reduced to dependence in
varying degrees the following Indian nations :
the Cherokees, Catawbas, Miamis, Shawnees,
Susquehannahs, Nanticokes. Unamis, Delawares,
and Minsi, reaching their highest degree of power
about the end of the seventeenth century.
In 1684 the French again, 1,800 strong, under
De Le Barre, invaded the territory of the Onon-
dagas, with little success. Three years later
Denonville, with 2,000 French and 600 Indians,
invaded the territory of the Senecas, destroying
villages and cornfields. In the following year the
Five Nations retaliated upon the French, and in-
vaded Canada at Chambly and at Frontenac
(Kingston) with all the terrors of Indian warfare.
Again, in 1689, 1,200 strong, they ravaged the
neighbourhood of Montreal up to the very fortifi-
cations, retiring with 200 prisoners, the French
losses amounting to a total of 1,000 ; and, though
Frontenac in the same year sent a force of 600
against them, destroying three villages and tak-
ing 300 prisoners, the Five Nations remained
virtually conquerors of all Canada west of Mon-
treal to Lake Huron.
In i6g6 Frontenac, in person, with 1,000
French and 1,000 Indians, over-ran the Onon-
daga and Oneida territories, destroying villages
and crops. A detachment under de Vaudreuil
also attacked the Oneidas. Peace was then made,
which continued until the British conquest of
Canada, sixty years later. The Tuscaroras in
1715 were driven from North Carolina, and sought
the protection of the Five Nations, as being of a
common origin, and were admitted into the Con-
federacy, which then became the " Six Nations."
In 1749 Abb^ Picquet established a small settle-
ment of Christianized Iroquois at Oswegatchie
(Ogdensburg, N.Y.), which rapidly increased
until, in 1754, it numbered some 3,000. This set-
tlement was subsequently removed to Caughna-
waga and St. Regis, where this branch of the
Iroquois (as the Six Nations are unitedly called)
still continues.
The American Revolution broke out in 1775,
and the Six Nations became active participants
in the contest, being, chiefly through the influ-
ence of Sir William Johnson, seconded by Brant
and other chiefs, for the most part staunch and
active adherents of the Loyalist cause, though a
few were doubtful and held aloof. In the course
of the war many of the villages and possessions
of the Six Nations were laid waste by an Ameri-
can army under General Sullivan. They had
made great advances in civilization, and many of
their dwellings were good two-storey houses, with
orchards and cultivated fields, all of which were
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
ai9
destroyed. It is stated that in one orchard alone
1,700 fruit trees were cut down by General Sulli-
van's troops.
In 1783 the American States became indepen-
dent, upon which the Loyalist migration to Can-
ada took place, and a large number of the Six
Nations, led by Brant, were allotted a settlement
upon the Bay of Qiiinte, where there is still a
Mohawk Reserve, and subsequently a large tract
of land upon the Grand River, the most of which
was subsequently alienated, leaving however a
Reserve of 46,133 acres, which they still occupy.
A smaller settlement of Oneidas is in the Town-
ship of Delaware, on the Thames.
Besides the 8,800 Iroquois, as officially num-
bered, there are still some in New York, some
have been deported to the west of the Mississippi,
in the United States, and a band numbering about
700, in 1851, settled in Wisconsin, U.S. Their
numbers in former times varied considerably. In
1677 they were estimated at 17,000, and about
the end of that century they are said to have taken
a census themselves showing 17,760. Sir William
Johnson estimated them in 1763 at 10,000 ;
Morgan in 1851 stated their numbers as being
probably 7.000 in Canada and the United States
together, but he evidently under-estimated the
Canadians.
The league of the Iroquois was in the first
place an alliance offensive and defensive of five
" nations," and in the second place an interna-
tional tribal or clan relationship, the latter being
in theory, and ultimately in fact, a blood relation-
ship between members of the different nations.
The two unions constituted a combination by
which the five peoples, though continuing to in-
habit separate districts, became so welded to-
gether as to constitute an inseparable whole.
The government was vested in a Council of fifty
Sachems or Civil Chiefs, whose office was of an
hereditary nature, aided at times by War Chiefs
(not hereditary), and even by elder women, who
possessed much political influence. These Chief-
ships were distributed firstly among the Nations,
and secondly among the clans, each clan in each
nation having one, two, or three chiefs. When
the Tuscaroras became the Sixth Nation, the
number of Chiefs was increased by their repre-
sentatives. The Chiefships originally formed
still continue, and the present Chiefs are known
by the names of those whose successors they are,
for the Council still continues its functions, and
by it, under the Indian Department, the affairs of
the Six Nations of the present day are regulated.
The descent of hereditary Chiefships is traced
in the female line. Upon the death of a Chief,
his successor is nominated by the elder woman
of the deceased's family, who names her own son
or grandson, or the son or grandson of her sister
or other near relative, being a female of the same
descent as herself, and therefore of the same na-
tion, and of the same " totem " and clan as her own.
The Six Nations are known by themselves by
the Mohawk term Kanonsionni or " People of the
Long House." Morgan uses the Seneca equival-
ent, which he writes " Hodenosaunee."
The present condition of this ancient people is
chiefly agricultural, their Reserves being divided
into separate holdings, which are allotted to the
different families, and in such occupation they
have a fair measure of success — their manner of
life being on the whole much like that of other
farmers in Canada. The Government holds in
trust for them large sums, being the proceeds of
sales of tracts of land originally granted to them,
and from these sums they receive annual per
capita payments.
Religion and education have not been over-
looked. At the Grand River, near Brantford,
is the old Mohawk Church — formerly, but not
now, within the Reserve — which is nearly, if not
quite, the oldest in Ontario, and a place of much
interest. It is furnished with a Communion set
and large Bible, which were the gifts of Queen
Anne, and there also is the tomb of the cele-
brated Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant. There are
some other Churches at the Grand River Reserve,
of which the principal one is a handsome white
brick Church, in Gothic style, at Kanyungeh.
The Mohawk Institute, established in 1831 near
the old Mohawk Church by the " New England
Company," an incorporated Missionary Society
organized in England in 1649, is a most success-
ful and admirably managed school for elder boys
and girls, while for younger children there are
several other schools upon the Reserve. On the
Bay of Quinte Reserve there are two stone
Churches and four schools.
I. ,.,..L
THE INDIANS OF WESTERN CANADA.
BY
The REV. GEORGE BRYCE, LL.D., Nik.
I''!
■'i
M
I ,' if;
m
THE Algonquin nation. — On the 14th of
June, 1671, the French explorers met at
Sault Ste. Mane a great concourse of
Indians. While these were not all of
one race yet the fact that Father Allouez ad-
dressed them in Algonquin shows that the
Algonquin influence was a prevalent one upon the
north shore of our Canadian lakes. This " pageant
of St. Lusson," as it has been called, was a
marked event in the spread of French influence
among the northern tribes.
In 1701, after the French and Indians had
wearied themselves in destructive wars, a great
gathering of tribes, from even a wider area than
that which the spectacle of St. Lusson had
witnessed, took place at Montreal. Amid salvos
of artillery and discharges of small arms the peace
of North America was declared. Here were
assembled, we are told, Abenaquis, Iroquois,
Hurons, Ottawas, Miamis, Algonquins, Pottawa-
tamies, Outagamis.Saulteaux, and Illinois. This
list, while it tended to represent all our northern
Indians, includes others as well, though a proper
classiflcation will show that many of them were
Algonquins.
On the rocky shore of the Atlantic the strong,
heavy-boned, and sturdy Algonquins were first
met by English colonists and French explorers.
They extended west of the Alleghanies, northward
to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and westward again
to the Laurentide country, even to the far west
prairies. Known by various names along the
Atlantic seaboard, these branches of the Algon-
quin nation have almost all passed away. A few
of the same people remained in the Micmacs and
Melicetes of Nova Scotia, and in the Abenaquis,
who wander along the shore of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Coming westward the most hardy
branch of the Algonquins is found in the Ojibiways
or Chippewas, who live along the north shore of
the St. Lawrence, and Lakes Nipissing, Huron,
and Superior. To the Ojibiways seemed to have
belonged the Ottawas, who dwelt on the river
bearing their name, but moved west to Manitoulin
Island and the west shore of Lake Huron. The
Ojibiways, clinging to their country of wood and
rock, have been a widely scattered but self-relying
people. Dwelling in their round-topped, birch-
bark wigwams, at home on their lakes and
streams in their bark canoes, and living on flsh
and game, they have held their own as a powerful
race, and have again and again been successful
in driving back the flerce Iroquois and the bloody
Sioux.
Modified by climate and surroundings the
Ojibiway branch of the Algonquins became a
separate people, called the Crees, or in early books
Christineaux or Klistinos. They speak a dialect
of the same language, and are in physical aspect
similar to the Ojibiways. A later emigration to
the west seems to have taken place among the
Ojibiways from the neighbourhood of Sault Ste.
Marie. A century and a half ago they were
called Saulteaux, and are spoken of at Nepigon, on
Lake Superior, as the most numerous tribe of the
locality, as being wanderers — "not planting any-
thing, and subsisting solely by the chase and
fishing." Saulteaux are found at the present
day as far west as Lake Winnipeg. The Crees
are a more adroit and adaptable people than the
Ojibiways. Beginning at Lake Winnipeg they
stretch to Hudson's Bay. On account of this
region being one of swamps, or muskegs, they are
known as the Crees of the Muskegs, or Muskegons.
They have proved much more tractable than the
Ojibiways, have largely adopted Christianity, and
received education fairly well. Shades of differ-
ence in dialect may be detected every hundred
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
231
miles or so on the way from Lake Winnipeg to
Hudson's Bay. Going westward from Lake
Winnipeg up the Saskatchewan the Wood Crees
are found, who being now similar in circumstances
to their Ojibiway ancestors resemble them more
in character. As the prairies south of the great
Saskatchewan are reached what are known as
the Plain Crees are met. These wanderers, leav-
ing behind their canoes as they deserted the
rivers for the horses on the plains, and giving up
their birch bark wigwams for the leather teepees
of the plains, are said to number not less than
sixteen thousand souls. Near the source of the
south branch of the Saskatchewan live a large
nation, some seven thousand in number, known
as the Blackfoot nation. These, though differing
in some respects from the Crees, have yet
resemblances to them in language, and in the
present state of our knowledge may be in-
cluded with the Crees as being of Algonquin
origin.
2. Dakotas or Sioux. — As the early French ex-
plorers passed through the Upper Lakes, they
met a new nation of Indians coming from Lake
Superior. They were known as the " people of
the lake," and were so like the Five Nation Indians
in appearance, that the French called them " the
Little Iroquois of the West." Like the Iroquois,
they were a nation of allies, and from this bore
the name Dakotas, but they have always been best
known as the Sioux. Their language is somewhat
like that of the Iroquois, and their lithe figures,
aquiline noses, and intellectual features mark them
as handsome Indians. It has been surmised that
the Iroquois and the Sioux are but different
branches of a war-like people, who, coming up the
Mississippi on their line of conquest, divided at the
mouth of the Ohio River, the one part going to
the north east, the other part northward to the
"land of the Dakotas," to the west of the great
lakes. So fierce are they in disposition and cruel
in war that the Sioux have been called the " tigers
of the plains." Along the southern boundaries of
our Western prairies of Manitoba and Assiniboia
is the old territory of the Dakotas. In 1861, the
great Sioux massacres of Minnesota took place,
and this led to the flight of Sioux refugees to the
north side of the boundary line. Several settle-
ments of the Sioux are thus found in Manitoba.
They are good farmers, and are, to a considerable
extent Christianized.
Strangely like the history of the Iroquois has
been that of the Sioux. Years before the coming
of the white man a feud arose in the most northern
tribe of the Dakotas; and it was so severe that a
portion broke off from the nation .altogether and
became deadly enemies. These took up their
abode on the Assiniboine, the largest tributary of
the Red River, which runs entirely through Cana-
dian soil. This tribe became known as the
" Sioux on the Stoney River," as the name Assini-
boine means in Cree. This people have always
been friendly with the Crees ; know their language
and have largely intermarried with them. Scat-
tered bands of Assiniboines are found in Assini-
boia, and even west to the Rocky Mountains. On
the Souris River a remarkable oiUlier of brown
sandstone rock rises on the prairies. This was
called by the early French explorers " Roches
Perches," and the name still remains. It was a
famous rendezvous for Crees, Assiniboines, and
even Sioux. Their picture-writing may still be
seen upon it, commemorating their history. To
them it was the abode of the Manitou. And here
the nations all assembled, laying aside for the
time their feuds and being at peace with one
another. Here were re-produced the scenes of
peace so pleasantly related in " Hiawatha" in
connection with the red pipestone quarry, a local-
ity to the south east of " Roches Percdes."
(3) The Chippewayans or Athabascans. To the
north of the country of the Crees is met a
very different Indian people known as TinntS or
Chippewayans. They are not to be mistaken for
the Chippewas, as they dwell far north near Fort
Churchill on Hudson's Bay, and extend west to
Athabasca and Slave Lakes. They even live
along the Peace River, and are still found as that
river is ascended to the west side of the Rocky
Mountains. A tribe called the Sarcees, alongside
the Blackfoot nation on the boundary line near
the Rocky Mountains, are relatives of the Chip-
pewayans. Other tribes of tlfls Athabascan peo-
ple, as it is called, are found even as far south as
New Mexico. The Athabascans, sober in habits,
are timid in disposition, are great travellers, and
are peculiar in not having the intensely black
hair nor the piercing eye of the other Indians.
li'l '
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
' . y
U
(4) Indians of British Columbia. — There is a
great admixture of races on the Pacific Coast.
This gives colour to the supposition that it was
from the Indian Archipelago, from the Aleutian
Isles, and even from different points on the east-
ern coast of Asia that our Indian peoples origin-
ally migrated. One of the best known tribes in
British Columbia is the Haidas, of Queen Char-
lotte Islands, who also occupy the adjoining main-
land. On the coast islands the Haidas exceed
six thousand in number, and their villages with
grotesque totem poles carved in the forms of
birds or various animals, showing the crest of the
clan, are well known. In the neighbourhood of
Fort Simpson are the Tsimsiahs, a branch of the
Haidas. The Nutka Indians inhabit the islands
of Vancouver, and have many tribal subdivisions.
To the Selish,or Flatheads, of the Columbia main-
land belong many tribes of the Lower Fraser
River, and also the Shushwaps, far up the moun-
tains, on the Columbia and Okanagan rivers. A
tribe, formerly powerful on the Columbia River,
near its mouth, the Chinooks, is now almost
extinct. Its language, intermixed with English
and French words after the coming of the traders,
became the trade language of the Pacific Coast
under the name of the Chinook jargon. Almost
all the coast tribes were familiar with it. A phy-
sical difference marks the mountaineers of British
Columbia from the coast Indians, for while the
latter, who live on fish, are dwarfed and lacking
in spirit, the inland tribes are noted for their in-
dependence and athletic skill.
(5) The Eskimos, — Far away to the north, be-
yond the Arctic circle, live the Eskimos, or, as
they call themselves, Innuits. They are found on
the Labrador coast, on Coppermine River, on the
shore of the Arctic Sea, and on the Alaskan Pen-
insula. Along with the Chippewayans to the
south, they number, on Canadian soil, twenty-six
thousand souls. The Eskimos are not, as many
think, a race of dwarfs, though their stoutness
has led to this opinion. Dressed in sealskin
clothing and dwellftig in huts of snow, these peo-
ple of the north find their way from place to place
in sledges. These are drawn by wolf-like dogs,
which have taken their name from their masters
of " Eskies," or " Huskies." Over the open
fjords the Eskimo sailor in the short summer
shoots in his " kayak," or one-seated skin boit :
or carries his family in his " umiak," or flat-bot-
tomed boat, so well known to all readers of the
accounts of Arctic exploration. The seal and
walrus on the coast and the reindeer on land sup-
ply food to the Eskimos. Skilful in the manufac-
ture of implements, these ingenious savages, from
walrus tusk and whalebone, make harpoons,
spears, spoons, ladles, ornaments, and trinkets of
every kind. The Eskimos are a peace-loving,
tractable, and clever, though somewhat gross,
people.
Archaology. — In the region to the west of Lake
Superior many mounds are pointed out which
speak of an ancient race. They are built of earth,
but sometimes contain layers of stones and even
constructions of timber. They are generally cir-
cular in shape, and are from six to fifty feet high,
and from thirty to one hundred feet in diameter.
Usually situated on cliffs or points of advantage
along the lakes or watercourses, they undoubtedly
served the purpose of observation or defence. In
addition they seem to have been used as the
cemeteries of the race that built them. They
usually contain skeletons, some of them in a sit-
ting posture ; others have collections of skulls,
while in some the bones have mostly turned ^o
dust. Along with the bones are found imple-
ments and trinkets which were buried with the
dead. Stone scrapers and gouges, axes
and malls are abundant ; lumps of red ochre,
pieces of bright shining pyrites, ornamental shells,
beads, and wampum are frequent ; while numer-
ous tubes of soapstone occur which are believed
to have been used by the medicine men in their
incantations. On Isle Royale, in Lake Superior,
traces are found of a former working of the na-
tive copper seams of the island ; and many hun-
dred miles west of the lake the mounds are found
to contain copper drills, hooks of copper, and
even copper circlets for the head. All of these are
of native copper, and no doubt came from Lake
Superior.
Most interesting of the remains in the mounds
are the cups or fragments of pottery. These are
of all shapes and sizes, and are ornamented with
markings of every variety. The question has
been raised whether ■ not these mounds contain
the bones of the ancestors of the present Indians.
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
2-'.?
The fact that the mounds are usually found in
fertile districts points to their builders having
been agriculturists, and the frequent occurrence
of pottery shows them to have been somewhat
civilized. These features distinguish them from
the present Indians, who are neither agricultural
nor industrial in their tendencies. Our Indians
maintain that these are not the bones of their an-
cestors, but that they belonged to the " Ketean-
ishinat«5," or very ancient men. Probably the best
suggestion made is that they were of the Taltecan
race, which formerly inhabited Central America,
who were agriculturists, anJ pottery makers,
and who spread over different parts of America
during the 7th and 12th centuries. These seem
to have been swept away by the eruption from the
south represented by the Iroquois and Sioux mi-
grations, and this fiery flood of extermination may
have been about the time when the white man
first appeared in the American interior. At that
time, three centuries ago, they saw the remnants
of the Hochelagans, Eries, and Neutrals being
swept away in savage fury. The secret of the
Alleghans, as the vanished race has been called,
will probably never be unearthed. Most of the
Indian tribes have a tradition of the deluge, and
amongst the Western Canadian Indians there is
a pious legend of a great deliverer who came to
clear the rivers and forests and fishing grounds,
and to teach peace and its arts. This myth
circles around Lake Superior, and was collected
by Schoolcraft, who was for many years Indian
agent at Sault Ste. Marie. It is but the heart of
man crying out for higher help, and the expecta-
tion handed down that a deliverer would surely
come. This Algonquin myth is found among
the Micmacs of Nova Scotia in the story of their
deliverer, the doughty " Gluscap."
LangtMge. — The Indian languages, while differ-
ing very much, have a general feature of resem-
blance, in that they are all " incorporating
languages," i.e., have the feature of building up
words by agglutination, or of putting all parts of
speech together in one great compound. Words
of great length are thus constructed, and this is a
more marked feature of our Indian languages than
even of the Basque of the Pyrenees — the old world
representative of this type. The Algonquin
languages have been very persistent in form,
though having many dialects. Being entirely
spoken languages, some difference in form has
been made according as the linguist who reduced
them to writing was French or English. The
different spelling of many of the Indian names is
thus accounted for, as example, Owinipigue
(French), Winnipeg (English) ; Kris or Christme-
aux (French), Crees (English). The different dia-
lects, especially of Cree, require much study to
master their peculiarities. Tribes such as the
Crees and Assiniboines, that mixed much together,
generally used the language of the stronger.
Accordingly many of the Assiniboines understood
Cree. Among the Indians of British Columbia
no less than eleven well-defined dialects have been
made out. The sign language is extensively used
among tribes of different speech, and it is marvel-
lous to what extent two solitary horsemen meet-
ing each other on the plains, and unable to
address a single word to each other, can inter-
change ideas. Picture writing was also much
practised among the Indians, and maps of large
districts are made with considerable skill. It was
a map drawn by a very unlettered Indian which
was followed by Verandrye on his exploratory
voyage from Lake Superior to the interior of the
Winnipeg country.
Indian Dress. — Before the coming of the white
man, the red men chiefly depended for their dress
upon the skins of animals taken in the chase.
They early discovered the art of tanning the
skins of wild beasts, and their women are still
able from these to make a soft and supple leather.
Garments, often highly ornamented, made from
this leather, enabled them to defy the cold in their
northern home, which they called Keewatin — the
land of the north wind. From this leather was
also made the moccasin, shod with which the
Indian could steal through the forest as noise-
lessly as a panther. For crossing the snowy
fields, either of forest or prairie, the snow-shoes,
a broad frame covered with a network of leather
thongs, were used with great skill. The hunter
on his snow-shoes easily captured the deer or
buffalo caught floundering in the heavy snow. In
their dress the Indians have always shown the
greatest love of ornament. The braves decked
their heads with the feathers of the hawk and
eagle, while both men and women wore ear-rings,
'■f
224
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.I^DIA.
'I
bracelets, strings of beads, ornaments of bone and
shell, and smeared their faces with red and yellow
ochre. The Indians of to-day, though in many
places settled and dressed more after the manner
of the whites, yet here and there still show traces
of these customs of their fathers.
Amusements. — The different Indian tribes have
a remarkable similarity in their customs and
habits of life. Living largely by hunting and
fishing, they are accustomed to have much time
on their hands. This leads them to seek for com-
pany, and accordingly on the plains large camps
were found among the Indians in their wild state.
The Indian dearly loves the social gathering and
the pow-ivow. The assemblages of the old men
wore characterized by great conferences, in which
Indian eloquence reached its height in intermin-
able speeches. In the evenings a great variety of
dances were indulged in (see Catlin's North
American Indians), and the neighbourhood of a
camp of heathen Indians is still notable by the
incessant sound of the "tom-toms," or small
drums, beaten by the squaws as an accompani-
ment to the dance. The Indians of the plains
likewise have many athletic games in which they
take great delight, and have an inveterate fond-
ness for horse-racing. Perhaps the greatest evil
in the large camps is the fondness for gambling
found among the young and old. Gamblers have
been known to sit through the whole night, and
men have gambled away every possession belong-
ing to them, including the last horse and even the
wife best beloved. The feasts found among the
Indians of the woods were also practised by the
I luiians of the plains, and were always scenes of
the greatest revelry, and frequently ended in vio-
lence.
Religion. — Among the western Indians their
religious rites often ran with their feasts and
amusements ; indeed, many of their feasts were
based on religious sanctions. With high imagina-
tive power, the mind of the Indian went read-
ily towards superstition. Whilst believing in a
great spirit, the " Gitche Manitou," yet his actions
seemed more frequently dictated by fear of the
spirit of evil, or " Matche Manitou." All Indians
have an unbounded confidence in magic, or, as
they call it, " bad medicine." The conjuror, or
medicine man, is an adept in the use of this ter-
rible agent. Acquainted with the medicinal
powers of the herbs of the field, using his know-
ledge as a terrifying agent, ingenious in his use of
natural phenomena, and cunning as a fo.\ in his
estimate of motive and character, the medicine
man could make peace or war, destroy the influ-
ence of the chief, or render ineffectual the work
of the Christian teacher. The great religious rite
of the plains was the " sun dance," conducted
under the direction of the medicine man. This
was the introduction of the young braves into the
established position of warriors. Assembled to-
gether, the multitude looked upon the candidate
for elevation. Young men submitted to piercing
the muscles of the chest, and tying thongs
through the openings, which were fastened to ropes.
By this, though suffering intense agony, the stoical
youth was lifted, and frequently persisted till he
fainted away.
The system of superstition was thorouglily
organized, and had great influence among the
western tribes. Along with this there was some
worshipping of the Manitou, and some of the
tribes worshipped the rising sun. All the Indians
believed in a future state, and that a different
place awaits the good man from that to which the
bad is sent. In burying their dead the Algon-
quins usually chose a beautiful spot in the forest,
or the headland overlooking a lake or river. The
Sioux and other western tribes sometimes exposed
their dead on platforms or on the branches of
trees. Freed from the infamous power of the
magician, the Indian belief had much in it to
make a dignified, brave, honourable, though some-
what taciturn manhood.
Recent Indian History. — In looking back for
more than a quarter century since 1871, the
writer has seen many changes among the Indians
of the west. It is true that at the beginning of
that period many of the Indians were far from
being entirely savage. The Indians of St. Peter's,
for example, on the Red River, seemed nearly as
far advanced as they are to-day. For fifty or a
hundred years the Indians of this district have
been under the influence of Europeans. Much of
their intercourse with the whites was hurtful, yet
the Hudson's Bay Company, with a wise self-in-
terest, if from no higher motive, treated the
Indian well ; did not allow him to go very deep
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
in his use of the firewater— the bane of his race —
and gave him credit for such supphes in advance as
he needed, a trust very rarely abused. The Hud-
son's Bay Company Indian, indeed, almost formed
a distinct type of Red man. He was an easy-
going, light-hearted mortal, shrewd in trade, agile
on foot or in canoe, fend of his case, and taking
on very much the character of his immediate
superiors, good or bad, as they chanced to be. In
1871 all the tribes were in a ferment. The old
order had passed away. What was the new to
be?
The Indians were restless. All remember
the exorbitant demands, the long debates, the
Indian fickleness and sulky grumbling, that the
Commissioners met with when in Governor Archi-
bald's time at Lower Fort Garry and Manitoba
Post, Treaties One and Two were made, and
when Governor Morris negotiated at Northwest
Angle Treaty Three. The Indians were unwill-
ing to allow even the surveyors to sub-divide the
land, and the joint expedition of 1872, which on
behalf of Great Britain and the United States
surveyed the 49th parallel, was threatened. For
several years after the occupation of the North-
West by Canada, the movements of the other
Western Indians, as well as the Sioux, were so
uncertain that frequent despatches of an anxious
character were forwarded to Ottawa by the Gov-
ernor of Manitoba. On the 4th of March, 1873,
an urgent petition to the Governor was forwarded
by Rev. John McNabb, Presbyterian minister at
Palestine (now Gladstone), then the farthest point
of settlement. The anxious pastor with 55 others
complained of the threatening attitude of the
Indians and of the defenceless state of the set-
tlers, and asked for arms and ammunition.
In 1872 the Sioux at Portage la Prairie were so
domineering that the settlers dared not refuse their
demands, and were in constant fear. The reports
— often canards — of murder and theft on the
plains were of weekly occurrence in Winnipeg in
those days. The Indian question was regarded
as a most difficult one by our statesmen. We
were told that Canadians had never dealt with
large bodies of Indians ; that Blackfeet, Bloods,
and Sarcees, and even the Plain Crees, were bent
on mischief; that they would hold the plains
against us, mounted as they were on fleet steeds
and armed with repeating rifles, obtained from
the American traders. The Little Saskatchewan,
and Fort Ellice, and Turtle Mountain were out of
the world in those days ; Prince Albert and
Edmonton were the " Ultima Thuie" ; while
Forts " Whoop-up " and " Slide-out," in the Bow
River country, were the inaccessible haunts of
horse thieves and desperadoes. How changed
now I Our Government boldly and successfully
met the threatened danger. They made treaty
after treaty. It was seen that not only must the
Indian be quieted, but also that steps should be
taken for his improvement. The wandering habits
of the Indian render his subsistence precarious.
If possible therefore he should be induced to
settle down upon a reserve. There he may have
a house ; after that agriculture and cattle raising
might be possible for him. Naturally averse to
labour, he must be induced and pressed to become
more and more self-reliant. He must be educated,
and at any rate his children trained to a civilized
life.
The following are the treaties which have been
made with the Indians and interesting facts con-
nected with them :
MANITOllA AGENCY.
Populaticn. By whom mud*.
Treaty I. 1871. Chiefly of the
old Province of Manitoba 3i27o
Treaty II. 1871. Lake Mani-
toba, Souris, Moose Mountain
Treaty III. 1873. Lake of the
Woods, Rainy River and
North, (area 55,000 square
miles) 2,673
Treaty V. 1875. Lake Winni-
peg and River Saskatchewan
(area 100,000 square miles)... 3,183
11.311
2,185
Simpson.
Simpson.
Morris.
Morris.
WESTERN AGENCY.
Treaty IV. 1874. Lake Winni-j
peg to Cypress Hills, (area 6,886
75,000 square miles) )
Treaty VI. 1876. Plain and
Wood Crees, Upper Saskat-
chewan (area 120,000 square
miles) : 6,622
Morris.
Laird.
Mori iff.
i'l'
J2(>
CANADA: AN KNCYCI.OP.KDIA.
Treaty VII. 1877. Bhickfcet, Popui.iion. iiywhommiKi.
How River (area 35,000 square
miles) 7,G8i Laird.
21,189
Mr
I
1
All these treaties promised certain reserves to
the Indians. In most cases these were selected
after the Treaty by the joint action of the Govern-
ment agent and the bands themselves. The
reserves were given on the basis of 640 acres for
each Indian family of five. All the lands of the
reserve, however, belong to the baml.
Once upon the reserves the chief of the tribe,
elected by the Indians themselves, but who must
have the approval of the Government, has a sort
of rule or precedence. Each agency is divided up
into a number of districts, and over each district
an agent is appointed who must be a resident of
the district, and whose duty it is to give his sole
time and thought to the advancement and com-
fort of the Indian. When Treaties One and Two
were made they were not so favourable as those
afterwards agreed on. One and Two were revised,
and now it may be said the terms nf all the treaties
are virtually the same. The followmg are the
leading features :
At Treaty, $12 to each male member of band.
Annually thereafter, $5 each. Annually, each head
chief, $25; three subordinate chiefs, $15 each,
f 1,500 worth of ammunition and twine annually
to the band. For each band, one yoke of o.xen,
one bull, four cows. Seed grain for all the land
broken up. One plough for 10 families. Other
agricultural and mechanical implements and tools.
There was to be a school on each reserve. No in-
toxicating liquor to be sold on the reserve. Right
to iish and hunt on unoccupied land of the district.
Among the most cheering things in the negotia-
tions of all the treaties was the earnest desire of
the Indians for the education of their children.
In Treaty Three this is embodied in the following
words: " Her Majesty agrees to maintain schools
for instruction m such reserves hereby made as to
Her Government of Her Dominion of Canada
may seem advisable, whenever the Indians of the
reserve may desire it." I am glad to be able to
state from the best authority that the Indians not
only desire schools on their reserves, but are clam-
ourous for Uiem. Of course there will be diffi-
culty in maintaining the regular attenL...nce of the
children, but this is a thing not unknown among
whites. While not among the illusionists, who
regard the Reil man in his savage state as a hero
of the Fenimore Cooper type, yet I know from
many years' hearsay and experience that in intel-
lectual ability the Indian is much above the aver-
age of savage races. He has a good eye ; he
learns to write easily ; has a remarkably good
memory as a rule, and while not particularly
strong as a reasoner, he will succeed in the study
of languages and the pursuit of the sciences. Of
course the school begun on an Indian Reserve
must be, in most cases, of the most primitive
kind, particularly until the wander habit is
overcome.
As illustrating the native aptness c. .iidians
one has but to examine their "picture writing."
This is so ingenious that an Indian chief will keep
the whole account of his dealings, and that of his
tribe with the Government, with absolute exact-
ness. Take for example the transactions of
Mawintopeness, chief of the Rainy River Indians.
On a single page not larger than a sheet of fools-
cap are the transactions of several years. This
system, which is one of very simple entry, does
not occupy one-tenth of the space filled in the
Government records of the same affairs. Governor
Morris, tall and slender, is recognizable with a
gift in his hand ; each year has a mark known to
the writer ; the chief recording the fact that he
has recieved each year $5 bounty and $25 salary,
is represented by an open palm, a piece of monej',
and three upright crosses, each meaning $io; his
flag and medal are represented ; his oxen and cattle
are recognizable at least, aiyl so on with his
plough, harrow, saws, augurs, etc. The same
chief, noted for his craft, represents himself
between the trader and the teacher, looking in
each direction, showing the need of having an eye
on both. Interesting examples of Indian bark
letters, petitions, etc., of a pictorial kind, may be
found in Sir John Lubbock's " Origin of Civiliza-
tion." Many specimens can be shown of paint-
mgs in colours, done by an Indian artist, and
though not likely to be mistaken for those of
Rubens or Turner, yet they are interesting.
Another most interesting feature of Indian
intelligence is the widespread use among them of
CANADA. AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
a^^
the syllabic character^of which the fuUowing is
uii exuinpiu :
L cr c
MAH* NE- TOO
<
CO-
ME
r
Me
(Great Spirit.)
(The Pigeon.)
This is a system of characters invented about
1840 by Rev. James Evans, at tlie titnc a
Methodist Indian missionary to Hudson's Hay.
Since that date it has spread — especially among
the Crees — even far up the Saskatchewan. It
is used extensively by the Indians in communi-
cating with one another on birch-bark letters.
It may be learned by an intelligent Indian
in an afternoon or two, being vastly simpler
than our character. The liritish and Foreign
Bible Society, the Church of England and Koniaii
Catholics use this syllabic character in printing'
Indian books. When Lord Dufferin was in the
Northwest he heard of the character for the tirst
titne, and remarked that some men had been
buried in Westminster Abbey for doing less than
the inventor of the syllabic had done, and during
the visit of the British Association in 1886, a
number of the most distinguished members ex-
pressed themselves as surprised at an invention of
which they had not previously heard.
The Rev. Dr. Bryce.
.,f-
Rinn
THE INDIANS OF THE CANADIAN NORTH-WEST
BV
The REV. JOHN MACLEAN, M.A.. Ph.D.
I .y
I
:r3i
' li
THE quest after a North-West passage
brought the Arctic navigators into con-
tact with the Eskimos and Indians, and
in their journals we may read the story
of hardship, relieved with notes on the customs
and languages of the aborigines. French and
English traders sought wealth in the Hudson's
Bay country before the Hudson's Bay Company
received its charter, by trading with the Indians
for the furs of the animals which inhabited that
region. In the middle of the eighteenth century
La Verendrye and his sons travelled through
several portions of Manitoba, one of the sons
being the first European to cross the continent
to the Rocky Mountains, and half a century later
Alexander Mackenzie explored the region north-
ward to the Frozen Sea, and westward to the
Pacific Ocean. These intrepid travellers found
willing helpers in the Redmen amongst whom they
dwelt for a season, and bitter foes confronted them
in the tribes they met for the first time. Alexander
Henry, the younger, traversed a large portion of
Manitoba and the Territories, trading with Black-
feet, Bloods, Piegans, Sarcees, Ojibiways, Atsinas,
Crees, and other tribes, and from the journals of
these traders and explorers, and the writings of
the Arctic adventurers, our kro,/ledge of the early
history and condition of the aborigines is gained.
The numerous tribes whose haunts were found
in forest, mountain, and plain, had no means of
making an accurate estimate of the strength of
their tr'bal friends and foes, an I the white men
were unable to take a census, the tribes living in
a state of perpetual warfare, and the distances of
residence being so great. The Indian population
of Rupert's Land and the territory east of the
Rocky Mountains and west of Lake of the
Woods was supposed, in 1857, to be fifty-six thou-
sand souls, and at the present time the approxi-
mate returns of the native population of Manitoba,
the North-West Territories, Athabasca, Arctic,
. Coast, Eastern Rupert's Land, the Peace River
and Mackenzie Districts amount to fifty thousand
persons.
The Mound-builders have left traces of their
existence in the parish of St. Andrews, near Win-
nipeg, and in the dirtricts of Rainy River, Riding
Mountain, and Souris River. The relics of this
peaceful race of nomad"? may be seen in the
museum of the Manitoba Historical Society, Win-
nipeg. Cairns of stones and figures of animals
made of small stones having totemic signification
were erected upon the prairie by the natives, and
the observant traveller may see these evidences of
the beliefs of another race as he rides over some
localities where the farmer has not yet removed
the stone monuments by his plough. Small cir-
cles of stones mark the places where the lodges
have been pitched, as these were used to hold
down the bottom of the lodge. The cairn of small
stones marked the spot where a native hero fell,
and the figures of animals the totems of the tribe.
Concerning the erection of some of these prairie
boulder monuments the natives say they were
made by the spirit of the winds.
The tribes are widely scattered, each occupying
its own territory, bearing its distinctive tribal
characteristics produced through environment,
and never intermingling with each other. The
Cree Confederacy forms one of the largest bodies
of Indians in the Dominion, and the tribes and
sub-tribes inhabit sections of country from the
eastern limit of Manitoba to the Rocky Moun-
tains, and from the International Boundary Line
on the south to the northern district of the Atha
bascan tribes. The Plain Crees reside chiefly on
the prairies of Alberta and Assinib.oia ; the Wood
Crees inhabit Northern Alberta and Athabasca ;
38
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
339
and the Swampy Crees, sometimes called Maske-
gon, dwell in Keewatin. There are between one
and two thousand Sioux Indians, divided into
small bands, widely scattered on reserves and as
refugees, obtaining a precarious kind of living
along the lines of railroad in the prairie region.
The members of this tribe call themselves in
general Dakota, meaning "our friends," or "asso-
ciated as comrades," signifying their relationship
as tribes. Sioux is a hated term given to them
by the white people, signifying enemies or hated
foes. In the sign language of the tribes they are
designated cut-throats. The Ojibiways called them
Nadowessi, a contemptuous term for rattlesnake,
and after adding the plural form to the word, the
trappers and voyageurs cut it down to Sioux.
In the seventeenth century the Ojibiways were
living on the south-eastern shore of Lake Superior,
chiefly in the vicinity of Sauit Ste. Marie, whence
theymigrated at a later period westward, until in the
last decade of the eighteenth century a large camp
was found located on the present site of the city
of Winnipeg. The name Ojibiway signifies />«cAer,
which is derived from the peculiar pucker of the
moccasin, or to roast till puckered up, referring to the
inhuman method of this tribe of burning captives
taken in war. There are numerous small bands in
this western part of the Dominion, but the greatest
portion of the tribe resides eastward. There is
a sub-tribe of the Ojibiways known as Saulteaux,
living in small bands widely scattered throughout
the country. The Blackfoot Confederacy, num-
bering more than three thousand souls, occupies
three reserves in Alberta, the Bloods having a
fine location lying between Belly River and the
International Boundary Line, the Piegans situ-
ated on the Old Man River, at the foot of the
Porcupine Hills and west of the town of Macleod,
and the Blackfeet proper living about sixty miles
east of Calgary, on both sides of the Bow River.
The Assiniboines or Stoney Indians, a branch
of the Siouan Confederacy, are found in the Terri-
tories in small bands. Two centuries ago these
people were known as Assiniboines and Assini-
poualacs in their home on the north-west shore
of Lake Superior, the present district of Algoma,
whence they journeyed westward, roaming over a
wide extent of country, from the Pembina Moun-
tains to the Saskatchewan. It is said that the
tribe cooked their food on heated stones, and were
consequently called stone people. The Sarceeb,
living south of Ca'gary, form an offshoot of the
Beaver or Castor Indians of Athabasca, having
left their northern home through an internal clan
feud. Contact with the civilization of the white
people has caused them to decrease, until a rem-
nant of little more than two hundred remains as
the full strength of the tribe. In the far north
dwell the Athabaskan or Dend tribes, including
the Loucheux or Kutchin, of Lower Mackenzie
River ; the Hare Indians, on the Mackenzie and
Anderson Rivers ; the Bad People, at Old Fort
Halkett ; the Slave Indians, west of Great Slave
Lake ; the Dog Ribs, between Gr^at Slave Lake
and Great Bear Lake ; the Yellow Knives, north-
east of Great Slave Lake ; the Cariboo-Eaters,
east of Lake Athabasca ; the Montagnais or
Chippewayans, of Lake Athabasca; and the
Tsekehne, on both sides of the Rocky Mountains,
under which term is included the Tsekehne
proper, m'saning the inhabitants of the rocks,
the Beaver Indians, on the south side of Peace
River, and the Sarcees, in Alberta. Beyond the
northern limit of the Denii tribes, the Eskimo
dwall in their ice-bound home, seeking com- .
panionship with none, and content to dwell in
small settlements of less than one hundred souls.
In each of the tribes of Indians there are indi-
viduals of varied stature, tall men, well built, and
dignified in manner, and diminutive persons,
insignificant in appearance and of weakly consti-
tution. The men are in general of medium
height, thin and wiry, the dwellers in the moun-
tains being smaller and hardier than the plain
tribes, and the forest tribes contrasting favourably
with those beyond the limit of vegetation. The
women are below medium height, fleshy and
healthy in appearance. Living in lodges and
engagement in occupations out of doors induces a
hardy constitution in both sexes, and they pos-
sess the power of physical endurance to a greater
degree than the members of the white races. The
colour of the skin varies from white to copper or
reddish brown. The hair is smooth, straight, and
black, men and women alike wearing it long. The
tribes have their own peculiar methods of dress-
ing the hair. The men in general have it longer,
of heavier growth and finer in texture than the
;!^
230
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
A:\
women, caused, no doubt, from the fact that in
youth the men spend much of their time in trim-
ming and arranging it, while the women are kept
busy at their domestic duties. The Plain tribes
tie the ends of their hair in small bunches with
sinew, wire, or thread ; the men fasten a top-knot
in front with a pin, though sometimes it is simply
parted in the middle and braided, but there is not
a comb or brush used for toilet purposes. Hav-
ing filled the mouth with water, the dressing
begins by squirting the water into the hands
while sitting on the floor of the lodge, washing
the face, and then slapping the head with the
hands full of water. The hair is stroked until
thoroughly wet, and, holding the ends in the hand,
the fingers of the other are brought down smartly
upon it, until it is separated with the sound of a
whip. Various kinds of ornaments are fastened
in the hair by the men, the women usually con-
tenting themselves to follow one of the male cus-
toms of rubbing paint into the parting in the
middle. The Den^ tribes have a primitive comb
made by fastening wooden pins with sinew.
Modern articles of toilet are being introduced into
the lodges as the result of the march of civiliza-
•tion westward and northward. Every male
Indian of mature years keeps hanging to a string
from his neck a pair of tweezers, for the purpose
of removing superfluous hair from the lip, chin,
and cheeks, as the Redman does not permit any
hair to grt w on his face. The teeth of both sexes
are pearly white, small, and pretty, which must
be attributed to their plain mode of living. The
finger nails are allowed to grow long, and some-
tin s look hideous to those unaccustomed to such
fancies.
The lodges or tents of the natives were made
of the hides of the animals most abundant in the
particular locality, the people on the prairies using
the summer hides of the buffalo, the winter hides
being sold for buffalo robes ; while those living
beyond the range of the buffalo had recourse to
the hide of the moose or other large animal.
The sedentary native erects a house of logs, the
nomad builds a lodge. With the advent of the
white man, the buffalo has disappeared, and the
larger kinds of game have retreated to the moun-
tains or the recesses of the forests, so thrt the
nomads are compelled to make the lodge covering
of canvas or cotton. The lodge poles, ten or twelve
in number and of varied length, according to the
height of the lodge, having been fastened at the
top, are stretched on the ground, assuming a
conical shape, and the covering is placed on the
outside of the poles, and fastened with pegs
and stones to the ground. A hole, about a foot
or so from the ground sufficient to allow an adult
to pass through in a bent posture, serves as an
entrance, and a flap of skin makes a door, the
latter falling into position when let go, which
explains the fact of an Indian never knocking at,
and never closing a door until trained to do so.
The women put up the lodges and take them
down, which is done very quickly, especially m
a time of excitement, and, when pitching the
camp, the lodges are arranged beside the lodge
of the chief, each band following the instruc-
tions of the minor chief. The chiefs direct the
camping places while on a journey, the head-
chief assuming control. Life in the camp is
similar to life in a town or city, the rights of
the individual and family being subservient to the
rights of the community. Horses are extensively
used by the southern Indians, who ride over the
prn.iries, but farther north the boat displaces the
horse to some extent in summer and the dog sup-
plies his place in winter. Dogs in abundance are
found in every camp ; the mongrel types are the
Leasts of burden employed by the women in haul-
ing firewood, the larger and better class being
trained for winter use by the men.
Buffalo hunting and war were the sole serious
otxupations of the prairie tribes, until both dis-
appeared through the westward advance of civili-
zation, and agriculture on reserves has now become
the chief means of support under the protection
and direction of the Government. The mountain
tribes, especially the Stoney Indians, hunted the
buffalo, mountain sheep and goat, bear and vari-
ous kinds of deer ; the natives of the forests and
lakes lived by hunting and fishing. The mem-
bers of the Blackfoot Confederacy would not eat
fish or wild fowl, and the northern tribes relished
them very much. Food, climate, occupations,
and the character of the country have exerted
such an influence on the tribes that each differs
from all the others in some phases of mythology
and native religion, as in strength of intellect and
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.IvDIA.
aj*
physical energy. The native of the mountains is
more energetic, courageous, and religious than
the dweller on the prairies, and the men of the
forest differ from those who live on the lakes and
inland rivers.
The infant of the lodge is placed w'thin a
moss-bag, made of fine, clean moss, put in a small
blanket, and an outer garment — formed in the
shape of a bag, ornamented with beads, coloured
porcupine quills, or fine silk thread, which is laced
up in front, so that nothing is seen but the face of
the child — is fastened around it. The male chil-
dren are more highly esteemed than the female,
and it is considered a domestic calamity to have
twins. The boys run about without clothing in
the summer, except a rare blanket, until they are
eight or nine years of age ; but the girls, from
infancy, are always dressed with a loose dress
reaching to the feet. If they live in close prox-
imity to water, the young folk spend a good part
of their time in summer in swimming and div-
ing, the movement of the hands in swimming
being overhand, in dog fashion, so that they
become quite expert in their action. Berries,
cooked in grease, pounded and dried for future
use ; dried meat, and various kinds of roots and
wild fiuit ; rerve as food for the natives living
among the hills of the west, with the addition of
flour, tea, sugar, and the common food of the
white folk; while farther north the wild game,
fish, and flour become the staple articles for daily
support. Ever since the buffalo were extermin-
ated, and pemmican became a thing of the past,
and the deer and wild animals that roamed the
prairies and forests fled as civilization advanced,
the natives have been compelled to buy at the
trading posts and stores the kinds of food used by
the white people.
The savage folk delight in personal adornments.
Finger-rings, bracelets, and earrings are worn by
both sexes ; the materials used in making them
varying with their stages of contact with civiliza-
tion. So long as game is abundant, the teeth of
the deer, the claws of the bear, and other parts of
wild animals are worn in profusion ; but with the
advent of the white man, and the disappearance
of the animals, the people resort to the trinkets
of the trader, and beads and brass wire are made
by the skill of the native worker into numerous
ornaments. Lip ornaments are worn by some of
the natives in the far north. The tail feathers of
the eagle are eagerly sought by the noble Redman
as a welcome addition to his head-gear. In the
days of aboriginal glory, the hides of the animals
slaughtered in the chase were tanned by the
women and made into beautiful garments for the
men. The half-tanned hide, having the fur on,
was simply thrown over the shoulders, then an
advance was made by removing the fur, cutting
the hide into the shape of a jacket, and decorating
it with coloured beads, or silk or porcupine quills,
so neatly arranged that the colours blended with
the pattern. Cloth garments are now rapidly tak-
ing the place of the native kinds of dress. Head-
dresses are worn on special occasions, but gener-
ally the head is bare. A thin shirt, leggings,
breech-cloth, and moccasins comprise the dress
of the average Redman. The women wear a
loose gown reaching to the feet, with wide flowing
sleeves, the garment having no opening in back
or front, the sleeves being used for nursing the
children. A leather belt, eight or nine inches
wide, is fastened around the waist, a pair of leg-
gings and moccasins, neatly ornamented with the
articles for personal adornment, constitute the
dress of the women. Some of the tribes tattoo
themselves, the Cree and Eskimo women having
chin ornaments. All the tribes paint their faces,
the peculiar marks bearing their own significa-
tion. The language of colour has its special
meaning among the medicine-men, and the civil
relationships of the tribe.
Unusually hard is the lot of the native women.
They are, however, contented and happy, and
prefer their own style of living to that of the
white people. The men and women have their
own respective divisions of labour. The male
division of labour consisted in hunting and fish-
ing — the life of a nomad ; while the women pur-
sued the work of the agriculturist and the sedentary
life — caring for the small piece of land which was
home, getting wood and water, and attending to
her domestic duties. Because of this division of
labour, the male members of the tribes naturally
feel that they are degraded when they engage in
the occupation of farming, as they are doing the
work of women. Regularity in cooking and eat-
ing is not to be expected in such an unsettled con-
«i .«'■
I, nr
»$»
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
hy. ;i
dition of life. Three pieces of wood, broken from
the branches of a tree and tied together, form a
tripod, and a part of a branch, with a crook on
each end, makes a primitive hook upon which to
hang vessels for cooking. A piece of wood, with
a sharp crutch on one end, is stuck in the ground
near the fire, and this serves as a spit for roasting
meat. There are usually three meals a day,
morning, noon, and night, but the times for par-
taking are not very exact, the native eating when
he is hungry, and spending little time over his
meals. The husband is first served, and all the
members of the family, seated on the ground, each
in his accustomed place, dine with him. The
dishes are wiped with a bunch of prairie-grass^
either before eating or after the meal and before
the utensils are put aside. Civilization has quietly
been working changes, and the aborigines are
slowly imitating the ways of the white folks.
The women dress the hides, make moccasins and
garments for their husbands and families, and
some of these dusky wives and mothers tan the
hides soft as chamois, and with coloured silk
thread sew beautiful patterns on the soft
leather.
When the maiden has reached the age of
puberty she is married, according to the custom
of the tribe, which is generally a paternal trans-
action, with the consideration of that which con-
stitutes the wealth of the tribe, as a certain num-
ber of horses, for the bride. Courtship is not
unknown, but it belongs to the young couple, the
young man wooing the young woman. When
the amount to be given by the young man or his
friends to the father of the young woman has
been agreed upon, and handed over, the young
couple begin housekeeping. Such a simple cere-
mony made divorce easy, and whenever the wife
or husband became tired of each other, the part-
nership was dissolved by seeking another mate.
Polygamy has always prevailed among the tribes,
and amongst some polyandry existed. After mar-
riage the son-in-law has no dealings with his
wife's parents. The children are beloved by their
parents, and should the marriage relation be
severed, the father takes possession of the chil-
dren. Seldom is a child punished for any mis-
demeanour, and yet the children are obedient to
their parents. - . . ;
Blindness, induced by the smoke of the lodges
and the paint on the face, is prevalent ; diseases
of the lungs carry off many of the young men ;
and diseases, begotten through immorality, have
made havoc among the people. Smallpox swept
away some thousands about 1870. Cases of
insanity are found, the subjects being treated by
their own families according to their knowledge.
The medicine-men are the doctors and priests
who heal the people of their bodily ills and inter-
cede for them in matters spiritual. The medical
priesthood has its forms of initiation by fasting,
prayer, and a vision, with the ceremonies of
fraternity, and in its grades power increases
as the members rise in the scale of the priest,
hood. A medicine-man of the fourth degree
is able to break the curse or spell thrown over the
individual by one of the first degree. The medi-
cine-bag of each of the members of the fraternity
contains the infection-tube, the herbs in common
use, %.ith a few rare specimens known only to the
possessor of the bag, and some amulets for
warding off disease and imparting wisdom from
the gods. The native practitioner indulges in
incantations when treating his patient, the per-
sons in the lodge helping him by singing songs to
the gods to drive the disease out of the body of
the sick one, and frequently he resorts to bleed-
ing. A piece of glass serves for a lance, which
he extracts with his teeth, and having sucked the
blood with his mouth and performed some incan-
tations, he pronounces the sick one healed. Some
of the medicine-men are expert hypnotists and
clever conjurors, excelling in tricks of sleight-of-
hand. Medicine-women are sometimes found
who are skillful medical practitioners, without
being initiated as members of the medical priest-
hood. The sweat-bath is frequently resorted to
as a means of curing disease. Strong and supple
boughs of the willow are sharpened at the thick
end and inserted in the ground in the form of a
circle, and braided at the top, making a small hut
from four to six feet in diameter and about three
feet high, with an opening for the patient to crawl
inside. Blankets and hides are placed over this
sweat-house, and when the sick person has
entered, heated stones are placed within, and ^
vessel of water is given to him. When he has
removed all his clothing and every aperture is
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
233
closed, he pours the water on the hot stones, and
the steam enveloping;; him causes the perspiration
to run from every pore. The operation is con-
tinued until he is satisfied that the bath has been
complete. All cases of midwifery are performed
by the women.
The taboo of the native consists of certain kinds
of food which must never be eaten, or is forbidden
at special seasons. The source of this prohibition
is found in their mythology — a belief that they
are descended from the animal whose flesh must
not be eaten, or that their ancestors or sex
suffered pain, loss, or degradation through one of
the animals.
Cremation was once practised among some of
the tribes, with a potlach as one of the customs
attending burials. The prairie tribes wrapped
the corpse in blankets or hides and placed it in
the crotch of a tree, or a scaffold was erected
about ten feet high on the prairie or in the bush
and the corpse was laid upon it. A chief was bur-
ied on an eminence or in a secluded spot, selected
apparently for beauty and impressiveness, and the
body being placed on the ground a lodge was
placed over it and securely fastened. Since the
advent of the white man, small log houses are
erected as a receptacle for the dead, or interment
in the ground is practised. The northern tribaj
have similar practices, and hollow trees are
sometimes used as coffins. When a person dies
the lodge is removed, and the camp departs for a
season to some more favoured spot, the people
being afraid that the spirits of the dead might do
them harm. Houses are sometimes torn down
when some of the members of the families die.
Believing in future life there are placed beside the
dead various articles of food, tobacco and pi^-e,
ornaments, bow and arrows, and some of the
treasures of the deceased, as well as gifts from
friends. In earlier years the favourite horse was
shot, but the people are now contented by cutting
a part of the mane, forelock, and tail off the
animal. It is firmly believed that the souls of
these articles accompany the deceased to the
spirit land, where there is no substance, and all
the spirits must live on spiritual things. The
Redman's passion is gambling. Night and day
he will sing and play as he throws the wheel and
arrows, plays at odd and fvcn, or some other
native game ; or plays cards, indulges in horse
racing, or drinks tea for a wager.
Singing is a favourite form of amusement.
Sitting on the ground in a circle a group of men
or of women, accompanied by two or three per-
formers of the satne sex beating vigourously on a
drum, will sing harmoniously the native songs of
love, until the weird notes borne upon the prairie
breezes arouse the emotions of the listener. The
social dance, with its queer manoeuvres, consists
of a series of jumps, contortions of the body, and
shouts. The sexes do not intermingle in this
amusement, the men and women having their
own dances. A small band of performers beat
upon drums with their sticks, and each dancer
indulges in dancing to his heart's content, inde-
pendent of the others, sitting down when tired,
and dancing when rested. Musical instruments
are made of hoops with pieces of tanned hide
stretched over them to form drums or tambour-
ines. .\boriginal music is of a primitive character,
consisting of a few musical phrases repeated
ad infinitum.
The western tribes are united in confederacies
such as the Blackfoot confederacy, consisting of
the Bloods, Piegans, and Blackfeet ; the Siouan
confederacy, embracing the Stoney or Assiniboine
and the branches of Sioux tribes scattered through
the country ; the Cree confederacy, including the
Plain Crees, the Wood Crees, and the MOskegon
or Swampy Crees ; and the Ojibiway confederacy.
These might appropriately be termed sub-tribes,
but as they occupy a position of apparent equality
and there is no parent triba in existence, it is
better to name them as a united confederacy.
The tribes are again divided into clans, gentes,
bands, or septs, each having its own distinctive
name. The native name belongs to the band an''
not to the chief. Among the Blood Indians clans
are known as the Tall Men, the Fish-Eaters,
Camping in a Bunch, and the Sweaty People.
Thereweretwo head chiefs over the tribe; the peace
chief, who was the civil officer, and exercised
authority in time of peace ; and the war chief,
who was at the head of affairs in times of war.
Each clan had a minor chief, and the chiefs met
in council to decide all matters affecting the wel-
fare of the people, individual and collective.
Chiefs were elected partially on account of their
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a34
CANADA: AN ENCVCLOP.EDIA.
hereditary relationship, but chiefly for their ability
and military prowess. Criers went through the
camp sounding the praises of tlie candidates for
office. Political organisation is almost unknown
among some of the tribes in the north, the tribes
acting independently of each other, and the clans
being united by social rather than political ties.
Prominent persons of hereditary rank, some-
what resembling chiefs, now exercise authority in
the clan, and perform the duties of civil officers,
as maintaining peace in the settlement of disputes,
guarding the interests of the people in the hunting
grounds, and looking after the general welfare of
the clan and tribe.
Tribal wars and individual wars were of fre-
quent occurrence in the old buffalo days among
the prairie tribes. Tribal wars arose from
an invasion of the territory claimed by the
tribe, the slaying of any member of the tribe, or
the capture of any one, or a raid upon the
horses which comprised their chief wealth.
Individual wars consisted chiefly of small war
parties making raids upon a camp to secure
horses, women, or scalps. When it was decided
to go to war the days were spent in preparing the
arms and garments, and the evenings in dancing
and feasting to propitiate the gods to give them
success, and with great boasting of their valour
and victories to beget courage. Although the
party acted under the direction of a war chief or
head warrior, each warrior fought independently.
With the body painted in a hideous fashion, and
the horses likewise painted, a belt of cartridges
around the waist, a pair of moccasins on the feet,
and a breech cloth around the loins, each warrior
waited for the early dawn to rush, shouting the
war-whoop, upon the foe. There was no order
in the mode of attack, save that of reaching the
weakest point of the defence of the enemy
by stratagem, and then each one fought for him-
self. The slain, and sometimes the wounded, were
scalped, and the scalps borne aloft on poles at the
scalp-dance, and then placed on the outside
of the victor's lodge as a medal to show his valour.
The elaborate system of totems of the Iroquoian
and Siouan families is not in existence among the
western and northern tribes. The personal and
clan totem is not so well defined, but the totemic
relationship is maintained. The tribes have a
native police, known as "black soldiers," for the
maintenance of the laws and the support of civil
government in the camp. By means of signals,
using fires to convey intelligence by the smoke, a
system of telegraphy is elaborated. By various
methods of riding on horseback, motions by a
blanket when on foot, and by the system of
heliography, important information is conveyed
speedily a long distance.
Native books are made by means of picture
writing on rocks and trees, birch bark, hides of
animals tanned, and on the outside of the lodges.
Notable events have thus been preserved in rela-
tion to the tribes, and autobiographies have been
written with a stick and paint. Unable, some-
times, to converse together on account of differ-
ence of language, the people of different tribes can
still talk together through their sign language.
There are several stocks of languages : the Algon-
quin, including the Ojibiway; Saulteaux, Cree,
and Blackfoot, with their dialects; the Siouan,
embracing the Assiniboine ; the Santee, and other
dialects; the Eskimauan: and the Athabascan,
known under the terms Den<5 and Tinn6, and
comprising the Chippewayan or Montagnais, the
Loucheux or Kutchin, the Slave, Hare, Dog-Rib,
Bad People, Yellow Knife, Cariboo Eaters,
Beaver, and Sarcee languages. By means of
syllabaries the Cree, Eskimo, and some of the
Athabascan tribes can learn in a few days to read
any book published in their own tongue. There
is quite an extensive native literature in use
among the tribes, consisting chiefly of religious
books translated by missionaries. Grammars
and dictionaries of nearly all the languages are
also in existence.
The native religious belief includes the idea of a
Great Spirit, Great Sun,ora Supreme Being under
another term ; a secondary creator, who makes
the earth, man, and the animals, with all things
necessary to their subsistence ; a flood, which,
however, precedes the creation of the world ; the
existence of sin, with the need of fasting and
sacrifices ; a future state, and the immortality of
the soul. Myths, beautiful and suggestive, are
found among all the tribes, including the Two
Brothers. Religious festivals, as the Sun dance
among the Blackfeet ; and the Thirst dance
among the Crees, indicate a religious spirit. The
t
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPiEDIA.
i
a35
prairie tribes are located on reservations, under
the care of agents and farm instructors appointed
by the Government. Industrial and boarding
schools have been erected, and are maintained for
the instructing of the young of both sexes in use-
ful trades, and day schools are open on the
reservations. Missionaries have gone even with-
in the Arctic Circle to bear the message of love
to the aborigines. Protestant and Roman Catho-
lic teachers and missionaries, scholarly men who
would dignify any office in the gift of civilized so-
ciety, are thus to be found studying the languages,
preparing books for the use of the natives, com-
piling grammars and dictionaries, preaching in
the native tongue, dispensing medicine, doing all
descriptions of manual labour, living in the
humblest habitations, and partaking of the simp-
lest fare.
There have been innumerable theories as to
the origin of the North American Indian, and the
probabilities are that he is the product of some
distant Asiatic migration. Mr. James Hannay is
of this opinion, and in his History of Acadia ex-
presses the belief that America has been inhabited
from the remotest ages ; that for many centuries
before its discovery civilized communities and
savage tribes dwelt side by side ; that from time
to time immigrants arrived from Asia by way of
Behring Straits — which are only thirty-six miles
in width — or by the Aleutian Islands, which
present an almost continuous cham of land from
Asia to America ; that while an interesting civili-
zation had grown up in some portions of America,
adventurers or castaways from India, or from
other portions of Southern Asia, brought to its
shores some knowledge of the religion and of the
arts of the ancient continent. But the question
as to how America was first peopled can only be
really solved by the study of a condition of affairs
which has long ceased to exist, and it still remains
one of the problems which philosophy and science
have left undetermined :
" The Red Indians of America, instead of being
the broken and scattered remains of nations form-
erly civilized, appear rather to be a race of men
who attained the highest state of advancement
which it was possible for a race of hunters to
reach with such implements as they possessed.
Although savages in their mode of life, they were
savages of the highest type, veritable Romans in
spirit, eloquent, brave, and honourable, with some
of the highest qualities and virtues of civilization.
Their contact with white men has not improved
them in a moral point of view, although it has
given them better weapons and more comfortable
clothing. Even in the last respect their advance
has not been so great as might be supposed. The
axe of iron has indeed replaced that of stone, the
rifle has supplanted the bow and arrow, but
modern ingenuity has not been able to devise a
better vessel for the uses to which it is applied
than the bark canoe, a more effectual means of
ranging the winter woods than the snowshoe, or
a more comfortable covering for the feet than that
most perfect of all shoes, the Indian moccasin."
About the origin of the Aborigfines, Daniel G.
Brinton of Philadelphia, an American writer of
some authority, speaks interestingly in an elabor-
ate volume issued by the Census officials of the
United States in 1890. In referring to those
whom we familiarly call "Indians" — a designa-
tion which perpetuates the error of the early
explorers who thought this western land was
a part of India— he says : " I think that America
was peopled during, if not before, the great
Ice age ; that its first settlers probably came
from Europe by way of a land connection
which once existed over the northern Atlantic,
and that their long and isolated residence on this
continent has moulded them all into a singu-
larly homogenous race, which varies but slightly
anywhere on the continent, and has maintained
its type unimpaired for countless generations.
Never at any time before Columbus was it in-
fluenced in blood, language, or culture by any
other race. So marked is the unity of its type, so
alike the physical and mental traits of its members
from Arctic to Antarctic latitudes, that I cannot
divide it any other way than geographically, as
follows: I, Arctic group; 2, North Atlantic group;
3, North Pacific group ; 4, Mexican group ; 5, In-
teristhmian group ; 6, South Atlantic group ; 7,
South Pacific group. All the higher civilizations
are contained in the Pacific group, the Mexican
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CANADA I AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
|1>N
Bi'i '
I
really belonging to it by derivation and original
location. Between the members of the Pacific
and Atlantic groups there was very little com-
munication at any period, the high Sierras walling
them apart ; but among the members of each
Pacific and each Atlantic group the intercourse
was constant and extensive. The Nahuas, for
instance, spread down the Pacific from Senora to
the straits of Panama ; the Inca power stretched
along the coast for 2,000 miles ; but neither of
these reached into the Atlantic plains. So with
the Atlantic groups ; the Guarani tongue can be
traced from Buenos Ayres to the Amazon, the
Algonquin from the Savannah River to Hudson
Bay ; but neither crossed the mountains to the
west. The group?, therefore, are sultural as well
as geographical, and represent natural divisions
of tribes as well as of regions."
When the white man first encountered the
Indians there can be no doubt as to the latter's
kindly feeling toward the intruders. Columbus
found this to be the case, and " The first Rela-
tion of Jacques Cartier, 1534," further illustrates
the fact : " In St. Martin's Creek," says the dis-
coverer, " we saw a great number of the wild
men ; they went on shore, making a great noise,
beckoning us to land, showing us certain skins
upon pieces of wood, but because we had only
one boat we would not go to them, but went to
the other side. They, seeing us flee, followed,
dancing, and making many signs of joy and mirth,
as it were desiring our friendship, saying in their
tongue, ' Napeu tondamen assurtah,' with many
others that we understood not. But we having
but one boat would not stand to their courtesy,
but made signs to them to turn back, but with
fury they came about us and we shot off two
pieces among them and terrified them. The next
day they came to traffic with us. We likewise
made signs to them that we wished them no evil,
and two of our men carried to them knives, with
other ironware, and a red hat for their captain.
They seemed very glad to have our ware and
other things, and came to our two men, still
dancing, with many other ceremonies. They gave
us whatsoever they had, not keeping anything,
that they were constrained to go back again naked,
and made signs that the next day they would bring
more skins." In this description are other simi-
lar accounts, and Cartier took with him to France
two sons of a native chief, by the consent of the
father. In the next year he went again to Canada
with the two Indians safe, and met with people
throughout the country equally well inclined to
friendly intercourse. At Hochelaga " all the
women and the maidens gathered themselves to-
gether, part of which had their arms full of young
children, and as many as could came to rub our
faces, our arms, and what part of the body they
could touch, showing us the best countenance that
was possible, desiring us, with signs, that it would
please us to touch their children. ... As
far as we could perceive r.ad understand this
people it were an easy thing to bring them to some
familiarity and civility, and to make them learn
what one would. The Lord God for His mercy's
sake set thereupon His helping hand when He
seeth cause."
In the first Report of Sir Walter Raleigh's expe*
dition to Virginia it is also stated by his captain
and followers, in 1584, that they "were enter-
tained with all love and kindness, and with as
much bounty (after the manner of the natives) as
they could possibly devise. They found the people
most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile
and treason, and such as live after the manner
of the golden age." The Report says further that
" There came to us Granganimeo, the king's
brother, with forty or fifty of his people. When
we came to the shore to him with our weapons he
never moved from his place, nor even mistrusted
any harm to be offered from us, but sitting still
he beckoned us to come and sit by him, which we
performed, and being seated he made all signs of
joy and welcome, striking on his head and
breast, and afterwards on ours, to show we were
all one, smiling and making show the best he
could, of all love and familiarity. A day or two
after this we fell to trading with them, exchanging
some things that we had for chamois, buff, and
deerskins. He afterwards brought his wife with
him to the ships, his daughter, and two or three
children. His wife wore pearls in her ears,
whereof we deliver your worship a little brace-
let. Granganimeo was very just of his promise,
for many times we delivered him merchandise
upon his word, but ever he came within the day."
.r
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TECUMSEH.
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CANADA; AN ENCYCI.OP.«DIA.
139
A settlement was made here, but the settlers
teem to have soon outraged the rites of hospitality
so bountifully shown to them. Within two years
after the date of the Report, Sir Francis Drake
touched upon the same coast, where he found the
colony in deep distress, and almost despairing of
relief. Sir Francis consented to leave two or three
ships with them, so that they might come away in
case of urgent necessity. But a storm arising
drove most of the fleet suddenly to sea. " Those
on land perceiving this hasted to those three
sail which were appointed to be left there, and for
fear they should be left behind they left all things
confusedly, as if they had been chased from thence
by a mighty army. And no doubt so they were,
for the hand of God came upon them for the
cruelties and outrages committed by some of them
upon the native inhabitants of that country."
This latter statement is by Hakluyt, Prebendary
of Bristol, an earnest supporter of the early
colonists, and the faithful compiler of their
histories.
The Cruelty of the Indian Is a ftvquent and
natural theme for the historians of our alien race.
There has been no Indian pen to trace fully and
accurately the history of their varied tribes and
strange nationalities, their complex customs and
institutions. As time goes on, however, and they
recede into the dim vistas of a distant past, justice
will be more and more done to the many great
traits in their naturally barbaric characters, and to
the noble deeds of warriors and chiefs whose en-
vironment of superstition and ignorance was al-
most sufficient in itself to destroy every honourable
or manly instinct. The Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson
in his volumes upon " The Loyalists of America
and their Times " very justly points out similar
considerations, and uses as his authority an
American work, " Brant and the Border Wars of
the Revolution," by W. L. Stone. As he well
says, the spoilers of the Indian have been his liter-
ary executors, and although a reluctant assent
has been awarded to some of the nobler traits of
his nature, yet, without yielding a due allowance
to the peculiarities of their situation, the Indian
character has been presented with singular uni-
iormity as being cold, cruel, morose, and revenge-
ful ; unrelieved by any of those varying traits and
characteristics, those lights and shadows which
are admitted in respect to other people who have
been no less wild and uncivilized. Nor docs it
seem to have occurred to these pale-faced writers
that the particular cruelties, the records and de-
scriptions of which enter so largely into the com-
position of the earlier volumes of American and
Canadian history, were not barbarities in the
estimation of those who practised them. The
scalp-lock was an emblem of chivalry. Every
warrior shaving his head for battle was careful to
leave the lock of defiance upon his crown, as if
for the bravado: "Take it if you can." The
stake and the torture were identified with their
rude notions of the power of endurance. They
were inflicted upon captives of their own riice as well
as upon whites; and with their own braves these
trials were courted, to enable the sufferer to ex-
hibit the courage and fortitude with which they
could be borne — the proud scorn with which all
the pain that a foe might inflict could be endured.
But it is said that they fell upon slumbering
hamlets in the night and massacred defenceless
women and children. This, again, was their own
mode of warfare, as honourable in their estima-
tion as the more courteous methods of com-
mitting wholesale murder laid down in our own
military books. " In regard," says Mr. Stone,
" to the countless acts of cruelty alleged to have
been perpetrated by the savages, it must be borne
in mind that the Indians have had no writer to
relate their own side of the story. The annals of
man, probably, do not attest a more kindly recep-
tion of intruding foreigners than was given to the
Pilgrims landing at Plymouth by the faithful
Massassoit and the tribes under his jurisdiction.
Nor did the forest kings take uparms until they but
too clearly saw that either their visitors or them-
selves must be driven from the soil which was
their own — the fee of which was derived from the
Great Spirit. And the nation is yet to be dis-
covered that will not fight for their homes, the
graves of their fathers, and their family altars.
Cruel they were in the prosecution of their con-
tests, but it would require the aggregate of a large
number of predatory incursions and isolated burn-
ings to balance the awful scene of conflagration
and blood which at once extinguished the power
of Sassacus, and the brave and indomitable Nar*
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4XO
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPi1':DIA.
m
rueansels over whom he reigned. No! Until it is
forgotten that by some Christians in infant Mas-
sachusetts it was held to be right to kill Indians,
as the agents and familiars of Aza/el ; until the
early records of even tolerant Connecticut, which
disclose the fact that the Indians were seized by
the Puritans, transported to the Hritish West
Indies, and sold as slaves, are lost ; until the
Amazon and LnPlata shall have washed away the
bloody history of the Spanish American conquest ;
and until the fact that Cortez stretched the un-
happy Guatimozin naked upon a bed of burning
coals (or General Sullivan's devastation of the Six
Nation Indians) is proved to be fiction ; let not the
American Indians be pronounced the most cruel
of men."
In one of his Essays Benjamin Franklin
offered same considerations regarding the Indians
which are well worthy of remembrance, and of
special application to those of Canada. He points
out that the Indian men, when young, were
hunters and warriors ; when old, counselors ;
that all their government was by the counsel or
advice of the sages; that there was no force,
there were no prisons, and no officers to compel
obedience, or inflict punishment. Hence they
generally studied oratory, the best speaker having
the most influence. The Indian women tilled the
ground, dressed the food, nursed and brought up
the children, and preserved and handed down to
posterity the memory of public transactions.
These employments of men and women were ac-
counted natural and honourable. Having few
artificial wants they had abundance of leisure for
improvement iu conversation. Our labourious
manner of life, compared with theirs, they
esteemed slavish and base, and the learning on
which we value ourselves they regarded as frivo-
lous and useless.
An instance of this occurred at the Treaty
of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, in 1744, between
the government of Virginia and the Six Nations.
After the principal business was settled the
Coiumissioiiers from Virginia acquainted the
Indians m a speech that there was at Wil-
liamsburg a college, with a fund for educating
Indian youth, and that if the chiefs of the Six
Nations would send down half a dozen of their
sons to that college the Government would taKC
care that they should be well provided for, and
instructed m all the learning of the white people.
It has always lieen one of the Indian rules of
politeness not to answer a public proposition the
same day that it is made ; they think it would be
treating it as a light matter, and they show it
respect by taking time to coiioider it, as being an
important matter. They therefore deferred their
answer till the day following, when their speaker
began by expressing a deep sense of the kindness
of the Virginia government in making them the
offer :
" For we know," said he, " that you highly
esteem the kind of learning taught in those
colleges, and that the maintenance of our young
men while with jou would be very expensive to
you. We are convinced, therefore, that you mean
to do us good by your proposal, and we thank
you heartily. But you who are wise must know
that different nations have different conceptions of
things, and you will therefore not take it amiss if
our ideas of this kind of education happen not to
be the same with yours. We have had some ex-
perience of it. Several of our young people were
formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern
Crovinces, they were instructed in all your sciences,
ut when they came back to us they were bad
runners, ignorant of every paeans of living in the
woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew
neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill
an enemy, spoke our language imprfpr'i, wfr»,
therefore, neither fit for hunte- i. jr
counselors; they were totiHv ig.
We are not, however, »''!! k- i,, ir
kind offer, though we c ,n it, ;■ to
show our grateful sense i, if tin itlen, 1 of
Virginia send us a dozi of theii sons we will
take great care of their educatiot instruct them
in all we know, and make men of ti m."
The Land Question was always an important
one to Canadian Indians, though not, as in the
United States, a constant source of serious trouble
and bloodshed. About 1796, the Iroquois, who
had become in great measure civilized, wished
to dispose of portions of the large tract of territory
given them after the Revolutionary War (retaining
enough to cultivate), and to raise a fund by the
sales as an annuity for their future comfort.
Captain Joseph Brant — Thayendanegea — their
principal Chief, who resided near them, and who,
from his influence and intelligence, took a promi-
CANADA : AN ENCVCI,OP.i:i)IA.
t4«
ncMit part while he lived in all their transactions,
was by a solemn act in council appointed the
af;unt or attorney of the Six Nations to nep^otiate
with the Government for the making; of some ar-
rangement in tliis direction.
The principal chiefs and warriors, acting for the
tribes, executed on November 2, I7<j6, a formal
power of attorney which autiiori/ed Captain Hrant
to surrender into the hands of the Government
certain portions of the lands possessed by them,
and for which they had found, or intended to hnd,
purchasers, so that His Majesty, thus holding
these portions of their lands relieved from the
pledge which had been given for their exclusive
possession, might make a clear and free grant, in
fee simple and by letters patent, to such persons
as the Indians might agree to sell to. This method
of proceeding was clearly in accordance with the
nature of the tenure under which the Six Nations
heid their land and seemed as wise a method as
could be devised for protecting their interests,
and guarding them against hasty or indiscreet
sales.
The tract which Captain Brant was authorized
to surrender was described in the power of attor-
ney referred to, and was stated to contain three
hundred and ten thousand three hundred and
ninety-one acres.
Authority was also given to Captain Brant, after
the passing of such grants, " to ask and receive
such security or securities, either in his own name
or the names of others to be by him then and
there nominated, as he or they might deem neces-
sary, for the securing the payment of the several
sums of money that should become due and owing
from the purchasers, and likewise to receive all
such sums of money as should be due and owing
therefor, and to give acquittances in as full a
manner as all his constituents (the Indians of the
Six Nations) could do if personally present."
Under this authority, it is supposed with the per-
fect knowledge and approbation of the Indians,
sales of very large tracts were effected by Captain
Brant ; and on February 5th, 1798, pursuant to
the power delegated to him, he executed in the
name of the chief warriors of the Iroquois a formal
deed surrendering their possession of such parts
of the said lands as are mentioned below, beseech-
ing that His Majesty would be pleased to grant
the same in fee simple to the persons named, who
were to pay the sums stated as a consideration
for the same.
By this document it was specified that Block
No. I (now forming the Township of Dumfries),
containing about 94,305 acres, was sold to P.
Steadman for ;fy.84i ; that Block No. 2, contain-
ing 94,012 acres, was sold to Richard Bcasley,
James Wdson and John B. Kosseau for £8,887 '*
that Block No. 3, containing 86,078 acres, was
sold to William Wallace for £i(), J64 ; that Block
No. 4, no purchaser or price named, contained
28,312 acres; that Block No. 5, containing 30,800
acres, was sold to the Hon. W. Jarvis for £s>775 '>
that Block No. 6, given originally to John Dock-
stader, and containing ig,ooo acres, was by hin>
sold for the benefit of his Indian children to
Benjamin Canby for £3,000. The total was
332,707 acres, valued at £44,867 sterling.
The making of these contracts with the
individual purchasers, and the fixing of the con-
sideration, were therefore the acts of the Indians
themselves, either arranged in their councils or
negotiated by their fully authorized agent. The
Government of Canada seems merely to have
assented to the general measure, and to have given
its sanction and assistance in the conviction that
it would be beneficial to the Indians generally.
It appears, however, m communications received
by Mr. President Russell of Upper Canada, from
the Duke of Portland, then Secretary of State for
the Colonies, that the Imperial Government were
not without extreme reluctance brought to give
their sanction to these transfers of land, and in
one of these despatches it is plainly declared that
the previous sanction of His Majesty must be
received before any similar negotiation would be
entertained in future. It would have been better
for the Indians had the Duke of Portland's advice
been followed, and the British Government been
the purchaser at the same price as the Indians
were willing to sell to individuals for. They had,
however, an able representative in Thayendanegea,
and in the end much of the money was obtained
and now stands at the credit of the Six Nations.
The Micmao tribe of Indians in Nova Scotia
is of more historic than present importance. The
following account of its customs and history
34>
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was written by Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin, b.a.,
M.R.C.S., in 1877, and cannot well be improved
upon for conciseness and completeness : " We
find that as early as the sixteenth century the
shores of Nova Scotia were frequented by fisher-
men of various nations, and in greater numbers
than is usually supposed. Thus when Les Carbot,
in i6og, gives us his minute descriptions of the
Indians two or three generations must have then
passed since the Iron Age had commenced its
operations on the races of the stone period. Iron
knives and axes, the steel and flint with its great
powers of carrying fire everywhere, and coarse
potteries and beads must have begun to
modify their habits. The ancient arrow-maker
must have ceased his art ; the son must have
used an axe foreign to his father, and the squaw
commenced t6 ornament hjr skins with French
beads instead of small shells. The first name by
which they were called by the French is Souri-
quois or Sourique. This name seems almost
identical with Iroquois, Arromouchiquois, and
Algonquin.
It is probable the Micmacs, as we now call
them, were a set-off from the great Algonquin race,
who extended from Canada to the extreme west,
but set olF for so long a period of time as to lose a
common dialect. While our Indians from the
earliest date used th& language common to Can-
ada, they could not understand the Arromouchi-
quois, or those who lived in what is now called
New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In the year
1609, the French living at Port Royal, Nova
Scotia, estimated their numbers at between 3,000
and 4,000 souls. This included Cape Breton and
Prince Edward Island. This, by the usual calcu-
lations, would make between 500 and 600 adult
or fighting men. They were clothed in skins of
' <;ar, otter, beaver, and fox, and the larger skins
of elk and deer. They had learned the art of soft-
ening and taking the hair off the larger ones. In
sumnrier their clothing was a girdle around their
waists, on which was fixed a skin that went
betw>:.c the legs, and was attached again to the
girdle behind. A cloak of skins was hung around
the neck, with a loose cape hanging back from the
shoulder. Usually the right arm was exposed. In
winter they made sleeves of beaver skins, tied at
the back, and long hose of the same, tied to the
girdle around the loins, and their feet were covered
with a buckskin of untanned leather drawn into
plaits in front — the present moccasin. The
women wore the same dress, with the exception
of a tight girdle around the cloak. In camp the
men wore nothing but the waist leather. They
had no covering for their heads, using the loose
cape of their cloaks as shelter in winter.
The hair was worn long, cut short in front, and
sometimes trussed on the top or behind by a
feather or pin. For ornaments they seem to
neither have been painted nor tattooed, but to have
made strings of black, wooden beads, and pieces
of white shells. The quills of the porcupine* were
also dyed with bright colours, and formed into
plats and squares. The men cared but little about
these things, but they wore knives at their breasts.
These people, thus clothed, lived in movable
wigwams, a conical tent made of birch bark, fast-
ened around poles tied at the top, and at the bot-
tom encircling an area of about twelve feet in
diameter. During summer they pitched them at
the seaside or en lake borders ; in winter they re-
tired to the forest. In the short summer they
lived upon fish, and during the long winter when
the fish had retired from the shore they hunted
the elk and reindeer. They, when at war and
expecting an attack, made a palisaded fort, by
taking a square of living trees, thickening up the
spaces with poles and brushwood, and leaving but
one place of entrance, and building their camps or
wigwams within it, thus contriving a rude fortifi-
cation.
In a print of the period from Champiain, of the
palisaded forts in Canada, the structure is much
more elaborate, and built of hewn timber, but
Les Carbot distinctly asserts that those Indians
never felled trees, not even for firewood. The
few household utensils they possessed were of
wood, stone and horn, or bone. They had pots
of a very coarse baked pottery, and stone axes
and mallets, knives and gouges. Deers' horns
and bone were also used ; and from a recent de-
posit at Lunenburg we find copper knife blades
and needles made from the native copper of the
Bay of Fundy, hammered into shape. They also
had the beautiful racquet or snow shoe, that has
come down to us unaltered. These simple uten-
sils, with their skins and furs, and the boat or
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
243
canoe that transported them from sea-coast to
lake side, formed ail their wealth. They had
already acquired the habit of smoking ; and
though they did carve their pipes sometimes
into forms of animals, yet the usual pipe was a
stone hollowed at one end into a pan, into which
they stuck a quill or hollow reed. In their wars
they used clubs, bows and arrowa, and Lhields,
and lances or spears headed with stone. These
wars were carried on with much forethought and
energy. Membertou, the old Sagamos at Port
Royal, brought men from Miramichi and St.
John's River, and made a rendezvous with his
own from Nova Scotia, at Grand Manan, before
attacking the tribes that resided in what is now
called Massachusetts. They brought home the
heads of their enemies, which they embalmed
and hung about their necks in triumph, but
there is no mention of scalping.
As they had no letters they could have no
laws, save traditions. The Sagamos usually set-
tled all disputes. A man of many friends was
unmolested, for he had many to avenge him, but
a slave or a prisoner with no friends fared
badly. Polygamy was allowed rather than prac-
tised; and though they had little regard for
chastity yet there seems to have been no jealousy
among them. Their care for their parents, fond-
ness for their children, and general hospitality
must make all amends. As regards religion, an
obscure belief in some future state was their only
creed, some medicine men their only priests.
And now we can form some idea of these men
of the stone period as they were about insensi-
bly to fall beneath the iron age. A well-fed, light-
footed, clayred race, with beardless face and
shock of black hair, Hsh and flesh eaters, reaping
no harvest save from forest and sea, having
neither letters nor laws nor settled habitations,
yet either in friendship or war having relations
five hundred miles at least with their neighbours
on either side.
This ends the first stage, the stone period, or
pre-historic age of the Micmacs. About two
hundred and seventy years ago, or the beginning
of the seventeenth century, the age of iron came
down upon them. They came under the influence
of the French, who held them for one hundred
years, and whose kind and mild government may
be called their French age. During this period
they must insersiblyhavecastoff their coats of skin
and clothed themselves in woollen clothes. They
ceased to war with themselves, they pointed
their weapons with iron instead of stone, or ex-
changed them for muskets ; but they still remained
living in wigwams, wandering from sea to forest,
and generally connecting themselves with the
French fishing stations and -ports, where they
bartered skins and furs for bread and tobacco, and
other things which they were fast learning to call
the necessaries of life. We have no records of
this period, but from incidental remarks from
time to time of various writers, we learn that the
kind relations existing from the first betwixt them
and their masters never altered.
Thus, kindly and gently the French held the
Micmacs for one hundred years. In 1710, Suber-
case, the French Governor at Port Royal, now
Annapolis, surrendered it and all Acadia to the
English. From that date French government
ceased, as regards the Micmacs, from amongst
them. The cruel Indian wars that had been rag-
ing for more than fifty years so near them that it
has been said that there was no man of forty but
had seen twenty years service on the borders of
New England, were now to set in upon Nova
Scotia.
After the conquest of Nova Scotia the English
Governors held but feeble sway at Annapolis,
and their out-ports at La H^ve, Horton and Can-
seau. The neutral French played into the hands
of the openly hostile Indians, and they were both
influenced by the French Governors of Quebec.
The lives of the English Governors seem to have
been perpetually harrassed by the Indians who
were incited to their acts by emissaries, chiefly
from Quebec. M. Gaulin, missionary (Letter from
Placentia, 5th of September, 1711), boasts: "To
take away all hope of an accommodation, he
induced the savages to make excursions upon the
English." During this same year an ambus-
cade of Indians destroyed the whole force of
eighty men, killing outright thirty men, the fort-
major and engineer, and making the rest prisoners.
This happened twelve miles up river from the fort,
and so encouraged Gaulin that he immediately
invested the fort (Port Royal) so closely that the
garrison could not appear upon the ramparts.
"■f
944
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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This garrison is said to have lost in seven months,
by sickness and sorties, 350 men. Surprisals also
were made by the Indians on fishing vessels and
fishermen on the sea-coast, at Yarmouth, at La
Heve, and at Canseau. Few people now imagine
the terror of their name at that date, or fancy that
a few scattered savages could do as much mis-
chief. " Queen Anne m^y have the meadows, but
we have the forest, from which nothing can drive
us," was their open boast, as well as the reason of
this power.
Their inroads seem to have been made with
varying frequency from 1710 to 1761. They then
languished for awhile; but when it was seen by
tlie French that England, by the founding of
Halifax, was in earnest in settling the Province.
Annapolis was again invested by the Indians, and
a sergeant and two men killed. Another mission-
ary, not Gaulin, but La Loutre, the darkest figure
of the many dark men that vexed the times, boldly
led the assault of his French and Indians against
the crumbling walls of old Port Royal, then de-
fended by the veteran Mascarene, Unsuccessful,
stained by the murder of Captain Howe, de-
nounced by the French officers, and by his super-
ior the Bishop of Quebec, he disappeared from
the scene, tradition says to die a life-prisoner in
an English fortress.
Dartmouth was also assaulted, and murders and
robberies committed at Windsor and other parts.
The Governors were of late in the habit of taking
hostages for their good behaviour, which kept
them quiet for some time. Haliburton says of
these times : " The number and ferocity of the
Indians, and the predatory habits in which they
indulged, rendered them objects of great attention
and concern to the local government." In 1761
a formal treaty of peace with the Indians was
signed at Halifax, and the hatchet buried. Que-
bec having already fallen, the Treaty of Paris
crushed for ever these bloody scenes.
My first knowledge of the Indians began in
183 1. At that period they all lived in neat birch-
bark wigwams — a house was a very rare excep-
tion ; and they all, both women and men, were
clothed in coarse blue cloth. The men were in
blue frocks with scarlet edges upon the shoulders
and upon the arms. A scarlet or gay-coloured
sash bound this to their waist, at the back of
which hung a tobacco pouch of moose skin.
They wore, also, knee-breeches and long gaiters
of the same, blue, with the selvage edge left long,
and ornamented with scarlet. The stocking was
a long roller of blanket, wound from the toe to
the knee. A silver brooch of the size of a large
watch, usually held the frock at the neck; and
the foot was covered by an untanned moccasin.
The hair was worn very long. A beaver hat on
great occasions, but usually a straw hat or red
cap, surmounted a huge mass of unkempt locks.
The women wore a high-pointed cap of blue
cloth, often ornamented with scatlet cloth and
white beads ; a short gown and petticoat reaching
to the knee, with a gaiter trouser, and the selvage
left loose to the ankle. In cold weather a blanket
"as worn over the head, and always brought
square across the back. This pleasing dress, in
which we recognize the hunting frock of all North
America, whether it be the deer-skin shirt and
leggings with the fringes of the far west Indians,
or the frock of the old continental rifleman, we
infer was their habit from the time they ceased to
wear skins. The continual mention of coarse
scarlet and blue serges by the French, the bales of
blue cloth in the English treaties, and the bills of
the same furnished to them by Government in
our own times, are ample proof.
I have now brought the Micmac from his stone
or pre-historic age and his French age to our
own time, and it remain s to give his present con-
dition. Estimated in early French times at be-
tween three and four thousand souls, and that
including Prince Edward Island, we find them at
the next authentic record (Judge Monk's Return,
1808) as from three hundred and fifty to four hun-
dred fighting men. This would make about two
thousand souls, making a decrease of something
more than fifteen hundred in two hundred years.
In 1842, Mr. Howe returns them at fourteen
hundred and twenty-five. The last census makes
them 1706.
Their summer camps are still as of old.
Clothed like ourselves, with a boot keeping the
feet dry, and sleeping warm and dry, they cannot
retain the old instinctive adhesiveness of race, or
the ancient cons'imptions and palsies that for-
merly decimated them. Ever minding all these
changes and these ceaseless influences on their
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOIM' DIA.
245
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-
moral and physical condition, we will describe
the Micmac Indian of the present hour. His
stature is below the medium ; slight, carrying his
shoulders overhanging, forward, and high ; his
limbs light, and extremities small ; the tibia or
shin-bone well curved, but this curve is high in
the bone and forward as well as outward ; and
springing, as it does, from the high bony arch of
a very clean instep, has the grace of fitness and
beauty which is not found when the curve is near
the ankle and the instep flat. This beauty, which
was formerly brought out by the tight gaiter and
moccasin, the fisherman's heavy boot is fast des-
troying, and the loose trouser with its baggy knees
hiding fro:., sight. He is beginning to turn his
toes outwards. Even the Indian squaw, who
once stole so softly on you with her parrot-toed
foot, fringed to the ground like her native grouse,
now flaunts with outward toe a crimson-topped
high-laced boot. He wears his hair cropped now,
which brings still more in relief the small and
narrowed skull, high and broad cheek-bone, high
frontal ridges, and square, heavy jaw-bone of the
red man, or Mongolian type.
If we look in the children and women, we find
the oblique eye of the same race ; but in the adult
the continual exposure has caused the muscles of
the orbit, drawing and puckering around the eye
for its defence, to draw down the corners. The
nose sometimes approaches to the Roman, but
always has wide nostrils ; the mouth large, with
the upper lip convex, and the chin retreating.
In the women and children the mouth is the
worst feature, being large, unmeaning, and often
open — the greater force in man giving it stronger
expression. The eye is dark, oblique, and small,
and rather intelligent than bright. The French
called their colour olive. This now could scarcely
be true. We miss the richness of the olive. The
men were almost a clay yellow, and it is only in
the women and young we find a reddish tint, or
coloured lip or cheek."
The Indians of British Columbia, who number
about 35,000, are being steadily raised in the scale
of civilization, though it is too often through pre-
liminary steps of degradation at the hands of low-
class whites. Dr. Powell, in his Report of 1873,
describes the coast Indians as particularly suscep-
tible to these influences, while those of the interior
— the Shuswaps — are a decidedly superior race.
Many missionaries, however, are working amongst
them, and about one-third belong nominally to the
Catholic Church while probably a quarter more are
Protestants. Their morals are not always good,
and gambling is a frequent vice amongst them, but
they are good workers as a rule, and in the early
Seventies nearly all the exports of the province in
furs and fish oils were credited to the Indians.
They are chiefly engaged in farming and fruit cul-
ture, fishing and canning, hunting and trapping,
and a Deparmental Report in 1890 describes
their coucse as marked by " manly independence,
intelligent enterprise, and unflagging industry."
The houses of some are said to be superior to
the habitations of fairly well-to-do white people;
while " flower gardens, house plants, and, in some
cases, luxurious and ornamental articles of furn-
iture make their homes very attractive." Good
work has been done for many years by the mis-
sionaries in elevating the moral tone of the In-
dian, and the labours of the Catholic priests have
been especially beneficial. Speaking of a most
impressive religious celebration held by Bishop
Durieu, " at which over a thousand Indians of
different tribes were assembled," the Indian Super-
intendent for British Columbia, in his Report for
1890, stated that " It would have been impossible
to find any such concourse of people more orderly
and devotional than were these Indians, gathered
together from distant places, who doubtless years
ago came in contact but to war with one another,
and who, not so long since, were imbued with the
most cruel and heathenish superstitions."
The Indian Tribes of the Canadian and Amer-
ican Yukon District and the adjacent portion of
British Columbia, are a peculiar people. Dr.
George M. Dawson, then assistant director of the
Geological Survey of Canada, dealt with them at
length in the Annual Report for 1887, and the
following particulars are taken from his descrip-
tion of their history and location :
" Throughout the more southern portions of
British Columbia a difference of the most marked
kind is everywhere found as between the maritime
Indians of the coast and the inland tribes. While
this difference is largely one of habit and mode
II
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346
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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of life, it is also almost everywhere co-incident
with radical differences in languages ; the natural
tendency to diversity as between coast-inhabiting
fishermen and roaming hunters being intensi-
fied and perpetuated by the great barrier of the
Coast Ranges. Only upon certain routes of
trade, which have existed between the coast and
the interior, is this striking diversity to some ex-
tent broken down. The Fraser, the Skeena, the
Nass, and, in the region here specially referred to,
the Stikine, and the passes at the head of Lynn
Canal, constitute the most important of these
routes.
From Dixon Entrance northward, with the
exception of certain small outlying colonies of
the Haida on Prince-of- Wales Island, the Coast
Indians are undoubted Thlinkit, forming a series
of contiguous and- more or less closely allied
bands or tribes, between which the diversity in
language is small. The inland Indians, on the
contrary, belong to the great Tinnfe family. On
the Stikine, as explained below, a certain over-
lapping of these two races has occurred ; and to
the north, the Tagish, a branch of the Thlinkit,
extend a considerable distance inland into the
basin of the Lewes, as now first ascertained.
The interior Indians are collectively known on
the coast as " Stick Indians," and the fact that
this name is also applied to the Tagish, in con-
sequence of their situation and habits being like
those of the Tinnfe, explains the circumstance
that they have heretofore been confounded with
that people.
The region included between the Coast Ran^ ^s
and the Rocky Mountains, to the south of tiro'.
here reported on, and in which are the head
waters of the Skeena ^- ..^r, and Peace rivers, is
inhabited by two great divisions of the Tinnfe
people, designated on the ethnological map of
British Columbia, prepared by Dr. Tolmie and
myself, in i884,as Takulli and Sikani. These main
divisions comprise a large number of small tribes or
septs. Since the publication of the map I have
ascertained that these divisions are known to the
people themselves as Tahkil and Al-ta-tin respec-
tively. The division of the Tinn^ met with on
ascending the Stikine is named Tahl-tan, and
consists of the Tahl-tan people proper and the
Taku. These Indians speak a language very sim-
ilar to that of the Al-ta-tin, if not nearly identical
with it, and, so far as I have been able to learn,
might almost be regarded as forming an extension
of the same division. They appear to be less
closely allied by language to the Kaska, with which
pbjple they are contiguous to the eastward.
The Indian village near the Tahl-tan, or First
North Fork of the Stikine, is the chief place of
the Tahl-tan Indians, and here they all meet at
certain seasons for feasting, speech-makin? and
similar purposes. The Tahi-tan claim the hunt-
ing ground as far down as the Stikine ; coastward,
the mouth of the Iskoot River ; together with all
the tributaries of the Iskoot, and some of the
northern sources of the Nass which interlock with
these. Their territory also includes, to the south,
all the headwaters of the main Stikine, with parts
of adjacent northern branches of the Nass. East-
ward it embraces Dease Lake, and goes as far
down the Dease River as Eagle Creek, extending
also to the west branch of the Black or Turnagain
River. It includes also all the northern tributar-
ies of the Stikine and the Tahl-tan River to its
sources.
The Taku form a somewhat distinct branch of
the Tahl-tan, though they speak the same dialect.
They are evidently the people referred to by Dall
as the Tah-ko-tin-neh. They claim the whole
drainage basin of the Taku River, together with
the upper portions of the streams which flow
northward to the Lewes ; while on the east their
hunting grounds extend to the Upper Liard
River, and include the valleys of the tributary
streams which join that river from the westward.
They are thus bounded to the south by the Tahl-
tan, to the west by the Coast Taku (Thlinkit), to
the north-west by the Tagish, and to the east by
the Kaska.
The territorial claims of the Tahl-tan and
Stikine Coast Indians (Thlinkit) overlapped in a
very remarkable manner, for while, as above
stated, the former hunt down the Stikine valley
as far as the Iskoot, and even beyond that point,
the latter claimed the salmon fishery and berry-
gathering grounds on all the streams which enter
the Stikine between Sh»k's Creek (four miles
below Glenora) and Telegraph Creek, excepting
the First South Fork, where there is no fishery.
Their claim did not include Telegraph Creek nor
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
247
■/>
any part of the main river, nor did it extend to
the Clearwater River, or to any of the tributaries
lower down. In whatever manner the claim to
these streams may have been acquired, the actual
importance of them to the Coast Indians lay in
the fact that the arid climate found immediately
to the east of the Coast Ranges enabled them to
dry salmon and berries for winter provision,
which is scarcely possible in the humid atmo-
sphere of the coast region.
The strict ideas entertained by the Indians h ere
with respect to territorial rights is evidenced by
the fact that the Indians from the mouth of the
Nass, who have been in the habit of late years of
coming in summer to work in the gold mines near
Dease Lake, though they may kill beaver for food,
are obliged to make over the skins of these
animals to the local Indians. Thus, while no ob-
jection is made to either whites or foreign Indians
killing game while travelling, trapping or hunting '
for skins is resented. In 1880 or 1881 two white
men went down the Liard River some distance to
spend the winter in trapping, but were never
again seen, and there is strong circumstantial
evidence to show that they were murdered by the
local Indians there.
With the exception of the houses already re-
ferred to as constituting the Tahl-tan village, and
some others reported to exist on the Tasku, the
residences and camps of these people are of a very
temporary character, consisting of brush shelters
or wigwams, when an ordinary cotton tent is not
employed. We noticed on the Tahl-tan river a
couple of square brush houses formed of poles
interlaced with leafy branches. These were used
during the salmon-fishing season. At the same
place there were several graves, consisting of
wooden boxes or small dog-kennel like erections
of wood, and near them two or three wooden
monumental posts, rudely shaped into ornamental
forms by means of an axe, and daubed with red
ochre.
On attaining the chieftaincy of the Tahl-tan
tribe, each chief assumes the traditional name Na-
nook, in the same manner in which the chief of
the coast Indians at the mouth of the Stikine
is always named Shek or Shake. The Tahl-tan
Indians know of the Creation hero Us-tns, and
relate tales concerning this mythical individual
resembling those found among the Tinnfe tribes
further south, but I was unable to commit any
of these to writin?. Amongst many other super-
stitions, they have one referring to a wild man
of gigantic stature and supernatural powers, who
is now and then to be found roaming about in the
summer season. He is supposed to haunt speci-
ally the vicinity of the Iskoot River, and the
Indians are much afraif' of meeting him."
The FoUowinsf Account of the Principal
characteristics of some of these tribes was pre-
pared for Dr. Dawson by Mr. J. C. Callbreath,
who had spent many years amongst the Tahl-
tans:
" Maximum stature about 5 feet 7^ inches;
maximum girth about the chest 37 inches ; legs
and thighs well muscled; arms rather light;
as a rule, full chested ; heads, unlike the coast
tribes, small ; feet and hands generally small, as
are also the wrist and ankle, especially in the
women. The trunk is generally long and the
legs short — the former nearly always straight,
with small waist and broad hips, the latter
usually curved or crooked, a circumstance which
appears to be due to too early walking and
carrying packs by the children. Brain capacity
small ; head round ; forehead low and bulging
immediately above the eyes, but generally broad.
The half-breeds are more like the father, and
three generations where the father is in every
case white, seem to obliterate all traces of Indian
blood. If the case were reversed and the male
parent in all cases an Indian, the result might be
different. Have never seen or heard of an albino
among them. Their most common ailments are
pulmonary consumption and indigestion. The
former caused by careless and unnecessary ex-
posure, the latter by gorging and drinking at their
periodical feasts. They have other diseases
peculiar to themselves, induced, as I believe, by
imagination or through fear of the medicine-men
or witches.
Their acuteness of sight, hearing and smell is
great, but I do not believe racial. Practice and
training as hunters render them proficient in these
respects. Their eyes fail early, and are even
more liable to disease than those of whites. It is
rare to meet a man of fifty among them with sound
' IW'V
■if!* . ;
^m
248
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
m^
eyes. Snow and sun, together with the smoky
dwellings, probably explain this. The children
are cunning and clever when young, more so than
those of the white race, but grow dull as they age.
I have never seen anything like gesture-language
among them, and will not attempt a description
of their common tongue, except to say that I can
see no similarity in it to that of the Chinese, with
whom I have had intercourse to a considerable
extent for the past forty years. They reckon time
by moons, and now seem to rely more on what
the whites may tell them as to the coming of
winter or spring than on their own knowledge.
The Stone Age is now scarcely more than a tradi-
tion, though they know of the time when they
had no iron, axes, knives, guns, or the like.
Stone knives, adzes and sledges or hammers have
been found by the miners from time to time, and
it is said that the sledges were used for killing
slaves on certain occasions, as well as for braining
bears in their hibernating dens.
I cannot learn that these Indians ever used
copper before its introduction by the whites.
Yarn is spun from the wool of the mountain goat
(not the mountain sheep or big-horn), and is
woven into excellent blankets, which are highly
coloured and ornamented. The process of boiling
water with hot stones in baskets or wooden
bowls was formerly common. A chiefs son has
no right to his father's title, or any claim to
rule by virtue of his being the son of the chief,
although the tribe may choose him as their chief.
A chiefs brother (full or half) or his sister's child
is the legal heir ; but his right must be sanctioned
by a majority of the tribe, and the office frequently
passes to whoever has most property to give
away.
All these Indians are very miserly, and they
often go hungry and naked for the purpose of
saving up blankets, guns, etc., with which to make
a grand " Potlach " (donation feast) to their
friends. This secures them consideration and a
position in the tribe. Practically very few of the
men have more than a single wife. When a man
has two wives, the younger, if she be sound and
lively, is the head. Separation and divorce are
easy and require no formal act, but if a man
should send away his wife, on whose hunting-
grounds he may have been staying, he must leave
her inherited hunting-ground, unless he has
another wife who has a right to the same ground.
These hunting-grounds are extensive and are often
possessed in common by several families.
The laws are based on the principle that any
crime may be condoned by a monev payment. If
a man should kill another, he or his friends must
pay for the dead man — otherwise himself or one
of his friends must be killed to balance the account.
Gratitude and charity seem to be foreign to the
natures of these people. A man often gives away
all he has to his friends, but it is for purposes of
personal aggrandizment, and his father, mother or
sister may be sick, freezing or starving within
sound of his voice. His presents bestowed upon
those who are strong and above want bring him
distinction, which is his only object. The young
Indians are, however, more humane and charitable
than the aged.
The Tahl-tan Indians have no totem-poles,
although they preserve the family lines, and ob-
serve them as strictly as do the salt-water tribes.
They have no fear of death, except from dread of
the pain of dying, and this is very much lessened
if they have plenty of goods to leave to their
friends. They are very stoical, and not emotional,
in any sense. I have never seen one of them
tremble or quake with fear or anger. There is a
belief propagated by theirmedicine-men or witches
that the otter gets inside of their women and re-
mains there until death, sometimes causing death
by a lingering illness unlike anything I have ever
seen, in other cases allowing the woman to live on
till she dies from some other cause.
The Kaska have the reputation of being a very
timid people, and they are rather undersized and
have a poor physique. They are lazy and untrust-
worthy. We met practically the entire tribe of
the Titsho-ti-na, at the little post at the mouth of
the Dease, and their curiosity proved to be very
embarrassing. Mr. Egnell, who was in charge of
the post, excused it by explaining that they had
never seen so many whites together before. Of
these Indians, only two have been as far west as
Dease Lake, and none had ever seen the sea.
They are, however, fairly well off, as their country
yields abundance of good furs. They visit the
trading post only once in the course of the year,
spending the remainder of their time moving from
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.-EDIA. 249
camp to camp in isolated little family parties, fluence, not only by mere bravery — the universal
hunting and trapping, each one traversing a very savage virtue — but by talents of a rarer kind ; a
great extent of country in the course of the twelve power of reflection and combination rarely met
months. Some of their traps or household goods with in the character of the red warrior. Pontiac
are packed on dogs, but the greater part of their was a man of genius and would have ruled his
impedimenta is carried by themselves on their fellow men under any circumstances and in any
backs, canoes being seldom employed. Rivers country. He formed a project similar to that
and lakes are crossed in summer by rafts made which Tecumseh entertained fifty years later
for the occasion. They generally bring in only (against very different enemies). He united all
fine furs, as bear skins and common furs are too the north-western tribes of Ottawas, Chippewas
heavy to transport. They evinced great curiosity and Pottawattomies, in one great confederacy,
with regard to our equipment, being particularly against the British — 'the dogs in redcoats.'"
struck by a canvas boat and an air pillow. These To his remarkable character ample tribute is
and other objects, I have no doubt, furnished also borne by Parkman in his very complete study
subjects of conversation round many camp-fires of the great conspiracy which has made the name
for the ensuing year." of Pontiac so famous. Upon one occasion he
The subjoined table, giving a census of the was anxious to avoid offending the French, yet
Indian population of the Mackenzie River district, was entirely unable to make compensation for the
and including the Yukon region so far as known provisions he had exacted. He, therefore, had
to the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1858, is of recourse to the curious expedient suggested, no
interest, as showing the tribal sub-divisions as doubt, by one of his European assistants. He
recognized by the Company, and as throwing some issued promissory :u)ti.s, drawn upon birch bark,
light on the questions discussed above. The table and signed with ii.e I, ure of an otter, the totem
is due to the late Chief Factor, James Anderson, to which he belong d; and we are told by a
and had been communicated through the kindness trustworthy authority, says Parkman, that they
of his son : v/ere all faithfully redeemed. " In this, as in
Slaves. Dog-Ribs, Chippewayans, and Yellow several other instances, he exhibited an openness
Knives, who are all of the same race, and of mind and a power of adaptation not a little
speak, with slight variations, the same extraordinary amongst a people whose intellect
dialect oftheChippewayan language 2749 will rarely leave the narrow and deeply-cut chan-
Nahanies, or Mountain Indians, who speak a nel in which it has run for ages, who reject instruc-
very corrupt dialect of the Chippewayan... 435 tion and adhere, with rigid tenacity, to ancient
Sicannies or Thicannies, also speak a dialect ideas and usages. Pontiac always exhibited an
of the Chippewayan language 151 eager desire for knowledge. Rosters represents
Loucheux.or Koochin, and Batord Loucheux him as earnest to learn the military art as prac-
(half Hare, half Loucheux). Only some tised among Europeans, and as inquiring curi-
words of this 1 inguage are understood by ously into the mode of making cloth, knives and
the Slaves 1274 the other articles of Indian trade."
4600 ^^ Pontiac's keen and subtle genius General
Gage has given this testimony : " From a para-
Of Pontiac, who manipulated the Indian war graph of M. D'Abbadie's letter there is reason to
of 1763 and following years, and whose name is judge of Pontiac, not only as a savage possessed
perpetuated in the county of Pontiac, in Quebec of the most refined cunning and treachery natural
province, Mrs. Jamieson, the well-known writer, to the Indians, but as a person of extraordinary
says, with much truth, (Sketches 1838): ' abilities. He says that he keeps two secretaries,
" In all the histories of Detroit he will figure one to write for him and the other to read the
like Caractacus or Arminius in Roman history, letters he receives, and he manages them so as to
Pontiac was mainly a war chief, chosen in the keep each of them ignorant of what is transacted
usual way, but exercising a more than usual in- by the other."
iji,
A,ii
iP:
•SO
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
'- : I
:i.
Major Rogers, a man familiar with the Indians,
and an acute judge of mankind, wrote in the
highest terms of Pontiac's character and talents.
*' He puts on," he says, " an air of majesty and
princely grandeur, and is greatly honoured and
revered by his subjects." During this Indian
war few durst infringe the command he had
given, that the property of the French Canadians
should be respected ; indeed, it is said that none
of his followers would cross the cultivated fields,
but always followed the beaten paths ; in such
awe did they stand of his displeasure.
" Pontiac's position," says Parkman, " was very
different from that of an ordinary military leader.
When we remember that his authority, little
sanctioned by law or usage, was derived chiefly
from the force of his own individual mind, and
that it was exercised over a people singularly im-
patient of restraint, we may better appreciate the
commanding energy that could hold control over
spirits so intractable. The glaring faults of his
character have already appeared too clearly. He
was artful and treacherous, bold, fierce, ambi-
tious and revengeful." Yet there are many
authenticated anecdotes which prove that mobile
and generous thought was no stranger to the
savage hero of the dark drama which, in the years
following 1763, wa5 played in the forests and
wildernesses of America as a result of his un-
scrupulous genius and bitter hatred of the Eng-
lish.
Joseph Brant— Thayendanegea— was, perhaps,
the most imposing and important figure amongst
the three great chiefs in Canadian history. Born
of pure Mohawk blood in the year 1742, he was
educated under the auspices of Sir William John-
son in the then Province of Connecticut, and
fought at the Battle of Lake St. George when
only thirteen years of age. In 1775 he visited
England, and during the war of the Revolution
fought on the English side with great distinction
at the head of the Iroquois nation. For many
years thereafter he lived in hospitable retirement
upon Canadian soil, where he had obtained large
grants for his people and where he spent some of
his time in translating the Anglican Prayer-book
and St. Mark's Gospel into the Mohawk language.
As the principal war chief of the Six Nations,
during the Revolution he was not only mainly
instrumental in securing their allegiance to the
British side, but he guided and directed their
military action with skill and wonderful, courage.
He was described at the time as " distinguished
alike for his address, his activity and his cour-
age; possessing in point of stature and sym-
metry of person the advantage of most men, even
among his own well-formed race — tall, erect, and
majestic, with the air and mien of one born to
command." Having been a man of war from his
boyhood, his name was a tower of strength among
the warriors of the wilderness. At the battle of
" The Cedars " Thayendanegea did good service,
and during the whole of the war, where bullets were
thickest and the enemy most numerous, his glit-
tering and terrible tomahawk was to be seen, and
his terriffic war-whoop heard. Yet he was neither
cruel nor merciless, and did his utmost to restrain
the natural barbarism and equally natural hatreds
of his people. The calumny spread broadcast
throughout literature oy Campbell in his famous
poem, " Gertrude of Wyoming," "has been ab-
solutely disproved by history, and Brant is now
known to have been far away from that scene of
massacre — too common an incident on all sides
in those days, but not nearly so bad in that
particular case as the brilliant pen of the poet
has depicted.
In 1786, Thayendanegea again visited London
and amongst other interesting incidents was his
presence at a great fancy dress ball, where it was
supposed for a time that the stately, silent figure
with the striking face, piercing eyes, nodding
plumes and glittering tomahawk in his belt, was
one of the masquerading guests. But the '' dis-
guise " was so well maintained as to arouse
intense curiosity, and finally one of the masquers,
arrayed as a Turk and emboldened by wine,
ventured to tweak the visitor's nose. Instantly a
blood-curdling yell was heard such as made all
faces blanch, while the tomahawk was seen
to instantly flash over the helpless head of the
trembling wretch. For a moment it gleamed in
the air, then, with a low chuckle of delight, was
returned by the Chief to his girdle. But it is safe
to say that the fashionable gathering present never
forgot that terrible war-whoop of the Mohawks.
Thayendanegea died in 1807 and his last words
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPitDIA.
251
to the nephew who leaned over his bed and just
caught them from his feeble lips were : " Have
pity on the poor Indians ; if you can get any
influence with the great, endeavour to do them
all the good you can." He had himself done
much, and although the literature of the Ameri-
can nation has heaped abuse and misrepresenta-
tion upon his name and career, history is now
doing him justice, and the Canadian people at
least know something of his services to them and
their country. A monument at Brantford,
Ontario, marks his burial place, and that of a son
who afterwards fought through the war of 1812.
The peculiarities of the Indian character and
environment have created amongst the Indians
sentiments and opinions seldom avowed, but
which were admirably expressed by Thayendan-
egea in a remarkable letter quoted by Mr. F. N-
Blake, U. S. Consul at Fort Erie, in his official
Report to his Government in 1870 :
"To give you entire satisfaction, I must, I per-
ceive,enter into the discussion of a subject on which
I have often thought. My thoughts were my own,
and being so different from the ideas entertained
among your people, I should certainly have carried
them with me to the grave had I not received your
obliging favour. You ask me whether, in my
opinion, civilization is favourable to human happi-
ness. In answer to the question it may be
answered that there are degrees of civilization,
from cannibals to the most polite of European
nations. The question is not, then, whether a
degree of refinement is not conducive to happi-
ness, but whether you or the natives of this land
have attained this happy medium. On this sub-
ject we are at present, I presume, of very different
opinions. You will, however, allow me in some
respects to have had the advantage of you in
forming my sentiments.
I was, sir, born of Indian parents, and lived
while a child among those whom you are pleased
to call savages. I was afterwards sent to live
among white people, and educated at one of your
schools, since which period I have been honoured
much beyond my deserts by an acquaintance with
a number of principal characters both in Europe
and America. After all this experience, and after
every exertion to divest myself of prejudice, I am
obliged to give my opinion in favour of my own
people. I will now, as much as I am able, collect
together and set before you some of the reasons
that have influenced my judgment on the subject
now before us. In the government you call civi-
lized, the happiness of the people is constantly
sacrificed to the splendour of empire. Hence your
codes of crime and civil laws have had their origin ;
hence your dungeoi^s and prisons. I will not en-
large on an idea so sin^gular in civilized life, and
perhaps disagreeable to you, and will only observe
that among us we have no prisons, we have no
[>ompous parade of courts, we have no written
aws, and yet judges are as highly revered among
us as they are among you, and their decisions are
as much regarded.
Property, to say the least, is as well guarded, and
crime as impartially punished. We have among
us no splendid villains above the control of our
laws. Daring wickedness is here never .suffered
to triumph over helpless innocence. The estates
of widows iind orphans are never devoured by
enterprising sharpers. In a word, we have no
robbery under the colour of law. No person among
us desires any other reward for performing a brave
and worthy action but the consciousness of hav-
ing served his nation. Our wise men are called
fathers ; they truly sustain that character. They
are always accessible — I will not say to the mean-
est of our people, for we have none mean but
such as render themselves so by their vices."
Tecumseh ranks in the greatness of his
qualities and the nobility of his character with
Thayendanegea, but his career was too short to
enable him to develop the same prolonged
measure of historical service. Brief, however, as
it was, he achieved enough during the war of 181 2
to stamp him as one of the princes of a warrior
race and to enable him to stand beside Brock and
De Salaberry in the historic contest with Ameri-
can invasion. Born in 1770, he fell at the battle
of Moraviantown in 1813. His admiration and
affection for Brock were remarkable and his dis-
like to Procter an equally curious evidence of
Indian discernment. Colonel Coffin in his
valuable " History of the War of 1812 " has the
following description of Tecumseh :
" From his youth up he had shown himself to be
a remarkable man. Devoid of education in the
European acceptance of the term, he had yet
learned to control himself. Instinctively he had
risen above the instincts and passions of his race;
he despised plunder; he abjured the use of spirits;
he had overcome a propensity strong within him,
and had for years renounced " fire-water." His
conduct in the field was only exceeded by his
eloquence in council. This combination of head
and hand won the hearts of his tribe and of their
savage allies. The influence of the chief extended
over the warriors of many other Indian nations.
■■ .■.''
!S-
■■1
352
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OFVKDIA.
With the skill of a sstatesman he appeased all
dissensions, reconciled all interests, and united all
minds in one common alliance against the hated
Americans. This was due to his personal
qualities alone. Contrary to the Indian nature,
he had an aversion to external ornament. His
invariable costume was the deer-skin coat and
fringed pantaloons ; Indian moccasins on his feet,
and an ea^de feather in the red kerchief wound
round his head, completed his simple and soldierly
accoutrements. Richard Coeur dc Lion, himself,
was not mure contemptuous of spoil, or avid of
glory. He was about five feet ten inches in
height, with the eye of a hawk, and of gesture
rapid ; of a well-knit, active figure ; dignified
when composed, and possessing features of coun-
tenance which, even in death, indicated a lofty
spirit."
The Indian Oratorical Talent which looms out
so strangely from the shadows of their character-
istic taciturnity has never been better illustrated
than in the famous speech addressed by Tecumseh
to the British General, Procter, after the news had
reached the allied forces of Perry's victory on
Lake Erie, September loth, 1813, and the General
had announced in council with the Chiefs his in-
tention of retiring from Detroit and Amherstburg
to Niagara. Tccumseh's speech is said to have
been delivered with great energy, and to have pro-
duced the most startling effect upon his brolher
Indians, who are described as having sprung to
their feet and brandished their tomahawks in the
most menacing manner.
" Father," thundered the great chieftain, " lis-
ten to your children ; you see them now all before
you. The war before this, our British father gave
the hatchet to his red children when our old
chiefs were alive. They are now all dead. In
that war our father was thrown on his back by
the Americans, and our father took them by the
hand with our knowledge, and we are afraid our
father will do so again at this time.
Suinmer before last, when I came forward with
my red brethren and was ready to take up the
hatchet in favour of our British father, we were
told not to be in a hurry — that he had not yet
determined to fight the Americans. Listen !
When war was declared, our father stood up and
gave us the tomahawk, and told us he was now
ready to strike the Americans — that he wanted
our assistance; and he certainly would get us our
lands back, which the Americans had taken from
us.
Listen ! You told us at the same time to bring
forward our families to this place. We did so,
and you promised to take care of them, and that
they should want for nothing, while the men
would go to fight the enemy ; that we were not
to trouble ourselves with the enemy's garrisons;
that we knew nothing about them ; and that our
father would attend to that part of the business.
You also told your red children that you would
take good care of your garrison here, which made
our hearts feel glad.
Listen ! When we last went to the Rapids it
is true we gave you little assistance. It is hard
to fight people who live like groundhogs.
Father, listen ! Our fleet has gone out ; we
know they have fought ; we have heard the groat
guns ; we know nothing of what has happened
to our father with one arm. Our ships have gone
one way and we are much astonished to see our
father tying up everything and preparing to run
away the other, without letting his red children
know what his intentions are. You always told
us to remain here and take care of our lands ; it
made our hearts glad to hear that was your wish.
Our great father, the King, is the head, and you
represent him. You always told us you would
never draw your foot off British ground ; but now,
father, we see you are drawing back, and we are
sorry to see our father doing so without seeing
the enemy. We must compare our father's con-
duct to a fat animal, that carries its tail upon its
back, but when afrighted, it drops it between its
legs and runs off.
Listen, Father 1 The Americans have not yet
defeated us by land; neither are we sure that
they have done so by water ; we therefore wish
to remain here, and fight our enemy, should they
make their appearance. If they defeat us we will
then retreat with our father.
Father ! You have got the arms and ammunition
which our great father sent for his rod children.
If you have any idea of going away, give them to
us, and you may go in welcome for us. Our lives
are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are
determined to defend our lands, and if it is His
will, we wish to leave our bones upon them."
While speaking, Tecumseh's wrath is described
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
•53
as terrific. Habited in a close leather dress, his
athletic proportions admirably delineated, with a
large plume of white ostrich feathers overshadow-
ing his brow, and contrasting with the darkness
of his complexion, and the brilliancy of his black
and piercing eyes, he must indeed have presented
a picture of peculiar interest. On the following
day, after retreating across the Thames, Procter
called another council of war and the ensuing
scene is described as having been even more
dramatic. Tecumseh had been seated with the
other chiefs on the ground around the camp lire.
He had been apparently an indifferent listener to
the discussion, until the General, whom he had
never liked, requested him to state his views.
He then rose, surveyed the assembled officers and
chiefs, with the light of the camp-fire casting a
ruddy glow over his swarthy features and glisten-
ing in his dark eyes. Striding across the camp,
he stood face to face with Procter and thus
addressed him :
" Brother, have you not run far enough yet ?
Do I see before me a chief of our great father on
the other side of the waters ?
He is a great chief, and knows his children.
When they do one great deed he gives them this
(laying a hand on one of Procter's brilliant epau-
lettes) ; when two great deeds, another (placing
his other hand on the reverse epaulette).
But where did you get these ? Brother, you
are a chief of the great father. Be like Brock —
I'ight and live; or
Fight ami die.
Tecumseh, with his warriors, will not leave their
children nor their lands.
If you go, give usyourguns that on to-morrow's
sun we may use them.
Tecumseh has said, and speaks no more. He
fights, perhaps to die."
The unfortunate battle of Moraviantown follow-
ed, with Procter's defeat and Tecumseh's death.
Oronhyatekha, H.D., is perhaps the most
remarkable living Indian. Born in 1841, near
Brantford, of the purest Mohawk lineage, he was
educated largely through his own exertions, in a
pecuniary sense, at a couple of colleges in the
United States, concluding with a three years'
course at Toronto University. When the Prince
of Wales was in Canada in i860, Oronhyatekha
was selected by the chiefs of the Six Nations to
present him with a loyal address, and so im-
pressed the Prmce by his bearing and ajipearance
that His Koyal Highness sont him to Oxford to
complete his stuilies under the charge of Sir
Henry .\cland, the Regius Professor of Medii ine
at that great seat of learning. Returning to
Canada, after taking his degree, he practised with
much success at Frankford, Stratford and Lon<lon
nntd 1.S81, when he was chosen Supreme Chief
Ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters.
Oronhyatekha.
This position he has since held with ever-increasing
influence and reputation. To him, indeed, that
Order owes mainly its present strong position in
Canada and the United States. His executivf
ability is as marked as his powerful physique and
pride of Indian descent. Oronhyatokha's wife is
a great-granddaughter of Thayendanegea.
The following^ are lists of the Indian warriors
who joined the British cause in 1812. They were
drawn up in that year, and include all the tribes
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'54
CANADA ! AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
who bore arms in the war, or who were friendly
to the British, with the exception of the Sioux
and the Chippewas. The former did not exceed
300 fightinR men at the time, ahhough a tribe
renowned for bravery; and the latter, who occupied
the south and west side of Lake Superior, sent
but very few to the war, though they were not, as
a whole, unfriendly. Thn western Indians who
served were as follows :
Wyandots, or Hurons 450 warriors
Ottawas and Chippewas J50 "
Miamies 180 "
Peons 180 "
Shawnees (Tecumseh's tribe)... 550 "
Shawnees (west of the Missis-
sippi) 500 "
Potawatamies 2000 "
Kickapoos and Muskoutans 450 "
The Ottawas on Grand River,
and the other rivers which
fall into Lake Michigan 550 "
Chippewas, who resided about
Michilimackinac 400 "
Follawines, of Green Bay 500 "
Winnebagoes 700 "
Soakies, on the east side of the
Mississippi 750 "
Foxes 450 "
Chippewas and Ottawas of Sau-
geen Bay, on Lake Huron... 600 "
These constituted the whole of the fighting
men of the western nations of Indians as they
stood in 1812, amounting in all to 8610 warriors.
Such a force, estimated by their numbers, might
be held of little consequence if brought against
disciplined troops in an open country, but when
it is remembered that they occupied a territory of
immense extent lying upon a frontier formed of
dense forests, entirely unfortified, and peculiarly
liable to the desultory mode of warfare which the
Indians knew so well how to carry on, it became
a matter of immense importance for a Power at
war with the United States to be on good terms
with them.
There was always a strong antipathy existing
between the people of the United States (particu-
larly the backwoodsmen) and the Indians, so that
as the settlements of the former advanced the
latter receded. It was largely because of this
feeling that the Indians became the allies of
Great Britain during the war, as they thought
that with the aid of the British arms they might
drive the Americans (those evil spirits, as they
termed them) out of their hunting-grounds.
This idea operated strongly on Tecumseh's
mind. According to Mr. Henry Mott, an able
writer upon this subject, he had formed the plan
of uniting all the Indians of the southern districts
as far as Florida, and those of the west and the
north, together, with the design of making an
attack on the United States, simultaneously with
the British, who were to attack them from the
coast, whilst Canada was to press them from the
north. This was a plan, however impracticable,
which could only be the offspring of a strong and
comprehensive mind. The feelings of the Indians
towards the soldiers of the United States were
manifested in the different engagements in which
they acted with the British troops, as frequently,
after the battle, the English officers and men had
the utmost difficulty in preventing their allies from
scalping the prisoners. The Indians of Upper
and Lower Canada who served in the war were
as follows :
Mohawks, residing about Lake
Erie 400 warriors
Mohawks, residing on the Bay
of Quinte 50 "
Mississaguas, about York and
Lake Ontario 150 "
Chippewas, about Lake Simcoe 70 "
Iroquois, of St. Regis (during
the war they were divided,
and part of them went with
the Americans) 250 "
Iroquois, of Caughnawaga 270 "
Iroquois, of the Lake of Two
Mountains 150 "
Algonquins, at the Lake of
Two Mountains loo "
Abenaquis, from Lorette 100 '*
Algonquins, who resided about
Three Rivers 50 "
These Indians, amounting in all to 1,590, added
to the 8,610 warriors of the western nations,
made a total force of 10,200 men.
V
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVEDIA..
•55
V
The following interestlngr and somewhat
fiery address embodies the feeling of the Iroquois
regardiiif^ the attempt to blow up Brock's monu-
ment at ^uecnston in 1840. It also illustrates
their keen antagonism to the United States :
"To Samuel Peters Jarvis, Esq.,
Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs in
Upper Canada, etc.
Brother : The Chiefs and Warriors of the Mo-
hawks of the Bay of Quintc, assembled in coun-
cil, salute you.
Brother : Upwards of fifty years ago, the Amer-
ican people drove us from our hunting-ground
which the Great Spirit gave our fathers ; and we
can now no longer meet at the great council fire
at Onondaga where our tribes were accustomed
to assemble. But the British have given us a
new home ; and here we live, and light our council
fire in safety.
Brother: Sincewewere driven from our country,
we shake you and every Englishman by the
hand, and call him brother, for we have the same
great Mother, the Queen, who makes no difference
between her Red and White children, except that
she treats us like her younger children.
Brother: Our people are grateful for these
things. We love our great Mother and our new
country ; and will defend both with the last drop
of our blood, as our fathers, the Iroquois, did
before us. The Mohawk will never stand by and
see his adopted country or his white brother in-
sulted. He will avenge it as an injury done him-
self.
Brother: It is this feeling that leads us to ad-
dress you. Our country has been insulted, and
we are very angry at it. We heard of the shame-
ful conduct of our American neighbours. When
some bad people raised a disturbance here, and
were forced to run away, they received these bad
men as their friends, and gave them every assist-
ance to stab and destroy our Mother. But defeat
and shame followed their repeated attempts. We
know the Americans of old. Our fathers told us
how they used them, and we see every year how
they are abusing and murdering our Red Brethren
in the west.
Brother; We always thought the Americans a
bad people ; but until now we thought they were
men. Before the Indian saw the White Man,
the Great Spirit taught him to look upon the
tsi-kagh-negagh-to-de (monuments) of the dead
as sacred ; and much so those of tnc good and
brave. But what are we to think of the wretch
who would steal over in the night like a fox or a
thief, when his neighbours who were at peace
with him were asleep, and tramp down the war-
rior's grave ? Yet an American has done this ;
and his country approves of it ; for she receives
this rattle-snake (who, we hear, had stung several
times before) into her bosom, and hides him from
the punishment he deserves.
Brother : We will not talk of these people ; for
when we do the remembrance of the injuries they
have done us, and are still doing our poor helpless
Red Brethren of the west, makes our blood grow
warm.
Brother : We thank the Great Spirit that He
has taught us the Christian Religion, which
makes us love peace and seek it with all men.
But still we feel that the blood of the once mighty
Iroquois runs in our veins, and insults of this
kind are too much for us.
Brother : We rejoice to hear that our country
is about to build up the tsi-kagh-ne-f;agh-to-de of
Okoughretsha (Sir Isaac Brock). Many of our
people remember the face of that great warrior
and great man. He was the Indian's friend. He
died fighting our enemies, who boasted they were
coming to take our country away again and drive
us from the face of the earth. He deserved the
honour of the tsi-kagh-ne-gagh-to-de, that our
children might know where he nobly fell and where
the bones of the Warrior Chief slept in peace.
Brother : It must be built up again, higher and
stronger than ever. We must show our enemies
we will not be insulted, and if they forget they are
men, they must expect to be treated like beasts
and snakes.
Brother : We are p'oor, but our hearts are big.
We ask leave to put a few stones over the grave of
our departed friend, and we send you a requisition
(for seven pounds ten shillings) for that purpose.
We are proud to stand side by side with our white
brethren in all good deeds. The sum we send is
very small, but it is a little from each Chief and
warrior of our nation, and we give it with our
heart.
Brother : Tell our good father, the Governor,
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
"■[•■:;;!!t
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p '
that altliough our tomahawks are buried, and we
wish to sit down, yet our warriors have not for-
gotten the war-whoop, and whenever it is raised
at the call of our Queen, we will get up, like one
man, to punish our enemy.
Brother. Remember this : we are always ready."
D:ited December 26th, 18^0, this characteristic
document was signed on behalf of the Mohawk
nat.on by its five principal Chiefs.
The story of the Oka Indians in Canada is
at c'lce an ill'istration of the patience of the Gov-
ernment in dealins^ with these people, and a proof
of the desire to do them justice even against
powerful influences. The Oka tribe had been
settled for two hundred years upon lands claimed
and really belonging to the Seigneury of Two
Mountains, near Montreal, in the Province of
(Quebec, and under the control of the pow-rful
Seminary of St. Siilpice. The Seminary claimed
exclusive jurisdiction as against the Crown, and
this was finalK proven. The Indians, meanwhile,
set up other claims based upon occupation of the
soil. The dispute is too intricate and prolong<;d
to particularize in detail, and became, subse
quently, complicated by the Oka Indians accept-
ing Methodism as their religion, building a cl .irch
which was destroyed by the Seminary, . nd in
turn burning down a Catholic chapel.
For two hundred years iheir relations with the
Sulpitian Order in Montreal were close and, at times,
friendly. The first ap|v .1 to the Government,
and claim on behalf of tiie Okas to ownerbi^ip of
the Seigneury, was in 1788, and it Mas then ">
ciiled that they b.ad no title, both by Lord Dcr-
Chester and the Imperial authorities. Fai'iiig in
sMStaini .g this contention, they had, while not
giving it up, bi ought lorward the other clair'i to
help and support iioin the Seminary. This .on-
tentiou all the ordinances, grants and charters
fullysustaincd.and theregulationsof the Su!i>itians
appear also to have recognized. The Indians
'..eie granted iandLi for cultivafion, and tlie .'illage
of Oka grew up as a result, and under conditions
represented in the foliowmg stauunent from the
Seminary :
" This is the mannci in which we ileal with our
Indians in reference to the cultivation of lands.
We allow them the enjoyment of the lands, on
joynient may pass to their children on the same
conditions, and even allow them to sell out that
enjoyment to another Indian who has been es-
tablished in the said Mission for tw^ years. We
only reserve for us the wood, t!^e cutting and
cartage of which we pay for. If they want fire-
wood or timber for building purposes, we allow
f m to have it; but we only permit them to take
..iiat they want for their own use. They arepro-
liibitetl from selling wood without our permission,
otherwise our forest would have been long since
ruined."
In 1856 the Special Commissioners appointed
to investigate Indian affairs in Canada — K. T.
Pennyfather, I'Voome Talfourd, and Thomas
Worthington — reported to the following effect.
There were three tribes living together at this
settlement, Nipissings, Algonquins and Irocpiois.
The land which they occupied belonged to the
Seminary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, " to whom
the Seigneury of the Two Mountains was granted
for the maintenance and instruction of the Indians
stationed there." The population was 884, and
the aborigines owned 60 cows, 17 oxen, 71
horses, 97 swine and 114 ''arts and waggons.
The farm produce for 1856 is stated to have been
813 bushels of wheat; of oats and barley, 771
bushels ; of peas and beans, 226 bushels ; of pota-
toes, 5S0 bushels; of Indian corn, 855 bushels;
and of hay, 181 tons. "The total of the land
under cultivation by the Indians is 890 acres, 664
ofwliichare tilled by the Iroquois, 14S bv the
Algonquins, while 87 are under the management
of the Ninissings." The Commissioners added
an opinion that " the tract is not favouniblo to
agricultural pursuits, being for the most part
sterile and stony."
The IiuUans were assessed for tithes to the extent
of about $200 a year by the Seminary and paid the
assessment in labour, but on the other hand were
given, between 1865 and iSf)8 — as an illustration
— fully $9,800 in seed grain, work which was paid
for, and alms. Disputi's, however, were frequent,
and al'.hough the Governmeiii offered to set apart
16,000 acres of land for them elsewhere they
refused as a whole to accept it. Yet during al",
this period of discussion no force was used
against, the Indians and the powerful intluence of
the Seminary could not enforce any authority
outside of the .strictest legal rights, and even in
condition tliat they will cultivate them ; the en- doing that they were limited by public opinion in
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OIVKDIA.
257
favour of the utmost religious liberty beinfj given
" the wards of the nation." The Indians probably
expected too much. They claimed in a memorial
to Lord Dufferin not only the freedom of worship
to which they were entitled but that the Seminary
was bound by its charter " to provide funds for
their moral and religious instruction " — in other
words, to give pecuniary support to another faith.
Of course such pretensions only increased the
friction. Finally, in 1894 the bulk of the tribe
removed voluntarily to the northern part of
Ontario, obtaining a grant of f 1,000 from the
Government for that purpose, compensation for
any losses incurred, and an ample tract of good
land. The terms of the settlement were deemed
satisfactory by the missionaries amongst them
and it was .iccepted by their advice.
The following: ofScial statement, signed by Sir
Hector Langevin, the Dominion Secretary of
State and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, was
written on December gth, 1868, and deals with
the Oka claims generally :
" The statements contained in your petition to
His Excellency the Governor-General having been
examined and inquired into, I have to answer
them in the following manner :
The Seigni'ury of the Laki- of Two Mountains
was granted in the year 1718 by the King of
France to the gentlemen of the .Seminary of St.
Suipice, and the titlf, which has been recognized
by Act of Parliament, is such as gives to that
body the absolute ownership thereof, and, conse-
quently, the Indians have no right of property in
tiie Seigneury.
With regard to timber, it is found from explan-
ations given by the Superipr of the Seminary,
that the Indians are allowed to cut such wood as
the}' require for fuel and for building purposes,
but are not permitted to cut wood for sale.
It appears, also, that education is bestowed
upon the Indians in the required branches, and
in the I'rench language, as that spoken generally
in that section of Canada ; I, that their religious
instruction has received continued attention ; and
that a very great ileal has been done to improve
the condition afd to contribute to the comfort
■\ . ' welfare of the Iroquois of that Seigneury. And,
;. ; •' .r, that the complaint made that the Indians
have been refused concessions of land for agri-
cultural purposes is contrary to the facts of the
case ; the practice, as explained, being to allot
lands for agriculture in proportion as the Indians
are prepared to clear them.
Having conveyed to you these particulars, it
remains to be added, for the information of the Iro-
quois Indians of that Seigneury, that by authority
of an Order-in-Council there are 1,600 acres of
land set ajiart for the Iroquois of the Lake of
Two Mountains and of Caughnawaga, situated in
the Township of Duncaster, in rear of the Town-
ship of Wexford, and where, provided they be-
come actual settlers and improve the lam's, each
family may be located on a farm lot of sufficient
extent ; and, in that case, it would be ascertained
what aid could be given to the Indians by the
Government.
Should the lands set apart in that township be
insufficient, an endeavour would be made to find
some other locality where the Indians might
settle, if they so desired."
Different Commissions of Inquiry into the
condition of the Canadian Indians have been
issued from time to time, of which those in 1847
and 1S56 were probably the most impoitaiit. In
reference to the Indian title, the Commissioners
of 1S47 thus stated their views:' " Although the
Crown claims tiie territorial estate and eminent
domain of Canada, as in other of the older col-
onies, it has, ever since its possession of the
Province, conceded to the Indians the right of
occupying their old hunting-grounds, and their
claim to compensation for its surrender, reserving
to itself the exclusive privilege of treating with
them for the surrender or [uirchase of any jiortion
of the land. This is distinctly laid down in the
Proclamation of 176,5, ami the principle has since
been generally ackuowledged, ami rarely infringed
upon by the Government."
In carrying out this policy, says Dr. G. M.
Dawson, we find the Government paying sums of
nunicy to certain tribes, and providing them with
annuities as their lands l)i'Come desirable for set-
tlement. The paj iiieiits thus made, thouf:;li often
apparently large, were always small in proportion
to the extent of the territory ceded. The coun-
ti)', for instance, north of Lakes Siii)eiior and
*t'.
■^■ii
258
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Ipjllr
■:i."
■:-Ali
"'t ; r
Huron remained in possession of the Ojibivvajs placed. I am glad to think that in doinp; so
till 1850, when the whole of this vast region, at they have already begun to reap the fruits of iheir
least equal in extent to England, and inhabited forbearance and good sense, and that from ocean
. , ' , f , to ocjan, amidst every tribe of Indians, the name
by between 2,000 and 3.000 Indians, was surren- ^j Canada is synonymous with humanity, with
dered to the Canadian Government for $16,640 good faith, and with benevolent treatment. lam
paid down, and $4,400 in perpetual annuity. On pleased to see amongst those who have assembled
this the Commission in 1856 remarked : " If we to welcome me many members of your families,
consider that it is properly within our province, ""yed in the ancient dress of the Indian nation-
, ,, ^ . r . ^ J J J ality, for I certainly am of opinion that it is wise
we should not hesitate o e.xpress our decided of you to take a just and patriotic pride in those
regret that a treaty, shackled by such stipulations, characteristics of your past history which, being
whereby a vast extent of country has been wrung innocent in themselves, will serve to remind you
from the Indians for a comparatively nominal of your forefathers, and of the antecedents of your
sum, should have received the sanction of the various tribes, and will add colour and interest to
^ . „ 1 . 1 1 J J ^u your existence as a distinct nationality, so happily
Government. In a table prepared under the f^eorporated with the British Empire."
same Commission is the following summary of
acres of land given up, at different times, by the xhe Indians of Western Canada, owing to the
Indians of Canada, with the price paid to them manner in which they were dealt with for gener-
per acre : ations by the Hudson's Bay Company, the former
Ojibiways, 2jd. per acre 7.373,ooo acres, rulers of that vast territory, have an abiding con
" id. " 6,737,750 " fidence in the Government of the Queen, or the
Ottawas, Pottawatamies, Chip- Great Mother, as they style her. This sentiment
pewas and Hurons, xVd- P^-'" should nevjr be shaken, and, it seems probable,
acre ;i,ooi,078 " can be easily and fully maintained. The Treaties
Delawares, 2s. per acre which have been made are based upon the models
Saugeen Indians, 3^d. per acre... :[, 500,000 acres, of that arranged at the Stone Fort in 1871, and
Ojibiways of Lake Superior, 2j^d. the one made in 1873, at the north-west angle of
per acre. Acreage not known the Lake of the Woods, with the Chippewa tribes.
Average rate per acre about ijd. and these again are founded, fn many material
This might represent roughly a million dollars, features, upon those made by the Hon. W. B.
and does not include the far larger sums received Robinson with the Chippewas dwelling on the
by the Iroquois, ard the more western tribes at a shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, in i860,
later date. Nor do'is it include the annual pay- The late Hon. Alexander Morris, Lieut. -Governor
•nents for foor. and implements, and education, of Manitoba and the Territories for a number of
The-elat* . -"nee Confederation have averaged years, summarized these Treaties in i88e, as
nearly a m.in, n a year. Upon the whole, the follows:
Indians ot Canada have been splendidly dealt " A relinquishment, (i) in all the great region
with in comparison with the treatment of aboi- from Lake Superior to the foot of the Rocky
igines in any other country under the sun. Lord Mountains, of all their right and title to the lands
Dufferin summed this policy up in some eloquent covered by the Treaties, saving certain reserva-
words at Brantford which he addresssed to the tions for their own use, and
Iroquois on August 25th, 1874 : 2. I n return for such relinquishtnent, permission
" I believe that one chief reason why the to the Indians to hunt over the ceded territory
Government of Canada has been so pre emi- and to fish in the waters thereof, excepting such
nently successful in maintaining the happiest and portions of llv territory as pass from the Crown
most affectionate relations with the various Indian into the occupation of individuals or otherwise,
nations, with whom it has to deal, has been that j^e perpetual payment of annuities of five
It ha. recognized the rights of these people to live . , , • . ^ u t j-
according to their own notions of what is dollars per head to each Indian-man, woman
iittest for their happiness, and most suitable for and child. The payment of an annual salary of
the peculiar circumstances in which they are twenty-five dollars to each Chief, r\nd of fifteen
: :', .i
CANADA; AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
»S9
dollars to each Councillor, or head man, of a chief
(thus making them, in a sense, officers of the
Crown), and, in addition, suits of official clothing
for the Chiefs and head men, British flags for the
Chiefs, and silver medals.
4. The allotment of lands to the Indians, to
be set aside as reserves for them, for homes and
agricultural purposes, and which can"''! be sold or
alienated without their consent, and i. -n only for
their benefit ; the extent of lands thus set apart
being generally one section for each family of five.
I regard this system as of great value. It at once
secures to the Indiantribestractsof land which can-
not be interfered with by the rush of immigration,
and affords the means of inducing them to estab-
lish homes and learn the arts of agriculture. I
regard the Canadian system of allotting reserves
to one or more bands together, in the localities
in which they have had the habit of living as far
preferable to the American system of placing
whole tribes in large reserves which eventually
become the object of cupidity to the whites, and
the breaking up of which has so often led to
Indian wars, and great discontent, even if warfare
did not result. The Indians have a strong attach-
ment to the localities in which they and their
fathers have been accustomed to dwell, and it is
desirable to cultivate this home feeling of attach-
ment to the soil. Moreover, the Canadian system
of band reserves has a tendency to diminish the
offensive strength of the Indian tribes, should
they ever become restless — a remote contingency
if the Treaties are carefully observed. Besides,
the fact of the reserves being scattered through-
cut the Territories will enable the Indians to
obtain markets among the white settlers for any
surplus they may eventually have to dispose of.
5. A very important feature of all the Treaties
is the giving to the Indian bands of agricultural
implements, oxen, cattle (to form the nuclei of
herds), and seed grain. The Indians are fully
aware that their old mode of life is passing away.
They are not unconscious of their destiny ; on the
contrary, th°y are harassed with fears as to the
future of their children and the hard present of
their own lives. They are tractable, docile and
willing to learn. They recognize the fact that
they must seek part of their living from ' the
mother earth ' to use their own phraseology.
6. The Treaties provide for the establishment
of schools on the reserves for the instruction of
the Indian children. This is a very important
feature, and is deserving of beirg pressed with
the utmost energy. The newg.:'i'. tion can be
trained in the habits and ways ot :,I.ilized life —
prepared to encounter the difficulties with which
they will be surrounded by the influx of settlers,
and fitted for maintaining themselves as tillers of
the soil. The erection of a school-house on a
reserve will be attended with slight expense, and
the Indians would often give their labour towards
its construction.
7. The Treaties all provide for the exclusion of
the sale of spirits, or fire-water, on the reserves.
The Indians themselves know their weakness.
Their wise men say, if it is there we will use it ;
give us a strong law against it. A general pro-
hibitory liquor law, originally enacted by the
North-West Council and re-enacted by the Parlia-
ment of Canada, is in force in the North-West
Territcries and has been productive of much
benefit, but will, in the near future, be difficult of
enforcement owing to the vast extent of the
territory."
At the Conference in 1871 preceding: the
first Canadian Treaty with the western Indians —
called the " Stone Fort Treaty," after the place of
meeting — the Lieutentnt-Governor of Manitoba,
Hon. (afterwards Sir) A. G. Archibald, admirably
expressed in a few simple words the basis upon
which the Dominion Government desired to treat
with the red children of the prairies :
" Your Great Mother, the Queen," he said,
" wishes to do justice to all her children alike.
She will deal fairly with those of tho setting sun,
just as she would with those of the rising sun.
She wishes her red children to be happy and con-
tented. She would like them to adopt the habits
of the whites, to till land, and raise food, and
store it up against the time of want. But the
Queen, though she may think it good for yon to
adopt civilized habits, has no idea of compelling
you to do so. This she leaves to your choice,
and you need not live like the white man unless
you can be persuaded to do so of your own
free will. Your Great Mother, therefore, will lay
aside for you lots of land to be used by you and
!ll!f
960
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPiEDIA.
i. ,.fl}f
lis*
m-^
your children for ever. She will not allow the
white man to intrude upot-. these lots. She will
make rules to keep them fcr you, so that as long
as the sun shal' shine there shall be no Indian
who has not a place that he can call his home,
where he can go and pitch his camp, or if he
chooses build his house and till his land. When
you have made your Treaty you will be free to
hunt over much of the land included in the Treaty.
Until these lands are needed for use you will be
free to hunt over them, and make all the use of
them which you have made in the past. But
when these lands aro needed to be tilled or occu-
pied, you must not go on them any more."
Some interesting facts in connection with
the Indian of the Canadian North-West and his
chief support, the buffalo, were brought out in
a debate in the House of Commons during 1877.
That the advice then given by the two men, who,
perhaps, best knew the great stretch of country
in the northern part of Canada, was not followed
must always be a matter of regret. Now that
the buffalo is almost gone and the western Indians
have to depend more and more upon agriculture
and the Government, the noble animal of the
prairies is being appreciated at its real value. Mr.
(afterwards Sir) John Christian Schultz, declared
upon the occasion referred to that :
" Hundreds of thousands of dollars were being
spent for the maintenance of a Government and
police force in the North-West. The Treaties
made were not likely to be satisfactory to the
I ndiaiis when the settlement of the country pressed
upon them, and it was clearly the duty of the
Government, who were by law constituted the
guardians of this little understood and often tra-
duced race, to see that, while by the stipulations
of their Treaties they were allowed to hunt over
the land which, often with many misgivi.igs and
under pressure of necessity they had sold, this
game, the best gift in their opinion that' the
Great Spirit had given, should be preserved to
them and for their use against the present whole-
.,vl\g destruction and inevitable extermination."
Mr. Donald A. Smith (now Lord Strathcona
and Mount Royal) said that he was happy to be
able to coiicur entirely with the Hon. member for
l.isgir (Mr. Schult2). " It was very necessary
that some steps should be taken to prevent the
entire destruction of the buffalo in the North-
West. This was a matter in which there might
be reciprocity with the United States. We should
give them the same measure which they gave
us. They did not permit any except American
citizens to go to their territories and trade and
hunt, and even their own citizens were forced to
get licenses. The slaughter and disappearance
of the buffalo was owing, in a large measure, to
the inducements held out to American traders.
A large number of the robes went to the other
side ; and, while the Canadian trader lost profit
so far as this was concerned, the buffalo were also
rapidly decreasing, or rather, gradually but surely
being killed out. He hoped that the Government
would be able to devise some means to exclude to
some extent the ingress of American traders, and
also, as far as possible, to give protection to the
buffalo."
An international incident which occurred in
1873-7, illustrittes the difference between the
treatment of Canadian and American Indians, and
brings into strong relief the character of a man
who, in 1897, has just been appointed Adminis-
trator of the Canadian Yukon.
The United States military authorities having
in 1873 called upon Sitting Bull, who, with a large
force had got into conflict with the settlers in
Montana, to surrender, the celebrated Sioux
refused, and Generals Crook, Terry, Gibbon, and
Custer were sent from different directions to
operate against him. General Gibbon found him,
but was afraid with only 600 men to oppose the
tiiree thousand warriors who were behind Sitting
Bull, and awaited re-enforcements. Sitting Bull
gave battle to General Crook and stopped his
advance. Hearing that General Custer was on
his way to attack him, he crossed over to the
Little Big Horn. Custer gave battle, but having
been drawn into an ambush, was cut down with his
entire command after a bloody struggle. Sitting
Bull had thus earned for himself the double repu-
tation of being a skilful commander and a merci-
less savage. Knowing that the whole military
force of the United States would now be em-
ployed against him, the Indian leader crossed the
line into Canada, with all his followers.
.'n
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiliDIA.
261
The nearest Canadian fort or military outpost
was Fort Walsh, culled after the local com-
manding officer of the North-West Mounted
Police. Major Walsh was really the organizer of
that force, and the first officer appointed to its
command. At that time the Police numbered
only 164, and he was at the head of the frontier
division, where all the active work had to be done,
and in connection with which there were thousands
of Indian lodges distributed amongst the Crow
Indians, the Sioux, the Gros Ventres, and the
Assiniboines, and covering about four hundred
milesof frontier. The Police Inspector, as he was
called, had established himself in the CypressHills,
and at once built what became known as Fort
Walsh. In selecting this spot, the gallant young
Canadian, with a force of only about fifty men,
settled in the very heart of the Indian camps. He
was, in fact, completely surrounded by strong and
powerful tribes — Crees, Salteaux. Assiniboines,
Piegans, Bloods, Blackfeet, Gros Ventres and
Sioux, numbering altogether some eight
or Jiine thousand savages. There were some
really intrepid chiefs amongst them, such as
Long Lodge, of the Assiniboines ; Broad Trail,
Spotted Eagle, of the No Bows; and now the
renowned Sitting Bull was added to the number.
When the news reached the Fort that Sitting
Bull had crossed the line and was camped with
one thousand warriors about thirty miles away,
Major Walsh set out at once with an escort of
four men and rode into the Sioux camp, where
he actually slept all night. This was a piece of
daring characteristic of the Inspector, and it no
doubt gave him an advantage which he followed
up and never lost. In the morning he held a
Council with the Chiefs, and informed Sitting
Bull in the most unmistakable language that if
he desired to remain upon British soil he could
only do so by strictly obeying the laws. The
Chief replied that he hud buried the hatchet,
attributed his success against the American troops
to the Great Spirit, and promised to submit to
Canadian regulations and laws.
When he h ' finally assembled his scattered
forces and organized them Sitting Bull was found
to have 1,000 lodges, 8,000 head of horses, and
about 3,500 warriors. It will, therefore, be seen
what a tremendous force of renowned Indian
fighters had projected themselves into Major
Walsh's district. The matter naturally gave the
Ottawa Government much concern, and when the
Dominion authorities received the assent of the
United States Government to their proposition
that a special Commission should be sent to entice
Sitting Bull back across the boundary, Major
Walsh was assigned the delicate task of persuad-
ing him to meet and confer with the detested
Americans. In order to estimate the influence of
Major Walsh over this savage warrior it must be
remembered that he alone of all the great Chiefs,
such as Red Cloud, and Spotted Tail of the Sioux,
held out implacably against the whites, and re-
garded the Americans from first to last with a
deep and terrible hatred.
A somewhat famous interview between General
Terry, General Miles, Sitting Bull, Colonel Mc-
Leod and Major Walsh, took place at Fort Walsh
in 1877, 3"'i was the result of the Major's influ-
ence over the Indian Chief, as the latter's peace-
ful residence on the border for some years had
been due to his respect for British law and Cana-
dian policy toward the Indians, Major Walsh
finally induced Sitting Bull to surrender upon
promise of an amnesty, and it is on record that
one of the requests made by the Chief was for
liberty to cross the line when he wished, for the
purpose of visiting the Canadian ofiicer. Before
he left Canada the renowned warrior presented
the Major with his famous war bonnet, saying:
" Take it, my friend, and keep it. I hopa never
to have use for it again. Not a feather there but
marks some deed done in war while yet the Sioux
were strong." In 1888 the Sioux Chief prevented
his people from selling their lands to the United
States Government, and in December, 1S90, while
an effort was being made to arrest him, he was
treacherously shot dead by the American officer
in command.
No reference to the Indian race would be
complete without some study of its inter- mixtnrti
by blood with the white man. This process iias
been going on in Canada, sometimes perceptibly,
sometimes not, until the Indian of to-day, in
many parts of the country, is far more a white
than a red man, and the half-breed has become
an important factor in certain communities —
Vf]
y..''.
a63
CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P.1-:DIA.
M'
If'!]!
IP-
decreasingly so as the general population increases.
The Hurons of Lorette are an illustration to the
point and the Commissioners of 1856 reported
them the " most advanced in civilization in the
whole of Canada," but added that " they have,
by the inter-mixture of white blood, so far lost the
original purity of race as scarcely to be considered
as Indians." This admixture of the native and
European races had been protracted through a
period of two centuries, till they had lost their
Indian language and substituted for it a French
patois.
Sir Daniel Wilson, in 1874, made an elabor-
ate study of this question and to him is due
the considerations which follow. The hereditary
right of this tribal remnant to a share in certain
Indian funds forms, he thinks, the sole induce-
ment to perpetuate their descent from the Huron
nation, and but for this they would long since
have merged in the common stock. " Yet the
results would not have been eradicated, but only
lost sight of. Their baptismal registers and gene-
alogical traditions supply the record of a practical,
though undesigned, experiment as to the in-
fluence of hybridity on the perpetuation of the
race, and show the mixed descendants of Huron
and French blood still, after a lapse of upwards
of two centuries, betraying no traces of a tendency
towards infertility or extinction. In the Mari-
time Provinces the Micmacs are the represen-
tatives of the aboriginal owners of the soil.
Small encampments of them may be encountered
in summer on the lower St. Lawrence, busily
engaged in the manufacture of staves, bar-
rel-hoops, axe-handles and baskets of various
kinds, which they dispose of with much shrewd-
ness to the traders of Quebec and the smaller
towns on the Gulf. So far ^s I have seen, the
pure-blood Micmac has more of the dark red, in
contrast t6 the prevalent olive hue, than any other
Indian. But t^c Micmacs of Nova Scotia and
New Bruiiswick reveal the same evidence of in-
evitable amalgamation with the predominant race
as elsewhere." Sir William Dawson, indeed,
found great difficulty in the early Seventies in
obtaining even one photograph of a pure-blood
representative of the tribe.
Turning to the influence of this inter-mixture
upon the settlement of the far west, and the his-
toric process by which it was evolved, Sir Daniel
Wilson points out that at every fresh stage of
colonization, or of pioneering into the wilderness,
the work had necessarily to be accomplished by
hardy young adventurers, or by hunters and trap-
pers. It was rare, indeed, for such to be accom-
panied by wives or daughters. Where they found
a home they took to themselves wives from among
the native women ; and their offspring shared in
whatever advantages the father might transplant
with him to his home in the wilderness. To
such mingling of blood, in its less favour-
able aspects, the prejudices of the Indian
presented little obstacle. Henry, in his nar-
rative of travel among the far western Christ-
meaux upwards of a century ago, after describing
the dress and allurements of the women, adds :
" One of the chiefs assured me that the children
borne by their women to Europeans were bolder
warriors and better hunters than themselves."
This idea recurs in various forms. The half-
breed lumberers and trappers have been valued
throughout pioneer Canada for their hardihood
and patient endurance ; the half-breed hunters
and trappers have always been highly esteemed
in the Hudson's Bay territory; and beyond their
remotest forts. Dr. Kane reports as his experience
within the Arctic circle that " the half-breeds of
the coast rival the Eskimos in their powers of
endurance."
Thus far, the late President of Toronto Univer-
sity thinks, the admixture of blood has not been
prejudicial to either race. " But whatever be the
characteristic of the Indian half-breed," he pro-
ceeds to say, " the fact is unquestionable that all
along the widening outskirts of the new clearings,
and wherever an outlying trading or hunting post
is established, a fringe of half-breed population is
to be found marking the transitional border-land
which is passing away from its aboriginal claim-
ants. On first visiting Sault Ste. Marie at the
entrance to Lake Superior, in 1855, I was struck
to find myself in the midst of a considerable popu-
lation, with all the ordinary characteristics of a
frontier town, of whom few had not obvious
traces of Indian blood in their veins, from the
immediate Metis or half-breed, to the slightly
marked, remote descendant of Indian maternity,
recognizable by the abundant straight black hair,
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi^lDIA.
963
the square jaw, and a singular watery glaze in the
dark eye, not unlike that of an English gypsy.
At all white settlements on the frontier, or in the
vicinity of Indian reserves, a similar mixed popu-
lation is to be seen, employed not only as fishers,
trappers, and lumberers, but engaged on equal
terms with the whites in the trade and business
of the place. In this condition the population of
every frontier settlement exists ; and, but for the
enormous direct emigration from Europe, must
have largely affected the Anglo-American race."
But it is in the old-time Red River settlement
of Manitoba — the prosperous Winnipeg city and
district of to-day — that the half-breed element
has found its most important and historic place.
There had long existed on the Red River a
settlement, which had commenced in 181 1 under
the auspices of Lord Selkirk, and afterwards been
transferred to the Hudson's Bay Company. It
was originally formed of hardy Orkney men and
Sutherlandshire Highlanders, but in 1813 the
population did not exceed a hundred in number ;
and in the subsequent rivalry between the Hud-
son'^ Bay and North-West Companies, no effort
was spared to break up the infant colony. On
the amalgamation of the companies, the settle-
ment revived, and before very long numbered up-
wards of two thousand whites, chiefly occupied in
farming, or in the service of the Company. At a
later date, another settlement was formed on the
Assiniboine River, chiefly by French-Canadians.
Sir Daniel Wilson points out that here, as else-
where in these northern districts, the settlers con-
sisted chiefly of young men. " They had no
choice but to wed or cohabit with the Indian
women ; and the result has been, not only the
growth of a half-breed population greatly out-
numbering the whites, but the formation of a
tribe of half-breeds, divided into two distinct
classes, according to their Scottish or French
paternity, who have hitherto kept themselves dis-
tinct in manners, hnbitsand allej,'iance, alike from
the whites and the Indians." Ol course, this was
written in 1874, and very important cliaiiges
havj taken place since. But the followiiif^, as well
as ali< iidy-quoted remarks, are none thu less of
much value. He believed this rise of an independent
half-breed race to have been one of the most re-
markable results of a great, though undesigned.
ethnologicr.l experiment which had been in pro-
gress ever since the meeting of the diverse races
of the Old and New World on the continent of
America.
These half-breed buffalo hunters were wholly
distinct from the civilized settlers, and yet more
nearly related to them than to the wild Indian
tribes. They belonged to the settlement, pos-
sessed land, and cultivated farms, though their
agricultural labours were very much subordinated
to the claims ofthe chase, and they scarcely aimed
at more than supplying their own wants. They
were divided into two bands, and numbered in all
between six and seven thousand. The two divi-
sions had their separate tribal organizations and
distinct hunting-grounds. They were a hardy
race, capable of enduring the greatest privations
and had adopted the Roman Catholic faith. The
Mass was often celebrated on the prairie, and was
viewed as a guarantee of success in the hunting-
field. On their expeditions, it has to be borne in
mind, they were not tempted either by mere
love of the chase or by the prospect of a supply of
game; winter-hunting supplied to the trapper the
valued peltries of the fur-bearing animals. Bat
on the summer and autumn buffalo hunts depend-
ed the supply of the pemmican which furnished
one ofthe main resources ofthe whole Hudson's
Bay population. The summer hunt kept them
abroad on the prairie from about the 15th of June
to the end of August, and smaller bands resumed
the hunt in the autumn.
Some of the half-breeds, in the early days of settle-
ment and in some sections ot the prairie empire
over which they roamed, regarded the Sioux and
Blackfeet as their natural enemies, and carried on
warfare with them much after the fashion of the
Indian tribes which had acquired firearms and
horses ; but th>' y ga; ,e proof of their " Christian "
civilization by taking no scalps. In the field,
whether preparing for hunting or war, the super-
iority of the Ixalf-breeds was strikingly apparent.
They then displayed a discipline, courage and
self control of which the wild Sioux, Crecs, or
Hlackfeet were wholly incapable; and there-
foiL, 'n these tiibal conflicts, looked with undis-
guised contempt on their Indian foes. With the
origin antl qualities of this now diminishing class
Sir Daniel dealt mrther in the following statement:
■^
■J
364
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
" A few years since I printed and circulated, as
widely as possible, a set of queries relative to the
Indian and lialf-breed population both in Canada
and the Hudson's Bay Territory ; and from the
returns made to me by Hudson's Bay factors,
missionaries and others, most of the following re-
sults are derived : The number of the settled
population, either half-breed or more or less of
Indian blood, in Red River and the surrounding
settlements was about 7,200. The intermarriage
there has been chiefly with Indian women of the
Plain Crees, though alliances also occur with the
Swampies (another branch of the Crees), and
with Sioux, Chippewa and Blackfeet women.
But the most noticeable differences are traceable
to the white paternity. The French half-breeds
have more demonstrativeness and vivacity, but
they arc reported to take less readily to the steady
drudgery of the farm than those of Scotch de-
scent. But, at best, the temptations of a border
settlement, with its buffalo hunts and its chief
market for peltries, must greatly interfere with
the iiuiustrious habits common in old settled
agiicultural communities.
A few of the special facts ascertained as the
result of my researciies may be noted here. The
half-breeds are a large and robust race, with
greater powers of endurance than the native In-
dians. Mr. S. J. Dawson, of the Red River Ex-
ploring Expedition, speaks of the French h.ilf-
breeds as a gigantic race as compared with the
F'rench-Canadians of Lower Canada. Professor
Hind refers in equally strong language to their
great physical powers and vigourous muscular
developments ; and the Venerable Archdeacon
Hunter, of Red River, replies in answer to my
inquiry : * In what respects do the half-breed
Indians differ from the pure Indians as to habits
of life, courage, strength, increase of numbers,
etc. ? ' ' They are superior in every respect, both
mentally and physically.' Much concurrent evi-
dence points to the fact that the families descend-
ed from mi.Ked parentage are larger than those of
the whites ; and, though the results are in some
degree counteracted by a tendency to consump-
tion, yet it does not amount to such a source of
diminution on the whole as to interfere with their
steady numerical increase. One of the questions
circulated by me was in this form : ' State any
facts tending to prove or disprove that the off-
spring descended from mixed white and Indian
blood fails in a few generations.' To this the
Rev. J. Gilmour answers : ' I know many large
and healthy families of partial Indian blood, and
have formed the opinion that they are likely to
perpetuate a hardv race.' Archdeacon Hunter
familiar with the facts among the mixed popula-
tion of the Red River Settlement, answers still
more decidedly : ' The offspring descended fron>
mixed white and Indian blood does not fail ; but,
generally speaking, by interinarriage it becomes
very difficult to determine whether they are pure
whites or half-breeds.' "
The Hon. John Norquay, Premier of Manitoba
for many years, was a striking personality, and
embodied in himself the strongest qualities of the
half-breed race. Born in 1841, at St. Andrews,
Manitoba, when the great province of the future
was undreamt of, he came to the front during
the Riel rebellion of 1869-70. In that crisis, his
The Hon. John Nt)rquay.
moderate views and ability won the confidence of
both half-breeds and whites. After the settlement
of the troubles, the union with Canada, and the
establishment of self-government, he became
Minister of Public Works, and in 1876, Prime
Minister of the Province. This position he held
for more than ten years, and did much to develop
the material interests of Manitoba and soothe
the asperities natural to a new, mixed and
struggling community. But the striking point in
his career was the personality of the man, the
\
\
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
265
virile, forceful disposition, the large vigourous
frame, the Indian nature so clearly and closely
combined with that of the white man. He died
in i88g.
The French half-breeds of the North-West
are thus referred to by Lieut. -Governor Morris, in
his volume dealing with the Indian Treaties :
" These people are mainly of Frenf h-Canadian
descent, though there are a few of Scotch blood in
the Territories. Their inHuenco with the Indian
population is extensive. In Manitoba there is a
large population of French Metis and Scotch half-
breeds, and they are proud of their mixed blood.
This race is an important factor with regard to
ail North-West questions. His Excellency, the
Earl of Dufferin, with his keen appreciation of
men and facts, astutely measured the position,
and thus referred to them in his speech at a ban-
quet in his honour given by the citizens of the
whilom hamlet, and now city of Winnipeg, on
the occasion of his visit to the Province of Mani-
toba in the year 1877:
• There is no doubt that a great deal of the good
feeling thus subsisting between the red men and
ourselves is due to the iiitluence and interposition
of that invaluable class of men, the half-breed
settlers and pioneers of Manitoba, who, combining
as they do, the hardihood, the endurance and love
of enterprise generated by the strain of Indian
blood within their veins, with the civilization, the
instruction and the intellectual power derived from
their fathers, have preached the gospel of peace
and good will and mutual respect with equally
beneficent results to the Indian chieftain in his
lodge, and to the British settler in the shanty.
They have been the ambassadors between the east
anil the west ; tne interpreters of civilization and
its exigencies to the dwellers on the prairies; as
well as the exponents to the white man of the
consideration justly due to the susceptibilities, the
sensitive self-respect, the prejudice, the innate
craving for justice of the Indian race. In fact,
they have done for the colony what otherwise
would have been left unaccomplished, and have
introduced between the white population and the
red man a traditional feeling of amity and friend-
ship, which but for them it might have been im-
possible to establish.'
For my own part, I can frankly say that I
always had the confidence, support and active co-
operation of the half-breeds of all origins in my
negotiations with the Indian tribes, and I owe
them this full acknowledgment thereof. The half-
breeds in the Territories are of three classes : ist,
those who, as at St. Laurent, near Prince Albert,
the yu'Appelle Lakes and Edmonton, have their
farms and homes ; 2nd, those who are entirely
identified with the Indians, living with them and
speaking their language ; 3rd, those who do not
farm, but live after the habits of the Indians, by
the pursuit of the buffalo and the chase."
A Special Report was submitted to the Hon.
Hamilton I'ish, United States Secretary of State,
on January 21, 1S70, by Mr. F. N. Blake, United
States Consul at Fort Erie, upon the treatment,
condition and habits of the Indians of British
America. The following summary is of import-
ance in estimating the general position and recent
history of the Canadian tribes :
The common desire to assimdate the Indians
to the other population of Canada found its fust
expression in " An Act (20 Vict., Cap. XXVI.) to
encourage the gradual civilization of the Indian
tribes in this Province," which received the Royal
assent loth June, 1857. Its avowed purpose was
also defmed in the preamble to be the " gradual
removal of all legal distinctions between them and
Her Majesty's other Canadian subjects, and to
facilitate the acquisition of property, and of the
rights accompanying it, by such individual mem-
bers of the said tribes as shall be found to desire
such encouragement and to have deserved it."
The Act defined who should be regarded as In-
dians and entitled to the special benefit of a pre-
vious "Act for the protection of the Indians in
Upper Canada from imposition, and t'.ie property
occupied or enjoyed by them from trespass or
injur)'." It enacted that every male Indian, not
under twenty-one years of age, who was able to
speak, read and write either the English or the
F""rench language readily and well, and was suffi-
ciently advanced in the elementary branches of
education, and of good moral character, and free
from debt, might offer himself for examination to
three Commissioners appointed for that purpose,
one of whom was to be the superintendent of his
tribe, another its missionary, and the third an ap-
pointee of the Governor. If they reported favour-
ably to the application, the Governor might give
notice in the Official Gazette of the enfranchise-
"•'
366
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
nient of such Indians, between whose rights and
liabilities and those of Her Majesty's other sub-
jects no past enactments would thenceforth make
any distinction, and he was no longer legally
deemed to be an Indian.
Provision was also made by which Indians
over twenty-one, but not over forty years of age,
and who could neither read nor write, but could
speaiv English and French readily, and were of
sober and industrious habits, free from debt, and
sufficiently intelligent to manage their own affairs,
might enter upon a state of three years' probation,
with the approval of the Commissioners, and at
the end of that time might, with the approval of
the Commissioners and Governor, be enfran-
chised. Notice of such enfranchisement was to
be given in the Official Gazette.
Such enfranchised Indian would be entitled to
not more than fifty acres out of the land set apart
for the use of his tribe, and to receive in money
a sum equal to the principal of his share in the
annuities and yearly revenues of his tribe. By
acquiring the rights of a white man, he would
cease to have any voice in the proceedings of the
tribe, and by receiving the land and money he
would forego all further claim to the land or
money of his tribe, except a proportional share
in other lands which such tribe might thereafter
sell.
The wife, widow and lineal descendants of such
an enfT.nchised Indian would also be enfran-
chised, but under certain provisions remain en-
titled to their respective shares of all annuities or
annual sums payable to the tribes. Such an In-
dian would only have a life estate in his lands,
and might dispose of it by will to any of his
descendants, and if he died intestate they would
inherit it. His estate therein was liable for his
debts, but he could not otherwise alienate or mort-
gage it.
The same Act provided that Indian reserves or
any part of them might be attached to school dis-
tricts or sections. The Act of 1857 was repealed
in 1859, when another Act (Cap. IX., 22 Vict.)
was passed respecting the civiliijation and enfran-
chisement of Indians. This was one of the
consolidated statutes, and adopted the main
provisions of the previous Act, but was repealed
by the Dominion Act of 1868, (Cap. VI., 32-33
Vict., s. 23) which provided " for the organ-
ization of the department of the Secretary of
State of Canada and for the better management
of Indian and ordnance lands." Mr. Blake de-
clares that this and the supplementary enactment
of the following year were liberal in their spirit and
comprehensive in the views they involved, while
so much intelligence and careful scrutiny were
displayed in their details that he is unable to com-
ply with the request to give proper official infor-
mation in regard to the treatment of the Indians,
and the measures to bring them into habits
of civilization in British North America, without
presenting a brief abstract of both Acts. This is
done as follows :
" By the Act of 1868, the Secretary of State is
also Registrar-General and Superintendent-
General of Indian affairs, and has the control and
management of Indian affairs in Canada. It w.as
enacted that all lands reserved or held in trust
for Indians should continue to be held for the
same purposes as before, but subject to the pro-
visions of this Act, and should not be alienated
or leased until surrendered to the Crown for the
purposes of this Act. All moneys or securities
belonging to the Indians remain applicable as be-
fore, subject to the provisions of this Act. No
land belonging to any Indians or individual In-
dian can be legally surrendered without consent
of the chief or a majority of the chiefs of the
tribe, formally summoned and held in the pres-
ence of the Secretary of State, or an officer duly
authorized to attend such council by the Gover-
nor-General or the Secretary of State, and no
chief or Indian shall vote or be present at such
council unless he habitually resides on or near
the land in question. The fact of such surrender
must be certified on oath before some judge of a
Superior, County or District Court, by the officers
appointed to attend the council, and by one of
the chiefs then present, and be transmitted to the
Secretary of State, and submitted to the Gover-
nor-in-Council for acceptance or refusal."
Mr. Blake goes on to say that the Canadian
Commissioners of 1S56 declared as one of the
results of their enquiries, that they were unable
to discover any reason why the Indians should
not in time take their place among the rest of the
population in Canada. He adds in his own be-
half that: " A labourious and impartial investiga-
tion, conducted with the benefit of their observa-
tions and the additional data of the last twelve
years, has led me also to the conclusion that
althougii the Indians cannot be suddenly trans-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
367
formed from their original condition of savage
hunters to that of farmers and mechanics, they
are capable of civilization, and that the well-
directed and persistent efforts made in Canada
have been so far successful as to leave little room
for doubt that their future triumph will be com-
plete. Whatever may be the ultimate result,
those who have aided in this honourable effort may
safely be assured that their country will be known
in history as having striven to do justice to
the aborigines whom the white men found in
possession of it, and that they have so far found-
ed their empire or dominion upon the principles
of humanity and true civilization."
In British or Canadian oonstitutional docu-
ments there are various references to the Indians.
The Marquess de Vaudreuil demanded in connec-
tion with the capitulation of Montreal, in 1760,
that : " The British General shall engage to send
back to their own homes the savage Indians and
Monaigans who make part of his armies, immedi-
ately after the signing of the present capitulation ;
and in the meantime, in order to prevent all dis-
orders on the part of those who may not have
gone away, the said General shall give safe-guards
to such persons as shall desire them, as well in
the town as in the country." General Amherst
replied with evident indignation : " The first
part refused. There never have been any cruel-
ties committed by the Indians of our army, and
good order will be preserved." The following
enactment was announced in the Royal Proclam-
ation of 1763 :
" And whereas it is just and reasonable, and
essential to our interest and the security of our
colonies, that the several nations or tribes of
Indians with whom we are connected, and who
live under our protection, should not be molested
or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our
dominions and territories as, not having been
ceded to us, are reserved to them, or any of them,
as their huntmg-grounds; we do, therefore, with
the advice of our Privy Council, declare it to be
our Royal will and pleasure that no Governor or
Commander-in-Chief in any of our colonies of
Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida do pre-
sume upon any pretence whatever to grant war-
rants of survey, or pass any patents for lands
beyond the bounds of their respective govern*
ments as described in their commissions ; as also
that no Governor or Commander-in-Chief of our
other colonies or plantations in America do pre-
sume for the present, and until our further pleasure
be known, to grant warrants of survey, or pass
anv patents for lands beyond the heads or sources
of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic
Ocean from the west or northwest ; or upon any
lands whatever which, not having been ceded to
or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to
the said Indians or any of them.
And we do further declare it to be our Royal
will and pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to
reserve under our sovereignty protection, and
dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the
land and territories not included within the limits
of our said three new governments, or within the
limits of the territory granted to the Hudson's
Bay Company : as also the land and territories
lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers
which fall into the sea from the west and north-
west as aforesaid ; and we do hereby strictly for-
bid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving sub-
jects from making any purchases or settlements
whatever, or taking possession of any of the lands
above reserved, without our special leave and
license for that purpose first obtained.
And we do further strictly enjoin and require
all persons whatsoever, who have either wilfully
or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands
v/ithin the countries above described, or upon any
other lands which, not having been ceded to or
purchased by us, are still reserved to the said
Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove them-
selves from such settlements.
And whereas great frauds and abuses have been
committed in the purchasing lands of the Indians,
to the great prejudice of our interests and to the
great dissatisfaction of the said Indians ; in order,
therefore to prevent such irregularities for the
future, and to the end that the Indians may be
convinced of our justice and determined resolu-
tion to remove all reasonable cause of discontent,
we do, with the advice of our Privy Council,
strictly enjoin and re(]uire that no private person
do presume to make any purchase from the said
Indians of any lands reserved to the said Indians
within those parts of our colonies where we have
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268
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
kiH
thought proper to allow settlement ; but that, if
at any time any of the said Indians should be in-
clined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall
be purchased only for us, in our name, at some
public meeting or assembly of the said Indians,
to be held for that purpose by the Governor or
Commander-in-Chief of our colony respectively,
within which they shall lie ; and, in case they
shall be within the limits of any Proprietaries,
conformable to such directions and instructions
as we or they shall think proper to give fov that
purpose ; and we do, by the advice of our Privy
Council, declare and enjoin that the trade of the
said Indians shall be free and open to all our sub-
jects whatever, provided that every person who
may incline to trade with the said Indians, do
take out a license for carrying on such trade from
the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of any of
our colonies respectively, where such person shall
reside, and also give security to observe such
regulations as we shall at any time think fit, by
ourselves or Commissaries to be appointed for this
purpose, to direct and appoint for the benefit of
the said trade ; and we do hereby authorize, en-
join and require the Governors and Commanders-
in-Chief for all our colonies respectively, as well
those under our immediate government as those
under the government and direction of Proprie-
taries, to grant such licenses without fee or
reward, taking special care to insert therein a
condition that such license shall be void, and the
security forfeited, in case the person to whom the
same is granted shall refuse or neglect to observe
such regulations as we shall think proper to pre-
scribe, as aforesaid."
From the Indian Act of 1876 most beneficial
results were expected. It, of course, applied to
all portions of the Dominion, and certain of its
provisions may be given here as being still in all
essential features the law ct the land. In regard
to the protection of Reserves, Section 11 provided
that:
" No person or Indian other than an Indian of
the band shall settle, reside, or hunt upon, occupy
or use any land or marsh, or shall settle, reside
upon or occupy any road, or allowance for roads
running through any Reserve belonging to or
occupied by such band ; and all mortgages or
hypothecs given or consented to by any Indian,
and all leases, contracts and agreements made or
purporting to be made by any Indian, whereby
persons or Indians other than Indians of the
band are permitted to reside or hunt upon such
Reserves, shall be absolutely void."
Tlie next following sections provided for the
removal by the authorities of any person (white
man or Indian) so trespassing and for his in-
carceration in gaol should he return after the first
removal ; they also provided penalties for any
one removing unlawfully from a Reserve any
timber, stone, mineral, or other article of value.
No Reserve or portion ^f a Reserve could be sold,
alienated, or leased until it had been released or
surrendered to the Crown for the purposes of this
Act, and no such release and surrender were to be
valid without the assent of the majority of the
band in council assembled. The next sections
provided for the punishment of any agent giving
false information in regard to land, or hindering
any person from bidding upon or purchasing
lands offered at public sale.
Sections 59 and 60 enacted that : " The Gov-
ernor-in-Council may, subject *o the provisions of
this Act, direct how, and in what manner, and by
whom the moneys arising from sales of Indian
lands, and from the property held or to be held
in trust for the Indians, or from any timber on
Indian lands or Reserves, or from any other source
for the benefit of Indians (with the exception of
any small turn not exceeding ten per cent, of the
proceeds of any lands, timber or property, which
may be agreed at the time of the surrender to be
paid to the members of the band interested
therein), shall be invested from time to time, and
how the payments or assistance to which the
Indians may be entitled shall be made or given,
and may provide for the general management of
such moneys, and direct what percentage or pro-
portion thereof shajl be set apart from time to
time, to cover the cost of and attendant upon the
management of the Reserves, lands, property and
moneys under the provisions of this Act, and for
the construct ion or repair of roads passing through
such Reserves or lands, and by way of contribu-
tion to schools frequented by such Indians.
The proceeds arising from the sale or lease of
any Indian linds, or from the timber, hay, stone^
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^niA.
269
minerals or other valuables thereon, or on a Re-
serve, shall be paid to the Receiver-General to
the credit of the Indian Fund."
The portion of the Act having reference to in-
toxicants was properly very stringent :
" Whoever sells, exchanges with, barters, supplies
or gives to any Indian, or non-treaty Indian in
Canada, any kind of intoxicant or causes or pro-
cures the same to be done, or connives or attempts
thereat, or opens or keeps, or causes to be opened
or kept, on any Reserve or special Reserve, a
tavern, house or building where any intoxicant is
sold, bartered, exchanged or given, or is found in
possession of any intoxicant in the house, tent,
wigwam or place of abode of any Indian or non-
treaty Indian, shall, on conviction thereof before
any judge, stipendiary magistrate, or two justices
of the peace, upon the evidence of one credible
witness other than the informer or prosecutor, be
liable to imprisonment for a period not less than
one month nor exceeding six months, with or
without hard labour, and be fined not less than
fifty nor more than three hundred dollars, with
costs of prosecution — one moiety of the fine to
go to the informer or prosecutor, and the other
moiety to Her Majesty, to form part of the Fund
for the benefit of that body of Indians or non-
treaty Indians, with respect to one or more mem-
bers of which the offence was committed ; and
the commander or person in chargo of any
steamer or other vessel, or boat, from or on
board of which any intoxicant has been sold,
bartered, exchanged, supplied or given to any
Indian or non-treaty Indian, shall be liable, on
conviction thereof before any judge, stipendiary
magistrate, or two justices of the peace, upon the
evidence of one credible witness other than the
informer or prosecutor, to be fined not less than
fifty nor exceeding three hundred dollars for each
such oftence, with cost sof prosecution — the moieties
of the fine to be applicable as hereinbefore men-
tioned; and in default of immediate payment of
such fine and costs any person so fined shall be
committed to any common gaol, house of correc-
tion, lock-up, or other place of confinement, by
the judge, stipendiary magistrate, or two justices
of the peace before whom the conviction has taken
place, for a period of not less than one nor more
than six months, with or without hard labour, or
until such fine and costs are paid; and any Indian
or non-treaty Indian who makes or manufactures
any intoxicant, or who has in his possession, or
concealed, or who sells, exchanges with, barters,
supplies or gives to any other Indian or non-treaty
Indian in Canada any kind of intoxicant shall, on
conviction thereof, before any judge, stipendiary
magistrate, or two justices of the peace, upon the
evidence of one credible witness other than the
informer or prosecutor, be liable to imprisonment
for a period of not less than one month nor less
than six months, with or without hard labour;
and in all cases arising under this section, Indians
or non-treaty Indians shall be competent wit-
nesses ; but no penalty shall be incurred in case
of sickness where the intoxicant is made use of
under the sanction of a medical man or under the
directions of a minister of religion."
Provision was also made for the forfeiture of
any keg, barrel, or other receptacle in which
such liquor has been contained ; and the punish-
ment, by fine, or imprisonment, of the Indian or
other person in whose possession such keg, etc.,
might be found. The Act then went on to pro-
vide that boats or other vessels used in conveying
intoxicants, in contravention of this Act, should
be subject to seizure and forfeiture ; that articles
exchanged for intoxicants might be seized and
forfeited; that Indians intoxicated might be ar-
rested and imprisoned until sober, and fined, and
further punished if they refused to say from whom
they got the intoxicants.
The provision for the enfranchisement of the
Indians was important :
" Whenever any Indian man, or unmarried
woman, of the full age of twenty-one years, obtains
the consent of the band of which he or she is a
member to become enfranchised, and whenever
such Indian has been assigned by the band a
suitable allotment of land for that purpose, the
local agent shall report such action of the band
and the name of the applicant to the Superin-
tendent-General, whereupon the said Superin-
tendent-General, if satisfied that the proposed
allotment of land is equitable, shall authorize
some competent person to report whether the
applicant is an Indian who, from the degree of
civilization to which he or she has attained and
the character for integrity, morality and sobriety
which he or she bears, appears to be qualified to
become a proprietor of land in fee simple ; and
upon the favourable report of such person the
Superintendent-General may grant such Indian a
location ticket at a probationary Indian for the
land allotted to him or her by the band.
Any Indian who may be admitted to the degree
of Doctor of Medicine, or to any other degree by
any university of learning, or who may be ad-
,■1: '
h:/iil
370
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
Mi! !
i
m
initted in any Province of the Dominion to prac-
tise law either as an Advocate or as a Barrister
or Counsellor or Solicitor or Attorney, or to '>e a
Notary Public, or who may enter Holy Orders,
or who may be licensed by any denomination
of Christians as a Minister of the Gospel, shall
ipso /ado become and be enfranchised under this
Act. After the expiration of three years (01 such
longer period as the Superintendent-General may
deem necessary in the event of such Indian's con-
duct not being satisfactory), the Governor may,
on the report of the Superintendent-General,
order the 'jaue of letters patent, granting to such
Indian in fee simple the land which had, with
this object in view, been allotted to him or her
by location ticket."
Provision was also made for the payment to
the enfranchised Indian of his or her share of the
funds at the credit of the band, and it was also
ordered that the sections of the Act relating to
enfranchisement should not apply to any band of
Indians in the Province of British Columbia, the
Province of Manitoba, the North-West Territor-
ies, or the Territory of Keewatin, save in so far
as the said sections might by proclamation of the
Governor-General, be from time to time extend-
ed, as they might be, to any band of Indians in
any of the said Provinces or Territories. Changes
in this Act were subsequently made to give voting
powers to many Indians — especially in Ontario.
The second section of the Electoral Franchise
Act of 1885 contained these apparently insignifi-
cant words : " The expression ' person ' means
any male person, including an Indian " ; and all
Indians of the older Provinces duly qualified were
accordingly given the right to vote in the elec-
tions for members of the House of Commons.
In the previous year the Indian Advancement Act
had been passed, whereby any band of Indians
who should show themselves fit were enabled to
take upon themselves the full privileges, responsi-
bilities and advantages of municipal govern-
ment, and there was further provision made to
meet the case of Indians who might desire to
separate from their tribal connections and settle
down to life on their own account — an allotment
of land from the Reserve being granted to such
and guarded by conditions which prevented alien-
ation or mortgaging.
By the Census of 1890 the Indian population
of Canada was placed at 122,583. This was
divided amongst the various Provinces as follows :
Ontario 17.776
Quebec 13.599
Nova Scotia 2,107
New Brunswick 1.569
Prince Edward Island 321
Manitoba and the Territories 25,743
British Columbia 35.4 16
Yukon, Peace River District, etc 26,054
Of course some of these figures are only
estimates. The Canadian Indians are about
stationary in numbers, however, as compared with
a steady decrease in the United States. For a
time after the cessation of the wars between
England, France and the American Republic
there seems little doubt that the Indian popula-
tion in the latter country increased ; and Zede-
diah Morse, in his Report of 1822, places their
numbers at 471,000. The United States Census
of 1890 places them at 248,253. Depredations by
unscrupulous land-hunters, oppression by ruthless
and irresponsible agents of the Government, wars
brought on by these causes, and the effect of re-
moval from cherished locations to other distant
and colder regions — such as the memorable Cher-
okee nation removal in 1838 through a fraudu-
lent treaty and the aid of 8,000 troops — have, in
the Republic, had their natural consequences.
The annual expenditure upon the Indians in
Canada is considerable. They had at their credit
in the Indian Fund a sum of $3,594,206 on June
30th, 1895. The expenditure from this fund,
chiefly interest, was in that year $246,521, and
the amount expended by Parliamentary appropri-
ation was $955,404. This is the average yeaily
sum spent by Canada upon the aborigines, while
the Indian Fund itself — which consists of moneys
accrued from annuities, secured to the Indians
under treaty, and from sales of land, timber,
stone, etc., suriendered by them, is slowly in-
creasing. There is no contra demand by Govern-
ment against this fund. In the United States it
is different. The Government there held in 1890
$31,200,000 in trust for the Indians, but against
this there were claims which have since been con-
sidered in detail of nearly the same amount, for
alleged Indian depredations upon the whites.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
?7i
Differences in the administrative system of the
two countries are now pretty generally recognized.
A Report submitted to the President of the
United States by Professor Marsh, in 1875, dealt
vigourously with the corrupt and shameless con-
duct of the Indian agents, and two years later
Bishop Butler, of the American Church, declared
that " if the United States Indians were treated
as fairly as those in Canada, there would be no
wars." And an elaborate official work upon the
Indians of the Republic, published in connection
with the Census of 1890, states that " the leasing
of his lands for the benefit of the Indian (in Can-
ada) when he cannot use them is a feature worthy
of imitation in this country. . . . The pro-
vision for municipal government by which Indians
may have the regulation of their affairs in their
own hands, in Canada, is also worthy of consider-
ation in the United States." The great import-
ance of this policy in Canada was shown during
the Riel troubles of 1885, when that astute half-
breed rebel was able to only win over a mere
handful of Indians from our western wilds. Had
the latter taken up the tomahawk generally, the
prairies would have been swept with a terrific
storm of fire and blood.
The Government policy towards the Indians
of Canada has always had in view their ultimate
conversion into useful citizens, through interesting
them in agricultural pursuits. Cattle, upon which
they have in all districts to depend largely, and
in some to look to as their mainstay, are carefully
herded ; and the practice of supplying the tribes
with anything in the shape of harness, imple-
ments or utensils, which they can be taught to
make for themselves, has of late been discontin-
ued. Of course, much natural ignorance, supersti-
tion and inaptitude have to be overcome before
the Indian can be persuaded to persevere in suc-
cessful farming operations ; but that the efforts of
the Government are meeting with some success
is shown by the following table of Indian farming
transactions in 1895 :
I
8 B •
•B 3.2
Ontario 17,611
Quebec 7>426
Nova Scotia 2,164
New Brunswick 1,668
Manitoba and N.W.T. 23,683
British Columbia... 23,196
Prince Edward Isl'd 287
8
1
1
i
J3
1
2%
Q.
B
•0
h
2; s
Number of hors*
cattle, sheep, pi(
etc
1
•0
V
1
1
h
1
1
82,853
1,103
10,924
16,317
333.520
91.238
10,994
$167,009
10,761
118
2,467
2,811
51.707
23,080
2,806
101,788
2,388
50
398
346
1,046
6,598
1,038
30,748
1.243
41
424
3^3
5,540
9.095
349
37.125
12,364
1,096
23,627
24.502
53.107
57.744
36,978
263,918
10,499
248
15,139
21,401
93,181
43.184
5,084
1,014,700
240
7
94
56
1,127
1,913
22
6,100
Total, 1895 76.035 120,348 2,663 53,073 65,746 539,228 232,852 57,271 1,621,388
Total, 1894 75.710 118,487 2,504 47.042 61,435 473,922 247,820 50,333 1,345.371
Mr. Hayter Re«d, in his last Report as Deputy
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, stated the num-
ber of Indians in Canada during the last five
years as follows :
1892 106,205
1893 96,717
1894 97,227
1895 ; 102,275
1896 100,027
The difference between these figures and those
of the Census of 1890 is due to more exact know-
ledge respecting the aboriginesof British Colum.bia
j! r.
IMI
272
CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
i
M
It:
and of the Peace River and other comparatively
unexplored regions. There appears to have been
a gradual increase since 1893, which was sus-
pended in 1896 and gave place to a decrease.
Of those who are reported for the latter year
28,498 were Protestants, 42,454 Roman Catholics,
16,812 were Pagans, and the religion of 12,362
was unknown. Ontario had 17,663 Indians as
against 17,307 in 1895. There were 1,526 Pagan
Indians in that province, and of the balance
9,674 were Protestants and 6,167 Roman Catholics.
The mortality among the Indians in the West
w IS greater than the birth rate. This is attri-
buted to the very early marriages and lack of
experience of young mothers in caring for the
young. Mr. Hayter Reed reported that, taking
the Dominion throughout, the conduct of the
Indians was ail that could be expected, save as
regards intemperance, of which there was still a
good deal. There were 2S8 Indian schools, all
told, attended by 9,714 pupils.
There have been about 1540 Treaties with the
Indians under which lands have been transferred
to the Crown in the several provinces of the pre-
sent Dominion. It has been pointed out by the
Dominion Statistician that some of these treaties
and surrenders of territory are very old. Thus,
No. 239 has articles of submission and agreement
made at Boston, in New England ; bears date
15th December, 1725 ; and contains the acknowl-
edgement of the submission of the Indians of
Nova Scotia, or Acadia, and New England to
King George II., in connection with the Treaty
of Utrecht, 1713. " Signed, sealed and delivered
in the presence of the Great and General Court
or Assembly of the province of Massachusetts
Bay, and ratified at the Fort of Annapolis Royal,
Nova Scotia," it bears traces of the fine work of
Paul Mascarene, the well-known Governor of
Nova Scotia.
Another is the Treaty of 1727. This was an
alliance, offensive and defensive, between the
English and the Indians, done at the Conference
of Casco Bay, and signed on behalf of King
George by William Dummer, Lieut.-Governor of
Massachussetts Bay ; J, Wentworth, Lieut-Gov-
ernor of New Hampshire; and P. Mascarene,
Commissioner for the Government of Nova Scotia.
A third is the renunciation by the Chippewaf,
through their representatives and chiefs, to King
George III., of the Island of Michilimackinac,
called by the French Canadians " La Grosse Isle,"
the consideration money being " ;f 5,000, New York
currency," the Indians promising to preserve in
the village a belt of wampum seven feet in length
"to perpetuate, secure and be a lasting
memorial of the said transactions to our nation
for ever hereafter." The date is the 12th of May,
1781.
A fourth, dated 1790, conveys the area out of
which have been cut the counties of Essex and
Kent and portions of Elgin, Middlesex, and Lamb-
ton. The grantors are the principal village and
war chiefs of the Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawa-
tomie and Huron nations around Detroit. The
conveyance is to King George III., the payment
of the consideration money, ;^i,2oo Halifax cur-
rency, in valuable wares and merchandise, being
made by Alexander McKee, Deputy Agent of
Indian Affairs. Among the valuable wares and
merchandise then given to the Indians were 840
pairs of blankets, ranging in price from 4/9 a pair
to 12/- ; 35 pieces of shrouds at 67/- ; 140 yards of
scarlet cloth at 8/- ; 12 pieces of cadies, 420 yards,
at 2/6 ; 26 pieces Embolton linen, 96 yards, at
15/-; 50 gross ribbons at 10/6; 100 pounds ver-
milion at 4/- ; I dozei) black silk handkerchiefs;
60 guns at 20/6 ; 20 rifles at 50/- ; 1,000 pounds
ball and shot at 21/- per 100 pounds ; 2,000 flints
at 10/- per 1000 ; 30 dozen looking-glasses at 3/-
per dozen; 10 pairs callemaneon at 21/-; 1,000
fish hooks at 22/6 ; 39 gallons rum at 3/9 ; 400
pounds tobacco at 1/3 ; 24 laced hats at 20/- ; 11
gross pipes at 1/6 ; 600 pounds brass kettles at
1/3 per pound, etc.
Among these early documents is one from
Louis XIV., dated 29th May, 1680, granting the
land called Le Sault, near the St. Louis rapids,
to the Jesuits for the use of the Iroquois settled
there. The grant " most expressly prohibits
and forbids the French, who may live with, or go
among, the said Iroquoic and other Indian nations
who may settle on the said land called Le Sault,
from having and keeping any cattle, and all per-
sons from keeping any public-houses among the
dwellings of the said Iroquois, which may be
built on the said land."
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
273
The details of Canadian Treaties with the
Indians are important and have been dealt with
at length by the late Lieut. -Governor Morris, the
late William Leggo, of Winnipeg, and Mr. George
Johnson, of Ottawa. From these authorities the
following additional facts may be given :
Valuable minerals having been discovered on
the northern shores of Lake Superior and Huron,
the Government of the Province of Canada com-
missioned the late Hon. W. li. Robinson to ne-
gotiate with the Indians holding these lands, and
that gentleman in 1850 made two treaties, which
form the models upon which all subsequent
treaties with the Indians of the North-West have
been framed ; their main features being annuities,
reserves and liberty to hunt and fish on the
lands until sold by the Crown. In 1862 the
Goveiurnent of the old Province of Canada ob-
tained the surrender of the Indian title to the
Great Manitoulin Island. In 1871 the Dominion
Government set seriously to work to quiet the
western Indians, who were then very restless,
by arranging with them solemn treaties.
It was considered desirable to begin with the
Ojibiways or Chippewas found between Thunder
Bay and the north-west angle of the Lake of the
Woods. Mr. Wemyss McKenzie Simpson was
appointed Indian Commissioner for the purpose.
Having issued a proclamation inviting the In-
dians to meet him at Lower Fort Garry, or the
Stone Fort, on 25tli July, 1871, and at Manito';a
Post, a Hudson's Bay Fort at the north er.d of
Lake Manitoba, on the 17th August fol'owing,
Mr. Simpson, accompanied bj* the Hon. A. G.
Archibald, then Lieutenant-Governor of Mani-
toba and the North-West Territories, the Hon.
James McKay, and Mr. Molyneux St. John, at-
tended at these points, and, after much negoti-
ation, succeeded in completing two treaties,
known as Nos. One and Two. The principal
features of these treaties, for they were identical,
were the absolute relinquishment to Her Majesty
of the Indian title to the tracts described ; the
reservation of tracts sufficient to furnish 160
acres to each Indian family of five ; provisions
for the maintenance of schools ; the prohibition
of the sale of intoxicating liquors on the Re-
serves; a present of three dollars to each Indian,
and the payment of three dollars per head yearly
for ever. Roughly, these treaties secured the
title to a tract of country extending from the
present easterly boundary of Manitoba, westerly
along the boundary line between Canada and the
United States — the 49th parallel — about 300
miles, and running north about 250 miles, includ-
ing the present Province of Manitoba, and form-
ing an area of about 60,000 square miles of ad-
mirable land.
In the same year (1S71), it was found necessary
to obtain tlie title to the area from the watershed
of Lake Superior to the north-west angle of the
Lake of the Woods, and from the American
boundary to the height of land from which the
streams flow towards Hudson's Bay. This step
had become necessary in order to render the route,
known as the " Dawson route, " secure for the
passage of the immigrants, and to enable tne
Government to throw the land open for settle-
ment. Messrs. W. M. Simpson, S. J. Dawson,
and W. J. Pother were appointed Commissioners,
and, in July, 1871, they met the Indians at Fort
Francis. Difficulties arose, and no treaty was
affected. The matter was adjourned, and the
Indians were asked to consider the proposals and
meet again during the following summer. But
they were not ready then, and the negotiations
werr. indefinitely postponed. In 1S73, it was
det irmined to make another effort, and a commis-
pion was issued to Mr. Morris, then Lieutenant-
Governor; Lieut. -Colonel Provencher, who had
in the meantime been appointed Commissioner of
Indian Affairs in the place of Mr. Simpson, who
had resigned ; and Mr. Lindsay Russell — but the
latter gentleman being unable to act, Mr. Dawson,
afterwards M.P. for Algoma, was appointed in his
stead. The Commission, thus organized, met the
Indians at the north-west ar^gle late in Septem-
ber, 1873, and after protracted and difficult
negotiations succeeded in completing the Treaty
Number Three.
This Treaty was of great importance. It
released that portion of the North-West between
the westerly boundary of Ontario and the Province
of Manitoba, and extending north about 250 miles.
Its width is about the same, and a territory of
about 55,000 square miles was released from the
Indian title. It was of the utmost consequence
that these lands should be speedily secured because
274
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
my\
the Dawson road ran over them : the Canadian
Pacific Railway in its progress from Fort William
to Selkirk on the Red river passed through them,
and they were believed to be rich in minerals.
The sharpness of the Indian, and his acutness in
bargaining, were for once conspicuously exhibited.
Mr. Morris conducted the " palaver." The de-
mands of the Indians, however, were somewhat
unreasonable and the negotiations were several
times on the point of being broken off. Nothing
but the fortunate combination of skill, patience,
firmness and good temper on the part of the
Lieutenant-Governor could have enabled him to
achieve the ultimate diplomatic triumph which
was of the greater value since it struck the key-
note of all the subsequent treaties, and taught the
Indians that though the Government might be
generous, it would none the less firmly resist im-
position. Several days were consumed in fruitless
talk ; the Indians demanded a payment down of
$15 for every head then present; $15 for each
child thereafter to be born forever; $50 each year
for every chief; and other payments amounting
to an additional $125,000 yearly, and that in
addition to their reserves of land and the right to
hunt and fish. They had a very high and just
estimate of the value of the territory. They evi-
dently supposed it contained the precious metals,
as during the council a speaker in the poetic style
peculiar to the Indians, exclaimed : " The sound of
the rustling of gold is under my foot where I
stand : we have a rich country : it is the Great
Spirit who gave us this ; where we stand upon is
the Indians' property, and belongs to them."
The next treaty was the Qu'Appelle (Who
calls) treaty, or No. Four, and is named from the
Qu'.'\ppelle Lakes, where it was made. The In-
dians treated with were the Cree and Saulteaux
tribes, and by it 75,000 square miles of most
valuable territory were secured. It included a
portion of the far-famed " fertile belt, " and was
the first step taken to bring the Indians of that
splendid terrritory into close relations with the
Government. It extends from the westerly limits
of No. Two, westerly along the American bound-
ary about 350 miles, and runs in a north-east
direction to the head of Lake Winnipegosis,
about 300 miles north of the international bound-
ary. In his report for 1875, the Hon. Mr. Laird,
then Minister of the Interior, pays a high com-
pliment to Mr. Morris, for he states " that it is
due to the council to record the fact that the
legislation and valuable suggestions submitted to
Your Excellency from time to time, through their
official head. Governor Morris, aided the Govern-
ment not a little in the good work of laying the
foundations of law and order in the North-West,
in securing the good will of the Indian tribes,
and in establishing the prestige of the Dominion
Government throughout that vast country."
A commission was next issued to Mr. Morris,
Mr. Laird and Mr. Christie, a retired factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company and a gentleman of
large experience among the Indian tribes. These
gentlemen met the Indians in September, 1874.
at Lake Qu'Appelle, three hundred and fifty miles
nearly due west from Winnipeg, accompanied by
an escort of militia under Col. Osborne Smith,
C.M.G. The Commissioners were met again by
somewhat excessive demands, and their difficul-
ties were intensified by the jealousies existing be-
tween the Crees and the Chippewas ; but through
firmness, gentleness and tact they eventually suc-
ceeded iu securing a treaty similar in terms to
No. Three. The conference opened on the 8th
September, and the first three days were entirely
fruitless ; the Indians seemed unwilling to begin
serious work, for they were undecided among
themselves and could not make up their minds
to put forward their speakers. On the fourth
day, Mr. Morris addressed them for the fourth
time, and his speech, as given in his volume
upon the subject, shows the style of thought and
language which was found effectual with these
children of the forest. Mr. Morris subsequently
made a similar treaty at Fort Ellice with a few
Indians who could not attend at Qu'Appelle, and
ne also in July, 1876, settled troublesome diffi-
culties which had arisen out of Treaties One and
Two.
In September, 1875, the Winnipeg or No.
Five treaty was concldded. This covers an area
of about 100,000 square miles. The territory
lies north of that covered by Nos. Two and
Three. Its extreme northerly point is at Split
Lake, about 450 miles north of Winnipeg, and
its width is about 350 miles. The region is in-
habited by Chippewas and Swampy Crees. A
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
275
treaty had become urgently necessary. It in-
cludes a great part of Lake Winnipeg, a sheet of
water three hundred miles in length, having a
width of seventy miles. Red River empties into
it, and Nelson River flows from it to Hudson's
Bay. Steam navigation had been established on
it before the treaty. A tramway of five miles
was in course of construction to avoid the Grand
Rapids, and connect that navigation with steam-
ers on the River Saskatchewan. The Icelandic
settlement, visited by Lord Dufferin, where he
made one of his best speeches, was on the west
side of the lake ; and until the Pacific Railway
supplied the want, this lake, with the Saskatch-
ewan, was the thoroughfare between Manitoba
and the more distant regions of the West. For
these and other reasons the Minister of the In-
terior reported that " it was essential that the
Indian title to all the territory in the vicinity of
the lake should be extinguished so that settlers
and traders might have undisturbed access to its
waters, shores, islands, inlets and tributary
streams. Mr. Morris and the Hon. James Mc-
Kay were thereupon appointed Commissioners to
treat with the Indians. They performed the
work partly in 1875, and it was concluded in 1876
by the Hon. Thos. Howard and Mr. J. L. Reid,
under instructions from Mr, Morris. The treaty
was made at Norway House, at the foot of the
lake, and its terms were identical with those of
Nos. Three and Four, except that the quantity of
land given to the families was smaller, and the
gratuity was reduced from twelve to five dollars
per head.
The Treaties Nos. One, Two, Three, Four and
Five comprised an area of about 290,000 miles;
but there was still an immense unsurrendered
tract lying east of the Rocky Mountains, between
the American boundary and the 55th parallel, con-
taining about 170,000 square miles, which it was
essential should be immediately freed from the
Indian title. This was effected by Treaties Nos.
Six and Seven. No. Six was made at Forts Car-
leton and Pitt. The great region covered by it —
or rather by the two, forming together what is
officially known as No. Six — embraces an area of
about 120,000 square miles, and contains a vast
extent of the most fertile lands of the North- West.
The Crees were the owners of this magnificent
territory. They had, ever since 1871, been un-
easy about their lands, and had frequently ex-
pressed their desire to treat with the Government.
The Hon. Mr. Mills, Minister of the Interior, in
his Report for 1876, thus alludes to the matter :
"Official reports received last year from His
Honour Governor Morris and Col. French, the
officer then in command of the Mounted Police
Force, and from other parties, showed that a
feeling of discontent and uneasiness prevailed very
generally amongst the Assiniboines and Crees
lying in the unceded territory between Saskatche-
wan and the Rocky Mountains. This state of
feeling, which had prevailed amongst these Indi-
ans for some time past, had been increased by the
presence, last summer, in their territories, of the
parties engaged in the construction of the tele-
graph line, and also of a party belonging to the
Geological Survey. To allay this state of feeling
and to prevent the threatened hostility of the
Indian tribes to the parties then employed by the
Government, His Honour Governor Morris re-
quested and obtained authority to despatch a
messenger to convey to these Indians the assur-
ance that Commissioners would be sent this sum-
mer to negotiate a treaty with them, as had
already been done with their brethren further
east."
A commission was accordingly issued to Mr.
Morris, the Hon. Mr. McKay and Mr. Christie.
These gentlemen first met the Indians near Fort
Carleton, on the Saskatchewan, in August, 1876,
and succeeded in effecting a Treaty with the
Plain and Wood Crees on the 23rd of that month
and with the Willow Crees on the 27th. The
negotiations were exceedingly difficult and pro-
tracted, and the temper, discretion and firmness
of the Commissioners were put to the severest
test. On the conclusion of the Ireaty at Fort
Carleton, the Commissioners proceeded to Fort
Pitt, where they met with no further difficulty,
and the Treaty was soon concluded. The Com-
missioners discovered amongst these Indians a
strong desire for instruction in farming, and for
missionary and educational aid.
Treaty No. Six extends from the westerly
boundary of No. Five to the Rocky Mountains, a
distance of about 600 miles, and from the north-
ern boundaries of Nos. Seven and Four to the 55th
parallel, the greatest width being about 300 miles.
The projected route of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way passed through nearly its entire length. This
''i-i','
.v<:
*'f
I'^^li
476
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiEDIA.
I'
was the last Treaty in which Mr. Morris tooic a
part. His term of office expirin,^ in 1878, he left
Manitoba and returned to Ontario. A compara-
tively small territory, however, lying between the
Rocky Mountains and Nos. Four and Six, was
still unceded, and as it was important to obtain
the Indian title as soon as possible, a commission
was issued in 1877 for the purpose to the Hon.
David Laird, then Lieutenant-Governor of the
North-West Territories, and Lieut. -Col. McLeod
of the Mounted Police Force. This region was
occupied by the Blackfect. They met the Com-
missioners at the Hlackfoot crossing on the Bow
River on the 17th September, 1S77, and after hvc
days oi teiVioiis pow-ic'ou'iii)^, the Treaty No. Seven
was concluded. The terms were substantially the
same as those of Nos. Three and Four, except
that, as some of the bands desired to engage in
pastoral instead of agricultural pursuits, they
were given cattle instead of farming implements.
The Minister of tlie Interior well observed in his
ensuing Report that " the conclusion of this
Treaty with these warlike and intractable tribes,
at a time when the Indians, immediately across
the border, were engaged in open hostilities with
the United States troops, is certainly a conclusive
proof of the just policy of the Government of
Canada towards the aboriginal population." To
this Mr. Morris adds these significant words
in his record of the work thus done : " .\nd
of the confidence of the Indians in the pro-
mises and just dealing of the servants of the
British Crown in Canada — a confidence that can
only be kept up by the strictest observance of the
stipulations of the treaties."
One of the flrst Canadian Treaties of import-
ance with the Indians was arranged in i8j6 by
Sir Francis Bond Head, then Lieut.-Governor of
Upi^er Canada. By this arrangement a large
number of the aborigines were located upon
Maiiitoulin Island after having first renounced
their territorial claims upon the mainland in favour
of the Crown. The Treaty aroused much strong
opposition at the time from missionaries and others,
who claimed tliat justice had not been done to the
red man, and that mission rights had been seriously
interfered with. The views of the Lieut-Gover-
nor may be seen from the terms of the following
despatch to Lord Glenelg, then Colonial Secre-
tary :
" Toronto, 20th August, 1836.
My Lord :
Your Lordship is aware that my predecessor,
Sir John Colborne, with a view to civilize and
Christianize the Indians who inhabit the country
north of Lake Huron, made arrangements for
erecting certain buildings on tuc Great Manitoulin
Island, and for delivering on this spot, to the
visiting Indians, their presents for the present
year. The instructions which I received from
Your Lordship to counteract or defer these
arrangements reached me too late to be acted
upon ; and it being impracticable to promulgate
to the Indians that they were not to assemble
there, I determined to proceed to the Island and
attend the meeting.
I was five days going there in a canoe, and
during that period, as well as during my return,
had an opportunity of meandering through and
living upon the islands which are on the north
shore of Lake Huron, and which exceed in num-
ber 23,000. Although formed of granite, they are
covered with various trees growing in the inter-
stices of the rock, and with several descriptions
of berries, upon which Indians feed ; the sur-
rounding waters abound in fish. On arriving at
the Great Manitoulin Island, where I was re-
ceived by 1,500 Indians who had assembled for
theii presents, I found that this Island, as well as
those I had mentioned, belong (under the Crown)
to the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, and that it
would therefore be necessary to obtain their per-
mission before we could avail ourselves of them
for the benefit of other tribes.
Although I did not approve of the responsi-
bility as well as the expense of attracting, as had
been proposed, the wild Indians from the country
north of Lake Huron to Manitoulin; yet it was
evident to me that we should reap a very great
benefit, if we could persuade those Indians who
are now impeding the^ progress of civilization in
Upper Canada to resort to a place possessing
the double advantage of being admirably adapted
to them (inasmuch as it affords fishing, hunting,
bird-shooting and fruit), and yet in no way
adapted to the white population. Many Indians
have long been in the habit of living in their
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
»77
canoes among these islands, and from them, from
every inquiry I could make, and from my own
observations, I felt convinced that a vast benefit
would be conferred both upon the Indians and
the Province by prevailing upon them to migrate
to this place.
I accordingly explained my views in private
interviews which I had with the Chiefs, and I
then appointed a Grand Council, at which they
should all assemble to discuss the subject, and
deliberately to declare their opinions. When the
day arrived, I addressed them at some length, and
explained to them, as clearly as I was able, their
real interests, to which I found them very sensibly
alive. The Indians had previously assembled to
deliberate upon the subject and had appointed
one of their greatest orators to reply to me.
The individual selected was Sigonah (the Black-
bird), celebrated among them for having on many
public occasions spoken without once stopping
from sunrise till sunset.
Nothing could be more satisfactory than ^he
calm, deliberate manner in which the Chief gave,
in the name of the great Ottawa tribe, his entire
approval of my projects ; and as the Chippewas
and Ottawas thus consented to give up the
twenty-three thousand Islands, and as the Sau-
geens also consented to give up a million and a
half of acres, adjoining the lands of the Canada
Company, I thought it advisable that a short,
plain memorandum should be drawn up, explana-
tory of the foregoing arrangements, to be signed
by the Chiefs while in council, and witnessed by
the Church of England, Catholic and Methodist
clergymen who were present, as well as by the
several officers of His Majesty's Government.
I enclose to Your Lordship a copy of this most
important document, which, with a wampum
attached to it, was executed in duplicate ; one
copy remaining with me, the other being deposited
with a Chief selected by the various tribes for that
purpose. Your Lordship will at once perceive
that the document is not in legal form but our
dealings with the Indians have been only in equity,
and I was therefore anxious to show that the
transaction had been equitably explained to them.
The surrender of the Saugeen territory has long
been a desideratum in the Province, and it is now
especially important, as it will appear to be the
first fruits of the political tranquility which has
been attained. I feel confident that the Indians,
when settled by us in the manner I have detailodi
will be better off than they were ; that the posi-
tion they will occupy can bona fide be fortified
against the encroachments of the whites ; while,
on the other hand, there can be no doubt that the
acquisition of their vast and fertile territory will
be hailed with joy by the whole Province.
I have etc.,
(Signed) F. B. Head."
The system of annual presents to the Indians
was maintained as a sort uf distribution uf bounty
from the British Sovereign during a prolonged
period beginning with the events of the American
Revolution. It was not entirely discontinued un-
til Confederation, in 1867, and must have involved
a very heavy total expenditure. It was, until about
1841, entirely an Imperial affair, but after that time
the presents were given mainly from the income of
Crown Lands received from, or held in trust for,
the Indians. In iS 56 the cost of these gifts was
^8,500 in Upper Canada and j/^'4,000 in Lower
Canada. They consisted usually of blankets,
clothing, guns and trinkets, and were looked for-
ward to by the Indians with great anticipation
not only as a source of comfort but as a reward for
their services in war and a pledge of continued Brit-
ish friendship. In 1837 "^ Committee of the Execu-
tive Council of Lower Canada, composed of the
Hon. Messrs. Smith, De Lacy, Stewart, and Coch-
ran, was appointed to examine into the workings of
the Indian Department, and reported to the Gover-
nor — Lord Gosford — upon this particular point as
follows :
" The Committee, therefore, deem it their duty
to express in the strongest manner their convic-
tion that good faith, justice and humanity alike
forbid the discontinuance of the presents until the
Indians shall be raised to a capacity of maintain-
ing themselves on an equality with the rest of the
populationof the Province. Although the Indians
have no express agreement with the King's Gov-
ernment, to refer to which entitles them to a con-
tinuance of this ki.id and extent of support, the
whole tenor of the conduct observed towards
them since the year 1759 has led them to such an
expectation ; nor were there wanting public acts
fr
a78
CANADA ; AN ENCYCLOI'.KDIA.
m
to confirm it, for besides their having been at all
times treated by the British Government as allies
or dependents in the continental wars since that
period, by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 the
lands held or claimed by them within the Pro-
vince of Quebec were in a special manner taken
under the administration of the Crown for their
benefit, and such particular precautions were en-
joined with respect to the disposal of them as
showed that the Crown felt itself bound to secure
to the Indians their ordinary means of subsist-
ence."
Writing to Lord Glenelg on July 13th, 1837,
the Earl of Gosford thus referred to the Report
just quoted: "The Committee, in advising
against the discontinuance of the presents at any
early period, do not so much advert to their
actual value to the Indians, though to them that
value is not inconsiderable, as to the moral effect
of the system on their character and habits ; and
they are firmly impressed with the belief that no
extensive change of those habits can be counted
upon in that part of the present generation of
Indians who have grown up to manhood, and
from these the presents ought not to be with-
drawn, unless in those rare individual cases where
Indians may have applied themselves to industry,
and have become independent of such aid."
On August 22nd, 1838, Lord Glenelgr, Colonial
Secretary, in a letter to the Earl of Durham,
summed up his views regarding the necessity of
Imperial control over the aborigines :
" I. It should be regarded as a fixed principle
in any arrangements that may be made regarding
the Indians, that their concerns must be contin-
ued under the exclusive care and superintendence
of the Crown. My meaning cannot be better
expressed than in the words of the Committee :
' They think it right to observe, in general, that
in the recommendations which they have offered
they assume that the Indians must continue to
be, as they have hitherto been, under the peculiar
care and management of the Crown, to which,
whether under French or English dominion, they
have been taught exclusively to look for paternal
protection in compensation for the rights and
independence which they have lost. Until cir-
cumstances make it expedient that they should
l)e turned over by the Crown to the Provincial
Legislature and receive Legislative provision and
care, the Committee conceive that ail arrange-
ments with respect to them must be made under
the immediate direction of Her Majesty's Gov-
ernment, and carried into effect under the super-
vision of officers appointed by it.
2. It is to be regretted that in the proposals
made to the Assemblies of the different Provinces
respecting the cession of the Crown revenues, in
return for a fixed civil list, some stipulation was
not introduced securing a portion of the annual
revenues for the social and religious improvement
of the Indians. In those cases, as in Upper and
Lower Canada, where the negotiations will have
to begin de tiovo, it may be right to insert some
provision to that effect ; for in such cases it is
clearly open to the Crown to vary or add to the
terms of the proposal. But even where it is too
late to take this step, I have no doubt that an
appeal to the justice and liberality of the Local
Legislature in behalf of the Indians would meet
with a cordial and efficient return.
3. I would in the same spirit deal with the
question of lands for the Indians. However
rigidly the rules respecting the disposal of lands
may be observed in general, and it is necessary to
observe them with the utmost strictness, yet if in
any case it be for the clear advantage of the In-
dians to depart from those rules, the departure
ought without hesitation to be sanctioned."
Lawrence Oliphant, in his volume entitled
"A Life of Adventure,* gives an interesting sketch
of his connection with the Indians of Canada.
Early in 1854, it appears that the exigencies of
the service compelled Lord Elgin's brother, Col.
Bruce, who had hitherto filled the offices of Civil
Secretary of Canada and Superintendent-General
of Indian Affairs, to join his regiment in the
Crimea, and Oliphant was appointed to succeed
him. The Department was then, of course, under
Imperial control, as it Inore or less remained un-
til Confederation. The writer deals with his work
in the following graphic style :
" This duty (visiting his ' red children ') was
eminently to my taste ; it involved diving into the
depths of the backwoods, bark-canoeing on dis-
tant and silent lakes or down foaming rivers,
ill I
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
279
where the Ashing was splendid, the scenery most
romantic, and camp-life fit this season of the year
— for it was now the height of summer — most
enjoyable. It was a prolonged picnic, with just
enough duty thrown in to deprive it of any
character of selfishness. There were schools to
inspect, councils to be held, tribal disputes to be
adjusted, prcaents to be distributed, and, in one
case, a treaty to be made. At nearly all the
stations there was a school or mission-house of
some kind, and here the meeting of the 'warriors'
and the ' young braves ' with their ' father '
took place ; and as I had barely attained the age
of fivc-and-twenty when these paternal responsi-
bilities were thrust upon me, the incongruity of
my relation towards them, I am afraid, presented
itself somewhat forcibly to the minds of the
veterans on those occasions.
It was a novel and e.\hilarating experience to
paddle up in a sort of rude state at the head of a
train of canoes, and to be received by volleys from
rifles and fowling-pieces by way of a salute from
all the members of the tribe collected on the mar-
gin of the lake or river, as the case might be, to
receive me. Then they would form in line and
march past me, every man, woman and child
shaking hands as they did so, and in solemn proces-
sion escort me up to the place of meeting, when>
if it was a chapel, I mounted into the pulpit, and
solemnly lighting a pipe, waited till my audience
were all seated on their heels and had lighted
theirs, before entering upon the business of the
hour. This generally terminated in a lecture up-
on temperance and industry ; for their love of
spirituous liquors and their inveterate indolence
are the curse of these poor people, and render
them an easy prey to the more unscrupulous class
of white settlers who systematically carry on a
process of demoralization, with the view to their
extermination, a result which is being rapidly
achieved. I do not know whether my efforts to
convince them that they were themselves their
own worst enemies procured for me the name of
Pah Dah Sung, or ' The Coming Sun ' — possibly
from the light I was expected to throw upon the
subject.
My two most interesting experiences in connec-
tion with my brief administration of Indian
Affairs in Canada were the distribution of annual
presents upon the Island of Manitoulin and a
Treaty which I succeeded in negotiating with a
tribe which owned an extensive tract of territory
upon the shores of Lake Huron. Manitoulin,
which is over a hundred miles in length, is said
to be the largest fresh water island in the world,
and was destined by a former Governor-General
of Canada — Sir Francis Bond Head — as an
eligible territory on which to make the experi-
ment of collecting Indians, with a view to their
permanent settlement and civilization. It has not
succeeded, however, and at the time of my visit
was the rendezvous of thousands of Indians be-
longing to many different tribes, who, with their
whole families, congregated here to receive blan-
kets, agricultural implements, and other presents
which it was hoped would conduce to their wel-
fare.
These, correctly speaking, were not presents,
as they were purchased from funds in the hands
of the Indian Department, whose principal func-
tion it was to invest the large sums of money
which had accrued to the Indians from the sale of
the land to the white settlers, and to apply the
interest to their advantage. The collection of
birch-bark wigwams which surrounded the little
harbour where I landed looked like a huge camp,
and in these were huddled a swarm of dirty occu-
pants, some of them having travelled hither from
a great distance, miserably clad in frowsy blankets
and skins. Here and there were fine-looking,
picturesque figures, more gaudily decorated with
paints and feathers ; but taking them as a whole,
I know of no nomads — and I have seen Calmucks,
Tartars, Kirghiez, Bedouins and Gypsies — who
present a more poverty-stricken and degraded
appearance than did the majority of my red child-
ren. I was the more disappointed with them in
their savage state, because I expected an improve-
ment upon their semi-civilized brethren, with
whom I had hitherto come in contact. I believe
the annual congregation of Indians on this Island,
and distribution of presents among them, has been
discontinued by the Dominion Government.
By means of the revenue derived from this
cession of Indian territory I was enabled to
re-organize the whole financial system of the In-
dian Department, and to effect a clear saving to
the Imperial exchequer of ;{"i3,ooo a year — an
-it-
m^m
380
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
as
economy with which Lo.'l Taunton, then Colonial
Minister, expressed himst'f so well satisfied that
he was kind enough to offer me a small Lieuten-
ant-Governorship in the West Indies, which I
should have gratefully accepted had it not been
for my preference for diplomatic work and desire
to go to the seat of war in the Crimea. The
most distant Indian settlement I visited was in
the immediate neighbourhood of Lake Superior.
Finding myself so far west, I determined to return
by a very roundabout way, for the purpose of
seeing some of the country to the west of the
lake. My companions were Lord Bury, who had
been for some time previously Lord Elgin's guest,
at yuebec, and Messrs. Petre and Clifford, whom
we met on Lake Superior, and with whom we
made a bark canoe voyage from the western end
of the lake to the head waters of the Mississippi,
coming down that river to Dubuque, from which
place we crossed the prairies of Illinois to Chi-
cago, then a rising young city of seventy-five
thousand inhabitants, and so by way of Niagara
back to Quebec."
Lawrence Oliphant, the well-known author
and traveller, was Superintendent-General of In-
dian Affairs in Canada for a year (185J-54) and
acted as Civil Secretary to Lord Elgin during the
negotiation of the Reciprocity Treaty with the
United States. He was born in 1829 at Cape
Town, South Africa, and died in 1888. His
works include " A Journey to Khatmandu, ' "The
Russian Shores of the Black Sea in 1852," " Pat-
riots and Filibusters" during the American Civil
War, " Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission
to China and Japan," " The Land of Gilead, with
Excursions in the Lebanon," " The Land of
Khemi, or up and down the Upper Nile," " Epi-
sodes in a Life of Adventure." He had during
his career travelled all over the world, taken part
in a myriad stirring scenes as special war cor-
respondent and in a private capacity, and has
written some interesting notes upon his experi-
ences in Canada. For a short time he sat in the
Imperial House of Commons.
William Coutts Keppell, Viscount Bury,
afterwards 7th Earl of Albemarle and ist Baron
Ashford, was, in December, 1854, appointed Civil
Secretary and Superintendent-General of Indian
Affairs in Canada. In the work of this position
he took an active and useful part and, although
only holding it for a few years was, always after-
wards warmly interested in Canadian affairs. He
was born in i8j.2, and educated at Eton ; was pri-
vate secretary to Lord J. Russell in 1850-51 : a
member of Parliament in 1857-65 and 1868-74;
Hon. -Colonel in the Volunteers; Treasurer of the
Household 1859-66; Under-Secretary of War
1878-80. In 1876 he was created Baron Ashford.
He succeeded to the Earldom in 1891 and died
in 1894. Lord Bury, as he was best known, was
the author of "The E.xodus of the Western
Nations," " A Report on the Condition of the
Indians of British North America," and many
addresses and papers upon Colonial topics and
Imperial Federation. He was a k.c.m.c.., a
member of the Iinperial Privy Council, and in
1S55 had married the daughter of Sir Allan
McNab, Bart., sometime Premier of the Canadian
Provii.iA's. He was also one of the founders, and
for some years President, of the Royal Colonial
Institute.
The Hon. Alexander Morris, DC L., was born
at Perth, Out., in i8-'6, and educated at the
Universities of Glasgow and McGill. Called to
the Bar in 1851, he was created a Provincial y.c.
in 1876, and a Dominion one in 1881. He was
at one time President of the St. Andrew's Society,
Montreal; a Governor of McGill University;
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Queen's
University, Kingston ; and Vice-President of the
North American Life Insurance Company. He
was the author of " Canada and Her Resources,"
a well-known pamphlet ; " Nova Britannia," in
which he urged Confederation as far back as 1858 ;
" The Hudson's Bay and Pacific Territories " and
" The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of
the North-West." In 1864 he helped in the
formation of the Dominion and sat in the old
Canadian .\ssemblj» from 1861 until the Federal
Union took place in 1867. From that date until
1872 he was a member of the Commons. In
1869 he had been sworn of the Canadian Privy
Council and appointed Minister of Inland Rev-
enue. This position he held until 1872, when
he became Chief Justice of Manitoba, and a few
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
281
in
lof
(he
jld
Iral
Itil
In
ken
lew
months later Lieut. -Governor of the Province — a
position which he occupied until 1877. As Gov-
ernor and Special Commissioner for Indian affairs
he negotiated a number of historic and important
Treaties with the aborigines of the West. From
1878 to 1886 he sat in the Ontario Legislature.
He died in 1889.
The Hon. David Laird was born at New
Glasgow, P.E.L, in 18.33, educated at Truro,
N.S., and has been for many years Editor of the
Charlottetown Patriot. In 1872-3 he was a mem-
ber of the Executive Council of Prince Edward
Island, and as such helped to arrange the terms
upon which the Island eventually entered the
Dominion. He was also for a time in the City
Council of Charlottetown and a member of the
Provincial Board of Education and Board of
Works. From 1873-6 he was Canadian Minister
of the Interior and in the iirst-named year was
sworn of the Privy Council. For five years
following 1876 he was Lieut. -Governor of the
North- West Territories and as such had much
to do with the Indians. In 1878 he had assisted
as a special Commissioner in making the Qu 'Ap-
pelle Treaty with them. He sat in the House of
Commons from 1873 to 1876.
The Superintendents-General of Indian Affairs
in Canada during the period of direct British
control were as follows :
1786-1825, Sir John Johnson, Bart.
1825-1836, Colonel D. C. Napier.
1837-1841, Samuel Peters Jarvis.
From the union of Upper and Lower Canada
until i860 the position was held by the Civil
Secretaries of the Governors-Gen iral under com-
mission from the Imperial Government, as fol-
lows: T. W. C. Murdock, R. W. Rossin, J. M.
Higginson, T. E. Campbell, Colonel the Hon. R.
Bruce, Laurence Oliphant, Viscount Bury, R. T.
Fennyfather.
In i860 the Commissioners of Crown Lands
tiecame ex-officio Superintendents-General of In-
dian affairs under the Provincial Acts, 23 Vic,
Chap. 151. Those holding the position up to
Confederation were the Hon. P. M. Vankough-
net, the Hon. George Sherwood, the Hon.William
McDougall, and the Hon. (afterwards Sir) Alex-
ander Campbell. After 1867 and until 1873 the
Secretaries of State had charge of the Indians, as
follows :
July I, 1867, Hon. A. G.Archibald.
Nov. 16, 1869, Hon. Joseph Howe.
June 14, 1873, Hon. T. N. Gibbs.
In this hitter year the Department of Indian
affairs was placed under the control of the Min-
ister of the Interior. The following are those
who have since held the position :
July I, 1873, Sir Alexander Campbell.
Nov. 7, 1873, Hon. David Laird.
Oct. 24, 1876, Hon. David Mills.
Oct. 17, 1878, Sir John A. Macdonald.
Aug. 3, 1887, Hon. Thomas White.
Aug. 3, 1888, Hon. Edgar Dewdney.
Oct. 17, 1892, Hon. T. Mayne Daly.
April 27, 1896, Hon. Hugh J. Macdonald.
Nov. 17, 1896, Hon. Clifford Sifton.
In 1883 Sir John Macdonald resigned the Min-
istry of the Interior and assumed the post of
President of the Council ; but was so impressed
with the importance of Indian affairs at that
particular juncture that he retained control of
them until 1887, when they reverted again to the
Interior Department.
The Territorial Exhibition held at Resfina in
1894, under the auspices of Lieut. -Governor Mac-
kintosh, afforded an interesting means of testing
the progress of the western Indians in general
civilization. The Assistant Commissioner upon
that occasion wrote to the Dominion authorities
as follows :
■ "As proof of the great strides made by the In-
dians in pursuit of civilization, I am pleased to be
able to report the splendid success made by them
in their varied exhibits at the Territorial Fair,
held in Regina from 29th July to August 7th last.
The improvement over the Indian exhibit at the
World's Fair in 1893 was most marked. The
exhibits were shown in a frame building, 50 by 25
feet, which was erected solely by the cari)enter
pupils of the Regina Industrial School, the work
upon which was decidedly a credit to them. The
exhibits were principally from the M0003 Moun-
tain, Crooked Lakes, Edmonton, Hobbcma and
Blackfoot Agencies, and from the Qu 'Appelle,
Battleford, Regina, High River, St. Albert, Elk-
horn, Rupert's Land and St. Boniface Iiulustrial
Schools, as well as from several day and boarding
ii '
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111 .'ii'i
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i
m
I;.
.1
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m
283
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
schools, notably those of File Hills, Touchwood
and Crowstand.
These consisted of farm products, carpentry,
blacksmithing, tailoring, harness, tinsmithing
work, shoemaking, and printing, lace-work, em-
broidery, home-made furniture; also bread, but-
ter, cheese, jam, soap, articles of clothing, knit-
ting, wooden ox collars, double-trees and single-
trees, axe and fork handles — made out of native
wood and ironed by the Indians — horseshoes,
hinges, pincers and a great variety of other arti-
cles numbering in all about fifteen hundred
specimens. It would take up too much space to
repeat the praises bestowed upon the Indian ex-
hibit by the visitors and the press generally ; in
fact, until assured that the articles exhibited were
actually the product of Indian labour, visitors
were scarcely inclined to give credence thereto.
That many of the Indian exhibits fully equalled,
and in some cases excelled, the product of white
competitors is beyond doubt, and fully demon-
strates the rapid advancement that is being made
in civilized pursuits by our Indian population."
These references to the Red Indian of our
mountains, plains and forests conld hardly be
brought to a more appropriate close than by
quoting the eloquent language of a well-known
American student of Indian conditions and tradi-
tions — Henry R. Schoolcraft — on August 14th,
1845 :
" His history and existence on this continent
is blended with the richest sources of poetry and
imagination. His beautiful and sonorous geo-
graphical nomenclature alone has clothed our
hills, and lakes, and streams with the charms of
poetic numbers. The Red man himself, who once
roved these attractive scenes, with his bow and
arrow, and his brow crowned with the highest
honours of the warpath and the chase, was a
being of noble mould. He felt the true sentiment
of independence. He was capable of high deeds
of courage, disinterestedness, and virtue. His
generosity and hospitality were unbounded. His
constancy in professed friendship was universal,
and his memory of a good deed done to him or
his kindred never failed. His breast was animat-
ed with a noble thirst of fame. To acquire this
he trod the warpath, he submitted to long and
severe privatioiis. Neither fatigue, hunger, nor
thirst were permitted to gain the mastery over
him. A Stoic in endurance, he was above com-
plaint, and when a prisoner at the stake he tri-
umphed over his enemy in his death-song. The
history of such a people must be full of deep,
tragic, and poetic incidents ; and their antiquities
cannot fail to illustrate it. The tomb that holds
a man derives all its moral interest from the man,
and would be destitute of it without him. Amer-
ica is the tomb of the Red man."
ill
SIR A. T. GALT.
'I "l
:ii!
1
1
*;
1
f
'^ .,.
j'
^
Rj?
THE FISCAL HISTORY OF CANADA
THE EDITOR.
THE fiscal or economic history of Canada
is unique. During its progress in set-
tlement and colonization, in barter and
exchange, in trade and commerce, in
political change and construction, the people
of British North America have run the entire
gamut of fiscal experiment and experience. Un-
der the French regime, and especially during the
government of what was called the Supreme
Council at Quebec, from 1660 to 1760, the country
was in the hands of a practically close corporation
which controlled the trade and taxes and distri-
bution of all products, subject to monopolies in
the fur trade and in the farming of the reven-
ues, which might be granted from ^ime to time
by the King of France to his favourites — or, as
was sometimes the case, for the attempted en-
couragement of colonization.
The spirit of restriction and monopoly ruled
from the beginning. Governor Lauzon, for in-
stance, who was Seigneur for a while of a great
part of the Colony, held that Montreal had no
right to trade directly with France, but must
draw all her supplies from Quebec; and this
claim was revived ten years later in the time of
M^zy — 1663-5. Parkman states, with truth, that
the successive commercial companies to whose
hands the Colony was consigned had a most
baneful effect on individual enterprise. In 1674
the charter of the West India Company was re-
voked and trade was declared open to all subjects
of the King ; yet commerce was still condemned
to wear the ball and chain. New restrictions
were imposed, meant for good, but resulting in
evil. " Merchants not resident in the Colony
were forbidden all trade, direct or indirect, with
the Indians. They were also forbidden to sell
any goods at retail except in August, September
and October ; to trade anywhere in Canada
385
above Quebec ; and to sell clothing or domestic
articles ready made. This last restriction was
designed to develop colonial industry. No per-
son, resident or not, could trade with the English
colonies, or go thither without a special passport
and rigid examination by the military authorities.
Foreign trade of any kind was stiffly prohibited.
In 1719, after a new Company had engrossed the
beaver trade, its agents were empowered to enter
all houses in Canada, whether ecclesiastical or
secular, and search them for foreign goods, which,
when found, were publicly burned. In the next
year t'le Royal Council ordered that vessels en-
gaged in foreign trade should be captured by force
of arms, like pirates, and confiscated along with
their cargoes ; while anybody having an article of
foreign manufacture in his possession was sub-
jected to a heavy fine."
Attempts were actually made to fix the exact
amount of profit which merchants from France
should be allowed to make in the Colony. Park-
man states that one of the first acts of the
Supreme Council was to order them to bring
their invoices immediately before that body,
which thereupon affixed prices to each article.
The merchant who sold and the purchaser who
bought above this tariff were alike condemned
to heavy penalties; and so, too, was the mer-
chant who chose to keep his goods rather
than sell them at the price ordained. Resident
merchants, on the other hand, were favoured to
the utmost. They could sell at what price they
saw fit, and, according to La Hontan, they made
great profit by the sale of laces, ribbons, watches,
jewels and similar superfluitie . to the poor but
extravagant Colonists. Of course, some of this
legislation was on a par with that of England in
the Thirteen Colonies and neither better nor
worse, but other branches of it, whether intended
rW'
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•86
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPifiDIA.
I
(In:
I?/ ■
■(II
to promote settlement or not, could hardly help
but prove disastrous in the extreme and the crush-
ing of all individual enterprise.
Meanwhile, up and down the vast regions
stretching from Hudson's Bay through what is
now Ontario and Quebec, around the great lakes
and down the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi
into the heart of the American Republic of to-day,
the daring trappers and voyageurs of New France
hunted, and explored, and built up an immense
trade in furs and skins, over what they called their
own possessions and in defiance of England and
the New England Colonies. Between 1599 ^"^
1717, eleven companies were formed in France for
this purpose and several of them were given
monopolistic privileges — notably the Company of
the Hundred Associates. There was no protec-
tive or revenue tariff in the modern sense of the
word, though plenty of taxes, and the French
ideas concerning colonial industry were not dis-
similar to those of many in England at the end of
the eighteenth century. " Let us beware," wrote
the Marquess de Montcalm, not long before the
final conflict around the walls of Quebec, " how
we allow the establishment of manufactures in
Canada ; she would become proud and mutinous
like the English (Colonies). So long as France
is a nursery to Canada, let not the Canadians be
allowed to trade, but kept to their wandering,
labourious life with the savages, and to their
military exercises. They will be less wealthy, but
more brave and more faithful to us. . . .
England made a great mistake in not taxing those
(the American) Colonies from the first, even ever
so little. If they now attempt it — revolt."
When Great Britain took possession of Canada
in 1763 the trade of the country was, therefore,
mainly in furs and products of the forest, and the
French-Canadians were ground down under all
kinds of corruptly-levied taxes in the hands of
more or less corrupt officials — a system with
which Montcalm and his great predecessor, Fron-
tenac, had struggled in vain. Agriculture had
made little progress under the encouragement
given to a wandering and adventurous life. With
the accession of British rule came the British
fiscal system. Canadians could now trade freely
with the Thirteen Colonies, but there was little
real demand for each other's products. Outside
of this the British possessions were governed by
the same Navigation Laws and regulations which
were beginning to prove so irritating to their fel-
low subjects, and recent enemies, on the Atlantic
sea-board. It was therefore natural that almost
the whole Canadian trade should soon have passed
to England and away from France. It also in-
creased materially in volume under the combined
influences of the peace which followed the Revo-
lutionary War, and the influx of 40,000 hardy
Loyalist settlers from the south into the present
provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Ontario. By 1808 the trade of Upper and Lower
Canada (Ontario and Quebec) amounted to
3^1,776,000 sterling or about $8,400,000, of which
the greater part was transacted with Great
Britain. Furs, wheat, flour, timber and fish,
were the chief exports, and of the imports £"200,
000 were manufactured goods and £100,000 were
tea, provisions and tobacco. In this year there
were 333 vessels engaged in the external trade of
Canada. In 1830, 967 vessels arrived at the port
of Quebec.
Meanwhile the customs duties had been small,
and of little account. In 1791 the old Province
of Canada, or New France — minus the great
country in the valley of the Oiiio and Mississippi
which had been voluntarily given as a peace offer-
ing to the new American Republic — was divided
into the Provincial Governments of Upper and
Lower Canada, and in 1795 Commissioners were
appointed to apportion the duties upon merchan-
dise, etc., entering the ports of the Lower Pro-
vince which should be allowed for in fixing the
revenue due to Upper Canada. The amount re-
ceived by the latter Province under the arrange-
ment of one-eighth of the total customs duties of
the Lower one was only 3^333 in local currency
for the years 1793-4. By 1809 the amount had
increased to £3,964, As the total for the two
Provinces in this latter year would have been
about £32,000 it shows how little was the external
trade apart from Britain.
During the yearswhich followed — including the
unfortunate period of v.ar in 1812-14 — Canadian
production and trade slowly increased. The early
settlers of Ontario and the Maritime Provinces
were exceedingly industrious and the pick of the
population, in many cases, from the one-time
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
a87
1
Thirteen Colonies. It was therefore natural that
the Canadian wilderness should soon begin to
blossom into productive gardens, fields, and even
vineyards. Every encouragement was given by
the Mother Country, so far as tariffs could do it,
for the promotion of trade between herself and
the growing dependency. This fact may be
illustrated by the following table of the Imperial
tariff of 1845 upon certain products received from
British and foreign countries:
Arlirlf>
Pron- Foreign
From British
nivicic*
Countries.
Countries.
Bacon and Ham, cwt.
14/8
3/8
Butter,
<«
21/0
5/3
Cheese,
(1
ii/o
2/7
Beef, salted.
<<
8/4
2/1
Pork,
((
8/4
2/1
Vegetables,
K
0/2
O/I
Eggs 120 lbs.
o/io
0/2
Hay
.load
16/9
8/4
Oxen and bulls,
each
21/0
10/6
Horses,
21/0
10/6
Cows,
15/9
7/10
Calves,
10/6
5/3
Sheep,
3/1
1/6
Hogs.
5/3
2/7
Lambs,
2/1
I/O
Wheat, according to
price
i8s. to 20s.,
2S. to 5s.
s
e
This pronounced preference applied of course to
all the Provinces in British America as well as
Upper and Lower Canada — which in 1841 had
been re-united under one local Government.
These duties had varied from year to year, but the
principle of preference was maintained at about
the same ratio. That it was of benefit to Great
Britain seems clear from the fact that in 1836 the
people of France took British manufactures at an
average of eleven pence per head, those of the
United States at seventeen shillings per head,
those of Spain at eight pence per head, those of
Denmark at eleven pence, those oi Russia at five
pence, and those of Prussia at three and a half
pence, while the British possessions in America
took British goods to the amount of ,^1 iis. 6d.
per head, and those of the West Indies at ^3 12s.
per head. By 1846, the last year of the opera-
tion of this system, Canada and its fellow Pro-
vinces had become absolutely dependent upon the
British tariff and its preferences. Their flour, made
largely from American wheat, was pouring into
England.and their cattle, meats, horses, sheep and
natural products of all kinds were at a premium
as against foreign commodities.
Then came the crash, and in a moment the
abolition of the Corn Laws had not only shat-
tered the whole Canadian fiscal fabric, but had
crushed the prosperity of its people. For some
years the entire financial, agricultural and indus-
trial interests of Canada were paralyzed. Political
troubles naturally followed, annexation to the
United States came to be discussed in sundry in-
fluentialbusinessquarters.andadark, sombre cloud
rested over the small and struggling community.
In an economic sense a revolution ensued. The
entire control of the regulation, collection and dis-
tribution of revenues was given to all the Colonies;
taxation was entirely changed in its channels and
preferences upon British goods were swept away ;
tariffs were framed against the other British Pro-
vinces as well as against the Mother Country;
efforts were initiated for better trade relations
with the United States and approved of in a letter
from the Colonial Secretary on June 3rd, 1846,
and strenuous exertions were commenced along
the lines of railway and canal construction. The
period of fiscal pupilage had passed away never
to return, although it must be a matter of lasting
regret that Imperial considerations connected
with a mighty but unseen future, could not have
retained some principle of preference for British
products in the new tariffs of both England and
her Colonies. It was a great opportunity for
genuine statecraft, but one which was allowed by
the " Little Englanders " to pass into what is
now the limbo of forgotten possibilities.
In 1854, Lord Elgin succeeded in negotiating
the famous and much-discussed Reciprocity
Treaty with the United States. It remained in
force until 1866, when it was abrogated by the
Republic after the necessary one year's notice.
Here, as under the British preferential system,
the importance of fiscal arrangements in their
relation to popular prosperity and comfort was
again illustrated. The ruined interests of Canada
slowly revived, new channels of trade were
developed, new industries arose and sought, in
many cases, the American market, and aroimd
• > '."
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JANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiCDIA.
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this fiscal creation of two neighbouring govern-
ments the commerce and individual prosperity of
British America grew up once more. Yet it was
only an arrangement for the free interchange of
products of the farm, the mine, the forest and
the sea. Manufactures were not included, and
although there was no preference given to the
United States over Great Britain or, vice versa,
yet trade with the Republic rapidly increased.
Various causes connected with internal devel-
opment and external war combined to make the
country prosperous and the Treaty beneficial. And
this despite the fact that the intimate connection of
the two countries compelled Canada to share in
the financial crash which came to the United
States in 1857, to a degree which might well
amaze Canadians who stood by during the storm
of 1893 and were able to calmly watch the crash
of American banks and industrial interests with
only a share in the general depression which has
since ensued, and which has been world-wide in
its operation. It is also interesting to note that
during that period, 1854-66, Canada imported
from the Republic $306,417,890 worth of pro-
ducts, and exported only $187,271,080 worth.
But none the less was the Treaty mutually bene-
ficial, though the effect of its abrogation showed
how dangerous to Canada was the ensuing de-
pendent relationship. Once more, indeed, the
British American Provinces were sorely tried by
external tariff arrangements over which they had
no control.
The action was taken nominally because Can-
ada (as Ontario and Quebec had been called
since their union in 1841) had raised its duties
upon certain American goods not mentioned in
the Treaty ; really because of the part which
Great Britain was alleged to have taken during
the Civil War, and because these were British
Provinces. The commercial and financial results
were not so disastrous as after the abolition of the
British preferential system. Greater develop-
ment had taken place since then, more self-reli-
ance had been planted amongst the people, man-
ufacturing had progressed, capital was more
plentiful, credit better, and the population larger.
But it was a sufficiently critical occurrence to
force the scattered colonies into union. As a
chief result of this external action good came out
of evil. Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick joined in Confederation as the Do-
minion of Canada, and on July ist, 1867, a
new British nation was born — one which has
since swept half a continent into its arms, opened
up boundless territories of fertile soil, built the
greatest railway in the world, and reached out
towards the fiscal and political union of a mighty
empire.
Meanwhile a protective spirit and policy had
been developing. Reference has been made to
the United States having objected to certain
tariff increases during the life of the Reciprocity
Treaty. These were in the first place imposed
by Canada for revenue purposes. Aft^r the crisis
of 1857 a large and increasing deficit was found
to exist — amounting in 1858 to ,^500,000. Mr.
(afterwards Sir) A. T. Gait was Finance Minister,
and at once raised the duties with the follow-
ing public explanation : " The policy of the
Government in re-adjusting the tariff has been
in the first place to obtain sufficient revenue for
the public wants : and secondly to do so in such
a manner as shall most fairly distribute the ad-
ditional burden upon the different classes of the
community." And then he declared that the
Government would be satisfied "if it found that
the increased duties absolutely required to meet
its engagements should incidentally benefit and
encourage the production in this country " of
articles hitherto imported. Mr. Gait, in 1859,
wrote an elaborate pamphlet in explanation and
defence of this action, from which the following
is an extract :
" The commercial crisis of 1857, following the
reduction of railway expenditure on the cocnple-
tion of the greater part of the works, and accom-
panied by a deficient harvest, caused a serious
falling off in the revenue of that year; and this
was succeeded in 1858 by a still greater failure of
the crop ; and consequently, even more depressed
condition of trade. Attendant upon this state of
things, and as if to tax the energies of the people
to the utmost, it became necessary, in 1857, to
assume the payment of interest on the railway
advances, with the exception of the Great West-
ern of Canada, amounting to about £200,000 per
annum, and also to advance the interest upon the
municipal debt, amounting to about £100,000 per
annum. Dependence could partly be placed upon
a revival of trade to restore the revenue to its
former point ; but this would afford no means of
'. t;:,;.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
aSg
meeting the future railway and municipal pay-
ments ; and Parliament had to choose between a
continued system of borrowing to meet defici-
encies, or an increase of taxation to such amount
as might, with economy of administration in
every branch of the public service, on a revival of
trade, restore the equilibrium of income and ex-
penditure. It is true that another course was
open; and that was, to exact the terms upon
which the railway advances were made; and to
leave the holders of the municipal bonds to col-
lect their interest, under the strict letter of the
law. By these steps Canada would certainly have-
relieved herself from the pressure of increased
taxation, and might have escaped the reproaches
of those who blame the increase of her cus-
toms duties. But it would have been at the
expense of the English capitalists who had
placed their faith in the fair treatment of her
Government and Legislature; and it would have
been but poor consolation for them to know
that through their loss, Canada was able to ad-
mit British goods at 15 instead of 20 per cent."
This was the first attempt to establish inciden-
tal protection in Canada and was the foundation
of all subsequent fiscal legislation in that direc-
tion. That it was so intended is evident from a
declaration by Mr. (afterwards Sir) John A. Mac-
donald, at Hamilton, in 1861, that " it is a matter
for consolation that the tariff has been so adjusted
as incidentally to encourage manufacturing indus-
tries here." The following table is historically
valuable as showing the development of the duties
during this period upon certain important pro-
ducts :
1855. 1856. 1857. 1859.
Molasses 16 % 11 % 11 % 30%
Sugar (refined)... ^2 " 28 " 25 " 40"
Sugar (other) .... '27J" 20 " 17^^" 30"
Boots and shoes. 12J" 14^^" 20 " 25"
Harness 12J" 17 " 20 " 25"
- Cotton goods 12 j" 13^" 15 " 20"
. Iron goods 12^" 18^" 15" 20"
Silk goods 12^" 13^" 15 " 20^'
Wool goods 12J" 14 " 15 " 20"
The immediate result of this policy was an
equalization of revenue and expenditure, and a
later one the use of these duties as a reason for
abrogating the American Treaty. But all these
minor matters were swallowed up in the Confed-
eration of 1867, the inauguration of free trade
amongst the British Provinces, and the establish-
ment of a uniform duty of 15 per cent, upon all
external goods, British or foreign, coming into the
country. Mr. Gait's tariff, averaging 20 per cent.,
had been fairly protective and,owing to various ex-
traneous causes, this new one answered the same
purpose for a while. Production and industry in
the United States had not yet recovered from the
injuries of war, and serious competition from that
direction was therefore restricted. For a very
different reason English prosperity, then in one of
its periods of phenomenal growth, prevented the
sacrifice of English manufactures in Canada for the
purpose of gaining the local market.
But about 1872 the change came. Immigration
and British capital had produced an enormous
development in the United States, and soon over-
production there caused the sacrifice of American
goods here, and the overpowering competition of
great specialized and wealthy industrial concerns
with the small Canadian industries. The Con-
servative Government announced an increase of
duties as their policy in the ensuing session, but
before that time came they were defeated at the
polls. The policy of this party remained from
that time until now one of protection to native
industry, the taxation of foreign competitive pro-
ducts, and the non-taxation, or low taxation, of
articles in wide popular consumption, such as tea,
coffee, and sugar. That of the Liberal party has
varied somewhat but has always opposed protec-
tion for the sake of protection.
The fact, however, is generally forgotten, or over-
looked, that the fiscal policy of the Liberals
during the period from 1873 to 1878 was made
by the surrounding conditions already referred to,
an entirely different one from that of the preced-
ing Administration — even while the duties were
exactly similar. Mr. (afterwards Sir Leonard)
Tilley, when Finance Minister, had been able to
take the duties off tea and coffee, thus remitting
a million dollars of taxation, but Mr. (now Sir
Richard) Cartwright before very long had to re-
impose them in order to replenish an empty
exchequer and provide against deficits which
threatened to become chronic. Meantime the
revenue decreased, while the expenditure increas-
ed from $19,174,647 in 1873 to $24,445,381 in
1879 ; the deficits totalled up to $6,000,000 during
the same term of years ; and every branch cf
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990 CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP^^EDIA.
Canadian life — commercial, financial and national was, Canadians had no power to enter it, while
— either slumbered or retrograded. It was not American manufacturers and producers had the
that the Government of the day were primarily to full and free sweep of ours. And they made good
blame; they did nothing to produce the general use of their privileges. American goods were
depression or to render more acute the conipeti- steadily " slaughtered " here until home-made
tion which destroyed Canadian industries, depriv- products were utterly discouraged, and even the
ed the artisans of food and work, or checked the importation of British goods was reduced from
development of the country, the progress of trade, $68,492,000 in 1873 to $37,314,000 in 1878.
or the natural expansion of revenue. They even There was little money in the country and little
raised the duties two and a half per cent, upon enterprise or progress evident amongst those
the products already taxed, and many of their classes which have since become the bone and
supporters favoured a still greater increase. A sinew of its industrial development. As with
glance at the following table of duties imposed manufacturers so with the farmers. In 1878 the
by the United States upon specified Canadian Dominion actually imported $17,909,000 worth of
products and those imposed by Canada upon flour, grain, animals and general agricultural pro-
similar American products, at this time, will reveal ducts from the United States in competition with
the situation in a glance : home-grown productions.
„ ,. _ . • ,^ Nor was the situation unrecognized. The Con-
Canadian Duly. American Duty. r , • . . ,
„,, ^ „ ^ , servative party, after their re-organization from an
Wheat Free. 20 cts. per bus. , .. V 1 • j r ^
„ , . 1 ,, , . almost overwheimmg defeat, were unanimous in
Rye and barley " 15 cts. per bus. , ,. ,. , ^. ... ,^,
I ,. ' . J r demanding remedial action; while many of the
Liberal leaders — notably Mr. John Charlton, Mr.
oats " 10 cts. per bus. i 1 j 1 .1 • • »* i • j »* n ^.
•J., „ ,, "^ Joly de Lotbiniere, Mr. Laurier, and Mr. Patter-
wneat Hour 20 per cent. rt^^ j^r ,<
r, a 1 ,, son, of Brant, appeared to favour a moderate pro-
Kyeflour.coriimeal " lo per cent. ... 4 •« ^- n c- i ^..u oc
_,•'. , ,, ... tective tariff. Finally, on February 16th, 1876,
Oatmeal " i ct. per lb. ., r» m »iii u u \r--^ e !u
„ ^ , , ^". David Mills, who became Minister of the
Potatoes 10 per cent. 15 cts. per bus. i . • • *u /-^ j j • ,ll
, . . , ^ ,, J r Interior six months afterwards, moved m the
Live animals " 20 per cent. u , ^ r *u • ^ .. /•
-, , „ *^ House of Commons for the appointment of a
Coal Free. 75 cts. per ton. « c 1 * /- ■»* * -1 *u e
c ,^ ,■ , X ,, „ Select Committee to enquire mto the causes of
Salt (in packages). " i2cts.perioolbs. .. . c • i j • .. «« »«ii
„ ;■ u u ^ « o .. the present financial depression." Mr. Mills
" (in bulk " 8 cts. per 100 lbs. , . 1 » »u •,. r u-
\\T \ « spoke strongly as to the necessity for his motion,
p. . ,, ^ osopercen. ^^^ j^j^ remarks throw a light which cannot be
„ .° ^ » 7.00 per on. considered partisan upon the condition of the
Bar iron 5 per cent. 15 to 7S per cent. . 1. lu i. *• i-i. r n •
„, , . . ., J /oi/«=ii.ci . country at that time. The following sentence
Plate and boiler ^u r u .. 1
may therefore be quoted :
iron " $2 5.00 and $30.00 „, ^u **u •» ^ ^u
"^ "^ 'I assume that there exists at the present time a
P^'^ '°"* very consideradle extent of financial stringency in
Iron rails Free. $14 per ton, the country. When we notice in the newspapers
Steel rails " $25 per ton. from day to day the failure of men engaged in
Bricks " 20 per cent. manufacturing or commercial pursuits in various
Trees,plant,shrubs. 10 per cent. 20 per cent. parts of the country ; when we observe state-
T7io„ /^^,^oc„^\ vr * * ments that a very large number of men formerly
F ax (dressed).. Free. $40 per ton. employed in the lumber trade and in other pur-
Flax (undressed)... " $20 per ton. suits, are out of employment ; I think that it is
Flax seed " 20cts. perbush. unnecessary to bring before thy House any array
Starch 2 cts. per lb. i ct. per lb. and of f^^ts for the purpose of establishing a proposi-
20 per cent, ad valorem *'°" which, I suppose, will meet with general
assent.
And a more grossly unfair picture it would be Mr. Cartwright referred to the •' commercial
hard to find in the fiscal history of the world, tornado " by which the country was being assailed,
Whatever the value of the United States market and the Committee was duly appointed. Its pro-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
•91
ceedings were keenly discussed, and an examina-
tion of many interests was entered into with the
following results. The conclusions thus arrived
at, were profoundly hostile to protection, and may
be summarized as follows :
1. A protective system would diminish the con-
sumption of foreign goods.
2. It would diminish the revenue by $g,ooo,-
000.
3. Its effect would be to increase the price of
home manufactured goods.
4. The consumer would have to pay a heavy
tax.
5. It is a proposition to relieve general dis-
tress by a redistribution of property.
This Report had the anticipated effect of pre-
venting the Ministry from doing anything at the
time in the direction of real protection. But the
Opposition did not hesitate. The year 1876 had
seen the beginning of their fight for protection,
and that of 1878 witnessed its triumph. With
the return of Sir John A. Macdonald to power, in
the latter year, a new fiscal era was inaugurated,
one which stands out with distinctness upon the
canvas of our national history, and which raised
the average rate of the duties to 30 per cent.
Opinions have very strongly differed as to its
success or failure. Criticism has been as severe
and censure as plentiful as have the opposite
expressions of admiration and appreciation. The
official figures of the Dominion afford therefore
the safest and most reliable source of informa-
tion as to the result ; and v.rithout any expression
of personal opinion, I propose to let these tell
the tale, merely premising that the National
Policy, so-called, should be judged in its entirety,
and as including the building of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, the development of the canals,
the practical creation of the North- West and the
extension of ocean communication, as well as in
the attempted promotion of industrial and com-
mercial activity by means of new fiscal regulations.
The most immediate change noticeable in 1879,
after Sir Leonard Tilley had introduced his
budget and the new policy, was a decided im-
provement in the general condition of business.
Confidence was restored and enterprise revived.
The " soup kitchens," founded by the charitable,
disappeared ; and with them seemed to go that
spirit of hopelessness or listlessness so injurious
to any people, but especially so to a young com-
munity like that of Canada. Apart from this im-
provement in business, the first pronounced effect
of the new regulations was a growth in external
trade, which has since been fairly maintained,
and in late years materially increased. In 1878
our exports were $79,323,667 ; in 1896 they
amounted to $121,013,852. In 1878 our total
imports were $93,089,787 ; in 1896 they were
$118,011,508. This gives an increase in trade of
nearly $67,000,006. In 1878 our trade with Great
Britain was $83,372,719 ; in 1896 it had risen to
$99,670,030, and is steadily increasing. Similarly,
our trade with the United States rose from '$7^,-
876,437 to $103,022,434. With France our com-
merce increased one million six hundred thousand
dollars ; with Germany over six millions ; with
South American countries $1,400,000; with China
and Japan $2,800,000.
As regards this branch of development Can-
adian fiscal history since Confederation can be
divided into distinct six-year periods, which, owing
to the various causes already noticed, may be
grouped into a table in which the relative progress
is seen at a glance :
Policy. Total traHe.
Incidental protection, 1868-73 $ 992,443,289
Revenue Tariff, 1874-79 1,093,764,044
Protective Tariff, 1880-85 1,235.902,783
1886-91 I,23^,587,974
1892-97 1,438,948.553
An expanding trade naturally promoted pro-
gress in other directions. People began to save
money, and while buying more goods abroad
deposited much more at interest in the Banks, Sav-
ings Banks and Loan Companies of the Domin-
ion. In 1868 such deposits amounted to $43,-
326,013. By the 30th June, 1878, they had risen
to the total of $84,868,077, and on the same date
in 1895 the total had reached the large sum of
$269,278,864 — an increase of $226,000,000 since
1868, or of $185,000,000 since 1878. Another result
was a redundant revenue and large surpluses, ex-
cept during the two years, 1885-6, when an ab-
normal war expenditure in the North-West had
to be met. The situation in this respect during
the three tariff periods may be seen by a glance
at these figures :
vm
a<)3
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIV
uiv!
tc
Vear. Rivenut. Exptndilur*.
1868 $13,687,928 $13,486,091
1872 110,714,814 17.589,469
1879 22,517,382 24,455.38a
1891 38.579-3II 36.343.568
1895 33.97'^."9 38,132.003
Meanwhile the Canadian Pacific Syndicate had
been formed, a large subsidy granted by Govern-
ment, the rising credit of tha country pledged to
the completion of the road, and the work at
once commenced and carried through with phen-
omenal energy and rapidity. Expenditure upon
all manner of public works was consequently far
greater during this period than in the preceding
one, as became the greater prosperity of the peo-
ple and the country. The following figures will
illustrate the relative expenditure :
Objects. 187678. 1879-91.
Railways $36,100,000 $77,900,000
Canals 14,400,000 22,100,000
Public Buildings 5,400.000 9,400,000
Other Public Works. 5.800,000 15,800,000
In the first ten years of Confederation there
was spent upon these objects $60,000,000 in
round numbers, and during the next twelve years
more than double that sum. But increased
trade, growing bank deposits and revenue, fol-
lowed by large expenditure upon great national
enterprises are not the only products of this period
in Canadian fiscal history. It was claimed by the
Opposition prior to 1878, that protection would
have results which may be summarized from a
myriad speeches as follows :
1. It would bring into the country diversified
industries, and thus tend to increase and develop
the intelligence, industry and earnings of our
people.
2. It would, through promoting the develop-
ment of machinery, steam, and water-power,
cheapen the cost of subsistence.
3. It would furnish, or help to furnish, an op-
portunity for every person to find the employ-
ment best suited to his individual capacity.
4. It would create a home market for the pro-
ducts of home labour.
Without attempting any elaborate considera-
tion as to the fulfilment of these expectations, the
following figures of increase in Canadian indus-
trial production, as derived from the last two
Census statements, may be given :
TEN years' INCRKA8E IN MANL'KACTURES.
1881-189I.
Number of establishments 26,237
Capital invested $189,663,327
Number of employi:s 115,362
Wages paid $41,261,948
Raw material used 76.189,849
Value of the product $166,527,019
Primarily, of course, the prosperity of Canada
is dependent upon its agriculture, and there can
be little doubt that as the home market has
developed by the growth of cities, and foreign
competition within the Dominion has been re-
stricted, the farmer has correspondingly benefitted.
According, indeed, to the theory which has long
been accepted by the majority of Canadians, the
home market is the first and most natural one
for our farmers, the second, and so far as demand
is concerned, the largest, being in Great Britain
That the former has been greatly enlarged undei
a protective tariff is evident from the Census re
turns of 1891. As pointed out above, artisans in
creased during that period over a hundred thou
sand in number and their wages rose by ove
$40,000,000. Meantime the previous large im
ports of American farm produce were restricted,
the production of the North-West increased by
leaps and bounds, while concurrently with the
supply of a much larger home demand, the
farmers sent more of almost everything to the
United Kingdom, and have opened out a dozen
new avenues of production and supply — notably in
cattle, cheese and apples.
There is another side to this picture. The
facts as given are admitted ; but it is claimed,
with truth, that the population of Canada has
not increased as it should have done, and that
a good many thousand Canadians have emi-
grated to the United States. It is asserted that
the tariff has produced monopolies, and that the
latter have been the cause of much political cor-
ruption. The expenditure upon public works is
declared to have been extravagant, and that upon
railways very frequently unnecessary. It is point-
ed out that the national debt has risen from
$140,362,069 in 1878 to $253,074,927 in 1895,
and it is claimed that public indirect taxation
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
•91
through the ct)stom<< duties has for years been so
high as to be an injury tu the business, progress
and settlement of the country.
Canadian agricultural exports to Great Britain,
including only cattle, sheep and provisions, in-
creased from 17,226,629 in 1874, and $7,924, 569
in 1879, to $28,045,630 in 1895. The develop-
ment of Manitoba and the North-West also indi-
cates the way in which the Dominion has advanced
and maycontinue to advance. This progress, owing
to the absence of any rapid increase of population,
has not been characterized by that phenomenal
rapidity which has left some of the western Ameri-
can States filled with wrecked settlements, burst-
ed booms, and deserted towns, but has been (with
some exceptions) a slow, cautious, and emphati-
cally onward movement. Winnipeg and Bran-
don, Regina, and Calgary, and Portage la Prairie,
hundreds of miles apart, show the same steady
growth, while Manitoba now teems with wheat
farms instead of deserte4 prairie lands, and the
Territories are replacing the gopher and the
coyote with cattle and horses.
True, the United States lies along the border,
and no fiscal consideration can leave out of view
the cUiims of contiguity which it presents. But
Dakota and Minnesota, Oregon and Washington
have products very similar to those of Manitoba or
British Columbia. They are rivals in milling,
competitors'in production, opponents in railway
matters ; the cities are antagonists in enterprise,
in jobbing and importing and distributing inter-
ests, while the farmers and manufacturers are
naturally rivals. And all the surplus staple pro-
ducts of each side of the border go to the common
natural market in Great Britain. This statement
applies to Ontario as well as to New Yorl^vio
Nova Scotia as to Maine, to Manitoba as well as
to Minnesota. Assertions about contiguity con-
stituting the natural market, and the millions of
population in the United States being the natural
customers of Canada because they are upon the
same continent, are clearly controverted by the
experience of other countries as well as by the
direct evidence of Canadian trade. China has not
been known to seek and find a natural market in
Japan, nor does she find in the teeming millions
of India natural customers for her products,
though the countries border on one another,
China, Japan, and India all send many times as
much produce and merchandise, thousands of
miles to Great Britain, as they do to each other.
Australia sends nearly the whole of her exports to
England, although the United States is 2,000
miles nearer, while France sends to the latter
country double as much as to It.ily, which is next
door. Germany and Belgium have found the
Argentine Republic a better customer than Russia,
Italy, or Spain. So with the United States,
which sells to its " natural market " in the
Argentine, Central America, Mexico, etc., $40,
000,000 worth, where it sells $400,000,000 worth
to Great Britain, two thousand miles away.
But this theory of the immense value of the
American market to Canadians has over and
over again broken down. It is an economical
heresy which will not, I believe, bear the light of
facts and figures. In 1895 Canada exported
agricultural products (including animals) to the
United States valued at $7,423,170 and in the
same year imported from that country $8,930,509
worth. Meanwhile our export to Great Britain
of similar products was $40,436,859 and imports
from there $566,589. The relative value of the
two markets is an important matter in connection
with our fiscal policy and the new and important
departure recently made (1897). If, as is claimed,
the British market has been, is now, and always
must be, so far as can be seen ahead, the main
object of our farmers after the satisfaction of
local demands, then the whole principle of Cana-
dian fiscal regulations should be the promotion of
trade in that direction by the creation of rapid
lines of inter-communication and the establish-
ment of a preferential tariff. If, on the other
hand, the United States is the most profitable
market for the whole Dominion, as it may be for
a few towns along the border, then our policy
should be directed to the cultivation of American
trade and continental commerce, unless national
reasons prevent. If the first case is the correct
one, Canada should retain a moderate tariff while
working towards freer trade within the Empire,
a preferential system, a fast Atlantic service, and
an Imperial cable line to Australia. If the second
is the true course commercially, and we are willing
to waive all political and national considerations,
then- Commercial Union or free trade with
'i;'
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894
CANADA : AN ENCVCLOP-ifiDIA.
the United States is the proper fiscal policy.
To sum up the fiscal history of Canada, it may
be said to cover a wide ground of experiment and
experience in every possible economic direction.
It reveals much of disaster, commercial depend-
ence, and commercial independence. It shows
occasional poor financing, disturbed or depleted
revenues, and burdensome taxation. It reveals a
somewhat heavy national debt, but one that does
not compare with thofjC of the Australian
Colonies. The customs duties are higher by 13 per
cent, than in 1878, and the revenue indirectly
collected is much greater. But over a hundred
articles of necessity have been placed upon the
free list since then, and many millions of dollars
saved to ths pockets of the people since 1882
by the remission of duties upon tea, coffee,
tin, sugar, bill-stamps, and newspapers.
It may be said, in brief, that before Confeder-
ation the fiscal policy of Canada was one of
experiments dependent upon other countries for
success or failure ; from 1868 to 1872 it was pro-
tective from external circumstances rather than
from internal regulations; from 1872 to 1879 it
was one which may be said to have " marked
time"; while from the latter date to the in-
auguration of Sir. Wilfrid Laurier's policy in
1897, it was one of positive protection. The re-
sults during the iirst two fiscal periods were neces-
sarily conflicting and of doubtful value ; in the
third period they seem to have been distinctly
unfortunate ; and in the fourth, so far as the general
comforts of a people, the development of a new
country, and the support of the public may be
proofs, distinctly beneficial. The future can only
be judged by the past, but with distinct aims and
a steadfast policy there is nothing to prevent
Canada being the pioneer in a great Imperial
trade union which shall merge in one powerful
fiscal bond all the countries of the British Em-
pire with their innumerable and varied produc-
tions.
The British Treaties of Commerce affecting
Canada, and including those with Germany and
Belgium which have been recently abrogated by
the Imperial Government under the usual one
year's notice, are as follows :
1825. Argentine Confederation. Reciprocal,
most-favoured nation stipulations. Applicable to
British dommions. No term fixed.
1876. Austria-Hungary. Reciprocal most-fav-
oured nation stipulations. Applicable to British
colonies and foreign possessions. Terminable
one year after notice.
1862. Belguim. Reciprocal and most-fnvoured
nation stipulations. Applicable to British col-
onies.
Article XV. provides that articles, the produce
anc' manufacture of Belgium, shall not be subject
in the British colonies to other or higher duties
than those vhich are or may be imposed upon
similar articles of British origin. Terminable
one year after notice ; but by Article XXV. the
high contracting Powers reserve to themselves
the right to introduce into the Treaty by common
consent any modifications which may not be at
variance with its spirit or principles, and the'
utility of which may be shown by experience.
1840. Bolivia; Reciprocal, most-favoured na-
tion stipulations. Applicable to British domin-
ions. No term fixed.
1854. Chili. Reciprocal, most favoured nation
stipulations. Applicable to British dominions.
Terminable one year after notice.
1866. Colombia. Reciprocal, most-favoured
nation stipulations. Applicable to British do-
minions. Terminable one year after notice.
i88j. Corea. Article X. stipulates that the
Government, public officers, and subjects, shall
participate in all privileges, immunities and ad-
vantages, especially in relation to import or ex-
port duties on goods and manufactures, which
shall then have been granted or may thereafter be
granted by His Majesty the King of Corea to the
Government, public officers or subjects of any
other Power. Applicable to British colonies un-
less excepted by notice. Mav be modified one
year after notice.
1849. Costa Rica. Reciprocal, most-favoured,
nation stipulations. Applicable to British terri-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
«95
tories and dominions. Terminable one year after
notice.
i86o-6i. Denmark. Reciprocal, most-favoured
nation stipulations. Applicable to British do-
minions. No terms fixed.
i860. Dominican Republic. Reciprocal, most-
favoured nation stipulations. Applicable to Brit-
ish dominions. Terminable on notice.
France. The general treaty of 1882 excepts
colonial produce from most-favoured nation treat-
ment.
1893. Treaty with France. Commercial agree-
ment between the United Kingdom (on behalf of
Canada) and France.
Article I. provides that still wines less than 26
per cent, alcohol shall be exempt from the surtax
or ad valorem duty of 30 per cent. That the
duty on common and castile soaps shall be re-
duced one-half, and the duty on nuts, almonds,
prunes and plums by one-third.
Article II. provides that tariff advantages grant-
ed by Canada to a third Power shall be enjoyed
by France, Algeria and French colonies.
Article III. provides that certain goods of Can-
adian origin shall be subject only to the minimum
duty in France, Algeria and French colonies, viz.,
canned milk, condensed milk, fresh water fish,
fresh lobsters and crawfish preserved in their
natural forms, apples and pears, fresh or dried pre-
served fruit, building timber, wood pavement,
staves, wood pulp, shaving extract, common paper,
prepared skins, boots and shoes, common furni-
ture (except chairs), flooring of soft wood and
wooden ships.
Any French tariff advantage to other Powers
is to be extended to Canada.
1865. Germany (ZoUverein). Reciprocal, most-
favoured nation stipulations.
Article VII. runs: "The stipulations of the
preceding Articles, I. to VI., shall also be applied
to the colonies and foreign possessions of Her
Britannic Majesty. In those colonies and posses-
sions the produce of the States of the Zollverein
shall not be subject to any higher or other import
duties than the produce of (he United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, or of any other
country of the like kirid, nor shall the exportation
from these colonies or possessions to the Zoll-
verein be subject to any higher or other duties
than the exportation to the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland." Terminable one
year after notice.
1848. Liberia. Reciprocal, most • favoured
nation stipulations. Applicable to British domi-
nions. No terms fixed.
1865 and 1S83. Madagascar. Special stipula-
tions. Applicable to British dominions. No
terms fixed.
1856. Morocco. Most-favoured nation clause
in favour of British subjects. Applicable to
British dominions. No terms fixed.
1891. Muscat. Most-favoured nation clause in
favour of British subjects, and duties not to ex-
ceed 5 per cent. Applicable to British colonies
and possessions. Canada was excepted but ac-
ceded by Order-in-Council, February 6th, 1893.
May be revised and amended after twelve years,
on one year's notice.
1841 and 1857. Persia. Reciprocal most-favour-
ed nation stipulations. Applicable to British
dominions. No terms fixed.
Portugal. The Imperial Blue-Book Com. No.
17, 1893, says that the treaties of 1842 and 1882
have expired, but British trade continues to enjoy
the most-favoured nation treatment in Portugal.
1859. Russia. Reciprocal, most-favoured nation
stipulations, except Sweden and Norway. Appli-
cable to British dominions. Terminable one year
after notice.
1851. Sandwich Islands. Reciprocal, most-
favoured nation stipulations, with the following
proviso : " Gratuitously if the concession in favour
of the other State shall be gratuitous, or in return
for a compensation as nearly as possible of pro-
portionate value and effect, to be adjusted by
mutual agreement, if the concession shall have
been conditional." (Article III.) Applicable to
British dominions and territories. Terminable
one year after notice.
1885. Siam. Most-favoured nation clause in
favour of any part of the British dominions for
spirits, beer, wines, etc. Applicable to British
dominions for spirits, beer, wines, and spirituous
liquors. Terminable after six months' notice.
1884. South African Republic. Reciprocal,
most-favoured nation stipulations with provision as
follows : " These provisions do not preclude the
consideration of special arrangements as to im-
V-'
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
port duties and commercial relations between the
South African Republic and any of Her Majesty's
colonies or possessions." Applicable to British
dominions, with proviso as above. No terms
fixed.
1892. Spain. By Royal Order of June 29, 1892,
Spain ordained that so long as the United King-
dom granted the most-favoured nation treatment,
British goods imported into Spain should enjoy
the benefit of being subject to the duties of the
second column of the tariff. By Royal Order of
June 30, 1892, this provision was extended to
Cuba and Porto Rico.
1826. Sweden and Norway. Reciprocal, most-
favoured nation stipulation. Applicable to British
colonies. Terminable one year after notice.
1855. Swiss Confederation. Reciprocal, most-
favoured nation stipulations. Applicable to
British territories. Terminable one year after
notice.
1873. Tunis. Reciprocal, most-favoured nation
stipulations. Applicable to British colonies.
May be revised by common consent.
1885. Uruguay. Reciprocal, most - favoured
nation stipulations. Applicable to British colon-
ies and possessions with exceptions. Canada was
excepted but acceded. Terminable one year
after notice.
1825 and 1834. Venezuela. Reciprocal, most
favoured nation stipulations. Applicable to British
dominions. No terms fixed.
f
The foUowinsT are the British Treaties of Com-
merce from which Canada was excepted unless
by consent :
Egypt, 1889. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, September 7, 1891.
Ecuador, 1880. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, November 10, 1882.
Greece, 1886. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, November, 24, 1887.
Italy, 1883. Canada declined to accede. Or-
der-in-Council, September 15, 1883.
Mexico, 1888. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, May 22, 1889.
Montenegro, 1882. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, March i, 1883.
Muscat, 1891. Canada acceded. Order-in-
Council, February 6, 1893.
Paraguay, 1884. Canada declined to accede,
Order-in-Council, December 27, 1886.
Roumania, 1892. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, May 8, 1893.
Salvador, 1886. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, December 27, 1886.
Servia, 1893. Canada declined to accede.
Order-in-Council, March 9, 1894.
Uruguay, 1495. Canada acceded. Order-in-
Council, December 27, 1886.
Zanzibar, 1886. Canada did not accede.
In a communication submitted to the Colonial
Office by Mr. T. H. Farrer of the Privy Council
Committee for Trade — now Lord Farrer and a
well-known free trade enthusiast — it was stated
on June 25th, 1868, that :
" Treaties have recently been made with sev-
eral foreign countries (Prussia and Austria for in-
stance) stipulating ' most-favoured nation treat-
ment ' for the produce of those countries in all
British possessions. If, therefore, Canada admits
United States breadstuffs, etc., duty free, a similar
exemption must be accorded to German and
Hungarian produce, and the produce of all coun-
tries with whom similar treaties have been made
— and, as a necessary consequence, the Canadian
Act ought to be so framed as to enable or compel
the Canadian Government, in case of arrange-
ments with the United States, to comply with the
Treaties in question. But this is not all. If, as
is to be hoped and expected, the international
arrangements referred to become general, and if
they take effect, as they must, in Canada as well
as in the other parts of the British Empire, the
ultimate result may be that British produce, i.e.,
the produce of the United Kingdom and of Brit-
ish possessions not situate in North America, will
be the only produce which is shut out, by differ-
ential duties, from consumption in Canada.
Thus the old colonial system, by which the
trade of the colonies was contracted and crippled
in order to protect the manufacturers and traders
of the mother country, will be reversed, and the
colony will protect its own trade and manufactures
at the cost of the mother country, whilst the
mother country is, at the same time, submitting
to iieavy burdens of another kind for the defence
and protection of the colony. It is for the Sec-
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.0P.1<:DIA.
297
retary of State to consider whether this is a
result which should be sanctioned by Her Ma-
jesty's Government, as it must necessarily be, if
this Bill receives unqualified approval."
The measure referred to was the general fiscal
re-organization which followed Confederation and
admitted the goods of all the Provinces of the
new Dominion free into every other part whilst
levying one uniform tariff rate upon the products
of external countries — British or foreign. It
therefore appeared to Mr. Farrer and those whom
he represented that under any future Reciprocity
arrangement with the United States — in which
"favoured nation" countries might have to be
included — Great Britain would alone be excluded
from the Canadian market. Hence the very
natural enquiry.
The fluctuations of Canadian trade during
the period when it was both helped and hampered
by the British Preferential system and the Navi-
gation Laws, may be traced in some measure in
the following Shipping statistics compiled by Mr.
\V. H. Smith in a useful work published about
1850 and long since out of print. In 1791 the
vessels visiting the Port of Quebec were 90 all
told. They varied in numbers afterwards as
follows :
Year. Cleared at Quebec. Tonnage.
1805 146 25,136
1808 334 66,373
1809 440 87,825
1810 635 138.057
1812 532 116,687
399 86,436
198 46.514
194 37.382
409 94.675
585 147.754
583 145.272
1823 538 134.063
1813.
1814.
1815.
1819.
1820.
1822.
1827.
1828.
1830.
1831.
1842.
1844.
1845.
1846.
.. 619 152.712
.. 716 183,481
•■ 967 238,153
.1,016 261,218
• • 864 307.687
• 1.232 4.'ii.M2
•1.489 576,541
■ 1,480 568,225
Year.
1847.
1848.
1849.
Cleared at Quebec. Tonnage.
1,210 479,124
1. 188 452,436
1,184 465,088
As illustrating the progress made since that
period it may be said that, during the fiscal year
1896, 356 vessels, with a tonnage of 629,426.
cleared inwards ; and 263 vessels, of 368,356
tons, cleared outwards from Quebec. Meanwhile
from Montreal, at which 144 vessels of 37,425
tons had cleared in 1849, 376 vessels with a ton-
nage of 795,151 had cleared inwards in 1896, and
386 vessels of 792,460 tons outwards.
The financial and commercial crisis of 1857-8
is of great historical importance as illustrating
the dependence of Canada upon United States
conditions when bound to that country by the
powerful ties of reciprocal trade arrangements.
It was a period which will long be remembered
as marking one of the most severe and sudden
commercial crises which have occurred during
the present century. The recurrence of such
panics at almost regular intervals has afforded
matter for much theoretical discussion, and poli-
tical economists have advanced, from time to
time, very many different ideas upon the subject.
The causes of this particular crisis were, doubt-
less, different in different countries, yet so inti-
mate are the relations which bind commercial
nations together, that any interruption to the
general business of the one was then, as now,
speedily and injuriously felt by all.
Within the previous forty years the commercial
world had experienced five distinct "crises," each
varying in its apparent causes. That of 1818 is
remembered for its severity both in England and
the United States. In 1825-6 another crisis oc-
curred, induced by famine in England and a fall
in the price of cotton in the United States. In
1833 a financial revulsion took place in the United
States consequent upon the establishment of the
Treasury by General Jackson, and the removal of
Government deposits from the United States
Bank. In 1837 occurred the greatest commercial
and financial crisis of which we have any account,
exceeding in its effects and endurance, though
not in intensity, that of 1857.
The crisis of 1857 seems to have fallen like a
Pljip!
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398
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
&
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w
thunderbolt on the commercial world. The mania
for speedy riches had so blinded the public mind
in the United States that the accumulating dan-
gers on every side were unperceived, or uncared
for, until the entire commercial and monetary
sj'stems of the continent were involved in one
common chaos. According to an elaborate study
of the subject in the Canadian Almanac of 1858,
the abundant harvest of the Southern and West-
ern States had been hardly secured when the
failure of a large banking establishment in Ohio,
with its principal agency in New York, alarmed
the public mind. On the 24th of August, 1857,
the Ohio Life and Trust Company closed its
doors. The connection of this large institution
with other minor concerns soon brought these to
a stand, and the alarm, aided and increased by
telegraphic rumours, soon became general. A
feeling of universal insecurity created a desire to
realize, and the best securities piomptly depreci-
ated in value. " Those step-children, called
bank-notes, which are never welcome to the
paternal roof, flocked home in thousands, like
unwelcome visitors at the most inopportune
moment. Discounts were contracted, and mer-
chants, manufacturers, and business men generally
who had large payments to make, yielded to the
pressure. Stocks fellto an unprecedented low fig-
ure and exchange became unsaleable. Tlie loss
of that confidence so essential to commercial
activity became the great cause of nine-tenths of
tlie evils resultmg from the crisis. Houses of un-
doubted standing were looked upon with distrust.
Ample means was no security against failure.
The bank looked upon the merchants' paper
with suspicion, and the merchants looked upon
the bank-notes with equal distruit. The poorer
classes surrounded the banks and, in their eager-
ness to save themselves from loss, withdrew the
precious metals, an act which was speedily to
deprive them of their daily bread. Deprived of
the basis of their circulation, the banks curtailed
their discounts, workshops and factories were
closed, and thousands of industrious workmen in
the principal cities of the United States were
thrown out of employment. Meantime the
United States country banks (of which there
were over 1,000) suspended in dozens, the banks
in Philadelphia followed suit, and on the thir-
teenth of October several New York banks gave
way. On the next day, by general agreement,
the whole of the New York City banks (except the
Chemical) suspended specie payment."
The turning point was, however, now reached,
and men began to breathe more freely. The notes
of the great majority of the United States Banks
being secured by stock, passed freely, and for
nearly two months scarcely a bank in the United
States paid specie at its counter. From the
United States the panic passed to the Canadian
Provinces, which were then in such close com-
mercial relations with the Republic. The prices of
the principal articles of export fell nearly 100 per
cent, in value in four months. The cry of bank fail-
ures in the United States was heard on every hand.
Exchange in England had gone down to 98, and
the Bank of England had raised the rate of in-
terest to 10 per cent. The American bankers
were collecting Canadian i)ank-notes over a fron-
tier of a thousand miles, and demanding specie
at every bank counter. The United States banks
had suspended specie payment. The Bank of
England had been permitted by Government to
exceed its legal issues. The Bank of France and
the Bank of Hamburg had received assistance
from their respective Governments. Yet in the
midst of this general embarrassment and alarm it
is a matter not only of congratulation but of
pride, that not one Canadian bank suspended
specie payment. Intimately connected with the
neighbouring States in our business relations,
having the same legal tender, and being exposed
to the same risks from the withdrawal of public
confidence, it speaks well for our bank man-
agement that not one banking institution in
Canada dishonoured its paper for a single day.
From the following table it will be seen that
public confidence was never for a moment with-
drawn :
MONTHLY AVERAGE OF CANADIAN BANKS.
Date, 1857.
July 31st
Aug. 3 1 St
Sep. 30th
Oct. 3 1 St
Nov.30th
Dec. 31st
It is
pension
Ca->ital.
Discounts.
$
Specie.'
$
Circulation.
$
Depositi.
$
17,924.667 32,213,081 2,262,167 10,760,167 8,625, 93>4
i8,o<>2,o88 32,951,843 2,272,310 10,777,358 8,621,01s
18,044,701 33,968,627 2,024,081 11,507,205 8,837,278
17,887,692 33,082,530 2,135,270 10,711,813 8,142,254
17,940,354 3'. 273,69 5 2,553,435 9,866,435 7,455,129
17,991,288 30,745,735 2,217,237 9,157,976 8,137,484
true that many parties advised the sus-
of specie payment, and a member of the
■ i '
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
299
Provincial Parliament compared the conduct of
the banks tj the charge at Balaclava, " as mad
as it was glorious." The above figures, however,
clearly indicate that no sudden contraction of
the currency took place. " It cannot be denied,"
says the writer already quoted, " that the de-
termination of the banks to continue specie pay-
ments at all hazards was attended with serious
inconvenience to the mercantile community ; but,
on the other hand, the pressure to which these
were subjected was the best test of their solvency,
and cannot fail ultimately to give confidence in
their stability." Meanwhile Canadian produc-
tions had not only depreciated in value, but owing
to the tightening of money could not be brought
to market, and the general business of the country
was seriously interrupted. Three-fourths of the
people of Upper Canada were then engaged in
agricultural pursuits, and the others were mainly
dependent upon the result of their labours. The
fall in the price of wheat was therefore a great
cause of embarrassment. Then, as now, it was
perhaps the main element in the prosperity of
the Province.
The United States in its mines and manufac-
tures had sources of wealth apart from the pro-
ducts of the soil, but in Canada it was otherwise.
The consequence was that " debts contracted in
June, 1857, required double the quantity of pro-
duce to discharge them in June 1858." The evil
was incurred by Canadian purchases being princi-
pally from abroad. The large importations sent
the gold out of the country and contracted the
bank circulation. The scarcity of money pros-
trated internal trade, and the farmer's home mar-
ket was destroyed. His returns were diminished
on every side, while his liabilities remained the
same. At this time the people of Toronto and
Hamilton were actually supplied to a large extent
with butter and cheese, eggs and vegetables, from
the United States, while with a soil and climate
adapted for raising the best fruit in the world
large quantities of apples were imported from the
same country. This was an inevitable result of
the Re.:iprocity Treaty, and, with many of the ill
effects of the crisis of 1857, has to be included in
its debit and credit account. The following two
years was indeed a period of the most severe
depression throughout the Provinces.
The flnancial and oommeroial crisis of 1803
in the United States appears to illustrate the
advantage of Canadian commercial independence,
as the crisis of 1857 proved the danger of depend-
ence. The disturbance was very severe and very
sudden. External events as well as internal mis-
takes in policy had much to do with it, and the
following historical table speaks for itself:
1890. The practical bankruptcy of Portugal.
Collapse of South African mining boom.
Collapse of Argentine Republic boom,
bringing down the great house of liar-
ing Hros.
Sherman Silver Act passed by United
States Congress.
1891. Process of re-organization and re-habilita-
tion going on generally throughout the
world.
1892. Restriction of mercantile credits and
wide-spread efforts to settle old ac-
counts.
1890-2. British speculative investments being
continually withdrawn from the United
States in consequence of the Sherman
Act — estimated at $500,000,000.
In March, 1893, the New York stock market be-
gan to show extreme sensitiveness, and gold was
freely exported. In April there were many
panicky symptoms in the stock market, the gold
clause in contracts was insisted upon, and the
United States Treasury Gold Reserves dropped
below one hundred million dollars. In May,
nearly all the stocks listed in the New York Ex-
change went down in price, the bankers called in
old loans, refused new ones except on a much
larger margin of collaterals, and began to scruti-
nize commercial paper very closely. Business
failures soon showed an abnormal increase over
the corresponding period in previous years, while
gold was shipped to England at the rate of $1,000,
000 a day. The crash in prices of industrial
securities in Wall Street followed, the Australian
bank failures intensified the trouble, the Bank of
England raised its discount rate, and over three
hundred American banks suspended.
Thousands of manufacturing concerns closed
down during this and the succeeding year and a
period of intense depression fullowed the panic. In
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300
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OIM: DIA.
»■■>*
Canada, tne general depression was naturally felt,
but there were no abnormal evidences of trouble.
No banks failed — except a small concern which had
been on the verge for a long time — the number of
failures were less than usual during the year, and
in trade, revenues and absence of ail serious finan-
cial difficulty the Dominion held its own and
proved its capacity to stand apart from the
troubles of its great neighbour.
In 1865 a movement was inaugurated for
extending Canadian trade. It took the form of
a meeting held at Quebec in September. Dele-
gates were present from the various Colonies of
British America, and the gathering called itself a
Confederate Council for Trade and was in reality a
precursor of the coming Confederate Parliament.
There was much unanimity of opinion and the
following resolution was passed without dissent :
"That in the opinion of this Council it would
be highly desirable that application be made to
Her Majesty's Imperial Government, requesting
that steps be taken to enable the British North
American Provinces to open communications with
the West India Islands, with Spain and her colo-
nies, and with Brazil and Mexico, for the purpose
of ascertaining in what manner the traffic of the
Provinces with those countries could be extended
and placed on a more advantageous footing."
A Commission was accordingly appointed com-
posed of the following gentlemen :
Canada: Hon. Wm. McDougall, m.p.p.; Hon.
Thos. Ryan, m.l.c; J. W. Dunscombe,
Collector of Customs, Quebec ; A. M. De-
lisle, Collector of Customs, Montreal.
Nova Scotia: Hon. James Macdonald, m.p.p.,
Financial Secretary ; Hon. Isaac Leves-
conte, M.p.p.
New Brunswick : \V. H. Smith, Collector of
Customs, St. John.
Prince Edward Island: Hon. W. H. Pope, m.p.p..
Colonial Secretary.
After considerable travelling and much discus-
sion the Commissioners obtained from the Gov-
ernments of the British Colonies of Demerara,
Trinidad, the Windward Islands, the Leeward
Islands, and Jamaica, a formal assent to the
following propositions :
" That customs duties and port charges on the
produce and shipping of the respective Colonies
shall be levied solely for revenue purposes, and
for the maintenance of indispensable establish-
ments, and that the several Governments will be
prepared to consider, in a liberal spirit, any com-
plaint having reference to imports that may be
preferred by another Ciovernment, on the ground
that such imports are calculated to obstruct trade.
That, finding the Postal Service betweeen Brit-
ish America and the West Indies irregular and
insufficient, the Commissioners obtained from the
same authorities a conditional agreement to aid,
by a subvention or otherwise, in the establish-
ment of improved postal communication."
The Commissioners made certain suggestions
in their Report to the Governor-General concern-
ing a possible direct trade between British North
America and the British and Foreign West
Indies, Brazil and Mexico, from which the follow-
ing are quoted :
" To procure, by reciprocal treaties or other-
wise, a reduction of the duties now levied on
flour, hsh, lumber, pork, butter, and other staple
producti'^ns of British North America, in the
West Indies, and especially with Brazil and the
Colonies of Spain.
To obtain, if possible, from the Spanish and
Brazilian authorities, a remission of the heavy
dues now chargeable on the transfer of vessels
from the British to the Spanish and Brazilian
flags.
To procure, by negotiation with the proper
authorities, an assimilation of the tariffs of the
British West India Colonies in respect to flour,
lumber, fish, and other staples of British North
America ; a measure which would greatly facilitate
commercial operations, and may well be urged in
view of the assimilation about to be made in the
tariffs of Canada and the Maritime Provinces.
To promote, by prudent legislation and a
sound fiscal policy, the rapid development of the
great natural resources of the British North
American Provinces, and to preserve, as far as
lies in their power, tfie advantage which they now
possess of being able to produce, at a cheaper
cost than any other country, most of the great
staples which the inhabitants of the tropics must
procure from northern ports.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
301
■,'-!■■
That the Commissioners are happy to inform
Your Excellency that they were received with
marked attention by the representatives of Her
Majesty in the British Colonies, by His Imperial
Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, and by the
authorities of all the Foreign Islands and places
visited by them ; and that everywhere they found
both the Governments and the people anxious to
obtain information and to promote the objects of
the mission."
For various reasons, connected mainly with
local political troubles and the ensuing pressure
of the Federal movement upon Canadian public
attention, very little immediate result came of
this Report and the work of the Commission ; but
it is of historical importance.
The question of Canadian Tariff privileges
has always been a most complicated one. In a
Report written by Sir John Rose, then Domi-
nion Finance Minister (Sessional Papers No. 47,
1869) he dealt, under date of January 13, 1868,
and at some length, with the situation at that
time :
" The question referred to by His Grace (the
Duke of Newcastle) has formed the subject of re-
peated discussions between Canada and the North
American Colonies on the one hand and the
Imperial Government on the other, since the year
1850. In that year, an Act was passed empower-
ing the Governor-in-Council to permit the free
entry into Canada of the products of any of the
North American possessions; and though Earl
Grey, then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
called attention to its provisions, the Act would
not appear to have been disallowed ; and subse-
quently enactments of a similar kind have from
time to time received the sanction of Parliament
and been left to their operation by Her Majesty's
Government.
In the year 1 860, when it was proposed to extend
the then existing arrangements between the
British North American Provinces so as to allow
the reciprocal admission to one another of all
articles of their respective growth or manufacture,
free of duty, and to assimilate the several tariffs
of these Provinces, the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade recommended that it
should be made a condition of the assent of Her
Majesty's Government to the proposal in question,
that any such exemption from import duty should
be equally extended to all similar produce and
manufacture of other countries.
To this proposed condition Canada took excep-
tion, and a Report of the Finance Minister, in
which the views of the Canadian Government
were fully stated, was adopted by the Executive
Council on the 29th December, i860, and was
subsequently transmitted to the Secretary of State
for the Colonies. After due consideration of the
views expressed in this Minute, Her Majesty's
Government, in a despatch from His Grace the
Duke of Newcastle, dated 5th February, 1861, in-
timated that they had no wish to offer an obstacle
to any endeavours which might be made by the re-
spective Provincial Governments to bring about a
free commercial intercourse between the North
American Provinces. Since that time the subject
of Intercolonial Reciprocity has been discussed
without any further remonstrance on the part of
their Lordships, until the Despatch now under
review was received."
The progrress of the Protectionist movement
in Canada, from Confederation up to the time of
its triumph in the National Policy of 1879-96,
may be traced in the Motions presented to the
House of Commons. On March 7th, 1870, Mr.
Thomas Oliver, Liberal member for North Oxford,
moved for an Address to His Excellency praying
forthe imposition ofan import duty on wheat,ilour,
Indian corn, hops, coarse and fine salt, and coal.
This was supported by Mr. M. C. Cameron, then
representing South Huron, who made the follow-
ing interesting references to the question :
" When salt was first discovered in Michigan,
they gave a bounty of twenty cents a barrel on all
that was exported, and the wilderness of Saginaw
was now one of the most thriving settlements in
the States. T)'ie policy of the salt manufacturers
there was to supply the home market first and
send off the remainder. When they had shipped
to all their own customers, they disposed of the
remainder in Canada, sending in large quantities
at uncertain times. He did not object to healthy
competition, but to an unhealthy and illegitimate
traffic, by which all operations were disturbed.
Every industry was nearly in the same position.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.^<;DIA.
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but salt stood in a peculiar position, from the
wealth of the manufacturers who had resolved to
crush the infant manufacture of Canada. Then,
the Americans had the benefit of return freights,
which was an important consideration. He was
not, as a whole, an advocate for a retaliatory
policy, but there were some articles witii regard
to which it was judicious and right to adopt it.
He believed that the country was excited on the
subject, and petitions had been presented from
all quarters. He had presented himself petitions
from the county of Huron, the largest and most
respectable county in the Dominion (laughter),
and which contained fully one-half of the popula-
tion of New Brunswick ; and all the County
Councils in Ontario were in favour of the pro-
posals brought forward by the member for 0.\-
ford."
The motion was not, however, pressed, and a
few months before its overthrow, in 1873, the
Macdonald Government promised an increase in
the duties. Following the Oliver Motion came
Mr. Huntingdon's appeal for a Customs Union
with the American Republic and the appointment,
in 1^76, of Mr. Mills' Committee of Inquiry into
the Depression. On February 29th, of this latter
year, Mr. Workman of Montreal moved the fol-
lowing Resolution :
" That this House deeply regrets to learn from
the speech of the Hon. Minister of I'inance (Mr.
Cartwright) on Friday last, that the Government
has not proposed to this House a policy of pro-
tection to our various and important manufactur-
ing industries ; and that the large amount of
capital now invested in these industries, and their
present depressed condition, render such a policy
necessary to restore them to a condition of pros-
perity."
This was ruled out of order, and the follow-
ing was substituted by Mr. /Emilius Irving, q.c,
who then represented Hamilton in the House :
" Resolved : That this House, in maintaining
the policy adopted by the present and past Gov-
ernments in limiting the rate of duties upon the
importation of those classes of articles which are
produced in the country, to the extent required
to meet the wants of the revenue, fully appreci-
ates the national benefits arising from the degree
of protection to the existing manufacturing in-
dustries of the Dominion afforded under that
system, but observes with regret that the fluctua-
tion in price, resulting from the uncertain condition
of foreign markets affecting the Canadian markets,
and incapable of being foreseen by the Canadian
manufacturers, exposes our manufacturing inter-
ests to unfair competition, and this House, while
now ready to record its approval of the general
policy of the present Administration, is neverthe-
less of opinion, that the said manufacturing in-
terests deserve the continued care of Parliament,
and that the time has arrived when the Govern-
ment of the Dominion should inform the Imperial
Government that the Parliament of Canada deems
it necessary to revive some of the features of a_^
former policy by imposing differential duties; and'"
to indicate, further, that in order to meet the
difficulties against which Canadian manufactures
are struggling, and in the general interests of the
Canadian public, and to bring the British and
foreign manufacturer on nearer terms of equality
in the Canadian market, this House will be pre-
pared to approve of any measure to be submitted
to them by the Administration whereby a rate of
not less than ten per cent, should be added to
the existing importation tariff against such arti-
cles of foreign manufacture, of which the same
classes are manufactured in the Dominion, by
way of difference to that extent in favour of like
classes of production of the Mother Country."
This resolution was lost upon a division of
174 to 3 — neither party apparently supporting it.
On March loth, Sir John A. Macdonald, as leader
of the Conservative Opposition, moved :
"That this House regrets that His Excellency
the Governor-General has not been advised to
recommend to Parliament a measure for the re-
adjustment of the tariff, which would not only aid
in alleviating the stagnation of business deplored in
the gracious Speech from the Throne, but would
also afford fitting encouragement and protection
to the struggling manufactures and industries, as
well as to the agricultural products of the country."
After considerable discussion the motion was
lost by 116 votes to 70.
On March 6th, 1877, Sir John A. Macdonald
again moved an amendment to Mr. Cartwright's
Budget proposals, as follows :
" That it be resolved that this House regrets
that the financial policy submitted by the Govern-
ment increases the burthen of taxation on the
people without any compensating advantages to
Canadian industries ; and, further, that this
House is of opinion that the deficiency in the
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
503
Eevemie should be met by a diminution of expen-
diture, aided by such management of tlie tariff as
will benefit and foster the agricultural, mining and
manufacturing interests of the Dominion."
In amendment to this amendment, Mr. A. T.
Wood moved :
" That ail the words after ' Resolved ' be left
out, and the following inserted instead thereof:
'That, inasmuch as it has been deemed necessary
to raise an additional revenue it is the opinion of
this House that the interests of the country would
be better served by imposing additional duties up-
Dr. George T. Orton,
on such goods and wares as may be produced in
Canada, thereby affording increased protection
while securing the additional revenue required.' "
On March 15th this was negatived on division
by log to 78, and the following new amendment
to the amendment was also lost by 113 to 74. It
was moved by Dr. George T. Orton, of Centre
Wellington :
" That all the words after ' Resolved ' in the
sdid amendment be left out, and the following in-
serted instead thereof: ' That this House ex-
presses its regret that the Government have not
seen fit, with a due regard to all other industries,
so to arrange the Customs Tariff as to relieve the
farmers of Canada from the unjust effects of the
one-sided and unfair Tariff relations wiiich exist
between Canada and the United States in refer-
ence to the interchange of agricultural products;
and at the same time place this country in a
better position to negotiate a fair and just reci-
procity in the interchange of such products be-
tween Canada and the United States.' "
Sir John Macdonald's amendment was then
negatived on a party division by 119 to 70. In
the succeeding year, on March 7th, Sir John again
returned to the charge with the following some-
what famous Resolution in amendment to the
Supply motion :
" That the Speaker do not now leave the Chair,
but that this House is of the opinion that the
welfare of Canada requires the adoption of a
National Policy, which, by a judicious re-adjust-
ment of the Tariff, will benefit and foster the
agricultural, the mining, the manufacturing and
other interests of the Dominion; that such a
policy will retain in Canada thousands of our
fellow-countrymen now obliged to expatriate
themselves in search of the employment denied
them at home ; will restore prosperity to our
struggling industries, now so sadly depressed ;
will prevent Canada from being made a sacrifice
market ; will encourage and develop an active
Inter-Provincial trade; and moving (as it ought
to do) in the direction of a reciprocity of tariffs
with our neighbours, so far as the varied interests
of Canada may demand, will greatly tend to pro-
cure for this country eventually a reciprocity of
trade."
This motion, upon which the succeeding cam-
paign was mainly fought and won by the Con-
servatives, was lost in the House by 114 to 77
votes. In 1879 it was the turn of the Liberals
to move amendments to the newly presented
tariff proposals of Sir Leonard Tillej', and on
April 7th the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, lately
Prime Minister, made the following motion:
" That the said Resolutions be not now read
a second time, but that it be resolved : ' That,
while this House is prepnred to make ample p-'o-
vision for the requirements of the public service.
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,^04
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
and the maintenance of the public credit, it re-
gards the scheme now under consideration as
calculated to distribute unequally, and therefore
unjustly, the burdens of taxation ; to divert capi-
tal from its natural and most profitable employ-
ment ; to benefit special classes at the expense of
the whole community ; tends towards rendering
futile the costly and persistent efforts of the
country to secure a share of the immense and
growing carrying trade of this continent ; and to
create an antagonism between the commercial
policy of the Empire and that of Canada that
might lead to consequences deeply to be de-
plored.' "
It was defeated upon a party division of 136 to
5 J. From this time onwards the attacks by the
Opposition upon the " National Policy " were
continuous, and protection was most vehemently
denounced. Hut until 1884 clearly defined party
resolutions upon the subject were not presented,
and after that date, with the following exceptions,
they assumed the form chiefly of demands for
Reciprocity with the United States:
On March 30th, 1882, the Hon. Wilfred
Laurier moved the following Resolution in the
House of Commons : " That Mr. Speaker do not
now leave the Chair, but that it be resolved that
in the opinion of this House the public interests
would be promoted by the repeal of the duties
imposed on coal, coke and breadstuffs, free under
the former Tariff, and by these articles being
made free." The motion was lost by 120 to 47.
On April 26th, following, the Hon. T. W. Anglin
moved : " That it be resolved that the system
and scale of duties on cotton and woollen goods
have resulted in the imposition of a rate of taxa-
tion on those articles, chiefly used by the masses,
inordinately high, and greater than the rate im-
posed on those articles chiefly used by the rich,
and that the said duties should be amended so as
to reduce the rate of taxation on the masses, and
to make it more nearly proportionate with that
levied on the rich."
This was lost by a vote of 118 Conservatives
to 52 Liberals. Two days later the Hon. Isaac
Hurpee moved : " That it be resolved that pig,
bar and sheet iron, boiler plate and tubing are
materials for a large number of important Cana-
adian manufactures in extensive use : that the
increased burden of duties, now imposed on such
materials, enhances the cost thereof, to the dam-
age of both the manufacturers and consumers,
and that the duties on such materials for manu-
facturers should be reduced so as to enable the
manufacturer to supply the consumers at a lower
cost."
The Balance of Trade was at one time a much
discussed question. It has certainly always been
against Canada in its relations with the United
States. During the twelve years from 1821 to 1832
(both inclusive) the United States official records
show that their exports to the British North
American Provinces were of the following aggre-
gate value :
In home products I30.997f4i7
In foreign products 403,909
Total $31,401,326
Meanwhile the entire imports of
the United States in the same
period from the Provinces were
but 7.684,559
Leaving a balance in favour of the
United States $23,716,767
During the thirteen years following this (1833
to 1845) the same state of things existed, with a
steady increase of the aggregate traflic. The
exports of the Republic to the British North
American Provinces during this period were :
Of domestic products $.541082,537
Of foreign products 4,640,332
Total $58,722,869
Meanwhile the imports of the Re-
public from the Provinces were 23,356,275
Leaving as a balance in favour of
the United States $35,366,594
Thus, while from 1821 to 1832 the aggregate
annual traflic between the countries averaged
$3,257,153. and from 1833 to 1845 $6,313,780 per
annum, the traffic rose bftween 1846 and 1853 to
an average of $14,230,763 per annum. But the
balance of trade still preponderated to the ad-
vantage of the United States. In those eight
years the Republic exported to the Provinces •,
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPifCDIA.
30s
Of home products $55,072,260
Of foreign products 22,0^0,254
Total $77,092,514
Meanwhile the imports of the Re-
public from the Provinces were 36,753,592
Leaving a favourable United
States balance of $40,338,922
Of course, this American trade was largely
nominal until the change in the British fiscal
system in 1846-9. During the Reciprocity period
of 1854-66 the balance increased to $120,000,000
in favour of the United States, and from 1873 to
1896, inclusive, it totalled up to the enormous
sum of $280,930,148.
In presenting: his Motion for the appointment
of a House of Commons Committee in 1876 to
inquire into the financial and commercial depres-
sion, Mr. David Mills — afterwards Minister of
the Interior in the Mackenzie Government —
stated on February 15th, that :
" I am of opinion that we are suffering to
a very considerable extent from commercial
depression in consequence of our intimate com-
mercial relations m tth the trade of the adjoin-
ing Republic. I think it was a sound principle
which was laid down many years ago by a dis-
tinguished English statesman, that one nation
had the same interest in the commercial pros-
perity of another nation with whom it is carry-
ing on trade to a large extent that a merchant
has in the welfare of his customers. It is not
very easy for the merchant to remain prosperous
while his customers are impoverished, and it is
not very easy for the people of this country who
are engaged in commercial pursuits to be in a
highly prosperous condition while those with
whom they are dealing are suffering from finan-
cial depression. It is said by those who are in
favour of seeking relief from the present depres-
sion by legislation in this House, that we might
improve our condition by an alteration of the
fiscal policy of this country. I am not going to
say, Sir, whether that is the correct observation
or not ; I am hot going to say whether we might
restrain our importation — if there has been over-
importation — by a protective tariff. I am not go-
ing to discuss this question. I am free to say
that I believe that high duties upon imported
articles have not always secured that object else-
where ; but whether they would do so in this
country or not, I will not, in anticipation of any
information that may be obtained on this subject
by the Committee, pronounce an opinion. There
is one thing I may notice here, that the balance
of the trade has been for a number of years very
largely against this country. I do not attach
the importance to this fact that is sometimes
attached to it, but it is, nevertheless, a fact not
without importance. In 1868, the balance of
trade against this country was $16,000,000.
In 1869 $10,000,000
In 1870 1,250,000
In 1871 22,000,000
In 1872 28,750,000
In 1873 47,000,000
In 1874 38,860,000
In 1875 J ,000,000
That is, from 1868 to June ^ ih, 1875, there
was a balance of $209,000,000 against this country.
Now this is a very large amount, and if that
represented the actual condition of things as
between this country and other countries with
whom we deal it would be a matter of very serious
consideration."
The Parliamentary Committee thus appointed
to inquire into the causes of the depression sub-
mitted a lengthy Report on the nth of April,
1876, signed by Mr. Mills. The following extracts
are of importance :
" It has been suggested by some of those who
have been examined before the Committee that,
as the United States have refused to adopt a
friendly commercial policy towards this country,
we should adjust our tariff with special reference
to the policy which is there pursued. As a mat-
ter of mere diplomacy, such a course might pos-
sibly find a justification in case it were followed
by success ; but the Committee are of opinion
that it could not be defended on economic
grounds. The restrictions, if imposed, would
not be less baneful in their consequences to both
capital and industry here because the Govern-
ment at Washington adopts a policy disastrous
in consequences to its own people and vexatious
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.liniA.
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and hurtful to us. The Committee have no
doubt that a liberal commercial policy will prove
the most favourable to the interests of ail classes
in the country. Our forci^jn commerce is not in-
considerable, and, tai<iM(; into account our mer-
cantile marine, its extension will prove eminently
conducive to the increase of the wealth and the
general prosperity of tlie country.
The Committee believe that under no circum-
stances can it be favourable to the material pro-
gress of the country that fiscal barriers should
be placed in the way of receiving from other
countries those commodities which their soil,
climate and present forms of industry make it to
our interest to import rather than produce. Apart
from any immediate commercial advantage, they
think that from the evidence they submit to the
consideration of the House, it will appear that it
is not easy to over-estimate the beneficial effects
resulting from the stimulus given to industry by
a vigorous rivalry resulting from the sale of simi-
lar productions in the same market. The small-
ness of the profits not infrequently contributes
largely to the improvement of machinery and
other appliances by which the manufactured pro-
ducts are improved, labour is economized, and
production is increased and cheapened. They do
not pretend to say that a highly restrictive tariff,
by which foreign imports might be checked or
excluded from our markets, would not stimulate
domestic production. This would no doubt be
done, but only by a large increase of cost to the
domestic consumer. It might to some extent in-
vite foreign capital ; but it would more frequently
divert capital already found in the country from
other pursuits, and this could be done only at the
expense, for the time being, of the rest of the
community.
The history of the growth of manufacturing
industries both in Europe and America shows
that capital has not always been wisely invested
or prudently managed, when not subject to rivalry
either by the manufacturer at home or the manu-
facturer in some foreign state. It is urged that
if a restrictive tariff was adopted, a large number
would find employment in manufacturing pursuits,
who are either idle at home or employed abroad.
The Committee do not concur in this opinion ;
they think that idleness is more likely to be con-
sequent upon those pursuits that can only exist
by legislative hindrances, and that are liable to
disaster during every period of commercial or
financial depression. They think that freedom
from legislative restraint not only stimulates
trade with foreign countries, but by the constant
struggle between rival industries which it permits
to go on unchecked, forces capital into the most
favourable channels, and thereby secures the
selection, not only of the most suitable industrial
pursuits, but prevents the misdirection of labour
and capital which has everywhere followed upon
Government interference.
The maxim of buying in the cheapest market
and selling in the dearest, which is recognized as
of general application in commercial transactions,
is held by the advocates of the protective system
inapplicable to separate communities. The argu-
ment by which this policy is supported and de-
fended is that it brings the consumer and pro-
ducer together, and thus docs away with the cost
of transportation. If this line of argument were
sound, a community without the means of trans-
portation, without railways or navigable waters,
ought to be the most prosperous; and it does, in-
deed, seem strange that a Government spending
large sums of money to afford facilities to com-
merce with other countries in order to promote
the prosperity of the people, should afterwards
seek to further national prosperity by heavy im-
posts tending to substitute artificial barriers in
place of those which they have removed.
The Committee are of opinion that a policy
which would destroy the carrying trade and com-
pel those who engage in it, without any cost to
the Government and without any call for protec-
tion, to seek other investments for their capital,
and other forms of labour for those now employed
in such service, must do so, not only to the detri-
ment of the parties concerned, but to the detri-
ment of the country. Without the influence of
the incidents of foreign commerce, national indus-
try would soon become stationary, and without
the stimulus which rivalry and a knowledge of the
different circumstanced under which the same
trade is being carried on, the elements indispens-
able to industrial improvement would be wholly
wanting.
The Committee are of opinion that the national
CANADA; AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
307
policy founded on the gre!rt«st freedom of trade
which the public credit will permit is the one
most advantaf^cous to this country, and will
guarantee to its people the largest production of
wealth by an expenditure of the least amount of
capital and labour. They do not consider the re-
sults which have flowed from the trial of a restric-
tive policy in the United States of such a charac-
ter as to justify the adoption of a similar course
here. The whole tendency of legislation in that
country has been to make the floor of Congress
the arena where every capitalist has sought to
raise his own rate of profits above the natural
level, by seeking to tax the rest of the community
for his benefit. The result has been that they
have there entered upon the absurd enterprise of
making every person rich by plundering all through
the instrumentality of an absurd fiscal policy.
The Government of Washington has for the past
twelve years based its commercial policy upon ex-
clusion, with the well-meant design of encourag-
ing native industry, and notwithstanding their
favourable circumstances, and their great natural
resources, and notwithstanding that the mischiefs
of their system have been mitigated by the free-
dom of trade which exists between the different
States of the Union, their manufacturing popula-
tions are much more depressed than are those of
this country,and those industries which have been
most largely protected have suffered most since
the present commercial depression began.
It can be established beyond question that the
highly protective tariff, which is there in force,
has compelled the great majority of the people,
who must always remain consumers, to submit to
privations, either in the quantity or quality of the
articles consumed. It is a favourite assumption
of those who advocate a restrictive system that
the importation of foreign commodities dis-
courages production to an equal extent at home.
This is an assumption which has never been
established. It may be true that certain branches
of industry may not prosper greatly in the face of
an unrestricted foreign competition ; but it is
equally true that the country will be benefited in
so far as the investment of capital in undertak-
ings, not in themselves profitable, can be checked.
Industries for which a country is well suited do
not need to be kept alive by burdens imposed up-
on others, nor are they likely to be the first to
suffer during a period of depression. Those em-
ployments for capital in which a people engage
without legislative interference are most likely to
prove profitable, and are subject to the fewest
vicissitudes.
The experience of every country, where a sys-
tem of restriction 'upon foreign trade has been
imposed with a view of encouraging the growth
of manufactures, shows that not only are large
burdens imposed upon the majority of a popui-
tion, but that it ultimately fails to benefit t?ie
class on whose behalf it was first instituted. Thi
benefit it confers upon the few must always I'
much less in amount than the loss it imposes
upon the many. The same line of argument,
which has been suggested to establish the pro-
position that it would be for the interest of the
country to exclude foreign productions, would
apply with equal force between the different Pro-
vinces of the Dominion.
An investigation into the effects of a protective
policy, if time permitted, would be peculiarly
appropriate, as there seems to exist in the mind^i
of certain classes specially interested, the opinion
that the distress which to some extent prevails,
is due to the absence of a highly protective system.
Such a system might diminish the consumption
of foreign goods and lessen the amount of tax:i-
tion received into the public treasury. The
principal object of such a policy is to increase
the price of goods of a similar kind manufactured
in the country, so that the consumer would in
reality pay a large tax, which would not find its
way into the coffers of the country, and the most
favourable view that could be taken of such a
proposal is to say that it is a proposition to relieve
general distress by a re-distribution of property.
The Committee invite the attention of the
House to the statement that a large number of
persons who now emigrate to the United States
do so because home manufactures are not suffici-
ently encouraged by our fisc il policy ; that if
higher ta.xes were levied the population who now
go th'ther would remain in Canada. Such has
not been the effect of the protective system in the
United States. The native population of New
England, which, according to this theory, ought
to have been retained there by establishment of
vim <
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308
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
i
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manufactures, have, nevertheless, gone to the
Western States of the Union. No fewer than
568,608 out of 3,487,000 have left those States to
settle elsewhere, while out of a population of
4,000, oco in Canada, but 493,000 have emigrated
to the neighbourin}; Republic. The value of real
estate in ' e New England States, where most
of the manufactures of the neighbouring Republic
are situated, has diminished nearly twenty-five
per cent. This fact affords a most conclusive
answer to the statement that the agriculturist is
more than paid by the home market afforded for
all the extra tax that he is called upon to bear.
It is also worthy of not .at while the casualties
in the Eastern States amount to more than
$40,000,000 for the year, or $11 per capita, the
casf-ilties of the agricultural States of the West,
embracing nearly three times the population, are
but 32,500,000, or $2.70 per capita.
The evidence taken before the Committee
shows that the average yearly produce of each
workman engaged in manufacturing is about
$1,000 worth of manufactured goods. It is said
that if those goods now paying 17J per cent, were
increased to 25 per cent., the greater portion of
them might be produced in the country. If this
statement be taken as true, looking to the age
and sex of our manufacturing population, it would
jiive employment to 50,000, who would include
100,000 more, dependent upon them. The Cus-
toms revenue would be diminished by $9,000,000.
The new population would pay upon the articles
still ta.xable on the list $225,000; the remaining
$8,775,000 would be required to be made up in
some other way, and this tax of twenty-five per
cent, added to the price of the goods produced at
home would impose a burden of $12,500,000 upon
the consumers, as the condition of securing 150,-
000 additional inhabitants, who during a period
of commercial depression might be left without
employment, and might become a further chaige
upon the rest of the community."
On January 4th, 1891, the Hon. Alexander
Mackenzie, M.F., Liberal Prime Minister of
Canada from 1873 to 1878, made one of his last
public utterances in the following summary of his
views upon free-trade and protection :
" Our wealth is all to be taken from the soil,
the woods and the mines. The farmers are a
great wealth-producing class, and any fiscal policy
which presses hard upon them ensures a com-
mercial crisis sooner or later. Every effort should
be made by us to avert such a crisis. The nat-
ural course to pursue would be to turn to the
policy of 1878, and in doing so the Liberals and
Conservatives ought to accept any scheme which
does not perpetuate further injustice. The coun-
try is at present naturally looking for' some
reform m tariff legislation in Canada and the
United States, and no doubt the farmers of On-
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Tlie Hun. Alexander Mackenzie.
tario are largely interested in procuring such
changes, while the other Provinces, owing to
lack of those resources which Ontario possesses,
are still more than anxious to secure a sounder
policy. I may say, a considerable number of the
farmers were.- led avyay in 1878 from their alle-
giance to sound principles. It has been said by
some of the Ministerial papers that Great Britain
would not consent to any extension of a free
trade policy. I can only s.iy that i.i the negotia-
tions of 1874 at Washington, conducted by Mr.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
George Brown, the Government was in active
communication with the Colonial Office, and a
list of the articles proposed to be embodied in
the new treaty was transmitted for consideration
to Downing Street.
The general spirit which pervaded these com-
munications was simply that Canada and Can-
adians knew best what suited themselves. No
doubt they were also aware of the fact that any-
thing <vhich benefitted Canadian trade would
more or less be grateful to the statesmen of the
Mother Country. I could never consent to the
Zollverein policy for obvious reasons, but I can-
not conceive why anyone should object to reci-
procal free trade secured by treaty and not inimi-
cal to the interests of Great Britain as the heart
of the Empire. I shall feel it to be my duty to
vote in the direction of these remarks in Parlia-
ment, and I trust the reform will be accomplished
before long which will restore the non-restrictive
policy and do simple justice to the great wealth-
producing classes of the country. And it will be
the duty of the electors (of L-ast York) to meet
and select one who will faithfully represent their
views. That does not require immediate action,
but it is absolutely essential that from press and
platform sound principles should be inculcated.
The utter failure of the National Policy and the
enormous increase in the national debt are rea-
sons why the present Administration should nut
be supported any longer."
Figures showinii^ the depreciation or other-
wise in the values of various exported Canadian
products between 1883 and 1895 have been com-
piled by the Dominion Statistician, and the fol-
lowing selection from his elaborate figures will
show the change which has been steadily taking
place :
I'raluct '**•' '^^ .
Average piice. Average price.
Coal, per ton $ 2.52 $ 3.22
Copper ore, per ton 34-i8 129.30
Iron ore, per ton 3.09 9. 11
Silver ore, per ton 142.00 156.47
Mackerel, per bbl y.yT 9.51
Salmon, fresh, per lb i4-30 9.39
Salmon, canned, per lb... 10.53 9.79
Fire-wood, per cord 2.3b 1.92
309
Product. ^ '««^ . ^ '«95 .
Average price. Average price.
Logs, pine, per 1,000 ft... 6.50 8.77
Logs, spruce, per 1,000 ft 4.93 3.63
Deals, per St. h 32.54 28.24
Horses, each 125.45 89.03
Cattle, each 58.70 75.91
Sheep.each 4.50 5.57
Butter, per lb 21 .19
Cheese, per lb .11 .09
Eggs, per doz 16 .12
Bacon, per lb .ii .09
Wool, per lb 20 .19
Apples, per bbl 3.16 2.13
Barley, per bush .71 .42
Beans, per bush 1.49 I.21
Oats, per bush 45 .34
Peas, per bush .92 .76
Rye, per bush 68 .52
Wheat, per bush i.oo .61
Flour, wheat, per bbl 5.14 3.76
Hay, per ton 9.62 7.7s
Potatoes, per bush 43 .38
Organs, each 87.95 60.22
Tlie opinion of the Liberal party in Canada
regarding the National Policy in its fiscal aspect
was well sunmiarized by Sir Richard J. Cart-
wright, Minister of Finance in the Mackenzie
Administration and Minister of Trade and Com-
merce (1897) in that of Sir Wilfred Laurier, in
an article written for the North American Review
of May, 1890, as follows :
"The results have been: i. To remove all
check on the e.\penditure of the Government and
to encourage a reckless extravagance on their
part, which has resulted in an annual expenditure
for Federal purposes of nearly 50 per cent, more
(after making all deductions) for a population of
less than five millions than the sum required by
the United States for the like objects when their
population was over twenty millions.
2. To systematize and intensify the tendency
(always so perilous to the welfare of representa-
tive governments) to use corrupt means for the
purpose of influencing the press and the elec-
torate, and to make it the direct pecuniary inter-
est of a very active and influential class to provide
a regular and large fund for such purposes.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiCDIA.
3. To aggravate and accelerate the tendency to
accumulate large fortunes in few hands, and at
the same time to increase the indebtedness and
depreciate the value of the property owned by the
mass of the community, more especially in the
case of the agricultural class.
4. To favour the growth of a few large towns
at the expense of the smaller ones and of the
rural population, which latter has been reduced
to an absolutely stationary condition over very
large portions of the Dominion, in spite of a
large (alleged) immigration, and of the fact that
much new territory has been thrown open.
These, so far, have been the results in Canada
in the period from iiS79 to iSgo ; and if they have
been more marked than in other cases, the ex-
planation is to be found in the fact, already allud-
ed to, that for a variety of reasons Canada is
singularly ill adapted for carrying out a scheme
of protection, and was singularly unwise in allow-
ing herself to be induced to copy the United
States."
The Liberal party of Canada held a Convention
at Ottawa, on June 20th and 21st, 1893, which
was largely attended. Hon. Wilfred Laurier, leader
of the Opposition — as it was then — was present,
and upon his motion Sir Oliver Mowat, Premier
of Ontario, was elected Chairman. Other leaders
of the party in attendance were Sir R. J. Cart-
wright, Hon. L. H. Davies, Hon. F. Peters,
Premier of Prince Edward Island; Hon. W. S.
Fielding, Hon. A. G. Blair, Hon C. A. P. Pelletier,
Hon. F. Langelier, Hon. D. C. Fraser, Hon. H.
G. Joly de Lotbiniere, Hon. Clifford Sifton, Hon.
F. G. Marchand, William Mulock, J. Israel Tarte,
S. A. Fisher, John Charlton, William Paterson,
Hon. R. W. Scott, Hon. Robert Watson, Hon.
David Laird, Hon. David Mills, Hon. James
Young, Hon. J. M. Gibson, Hon. A. G. Jones
and Hon. L. G. Power. The following resolu-
tions upon the tariff and the question of Reci-
procity were unanimously carried :
" I. The Tariff. We, the Liberal party of Can-
ada, in Convention assembled, declare :
That the Customs tariff of the Dominion should
be based, not as it is now upon the protective
principle, but upon the requirements of the public
service.
That the existing tariff, founded upon an un-
sound principle and used, as it has been by the
Government, as a corrupting agency wherewith to
keep themselves in office, has developed monop-
olies, trusts and combinations.
It has decreased the value of farm and other
landed property.
It has oppressed the masses to the enrichment
of a few.
It has checked immigration. •
It has caused great loss of population.
It has impeded commerce.
Sir Louis H. Davies.
It has discriminated against Great Britain.
In these and in many other ways it has occa-
sioned great public and private injury, all of which
evils must continue to grow in intensity as long
as the present tariff system remains in force.
That the highest interests of Canada demand
a removal of this obstacle to our country's pro-
gress, by the adoption of a sound fiscal policy,
which, while not doing injustice to any class, will
promote domestic and foreign trade and hasten
the return of prosperity to our people.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
311
That to that end the tariff should be reduced
to the needs of honest, economical and efficient
government.
That it should be so adjusted as to make free,
or to bear as lightly as possible upon the neces-
saries of life, and should be so arranged as to
promote freer trade with the whole world, more
particularly with Great Britain and the United
States.
We believe that the results of the protective
system have grievously disappointed thousands of
persons who honestly s..pported it, and that the
country, in the light of experience, is now pre-
pared to declare for a sound fiscal policy.
The issue between the two political parties on
this question is now clearly defined.
The Government themselves admit the failure
of their fiscal policy, and now profess their willing-
ness to make some changes ; but they say that
such changes must be based only on the prin-
ciple of protection.
We denounce the principle of protection as
radically unsound, and unjust to the masses of
the people, and we declare our conviction that
any tariff changes based on that principle must
fail to afford any substantial relief from the bur-
dens under which the country labours.
This issue we unhesitatingly accept, and upon
it we await with t'-.e fullest confidence the verdict
of the electors of Canada."
"2. Reciprocity. Th;it, having regard to the
prosperity of Canada and the United States as
adjoining countries with many mutual interests,
it is desirable that there should be the most
friendly relations and broad and liberal trade in-
tercourse between them.
That the interests- alike of the Dominion and of
the Empire would be materially advanced by the
establishing of such relations.
That the period of the old Reciprocity Treaty
was one of marked prosperity to the British
North American Colonies.
That the pretext under which the Government
appealed to the country in 1891, respecting nego-
tiations for a treaty with the United States, was
misleading and dishonest and intended to de-
ceive the electorate.
That no sincere effort has been made by them
to obtain a treaty, but that, on the contrary, it is
manifest that the present Government, controlled
as they are by monopolies and combines, are not
desirous of securing such a treaty.
That the first step towards obtaining the end
in view is to place a party in power who are
sincerely desirous of promoting a treaty on terms
honourable to both countries.
That a fair and liberal Reciprocity treaty would
develop the great natural resources of Canada,
would enormously increase the trade and com-
merce between the two countries, would tend to
encourage friendly relations between the two
peoples, would remove many causes which have
in the past provoked irritation and trouble to the
Governments of both countries, and would pro-
mote those kindly relations between the Empire
and the Republic which afford the best guarantee
for peace and prosperity.
That the Liberal party is prepared to enter into
negotiations with a view to obtaining such a
treaty, including a well-considered list of manu-
factured articles, and we are satisfied that any
treaty so arranged will receive the assent of Her
Majesty's Government, without whose approval
no treaty can be made."
The Hon. W. S. Fieldinsr, Minister of Finance,
in his Budget speech of April 23rd, 1897, an-
nounced and summarized the trade policy of the
new Liberal Government as follows :
" We present to this House a tariff which has
the advantage of being simpler than the one that
now exists, and I feel assured that it will to a
considerable extent put an end to that friction
that has so long existed between the merchants
of the country and the Customs Houses.
We submit a tariff which largely abandons the
specific duties that have been so unjust to the
poorer classes.
We submit a tariff in which the large free list
is not practically disturbed, but has large addi-
tions made to it.
We give to the country the great boon of free
corn, which will have an important effect on the
development of our farming interests, and par-
ticularly of the dairying interest, to which we
must look in a very large degree for the prosper-
ity of our farmers and the increase of our ex-
ports.
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CANADA: AN KNCYCLOl'.KDIA.
lit
We give to the country a reduction of the duty
on coal-oil, and the removal of the burdensome
restrictions respectiiijj the sale of coal-oil.
We give to the farmer his fence wire at a low
rate of duty fc. the present year, and place it on
the free list from the ist of January next.
We give the medical and dental professions a
free boon which the younger and less wealthy
members of the profession will appreciate, when
we put all surgical and dental mstruments on the
free list.
We recognize the great mining industry of the
country by placing on the free list all machinery
exclusively used in mining enterprises. We do
not confine it to mining machinery not made in
Canada, but we say it is more important to de-
velop the mining interests of Canada than even
to make a few machines in Canada, and so we
put mining machinery exclusively used for the
purpose of mining enterprises on the free list.
We give the people the benefit of reductions
on breadstuffs, flour, wheat and cornmcal.
We give the manufacturers the benefit of
cheaper iron ; and much complaint has been
made in the past of the burdens imposed upon
them by the iron duty.
We revise the duties on rice in such a manner
that they will not add a cent to the cost to the
consumer and will add materially to the public
revenue.
We give the people a reduction almost all
along the line. We provide the necessary rev-
enue, but meet the greiit needs of the country by
increased taxes on articles of luxury, such as
spirits, tobacco and cigars, and without any in-
creased taxation upon the necessaries of life. If
the Hon. Gentlemen opposite have ever had tiie
free breakfast table they talk about, we make
it freer to-day by reducing the duty on sugar that
goes on the breakfast table from $1.14 per 100
lbs. to $1, which is a material reduction. And
last, but not least, we give to the people the
benefits of preferential trade with the Mother
Country."
The Hon. Edward Blake's views regarding: tiie
Tariff and Canadian fiscal questions generally, dur-
ing the years in which he was leader of the Liberal
party, exercised a wide influence in the country.
They were ofticially announced upon certain occa-
sions in such a way as to become an important part
of the economic history of the Dominion. The first
occasion was in his Address to the Electors of
West Durham during the general elections of
1882. This appeal for popular support was dated
May 22nd, and the reference t.o the tariff was as
follows :
" You know well that I do not approve of need-
less restrictions on our liberty of exchanging
what we want, and do not see that any substan-
tial application of the restrictive principle has
been or can be made in favour of the great interests
of the mechanic, the labourer, the farmer, the
lumberman, the shipbuilder or the fisherman.
Hut you know, also, that I have fully recognized
the fact that we are obliged to raise yearly a
great sum, made greater by the obligations im-
posed on us by this Government ; and that we
must continue to provide this yearly sum mainly
by import duties, laid to a great extent on goods
similar to those which can be manufactured here;
and that it results as a necessary incident of our
settled fiscal system that there must be a large
and, as I believe, in the view of moderate protec-
tionists, an ample advantage to the home manu-
facturer.
Our adversaries wish to present to you an issue
as between the present tariff and absolute free
trade. That is not the true issue. Free trade
is, as I have repeatedly explained, for us impos-
sible ; and the issue is whether the present tariff
is perfect, or defective and unjust. I believe it
to be in some important respects defective and
unjust. We expressed our views last session in
four moiions, which declare that articles of such
prime necessity as fuel and bread-stuffs should be
free ; and the sugar duties should be so adjusted
as to relieve the consumer from some part of the
enormous extra price he is now liable to pay to a
few refiners ; that the exorbitant and unequal
duties on the lower grades of cotton and wool-
lens should be so changed as to make them fairer
to the masses, who now pay on the cheaper
goods taxes abou^ twice as great in proportion as
those which the rich pay on the finest goods ;
and that the duties on such materials as iron,
which is in universal use, should be reduced, so
as to enable the home manufacturer, to whom it
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KUIA.
313
is a raw material, to produce a cheaper article for
the benefit of his home consumer and theencoui-
agement of his foreign trade. I believe that by
changes of the character I have indicated, mon-
opoly and extravagant prices would be checked,
a greater meas'ire of fair play and justice to all
classes would be secured, and the burden of tax-
ation would be better adjusted to the capacity of
the people who are to pay. Depend upon it a
day will come when by sharp 'and bitter exper-
ience we shall learn the truth ; and many who
even now applaud will then condemn these par-
ticular incidents of the tariff."
.-'if.'., -
The Hon. Edward Blake.
At Malvern, on January 22nd, 1887, Mr. Blake
delivered a speech, upon which the general elec-
tions of that year largely turned. In it he quoted
the above extract as still embodying his views
and the policy of his party, and continued as
follows :
" My reference there to the fiscal and financial
limitations of our condition has increased force
to-day, for since that time enormous sums have
been added to the public debt ; enormous sums
have been added to the annual charges ; and,
notwithstanding the great taxation, a larger
deficit thiin we have ever known since Confeder-
ation has signalized the last financial year.
Therefore the execution even of those measures
of re-adjustment which I have suggested in that
Address, anil which we had proposed in Parlia-
ment in the preceding session, would be found
much more difficult to-day by reason of the
changed condition of affairs. We have no
longer a large surplus to dispose of — we have a
large deficit and a greatly increased scale of ex-
penditure to meet. And it is clearer than ever
that a very high scale of taxation must be re-
tained, and that manufacturers have nothing to
fear. I then declared that any re-adju'^tments
should be effected with due regard to the legiti-
mate interests of all concerned. In that phrase,
' all concerned,' I hope no one will object to my
including, as I do, the general public. In any
re-adjustment I maintain that we should look
especially to such reductions of expenditure as
may allow of a reduction of taxation, to the
lightening of sectional taxes, to the lightening of
taxes upon the prime necessaries of life and upon
the raw material of manufacture, to a more
equitable arrangement of the taxes which now
bear unfairly upon the poor as compared with the
rich, to a taxation of luxuries just so high as will
not thwart our object by greatly checking con-
sumption, to the curbing of monopolies of pro-
duction in cases where by combination or other-
wise the tariff allows an undue and exorbitant
profit to be exacted from consumers, and to the
effort — a most important point — to promote reci-
procal trade with our neighbours to the south.
That is a modest programme, you may say, but I
believe it to be an extensive programme, repre-
senting the full measure practicable of attain-
ment, and which can be fulfilled only by much
expenditure of time and thought, after full inves-
tigation, careful inquiry, and ample cimsideration
of details and of the bearing of each proposal,
with the advantage of all those materials for
forming a judgment on details."
The following: Resolutions, though of a party
nature, are of some historical importance as in-
dicating the Conservative view of the National
Policy in its fiscal application. On the 15th of
January, 1S78, a Contention of the Conservatives
of Ontario met in Toronto and, amongst other
motions, this one was unanimously approved by
the Delegates :
"(i) They are satisfied that the welfare of Can-
ada requires the adoption of a national financial
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CANADA ; AN ENCYCL0P.1<:DIA.
S
B.:
policy, which, by a judicious re-adjustment of the
tariff, will benefit and foster the agricultural, min-
ing and manufacturing interests ; U) that no
such re-adjustment will be satisfactory to the
interests affected, or to the country, if adopted as
a provisional means only to meet a temporary
exigency or to supply a temporary deficit, nor
unless it is made and carried out as a national
policy ; (3) that until a reciprocity of trade is
carried out with our neighbours, Canada should
move in the direction of a reciprocity of tariffs so
far as her varied interests may demand ; (4) that
it is the duty of the people of Canada to force
upon the attention of the Government and Parlia-
ment of the Dominion the necessity of carrying
out their views, and to withhold or withdraw their
confidence from any Government which may fail,
from want of will or from want of ability, to en-
force then) by legislative enactment."
These Resolutions were important not only
because they sustained the action of Sir John
Macdonald and his supporters in Parliament
during previous Sessions, but because the views
expressed were the basis of the ensuing electoral
victory. On the 17th of December, 1884, another
Conservative Convention was held in Toronto to
welcome Sir John Macdonald back from Eng-
land — where the Queen had just created him a
G.c.B — and to affirm Conservative principles anew.
The following resolution was unanimously carried :
"That this Convention, on behalf of the Con-
servative party of Ontario, endorses the National
Policy, which the country declared for in 1878,
and again in 1882, bemg convinced from the
plain and manifest results that have followed the
application of the tariff since 1879, that it is the
policy best calculated to promote the welfare of a
young community (more especially of one lying
alongside a great protectionist nation like the
United States), and to secure its interests against
destruction from the slaughtering of foreign
goods in seasons of temporary depression ; and
that we call upon Parliament to maintain this
policy intact until such times as the Americans,
who rejected our Reciprocity proposals in 1874,
think fit to offer the free interchange of those
natural products which by law the Government
of Canada have now the power to admit free on
reciprocal conditions."
An important incident connected with Can-
adian constitutional development in the direction
<^f tariff-making power was the correspondence
which passed in 1859 between Mr. Gait, Canadian
Minister of Finance, and the Duke of New-
castle, Colonial Secretary. It commenced with
the following despatch to the Governor-General,
Sir E. VV. Head, dated Downing Street, ijth
August :
" Sir, — I have the honour to transmit to you
the copy of a memorial which has been addressed
to me by the Chamber of Commerce and Manu-
factures at Sheffield, representing the injury an-
ticipated to their commerce by the increased
duties which have been imposed on imports by
the late Canada Tariff. I request that you will
place this representation in the hands of your
Executive Council, and observe to that body that
F cannot but feel that there is much force in
the argument of the Sheffield manufacturers.
Practically this heavy duty operates differentially in
favour of the United States, in consequence of
the facility for smuggling which so long a line of
frontier affords, and the temptation to embark in
it which a duty of twenty per cent, offers. Re-
garded as a fiscal expedient the measure is im-
politic, for whilst any increase of contraband
trade must be at the expense of the Exchequer,
the diminution of foreign importations will prob-
ably more than neutralize the additional revenue
derived from the higher duty. Whenever the
authenticated Act of the Canadian Parliament
on this subject arrives, I may probably feel that
I can take no other course than signify to you
the Queen's assent to it, notwithstanding the ob-
jections raised against the law in this country ;
but I consider it my duty no less to the Colony
than lo the Mother Country, to express my re-
gret that the experience of England, which had
fully proved the injurious effect of the protection
system, and the advantage of low duties upon
manufactures, both as regards trade and rev-
enue, should be lost sight of, and that such an
Act as the present should have been passed.
I much fear the effect of the law will be that
the greater part of the new duty will be paid to
the Canadian producer by the colonial consumer,
whose interests, as it seems to me, have not been
sufficiently considered on this occasion.
, I have, etc.
(Signed) Newcastle."
The document enclosed was dated August ist,
1859, and was signed by the Mayor and Master
Cutler of Sheffield and the President of its Cham-
m if
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CANADA : AN ENCYCL0Pi1i;DIA.
315
ber of Commerce. The most important para-
graph was tht following :
"The merchants and manufacturers of Sheffield
have no wish to obtain special exemption for
themselves, and do not complain that they are
called upon to pay the same duty as the American
or the German, neither do they claim to have
their goods admitted free of duty; all they ask
is, that the policy of protection to native manu-
factures in Canada should be distinctly discount-
enanced by Her Majesty's Government as a sys-
tem condemned by reason and experience, directly
contrary to the policy solemnly adopted by the
Mother Country, and calculated to breed disunion
and distrust between Great Britain and her Col-
onies. It cannot be regarded as less than in-
decent and a reproach that, while for fifteen years,
the Government, the greatest statesmen and the
press of this country have beon not only advocat-
ing, but practising the principles of free trade, the
Government of one of her most important col-
onies should have been advocating monopoly and
protection. Under the artificial stimulus of this
system, extensive and numerous hardware manu-
factories have sprung up, both in Canada East
and West, and the adoption of increasing duties
has been the signal for more to be comjnenced.
We are aware that the fiscal necessities of the
Canadian Government are urged as the chief
cause for passing the late Tariff Bill. This is not
the whole truth ; no one can read the papers of
the Provinces, and the speeches of the members
of both Houses, and be deceived for an instant;
but, even if that were the cause, we conceive that
Her Majesty's Government has a right to demand
that what revenue is needed shall be raised in
some other way than that which is opposed to
the acknowledged commercial policy of the Im-
perial Government, and destructive of the interests
of those manufacturing towns of Great Britain
which trade with Canada."
This aggressive and dictatorial document, and
the views so strongly expressed by the Duke of
Newcastle, were dealt with by Mr. Gait in equally
vigorous language in a Memorandum drawn up
on behalf of the Executive Council, and dated
October 25th, 1859. It is of considerable historic
importance and the following paragraph is, per-
haps, its most important section :
" From expressions used by His Grace in refer-
erence to the sanction of the Provincial Customs
Act, it would appear that he had even entertained
the suggestion of its disallowance ; and though
happily Her Majesty has not been so advised,
yet the question having been thus raised, and the
consequences of such a step, if ever adopted, be-
ing of the most serious character, it becomes the
duty of the Provincial Government distinctly to
state what they consider to be the position and
rights of the Canadian Legislature. Respect to
the Imperial Government must always dictate
the desire to satisfy them that the policy of this
country is neither hastily nor unwisely formed,
and that due regard is had to the interest of the
Mother Country as well as of the Province. But
the Government of Canada, acting for its Legis-
lature arid people, cannot, through those feelings
of deference which they owe to the Imperial
authorities, in any manner waive or diminish the
right of the people of Canada to decide for them-
selves both as to the mode and extent to which
taxation shall be imposed.
The Provincial Ministry are at all times ready
to afford explanations in regard to the acts of
the Legislature to which they are a party, but,
subject to their duty and allegiance to Her Ma-
jesty, their responsibility in all general questions
of policy must be to the Provincial Parliament,
by whose confidence they administer the affairs
of the country. And in the imposition of taxa-
tion it is so plainly necessary that the adminis-
tration and the people should be in accord that
the former cannot admit responsibility or require
approval beyond that of the Local Legislature.
Self-government would be utterly annihilated if
the views of the Imperial Government were to
be preferred to those of the people of Canada.
It is therefore the duty of the present Govern-
ment distinctly to afiirm the right of the Can-
adian Legislature to adjust the taxation of the
people in the way they deem best, even if it
should unfortunately happen to meet the disap-
proval of the Imperial Ministry. Her Majesty
cannot be advised to disallow such Acts, unless
her advisers are prepared to assutne the adminis-
tration of the affairs of the colony irrespective of
the views of its inhabitants. The Provincial
Government believe that His Grace must share
their own convictions on this important subject;
but as serious evil W9uld have resulted had His
Grace taken a different course, it is wiser to pre-
vent future complication by distinctly stating the
position that must be maintained by every Can-
adian administration."
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The Hon. Sir Alexander TiUoch Gait was bom
in Chelsea, London, in 1817, and was the son of
John Gait, the well-known novelist and colonizer.
At the age of sixteen he became a clerk in the
British and American Land Company in the
Canadas, and soon showed his ability by putting
the affairs of that corporation in a flourishing
condition. He was appointed its Chief Commis-
sioner in 1844. In 1849 he entered public life as
member of the Legislature for Sherbrooke, and
was one of the signers of the famous Annexation
Manifesto of that gloomy year. After an inter-
mission, during which he had retired from the
House, Mr. Gait was re-elected for Sherbrooke in
1853, and continued to represent that constitu-
ency in the Canadian Assembly, or the Dominion
Parliament, until 1872. Until 1857 he was a
Liberal ; after that date he usually supported the
Conservative party. The Governor-General, Sir
Edmund Head, called upon him in 1857 to form
an Administration, but he was unsuccessful. In
1858 he succeeded Mr. Cayley as Inspector-
General or Finance Minister, and retained this
office until the defeat of the Cartier-Macdonald
Government in 1862. It was during these years
that the question of Protection first became a
prominent issue in Canadian politics through the
gradual evolution of Mr. Gait's tariffs. His
financial management was strong and efficient^
his speeches lucid and logical, his manner self-
possessed and good-natured. From 1864 to 1866
he was again Finance Minister and an advocate
of Confederation. In this latter connection he
was a member of the Conferences at Quebec and
Charlottetown, a delegate to England, and a
warm supporter of the rights of the Protestant
minority in Lower Canada in the school questions
of the day. He had been sent to Washington in
1865 to negotiate in conjunction with the British
Ambassador a new Reciprocity Treaty, but under
the current conditions he, of course, failed. After
Confederation he became Finance Minister of
the Dominion for a few months in 1867 ; but
soon resigned, and was succeeded by Sir John
Rose. He was never a strong partisan, and was
more than once found in opposition to Sir John
Macdonald and his own party. He declined re-
election to Parliament in 1872, and at the same
time refused the Finance Ministership which was
again offered him. During the previous year he
had acted as a Canadian Commissioner in the
Halifax Arbitration on the Fishery question. In
1880 he was appointed the first Canadian High
Commissioner in England — a post which he re-
signed in 1883. During the later years of his
life, though in 1849 an annexationist and after-
wards a believer in independence, he became im-
bued with the new spirit of the times and a
strong advocate of closer Imperial unity. He
died in 1893, leaving a reputation for varied ability,
marked gifts of persuasive eloquence, much exe-
cutive power and a most pleasant personality.
In 1867 he had declined a c.n., but two years
afterwards was made a k.c.m.g., and in 1878
was promoted to the Grand Cross of the same
Order. He was an Hon. ll.u. of Edinburgh
University. The consolidation of the public debt,
the encouragement of trade, the development of a
strong fiscal policy, the abolition of canal tolls,
and the issuing of Government notes as currency,
were the chief events of his financ ial administra-
tion.
The Hon. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley was born
at Gagetown, N.B., on May 8th, 1818, and was
educated at the County Grammar School. In
1849 he entered politics in support of a Protec-
tionist candidate for the House of Assembly, and
soon after took an active part in organizing a
body called the New Brunswick Railway League.
At this time, and until Confederation, he was a
Liberal in politics. After a short period in the
Legislature during 1850-1, he retired temporarily
from public life, but in 1854 was returned to the
Legislature and appointed a member of the new
Provincial Government. In June, 1856, he was
beaten at the polls upon his Prohibitory Liquor
Law measure, but after a renewed struggle was
finally victorious and in the succeeding year be-
came Premier and Provincial Secretary — a post
which he held till 1865. He was a delegate at
the Charlottetown, Quebec, and London Confed-
eration Conferences and an active advocate of the
Union. At Confederation, in 1867, he was made
a C.B., sworn of the Dominion Privy Council, and
appointed Ministerof Customs in its first Cabinet.
For a short time in 1873, and until the Govern-
ment's defeat, he was Minister of Finance. From
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.'KDIA.
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the close of 1873 until 1878 he was Lieut. -Gov-
ernor of New Urunswick, and in the latter year
resigned to take part in the general elections and
to help Sir John Macdonald in his struggle for
Protection. In the new Dominion Government
he naturally became Finance Minister again and
the father of the new National Policy tariff. In
1879 he was created a k.c m.g., and six years later,
on being compelled to retire from the Govern-
ment by ill-health, was again appointed Lieut-
Governor of New Brunswick. This post he held
until 1893. A descendant of the U. £. Loyalists,
Sir Leonard Tilley was noted for the strength of
his British views, and was for some years Presi-
dent of the Imperial Federation League in Canada.
He was an active promoter of the Intercolonial
Railway, a consistent and prominent Prohibi-
tionist, a Protectionist in principle and practice,
an eloquent speaker of the quiet, convincing and
fluent type, a man of the most honourable char-
acter and lovable disposition.
In connection with certain Britisli protests
against Canadian protectionist tendencies, and
American claims that the Canadian tariff was
hostile, the following explanation and expression
of views by the Hon. A. T. Gait, then Minister
of Finance, and dated October 25th, 1859, are
important. They were included m the docu-
ment already quoted from as follows :
" There is no more important question that
can engage the attention of any country than its
commercial policy. There are some who would
do away with customs duties altogether and have
resort to direct taxation. Others again are in favour
of a tariff which shall afford protection to native
industry, and avoid the necessity of importing
goods from abroad. I thmk it is impossible for
Canada to adopt altogether either of these mea-
sures as a final policy. I think we must have
reference to what are the great interests of the
country in reference to taxation. The first of
them undoubtedly is agriculture. There is also
a large portion of the people engaged in the
manufacture of timber, and the commercial in-
terest is by no means small. There is also a
manufacturing interest growing up, but it has not
yet attained the magnitude of the others of which
I have spoken. I do not believe that the adop-
tion of a protective policy is possible in Canada,
on account of the extensive frontier that she has
to protect. It is plain that if we raise the duties
beyond a certain point we offer a reward to un-
scrupulous persons to engage in contraband
trade ; and again, if in raising the duties on
those articles too high we prevent their introduc-
tion, we must necessarily have recourse to direct
taxation.
I do not think it possible or desirable that
taxation should be raised to the rate adverted to.
The duties imposed are moderate; and since
they have been raised from 12^ per cent, to 15,
various manufactories have been created, have
thriven, and are still thriving, and I am not
aware that during the recent extraordinary mone-
tary crisis they have suffered to any extent. It is
right, in raising a revenue, to have respect to the
possibility of finding employment for a portion
of the population ; but, on the other hand, it is
not proper to create a hot-bed to force manufac-
tures. The revenue we have to raise permitted
the putting on of duties which would give some
encouragement to parties to embark in manufac-
tures. When a person did so under a system of
moderate duties, he had reasonable ground of
assurance that the system would not be altered
to his disadvantage ; but if the duties were high
the system would be regarded as one of class
legislation, and as not likely to be permanent.
The true object to be accomplished was to make
provision for the public wants, and so to distrib-
ute the burdens as to tnake them press as equally
as possible upon all, or to afford equal encourage-
ment to all interests."
It will be seen from this that the late Sir Alex-
ander Gait was not in early days a pronounced
protectionist in theory, though in practice his
tariffs most certainly were, and he may very
properly be considered one of the pioneers of
that policy in Canada.
On October 13th, 1854, a Committee of the
Canadian Assembly composed of the Hon. Wil-
liam Hamilton Merr'tt, Hon. Francis Hincks,
Hon. John Young, Ho.i. George E. Cartier, and
Messrs. Mattice, Stevimson, Ferris and James
Ross, was appointed tc' enquire into the com-
mercial intercourse of Cxnada with other coun-
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tries. Messrs. Young, Mattice and Cartier retired
from the Committee in May, 1H35. and the Hon.
L. H. Holton and Messrs. Chauveaii, Patrick
and Christie were added. The Report was sub-
mitted on May 26th in the year last named, and
signed by Mr. Hamilton Merritt as Chairman.
The first sections dealt with the intercourse be-
tween Canada and Great Britain as follows :
" This trade has been subject to sudden and
frequent changes for many years past, as fully
pointed out in the able Report of Mr. Andrews
in 1853. Under the Canadian tariff of 2}4 per
cent, and discriminating duties, it increased in a
ratio of three to one over that from the United
States. Since the change in the Colonial com-
mercial policy of the Imperial Government it has
decreased in the same proportion as compared
with that of the United States. However, it con-
tinued to increase in imports from £1,669,003 in
1849 to ;t'5,740,832 in 1854 ; and in exports from
3^1,348,424 in 1849 to ;f 2,719,179 in 1854, although
almost wholly confined to timber. Of the total
exports of £2,246,164 in 1853 only £524,047
were the products of the mine, the sea, and of
agriculture. Although various reasons have been
assigned for the comparative diminution of this
trade, still no effectual remedy has been adopted
to check it. The St. Lrwrence canals were con-
structed at a large public expenditure for the pur-
pose of drawing the trade of the Western States
to the ports of Montreal and Quebec. They
have not only failed in attaining that object, but
even the trade of Western Canada itself, on and
above Lake Ontario, has been diverted to the
ports of New York and Boston. Prior to 1847,
public opinion was directed to the repeal of the
Navigation Laws; but even when that took
place, and competition by sea was offered to the
vessels of all nations, no visible benefit accrued
to the St. Lawrence canals. Great expectations
are still held out that the competition by Amer-
ican vessels under the Reciprocal Treaty will
produce a change ; but so long as the trade is
confined to its present narrow limits, the north
side of the St. Lawrence, and so long as public
bounties continue to favour the port of New
York, and the natural facilities which the St.
Lawrence possesses continue to be neglected, so
long will our efforts to regain this trade be un-
availing. But your Committee is convinced that
so soon as the natural advantages of the St.
Lawrence route to the ocean are well understood
the area of its commerce will be extended."
The British West Indies and their trade were
then of much importance to the Canadas, and the
situation in that connection was dealt with as
follows :
" In 1854 the value of West India productions
imported amounted to £333,970, of which only
£621 came direct from the British possessions,
£54,481 from foreign islands, and £59,607 through
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Ed-
ward's Island, in all, via the St. Lawrence £114,-
709, leaving £219,261 to reach Canada through
the United States. It will thus be seen that the
direct trade between Canada and the British
West Indies, by the way of the St. Lawrence,
which a few years ago was in a flourishing con-
dition, has almost disappeared. Circulars were
addressed to the different Colonial Secretaries
with a view of ascertaining whether in their
opinion, this trade could, by a removal of all
duties, be revived, and the replies received are
favourable."
The following extended reference was then
made to the commercial intercourse between
Canada and the United States :
" In 1846 the Imperial Government changed
her Colonial commercial policy, and the markets
of Great Britain were thrown open to the pro-
ducts of the United States without stipulating
that they should receive the products of the
British Provinces on the same terms. This
change established two prices for agricultural
productions on the frontier, the grower in Can-
ada, according to the course of trade, receiving
20 per cent, of the amount of the duty less than
th(j grower in the United States. Notwithstand-
ing this difference in the value of the natural
productions of the two countries (which are now
admitted free under the Reciprocal Acts of 1854)
imports into the Unhed States from Canada in-
creased from $642,672 in 1848 to $6,097,204 in
1854; duties from $118,330 to $1,243,403 ; and the
imports into Canada from the United States from
$984,604 in 1848 to $2,180,084 in 1854; duties
from $63,640 to $196,671, showing an increase
in the former, during a period of six years, of
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP/LDIA.
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over ten to one, and in the latter, for the same
period, of two to one, and upwards.
We also find a striking increase in foreign
importations through the United States. The
imports for Canada direct, passing through
under bond in 1851, were £1.336.770 ; the amount
purchased by Canada in bond in the United
States, under their warehousing system, £299,428;
the value of goods purchased in the United
States, on which a duty was paid there and a
second duty here, £144,021 ; the value of goods
not subject to duty in the United States, £230,-
606. These figures give the value of our impor-
tations from beyond sea through the United
States at £2,010,823, to which add importations
of their domestic manufactures, £2,833,525, and
it would appear that the total imports from the
United States into Canada had increased to
£4,846,350, and the exports to £2,604,320, or a
grand total of £7,450,670 ; while the imports
into the United States through Canada from
sea amounted only to £261,991."
Summarizing these and other considerations,
the Committee then reported itself in favour of
the following line of Jtion :
" 1st. The removal of all duties on the produc-
tions of the British possessions in America, im-
ported by the St. Lawrence, on precisely the
same principles as between the different States of
tfie Union.
2nd. That the principle of reciprocity with
the United States be extended to the produc-
tions of manufactures, to the registration of
Canadian and United States built vessels, and
to the shipping and coasting trade, in the same
manner as to the productions of agriculture.
3rd. That an Address be presented to Her
Majesty praying that the bounty on steamers be-
tween Liverpool and Boston may not be renewed
after the expiration of existing contracts, or
that an equivalent bounty be given to the St.
Lawrence for six months of the year.
4th. The removal of all duties on cheap, heavy,
and bulky articles by the St. Lawrence.
5th. The deepening of the channel between
Lake St. Francis and St. Louis immediately, and
the extension of liberal aid towards the building
of tidal docks at Quebec.
6th. The construction of the St. Lawrence and
Champlain Canal, with locks of the same di-
mensions as Sault Ste. Marie, as soon as
possible.
7th. The extension of a credit to the importer,^
so as to admit of a reduction in the number of
inland ports of entry and in consequent ex^
pense to the public.
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INTER-PROVINCIAL TRADE IN CANADA
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FOK two reasons the development of trade
between the various provinces which
make up tlie Dominion of Canada hus
been slo'v and difficult: (i) their geograph-
ical situation served rather to keep them asunder
than to unite tliem, and (j) their settlement having
proceeilcd from several sources instead of a com-
mon centre, one community had no distinct con-
nection with the other. The Pacific Coast settle-
ments were cut off from the east by the impene-
trable barriers of great mountain ranges ; the
fertile prairies of the west were locked in the firm
clasp ol a great trading Company; Upper Can-
ada was peopled by the refugee loyalists from the
south ; Lower Canada naturally expanded its trade
with Europe first, while the Maritime Provinces
in the same way extended commerce along the
line of least resistance, namely, the sea routes.
When one considers, therefore, that these disin-
tegrating factors had full play from the earliest
history of British North America, the marvel is,
that what we call Inter-Provincial trade has in
the past thirty years been able to expan<l to
the respectable proportions which the imperfect
records now slunv to exist.
Strictly speaking, then, Inter-Provincial trade
is a creation of our own day. It grew up under
political union, and was one of the chief tasks of
the Government of united Canada, since vast sums,
not at the disposal of half a dozen weak provinces,
had to be expended before the obstacles created
by nature could be overcome. The hostility of
the United States toward the British communities
on this continent early suggested a union among
themselves, and even before the war of 1812 the
project had been raised in the Nova Scotia Legis-
lature by Mr. Uniacke. From that time onward
plans for union were continually being proposed —
the idea of developinp trade being an integral part
320
of each scheme. When one of these projects wan
under discussion in 1824, James Stuart, who had
been Solicitor-General for Lower Canada, and
was sent to England by the inhabitants of the
Montreal district to promote the union of the
Canadas, reported upon the larger idea of a union
of all the Provinces. "There is," he said, "abs
lutely no intercourse whatever between the Ca
adas and New Brunswick. An immense wilder-
ness separates the inhabited parts of both, and
they have no interchangeable commodities admit-
ting of any trade between them by sea. Nova
Scotia is remote, is only accessible from the Can-
adas by land through New Brunswick, and keeps
np a small trade with Lower Canada by the Gulf
of St. Lawrenceinproductionsof the West Indies.
Between Lower Canada and Prince Edward
Island there is hardly any communication what-
ever."
The traders of Lower Canada, however, always
enterprising, determined to develop a commerce
with the maritime ports. The Legislature of
Lower Canada voted a yearly subsidy of $7,500
for a service between Quebec and Halifax. The
Nova Scotia Legislature voted a subsidy of $3,750
yearly, and the steamer Royal William was built.
For two seasons the vessel plied between these
ports, but the business did not expand sufficiently
to warrant the owners continuing the service, and
it was abandoned. Meanwhile, the efforts to facili-
tate commerce between Upper and Lower Canada
by utilizing the St. Lawrence route went steadily
on. As early as ^815, the sum of ^Tas.ooo was
voted to begin the construction of the Lachine
Canal.although it was six years later before the work
was actually begun. The othjr canals followed as
a natural sequence, their usefulness for purposes of
military routes being quite as obvious as their
importance in developing trade with the lakes.
THK HON. SIR SAMUEL LEONARD TILLEY.
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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That private enterprise was at the root of all this
canal construction is a significant evidence of the
interest taicen by the commercial classes in the
opening up of the water route to the Atlantic ocean.
After the union of Lower Canada with Upper
Canada in 1841, the deepening and enlargement of
these canals was encouraged, for railway building
was then in its infancy, and the development of car-
riage by water was still considered the most prac-
tical method of commercial interchange. It was
hoped that the whole American and Canadian
lake trade, estimated in 184 1 to be of the yearly
value of $65,000,000, would seek its natural outlet
to the sea by the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence;
but early in the Forties an entirely new situation
came into existence, a situation which the British
Provinces had no hand in creating, and which
produ':ed a far-reaching effect upon the then bright
prospects of developing the St. Lawrence route
so as to make it not merely the highway for con-
veying the products of the west to the markets of
Europe, but to establish a trade with the Maritime
Provinces by means of vessels that could secure
return cargoes.
The abolition by Britain, in 1846, of the
Corn Laws and the preferential duties upon
colonial produce, entirely changed those con-
ditions on a continuance of which the inhabi-
tants of the British Provinces had been counting
when they formed plans for the extension of their
sea-borne and fresh-water tonnage. Deprived of
their preferential markets in Great Britain, the
commercial interests of Canada began to seek an
extension of trade upon this continent. This
agitation and its results do not lie within the pur-
view of the present article. The only consequence
of the new Reciprocity movement which directly
affects the question of Inter- Provincial trade is the
effect of the Elgin Treaty of 1854-1866 upon the
commercial interchanges of the Provinces. This
effect was not advantageous. It delayed for some
years the political union which was at length
consummated in 1867, and, in addition, it turned
the currents of trade into channels which, from the
nature of things, could not be permanent, and
which, later on, proved fresh obstacles ia the path
of British commercial union on this continent.
The Elgin Treaty established free trade in fish,
luri'iber and farm products between the United
States and all the British Provinces. During the
continuance of the Treaty exceptional conditions
caused a large increase in the demand for oui-
products by the United States — at first the war m
Europe, and iatteiiy the civil war between the
North and South. The Maritime Provinces cul-
tivated the New England markets, and Upper
Canada began to trade largely with the States to
the south of her. Thus a trade north and south
grew at the expense of one east and west. Very
little effort was made during these years to develop
Inter- Provincial trade. The Provinces had tariffs
against one another, and the tendency therefore
was to expand commerce with the Republic. The
Canadian statistics indicate clearly that the
Reciprocity Treaty rather diminished than main-
tained the trade of the Canadas with the three
Maritime Provinces. The results of the period
in this respect may be conveniently summarized
as follows :
CANADIAN TRAUli WITH THE MARITIME
PROVINCES.
Imports, Exports. Total.
1853 $ 480,952 $ 812,136 $1,293,088
1855 865,984 1,023,444 1,889,428
1856 1,032,592 1,086,040 2,118,632
1857 751.888 875,236 1,627,124
1863 510.713 935.I9& 1.445.909
1864 523.295 362,106 885,401
1865 5"'570 1,065,057 1,566,627
1866 857,922 1,571,116 2,429,038
Imperfect as these returns may be they give a
general idea of the direct trade then in existence
between the eastern and the western Provinces.
It seems that in 1853, before the Reciprocity
Treaty came into existence, the direct commercial
dealings of Canada with her British neighbours
amounted annally to about one million and a
quarter dollars. In 1855 the Treaty found this
trade close upon two millions. After ten years,
instead of an expansion there was an actual de-
crease, especially in Canadian imports from the
Provinces by the sea. During all this time there
were shipments via United States ports, but the
exact volume cannot be accurately stated. Nor
is it advisable to lay stress on a commerce which
was due to imperfect direct communication, and
which the aim of Canada has been to divert
rather than to encourage.
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h would appear that when the Maritime Prov-
inces united with Canada in 1867 their combined
trade was from two to four millions. Mr. George
Johnson places it at four millions. The Confed-
eration started, therefore, with a very slender
foundation as regards Inter-Provincial trade. To
develop this was one of the principal aims of the
founders of the Dominion. Their public speeches
foreshadowed their intentions, which were soon
embodied in public policy. The building of the
Intercolonial Railway, connecting the provinces
on the St. Lawrence with Nova Scotia and New
Hrunswick ; the construction of the Canadian
Pacific Railway from ocean to ocean ; the deep-
ening of the canals ; are the main features of this
policy. By purchasing the North-West Terri-
tories from the Hudson's Bay Company, and by
adding the Provinces of British Columbia and
Prince Edward Island to the Union formed in
1867, the area of internal trade has been greatly
widened, and the facilities for carrying it on have
to an equal degree been provided. It is, there-
fore, not a wild venture to think that the expecta-
tions of the Fathers of Confederation are in a
large measure fulfilled. The difficulty is to prove
this belief in actual figures. When a British
Province in North An.wHca remained outside the
Canadian Confederation — as Newfoundland still
does — its commercial dealings with Canada were
expressed in the ofliciil figures of the Trade and
Navigation returns. These might be to some ex-
tent inaccurate, but they would form a basis on
which to make calculations of the extent of the
miport and export trade done. When the Prov-
ince joined the Union and came under a uniform
tariff, its commercial transactions disappeared
from the official returns. All this is, of course,
perfectly intelligible to the average reader. It is
apt to be forgotten, however, in political discus-
sion, hence the desirability of illustrating clearly
the misapprehensions that have for years clung
about the undoubted expansion of Inter- Provincial
trade.
The Colony of Newfoundland remains separate
from the Dominion, and the sales to, and
purchases from, the Island by Canada are record-
ed in our official returns. In i8y6 the Canadian
exports to Newfoundland were valued at $1,782,-
309, and the imports therefrom amounted in value
to $551,412, a total trade of $2,333,721. If New-
foundland had entered the Dominion at the be-
ginning of the fiscal year 1896 our total foreign
trade would have figured $2,333,721 less than it
actually did. Yet the Inter-Provincial trade would
have been greater by that amount, and probably
by a larger amount. The establishment of free
trade between Canada and the Island Colony
would have diverted at least some of the trade
now done with the United States in manufactured
goods and food products to Canada. But exist-
ing official returns would have taken no account
A. H. U. Colqulioun.
of this. It should, therefore, be understood that
those who desire to compute with some degree
of accuracy the volume of internal trade have
no political theory to promote. Their aim is
simply to arrive at a general knowledge of facts
that are of importance in estimating the growth
of national commerce.
Fifteen years after Confederation the general
desire to know how far Inter-Provincial trade
had expanded, resulted in the appointment of a
Select Committee of the House of Commons, with
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP^KDIA.
3«S
Mr. Henry Paint, member for the County of
Richmond, Nova Scotia, as chairman. The evi-
dence of persons conversant with the trade between
the several Provinces was taken. A summary of
this testimony showed that the purchases of the
Maritime Provinces from Quebec and Ontario had
increased from $1,200,000 in 1866, to $22,000,000
in 1882. The trade in fish — chiefly herrinp and
codfish — from Nova Scotia westward had " devel-
oped to very large proportions," and " as far west
as Montreal a very considerable trade is already
done in fish and oils, and in West India goods
and coal." Complaints were made of the ineffic-
iency of the railway communication, especially isi
winter, the lines being unable to handle quickly the
quantity of freight offered for shipment. The Com-
mittee suggested the subsidizing of a line of pro-
pellers for summer traffic, connecting the ports on
Lake Ontario with thf terminus of the Intercolon-
ial Railway at Point Levis; the deepening of the
St. Lawrence Canals to a uniform depth with the
Welland Canal was also suggested. The subsidy
mentioned was $10,000 for the season for each
boat put on the route. The greatest stress was
laid upon canal enlargement, the Committee en-
dorsing the view of one of the witnesses that " the
most direct means of inckeaslngthe trade with the
Lower Provinces would be the enlargement of the
St. Lawrence Canals at the earliest possible
period to a uniform size with the Welland Canal,
in size of lock and depth of water, so that large
vessels could pass through them. Vessels carry-
ing large cargoes would have a tendency to
cheapen the rate of freight. They could go to the
Lower Provinces, discharge their cargoes and
take in return cargoes of coal, and carry it up at
a low rate of freight, say $1.00 to $1.25 per ton.
They could also take fish and what other goods
they could get. In this way coal could be prob-
ably laid down in Western Ontario at a less cost
than the American coal, and it would conse-
quently go largely into consumption throughout
Ontario." With deep canals, it was believed that
a million tons of coal could annually be sent into
Ontario from Nova Scotia. Except the general
inquiry here outlined, nothing further came of the
effort of Parliament to obtain a definite idea of the
volume of Inter-Province exchanges.
The lack of strictly exact information on this
question has dogged the footsteps of every inquirer
who desired to investigate it. That the volume of
trade between the Provinces has vastly increased
is a fact which is brought home to every person
engaged in one line of business or another. Can-
dian manufactured goods are conveyed in large
quantiiivis from Ontario and Quebec factories to
the Maritime Provinces and to the Provinces west
of Lake Superior. Iron and steel manufactures
from Nova Scotia are sold in the inland Provinces.
The cotton and other goods of New Brunswick
are sold in the markets of Ontario. The fish
of the Atlantic and Pacific Provinces are brought
inland, east and west. The sales of Nova Scotia
coal brought by vessels to the port of Montreal are
yearly expanding into a large trade.
If one is content with a general statement of
the growth of internal commerce, the available
statistics afford ample proof from a variety of
sources. There is, for example, the evidence fur-
nished by the tonnage engaged in the coasting
trade. The statistics relating to this were first
officially recorded in 1876. In that year the ton-
nage of the shipping in and out from one Cana-
dian port to another amounted to 10,300,939. In
five years, namely in 1881, this had increased to
15,116,766. The returns for the past ten years>
that is, from 1887 to i8g6, are as follows :
GROWTH OF THE CO.ASTING TRADE.
Tonnage.
1887 17,313,677 1892 25.109,929
1888 18,789,279
1899 19,834,577
1890 22,797,115
189I 24,986,130
1893 24,579,123
1894 26,560,968
1895 25,473,434
1896 27,431,753
Much of this commerce is of an Inter-Provincial
character, especially in the case of vessels which
ply betv.'een ports in Ontario, Quebec, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
Island. The expansion has taken place during
the same period which has witnessed a consider-
able addition to the miles of railway in operation,
a competition that has everywhere captured some
of the water-borne freights. The increase in the
freight carried by Canadian railways also bears a
relation to Inter-Provincial Trade, seeing that the
purchases of the extreme western Provinces from
the east are almost entirely delivered by rail.
■ I'.,'.
■■].::
-,^.
li' .It
r
3«6
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.^•:DIA.
'P if I," ■;
'in ■? ■.
While a large proportion of the increase may be
due to United States freights carried over the
Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific Railways,
there remains a sufficient margin indicative of
internal trade to make the following table for the
past ten years worthy of note in passing :
FREIGHT CAKKIED BY THE CANADIAN
RAILWAYS.
Year. Tons. Miles in Operation.
1S87 16,356,335 II,6()I
1888 17.I7.5.759 12,163
1S89 17,928,626 12,628
1890 20,787,469 13.256
1891 21,753,021 14.009
1892 22,189,923 14,588
1893 22,003,599 15.020
1894 20,721,116 15.627
1895 21,524.421 15,977
1S96 24,266,825 16,270
A large degree of attention has always been
bestowed upon the dealings of Ontario and Que-
bec with the Maritime Provinces and vice versa.
As has been said, the expansion of this com-
merce was one of the principal aims of the
founders of Confederation, and its development
would be one proof that their calculations were
not wholly astray. In their speeches in the
various places visited by Maritime delegates
in Canada, and by Canadian delegates in the
other Provinces, this was clearly brought out.
There are several indications of the present
volume of this trade. The shipments by
vessel from Montreal to the lower ports, and
the sales of coal by Nova Scotia to the west
are partial evidences. The traffic returns of the
Intercolonial Railway are also, in a measure,
proofs of a growing trade. The shipments east-
ward from Montreal by vessel are, it is true, im-
perfectly recorded. The statistics collected by
the Montreal Board of Trade relate only to food
produce, and ignore manufactures and other gen-
eral merchandise altogether. The record, further-
more, only covers a period of ten years. Yet, in-
complete as these figures are, it is unwise to
Ignore them in grasping at some of the details
which may be accepted in attempting to summar-
ize roughly the trade as a whole. The results of
ten years' business, in this respect, were : —
SHIPMENTS FROM MONTREAL TO MARITIME
PROVINCE PORTS.
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
Ilrrad-
slutTs, etc."
Kusli.
20.793
36.227
27,010
32.819
29,898
21,570
91.928
22,502
15,469
3 '.856
Flour.
Barrels.
192,105
202,288
106,090
229,152
206,118
261,806
322.570
249,708
299,238
336,348
Dlltlcr.
I'kKs.
12,862
12,259
9,813
9.544
11,876
7.589
7,121
6,721
6.453
6,876
Cheeu.
Boxel.
2,792
2,783
1,595
2,207
1.753
2,521
6,738
1,984
1,248
1,235
Pork.
Barrels,
9.575
6,969
10,763
15,619
8,050
7.594
2,526
7.871
15.478
23,791
Canned Hams&
Meats. Hacon.
Plcgs. Boxes.
.639
1,219
J.I97
2,944
',327
3.406
2.356
2.54«
1,898
4.315
888
1,030
1.583
596
87
52
III
'38
191
144
* Including wheat, corn, peas, oats and barley.
It will be seen, at a glance, that the shipments
of flour, of pork, and canned meats all show ex-
pansion. The trade fluctuates year by year; but
this is a feature of all trade, which is dependent
on supply and demand, on the state of the mar-
kets, on the rates of freight, on foreign competi-
tion, and other factors which cannot always be
accounted for, ami often cannot be even traced
with statistical exactness. The freights carried
by the Intercolonial are not wholly conclusive,
since allowance must be made for business of a
purely Provincial character, and some which re-
lates to shipments eastward intended for export
via St. John or Halifax. The returns of freight
over the Intercolonial, however, bearing these
things in mind, must always be incorporated
in any article professing, even imperfectly, to
examine the available sources of information
regarding Inter-Provincial trade. The official
record for twenty years is :
TONS OF FREIGHT CARRIED BY THE
INTERCOLONIAL.
1877 4-2I.327
1878 522,710
1879 510,861
1880 561,924
1881 725.677
1S82 838,956
1883 970,961
1884 1,001, i6,j»
1885 970,069
1886 1,008,545
1887 1,131.334
1888 1,275,905
1889 1,204,790
1890 1,353,417
1891 1.304,534
1892 1,264,575
1893^ 1,388,080
1894 1,342,710
1895 1,267,816
1896 1.379,618
In a general way the details of the freights
carried over the railway throw some light upon
the trade they represent. Of coal the Interco-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPi^JDIA.
387
lonial carried in 1896 432,513 tons ; most of it
being delivered locally or in New Brunswick, not
much over 60,000 tons being shipped to the vest.
The shipment of grain from Halifax for expert busi-
ness was in 1892 as much as 1,230,000 bushels,
but for the past two years the rates have been
unfavourable, and no grain has been sent that
way. The extension of the line to Montreal may
make a change in this respect. The grain shipped
over the line for home consumption was in 1896
1,064,385 bushels. Refined sugar made in Nova
Scotia is sold to the west, and of the 40,181 tons
carried by the Intercolonial in 1896 over 25,000
tons found a market outside the Province. The
shinments of fish, fresh and salt, likewise repre-
sent Inter- Provincial trade, and of the 12,000 tons
carried over the line in that year probably 8,000
tons were consumed in other Provinces. An an-
alysis of the Intercolonial returns points to the
conclusion i.iat greater facilities, especially in
the matter of through rates, will expand the In-
ter-Provincial trade which has, even under present
conditions, probably doubled, while the whole
freight traffic of the road has in twenty years
trebled.
Encouraging, however, as all these evidences
of an expanding home commerce may be, the
question ever and anon arises: Is it not possible
to set down in actual figures the volume of Inter-
Provincial trade? The answer must be that no
statistician will pledge himself to anything more
exact than an approximate result. The avenues of
trading about which we have no information what-
soever are so numerous that it would be mislead-
ing to claim anything more trustworthy than a
general knowledge. The safest estimate which
can be made is one that leaves out altogether the
trade exchanges of which no official record is kept,
and to base an estimate on data that are, to a
degree, reliable. This was the plan pursued by
Mr. George Johnson, the Canadian Statistician,
who, in 1889, drew up a paper on the subject. The
main lines on which this estimate rests were the
omission of the trade between Ontario and Que-
bec, on the one hand, and that between three
Provinces on the Atlantic coast, owing to the
absence of any satisfactory records. The trade
westward from the Maritime Provinces was
placed at $26,000,000, and the trade eastward
from Ontario and Quebec at $29,500,000 ; the
trade east and west, chiefly between Ontario,
Quebec, and the whole of Canada west of Lake
Superior was placed at $24,500,000. This yielded
a total of $80,000,000 for 1889, or $4.25 per ion
of the shipping engaged in the coasting trade.
The whole estimate seems moderate, when the
wide areas entirely left out of the calculation are
borne in mind. Owing to the fluctuations in
values, the volume of Inter-Provincial trade has
since been calculated on the basis of this relation
between the coasting trade and the estimate
drawn up in 1889. Following this method, the
total Inter-Provincial trade would be for the past
six years :
1891 $106,191,052
1892 106,717,198
1893 104,461,273
1894 $112,884,114
1895 108,262,090
1896 116.584,950
It would appear, therefore, that a commerce
which has no place in the official statistics of the
country, but which is one of the most potent
factors in the daily life of the people, may
reasonably be said to exceed in value the sum
of a hundred millions of dollars a year. A point
of some importance in connection with the gen-
eral question of early Inter-Provincial trade is
the fact that the tariff of the Province of
Canada discriminated in favour of certain pro-
ducts from the other British Provinces in North
America. By Acts passed in 1849, ^^5° ^"^ 1851
— several years before the Elgin Treaty with the
United States — the Canadian Parliament decreed
that certain articles or products, when imported
direct from Great Britain or the Maritime
Provinces, should be duty free. These were
animals, biscuits and bread, butter, coal, cocoa
and chocolate, fish, fish oil, flour, furs and
skins, grains, grindstones, meats, seeds, trees and
shrubs, vegetables and wood. Under this prefer-
ential arrangement the trade done in these par-
ticular articles increased in the foUowir.g propor-
tion : 1851, ;£"4i,9i5; 1852, £46,617; 1853,
£97,647; 1854, £87,200; 1855, £54,244; 1856,
£121,692 ; 1857, £93,728. Under this arrange-
ment about £10,000 was annually given up in
revenue from Customs. When the Elgin Treaty
went into force in October, 1854, the privilege of
free entry in many of these articles was extended
i.K
W."^
.(!''0I!
3»8
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
!':i >
to the United States. The free list, in 1857,
specially mentions lime, fruits of all kinds, dye
stuffs, and artiticial slate and metallic paints
" from the B.N. A. Provinces " as being free. In
1854, more than half the value of goods imported
by Canada from the Maritime Provinces came in
free of duty, and the duties paid were chiefly on
West Indian products, such as sugar and molasses.
Mr. W. Hamilton Merrltt's Committee of the
Canadian Assembly, which reported on May 2C)th,
1S55 — Sessional Papers, Appendix to Volume
XVII. — dealt with the commercial intercourse be-
tween Canada and the other British North Ameri-
can Colonies as follows :
" The value of the trade with these Possessions
amounted in 1851 to £373,ooj ; in 1854 to £554,001,
of which £149,082 were imports, and the duties
thereon £26,691. Sugarand molasses alone yielded
£24,072, while all other articles paid only £2,619.
An effort was made in 1853 by a Committee of
your Honourable House to open a communica-
tion with these Colonies, with a view of furnishing
the Legislature with annual statements of the
resources and returns of the trade and of the
Customs duties collected by each. A tabular
statement was prepared, from which it appeared
that the population in 185 1, including Canada,
numbered 2,297,219 ; the revenue from Customs
amounted to £976,938, being an average per head
for Canada of 8s. 2jd.; New Brunswick, los.
iijd.; Nova Scotia, 6s. 7|d.; Prince Edsvard's
Island, 5s. 8Jd., and Newfoundland, 14s. y^d.
Whether, from the geographical position of the
British Possessions in America, a free intercourse
would increase their direct trade, can only be
ascertained by giving it a fair trial. From the
favourable position the northern Provinces occupy
between the Mediterranean, the West Indies and
the Western States, your Committee are of opin-
ion that the agricultural productions of the West
would be exchanged at our ports for the produc-
tions of the East, in addition to their lumber and
fish furnishing return cargoes and opening a
direct and apparently profitable trade. Their
shipping interest would possess the advantage of
employment in the inland navigation during sum-
mer, and on the ocean during winter. Your
Committee would, under all the circumstances,
recommend, therefore, a free commercial inter-
course between Canada and the neighbouring
Provinces of North America."
An interesting reference was also made to the
question of protectionist duties, which throws
a side-light upon the rapid development of senti-
Hon. W. Hamilton Merritt.
ment during the next three years. It was as
follows :
" Your Committee can see no good reason why
the same Legislative encouragement to manufac-
turers in Canada should not produce the same
results as it has done in the United States. This
subject, however, does not seem to have attracted
much public attention in Canada, as only one
Board of Trade, and but very few individuals have
furnished the Committee with their views upon
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
32V
it. The replies received recommend the increase
of duties on the importations of all articles which
can be manufactured in Canada, and a reduction
on all raw material required for the same ; as also
a reduction of the duties on those articles in gen-
eral use which cannot be produced here. Con-
curring in the opinion of the Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States, that it is no
departure from the general principle of free trade
to counteract the legislation of other countries,
your Committee recommend that the principle
of reciprocity in our commercial legislation be
extended to the productions of manufactures as
well as those of agriculture, and that the same
rate of duties be imposed on the manufactures of
the United States as are imposed by that Govern-
ment on the manufactures of Canada."
An important discussion took place in 1862
upon the question of Intercolonial trade. It
seems to have been precipitated by the agitation
for what is now the Intercolonial Railway. On
the 15th August, Lord Monck, Governor-General
of Canada, wrote to the Lieutenant-Governors of
Novri Scotia and New Brunswick, stating that it
was very desirable that the three Provinces in-
terested in the railway should come to a distinct
understanding as to the part which each of them
would undertake in reference to the execution of
the proposed work. His Lordship mentioned
the expected visit of the Earl of iMulgrave and
the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick to
Canada as a suitable time for holding a con-
ference, members of the respective Administra-
tions assisting, and the loth of September was
named for that purpose.
The official return then gives the Report of the
Committee of the E.xecutive Council of Canada,
approved by the Governor-General-in-Council, on
the loth of September, 1862 — Sessional Papers,
Volume v.. No. 2.^, 1862. In this it is stated
that their attentive consideration had been given
to a Report of the Minister of P'inance — the
Hon. (afterwards Sir) \V. P. Howland — on the
despatch from the Lieut.-Governor of Nova
Scotia, which enclosed a copy of a resolution of
the Legislative Assembly, empowering the Gov-
ernment of that Colony to arrange, by negotia?
tion with the neighbouring Provinces, a reciprocal
interchange of manufactures, duty free, and sug-
gesting that Delegates from the Provinces should
meet to consider it. The Minister of Finance
submitted a series of tables, e.xhibiting the ex-
port and import trade with the Lower Provinces,
the nature of the imports from the United States
to each Colony, the tariffs of the several Colonies,
etc., and expressed his opinion in favour of enter-
ing into negotiations having in view the greater
freedom of intercourse between the Colonies. He
also recommended that a proposal be made for
the reciprocal free ailmission of all articles — the
growth, produce, and manufacture of Canada,
Nova Scotia, and any other Province becoming a
party to the agreement that might be founded on
this proposal. He further submitted that the
meeting of Delegates from Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick, to be held at Quebec to consider the
question of the Intercolonial Railway, would be
a favourable opportunity to consider also the
question of Intercolonial trade. The Committee
of the Executive Council concurred in opinion
with the Finance Minister, and submitted his.
suggestions for His Excellency's approval. The
Report of the Canadian Finance Minister was
dated at Quebec on the 8th of September, 1862,^
and was as follows :
" In reference to the despatch from the Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Nova Scotia to His Excellency
the Governor-General, which contains a copy of
a resolution of the House of Assembly of Nova
Scotia, empowering the Government of that
Colony to arrange by negotiation with the neigh-
bouring Provinces a reciprocal interchange of
manufactures, duty free ; invites a proposal on
the subject from Canada ; and suggests that
Delegates from the Provinces should meet to con-
sider it ; the Minister of I'inance has the honour
to report :
Intercolonial reciprocity commanded the at-
tention of both the Imperial and the Canadian
Governments in i860. In that year the Lords
of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade
expressed an opinion somewhat adverse to it.
The Finance Minister of Canada, however, stated
the views of our Government in reply ; and, as no
answer to his argument was ever made, it is to
be hoped the Imperial authorities were thereby
convinced that the project is not of the char-
330
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOr^.DIA.
[..I
¥4 ., '
'4
!?
acter they feared, and that no opposition need be
anticipated to any measure having for its object
the enlargement of Free Trade between the
neighboiiring dependencies of the Empire. Reci-
procal freedom from Intercolonial duties on a
variety of articles already exists between the
British North American Colonies, and future en-
actments can but extend a principle already
sanctioned.
For the purpose of properly considering the
subject of Intercolonial trade, the undersigned
has caused several tables to be prepared, which
are hereto appended. They contain statistical
information to the latest available dates. The
first series of statements, numbered I., II. and
III., compiled from our own Trade and Naviga-
tion Returns, exhibits the extent of our import
and export trade with our sister colonies for the
past four years. It seems small compared with
our total commerce ; but it is nevertheless worthy
of consideration, and as facilities for communica-
tion with them extend, and their population
increases, it will undoubtedly grow in importance.
Lest, however, the small extent of our trade
with these Provinces should give rise to erroneous
ideas as to their commercial activity, attention is
directed to the Table No. IV., which, with the fol-
lowing, is made up from their commercial state-
ments, and shows that, in proportion to their popu-
lation, the imports and exports of each — excepting
Prince Edward Islands-exceed those of Canada.
If, as the undersigned believes, this is due to the
fact that their agricultural resources and manufac-
turing capital are both more limited than ours, it
furnishes a reason why, with increasing means of
intercourse, their trade with us may be expected
likewise to increase.
Table V. exhibits in contrast the tariffs of the
several Provinces. The articles selected for com-
parison are those on which we collected duty to
the extent of $io,ooo on the total imports of the
year iS6i, and as these comprised 94$ per cent,
of the whole, the rest may be left out of consider-
tion. The following articles, viz.: Brandy, coffee,
dried fruits, gin, molasses, rum, soap, sugar, tea,
tobacco and wine, are charged with specific duties
in some of the Colonies, and these have been
reduced to their ad valorem equivalents on the
basis of value supplied by our own Trade Tables.
With a more extended trade between Canada
and the Lower Provinces, we should compete in
their markets, not with the productions of Great
Britain, but with those of the United States.
Tables VI.. VII., VIII. and IX. show the exact
nature of the imports from the United States for
each Colony, and Table X. gives the aggregate. An
examination of these statements plainly shows
that a large proportion of the goods which the
Maritime Provinces now buy in the States could
be supplied by Canada. They consist mainly of
agricultural produce, in raising which we excel,
and of articles the manufacture of which is rapidly
increasing here. It would also be manifestly
advantageous to all the Provinces if Colonial mer-
chants and forwarders could secure a share of the
business which is now almost exclusively confined
to the Americans.
In view of all these facts and considerations,
it appears desirable to enter into negotiations
having in view the establishment of greater free-
dom of intercourse between the Colonies. If a
complete Customs union couid be formed between
the Provinces, under which they could interchange
Ayithout restriction all goods, the produce and
manufacture of whatever country, it would have a
beneficial effect. But as to carry such a union
conveniently into effect greater uniformity in the
tariffs of the several Colonies must be secured,
which would be almost impracticable under their
present political condition, the undersigned con-
tents himself for the present with recommending
that, in answer to the despatch of the Nova Scotian
Government, a proposal be made for the recipro-
cal free admission of all articles, the growth, pro-
duce and manufacture of Nova Scotia, and any
other Province becoming a party to the agreement
that may be founded on this proposal.
If such an arrangement can be effected, it will
undoubtedly increase Intercolonial trade, and
open the way for the establishment of more inti-
mate political relartons between these important
dependencies of the British Crown. The chief
difficulty in bringing it about will probably be
found in the indisposition of all the Provinces to
sacrifice revenue. It is not to be expected that
a large trade will spring up all al once ; it will take
years for its development, and ample time will be
afforded to siijiply from other sources any
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
3ii
Total Ji 10,932 9140,190 9166,263 9189,793
IMPOKIS OK SUOAR.
deficiency which may thus arise. * * * Regu- Of the above Imports, fish and sugar were the
lations would, of course, be framed for the pro- principal.
tection of the revenue of each Colony, to preven* imiorts ok kisii.
the free admission of other L'oods than those com Nova Scotia 957.402 969,670 94o,.?o<. $61,766
.^,. ., ,• 1 \-, . New Urunswick J4i390 I7ii34 49.S20 ';4,626
mgwithm the scope of the Convention. ITince Edward hian.l. . 2.845 • • 704 1963
Referring to the proposal of the Lieut.-Gover- Newfoundland 22,265 5J.1S6 75.739 (iS-uS
nor of Nova Scotia that a delegation should meet
to consider this subject either in Halifax or New
Brunswick, the undersigned submits that the Nova Scotia 953,598 969.417 946,510 ««.oi.ooo
meeting of delegates from Nova Scotia and New New Brunswick 36
Brunswick about to be held here, to consider the I'fince Edward Island
question of an Intercolonial Railway, would be a Newfoundland j9^ __j^ _ha»4 »h.723
favourable opportunity toconsider also the question Total IM13.H4 ^70.561 961,154 9129,759
of Intercolonial Trade. The whole, nevertheless, II.— Exports from Canada to the other Colonies.
submitted for the consideration of the Honourable „ , ,, ... -s^s 18^9
.i_ ,, ^. „ ., Produce of the Mine
the Executive Council. pi^^eries «222,2. 1 921 1,356
(Signed) W. P. HoWLAND.'' Forest 35,766 44,696
Animals and their pro-
~ . , - .^11 I. . . , ducts 97,890 109,699
Tables from the above Report showing the Agricultural produce. . . s3t.oS2 403,64.
extent of the trade of Canada with the other Manufactures 70,166 69,625
British North American Colonies, for four years Other articles 3,313 1,45**
P^St : Total 9960,428 8840,475 iJ723.534»l,030,939
I. — Imports into Canada by the St. Lawrence Total Exports of Canada to all Countries :
from the other British North American Pro- »23,472,6o9 824,766,981 834,631,890 936,614,195
Percent... 4.08 3.39 2.0S 2.84
l36o
1861
9 So
» 1.342
208,01 1
'33.640
5fJ.637
141,964
120,628
99. "7
3". '35
605,076
20,046
45.S2S
1.997
3.975
vinces.
From 1358 1859 i860 1861
Nova Scotia 9149,194 9251,445 9217,865 9280,495
New lirunswick 42,984 21,634 60,786 71,939
Prince Edward Island. . 3,807 2,024 2,544 6,463
Newfoundland 121,163 77,119 134,617 119,233
Total.
9317.148 9352,222 94'5.8'2 9478,130
III. — Total trade with the other British North
American Colonies.
1858 1859 i860 i3Ci
Total Imports from
British North America $423,826 9381,755 8393,864 8499,177
Total Exports tu
British North America 960,428 840,475 723,534 1,030,939
Total imports of Canada :
929,078,527 933,555,161 934,447.935 943,054,836
Percent 1.45 1.13 1.14 1.15
Total Imports and Ex-
ports 1,384,254 1,222,230 1,117,398 1,530,116
Excess of Exports 1536,6029458,720 9329,670 9531,762
IV. — A statistical Review of the whole export and import trade of the B.N. A. Colonies for
i860 and 1 86 1, from their own official returns:
Colony.
Population, 1861 ,
i8<o.
Total Imports. . . .
Total Exports.. .
Imports and Exports, . . .
Imports per head of the
population
E.".ports per head of the
population
1 861.
Total Imports.
T'ltal Exports
Im|x)rts and Exports.. . .
Im|x>rts per head of the
population
Exports per head of the
population
Canada.
2,507.657
•
34.447,935
33,882,622
68,330,557
'3-73
'3-5'
43.054.836
35202,715
78,257,551
17.17
14.03
Nova Scotia.
330,857
«
8, 5 ".549
6.619,534
15,131,083
27.72
20.00
7.613.227
5.774.334
•3.387.561
23.01
18 .H
N.ll.
252,047
«
6.944.352
4.398.5S5
".342.937
2755
'7-45
S.943.039
4.546.039
10,489,078
23-57
18.03
P.E.I.
80,857
«
1,104,260
966,883
Four All
Newfoundland. Lower Provinces. B. N. America.
124,608 788,369 3,296,026
• « i<
6,020,073 22,580,234 57,028,169
6,055,944 18,040,946 51,923,568
2,071,143
«3-6S
10.95
1,007,692
782,949
1,790,641
12.46
9.68
12,076,017
49.76
48.60
5.533.713
5,244,245
10,777.958
44.41
42.08
40,621,180
28.65
22.88
20,097,671
16,347.567
36,445,238
25. li
20.71
108,951,737
17.60
15.70
63,152.507
51,550,282
114,702,789
19.16
15.64
i'lh
.!: :,
33»
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
I: ■■
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V. — Comparison of the tariffs of the five liritish
North American Colonies.
N.iva New P. K. N«w.
Canilda. Scotia. Itrlln^wick. l^liind. fouiidland.
1661 ijr.j i36i 1861 1861
Iter cl. per ct. iwr cl. jwrct. jivr cl.
Brandy jo (>6 76 55 yj
Carriages and lurni-
turc 20 I2'j 17', 10 II
Chinaware, ric 2o 12 'j 15 y'j II
Cigars 40 20 17', 30
Clucks and wHtches., 10& 20 30 17'] 10^25 11
Clothes, ready-made. 2$ lt}i 15 lu 11
Coffee, green 33 30 20 ji 25
Cop|>cr and lirass . . . lu 5 3'] 7!^ 11
Cordage 20 5 3,', 7', 5,!j
Cottons 20 12 'j 15 7'i II
Cotlonwick lu 5 15 y'j n
I)rie>: fruits 20 variiius 42'j 27 60
Drugsand medicine. :iOiV 30 t2'i 3'i>V 15 y'2 5'^'
Fancy goods. 20 12'j 15 7'j 11
Gin luo l^4 iIhj 175 328
(jiass and glassware. 2u 12'] 15 7'j ii
Hats, caps and Inn-
nets 20 12 'i I7'i 7'j II
Hosiery 20 12'i 15 71, 11
Iron and haidHare. . 20 12 'j ij j'j 11
Iron liar and tixl. .. . 10 5 3_'/2 7'j 5',
Ironplate 10 5 15 7', 51^
leather, tanned... 211 I2j] 16 b% 11
Leather boots, shoes. 25 12,'i 17 ^i 10 11
Leather, manufac-
tured other than. . 25 I2'j 17^ 7', If
Linen 20 12 'j 15 71^ n
Machinery 10 5 15 2 11
Manufnct urea of gold,
silver plated ware. 20 12,'i 15 7'j II
Man. of>traw 20 12'i 15 7', 11
Man. olW(x/d 20 12'i 17'i 10 11
Molasses 37 27 2' 2 15 27
Musical imtrumenis. 20 i2,'2 17'. 71, ii
Kocl< oil "j
'^" '° ^ermi^"^""5 7'^ ■'
I2jc.p.g..l
I'aints and colors.. . , 20 i2'2 15 7 11
ra|)er and hangings. 20 |2'2 2'j, 3'it & 15 7I2 11
Rum 100 ()() 67 57 107
.Silks, satins, velvets. 21) li'j 15 7I2 11
Small wares 2u I2'2 15 7'2 Ih
Soap 30 12 '2 .62)4 or 17 7 '2
.Spices 20 vatiiiiis 7', 11
Stationery 20 I2'2 15 7'i 1
Sugar, teliiied sS 25 45 39 48
Sugar, other 6j a 36 22 46
Tea 26 22 13 12 25
Tobacco, niaiiufd. . . 30 40 35 44 60
Wine 2u 50 44 24 various
Woollens 20 12,'i IS 7,'2 II
1S61. 1861. i86r. 1861. 1861.
I'roportinn of duties
collected to total
value of imports., u 7I4' gj-i S'i 7'i
Proportion of duties
collected to total
value of dutiable
imports ly iijs 13 V 10I4 i2,!-i
On each of the above articles Canada collected
duty in 1861 to the extent of more than $10,000.
They composed g^j^ per cent, of its total imports
of that year.
V'l. Table showing the Imports of Nova Scjtia
from the United States in 18O1.
A.— Free Roods — chiefly under the Reciprocity
T-eaty.
Apples $ 20,748
Hread 16,564
Hutter 11,186
Corn and wheat 48,938
Corn and oatmeal 156,079
Codfish 47,iiJ
Flour — wheat 1,140,501
" — ryt-' 3J.36i
F'ruit 21,074
Mackerel i4i24J
Pork and hams 61,210
Tobacco, unmanfactured, say.. 50,000
Miscellaneous, say ioj,o8j
Total free goods $1,724,101
H. — Dutiable Cioods.
Burning fluid $ 23,163
Cabinet wares 26,365
China, glass and earthenware... 1 1,924
Cordage and Canvas 45.428
Cotton, silk and woollen manu-
factures 1 56,752
Drugs and apothecary ware 34.231
Hardware, iron and cutlery 174,958
Hats and caps 24,219
Leather and leather manufac-
tures 135.693
Paper manufactures, books, etc. 54,281
Woodware and Agricultural
Implements 36,244
Tobacco, manufactured, say.. . . 73,775
Miscellaneous 1 16,396
Total dutiable goods $913,429
VII. Table showing the Imports of New Bruns-
wick from the United States in 1861.
A. — Free goods — chiefly under the Reci-
procity Treaty.
Butter and cheese $ 19,447
Bran and ship stuffs 45.365
Coals and coal-dust 22,670
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
33.1
Fruit $ ij,«52
Flour — wheat 988,591
Corn 241242
Meat, salted 92,501
Meal, corn and rye Hour 65.J81
Seeds 10,052
Tallow 31.531
Vegetables u.SOi
Wood goods 55.595
Miscellaneous 74.55°
Total free goods $1,455,280
B. — Dutiable Goods.
Apothecary ware ^
Boots and shoes, all kinds
Books
Canvas and cordage
Clocks and jewellery
Carriages, etc
Earthen and glassware
Furniture
Hats and hat bodies
Haberdashery
Hardware
Iron manufactures, iron and
metals
India rubber manufactures
Leather
Leather manufactures
Molasses
Musical instruments
Paper and stationery
Sugar, refined
" raw
Tea
Coffee
Other groceries
Tobacco, manufactured, cigars
and snuff
Machinery and printing mater-
ials
Oil and varnish
Spirits, wines, ales, etc
Wood manufactures
M iscellaneous
> 34.172
84.528
34.365
28,424
II.OIO
11,461
26,914
16,100
21,049
452.213
70,612
39,046
10,321
49.778
11,146
52,050
10,217
32,933
28,001
30.930
120,773
15,460
40,654
58.703
25,241
45.941
78,428
18,244
100,741
VIII. Prince Edward Island. — Imports from the
United States in l86i.
A. — I'ree goods — chiefly under the Reciprocity
Treaty.
Flour 1? 40,187
Miscellaneous 22,310
Total free goods $62,497
B. — Dutiable Goods.
Dry goods $ 11,627
Hardware and cutlery 19,214
Leather 13.817
Molasses 11,318
Tea II ,588
M iscellaneous 7 1 ,580
Omission or error in the F.E.I.
table 4,802
Total dutiable goods §143,946
IX. Newfoundland. — Imports from the United
States in 1861.
A. — Free goods — chiefly under the Reciprocity
Treaty.
Beef^salt $ 12,230
Butter 101,175
Corn meal 19.363
Flour 837,533
Pork 41 .S ,939
Miscellaneous 3'^'597
Total free goods $1,427,837
B. — Dutiable goods.
Candles $ 20,136
Coffee 12,835
Hardware ^4-472
Leather wares 35.918
Molasses 1 2 , 105
Tea 55.565
Tobacco 28,790
Woollens 23,520
Miscellaneous 92,310
Total dutiable goods. ..$1,559,455
Total dutiable goods $-95,651
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OIVKDIA.
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X. Recapititlation — Summary exhibit of the total
trade of all the Maritime I'rovinces with the
United States in iWn.
Imports from the United States into:
New P. v.. New
Nova Scutiii llittitswick. InlanU. fi>unillAn(l. Total,
Wheal Hour ..»l, 140,501 »<)SS,5(>| »4o,i»7 »8j7.5.U •j.006,812
Ullier free
guoda 5Mj,(>oo 4(i().(H)u 3i,jiu 5()u,.)04 i,(i(>],i>04
Tolnl free
(JikmIs 1,724,101 1,455,281 ()2, 41)7 1,427, «J7 4,(i()9,7i6
Tolnl (luliable
Boods 913,4291,559,455143,1140 295.t'5' ^.9li,48<
Total imports. 2,637,530 3,014,736 20<),443 1,723,488 7,582,197
Total exports. . 1.523.555 843,141 224,522 160,065 2,751,883
It will be seen from these tables that the effect
of the Reciprocity Treaty was to increase the
trade of all the Provinces with the United States.
But certain other results seem to have followed :
I. It reduced trade between the Provinces.
II. It prevented e.xpansion in lines where there
was not an absolute reduction.
III. It destroyed the St. Lawrence as a great
Canadian transportation route.
IV. It made the United States the carriers of
Canadian exports abroad.
A Select Committee on Inter-Provincial Trade
was appointed by the House of Commons in 1877,
and its Report, dated April 27th, may be found
in the Journals of the House (Volume II., Appen-
dix No. 4). Mr. N. L. McKay was chairman, and
Messrs. A. H. Dymond, of North York; Patrick
Power, of Halifax ; Thomas Workman, of Mon-
treal; M. H. Goudge, of Hants, N.S.; John Mac-
donald, of Toronto; the Hon. Peter Sinclair, of
P.E.I.; and the Hon. E. J. Flynn of Quebec ; were
the other members. The Report made no parti-
cular recommendations and concluded as follows :
"The great importance of encouraging the
closest commercial relations between the Provinces
of the Dominion, induces the strongest hope in
the minds of your Committee that the efforts of
those engaged in endeavouring to promote Inter-
Provmcial trade may be successful. Your Com-
mittee have given the fullest opportunity to the
parties interested to place their views and propo-
sals before the country; and trust that the result
may be to evoke a spirit of generous co-operation
on the part of capitalists who may be prepared to
embark in such enterprises. The testimony of
those who have made the subject their study is
very strong as to the commercial bcnehts that have
accrued to the older I'rovinces from Confederation;
and the large volume of Inter-Provincial trade
created since the political union of the Maritime
Provinces with Ontario and Quebec. While the
existing rail and water routes from Western
Canada to the Nova Scotia seaboard and the close
commercial relations existing between soniu j.or-
tions of the Maritime Provinces and the United
States necessarily tend to limit the bulk of east-
ward freights obtainable for local consumption by
any new competitors, it has been suggested that
the favourable position of Sydney, Cape Hreton,
and other Nova Scotia ports for developing a
foreign trade, may, if a direct means of cheap
transportation be established, provide an outlet
for the products and manufactures of Western
Canada to an unlimited extent. The details of
such arrangements are too numerous and compli-
cated for recapitulation ; but the evidence bearing
thereupon will, your Committee believe, deserve
attentive perusal."
The Committee mentioned in Mr. Colquhoun's
article was appointed on March 5th, 1883, and
included Mr. H. N. Paint as chairman, the Hon.
Alphonse Desjardins, the Hon. Isaac Burpee,
Thos. Farrow, Alex. Gunn, the Hon. Wilfrid
Laurier, Lachlan McCallum, M. H. Richey, Q.C.,
the Hon. Peter Mitchell, and the Hon. Thomas
White as members. Its conclusions were also
rather vague and general, though indicative of
large and growing trade.
The following: figures indicate t ., y.
Inter- Provincial trade since 1877, lie tran
portation of coal, grain, flour and iiiniber via
the Intercolonial Railway to and from the M ri-
time Provinces :
Year.
Coal.
Grain.
Klour.
Lumber.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1877
103,420
5.109
25.471
72,620
1878
97.043
5.988
^}»m
70,758
1879
11-2,532
5.492
63,033
69,538
1880
136,46^
5,929
52,515
69,328
i88i
184,607
11,202
67,231
91,052
1882
248,158
10,572
69,209
98,749
1883
262,423
24,212
98,381
130,792
1884
293.562
13-200
81,564
163,901
1885
349.004
15,610
90,710
171,734
1886
407,552
^7fi77
73,909
i45,3>6
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOlVKDIA.
.535
Year. Coal. ( Iraiii.
Tons. TonH.
1888 5Ji;,(J5() 23,f)45
1889 526,487 j8,05()
Kluur.
Tom,
75..MH
«4.575
92,701
I.iiml>er.
Ton*.
20I,4f)0
2-15.551
24f),9.J2
262, ,{80
1890 556,546 5.},58o 109,419
1891 498,038 61,048 101,312 230.172
1S92 4.}.).8o6 79,040 95,401 219.343
189J 34J.2'/' 3i.').}4 «5.^"ii -226,514
1894 478,691 28,681 94,496 250,635
1895 J85.200 19,088 93,835 252,809
Tne following table gives some further par-
ticulars, and the grand total of $19,000,000 indi-
cates the reality of this trade between the Pro-
vinces, as it does the wisdom of those who
advocated the building of the railway :
Year. Live Stock. Manufrs.
Tons. Tons.
1877 6,371 43,308
1878 7,162 140,858
1879 8,454 132,727
1880 11,896 158,383
.\88i 11,738 168,910
All Others.
Totals.
Tons.
Tons.
165,028
421.327
137.124
522,710
119,090
510,861
127,407
5(^1.924
190,837
725.577
, Muniifrs.
T.ini.
238,769
278,842
23.5. 5<J2
212,868
225.588
240.567
27.S,893
252,398
319,601
30.i.i97
309.32S
342,400
33i.<J35
311.864
These figures, of course, are only indicative of
the total trade which exists throughout the
Dominion as a whole. The large Ontario trade in
farm implements with the North-West is an
illustration of the Inter-Provincial demand for
manufactures, and is only one of many instances
which might be cited.
\'ear.
i.ive Stock
Tons.
I8,S2
12.865
1883
12,958
1884
12.575
1885
13,980
1886
12,123
1887
^^-■i.U
1888
i^Jt?
1889
11,508
1890
10,999
1891
12,278
1892
12,156
1893
12.757
1894
12,404
1895
11.351
.Ml Olheri
T..iaU.
Tons.
Tons.
i()0,()34
8.J8.956
I'M. 352
(i7o,()()i
202,769
i,o{)t,i()3
116,163
(j7(),()68
126,180
1.008,545
126,148
i.i3i..y4
100,845
1.275,905
36,108
1,204,790
40,892
I.353.4I7
98,479
I. .504.534
115.501
1.264,575
145.488
1,388,080
146,168
1,342,710
193,669
1,267,816
Sir William P. Howland.
i^'Vf
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ill -
1' ■' ■
''
THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 18^4
THE EDITOR.
p
Tip
w
m
f ■:
THE politics of Canada for nearly half a
contury have been more or less con-
trolled by fiscal questions, and the
material interests of its various Prov-
inces, both before and since Confederation, have
been greatly influenced by changes in tariff
regulations. The two landmarks in this connect-
ion are undoubtedly the Elgin-Marcy Reciprocity
Treaty and the National Policy of Protection.
Around each the storm of party discussion has
raged, and even after the lapse of forty years, the
former important measure constitutes a si'bject of
political discussion and newspaper controversy.
A biief consideration therefore of the historic
causes 'vhich led up to that arrangement, and the
evolution in the relations between Canada and
the States and Great Britain which made it poss-
ible, will be of value.
The fiscal history of these three countries
seems to be divided naturally into two distinct
periods, the one lasting from 1776 to 1849,
the other from 1866 to the present time,
with some intervals of transition. During the
fii't period Great Britain maintained a severe
protectionist policy which had the indirect effect
of restricting American trade and preventing the
.southern extension of Canadian commerce. Dur-
ing the second period the American Republic
adopted and maintained a similarly vigourous pro-
tective system, which limited British industrial
exports and caus-id ultimately the development of
defensive tariff i .gislation in Canada. The inter-
val between these eras was one of immense ex-
pansion in the maritime interests of the United
States, checked, however, by the Civil War; and
of a mutually beneficial reciprocity arrangement
between the Rapublic and the Canadian Provinces.
Between 1849 and the outbreak of the Southern
re' illion. Great Britain had opened her ports to
American commerce and the United States had
not yet inaugurated legislation for the purpose of
trying to prohibit its ports to British goods. It
was indeed a time of transition from the stern
protection which characterized British policy for
so many years, to that which has marked Ameri-
can policy since the days of Lincoln and Morrill.
For many years in the early history of the
United States the English navigation laws bore
severely upon its commerce. The regulation by
which British Colonies could only trade with the
mother country, or with each other, by means of
British ships, was extended in 1783, so as to for-
bid American provisions and fish being carried to
British countries in British bottoms. This pro-
hibition inflicted a serious injury upon the
Republic, especially in its relations with the West
Indies. Prior to the Revolution, in 1769, the trade
of the Thirteen Colonies with the West Indian
Islands amounted to $11,650,000 out of a total
external commerce of $25,000,000, so that the
effect of such prohibitory legislation may be seen
at a glance. It was little wonder therefore that
John Adams, as Minister to Great Britain, pro-
posed in 1785 to the British Government that the
trade between the two countries and their domin-
ions be placed upon a footing of " perfect and
liberal reciprocity." The reply of Lord Liverpool
was somewhat like Mr. Blaine's response a century
later to the Canadian delegates who asked for
limited reciprocity with the United States : " It
cannot be admitted even as a subject of negotia-
tion." This was not a favourable beginning for
pleasant commercial relations, and the youthful
Republic promptly proceeded to retaliate by a
navigation law which became in 1817 as strenuous
as was the British ; and by tariff regulations
which, however, were somewhat fluctuating in
their application and effect. The former measure
r. ■
r--
— j»i T« ". « »ny tpt-
X^/C<p^^/vO ^ /C*'»^\-c «A^ ^-^-^^"^-^
....V.:.^.^^
JAMES HRUCE, EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDhNE.
UN
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
339
was accompanied by a significant offer to suspend
its operations with regard to any Power which
would respond in a reciprocal direction. But
until 1830 there was no amelioration of the policy
in either case. In that year, however, as a result
of the policy of Mr. Huskisson in England and a
proclamation of President Jackson in the States
the restrictive regulations on both sides were
loosened and the United States was allowed to
trade direct with the British Colonies.
Even then, British duties upon American pro-
ducts were higher than those maintained by the
United States upon British goods. The following
figures giving the total export of articles, the
produce of the United States, to Great Britain,
with the duties paid thereon during three years,-
will illustrate the height of the old time English
tariff:—
Export to
Great Britain.
Values.
Duties.
Per Cent.
1838
1839
1840
$50,481,624
50,791,981
54,005,790
$23,621,160
26,849,477
28,360,153
46
52
Total, $155,279,395 $78,830,790
The average American duty at this time upon
woollens, collars, linens, hemp, silk, leather, iron,
hardware, steel, saddlery, brass, copper and other
manufactures was about 40 per cent. It will
therefore be seen that the tariffs upon each side
of the Atlantic were sufficiently high, and that so
far as the United States was concerned the ten-
dency was to ask for reciprocity with England,
and to raise the duties higher when the response
was unfavourable. But the changes were about
to take place which were destined ultimately to
make Great Britain and Canada the suers for
reciprocity, and to give the United States the
privilege of refusal. In 1846 commenced the
period of transition. Sir Robert Peel on the one
side abolished the Corn Laws, threw open the
markets of Great Britain to American bread-stuffs,
and by the repeal of the navigation laws in 1849
opened the way for a phenomenal growth of
American ship building, naval transportation and
trade with British Colonies. On the other hand
Mr. Robert J. Walker, a free trader, became Secre.
tary of the Treasury in the United States, and the
revenue tariff of 1846 was almost simultaneously
passed by Congress, followed in 11(50 by a procla-
mation from the President abolishing the Ameri-
can navigation laws.
Meanwhile, the trade of Canada was, of course,
greatly affected by the respective fiscal policies of
Britain and the States. Until the middle of this
century the British Provinces were tied hand and
foot by the tariff of the mother country, and
though they were accorded the undoubtedly great
benefit of a preference in the British market, and
were protected from external competition, they
none the less suffered from restrictions which
vitally cramped their general trade and expansion.
Added to these complications was a difficulty not
removed until Confederation, in 1867 — the taxing
of imported products from Upper and Lower
Canada by the Maritime Provinces and vice versa.
That commerce between the United States and
British America could not possibly flourish under
such conditions is self-evident. In fact, the
imports into the Republic from the Provinces in
1827 only amounted to $445,000, while the exports
to the latter were $2,704,014. Twenty-two years
later, when the navigation laws were repealed,
the total American trade with the British colonies
was $8,758,986. Two years after that event it
had risen to $15,752,509, or only seven millions,
in round numbers, less than the total Canadian
trade with the mother-land. Such was the condi-
tion of affairs between the three countries con-
cerned when the Elgin-Marcy Reciprocity Treaty
was negotiated, and ratified in 1854. That measure
provided that certain natural products should be
admitted into the United States and the British
Provinces respectively free of duty for ten years,
or until one year's notice of abrogation had been
given by either party to the arrangement.
The Provinces made all the products mentioned
in the Treaty free to Great Britain, and the Repub-
lic was at liberty to make them free to the world
if it so desired, as well as to Canada. Articles of
manufacture were not included, for many reasons.
One was the difficulty the Provinces would have
found in raising a revenue to carry on the extensive
internal improvements which were then being
projected, and another was the problem of how to
make them free to the Republic and to England
at the same time without infringing upon the
highei tariff of the former against British goods.
But it must be remembered that during the whole
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340
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
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period the treaty was in operation, Canadian duties
upon American manufactures averaged a half to a
third less than American duties upon Canadian
articles not included in the Treaty.
There can be no doubt as to the general success
of the measure. Until the outbreak of the Civil
War and the development of American belief in
British hostility to the North, both countries were
pleased with it, although the balance of benefit in
trade appeared to be with the Republic. And by
means of the clauses other than fiscal the .Ameri-
cans enjoyed the free navigation of the St. Law-
rence and its costly system of canals, while Cana-
dians, though admitted to Lake Michigan upon
equal terms, were rigourously excluded from
American canals. Canadian fisheries were open
to American citizens, and Mr. E. H. Derby, the
United States Commissioner appointed to inves-
tigate the results of the Treaty in 1866, reported
that the number of American fishing vessels in
Canadian waters had ranged from 2,414 in 1850 to
3,815 in 1862. Six hundred sail during a single
season had fished for mackerel in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and Bay of Chaleurs, talking fish to
the value of $4,500,000. Meantime, owing to
the superior resources of the Canadian fisheries
hardly a British fishing smack found its way into
American waters.
In another direction Canadians can hardly be
said to have benefited greatly by the Treaty. An
appendix to the Report of the Canadian Commis-
sioner of Public Works published in May 1857,
speaks vividly in this connection : " During the
last fifteen years the value of the Lake trade (in-
ternational) has increased between 1840-50 from
sixty to three hundred millions of doila's and in
the same ratio must now amount * , .iK4;<o,ooo,ooo.
. . . Previous to 1850, by far the largest part
of western Canadian trade was done through
Montreal and the St. Lawrence, and the trade
with the United States was very insignificant.
But it has been greatly extended by the operation
of the United States Bonding Act of 1850 and the
Reciprocity Treaty." The effect of a single year
of reciprocity in thus diverting trade from Cana-
dian channels, may be seen from the figures
quoted in the same Report :
Canadian imports by the St. Law-
rence, 1854 $21,171,752
Canadian imports by the St. Law-
rence, 1855 11,494,028
Canadian exports by the St. Law-
rence, 1854 , 12,501,372
Canadian exports by the St. Latv-
rence, 1855 6,975,500
But while commerce by Canadian routes de-
creased in one year over $15,000,000 in value, it
jumped up correspondingly with the United
States. From a total of $13,971,096 in 1854, it
rose to $40,827,720 in the succeeding year and
continued to expand in volume and value until the
Treaty was abrogated in 1866, when Canadian
trade with the Republic amounted to over $76,-
000,000. Of course, the measure was a great
benefit to Canada in many ways. But extraneous
causes gave it an apparent value which, in later
years, was immensely exaggerated, and used to
prove that Canadians were getting the best of the
bargain. The Crimean War was hardly over
when it came into operation and the prices of
agricultural products were exceptionally high.
The demand in Europe was good, owing to the
depleted posvers of production in France, Russia,
and England, whilst the competition of the United
States itself was not nearly so keen as it is to-day.
Then, the Canadian Provmces had entered upon an
era of construction in public works. The Grand
Trunk Railway was built to the extent of 1,100
miles at a local cost of $16,000,000 and with an
estimated expenditure of about $44,000,000 of
British capital. The Victoria bridge at Montreal,
described by the American Consul in i860, as
" the gi'' ;t work of the age," was erected at a cost
of close i'ljon $7,000,000. And other public works
were begun or completed at the same time.
The effect of all this expenditure of money had
not had time to wear off when the American Civil
War commenced, and millions of men in the
Republic were withdrawn from its productive
forces and thrown into the battlefield. American
exportation of food products was immediately
restricted and an impiense and profitable demand
followed both in Britain and the States for Cana-
dian agricultural productions. Prices rose higher
than they had ever been before and many a
farmer in the Dominion now owes his wealth or
inheritance to what he is prone to think of as the
golden days of reciprocity. Necessarily, however.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
3-11
these were demands that would have been made
and supplied whether the Treaty in question had
existed or not, while it is beyond dispute that the
high prices were the result of the entirely extrane-
ous causes mentioned. And, as a matter of fact,
the imports of Canada in certain lines during this
period, prove hov far from one-sided in its effects
the measure really was :
UNITED STATES EXPORTS TO CANADA 1854-66.
Animals and their products $ 35. 433. 213
Breadstuffs 112,058,473
Other farm products 3,242,981
Timber 8,511,488
Manufactures 88,649,787
American commercial opinion was very pro-
nounced in favour of the Treaty. As early as
January, 1856, a Special Committee of the New
York Chamber of Commerce presented a Report
signed by Hon. J. Phillips Phenix, Robt. Kelly,
and M. H. Grinnell. It was read and adopted
and contained the following important paragraph :
"The result cannot fail to be greatly advan-
tageous to both countries. While the trade of
Canada by the St. Lawrence has been reduced,
that with the United States has been greatly aug-
mented — our canals and railroads have been
enriched by the transportation of their surplus
productions — our neighbours have purchased
largely in our markets of domestic manufactures,
and our vessels have had the advantage of an
increased foreign trade."
At another monthly meeting of the same impor-
tant Chamber in November two years later, a
resolution was adopted declaring that it looked
upon the Reciprocity Treaty with Canada as "one
of the most important commercial treaties ever
made by our Government." But it was not until
abrogation was threatened that public apprecia-
tion of the measure was fully shown amongst the
men of hnance and commerce. Meantime trade
continued to e::pand, and during the thirteen
fiscal years in wliich the Treaty was operative, the
United States exported, according to the official
figures given by the American Bureau of Statistics
(Treasury Department), $54,000,000 more to the
Provinces than it imported from them — the total
amount of the exports being $350,576,837 and the
imports $295,766,586. Following the crisis of
1857 which affected the Provinces, though not by
any means to the same disastrous degree as was
visible in the Republic, it became necessary for
the Government of Upper and Lower Canada to
do something with the tariff, and the result was
an increase of duties upon manufactured goods,
partly for protective purposes but principally for
the purpose of raising increased revenue.
The Gait tariff, as it was called after the
Finance Minister — the late Sir A. T. Gait — was
unpopular in England, where the idea of Colonial
protection was not yet palatable and formed,
and became, very unfairly, the basis of a later
agitation m the United States for the abro-
gation of the Reciprocity Treaty. Of course, it
is clear that no treaty can be interpreted as appli-
cable to products expressly excluded from its
terms and it is a little difficult to see how the
Canadian Government could be blamed for
arranging its tariff to suit internal conditions and
requirements and apart from all articles included
in the Treaty with the States. And a United States
Report upon the new tariff presented to the thirty-
seventh Congress frankly admits the general bene-
fits of reciprocity in face of all the fuss raised over
Mr. Gait's action : " From one end of our frontier
to the other there is practically no difference of
opinion as to the object to be gained for the
mutual benefit of Canada and ourselves — a reci-
procity of commerce not only in name, but in
substance, giving neither party the vantage
ground."
The Canadian Finance Minister could hardly
have done otherwise than he did. Numerous
petitions had been presented asking for protec-
tion against a competition which was proving
ruinous to local industries — while a serious failure
in the harvest, an exhausted exchequer, and a
positive deficiency of $2,500,000 in the revenue
for the coming year, made higher duties on abso-
lute necessity. And without going into the
matter further an extract may be gjiven from the
special Report presented by James W. Taylor
in May, i860, to the United States Secretary of
the Treasury which practically settles the charge
made against Canada :
" Our manufacturers demand that Canada shall
restore the scale of duties existing when the Reci-
procity Treaty was ratified, on penalty of its abro-
gation. When it is considered that the duties
imposed by the American tariff of 1857, are fully
tweniy-five per cent, higher than the correspond-
■ ■ ■ rl
t
'.' ■ 'I
\:i?.
34>
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
r-';!i!
■1
>'!
! :
inp rates of the Canadian tariff, the demand
borders on arrojjance."
It is apparent, therefore, from an impartial per-
usal of these and many other facts which might be
instanced, that the abrogation of 1866 was not an
act of self-interest or self-defence on the part of
Congress, but a voicing of the general sentiment
of anger against Great Britain and the Colonies,
caused by various unfortunate misimderstandings
during the Civil war. And the repeal of the
treaty is consequently not a just precedent for
American objection to other reciprocity arrange-
ments, nor was it any basis for the Congressional
objection to certain clauses in' the tariff presented
by the Democratic administration of 1894. These
conclusions are further verified by the protests
made against the abrogation of the Treaty when
that proposal assumed an aggressive form. On
February loth, 1862, the Chicago Board of Trade
passed a resolution stating that " the Treaty has
been of great value to the producing interests of
the whole Northwest." During the same month
and year the Chamber of Commerce at St. Paul,
urged an adjustment of British and American
relations upon a " basis of mutual interest and
good-will." On January 13th, 1864, the Chamber
of Commerce at Milwaukee, urged " a new treaty
founded upon the true principles of reciprocity,"
and on March 8th, following, the Boston Board of
Trade resolved that " the continuance of the
Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, is of great moment to
both countries and is demanded by the interests
of American commerce." One more extract.
Referring to a resolution of the Detroit Board of
Trade in favour of the continuance of the Treaty
until a new one could be made, a Committee of
that body reported — December gth, 1864 — that
"this action makes the decision of the agricul-
tural and commercial interests of the Northwest
almost unanimous in favour of the continuance of
the treaty. . . In whatever light we view the
treaty it has been of vast importance to us as well
as the Colonies."
But it was no use passing resolutions. The
Treaty had to go, and in 1866 it was accordingly
abrogated. Then commenced the period of posi-
tive American protection — an era in which the
industries of the United States were built up to
an astonishing extent. Canadian efforts on be-
half of commercial reciprocity were numerous.
In 1865, before the cessation of the Elgin-Marcy
Treaty, Sir John Macdonald and the Hon. George
Brown, as leaders of opposing parties, had pro-
ceeded to England and urged the Imperial author-
ities to try and obtain its renewal. Overtures
were accordingly made, but without effect. In
i856 four Canadian delegates went to Washing-
ton and laid before the Ways and Means Com-
mittee of the House a new offer for an extension
of the Treaty. Mr. Morrill, the chairman, though
opposed to its renewal, finally suggested a scheme
somewhat similar to the Commercial Union plan
of Congressmen Hitt and Butterworth, in later
days. It was, of course, beyond the range of
Canadian discussion. Then followed the confed-
eration of all the British American Provinces,
excepting Newfoundland, into the Dominion of
Canada, and the establishment of a low revenue
tariff of fifteen per cent, against American goods,
as opposed to American duties averaging forty per
cent. In 1868 the Canadian Parliament added
to the Customs Act a schedule of natural products
such as animals, meats, fruits, fish, poultry, butter,
cheese, lard, tallow, timber, lumber, etc., which
were to be admitted free into Canada whenever
the United States "shall provide for the impor-
tation of similar articles from Canada into that
country free of duty." This offer still remains
upon the statute books and would have come
largely into effect if the original agricultural
schedule of the Wilson Bill had been approved by
Congress.
The succeeding year saw another effort to obtain
reciprocity. Sir John Rose, the Canadian Finance
Minister, went to Washington in July, and actually
obtained a favourable report from the Committee
of Ways and Means, which the House approved
in the form of a motion favouring the opening of
negotiations. But nothing came of it, and in
1871 the American Government positively refused
to discuss trade reciprocity in connection with
the Washington Treaty. In 1873 both the United
States' National Board of Trade and the Domin-
ion Board of Trade passed resolutions in favour
of reciprocal arrangements, the former body sug-
gesting a Commission by Congress. During the
year following the Canadian Government sent the
Hon. George Brown to Washington to try once
.,' '1
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^IiDIA
343
more the negotiation of a treaty. After prolonged
discussion, a draft was drawn up which seemed
satisfactory generally, and included certain manu-
factures as well as natural products. But it was
killed in the Senate. Four years later the Con-
servative party came into power in Canada and
inaugurated a strong protective policy, though
renewing upon the statute book the standing offer
of reciprocity in the articles previously mentioned.
When the fisheries question was being discussed
in 1888, Sir Charles Tupper offered, on behalf of
the Dominion, to settle it on the basis of an
arrangement " for greater freedom of commercial
intercourse." But the suggestion was declined
point blank. In 1891 a delegation from Ottawa
once more discussed the matter at Washington,
this time with Mr. Blaine, but his refusal to con-
sider it short of discriminating duties against
Great Britain; the adoption of the American sea-
board tariff by Canada ; and uniform excise laws;
prevented any settlement.
Such is a brief sketch of this famous Treaty
and its general environment. The record proves,
if anything can be proved, that the Dominion
is anxious to obtain reciprocal arrangements
upon fair terms with its great neighbour. It
shows that the United States for thirty years
has been looking after its own commercial in-
terests against England, as that country for
two hundred years guarded its interests against
the competition of the world. And it shows
that in 1879 Canada copied the example of
Britain and the States and proceeded to protect
its interests against outside countries with vigour
and determination. But great changes are now
taking place. The British Empire is awaking to
the importance of combination in commercial
matters as well as in the consolidation of other
mutual interests. Australia and Canadaand South
Africa are drawing towards the Mother Country
and each other in an effort to fuse their vast inter-
ests in some practical trade arrangement. Reci-
procity and Preferential trade are in the air, but
instead of being the American reciprocity which
was abrogated in 1866, and has since been so
often sought in vain, it is a British Imperial trade
union which in the end may prove tbt. leaven which
will leaven the whole great mass oi Br .ish peoples
and interests into one harmonious, united, and
powerful organization.
., .t.
James Bruce, Earl of Elgrin and Kincardine,
was born in London on July 20th, 181 1, and was
the son of the well-known Ambassador to Con-
stantinople, whose name is preserved by the
"Elgin Marbles" in the British Museum. Edu-
cated at Oxford, he early showed himself the
possessor of rare oratorical talents and was sur-
rounded by a circle of men who afterwards became
eminent — Mr. Gladstone, Lord Selborne, Lord
Cardwell, Lord Sherbrooke, Lord Herbert of
Lea, Lord Canning, Lord Dalhousie and the
Duke of Newcastle. In 1840 he was elected to
Parliament, but in the following year his father
died and he succeeded to a Scottish earldom
without wealth or a seat in House of Lords.
Lord Stanley, afterwards Lord Derby and Prime
Minister, however, sent him to Jamaica in 1842 as
Governor, and there he remained until 1846 amid
most chequered and difficult local events. Upon
his return he found the Liberals in office and Earl
Grey Colonial Secretary. The latter first tried
to induce him to re-assume his position in Jam-
aica, but failing in that offered him the Governor-
Generalship of Canada. This was accepted, and
early in 1847 he arrived in Montreal with his
newly-married wife — a daughter of the Earl of
Durham who has exercised so important an
influence in Canadian history. During his admin-
istration Lord Elgin had to face the Rebellion
Losses Bill and the difficulties of the Corn Law
abrogation period, besides attempting the concili-
ation of parties amid an unusually stormy condi-
tion of affairs. In the end he was greatly success-
ful, and when he left Canada in 1854 had soothed
local asperities, established constitutional and
responsible government, obtained the Reciprocity
Treaty, helped Provincial development, and made
himself the most popular personality within Brit-
ish American boundaries. Upon his arrival in
England he was called to the House of Lords and
offered a position in the Cabinet, which, however,
he declined. In 1857 he was sent to Pekin at
'«, >f.
h,i
344
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.-I^DIA.
the head of a Special Embassy, and there con-
cluded the Treaty of Tientsin. At the same time
he made an important treaty with Japan, and
returned to England in 1858. In the following
year he became Postmaster-General, but in i860
was again in China completing his work and
placing the commercial relations of the two
countries upon a more permanent and satisfactory
basis. Upon his return he accepted the Vice-
Royalty of India, and arrived at Calcutta on
March 12th, 1862. A fever caught while travel-
ling through the country overcame him, however,
and on the 20th of November, 1863, he passed
away, leaving a name in Canadian history which
ranks with that of Lord Dorchester and above that
of Lord Durham. In comprehensive intellect
and political power neither can, perhaps, be com-
pared with him. He was emphatically the man
of the hour, and to his direct achievements are
added the historic memories of perfect disinterest-
edness of character, charming and genial manners,
eloquent speech and warm affections.
To illustrate the operation of this Treaty it is
e.xpedient to show the extent of the commerce
that existed between the two countries for a few
years prior to its going into effect ; for six years
of its operation prior to the Civil War ; for
six years from the beginning of the war until the
termination of the Treaty ; and for five years after
that termination. The following tables have been
compiled by Mr. J. J. Cassidey, Secretary of the
Canadian Manufacturers' Association, from docu-
ments prepared by the Secretary of the United
States Treasury, and submitted to the United
States Sen.ite during the second session of the
fifty-third Congress, and show the commerce of
the United States with all British North American
Possessions. These tables include Newfoundland,
but the trade with that island was not of sufficient
extent to materially affec*. the question.
Total F2x ports from the
UnilPcl Slates to British
North America.
Total Imports into the
United States from British
North America.
Domestic
products.
Foreign
products.
Free.
Dutiali'e.
1850
• » 7.725-247
» 1, 790, 744
9322,637
»4.856,S63
I85I
. 9.050,357
2.7'9.733
276,648
5 -03.070
■852
6,604511
3,625,608
339.453
5,130,010
'«S3
7,301,327
5.131.270
395.091
6,132,468
1854
15,005,244
9,068,164
495.995
8,288,417
Totals . .
. »4S,686,686
»22,3?5,519
» 1,829,896
829,410,828
It is, therefore, not surprising that the United
States should have been willing to enter into a
reciprocal arrangement which would secure for
that country the maintenance and extension of a
commerce which, in the preceding five years,
had shown a balance in their favour of more than
$36,000,000. Their exports of domestic products
to Canada e.xceeded the whole of their imports by
$14,400,000 ; in addition to which they obtained
the profits of the transportation of more than
$22,000,000 worth of foreign merchandise shipped
through that country to Canada.
The following table shows the commerce be-
tween the United States and Canada from the
beginning of the operation of the Reciprocity
Treaty in 1855 to the beginning of« the war of
secession in 1861 :
Total E)i|x)rtsfrom
Total Imports into
United States to Canada,
United States from Canada.
Domestic,
Foreign,
Free,
Dutiable.
1855..
. . . »I5,746,642
9
11,995,166
» 8,0X5,678
97,032,611
1856..
. . . . 22,710,697
6,314,652
20,454,890
821,724
1S57 .
. ... 19,820,113
4.318.369
21,281,172
827.774
185S .
10,591,758
4,012,768
15,293,104
491.73*
1859,.
.... 21,724,947
6.384.S47
18,553.850
732.71s
i860,.
18,657,029
4,038,,S()9
22,902,386
670,410
Totals . 9109,251, ii;6 937,064,401 9106,571,080910,576,966
The above table is made to cover a term of years
closing with i860, because in the following year
the war of secession broke out and soon produced
exceptional results. The source from which the
foregoing facts are obtained furnishes no inform-
ation as to what proportion of the exports to and
from Canada consisted merely of merchandise
passing through one country from the other for
export to Europe ; neither do the exports to Can-
ada show the true value of the exports from the
United States, because not until 1893 were
United States exporters required to report to
Customs officers there the quantities and values of
that part of their exports which were shipped into
Canada by rail or other land conveyance.
On the face of^the figures, however, it appears
that in these six years the small population in
Canada imported from the large population of the
United States $29,167,541 worth of merchandise
more than they exported to that country. The
total imports from Canada amounted to nearly
the same value as the domestic exports to Can-
ada, but the United States supplied Canada with
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
345
{ '
foreign merchandise in addition to the domestic
to the vakie of $37,064,401.
The following table shows the commerce be-
tween the United States and Canada from the
commencement of the war of secession in 1861
to the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty in
1866:
T01AI, KXPORIS FROM TOTAL IMPORTS INTO
UNITED STATES TO CANADA. UNITRD S lATKS FROM CANADA.
Domestic. Foreign. Free. Dutiable.
918,814,615 8 3,861,898 922,204078
18,185,224 2,387,846
24,967,894 2,651,920
24,188,147 2,386,477
27.045,024 1,784,378
22,380,652 2,448,228
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
1865.
1866.
Totals.
17,981,767
16,503.59'
27.946.755
31,962,960
43,029,389
» 520,411
529.258
981,195
1,661,981
1.301.443
5,499.239
••'35.58'. 556 915,520,747 $159,628,540 910,493527
The following table shows the commerce be-
tween the two countries for the five years suc-
ceeding the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty
in 1866:
TOTAL EXPORTS FROM
UNITED STATES TO CANADA.
TOTAL IMPORTS INTO
UNITED STA1F.S FROM CANADA.
Domestic.
Foieign.
Free.
Outialile.
1867..
.. » 17.295.837
9 3.724.465
91,890,718
?23, 153,287
1868..
21,419,222
2.661,55s
1,762,840
24.498,539
1869..
. . 20,085,805
3,295,666
3,011,630
26,282,136
1870..
21,060,369
4,278,885
2,669,901
33.595427
1871..
.. 27,564,344
4.711.832
2,7*1.254
29,760,883
Totals.
..9107,425,577
918,672,403
912,116.343
9137,290,272
Not the least important result of the abolition
of the Corn Laws was the immediate attention
which it caused to the possibilities of American
reciprocity. The Hon. William Hamilton Mer-
ritt, to whom Canada owes the Welland and other
canals principally, brought the matter forward
and carried the following resolution in the Can-
adian Legislature on May 4th, 1846 :
" Resolved, that an humble Address be pre-
sented to Her Majesty, praying that she may be
pleased to open a negotiation with the Govern-
ment of the United States for the purpose of
obtaining access for the products of Canada into
the markets of that country on the same terms
that American products may be admitted into the
markets of Britain and Canada."
This early effort at Reciprocity was welcomed
in England, and shortly afterwards the following
reply was received, dated Downing Street, June
3rd, 1846, from Mr. Gladstone, then Secretary of
State for the Colonies :
" With respect to that portion of the Address
whicii prays Her Majesty's Government to invite
the Government of the United States to establish
an equality of trade between the domains of the
Republic and the iiritish North American Colon-
ie§, I am commanded to instruct your Lordship
the Governor of Canada to assure your Assembly
that Her Majesty will readily cause directions to
be given to the Minister in Washington to avail
himself of the earliest opportunity to press this
important subject on the notice of that Govern-
ment, and that it will afford Her Majesty the most
sincere satisfaction if any conimunication which
may hereafter be held for this purpose shall have
the effect which is desired by her faithful Com-
mons of Canada."
The situation which prevailed at the time the
Treaty was under negotiation was well described
in the House of Lords on the 27th of June, 1854,
by Lord Clarendon, then Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs :
" It appeared to Her Majesty's Government
that the return of Lord Elgin to Canada afforded
an opportunity which ought not to be neglected
of endeavouring to settle those numerous ques-
tions which for years past have been embarrasing
the two Governments. One of those questions
especially, that relating to the fisheries, has given
rise to annually increasing causes of contention,
and has sometimes threatened collisions, which, I
believe, have only been averted for the last two
years by the firmness and moderation of Sir
George Seymour and of the British and American
Naval commanders, and by that spirit of friend-
ship and forbearance which has always character-
ized the officers of both navies. But, my Lords,
your Lordships are aware that there are other
questions which have given rise to embarrassing
discussions between the Governments of the two
countries — questions which involve the commer-
cial relations of our North America Possessions
with the United States, and that those questions,
which involve very divergent interests, have
become so complicated as to render their solution
a matter of extreme difficulty. ... I trust,
therefore, that nothing will occur to mar the com-
pletion of this great work, which, I firmly believe,
•-./.■■ ; ■.
I'
34''
CANADA: AN ENCYCl,OP/l<:i)IA.
n::.m
Wi ■■■:
!fl
more than any other event of recent times, will
contribute to remove all differences between two
countries whose similarity of language and affinity
of race, whose enterprise and industry, ought to
unite them in the bonds of cordial friomlship, and
to perpetuate feelings of mutual conhdence and
good-will,"
In the discussion which followed all the
speakers agreed as to the vast importance of a
treaty arrangement, and Lord Derby, the loader
of the Conservative Opposition, took the oppor-
tunity of insisting that Her Majesty's Govern-
ment should keep such treaty negotiations affect-
ing the whole Empire in their own hands, and not
permit them to be deiiendent upon the will or
consent of the Colonial authorities. He declared
that : " He was afraid that if we had to consult
the Colonies, with respect to a treaty with a
foreign country, the effect would be that in such
questions the Colonies would be independent."
The Report of the Hon. Israel T. Hateh, so
often referred to in connection with the American
contentions regarding the Treaty of 1854, was
dated March 28th, i860, and thus summarizes
his opinions :
" The natural adaptation of the United States
and Canada to give and receive reciprocal bene-
fits easily and without humiliation, conferred by
neighbours on each other, is well known, but the
explicit and earnest appeals of Canada for an
honourable and mutually beneficial reciprocity
a e now no longer uttered. With an increase of
wealth and importance, the liberality of her
spirit and of her promises has ceased ; and
deeming herself secure in our forebearance,
Canada has adopted, by her recent legisla-
tion, a policy intended to exclude us from
all the geographical benefits of our position,
while she hopes to use all their advantages for
her benefit. Each concession has been used as a
vantage ground for further encroachment. She
has reversed the natural laws of trade, and
prevents her merchants and agriculturists from
buying in the same market where they sell. The
revenue formerly collected on our northern fron-
tier has been annihilated. She has increased her
own revenue by a tax on American industry. The
advantageous trade formerly carried on with
Canada by the cities and villages of our northern
frontier has been destroyed. Our farmers and
lumbermen encounter the competition of new and
productive territories.
It having been foimd that our shippers, sailors
and merchants in the Atlantic cities were trans-
acting a mutually profitable business with Can-
adians, the grasping spirit of their legislation
endeavoured to secure all the benefits of this
traffic, and attacked our interests with discrimin-
ating duties. Our railroads suffer from a British
competitorv supported by privileges equivalent to
taxation on their business with the Canadian
Province and the interior of our own country.
Our manufacturers, instead of exporting to Can-
ada, are checked by imposts intended soon to
prohibit the entrance of their productions into
the Province. The wool and raw materials of
Canada are admitted duty free into our markets,
but fabrics made from them are excluded from
Canada, contrary to the explicit assurance of the
British Minister, on behalf of the Canadian Gov-
ernment, that it would be ' willing to carry the
principle of reciprocity still further.' Hith-
erto the vaunted advantages from navigation
through the St. Lawrence have been scarcely
worthy of any serious consideration. The prof-
fered hand of commercial friendship, accepted
for a time by Canada with far more advantage to
Canadians than to ourselves, is now rejected. In
this exclusive and unnatural system, Canadians
yet depend upon our market for the sale of their
productions, upon the immense traffic of our
States for their carrying trade, and upon our ter-
ritory for the means of transit to the ocean. For
their participation in the traffic of our States,
which is the object of their unscrupulously ag-
gressive tariffs, they depend upon the continued
liberality of our revenue regulations, made under
laws giving great discretionary powers, intended
to be used in facilitating our commerce in-
stead of advancing the commerce of a foreign
country." ♦
The following: historical sketch of the trade
relations between Great Britain, Canada and the
United States from an American standpoint was
published in 1865, as part of the report of a Special
Committee of the Boston Board of Trade.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi^DIA.
347
•ade
the
was
ecial
:ade.
It was adopted by the Board on January 2nd in
that year :
" At the dismemberment of the British Empire
in 178.5, it was proposed to allow the United
States to participate in the trade of the remaining
Colonies in this hemispliere, on terms of equality
with England herself; but the English merchants
who enjoyed that trade in monopoly were alarmed,
and defeated the measure. Two years after, Mr.
Adams, our first Minister at the Court of St.
James, was instructed to renew the proposition ;
and was curtly answered that it could not be
entertained even as a subject of negotiation. A
third effort was made in 1789, with no better suc-
cess.
A quarter of a century elapsed without a change
of policy, or, as far as we know, without serious
effort on our part to obtain concessions, liut, in
1815, by an Act of Congress we relaxed our
policy of discrimination in favour of our own flag
to such nations as should reciprocate ; and the
terms proposed were adopted in the commercial
treaty concluded with Great Britain the same
year, which, after repeated renewals, is still in
force, and this was the beginning of ' Reciprocity. '
Our Government wished to place the Colonial
trade on the same footing, but the overture was
declined. Yet intercourse was permitted between
the United States and the Colonies, by British
legislation and by Orders-in-Council. Subse-
quent efforts to adjust the question by negotiation
failed, and, in 1817, an Act of Congress restricted
importations in foreign vessels to articles of the
growth, produce or manufactures of the country
to which such vessels belonged. The measure
was retaliatory.
In the year 1817, also, Lord Castlereagh pro-
posed to our Minister in London to allow our
vessels of one deck a limited trade with a portion
of the Colonies, under the 'Free Port' arrange-
ment. Our Government not only refused to accept
the proposition, but retaliated a second time, and
more severely than at first. A few years later,
so hostile had become the relations between the
two countries, that the ports of the United States
were entirely closed against the British Colonies
and West Indies; and, lest British vessels coming
to these ports under the Reciprocity Treaty of
1815 should evade our laws, bonds were exacted
at their departure, obligatory not to land merchan-
dise in either of these interdicted Possessions.
To countervail, an order of the King-in-('ouncil
followed, and non-intercourse on both sides was
established. But the gypsum and grindstone
of Nova Scotia were much needed, and the officers
of the Customs on the north-eastern frontier
allowed American vessels to clear for St. Aiulrcw,
and to receive these articles on the lines or in the
harbours of Eastport and Lubec.
In 1824, an Act of Congress declared the sus-
pension of all discriminating duties to the several
European nations and their Possessions which
had reciprocated the provisions of the Act of
18 15, and gave the President authority to extend
the exemption to such other Powers as should,
thereafter, meet the United States on terms of
equality ; but tlie British Government refused to
accede to stipulations suggested by Mr. Rush,
our Minister at the Court of St. James, and
negotiations were again interrupted. On the 5th
of July, 1825, however. Parliament passccj an
Act, under which hope was entertained that an
end had come to the policy of which we speak,
and to allow free intercourse with the Colonies ;
and an unsuccessful attempt was made in Con-
gress, soon after, to meet its provisions with cor-
responding legislation. The result was another
order of His Majesty-in-Council, declaring the
cessation of trade between tlie United States
and the greater part of ths Colonial ports, on a
a certain specified day. At this juncture, Mr.
Gallatin, who had succeeded Mr. Rush, was in-
structed to accept, by treaty, the same terms,
substantially, as were offered by the last-named
gentleman, in 1824 ; but the determination of the
British Government to decline all further en-
deavours to conclude a Convention was promptly
and definitely announced.
Meantime, the question of the Colonial trade
ha<l become political, and the debates in Con-
gress were long and acrimonious; while the
newspapers and the people blamed or praised
President Adams and his advisers, according to
their party proclivities. In the winter of 1827,
the President submitted the whole subject to
Congress; and, after much discussion, a Bill to
countervail the last Order-in-Council, failed ; but
after the session had closed, the President issued
• V
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
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a proclamation which accomplished the object
designed by those who supported his administra-
tion. The King, in still another Order-in-
Councii, recited the nations that had met the
provisions of the Act of July 5th, 18J5, and ex-
cluded from its benefits such as had refused, and
among them, of course, was our own country,
Mr. Gallatin, who was still in London, however,
renewed his efforts to place the Colonial trade on
a satisfactory footing by legislation rather than
by treaty, in a despatch to Lord Dudley. His
Lordship did not even reply. So, subsequently,
when our Minister addressed Mr. Canning, the
curt answer was surprise that any doubt could
exist as to the final determination of the British
Government on the subject.
After the decease of Mr. Canning, Mr. Gallatin,
in a communication to Lord Dudley, asked
whether, if Congress complied with the recom-
mendations which the President was prepared to
make, the United States would be permitted to
avail themselves of the Act of July 5th, 1825 ;
and, in a conference with Mr. Huskisson, our
Minister was evasively answered on this point,
and told, moreover, that Great Britain considered
the trade with her colonies as exclusively under
her own control, and that whatever terms might
be granted to foreigners was a concession. Thus,
then, after twelve years of negotiation, nothing
whatever had been accomplished, save, indeed,
the official declaration just recorded, that any
relaxation of the principles of the original 'Navi-
gation Act' of England, as related to her Colonies,
was deemed to be a mere ' boon.' And yet, during
these twelve years, the diplomats of both Govern-
ments had almost always conceded that the in-
terests of all parties would be promoted by
' Reciprocity.' Thus stood the controversy at
the beginning of the administration of President
Jackson ; for Mr. Barbour, Minister at the Court
of St, James, in January, 1829, advised Mr.
Van Buren, Secretary of State, that he was in-
duced to believe that no change of policy in
favour of the United States was meditated by
His Majesty's advisers. Such, in truth, was the
genera! opinion ; but a change soon 6ccurred.
Mr. McLane, who succeeded Mr. Barbour in
i8jo,made an 'arrangement' — known by his name
— which took effect in October of that year, and
which was undisturbed until 1854, when the ex-
isting Reciprocity Treaty was concluded.
In the place of barred and boiled ports, the
people of the United States and of the Colonies
now, and under the Reciprocity Treaty, deal with
one another at will, exchange without Customs
even the wealth of seas and the principal raw
staples of the soil ; mingle, as if of the same
nation, on all the fishing-grounds ; and, as if of
the same nation, too, use the St. Lawrence and
the canals which connect it with the most distant
of the great lakes and with the ocean. True, in
this happy condition of things there are some
grave evils to lament and to correct ; yet we are
still to rejoice that the inhuman restrictions
which existed for nearly half a century have been
removed. And now, are the misunderstandings
of the moment to be cherished, and to terminate,
at last, in utter alienation and hatred ? Is retal-
iatory legislation to be revived — to be revived on
both sides ? "
The Legfislature of New York State passed the
following concurrent resolutions regarding the
Treaty early in 1862 :
" Whereas, under the Treaty made by the
United States with Great Britain, on behalf of
the British North American Colonies, for the
purpose of extending reciprocal commerce, nearly
all the articles which Canada has to sell are
admitted into the United States free of duty,
while heavy duties are now imposed upon many
of those articles which the United States have to
sell, with the intention of excluding the United
States from the Canadian markets, as avowed by
the Minister of Finance and other gentlemen
holding high official positions in Canada; and
similar legislation with the same official avowal
has been adopted by the imposition of discrimin-
ating tolls and duties in favour of an isolating
and exclusive policy against our merchants and
forwarders, meant and intending to destroy the
natural effects df the Treaty, and contrary to its
spirit ; and whereas we believe that free commer-
cial intercourse between the United States and
the British North American Provinces and Pos-
sessions, developing the natural, geographical
and other advantages of each for the good of all,
is conducive to the interests of each, and is the
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPiflDIA.
349
only proper b.isi9 of our intercourse for all time
to come ; and whereas the I'rt-sident of the
United States, in the first session of the thirty-
cixth Congress, caused to be submitted to the
House of Representatives an official Report, set-
ting furih the (jross inequality and mjustice exist-
ing in our present intercourse with Canada,
subversive of the true intent of the Treaty, owing
to the subsequent legislation of Canada ; and
whereas the first effects of a system of retaliation
or reprisal .would injure that portion of Canada
known as the Upper Provinces, whose people have
ne\er failed in their efforts to secure a permanent
and just policy for their own country and our-
selves, in accordance with the desire ofBcially
expressed by Lord Napier when British Minister
at Washington, for the 'confirmation and expan-
sion of free commercial relations between the
United States and the British Provinces.' There-
fore : —
Resolved, that the Senators and Representa-
tives in Congress for the State of New York are
requested to take such steps, either by the
appointment of Commissioners to confer with
persons properly appointed on behalf of Canada,
or by such other means a^ may seem most ex-
pedient, to protect the interests of the United
States from the said unequal and unjust system
of commerce now existing, and to regulate the
commerce and navigation between ' Her Majesty's
Possessions in North America and the United
States, in such a manner as to render the same
reciprocally benefical and satisfactory,' as was
intended and expressed by the Treaty. And,
resolved. That the foregoing preamble and resolu-
tions be transmitted to our Senators and Rep-
resentatives in Congress, with a request that they
be presented to both Houses thereof."
The importance of the Canadian traffic to the
United States, under the Reciprocity Treaty, can be
best seen by its comparison with the transactions
which the Republic had with other foreign coun-
tries during the same years — given in the State-
ment made by Sir E. Thornton and Hon. George
Brown in 1874. The total exports of the United
States from 1854 to 1866 (both years inclusive)
amounted to upwards of four thousand millions
of dollars. Of this large total —
The British Empire received. .$2,7^,074,538
l-'rance and her possessions " . . 45.J.<.)<j.l.<)'j6
Spain and her possessions " .. jOs.Hjj.jji
The German Empire " . . 207,308,647
$3,6<j7, 110,40a
And all the rest of the world took the balance.
Of the above exports Canada's share was
$346,180,264 — an amount ecjual to the aggregate
exports taken from the United States in the same
years by China, Brazil, Italy, Hayti, Russia and
her possessions, Venezuela, Austria, the Argentine
liepublic, Denmark and her possessions, Turkey,
Portugal and her possessions, the Sandwich
Islands, the Central .American States and Japan,
all put together. In marked contrast to this,
however, the United States imported from these
countries, in the same years, to the amount of
$538,523,386, leaving a cash balance to be paid to
them by the Republic of $192,109,610, while
Canada paid over to the States a cash balance of
of $95,575,957. '" Bo'tJ-
The Reply of Mr. A. T. Gait, Canadian Minister
of Finance, to the charges of infractions of the
Treaty made by a Committee of the American
Congress was a strong and able document, dated
March 17th, 1862 — Sessional Papers No. 23,
Volume v., 1862. The following extracts are
the most important :
" So far from pursuing a policy of isolation,
Canada has certainly, during the tenure of office
by the undersigned, followed one of the most
commercial liberality. With the single exception
of an increase of duty on certain goods from 15
to 20 per cent., rendered absolutely necessary by
the absence of all other available sources of rev-
enue, no act of Canada can be cited which is •
not in the direction of developing commerce. It
may be sufficient to instance the perfect freedom
of the St. Lawrence from the great lakes to the
ocean ; the absence of light-house dues ; the re-
peal of tonnage dues on Lake St. Peter ; the abo-
lition of tolls on all vessels, whether American or
Canadian ; the opening of extensive districts,
east and west, free from all Customs dues what-
ever ; the encouragement of trade with France
and the Mediterranean by a marked reduction of
previously high duties on wine, dried fruits, etc.
. •'■,',
35°
CANADA : AN EN'CYCLOr/EDIA.
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Tonnage of Vessels ;
Inwnnls, Outwanls.
The policy of the undersigned has been not by
legislation to endeavour to force trade as has
been done in the United States, but to in-
vite it by tlie removal of all artificial bn-riers,
and to seek in the increasing business attracted
to Canada a compensation for the sacrifice made.
He has believed th,it the various petty bu.dens
placed at different points of the St. Lawrence in
the shape of dues, tolls, etc., amounted to a
serious barrier to trade, and he has sought by
their removal to make the St. Lawrence the
favourite, as it is the natural, outlet for the vast
regions around the great lakes. That this policy
has been thus far attended by a certain measure
of success is showi? by the following table, show-
ing the tonnage and business of the St, Lawrence
for the three years t857-8-(), prior to the aboli-
tion of the tolls, and ior 1860-1 :
Statement of the value of exports and imports
via the St. Lawrence vith the tonnage of vessels,
inwards and outwards, during the years 1857 to
1861, inclusive :
Viiliie of Value of
Exports lni|K)rls.
1857.... 13,756.7^7 I4.5<)I.S»4
1858.... 9.7^7.41.5 10,795.077
1859 8,821, ()().! I1,5t),uu8
i860 14,037,403 I3.54S,6()5
1861.... 72,524,735 17,249,055
Statement showing the total value of the under-
mentioned articles exported by Canada to all
countries and to the United S.'-tes during,' the
years 1859, i860, 1861 :
1859.
TiMl United
Amount. States.
Whea' , flour and corn..$ 4,342,201 $3,584,031
Other agricult"! products. 2,997.507 i'/k)4,320
Timber and lumber 8,556,691 3,301,819
'Animals 2,014,833 2,014,203
All other ar'icle.^ 5,191,036 2,327,941
Total $23,102,378 $13,922,314
i860.
Total United
Amount. States.
Wheat, flour and corn .. $ 9.564,484 -6,483,994
Other agricult'l products, j ' /4,74i 3.5-9-^"5
Timber and lumber 10,051,147 3,846,611
A'limals 2,048,005 2,047,745
All other articles 6,063,083 2,519,813
Total $32,361,460 $18,427,968
1861.
Total
Amount.
74«.425
613.813
641.O62
831,434
1,087, 1 -iS
731.367
652,046
640,571
821,791
1,059.^67
Wheat, flour and corn. ..$14,560,111
Other agricult'l products. 3.684,520
Timber and Lumber 8,693,638
Animals i. 397-034
All other articles 6,381,945
United
States.
$6,56(.582
2,065,870
i..?<)6,994.
2,219,427
Total .$34,717,248 $14,386,427
The Committee,, however, charge upon Canada
breaches of the spirit an<l intention of the Treaty,
by an iuerease of duties on manufactured articles ;
by a change in the mode of levying the said
duties ; and by the abolition of tolls on the St.
i^awrence canals and river. The undersigned
proposes to show, by a careful review of the Re-
port of the Committee, that these allegations are
wholly without foundation, as affording any
ground of complaint by the United States. It
may, perhaps, be as well here, however, to dis-
pose ai once of any question arising upon the
right of Canada to impose such dutie;^ as she may
please on ii.anufactured goods. The spirit and
intent of any treaty can only refer either to the
i. ode of dealing with subjects in it, or necessarily
aP'icted through it. The Treaty contains no
reference to manufactured articles whatever, but
is expressly limitc'l to articles the growth and
produce of the respiective countries. It is, there-
fore, an assumptinn for which no ground exists,
to .^llege ihat c 'her its spirit or intent cotild
I' .sibly be affected by the pol'cy of either coun-
try as regards .in} unenumerated article.
The spirit of the Treaty was, however, in-
fringed by the United States by the imposition
of heavy consular fees on proof of origin, which
htis became tantamount to a duty, and which
were, therefore, after nearly two years of negotia-
tion, finally removed by Act of Congress. In
proof that the United States never conte.nplated
any latitude being given to the express words of
the Treaty, it may be here stated that under the
article of timbef and lumber, they have subjected
to duty all planks and boards which are either in
whole or in part planed, or tongued and grooved,
giving the most restricted sense tothe words used —
'unn'anufactured, in whole or in part.' In further
evidence of the views taken by that Government
of the 'spirit and intent' of t'^e Treaty, it may be
■
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CANADA; AN ENCYCLOIMIDLV
351
stated that they subject to duty flour ground in
Canada from American wheat, ahhoup;h Cana-
dian flour is free. So also is hmiber made in
Canada out of American saw-logs, subject to
duty in the United States. In these cases,
especially in the two latter, it may well be ques-
tioned whether their decision is in conformity
with the spirit of the Treaty, or even its letter ; it
certainly does not harmonize with the allegntion
that there was a tacit understanding that the
Treat) went beyond its letter.
On pages 6 and 7 of the Report, the most lib-
eral sentiments are quoted from eminent states-
men of the United States, advocating ' fair reci-
procity and equal competition ' with the British
Provinces. But the undersigned regrets to be
conqjciled to observe that these liberal sentiments
have not governed the policy of the United
States. Canada admits the registration of foreign
vessels without charge ; the United States do not.
Canada has for years tried to have the great
lakes made free to vessels of both countries for
coasting purposes, but without success. Canada
allows American crafts to pass through her wiioK;
system of canals to the ocean, free of toll or
charge of any description ; but no Canadian
boat is allowed, even on payment of toll, to ^nter
an American canal. Even the express stipulation
in Article IV. of the Reciprocity Treaty, that ' the
Government of the United States further engages
to urge upon the State Governments to secure to
the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty the use of
the several State canals on terms of ecjuality with
the inhabitants of the United States,' has thus
far remained a dead letter ; and this Government
is not even informed that the promised effort has
been made. Foreign goods are constantly bought
in the American markets, and brought into Can-
ada, paying duty only on the original foreign m-
voice ; but the American Customs Laws prevent
any similar purchases being made in Canada.
Taking the article of tea, it has been always
subjected to a duty of 20 per cent, wlien im-
ported from Canada, though free if in ated at
the seaboard. Goods made in Canada have been
invariably charged the high tariff duties of the
United States, while similar articles have, until
very recently 1 en admitted from thence into
Canada at L* J- les, which, under the existing
Canadian tariff, are very greatly lower than the
rates charged even before the imposition of the
Morill tariff."
In connection with tlie proposed and hoped-
for renewal of the Treaty, Sir Edward W. Watkin
states in his Memoirs that on May ajrd, 1S64,
he put a question to the Imperial Government
in Parliament, which was replied to by Mr. (after-
wards Sir A. H.) Layard, then Under-Secretary
for Foreign Affairs, to the effect that nothing
was being done. On I'ebruary 17th, 18(15, a
similar response was given to another inquiry.
Sir Edward then describes the events which
preceded the eventual abrogation of the Treaty :
" In 1861 the Chamber of Commerce of New
York inoveil Congress on the whole subject.
Their object was the extension of the area (to
include British Columbia) and purposes of the
Treaty; in no sense its termination. Congress
hereupon referred the matter to the ' Committee
on Commerce,' Mr. Ward being chairman. That
Committee reported in February, i8()2, in a most
able document, usually known as Mr. Ward's
Report. This Report also recommended a more
extended area, and more extended purposes; but
in no sense the abrogation of the Treaty.
In March, 1864, Mr. Ward proposed a resolu-
tion in Congress for the appointment of Commis-
sioners to negotiate an extended and improved
Treaty with Great liritain. That resolution was
laid over by ("oiigress till December, 1864. In the
summer and autumn of 1864, a coriesponder.ee
sprang up betueon Earl Russell, Mr. Seward, Mr.
Adams and others, in reference to the dangers of
the invasion of the territory of the United States
by Confederate agents asylumed in Canada. . . .
The ' Alabama " correspondence was also going
on, and a new Congress had to sit in 18G5. Was
it then surprising that on the 17th of March, 1865,
notice to put an end to the Treaty was given ?
But in July, 1865, a Convention, already alhidcd
to, composed of delegates from New York, Pliila-
del|<hia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Boston,
Portland, and in fact from almost every important
town and district of the States north of Washing-
ton, assembled at Detroit to consider the expiry
of the Treaty and the question of its renewal.
After long and earnest deliberations, they
352
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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unanimously approved the notice given, and
as unanimously passed the following resolution
for transmission to the Government of the
United T-tates :
' That the Convention do respectfully request
the President of the United States to enter into
negotiations with the Government of Great Britain,
having in view the execution of a Treaty between
the two countries for reciprocity and commercial
intercourse between the United States and the
several Provinces of British North America, in-
cluding British Columbia, the Selkirk Settlement
and Vancouver's Island, upon. principles which
should be just and equitable to all parties, and
which also shall include the free navigation of the
St. Lawrence and other rivers of British North
America, with such improvement of the rivers and
enlargement of the canals, as shall render them
adequate for the requirements of the west com-
municatinjj with the ocean.'
At the time of passing this resolution a ' Revenue
Commission ' was sitting, and its members
recommended the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr.
McCulloch, to have a special report upon the
Treaty and its renewal. The task was thereupon
committed to Mr. E. H. Derby, of Boston. The
Commission also includes this subject in their
report. Their Report (dated January, 1866) says :
' In accordance with the resolutions of Con-
gress and the notification of the Executive, the
commercial arrangement known as the Reciproc-
ity Treaty, under which the trade and commerce
between the United States and the British Prov-
inces of North America have been carried on
since 185^, expires on the 17th day of March,
1866. The cg; siderp'- ' of the effect which the
termination of th'S imp. it .it commercial arrange-
ment is likely to have upon the revenue, as well as
upon the trade and commerce of the United
States, has legitimately formed a part of tiie
duties devolving upon the Commission ; and has
also been especially commended to their attention
by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Com-
mission do not, however, propose to present in
this connection any review of the history of the
Treaty, or of tha circumstances which have ren-
dered its termination expedient. This work has
already been pc'-'"orn7ed, under the auspice= of the
Treasury ')f,panment, by E. H. Derby, Esq., of
Boston, '.o whose able and exhaustive Report the
Commission v»'ould refer, w'thout, however, en-
dorsing its conclusions. There are, however,
certain points connected with this subject to
which the Commission would ask special atten>
tion.
The first of these is, that during the contin-
uance of the Reciprocity Treaty the trade and
commerce between the United States and the
British North American Provinces has increased
in ten years more than threefold, or from seven-
teen millions in 1862 to sixty-eight millions in
1864; so that at present, with the exception of
Great Britain, the commercial relations between
the United States and the British North Ameri-
can Provinces out-rank in importance and aggre-
gate annual value those existing between this
country and any other foreign State. The value
of the import and export trade of the United
States with the following countries for the year
ending June 30th, 1864, was, according to the
Treasury Report, as follows (in round numbers) :
Great Britai.i $317,000,000
British North America .... 68,000,000
Spanish West Indies 57,000,000
France 29,000,000
Hamburg and Bremen .... 29,000,000
Mexico 20,000,000
Brazil 19,000,000
China 19,000,000
British West Indies 12,000,000
It may also, they think, be fairly nssumc' that,
taking into consideration the growth of the two
countries in population and wealth (that of Can-
ada for the last ten years having preserved a
nearly equal ratio in this respect with that of the
United States), the trade as at present existing
is really but in its infancy, and that the future
may be expected to develop an increase equally
as great as that of the past. 'A ch-ange in the
conditions under which a reciprocal commerce of
such magnitude i"^ carried on, and is now devel-
oping, ought not, iherefori, to be nn-^e without
the most serious consideration. A, regards the
present Treaty, tlje Commission, as the result of
their investigations, h;ive been led to the con-
clusion that its continuance, under existing cir-
cumstances, uniesr. accompanied with certain
important modifications, is not desirable on the
part of the United States.
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA,
353
They, however, are also unanimous in the
opinion, that, in view of the close geographical
connection of the United States with the British
Provinces — rendering them in many respects but
one country — and of the magnitude of the com-
mercial relations existing between them, it would
be impolitic and to the detriment of the inter-
ests of the United States to decline the consider-
ation of all propositions looking to the re-estab-
lishment of some future and satisfactory interna-
tional commercial arrangement. Such a course
would be in entire opposition to the spirit of the
age, the liberality of our people, and the policy of
rapidly developing our resources as a means of
aiminishing the burden of our public debt.
In view of such an arrangement, the question
of whether either of the parties to the Treaty
has, or has not, conformed to the spirit of it«
stipulations, is of little importance. It is the
future, not the past, that we are to consider ; and
if advantageons terms of the future are offered —
terms which are calculated to promote the devel-
opment of the trade and commerce of the United
States, encourage good feelings and prevent diffi-
culties with our neighbours, and at the same time
protect the revenues of the country from serious
anJ increasing frauds — it would be, in the opinion
of the Commission, most impolitic to disregard
them.
The offer on the part of the Provincial author-
ities to re-negotiate in respect to the commercial
relations of the two countries, is in itself an e.\-
pression of desire to make an arrangement that
must be in every respect reciprocal ; inasmuch as
it is evident that no treaty can, for any length of
time, continue that does not conduce to the ben-
efit of both parties. It is evident that the neces-
sities of the United States will for many years
require the imposition of high rates of taxation
on many articles, and that with the production
of such articles free, or assessed at low rates of
duty, in the British Provinces, the enforcement
of the excise laws on thf; borders will be a matter
of no little difficulty, annoyance and expense ;
and under all ordinary conditions a large annual
loss to the revenue tiuist inevitably occur. The
experience of all the nations of Europe has shown
that to attempt to wholly prevent sinii<„'gling
under the encouragement of high rates of duty
is an utter impossibility. If, however, such an
' arrangement can be made with the British Prov-
inces as will ensure a nearly or quite complete
equalization of duties — excise and customs — it
must be apparent that all evasions of the revenu'
by smugglers would instantly come to an end ,
and that the attainment of the above result would
be of immense advantage to the United States in
. evenue point of view.
Again, it is also urged that under the existing
system the products of American industry sub-
ject to high rates of excise, are injuriously brought
into competition with similar products of Pro-
vincial industry which are subject to little or no
excise, and then admitted into the United States
free of duty. That such is a fact cannot be
denied ; and is itself a reason why the abrogation
or modification of the present Reciprocity Treaty
has became imperative. But if it were possible
to effect such an arrangement with the British
Provinces as would allow the imposition of duties
equivalent to the American excise on all articles
of Provincial production passing into the United
States, it seems clear that the aforementioned
objection would be entirely removed.
As the whole subject, however, is now before "
Congress for consideration, the Commission do '
not consider it as within their province to submit
any specific recommendations ; but would con-
tent themselves v^ith merely pointing out that,
under certain circumstances, conditions of great
advantage to the United States, in a revenue
point of view, might be secured."
" Mr. Derby's Report contains much that
is sensational," continues Sir E. W. Watkin,
"and many curious admissions, but its general
tenor was strongly in favour of a new treaty,
regard being had to the revenue necessities of
the United States; i.e., that articles admitted
into the United States from Canada should
pay a duty equivalent to the internal revenue
tax on the same articles charged in the States.
This is just as if Great Britain said that brand)-
from France coming into England should pay
a duty equivalent to the English excise duty
upon spirits, which would be quite fair. The
next fact in the history is that delegates from
Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are
found at Washington on the 24th January, 1866,
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
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H
and that thev remain tliere till the 6th Fnoruary,
on wliich day they report that after many days'
discussion they have failed to do anyihinj,', and
tliat the Reciprocity Treat\- is finally at an end.
Our Government having done nothing, the Pro-
vinces, it would appear, had, at the last moment,
to send 'delegates' themselves to negotiate; a
mode of precedure altogether very unlike the
action of 1854."
It must not be forgotten, in this connection,
that in iSsy, when American complaints were
first made representing the Legislature of Canada
as adverse to the Treaty, and as unfair to the
United States in its tariff arrangements, Lord
Napier, then British Minister at Washington,
submitted proposals for the " confir. nation and
expansion of free commercial relations between
the United States and the British Provinces."
These were refused.
The Report of the Select Committee of the
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York,
on the Reciprocity Treaty, dated December .21st,
1864, is an important historical document. In it
the Committee sums up the American situation
in the controversy in a way which proves the
practical accuracy of the Canadian contentions.
The following is the summary :
" I. That our trade with the British Provinces,
even after it was permitted, was formerly con-
ducted under great disadvantages, owing to the
restrictive system adopted by the English Govern-
ment, to tlie discomfort and injury of the people
of tiie United States, as well as of Canada.
2. That by just reprisals on our [lart, and also
by the necessities which arose out of the con-
struction of the intern.d improvements in the
Canadas, the British Government relaxed its
system and opened its ports to our trade, which
thereupon swelled to twenty and one-half millions
of dollars with the Provinces.
3. That on the adoption of the Reciprocity
system, in 1854, it advanced with still more rapid
strides, as the tables clearly demonstrate.
4. That the objections to the Treaty are with-
out any solid basis, or are, or may be, compen-
sated for in various ways.
5. That the additional duties laid on our manu-
factured imports into (Canada are still moderate.
and arc for revenue purposes only ; and that with
our own present high tariff, we are the last persons
who have a right to complain of any similar pro-
cedure, and that, notwithstanding the Provincial
duties, oi'.r mamifacturers find a large outlet in
that direction.
6. That the debenture system, as mainly
effected in 1847 by the untiring exertions of J.
Phillip; Phoenix in Congress, a most able and
worthy member of this Chamber, has been of
immense service to our interior lines of communi-
cation, canals and railways ; and is an essential
aid to the other commerce of the country by sea,
and should not be repealed.
7. That while in some details the Treaty may
be improved, yet there is enough of advantage in
it to have it preserved in its essential points,
with but a few mollifications.
8. That to throw away the existing commerce we
possess under the Treaty, which, in the aggregate
since 1854, amounts to upwarils of $300,000,000,
is to ignore the existence of a great country on
our borders, our commeice with which is more
secure from maritime dangers than any other we
possess ; and to retire from the full use of the great
lakes and rivers emptying into the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, their natural outlet, would be an act
of very doubtful policy, if not positive injury.
9. That whatever smuggling now exists would
be increased by a more restrictive system, which
would require the maintenance of an expensive
naval force.
10. That, as the people of the Canadian Prov-
inces have shown an anxiety to retain their com-
mercial intercourse with this countr\'. as evidenced
by the acts of their agents, their merchants, and
the managers of their great lines of railways,
deriving their largest support from American pro-
duction, and as they are willing to make further
concessions on their part, in return for conces-
sions on ours, it is our policy, as well as our duty,
to meet them in a corresponding spirii..
The Committee cannot, therefore, but recom-
mend the renew»l of the Reciprocity Treaty, with
such just and liberal modifications as may render
it still more advantageous to the parties inter-
ested. The Chamber has, on two former occa-
sions, expressed itself in favour of enlarging it-
stipulations, so that the Provinces may have tl.j
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
355
privilege of registry and the coasting trade, (or
which, perhaps, tiie extension of the free list to
our nianufactines iniglu be returned as an ecjuiva-
lent.
The Committee, therefore, conclude that the
policy hitherto recommended by this Chamber
in relation to this question should be inaintamed,
being founded on sound commercial principles,
and being conducive to the happiness and pros-
perity of the parties interested."
The Detroit Reciprocity Convention, which
met in the principal city of the State of Michi
The Hon. William McMaster.
gan on July nth, 1865, wis a most important
International gathering. Representatives were
[)resent from all the mo;-^ important States of
the Union and from every British Province. The
Hon. Hiram Blanchard, of New York, w.is
I'resident; and amongst the Vicc-I^reside nts were
the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, afterwards Vice-
President of the Republic, and the Hon. Joseph
Howe, Hon. Thomas Kyan and Hon. \Vin....n
McMaster, of British America. Mr. Adam Brown,
of Hamilton, was one of the Secretaries, and the
following were some of the Provincial di 1 jgates :
Hon. Billa Fhnt, lielleville.
" T. N. Gibbs, Cobourg.
" Joseph Howe, Halifa.x.
•' T.D.Archibald,
•' W. J. Stairs,
Isaac Buchanan,
" D. Mclnnes,
" Elijah Leonard,
" J. L. Beaudry,
" L. Kenaud,
" L. H. Holton,
" Thos. Ryan,
Sir Hugh Allan,
1:, H. King,
Charles J. Brydges,
Peter Red path,
Walter Shanly,
Hon. Jaities Ske.nd,
" J. .M, Currier,
" J. G. Cnrrie,
" Charles Fisiior,
" A. E. Botsford,
" W. H. Steeves,
" George Coles,
" I'^red. Breckeii,
" \Vm. McMaster,
•' John McMuriich,
Erastus Wiman, "
Much pressure was brought to bear fror::
Wasliington upon the American Delegates against
any expression of approval for the principles
of the Treat)-, upon the ground that its non-
renewal would help to coerce the Colonies into
annexation. The hnal result was that the Com-
mittee on Reciprocity reported two resolutii ns
to the Convention ; and the first was ini-
medicitely and unanimouslj' adopted as foliows:
" R. solved, that this Conventija do a[)prove of
the action of the Government of the United
States in giving notice to the Government of
Great Britain of Its wish to terminate the Treaty
of Reciprocity of June 6, 185^" The second
Resolution, quoted elsewhere by Sir Edward
Watkin, after prolonged discussion and a famous
speech from the Hon. Joseph Howe of Nova
Scotia, was also adopted substantially as the
Committee reported it, and with entire unanimity.
Hamilton.
London.
Montreal,
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II
II
it
Ottawa.
u
St. Catharinen.
St. John, N.li.
Charlottetown.
Toronto.
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The famous speech delivered by the Hon.
Joseph Howe, at the International Commercial
Convention held in Detroit, is a matter of history.
The following extract gives an important picture
of Canadian and American relations in that and
preceding periods :
"The Reciprocity Treaty was a special arrange-
ment forced upon both countries by a long frontier,
by the proximity of rich fishing grounds,and by the
difficulty of drawing accurate and recognized
boundaries upon the sea. I need not enter upon
the history of this question, which has been most
accurately given by Lorenzo Sabine, Esq., in his
very able report to the Boston Board of Trade.
It is sufficient for us to know that for forty years
the use by American citizens of the inshore fish-
eries upon the coasts of British America was in
controversy between the Governments. That
every year American fishing vessels were seized
or driven off, it being impossible to define accu-
rately a sea line of five thousand miles ; that dis-
putes were endless, tending ultimately to the
employment of naval forces, with evident danger
of hostile collisions and of war.
On the other hand, the Canadians, seeing the
great staples of th" United States freely admitted
into every part of the British Empire, naturally
claimed that their breadstuffs should pass with
equal freedom into the United States, the greater
portion being only in transitu to the Mother Coun-
try. The Maritime Provinces, admitting bread-
stuffs from the United States duty free, and all
their manufactures under low import duties, not
exceeding 10 to i^i^ per cent., naturally claimed
that their own unmanufactured staples should be
admitted free into this country (the United States).
And they fairly claimed that their tonnage should
be entitled to the right of registry in the United
States, and to participate in its coasting
trade.
The Reciprocity Treaty was a compromise of
:iil these claims and interests. For the Provinces
it was an unfair compromise. The right of regis-
try and to trade coastwise was not conceded.
The free interchange of the produce of the soil,
the forest antl the mine was satisfactory. The
right to navigate Lai<c Michigan was perfectly
fair to both countries. But the retention of the
bounties gave to the fishermen of the United States
an unfair advantage, and for the free navigation
of the rivers and canals of British America no
equivalents were given. To the Maritime Pro-
vinces the concession of the inshore fisheries,
with the right to dry and cure fish upon their
coasts, was particularly distasteful. So long as
American fishermen were kept outside of a line
drawn three marine miles from headlands, as
fixed by the Convention of 1818, the mackerel,
herring and alewife fisheries were secure from
intrusion within those limits, and the cod fishery
within the great bays of Newfoundland was a close
preserve, while the protection of the revenue in all
the Provinces gave the Governments but little con-
cern. But the moment that American fishermen
obtained the right to fish in all the bays, harbours
and estuaries of British America, the line of opera-
tions was double in length, and the privilege of
carrying on illicit trade with the inhabitants of the
sea-coast, and of sending goods into the interior
free of duty, gave them facilities extremely difficult
to control. A very large amount of spirits and
manufactures have in this way been introduced
into the Maritime Provinces free of duty, within
the past ten years, that it would not be easy to
trace in the regular trade returns. So distasteful
was tliis great concession, without equivalent, to
the people of the Lower Provinces that it was de-
nounced by some of their ablest public men as an
unrequited sacrifice of their interests.
In this connection it is but right to show that,
whether the Treaty was fair or unfair, in the
working of it, the citizens of this country have
had advantages not contemplated when it was
signed. The arrangement was completed on the
5th of June, 1854, but was not to come into full
effect until ratified by the Colonial Legislatures.
Mr. Marcy requested that, pending the decisions
of the Provinces, the American fishermen should
be permitted to enter upon the inshore firheries
in as full and ample a manner as they would be
when the Treaty came into force. The conces-
sion was yielded and the British and Colonial
cruisers withdrawn. When the Colonies claimed
the free entry of tMeir products, pending the rati-
fication of the Treaty, in return for this conces-
sion, existing revenue laws were pleaded, and this
very reasonable claim was denied, so that at the
outset the citizens of the Republic enjoyed the
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA,
357
chief advantages of the Treaty for nearly a year
before the Colonists were practically brought
within its scope and operations.
Again, when the Civil War broke out, one-half
of the sea!)oard of the United States was blcjck-
aded, and all the advantages of the Reciprocity
Treaty, so far as the consutnption of tiie ten
millions of people in the Southern States was a
benefit to the Provinces, were withdrawn. As-
suming that the Treaty runs over ten years, it
will be seen that for the whole of that period, the
The Hon. Joseph Howe.
people of this country have enjoyed all the bene-
fits for which they stipulated, while the British
Americans, for one year of the ten, have derived
n(i benefit at all, and for four entire years have
lost the consumption of one-third of the ppojiie
with whom, by tlie Treaty, they were cnti'lud to
trade. Kecoenizi.ig the political necessities of
the period, Hritish ■ nbjects have niado no com-
plaints of this exclusion, but it on,sj;lit to be borne
in mind, now ihat the whole subject is about to
be revised.
Let us now look at the working of ihe Treaty
and estimate, if we can, in a judicial spirit, its
fair and legitimate fruits. We must confess that,
as a measure of peace and national fraternity, it
has been most successful. It has extended to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to the North Atlan-
tic the freedom and the security enjoyed by the
great lakes under a kindred arrangement. There
have been no more intrusions, warrings, captures
— no rival squadrons guarding boundaries not
possible to define. This Treaty settled amicably
the last boundary question about which the Gov-
ernments of Great Britain and the United States
could by any possibility dispute. This was a
great matter, had no other good been accom-
plished, and he is no friend to either country who
would desire to throw open the wide field of con-
troversy again. Looking at the industrial results
of the Treaty, any fair-minded and dispassionate
man must admit that they have far surpassed, in
utility and value, all that could have been hoped
by the most sanguine advocates of the measure in
1854. The trade of the United States and of the
Provinces, feeble, restricted, slow of growth, and
vexatious before, has been annually swelled by
mutual exchanges and honourable competition,
till it is represented by a grand total ot
$456,330,391, in about nine years. This amount
seems almost incredible, but who can hazard an
estimate of figures by which this trade will be ex-
pressed ten or twenty years hence if this wise
adjustment of our mutual interests be not dis-
turbed ? If there be any advantage in a balance
of trade, the returns show that the citizens of the
United SuitT have had it to the extent of
$55,951,145. But in presence of the great benefits
conferred upon both countries by the measure, it
would be a waste of time to chaffer over their dis-
tribution. In the interests of peace and honest
industry, we should thank Providence for the
blessing, and confidently rely upon the wisdom of
our statesmen to see that it is 'treberved."
In connection with the International
Convention at Detroit the following interesting
ktier was writt>n by Mr. John ]!right to Mr.
jose()h Aspinall, Presi lent of the Detroit Board
of Trad': :
"The project of your Coiivt'iitinn gives me
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CANADA; AN ENCVCLOP.l.DIA.
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great pleasure. I hope it will lead to a renewal
cjf commercial intercourse with the British North
American Provinces, for it will be a miserable
thing if, because they are in connection with the
Hritish Crown, and you acknowledfje as your
Chief Magistrate the President at Washington,
there should not be a commercial intercourse be-
tween them and you as free as if you were one
people and living under one Government.
I have felt that when your people, so free
and so instructed, apply their minds to any ques-
tions of commerce, they wdl soon discover what
is true and adopt it, and in this faith I shall look
with confidence for the most beneficial results
from the discussions into which they are about
to enter. Whatever tends to promote harmony
and commercial dealings between the United
States and the Canadas will be favourably re-
garded by every intelligent statesman in this
country.
Wishing you the happiest results from the
Convention, and thanking you for your most kind
letter, I am, with great respect, very sincerely
yours,
(Signed) John Hright."
The feelingf of dismay which was felt for
a while in Canada at the threatened abrogation
of the Treaty is clearly shown in the following
Report of a Committee of the Executive Coun-
cil, which was approved by Lord Monck, as
Governor-General, on the igth of February, 1865,
and is signed by W. H. Lee as Clerk of the
Council :
" The Committee of the Executive Council
deem it to be their duty to represent to Yo;:r
Excellency that the recent proceedings in the
Congress of the United States respecting the
Reciprocity Treaty have excited the deepest
concern in the minds of the people of this
Province. Those proceedings have had for their
avowed object the abrogation of the Treaty at
the earliest moment consistent with the stipu-
lations of the instrument itself. Althougii no
formal action indicative of the strength of the
party hostile to the continuance of the Treaty
has yet taken pl;ice, information of an authentic
character as to the opinions and purposes of
influential public men of the United States has
forced upon the Committee the conviction that
there is imminent danger of its abrogation, unless
prompt and vigorous steps be taken by Her
Majesty's Imperial advisers to avert what would
be generally regarded by the people of C'anada as
a great calamity. The Committee would especi-
ally bring under Your Excellence's notice the
importance of instituting negotiations for the
renewal of the Treaty, with such modifications
as may be mutually assented to, before the year's
notice required to terminate it shall be given
by the American Government ; for they fear
that the notice, if once given, would not be re-
voked ; and they clearly foresee that, owing to
the variety and possibly the conflicting nature
ot the interests involved on our own side, a new
treaty could not be concluded and the requisite
legislation to give effect to it obtaineil before the
year would have expired, and with it the Treaty.
Under such circumstances — even with the cer-
tain prospects of an early renewal of the Treaty
— considerable loss and much inconvenience
would inevitably ensue.
It would be impossible to express in figures,
with any approach to accuracy, the extent to
which the facilities of commercial intercourse
created by the Reciprocity Treaty have contri-
buted to the wealth and prosperity of this Prov-
ince, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the
importance which the people of Canada attach to
the continued enjoyment of these facilities. Nor
is the subject entirely devoid of political signifi-
cance. Under the beneficent operation of the
system of self-government which the later policy
of the Mother Country has accorded to Canada,
in common with the other Colonies possessing
representative institutions, combined with the
advantages secured b) the Reciprocity Treaty of
an unrestricted co.iimercc with our nearest
neighbours in the natural productions of the two
countries, all agitation for organic changes has
ceased — all dissatisfaction with the existing politi-
cal relations of the Province has wholly dis-
appeared, t
Alth(3Ugh the Committee would grossly misrep-
resent their coi. trymen if they were to affirm
that their loyalty to their Sovereign would be
diminished in the slightest degree by the with-
drawal, through the unfriendly action of a foreign
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPi-EDIA.
359
Government, of mere commercial privileges, how-
ever valuable these might be deemed, they think
they cannot err in directing the attention of the
enlightened statesmen who wield the destinies of
the great Empire of which it is the proudest
boast of Canadians that their country forms a
part, to the connection which is usually found to
exist between the material prosperity and the
political contentment of the people, for in doing
so they feel that they are appealing to the highest
motives that can actuate patriotic statesmen —
the desire to perpetuate a dominion founded on
the affectionate allegiance of a prosperous and
contented people.
The Committee venture to express the hope
that Your Excellency will be pleased to bring this
subject and the considerations now submitted
under the notice of Her Majesty's Imperial
advisers."
The members ot the Executive Council of the
Canadas at this time were Sir E. P. Tacht; and
Sir John A. Macdonald, the Hon. George E.
Cartier, Hon. A. T. Gait, Hon. Alex. Campbell,
Hon. T. D'Arcy McGee, Hon. J. C. Chapais,
Hon. H. L. Langevin, Hon. James Cockburn,
Hon. George Brown, Hon. William McDougall
and Hon. W. P. Howland. This Ministry prac-
tically remained the same until Confederation,
with the exception of Messrs Gait and Brown,
who retired for different reasons, and Mr. Fer-
guson Blair, who afterwards joined the Cabinet.
By a Canadian Order-in-Council of March
24th, 1865, the Hon. John A. Macdonald, Hon.
George E. Cartier, Hon. George Brown and Hon.
A. T. Gait were appointed a Committee of the
Executive Council to proceed to England and
confer with Her Majesty's Government on cer-
tain subjects of importance to the Province. They
sailed for England in April, and upon their return
submitted a Report to Lord Monck on July 12th,
from which the following is an extract :
" On the subject of the American Reciprocity
Treaty we entered into full explanation with the
Imperial Ministers. We explained how advan-
tageously the Treaty had worked for Canada, and
the desire of our people for its renewal ; but we
showed, at the same time, how much more advan-
tageously it had operated for American interests;
and we expressed our inability to believe that the
United States Government seriously contemplat-
ed the abolition of an arrangement by which
they had so greatly increased their foreign c(<m-
merce, secured a vast and lucrative carrying
trade, and obtaineil free access to the St. I^aw-
rence and to the valuable fishing-grounds of Brit-
ish America ; and that on the sole ground that
the Provinces had also profited by the Treaty.
We explained the immediate injury that would
result to Canadian interests from the abrogation
of the Treaty ; but we pointed out, at the same
tune, the new and ultimately more profitable
channels into which our foreign trade must, in
that event, be turned, and the necessity of prepar-
ing for the change if, indeed, it was to come.
We asked that the British Minister at Wash-
ington might be instructed to state frankly to the
American Government the desire of the Can-
adian people for a renewal of the Treaty, and
our readiness to discuss and favourably entertain
any just propositions that might be made for an
extension or modification of its conditions; we
requested that the views of the American Gov-
ernment should be obtained at the earliest con-
venient date, and that His Excellency Sir I'^ed-
erick Bruce should act in concert with the Can-
adian Government in the matter. The Imperial
Government cordially assented to our sugges-
tions."
The Report of James W. Taylor, prepared in
1866 under the direction of the Treasury
Department of the United States, and submitted
on June 12th of that year to the Hon. Hugh Mc-
Culloch, was a most important document. By
resolution of the House of Representatives —
March 28th, 1866 — it was to include a statement
of the trade of the British Provinces for the years
1854-65. Its terms fully bear out the Canadian
side of the case, as the following e.xtracts will
indicate :
" The years designated in the Resolution, 1854
4lkl 1864-65, are not favourable for a comparative
statement of the Canadian trade. The year first
named witnessed an unusual exfitement of mar-
kets, which resulted from the application of a
large amount of English capital to the construc-
tion of the Great Western and Grand Trunk
railroads — the total imports of Canada in 1S54
leaching $40,528,324, while the exports were only
$2.5,019, 188. The purchases of contractors were
largely made in the United States, swelling our
exports to Canada from $7,829,099 in 1853 to
$17,300,706 in 1854. These disbursements on
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.i: DIA.
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account of railway construction and the specula-
tive spirit excited by them, concurred with the
first operation of the Reciprocity Treaty to
increase our exports beyond the imports from
Canada during ICS55 and 1856 ; then followed the
revulsion of 1857, which bore heavily upon Can-
adian trade, while since i860, and during the late
war, our great domestic exigencies have not only
prevented foreign and manufactured goods from
leaving the country, but have materially added to
the American demand for Canadian products;
the American reports show a movement from Can-
ada to the United States, since July ist, 1863,
exceeding that from the United States to Canada
by nearly $25,000,000, a balance which has prob-
ably been invested in United States bonds, of
which $50,000,000 are estimated to be held in
Canada. It will thus be seen that the battle year
of 1864-5, when ail our energies and supplies, with
whatever could be drawn from our neighbours,
were absorbed by great military campaigns, is
even more unfavourable than 1854 to represent a
normal condition of commerce.
By the Canadian tariff of 1849, spirits, wine, to-
bacco, tea, coffee, sugar, molasses, spices, etc., were
charged with duties partly specific and partly ad
7'alorem, which were gradually made exclusively
specific. On the 26th March, 1859, this was
altogether changec, and ad valorem duties ranging
from thirty to one hundred per cent., and averag-
ing forty per cent., were adopted, and mostly pre-
vail at this time, although additional specific duties
have been imposed on the articles named above
by the tariffs since 1862. When the duties were
exclusively specific there was great encouragement
of purchase in American markets ; but with the
policy of 1859, substituting ad valorem rates, the
Canadian purchaser finds it for his interest to
trade directly with Europe and countries produc-
ing the article in question.
In regard to American manufactures, the Can-
adian tariff is not immoderate, and is of impartial
application. There is no discrimination in favour
of English fabrics, while the vicinity of the
American manufacturer affords him a positive
advantage. A large class of articles, consisting of
iron, steel, metals, and articles entering into the
construction of raihvays, houses, ships and agricul-
tural implements, are admitted at 10 per cent.
duty ; but 20 per cent, is the prevalent rate upon
manufactured articles. Excluding the class ol
luxuries and stimulants first mentioned, the
average taxation by Canada in 1864-65 upon
dutiable goods was 18.7 per cent. ; while of the
total importations 43 per cent, were of articles
free of duty. Of course, this large percentage was
owing to the operation of the Reciprocity Treaty,
but it is likely to continue.
The average percentage on goods paying duty
by Canadian tariffs was 13 percent, in 1854 ; 19 per
cent, in 1859 ; and during the last fiscal year, end-
ing June 30, 1865, it was 22.3 per cent. The rate
of taxation by the American tariff upon dutiable
goods has been ascertained by Dr. William Elder,
Statistician of the Treasury Department, at the
following averages for corresponding years : In
1854, 25.6 per cent. ; in 1859, 19.5 per cent.; and
in 1865, 50.04 per cent. The Canadian advance
of rates is less than might have been anticipated,
when attention is directed to the public debt of
Canada, which was officially stated in 1864 at the
sum of $76,223,061. Of this amount the follow-
ing expenditures by the Canadian Government
have been for the construction of canals and rail-
ways which have been of great value to the
Western States as communications with the ocean
and the Atlantic cities:
1. The St. Lawrence canals, by which
vessels of 300 tons burden avoid
the rapids between Kingston and
Montreal $ 7,406,269
2. The Welland canal, passing vessels
of 400 tons burden from Lake
Erie to Lake Ontario 71309,849
3. Chanibly canal and River Riche-
lieu, enabling vessels to pass from
the St. Lawrence into Lake Cham-
P'ain 433.807
4. Lake St. Peter improvements,
dredging a panal for sea-going ves-
sels drawing 20 feet of water to
Montreal 1,098,225
5. Harbours and light-houses, mostly
in aid of the navigation of the
lakes and the St. Lawrence 2,549,617
6. Grand Trunk Railway 15,312,894
7. Great Western Railway from Ni-
agara to Detroit 2,810,50c
CANADA: AN ICNCYCLOIVKDIA
361
8. Northern Railway, connect in;,' Lake
Huron with Lake Ontario j, 311, 666
q. Interest on railway debentures, etc. (),642,025
Total $4X.874,852
Fully fifty per cent, of the debt of Canada has
been assumed for objects which are directly for
the advantage of the American communities in
the valley of the St. Lawrence — a consideration
which should restrain any violence of remon-
strance against the fiscal legislation of Canada."
The recommendations made by Mr. E. H.
Derby, in his well-known Report to the United
States Government in iiS66, are of considerable
historic importance :
"In conclusion," he says, "allow me to sug-
gest the policy of adopting as a basis for a new
treaty with Great Britain and the Provinces, the
following provisions, or as many of them as can
be obtained :
I. That neither party shall establish or maintain
either in the Provfinces or on the waters that How
into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or within fifty
miles of the same, any free port whatever.
IL That each party shall make all reasonable
exertions to discountenance and punish illicit
trade between each of the Provinces and their
vessels and the United States, by allowing no
shipments except by proper manifests and 'docu-
ments, and with reasonable security against
smuggling.
in. That each party may impose any duties
and imposts whatever upon spirits, malt, malt
liquors, wines, cordials, tobacco and its products,
silks, satins, laces, velvets, sugar and molasses
from the sugar cane, coffee, tea, cocoa, spices,
broadcloth, and cotton cloth worth more than
one dollar per pound, with this proviso, that each
party shall impose duties of at least sixty cents
per gallon on spirits and cordials ; of at least
fifteen .cents per pound on coffee, spices and
cocoa ; and two dollars per pound on silks, satins,
velvets and lace, imported into either country.
IV. That the schedule of articles to be import-
ed free be changed as follows, viz. : the articles
of cotton, lumber, fish and coal to be taken there-
from and the additions made which are suggested
in the annexed draft of a treaty.
V. That specific duties of $1 per thousand,
board measure, on lumber, and ten per cent, on
coal and fish be imposed. That no .-luties ex-
ceeding twenty per cent, be imposed on any pro-
ducts of each country not enumerated.
VI. That any citizen of eitlur country may
take a patent or cojjyright in the other by one
process not more costly than the process here.
VII. That goods received in Canada, through
or from the United States in original packages,
shall be valued in gold for duty at the cost in the
country where they were produced, as if they had
come direct, and vice versa on importations
through Canada.
VIII. That no diminution shall be made on
tolls on Canadian canals or railways, in favour of
vessels or goods passing between Lake Erie and
points below Ogdensburg, as against parties using
the Welland Canal only. That no export duties
or charges of any kind be imposed on American
timber from Maine, descending St. John River.
IX. That navigation for vessels drawing twelve
to fourteen feet each be secured through Lake St.
Clair around the F"alls of Niagara down the St.
Lawrence and into Lake C'hamplain, for both
countries, and that the canal from Lake Michigan
to the Illinois River be deepened.
X. That vessels built in either country may be
sold and registered in the other, on repayment
of a duty of five dollars per ton, for a limited
period.
XI. That the Treaty be extended to Newfound-
land, Western Columbia and Vancouver's Island.
XII. And, if possible, that the rights to the fish-
eries conceded by the Treaty of 1783, and re-estab-
lished by the Reciprocity Treaty, be made per-
petual. And if, as an inducement for this Treaty
and in settlement of the Alabama claims, we can
obtain a cession of Vancouver's Island or other
territory, it will be a consummation most devoutly
to be wished for.
Such a treaty would be indeed a treaty of
reciprocity ; under it our exports to the Provinces
would rapidly increase. The export of our manu-
factures, which from 1856 to 1863 dwindled,
under onerous duties, from seven and oie-half to
one and one-half million dollars, would doubtless
soon recover the ground it had lost, and a growth of
eight or ten millions in our exports would diminish
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363
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Ji'l-,
t^
; ■■, ■ I
Iii;jj
the call for specie to balance our account and
give our merchants facilities to make pur-
chases in the Provinces. Canada, under such a
treaty, would doubtless prosper. Return freights
from this country would reduce tlie freight of
breadstuffs, the ships we should receive from the
Provinces would swell our marine, instead of that
of England, and contribute something to the
n.itional revenue, without injustice to our own
shipbuilders."
According to the above Report, prepared by
Mr. E. H. Derby, from American official sources,
the following were the figures of the trade between
the British Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia,
New Hrunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Ed-
ward Island, and the United States, during a
period of fifteen years preceding thuc date :
Dale. Imports from U.S. Kxports to U.S. Total.
1850 $ 3.116,8^0 $1,358,922 $ 4,475,832
4,961,203
4,170,464
6,071,177
6,899,/92
8,810,298
10,742,133
10,743,867
10,200,442
13,848,794
12,392,547
11,551,210
11,416,748
15,405,929
20,276,615
Mr. Derby stated that at least ten per cent,
should be added to the exports, as the Provincial
manifests usually underrated the amount of ship-
ments from the Provinces to that extent. It
makes the disproportion between exports and im-
ports all the greater.
The Report submitted to the British Ambas-
sador at Washington by the Canadian Commis-
sioners in 1866, was an important document and
reads as follows :
" Washington, February 7th, 1866.
Sir,— We have the honour to inform Your
Excellency that our negotiations for the renewal
1851
3.224,553
1,7^6,650
1852
2,650,134
1.520,330
1853
3.398.575
2,672,602
1854
4.693.771
2,206,021
1855
5.855.878
2,954,420
1856
7.519.909
3.222,224
1857
6,911,405
3,832,462
1858
5.975.494
4.224,948
1859
8,309,960
5.518,834
i860
7.502,839
4,989,708
I86I
T'^^i.hTi-i
4.417.476
1862
7,369.905
4,046,843
1863
10,198,505
5.207,424
1864
12,323.718
7.947.897
of Reciprocal Trade with the United States ter-
minated unsuccessfully. You have been informed
from time to time of our proceedings, but we pro-
pose briefly to recapitulate them.
On our arrival here, after consultation with
Your Excellency, we addressed ourselves, withyour
sanction, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and we
were by him put in communication with the Com-
mittee of Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives. After repeated interviews with
them, and on ascertaining that no renewal or
extension of the existing Treaty would be made
by the American authorities, but that whatever was
done must be by legislation, we submitted the
basis which we desired arrangements to be made
upon in the enclosed paper (marked A). In reply
we received the Memorandum from the Committee,
of which a copy is enclosed (B). And, finding
after discussion that no important modifications in
their views could be obtained, and that we were
required to consider their proposition as a whole,
we felt ourselves under the necessity of declining
it, which was done by the Memorandum also
enclosed (C).
It is proper to explain the grounds of our final
action. It will be observed that the most important
provisions of the expiring Treaty, relating to the
free interchange of the products of the two
countries, were entirely set aside, and that the
duties proposed to be levied were almost prohib-
itory in their character. The principal object for
our entering into negotiations was therefore un-
attainable, and we had only to consider whether
the minor points were such as to make it desir-
able for us to enter into specific engagements.
These points are three in number. With re-
gard to the first — the proposed mutual use of
<^he waters of Lake Michigan and the St. Law-
rence — we considered that the present arrange-
ments were sufficient, and that the common
interests of both countries would prevent their
disturbance. We were not prepared to yield
the right of interference in the imposition of
tolls upon our canals. We believed, moreover,
that the privilege allowed the United States of
navigating the waters of the St. Lawrence was
very much more than an equivalent for our use
of Lake Michigan.
Upon the second point — providing for the free
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
3^3
transit of goods under bond between the two
countries — we believed that in this respect, as in
the former case, the interests of both countries
would secure the maintenance of existing regula-
tions. Connected with this point was the demand
made for the abolition of the free ports existing
in Canada, which we were not disposed to con-
cede, especially in view of the extremely unsatis-
factory position in which it was proposed to place
the trade between the two countries. On both
the above points, we do not desire to be under-
stood as stating that the existing arrangements
should not be extended and placed on a more
permanent basis, but only that, taken apart from
the important interests involved, it did not ap-
pear to us at this time necessary to deal with
them exceptionally.
With reference to the third and last point —
the concessions of the right of fishing in Pro-
vincial waters — we considered the equivalent pro-
posed for so very valuable a right to be utterly
inadequate. The admission of a few unimportant
articles free, with the establishment of a scale of
high duties as proposed, would not, in our opin-
ion, have justified us in yielding this point.
While we regret this unfavourable termination
of the negotiations, we are not without hope that
at no distant day they may be resumed with a
better prospect of a satisfactory result.
We have the honour to be.
Your Excellency's most obedient Servants,
A. T. Galt,
Minister of Finance, Canada.
W. P. HOWLAND,
Postmaster-General, Canada.
W. A. Henry,
Attorney-General, Nova Scotia.
A. J. Smith,
Attorney-General, New Brunswick.
To His Excellency,
Sir Frederick Bruce, k.c.b., etc., etc."
The suggfestlons made by the British-American
Delegates were embodied in Memorandum " A,"
dated at Washington, February 2nd, 1866, as
follows :
"The trade between the United States and the
British Provinces should, it is believed, under
ordinary circumstances be free in reference to
their natural productions; but as internal taxes
exceptionally exist in the United States, it is now
proposed that the articles embraced in the free
list of the Reciprocity Treaty should continue to
be exchanged, subject only to such duties as may
be equivalent to that internal taxation. It is
suggested that both parties may add certain
articles to those now in the said list. With refer-
ence to the fisheries and the navigation of the
internal waters of the continent, the British Prov-
inces are willing that the existing regulations
should continue in effect ; but Canada is ready to
enter into engagements with the view of improv-
ing the mean? of access to the ocean, provided
the assurance be given that the trade of the
Western States will not be diverted from its
natural channel by legislation ; and if the United
States are not prepared at present to consider the
general opening of their coasting trade, it would
appear desirable that, as regards the internal
waters of the continent, no distinction should be
made between the vessels of the two countries.
If the foregoing points be satisfactorily ar-
ranged, Canada is willing to adjust her excise
duties upon spirits, beer and tobacco upon the
best revenue standard which may be mutually
adopted after full consideration of the subject,
and if it be desired to treat any other articles in
the same way the disposition of the Canadian
Government is to give every facility in their
power to prevent illicit trade. With regard to
the transit trade, it is suggested that the same
regulations should exist on both sides and be
defined by law. Canada is also prepared to make
her patent laws similar to those of the United
States."
The views of the Congressional Committee of
Ways and Means were placed on record in reply
to the above in Memorandum " B " as follows :
" In response to the Memorandum of the Hon.
Mr. Gait and his associates, Hon. Mr. Smith,
Hon. Mr. Henry, and the Hon. Mr. Howland,the
Committee of Ways and Means, with the ap-
proval of the Secretary of the Treasury, are pre-
pared to recommend to the House of Represen-
tatives for their adoption a law providing for the
continuance of some of the measures embraced in
the Reciprocity Treaty, soon to expire, viz.: For
the use and privileges as enjoyed now under said
.1, M
„IJi'3i ■
■■■
364
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
I:
is':
tJi'l,
Treaty in the waters of Lake Michigan, provided
the same rights and privileges are conceded to
the citizens of the United States by Canada in
the waters of the St Lawrence and its canals as
are enjoyed by British subjects, without discrim-
ination as to tolls and charging rates proportioned
to canal distance ; also for the free transit of
goods, wares, and merchandise in bond under
proper regulations, by railroad across the terri-
tory of the United States to and from Portland
and the Canada line, provided equal privileges
shall be conceded to the United States from
Windsor or Port Sarnia, or other western points
of departure to Buffalo or Ogdensburg or any
other points eastward, and that the free ports
established in the Provinces shall be abolished ;
also the bounties now given to American fisher-
men shall be repealed, and duties not higher
imposed upon fish than those mentioned in
Schedule A — provided that all the rights of fishing
near the shores existing under the Treaty hereto-
fore mentioned shall be granted and conceded by
the United States to the Provinces, and by the
Provinces to the United States. It is also further
proposed that the following list of articles shall
be mutually free :
Burr Millstones, unwrought.
Cotton and linen rags. Firewood.
Grindstones, rough or unfinished.
Gypsum or plaster, unground.
SCHEDULE A.
Fish — Mackerel $1.50 per bush.
" Herrings, pickled or salted, i.oo "
" Salmon 2.50 "
Shad 2.00
" All other, pickled 1.50 "
Provided that any fish in packages, other than
barrels, shall pay in proportion to the rates
charged upon similar fish in barrels. All other
fish yi cent per lb. As to the duties which will
be proposed upon the other articles included in
the Treaty, the following are submitted, viz. :
Animals, living, all sorts 20 per cent. ad. val.
Apples, garden fruit and vege-
tables 10 " "
Barley 15 cents per bush.
Beans (except vanilla or castor
oil) 30
Beef I cent per lb.
Buckwheat 10 cents per bush.
Butter 4 cents per lb.
Cheese 4 "
Corn (Indian) and Oats lo cents per bush.
Coal, bituminous 50 cents per ton.
" allother 25
Flour 25 per cent . ad val.
Hams...., 2 cents per lb.
Hay $1.00 per ton.
H ides 10 per cent, ad val.
Lard j cents per lb.
Lumber —
Pine, rounder in the log $1.50 per M.
Sawed or hewn $2.50 per M.
Planed, tongued, and
grooved, and finished. 25 per cent, ad val.
Spruce and hemlock, sawed
or hewn $1 per M.
Planed, finished, or partly
finished 25 per cent, ad val.
Shingle bolts... 10 "
Shingles 20 "
All other, of bhck walnut,
chestnut, bass, white
wood, ash, oak, round,
hewed or sawed 2oper cent, ad val.
Planed, tongued, and grooved,
or finished 25 per cent, ad val.
Ores 10
Peas 25 cents per bush.
Pork I cent per lb.
Potatoes 10 cents per bush .
Seed, timothy and clover 20 per cent, ad val.
Tallow 2 cents per lb.
Wheat 20cents per bush."
These propositions were, of course, declined at
once in the following brief document termed
Memorandum "C" and dated February 6th, 1866:
" In reference to the Memorandum received
from the Committee on Ways and Means, the
Provincial Delegates regret to be obliged to state
that the proposition therein contained in regard
to the commercial relations between the two
countries is not such as they can recommend for
the adoption of their respective Legislatures. The
imposts which it is proposed to lay upon the pro-
ductions of the British Provinces on their entry
m
CANADA : AN ENCYCI,OP.4<;i:)IA.
36s
int the markets of the United States are such as
in their opinion will be in some cases prohibitory,
and will certainly seriously interfere with the
natural course of trade. These imposts are so
much beyond what the Delegates conceive to
be an equivalent for the internal taxation of the
United States, that they are reluctantly brought
to the conclusion that the Committee no longer
desire the trade between the two countries to be
carried on upon the principle of reciprocity.
With the concurrence of the British Minister at
Washington, they are therefore obliged respect-
fully to decline to enter into the engagement sug-
gested in the Memorandum, but they trust that
the present views of the United States may soon
be so far modified as to permit of the interchange
of the productions of the two countries upon a
more liberal basis,"
Cn September 3rd, 1868, Sir John Rose made
some interesting references to Reciprocity in a
communication addressed to the Colonial Office —
Sessional Papers No. 47, Volume II. No. 5, 1869 :
" As early as 1848, Mr. Crampton, Her Majesty's
representative at Washington, was instructed by
Lord Palmerston to urge on the American Gov-
ernment the establishment of Reciprocal Free
Trade in natural products between Canada and
the United Strtes ; and on the appointment of Sir
Henry Bulwer, his successor in 1849, the Imperial
Government specially directed him to continue
those negotiations to the successful termination of
which, in the despatch of Lord Palmerston, it was
stated Her Majesty's Government attached the
very highest importance. The consideration of
the subject continued to be repeatedly pressed
on the American Government between that time
and the year 1854.
In the latter year the treaty known as the
Reciprocity Treaty, was finally concluded, admit-
ting certain natural products of each country free
into the other, without any qualification as to the
differential or discriminating character of its
provisions. On the anticipated abrogation of
that Treaty by the United States in 1865, Her
Majesty's Government again lent the weight of
their influence in favour of its continuance, and
Her Majesty's representative at Washington was
persistent in his efforts, as well to prevent its
termination as subsequently to effect its renewal.
Indeed, since the period of its abrogation by the
action of the United States Congress, the pro-
priety of its renewal has been an object of avowed
solicitude on the part of the Imperial Government."
Upon the important question of a possible prefer-
ence being allowed to certain American products
over British, Sir John was decidedly vague, with
an apparent tendency to consider such a con-
tingency as within the limits of discussion. It
must be remembered, too, that the document was
approved by the Executive Council as a whole.
He proceeds in this regard as follows :
"The second point as stated by His Grace,
viz., ' the exclusive favour which substantially or
at all events apparently might be conferred on
the United States, if the clause providing for
the admission of certain products of that coun-
try, in the event of certain contingencies, should
come into operation,' and which His Grace is
pleased to say ' he fears could not be acceded
to,' raises a question of such deep import to the
people of the Dominion, that the undersigned
deems it in his duty to advert to the course which
has hitherto been pursued by Her Majesty's
Government with reference to it, in the convic-
tion that further consideration will lead His
Grace to withdraw the objections, which by an-
ticipation have been advanced. The peculiar
position in which Canada and the United States
stand to each other makes it for their mutual in-
terest to exchange certain articles on reciprocal
terms."
After a brief reference to the past co-opera-
tion of the Imperial Government in this direc-
tion, the Finance Minister declares that he " has
felt it to be so important that any negotiations
which may take place with the United States
for the re-establishment of free commercial in-
tercourse between them and Canada should be
untrammelled, that he has, perhaps, entered at
needless detail into the history of this question."
And then he proceeds to hint that any prefer-
ence given would not injure Great Britain:
" In the correspondence adverted to in the
despatch of His Grace, which took place on the
subject of the Treaty, it was shown that its
operation was not to put an end to, nor even
to diminish in any sensible degree, the imports
from other places than the United States, of arti-
cles admitted free under its provision, nor to
subject either England or Foreign Countries to
;f;f ^
W'i
M
366
CANADA : AN ENCYCL0P.1<:DIA.
any practical disadvantages in reference to the
import of their products into Canada. Any ex-
emptions which the United States and Canada
might respectively find it for their advantage to ac-
cord could hardly in their very nature influence the
trade of either country with foreign nations, since
they would probably be limited to the interchange
of those products of the two countries which,
from their proximity, each might profitably inter-
change with the other, but which neither would
receive to any sensible extent from other nations,
even if no reciprocal arrangements existed."
THE TERMS OF THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1854-66
!■ , !
Bit; t
i'j.
"Her Majesty, the Quien of Gieit Britain,
being equally desirous vviih the Government of
the United States to avoid further misunder-
standing between their respective subjects
and citizens in regard to the extent of the
right of fishing on the Coasts of British
North America, secured to each by Article i
of a Convention between the United States
and Great Britain signed at London on the
20th day of October, 1818 ; and being also
desirous to regulate the Commerce and Naviga-
tion between their respective territories and
people, and more especially between Her
Majesty's possessions in North America and the
United States, in such manner as to render the
same reciprocally beneficial and satisfactory, have
respectively named Plenipotentiaries to confer
and a^ree thereupon, that is to say : Her
Majesty, the Queen of the United Kin^^dom of
Great Britain and Ireland ; James, Earl of Elgin
and Kincardine, Lord Bruce and Elgin, a Peer
of the United Kingdom, Knight of the Most
Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle,
and Governor-General in and over all Her
Britannic Majesty's Provinces on the Continent
of North America, and in and over the Island ot
Prince Edward ; and the President of the United
States of America, William L. Marcy, Secretary
of State of the United States; who, after having
communicated to each other their respective full
powers, found m good and due form, have agreed
upon the following Articles : —
ARTICLE I.
It is agreed by the High Contracting Parties
that, in addition to the liberty secured to the
United States fishermen by the above-mentioned
Convention of October 20th, 1818, of taking,
curing, and drying fish on certain coasts of the
British North American Colonies therein defined,
the inhabitants of the United States shall have,
in common with the subjects of Her Britannic
Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind ex-
cept shell-fish, on the coasts and shores, and in
the bays, harbours, and creeks of Canada, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island,
and of several of the islands thereunto adjacent,
without being restricted to any distance from the
shore ; with permission to land upon the coasts
and shores of those Colonies and Islands
thereof, and also upon the Magdalen Islands, for
the purpose of drying their nets and curing their
fish ; provided that, in so doing, they do not in-
terfere with the rights of private property or
British fishermen in the peaceable use of any part
of the said coast in their occupancy for the same
purpose.
It is understood that the above-mentioned
liberty applies solely to the sea fishery ; and the
salmon and shad fisheries, and all fisheries in
rivers, and the mouths of rivers, are hereby re-
served exclusively for British fishermen.
And it is further agreed, that in order to pre-
vent or settle any disputes as to the places to
which the reservation of exclusive right to British
fishermen contained in this article, and that of
fishermen of the United States contained in the
next succeeding article, apply, each of the high
contracting parties, on the application of either to
the other, shall within six months thereafter ap-
point a Commissioner. The said Commissioners
before proceeding to any business, shall make and
subscribe a solemn declaration that they will im-
partially and carefully examine and decide to the
best of their judgment, and according to justice
and equity, without fear, favour, or affection to
their own country, upon all such places as are in-
tended to be reserved and excluded from the com-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOr^EDIA.
3'^7
mon liberty of fishing under this and the next
succeeding Article ; and such declaration shall
be entered on the record of their proceedings.
The Commissioners shall name some third person
to act as Arbitrator or U m pire in any case or cases,
on which they may themselves differ in opinion.
If they should not be able to agree upon the name
of such third person, they shall each name a per-
son, and it shall be determined by lot which of
the two persons so named shall b j Arbitrator or
Umpire in case of difference or disagreement be-
tween the Commissioners. The person so to be
chosen to be Arbitrator or Umpire shall, before
proceeding to act as such in any case, make and
subscribe a solemn declaration in a form similar to
that which shall already have been made and sub-
scribtid by the Commissiontrs, which shall be
entered upon the record of their proceedings. In
the event of the death, absence, or incapacity of
either of the Commissioners, or of the Arbitra-
tor or Umpire, or of their or his omitting, declin-
ing, or ceasing to act as such Commissioner,
Arbitrator, or Umpire, another and different per-
son shall be appointed or named as aforesaid,
and shall make and subscribe such declaration as
aforesaid.
Such Commissioners shall proceed to examine
the coasts of the North American Provinces and
of the United States embraced within the pro-
visions of the first and second Articles of this
Treaty, and shall designate the places reserved
by the said Article from the common right of
fishing therein. The decision of the Com-
missioners and of the Arbitrator or Umpire
shall be given in writing in each case, and
shall be signed by them respectively. The
High Contracting Parties hereby solemnly
engage to consider the decision of the Commis-
sioners conjointly, or of the Arbitrator or Umpire,
as the case may be, as absolutely final and con-
clusive in each case decided upon by them or
him, respectively.
ARTICLE II.
It is agreed by the High Contracting Parties
that British subjects shall have, in common with
the Citizens of the United States, the liberty to
take fish of every kind, except shell-fish, on the
Eastern sea-coasts and shores of the United States,
north of the 36th parallel of north latitude, and on
the shores of the several Islands thereunto adja-
cent, and with permission to land in the bays, har-
bours.and creeks of the said sea-coasts and shores
of the United States and of the Islands aforesaid
for the purpose of drying their nets and curing
their fish ; provided that in so doing they do not
interfere with the rights of private property, or
with the fishermen of the United States in peace-
able use of any part of the said coasts in their
occupancy for the same purpose. It is understood
that the above mentioned liberty applies solely
to the sea fishery ; and the salmon and shad
fisheries, and all fisheries in rivers and mouths of
rivers are hereby reserved exclusively for fisher-
men of the United States.
ARTICLE III.
It is agreed that the Articles enumerated in the
Schedule hereunto annexed, being the growth and
produce of the aforesaid British Colonies or of the
United States, shall be admitted into each
country respectively, free of duty :
SCHEDULE.
Grain, flour and breadstuffs of all kinds.
Animals of all kinds.
Fresh, smoked and salted meats.
Cotton woo), seeds and vegetables.
Undried fiuits, and dried fruits.
Fish of all kinds.
Produce of fish and of all other creatures living
i.i the water.
Poultry, eggs.
Hides, furs, skins or tails, undressed.
Stone or marble in its crude or un wrought
state. Slate.
Butter, cheese, tallow, lard, horns, manures.
Ores of metals of all kinds. Coal.
Pitch, tar, turpentine, ashes.
Timber and lumber of all kinds, round, hewed,
sawed, manufactured, in whole or in part.
F"irevvood, plants, shrubs, and trees.*
Pelts, wool. Fish-oil.
Rice, broom-corn, and bark.
Gypsum, ground or unground.
Hewn, or wrought, or unwrought burr or grind-
stones.
Dye-stuffs.
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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Flax, hemp and tow, unmanufactured.
Unmanufactured tobacco. Rags.
ARTICLE IV.
It is agreed that the citizens and inhabitants of
the United States shall have the right to navigate
the River St. Lawrence and the Canals in Can-
ada, used as the means of communication between
the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, with
their vessels, boats and crafts, as fully and as
freely as the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty,
subject only to the same tolls and other assess-
ments as now are or may hereafter be exacted of
Her Majesty's subjects, it being understood, how-
ever, that the British Government retains the
right of suspending this privilege on giving due
notice thereof to the Government of the United
States.
It is further agreed that if at any time the
British Government should exercise the said re-
served right, the Government of the United
States shall have the right of suspending, if it
think fit, the operation of Article 3 of the present
Treaty in so far as the Province of Canada is
affected thereby, for so long as the suspension
of the free navigation of the River St. Lawrence
or the canals may be continued.
It is further agreed that British subjects shall
have the right freely to navigate Lake Michigan
with their vessels, boats or crafts, so long as the
privilege of navigating the St. Lawrence, secured
to American citizens by the above clause of the
present Article, shall continue, and the Govern-
ment of the United States further engages to
urge upon the State Governments to secure to the
subjects of Her Britannic Majesty the use of the
several State Canals on terms of equality with
the inhabitants of the United States.
And it is further agreed that no export duty, or
other duty, shall be levied on lumber or timber of
any kind cut on that portion of the American
territory in the State of Maine watered by the
River St. John and its tributaries, and floated
down that river to the sea, when the same is
shipped to the United States from the Province
of New Brunswick.
ARTICLE V.
The present Treaty shall take effect as soon as
the laws required to carry it into operation
shall have been passed by the Imperial Parlia-
ment of Great Britain, and by the Provincial
Parliaments of those of the British North Ameri-
can Colonies which are affected by this Treaty
on the one hand, and by the Congress of the
United States on the other. Surh assent having
been given, the Treaty shall remain in force for
ten years from the date at which it may come
into operation, and further, until the expiration
of twelve months after either of the High Con-
tracting Parties shall give notice to the other of
its wish to terminate the same ; each of the High
Contracting Parties being at liberty to give such
notice to the other at the end of the said term
of ten years, or at any time afterwards.
It is clearly understood, however, that this
stipulation is not intended to effect the reserva-
tion made by Article IV. of the present Treaty,
with regard to the right of temporarily suspending
the operation of Articles III. and IV. thereof.
ARTICLE VI.
And it is hereby further agreed that the pro-
visions and stipulations of the foregoing Articles
shall extend to the Island of Newfoundland, so
far as they are applicable to that Colony. But if
the Imperial Parliament, the Provincial Parlia-
ment of Newfoundland, or the Congress of the
United States shall not embrace in their laws>
enacted for carrying this Treaty into effect, the
Colony of Newfoundland, then this Article shall
be of no effect ; but the omission to make pro-
vision by law to give it effect, by either of the
legislative bodies aforesaid, shall not in any way
impair the remaining Articles of this Treaty.
ARTICLE VII.
The present Treaty shall be duly ratified, and
the mutual exchange of ratification shall take
place in Washington within six months from
the date hereof or earlier if possible. In faith
whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentaries, have
signed this Treaty, and have hereunto affixed
our seals. *
Done in triplicate, at Washington, the fifth
day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
(Signed) Elgin & Kincardine,
W. L. Marcv."
m\
THE HON. SIR RICHARD J. CARTWRIGHT
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V
CANADIAN TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES
JOHN CHARLTON, M,P.
THE relative situations of the United
States of America and the Dominion of
Canada, as regards geographical, ethno-
logical, political and possible com-
mercial conditions, are peculiar, and, in fact,
unique. Perhaps no other two countries in
the world, contiguous to each other, are so
acted upon by conditions of environment and
mutual affinities, that would, if left to their nat-
ural course, exert such resistless influence in the
direction of social and commercial intimacy, and
of substantial homogeneity. Geographically, the
two great countries are component parts, each of
the other. Their boundary line, extending from
ocean to ocean, throughout its vast length pre-
sents no natural barrier to inter-communication.
Naturally drawn to each other by ties of race, by
a common language, by similarity of political
institutions, by the geographical unity of great
areas, and divided only by an imaginary line, it is
found that all of these influences not only invite but
literally compel intercourse, which may only be
diminished by commercial restrictions, or terrain-
ated by actual war. Restrictions upon trade can
only be imposed at the cost of mutual inconven-
ience and loss. A considerable portion of the
boundary separating the two countries is a high-
way for commerce, composed of great stretches of
navigable rivers and inland seas, which so far
from proving barriers of separation, invite com-
mercial intercommunication and serve to link the
two countries together in the bonds of common
interest.
The geographical conditions that invite ex-
tended and intimate trade relations between many
of the natural groups of States in the American
Union are not naturally as great, or as potential in
ability to secure a great volume of interchange of
commodities, as are the geographical afifinities
existing between the Maritime Provinces and the
seaboard States of the Union, or between Ontario
and Quebec and the New England and Middle
States, or between Manitoba and the Canadian
North-West and the States of the Mississippi
Valley, or between British Columbia and the
States on the Pacitic slope.
Ontario lies almost in the heart of the temper-
ate zone of North America — the energetic zone as
it has been not inaptly termed — extending from the
38th to the 52nd parallel of north latitude. The
Ontario peninsula projects like a wedge into the
territory of the United States over four hundred
miles south of the international boundary line
from the Lake of the Woods westward. Across
this Province lies the short cut for communication
between Michigan, Chicago, Noniiern Illinois,
Wisconsin and Iowa, and New York and the
New England States, while from Sault Ste.
Marie, through Northern and Central Ontario,
the northern part of Michigan, Northern Wis-
consin, Minnesota and Dakota, with the great
commercial centres of St. Paul and Minneapolis,
find their shortest route to the seaboard. The
agricultural portions of Ontario and Quebec are
nearer the great centres of population and con-
sumption in the United States than are the pro-
ducing States of the west, while the mineral sec-
tions of Ontario north and west of Lake Huron
and Lake Superior command the navigation of
the great lakes, and the service of the vast system
of canals and railways radiating from them to the
seaboard and penetrating the continent in all
directions. Quebec, commanding the natural
outlet of the great lakes to the sea, should have
[This article presents historically the view of what rnay be termed
the Continental school of fiscal thought in Canada, and though
essentially controversial in statement and n-.a'.ter, is none the
less valuable to the student of Canadian political conditions.
—The Editor.]
U"
371
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possessed one of the leading commercial centres
of the world, and has been shorn of her natural
heritage by tlic diversion of the commerce of the
great west into other and artiticial channels.
Trade between these two countries has been
dwarfed by tariff wars, but commercial belliger-
ancy has not been able to destroy it, and the vast
proportions which the interchanges between the
two countries have attained are eloquent in sug-
gestions as to what might have been accom-
plished, if the rude hand of repression had not
sought on either side of the international line to
force back the vast trade movements that natural
conditions invited.
Hoth parties in Canada have at all times pro-
fessed a strong desire to secure more extended
trade relations with the United States, and be-
fore the consummation of Confederation in 1867,
the Provinces which afterwards joined in Federal
Union did, for a period of twelve years extending
from 1S54 to 1866, enjoy the privilege of free ad-
mii^sion of their natural products into the mar-
kets of the United States. The results flowing
from this Reciprocity Treaty were most satisfac-
tory and advantageous to Canada. It is of im-
portance to note that the exports from Canada to
the United States, for the year 1866, have been
exceeded in only ten of the thirty years subse-
quent to that date, even with estimated short
returns included in the case of these ten years,
which were not included in the year 1866. The
figures show that our exports to the United
States have practically been at a standstill since
1 866
The abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty was
probably due chiefly to the fact that the Ameri-
cans realized that the ratio of increase in the
Canadian export trade to the United States
largely exceeded that of the import trade from
the United States, which led to the belief that
manufactures to a certain extent should be in-
cluded in the list for free or preferential exchange
in any reciprocal trade arrangement. Possibly a
fteling of resentment at the manifestation of
sympathy for the cause of the Southern Confed-
eracy in some Canadian circles, and the exhibition
of that feeling in the Canadian Assembly upon a
memorable occasion, may, as is claimed, have had
some influence in bringing about the state of
feeling that led to giving notice for the abroga-
tion of the Treaty.
While the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty
of 1854 proved in a marked degree detrimental to
our export trade with the United States, the
volume of our imports from that country has con-
tinued to increase at a ratio in excess of our in-
crease of population. Starting from the point of
$28,361,008 in 1866, our imports from the United
States stood at $47,735,678 in 1873 and at $58,-
574,024 in i8(j6. This increase is due to several
causes. Our manufacturing interests are expand-
ing, and we require increasing quantities of raw
cotton, tobacco leaf, and other raw materials from
the United States. Added to this the United
States are advancing in skill and cheapness of
production in various lines of manufacturing, and
we purchase of them various kinds of manufac-
tures, in increasing quantities, each succeeding
year. The destruction of our forests in the older
settled sections of the Dominion leads to the
ever-increasing substitution of anthracite coal, as
a fuel, for wood, till we have now reached an im-
portation of that article in excess of $5,000,000
annually. These, among other causes, account
for the increase of our imports.
Canadian statesmen have not been insensible
to the great desirability of obtaining a removal of
the restrictions upon our trade with the United
States, and since 1866 various efforts have been
made in that direction. It is doubtful whether
our Goverment was on the alert when the time
came for giving notice of the termination of the
Treaty, and it is possible that an earnest effort
made in 1864 or 1865, accompanied by the mani-
festation of a cordial and friendly spirit towards
the United States, would have enabled us to have
secured the renewal of the Treaty, with some
modification of provisions, similar to those after-
wards embodied in the lirown draft Treaty of
1874. If, however, this was the case, the golden
opportunity was allowed to pass unimproved, and
not until after the necessary twelvemonths' notice
for abrogation had been given by the United
States, was any earnest effort made to avert the
catastrophy of the loss of the Treaty. In Janu-
ary, 1866, a few weeks before the Trei.cy expired,
Messrs. Gait and Howland, of Upper Canada ; W-
A. Henry, of Nova Scotia; and A. J. Smith of
CANADA: AN KNCYCLOP/KDIA.
373
New Brunswick, visitetl WnshinRton, for the pur-
pose of making an effort to save tlie Treaty.
Some discussion as to terms was held with the
Ways and Means Committee, of which Mr. Mor-
rill, of Vermont, the father of the Protectionist
Tariff then in force, was chairman. The dispo-
sition manifested by the members of the Com-
mittee was most illiberal, and the terms proposed
were narrow and entirely inadmissable. The
United States asked for inshore tishing rights, the
free use of the St. Lawrence Kiver and Canals,
and the privilege to retain duties on farm pro-
ductsand (ish, and for these concessions would give
mutual bonding privileges and admit a few insig-
niticant articles free of duty. The offer simply
indicated a determination to make the agreement
upon the terms of a reciprocity treaty impossible.
One good result followed the abortive attempt to
secure proposals from the United States that came
within the limit of possible acceptance. The cold
repulse received from that country gave an
impetus to the movement for the confederation of
the British-American Colonies, which was con-
summated in July of the following year.
In July 1869, efforts to secure a renewal of the
Reciprocity Treaty were again made by ihe Can-
adian Government, and in July of that year Hon.
John Rose, Canadian Finance Minister, went to
Washington. The first tariff of the Canadian
Confederation contained a standing offer for a
renewal of reciprocal trade relations. This statu-
tory offer hiid elicited no response from the
American Government, and the mission of Mr.
Rose was to test the state of feeling at Washing-
ton, after the lapse of three years since the visit
of the previous Commission, and to learn defin-
itely whether conditions could be proposed that
would be acceptable to both Governments. Some
mystery shrouds the mission of Mr. Rose. It is
impossible apparently to say what propositions,
if any, were made by him, and whether counter
propositions of any nature were made by the
American Government. It was evidently sup-
posed at Ottawa, when the mission of Mr. Rose
was undertaken, that the attitude of the American
Government towards reciprocity was to a certain
degree, at least, favourable. All that can be
certainly known about the matter is, that the
mission was entirely fruitless. It seems singular
that no details as to the conferences that must
certainly have been held at Washington have
been allowed by either Government to be made
public. Suspicions exist that Mr. Rose went to
the extreme length of proposing a commercial
Zollverein. This was asserted by Mr. Hunting-
ton in Parliament in 1871, but the assertion was
strenuously denied by Sir John A. Macdonald.
When the Liberal party came into power in
November, 1873, no time was lost in renewing
efforts for Reciprocity. Mr. George Brown was
selected as Canadian Commissioner, and conduct-
ed negotiations under Sir Edward Thornton.
Mr. Brown made a preliminary visit to Washing-
ton early in 1874. His instructions from the
Canadian Cabinet permitted the placing of a list
of manufactured articles upon the list for free
reciprocal exchange, in addition to the coveted
free exchange of natural products. Mr. Brown
was well fitted for his mission, and prosecuted
his duties as Canadian Commissioner with great
energy and ability. Mr. Hamilton Fish was
the American Secretary of State, with which De-
partment of the Executive branch of the Amer-
ican Government negotiations for agreement
upon the terms of a treaty were held. The work
of considering and agreeing upon the terms of
this arrangement proceeded rapidly. On June
17th, 1874, Sir Edward Thornton communicated
with the Earl of Derby, then Foreign Secretary,
informing him that a draft treaty for the regu-
lation of the commercial relations between the
United States and Canada had been agreed upon,
and that Mr. Fish was to send the Treaty to the
Senate on the following day. In a communica-
tion to Lord Derby on June 23rd, 1874, Sir Ed-
ward Thornton informs the Colonial Office that
the draft treaty was taken into consideration by
the Senate in secret session on the afternoon of
June 22nd, and that it was decided that its con-
sideration should be postponed until the session
of Congress which was to be held the following
December.
In the session which followed, the draft treaty
was considered by the United States Senate and
rejected. Had the treaty gone into effect, its
operations would undoubtedly have been mutually
advantageous and satisfactory. It gave to Amer-
ican fishermen the privilege of using the inshore
Sv.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^IDIA.
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fisheries, except in the case of shell fish, with
corresponding privileges to Canuduin fishermen
on the American coast north of latitude 39 de-
grees. Schedule A of the treaty embraced nat-
ural products. Schedule B enumerated agricul-
tural implements, under forty subdivisions, and
Schedule C embraced an important list of manu-
factures, under thirty-seven classifications, and in-
cluding boots and shoes, cottons of various
grades, cabinet ware, carriages, iron — bar, hoop,
pig, puddled, rod, sheet, nails, spikes, etc. ;
leather, steam engines, cars and locomotives,
satinets and tweeds, machinery of various kinds,
etc. The articles enumerated under the various
schedules were to pay two-thirds of the rate of
duty payable in either country at the date of the
Treaty, from July 1st, 1S75, to June 30th, 1876;
one-third of such rate from July ist, 1876, to
June 30th, 1877 ; and from the latter date were
to be admitted into both countries free of duty
until the expiration of the treaty — which was to
continue twenty-one years, with a provision for
three years' notice of termination. The draft
treaty provided for the free use of the Canadian
canals, and their enlargement to a depth of twelve
feet by January, 1880, and for the construction of
a canal from the St. Lawrence to Lake Cham-
plain by the same date, and having a depth of
twelve feet ; the United States being required to
provide a twelve-foot channel from Lake Chai.i-
plain to New York. The Treaty made the carry-
ing trade of the St. Lawrence and the great
lakes free to the vessels of either country, and
also provided for the American registry of Can-
adian-built ships and the Canadian registry of
American-built ships. Had this arrangement been
ratified by the United States Senate, and gone
into effect, it would no doubt have resulted in an
enormous expansion of our trade with the United
States and the more rapid increase of Canada in
population and wealth.
From 1867 to the present time, the agricultural
schedules of the American tariff have subjected
our agricultural and animal products to duties,
more or less onerous, and the commercial policy
of the United States towards Canada has been
one of repression and unfriendliness. Lumber,
minerals and quarry products have also been
subjected to heavy duties, with a mitigation in
the direction of lowered duties on lumber in
1890, and of free forest products in 1894. It <?
strongly urged that this policy has been seriously
prejudicial to our interests, and is chiefly respon-
sible for our exceedingly unsatisfactory ratio of
increase in population. It has also been injurious
beyond question to American interests, though to
a much smaller relative extent, owing to the Vast
population, the greater wealth, and the more
extended development of the resources of that
country.
During the period from 1879 to the present
•:M'
John Charlton, M.P.
time the Canadian Government has sought to
afford the Canadian agricultural class some re-
compen 3 for the burdens placed upon them by
the Americarv tariff, through their policy of agri-
cultural protection. This policy afforded all the
relief that was attainable short of that which
might have been afforded by lowering or removing
the duties upon such imported commodities as
the farmer was obliged to purchase. While this
policy may, in some instances, have been slightly
beneficial, many of us believe that it was, on the
fM .
ght to
me re-
lem by
f agri-
all the
which
moving
lities as
ile this
slightly
on the
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^iDIA. 375
whole, of trifling consequence to the agricultural secure the sawing of the logs in our own country,
class. The country exported considerable quanti- was naturally a cause of irritation. Since 1890
ties of nearly ail the products upon which duties the relative proportions of export and import of
were imposed, and it was the price received for logs has changed, and for the period from 1890 to
the surplus, thus exported, that governed prices 1896, our exports of logs to the United States,
in Canada. A duty could have little or no in- have exceeded our imports of logs from the United
fluence upon the price of any article which we States, including the New Brunswick import, by
did not import for consumption, and of which about 37 per cent.
we had a considerable surplus after supplying the While the McK'nley Bill, which became law late
home demand. American coal duties were met in 1890, conceded a reduction in lumber duties,
by duties upon American bituminous coal, which its provisions with relation to the Canadian agricul-
were designed to give the coal mines of Nova turist weremademoreonerousand illiberal than the
Scotia command of the Canadian market to as corresponding provisionsof any American tarifftiiat
great an extent as possible, and which did in- had preceded it. The measure seemed to aim at the
crease the consumption of Nova Scotia coal. But exclusion of Canadian farm products from the mar-
this was done at the cost of the consumer — ketsof the United States. The increases made in-
especially in the Province of Ontario. eluded barley from 10 cents per bushel to 30 cents
The American lumber duties were met by an _per bushel; cattle from 20 per cent, to $10 per
export duty upon saw-logs, first imposed in 1866 at head ; horses from 20 per cent, to $30 per head,
$1.00 per M., increased to $2.00 per M. in 1886, anil when exceeding $150 in value, 30 percent.;
and continued till 1890, when a $1.00 duty malt from 20 cents to 45 cents per bushel ; beans
upon white pine lumber was arranged upon condi- from free to 40 cents per bushel ; hay from $2 to
tion that no export duties should be imposed by $4 per ton. The injurious influence of this mea-
Canada. The objection was urged to the export sure upon the export of farm products to the
duty that it was indefensible because the import United States is shown by the following table,
of saw-logs from the United States vastly exceed- giving exports of certain farm products for the
ed our export of logs to that country, and that fiscal year before the McKinley Bill went into
the United States did not attempt to interfere operation, and for the year when it was superseded
with the trade by imposing export duties, which, by the Wilson Bill :
indeed, the constitution of the country prohibit-
,^, ,. ,, , , ,, ICXPOKT or CERTAIN FARM I'KOOICTS TO THE
ed. Our largest import of saw-logs was from the
ot . f »* • • * .1 w ■ f VT n INITKD STATKS.
State of Mame mto the Frovmce of New Bruns-
wick, for conversion into lumber at St. John and jJe\TiS^. jlne'3o,''i'895.
other New Brunswick points. From 1885 to Horned cattle $ 104,623 § 19,216
1891, inclusive, our export of saw-logs to the Sheep 761,565 ^46,746
United States amounted, as per Trade and Navi- Fouitrv 105,612 36,574
gation Returns, to $3,289,000. Our import of Hg^s 1,793,104 275,827
logs, during the same period, was $3,188,000, in- Barley 4,582.661 706,586
dependent of the importation from Maine into .Split peas 74.205 5,616
New Brunswick, which for the same period Kye 113,320 5,493
amounted to 659,000,000 feet, valued at $5,280,- Malt 149,310 4,470
000, or a total saw-log importation for the period Horses 1,887,895 510,765
of $8,468,000, as against a saw-log export for the
same period of $3,289,000. Considering the rela- $9<572. 295 $1,911,293
tive condition of th, saw-log export and import Following the enactment of the McKinley Bill
trade, in which the proportion of our excess of in 1890, came the Canadian general elections of
imports over exports, prior to 1885, had been still 1891, which were held in March. The Liberal
greater than for the period under consideration ; party had made the pledge to attempt to get a
the imposition of an export duty designed to Reciprocity Treaty with the United States a lead-
• •■■■ f
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
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ing issue in the contest, and the Conservative
leaders deprived this party cry of nearly all its
potency by asserting that the Government had
actually entered upon Reciprocity negotiations.
After the elections, in April, 1891, the Hon. Mac-
kenzie Boweil, Hon. Geo. E. Foster and Sir
Charles Tupper visited Washington, for the pur-
jx)se of carrying out the Conservative election
pledges, but did not succeed in inducing the Presi-
dent or Mr. Blaine, the American Secretary of
State, to meet them and discuss the subject of
their mission. It was asserted by their opponents
that their reception was an ungracious one, and
that President Harrison made no attempt to
conceal his resentment at the part which the
alleged Reciprocity negotiations had taken in the
election.
In February, 1892, the Canadian Commissioners,
Sir John Thompson, Hon. Geo. E. Foster, and
Hon. Mackenzie Boweil, discussed the Recipro-
city proposals with the American State Depart-
ment. The Canadian and the American versions of
the interviews which followed differ radically. The
Canadian version of the matter, endorsed by Sir
Julian Pauncefote, asserts that Mr. Blaine
required that the two conntries should have a
uniform tariff as against the rest of the world.
General J. W. Foster, who was present at all the
interviews, and who succeeded Mr. Blaine as
Secretary of State, explicitly denies this statement.
Upon another important point both versions
agree, namely, that the Canadian Commissioners
refused to present propositions for reciprocal
trade which extended beyond the limit of natural
products, and that Mr. Blaine refused to consider
propositions which did not include an agreed list
of manufactures. The result was that ail
reference to reciprocity negotiations was dropped,
and the Commission conhned itself to the discus-
sion of the wrecking regulations and other mat-
ters. One can scarcely avoid expressing regret
that the Canadian Commissioners had not
followed up the line of negotiations which Mr.
Blaine invited, at least so far as to ascertain to
what extent he would require the mutually free
admission of manufactures as a solatium for the
free admission of natural products into the mar-
kets of the United States. This fruitless mission
gave rise to Opposition charges of insincerity on
the part of the Canadian Commissioners in mak-
ing professions of a desire to obtain reciprocity,
when the American Government had uniformly
declared a treaty confined to the free exchange of
natural products as impossible — the Canadian
Government being well advised of the American
position upon the matter. Whatever may be the
truth as to motives, and the verdict as to whether
the Canadian Commissioners should have gone
beyond the limit of proposals that were certain
to be rejected, one fact at least was clearly demon-
strated — that it was a hopeless task to attempt
to obtain a treaty confined to natural products.
The Wilson Tariff Bill, which went into effect
in August, 1894, placed raw forest products, includ-
ing planed lumber, upon the free list, and placed
duties in the agricultural schedule back in most
cases to the rates which had obtained before the
the passage of the McKinley Bill in iSgo. The
relief afforded by this measure to the agricultural
interest of Canada was important, though the
duties were still twenty per cent, ad valorem and
upwards. Unfortunately the Canadian quaran-
tine regulations for cattle were copied by the
American authorities, and the result was that from
the imposing of these regulations in 1894 to their
removal in February, 1896, the American market
was absolutely closed to our shippers of stock
cattle.
At the time of the passage of the Wilson Bill,
or during the time in which it was under consider-
ation, had the Government at Ottawa been favour-
able to a Reciprocity treaty that would embrace
a limited list of manufactures, an arrangement
might have been negotiated with the Government
of Mr. Cleveland, and its ratification by the
Senate could probably have been obtained. When
the Liberal party came into power in i8g6, the
opportunity was gone, for although the State
Department under Mr. Olney was still favourable,
the Senate had ceased to be in accord with the
Administration.
At the moment of writing these lines the
McKinley Administration has been installed for
less than nine months. During that time the
Dingley Bill has passed the House of Repre-
sentatives and the United States Senate, and
been signed by the President. This measure
restc. he bad features of the McKinley Bill as
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
377
regards Canadian agricultural interests, and is
more unfavourable to Canada as relates to the
lumber interest than the McKinley measure was.
The provisions of the Bill have aroused deep
resentment in Canada. The resentful feelings of
Canadians are not unreasonable or without foun-
dation. Not only is the Dingley Bill illiberal
and unfriendly, but it is so gratuitously and with-
out provocation. At the very moment when this
declaration of commercial hostility towards us
was made, an examination of our trade condi-
tions will show that our policy towards the United
States was a friendly and, indeed, a generous one.
Let us examine these trade conditions, as revealed
by the trade returns for the year i8g6 :
Total imports for consumption in
1896 1
Total exports,the produce of Canada.
Total amount of duty collecteo
Imports from the United States for
consumption in i8g6
United States share of total im-
ports
Portion of United States imports for
consumption on free list
Portion of United States imports for
consumption, on dutiable list...
Amount of dut)' collected on imports
from United States
Exports from Canada to the United
States
Balance of trade in favour of United
States
the
1 for
the
Imports from Great Britain for the
fiscal year 1896, entered for
consumption
Imports from Great Britain for con-
sumption, not dutiable
Imports from Great Britain for con-
sumption, dutiable
Duty collected upon British imports.
Exports from Canada to Great Bri-
tain
Balance of trade in favour of Canada.
Imports entered for consumption
from all countries except Great
Britain and the United States..
1110,587,480
121.013,852
20,219,073
58,574,024
53 per cent.
29,472,378
29,101,646
7,767,992
44,448,410
14,125,614
32,979,742
8,613,563
24,366,179
7.J58.574
66.690,288
33,710,546
19.033.714
Portion of same on free list 5,261,730
Portion of same, dutiable I3.77i>934
Duty collected on same 5,093,507
Exports from Canada to all coun-
tries except Great Britain and
the United States 9,875,154
Balance of trade ajrainst Canada..... 9,158,560
Rate of duty on total amount of
goods imported by Canada for
consumption 18.28 ivr cent.
Rate of duty on total amount of
dutiable goods imported for
consumption 30.06 "
Rate of duty upon entire amount
of goods imported for consump-
tion from United States 13.26 "
Rate on same from Great Britain.... 22.31 "
Rate on same from all other coun-
tries 26.75 "
Rate of duty upon dutiable portion
of goods entered from United
Stat.?<5 for consumption 26.35 "
Rate on same from Great Britain.... 30.02 "
Rate on same from all other countries 36.97 "
By this statement it will be seen that over one-
half of the imports from the United States were
upon the free list, while only one-quarter of the
imports from Great Britain were free in 1896.
The duty upon the entire amount of imports
from the United States was 9.05 less than from
Great Britain, and 13.49 less than from the rest
of the world. The duty upon the dutiable im-
ports from the United States was also 3.67 less
than on those from Great Britain, and 10.62 less
than on those from the rest of the world.
The impression that obtains in the United
States, that the trade in natural products between
the two countries is confined to sales by Canada
to the United States, is a mistaken one. In the
year 1896, our exports of agricultural products,
the produce of Canada, to the United States
amounted to $3,232,793. The same year, our
import of agricultural products from the United
States, entered for consumption, was $3,271,629
on the dutiable list, and $5,264,231 on the free
list, a total of $8,535,860, which included raw
cotton and tobacco-leaf. The same year, our ex-
port to the United States of animals and their
WW
378
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
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i
products, the produce of Canada, amounted to
$3,341,275, while our imports of animals and
their products from the United States, for con-
sumption, amounted to $851,005 on the dutiable
list, and $2,tS73,48o on the free list ; a total of
$3,724,485, or an amount in excess of our export
to the United States of $383,210.
The above trade compilations need no com-
ments. They prove that our trade policy to-
wards the United States is relatively more favour-
able than is our policy towards any other country,
and that it is eminently liberal and moderate ;
and the drastic provisions of the Dingley Bill
stand out therefore in strong and most unfavour-
able contrast with this policy and its fruits. The
Liberal party of Canada is pledged to make one
more effort to obtain a Reciprocity treaty with
the United States. Its leaders are fully alive to
the advantages of a market so great and so near
at hand. We desire the privileges of com-
peting on equal terms with the American
agricultural States for the supply of the millions
congregated in towns and cities within easy
reach of our fields. We believe that the result
of this free competition will not to any consider-
able degree tiepress prices in the American mar-
kets, for if the American farmer does not com-
pete with the Canadian farmer on this side of the
Atlantic, he must do so in England. Our farmers,
miners and lumbermen want access without
restriction to the American market, not because
we desire to depress prices in that country, but
because we wish to raise prices in our own. We
desire to share in the commercial activities of
this continent. Wp -•: willing to meet our
neighbours half wa :n mure if necessary,
and to give full con ation for all that we ask.
If free trade is a good thing for the forty-four
States of the American Union, we are certain that
the same general law will apply to the Canadian
Provinces. We are tired of commercial hostility,
and want an era of harmony, concord and com-
mercial movements on a scale commensurate
with our respective resources and capabilities. If
the consummation of this desire is not secured,
the fault will be none of ours, but will be due to
the repulse of friendly and equitable overtures.
In such case, what shall we of the Liberal
party do ? We shall simply accept the situa-
tion with a determination to make the best
of it. Regrets will be vain and useless. Cour-
age and self-reliance will at least win a fair,
if not a most satisfactory, degree of success.
We will certainly feel ourselves bound to
cease to practically discriminate against the
Mother-land. If we cannot increase our ex-
ports to the United States, it will not be unnat-
ural to seek to reduce the balance of trade
against us by the reduction of American im-
ports. We will seek in every possible way to
develop and extend our export trade with Eng-
land, and we will be impelled by every consider-
ation of fair play and filial feeling to arrange a
tariff that will permit the imports from England
to wipe out, to the greatest practical extent, the
balance of trade that we now score up against
her. We shall look with more favour upon
schemes for the consolidation of a world-wide
empire, and will be ready and anxious to meet
any discrimination that England maybe induced
to make in favour of Colonial products by dis-
criminations as generous in favour of British im-
ports. The parting of the way is just before us;
we have a preference as to which road we shall
take; but if access is denied us, we will enter
upon the other with high resolve to make it the
road to victory over all the obstacles that may
confront us.
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379
The Hon. Peter Mitchell, Minister of Marine
and Fislieries, in a document published in the
Sessional Papers, Vol. XVIII., No. 13, 1885, and
dated 4th of July, 1870, gives a valuable review of
Canadian fiscal relations with the United States :
" This Government, prior to the meeting of the
last Parliament, ceased to entertain the hopes
expressed by my Lord Granville, and felt it to be
their duty to deal with the great resources of this
country quite irrespective of what might or might
not be hoped for from the United States. This
was clearly indicated in a Report of the under-
signed of the nth December last, approved by
Council, in dealing with a despatch of my Lord
Granville, covering two Memoranda from the
Board of Trade, upon the subject of the Colonial
Coasting Trade, in which, while regretting the
necessity of declining to act upon the suggestions
of Her Majesty's Government by throwing open
their coasting tiiide to the United States as
Great Britain had done, while they continued to
close theirs against us, the subject was t. re
entered into at length, and a policy outlined which
has met with the approval of Parliament and the
public sentiment of this country. The following
is an extract from such Report :
' The experience of these twenty years has, in the
opinion of the undersigned, proved to the people
of Canada that concessions in matters of trade,
navigationand shipping, voluntarily conceded by us,
have not been reciprocated in by the Government
of the United States, and, indeed, have not always
been ap[)reciated, nor the value of them realized.
The United States Government put an end, in
1866, after an existence of eleven years, to the
Reciprocity Treaty which was of such great value
as well to them as to the several British-American
Provinces. They refused to renew or re-construct
it, except on terms which were not to be defended
in the interests of our trade ; and though the
undersigned, in common with a considerable por-
tion of the public of Canada, was led to believe,
from the utterances of their press and commercial
centres of trade for the last two years, as well as
the expressed opinions of some of the leading
public men, that public sentiment was changing
in favou. of " new arrangements," whereby trade
relations would be again re-established on prin-
ciples of reciprocal free trade, these expectations
have been dispelled, and the existence of such
opinions to any great extent in the Cabinet of the
United States has been negatived by the message
of the President, in which he distinctively states :
" that the renewal of the Treaty with us has not
been favourably considered by the Administra-
tion," while he expresses a belief "that the ad-
vantages of such a Treaty are wholly in favour of
the British Provinces, except, possibly, a few
engaged in the trade between the two sections."
He distinctly states that " no citizen of the United
States would be benefitted by Reciprocity," and
yet gives expression to the opinion that " some
arrangements for the regulation of commercial
intercourse may be desirable," and the recent
action of Congress would tend to confirm the
belief that no reciprocal arrangement of a satis-
factory character can now be obtained.
The undersigned would observe that there are
numerous argumentswhichcan be adduced from an
American point of view in favour of the position
assumed by their Chief Magistrate against the
renewal of the Treaty, and that while England
has pursued a most liberal course towards foreign
nations in relation to trade and navigation, and
has offered the fullest opportunities for foreign
competition, theargumentwhichhasdone much to
remove objectio'.is to such a policy in Canada has
been the belief, repeatedly expressed by English
statesmen, that those foreign countries whichenjoy-
ed the benefits of that liberal policy and that free
trade would intimereciprocate; and such expecta-
tions have not been without their results in Europe.
In America, however, no such results have fol-
lowed the liberality of England, although a gene-
ration of our people have already passed away ;
and indeed national events have tended to make
the adoption of such a policy on the part of the
United States much more difficult ; and while we
go on making concessions, permitting them to
have privileges, and giving them facilities which
they decline to reciprocate ; while, in fact, they
possess the right of registry for their ships in our
ports, and have practically enjoyed our coasting
trade, and at the same time refused us similar
privileges ; while they have had the benefit of our
canals and rivers, without corresponding conces-
sions on their part, they have compelled our ships
to pay a war tax of 30 cents gold per ton and other
Customs fees, without any such corresponding
charges in our ports upon their ships (notwith-
standing the 173rd section of the Imperial Act, 16
and 17 Vic, chap. 107, to which I have referred
in the Minute of Council annexed, we have not
retaliated).
Our fisheries, too, they have had open to them
on the most liberal terms, while British-caught
fish is met with a duty which has closed their
country as a market for our fishermen, and indeed
they have made their tariff in general almost pro-
hibitory; and while their legislation tends towards
exclusion, the construction they put upon their
tariff laws, and their execution of them, bear most
heavily upon our people. Under these circum-
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380
CANADA : AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
stances, the undersigned regrets that he should, in
viewing the past, arrive at conclusions different
from those which seem to be entertained by the
Board of Trade, viz., that a continuance of the
policy of concession would, with that foreign
nation in whose trade we are chiefly interested,
lead to the result hoped for, and secure a " reci-
procal liberality of treatment " ; and he thinks it
would be unwise to force it on them, unasked, at
the present time. He is of opinion that the true
policy of the Canadian Government at present
should be to retain all the privileges which it now
possesses, until fresh negotiations take place for
new trade relations between Canada and the
United States, when the opening of the whole
coasting trade of the Dominion to United States
shipping can be included in any arrangements
which may be made, if the Canadian Government
should then be of opinion that it would be advis-
able and in the interest of Canada to do so.' "
On February 8rd, 1871, the Hon. George S.
Boutwell, United States Secretary of the Trea-
sury, submitted to Congress the Report of Mr. J.
N. Lamed, who had been appointed Special Agent
under a joint resolution of Congress — approved
June 23rd, 1870 — " to inquire into the extent and
state of the trade between the United States and
the several Dependencies of Great Britain in
North America."
The document is a long and important one,
and certain quotations from it will reveal the na-
ture of the trade carried on and the American
view of the Reciprocal arrangement. It also
shows the strong belief there entertained as to
Canadian dependence upon the Republic. Mr.
Larned gives the following statement of values
in a few of the principal articles imported into
"old Canada" from the United States during
certain years :
Articles.
Coal
Cotton, ivool
Flax, hemp and
tow, manufacl'd.
Flour
Grain, all kinds. ..
Hides, horns and
pelts
Indian meal and
oatmeal
Meat, all kinds..
Tobacco, unm'f'd.
Wool
1864.65 i8b7'68 l86S'6<) 1869 70
544,511 » 791.998 ? 795. J77 » 864.500
88,786 213,194 295,166 353.584
120,897 147,866
690,124 94.444
3,584,405 3,604,998
153,963 165,105
634.592 i59.8r>5
4,675,16s 4.4"3>82S
265,000 1,071,999 750.749 1,000,989
36,622
876,968
277,007
174,071
47.865
230.332
450,288
253.7.^6
40,524
5 '9.99'
800,963
426,288
«4.937
440.702
722,432
400,983
He then goes on to say that " The return
trade, or what we have chiefly bought from the
Provinces, can be exhibited more comprehensive-
ly, in history at least, as will be seen in the table
following, which shows the values of the leading
articles imported into the United States from all
the British Possessions in North America during
a series of years. The series cannot be made as
complete as I should wish, for the reason that
articles imported under the Reciprocity Treaty
were not discriminated for several years in the
official trade records of this Government." The
table is as follows :
CHIEF IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.
'!W ■■■■
.\rlicles.
Wood and manufactures of
Wood (except cabinet wood)
Animals, living
Wheat
Flour
Barley
Oats ,
Rye
Products of fisheries
Coal
Provisions and tallow
Butter
Wool, raw and fleece
Hides and skins
Potatoes
Furs and Fur Skins
Gypsum, unground
Pig Iron
Ashes. . .
Coin and bullion
1854
$753,169
73.821
2,069,070
1,792,789
5.569
37.108
202
1,004,468
254.774
4.431
126,811
69,080
34.729
88,405
13,920
106,114
1 10,840
'855
$820,959
42,126
1.441.397
1,849,109
90,822
19.075
32,601
833.361
243.784
4.038
84,773
13,890
38,592
129,076
5.977
107,136
109,882
1863
$3,203,906
1.351.173
1,050,803
2,137,610
1,524,221
1,418,723
12,577
736,549
757.094
150,782
326,634
781,867
137.113
147,380
143.133
25,882
1865
$4,887,589
5.503.318
1,694,916
1,970,348
4,093,202
2,216,722
72,999
2,213,384
1,223,981
851.344
668,917
1.527,275
228,090
142,602 18,445
460,026
6,536,468
214,622
61,439
86,320
415,398
4,044,065
1867
$6,431,058
1,902,960
3,262,859
1,765,285
2,012,547
257,085
149,361
2,054,646
925.447
84,500
648,102
201,083
81,805
62,238
133.403
94,900
204,345
167,207
8,560,173
1869
$7,170,339
3.471.580
1,673.629
446,003
4,624,320
143,190
157.731
1,505,209
758,588
1,429,349
715.369
435,507
42,045
239,104
133.310
381,192
45.569
2,796,548
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP^.DIA.
38t
The Report concludes with an interesting view
of the situation — from an American standpoint :
" In every commercial respect the dependence
of the Provinces of the Dominion of Canada —
especially of the old Canadian Provinces — upon
the United States, is almost absolute. To say so
is not to make an arrogant boast, but to state a
simple fact. Restricted as the intercourse be-
tween the Canadas and this country unhappily is
now, they derive from it almost wholly the life
which animates their industry and their enter-
prise. The railroad system which gives them a
circulation of energies, and by which their re-
sources are being developed, is the offspring of
the East and West traffic of the United States.
Its trunk lines are supported, and were made
possible undertakings, by the carrying business
that they command from point to point of the
American frontier, across intervening Canadian
territory. American commerce instigated the
building of the Welland and St. Lawrence canals,
and furnishes the compensation for the cost of
both. American commerce is the instigator to,
and the guarantor for, every similar enterprise
that is now contemplated in the Provinces."
The fact that British capital and Canadian en-
ergies created these railways and canals, and that
American tariffs and legislation have done every-
thing possible to restrict and cramp Canadian
development to the South, does not seem to have
occurred to Mr. Larned.
The Commission seekint; Reciprocity in 1874
from the United States was made up of Sir Ed-
ward Thornton, British Ambassador at Washing-
ton, and the Hon. George Brown, the special
representative of Canada. The following is the
most important part of an official communication
submitted to Mr. Hamilton Fish, the United
States Secretary of State, on April 27th, 1874,
and signed by the two British Commissioners :
" In the interview which we had the honour to
be favoured with by you at the State Department
on the 8th of March, we stated to you that Her
Majesty's Government was prepared to accept a
renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, as a
substitute for the arbitration provision of the
Washington Treaty, in reference to the Canadian
Coast Fisheries.
You thereupon suggested an enlargement of
the scope of the Treaty, and we asked in what
manner you would propose to enlarge it.
You replied that you had no proposition to
make, but that you suggested, as topics for dis-
cussion, the enlargement of the Canadian canals,
so as to facilitate the transportation of the pro-
ducts of the great Western States to the Atlantic
seaboard ; and also the addition of certain classes
of manufactures to the free list of the old
Treaty.
We then stated that we were prepared to enter
into an agreement for the enlargement of the
Canadian canals.
In regard to the addition of certain classes of
manufactures to the free list under the old Treaty,
we reminded you that the revenue of the Can-
adian Dominion was largely obtained from a
fifteen-per-cent. ad valorem duty on manufactured
goods, and that any articles made free in Canada
under agreement with any foreign country must
be made free to Great Britain. But we added
that the Government of Canada was desirous to
afford every facility for the encouragement of ex-
tended commercial relations between the Repub-
lic and the Dominion, in the belief that nothing
could tend more to their mutual advantage, not
only in a pecuniary sense, but as tending to foster
and strengthen those friendly feelings that ought
eminently to prevail between two peoples mainly
derived from the same origin, speaking the same
language, and occupying the geographic position
towards each other of the United States and
Canada. We conveyed to you the assurance of
the Canadian Government, that, acting in this
spirit, and in the confidence that we would be
met in the same spirit by the Government of the
Republic, the assent of Canada will be heartily
given to any measure calculated to promote the
free and fair interchange of commodities, to re-
duce the cost of transportation, or conduce to
the joint advantage of the two countries, so that
it be not seriously prejudicial to existing industrial
interests of the Canadian people.
In the spirit of this assurance, we invited you
to suggest for discussion the classes of manufac-
tures that you would desire to have embraced in
the new treaty. This jou declined to do ; but
you urged that we should indicate the enlarge-
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CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP.i.DIA.
nients of the old Treaty likely to be iicceptable to
both countries. Without acquiescing in the pro-
priety of this course, we yieliled to your wishes,
and now proceed to fulfil our promise to do so.
We propose that the new Treaty shall be for
the term of twenty-one years, to inspire confi-
dence among business men investing their capital
in such extensive enterprises as would naturally
follow from the completion of a comprehensive
treaty.
We propose that the Treaty shall provide for
the free admission into the United States, the
Dominion of Canada and the Island of Newfound-
land, of the following articles, as under the Treaty
of 1854 :
Animals of all kinds, butter, cheese, eggs, furs
undressed, hides undressed, horns, lard,
meats, fresh, smoked or salted, pelts, poultry,
skins undressed, tails undressed, tallow, wool.
Breadstuffs of all kinds, broom-corn, cotton-wool,
tlax unmanufactured, flour of all kinds, fruits
dried and undried, grain of all kinds, hemp
unmanufactured, plants, rice, seeds, shrubs,
tobacco unmanufactured, tow unmanufac-
tured, trees, vegetables.
Ashes, bark, firewood, lumber of all kinds, round,
hewed or sawed, unmanufactured in whole or
in part, pitch, tar, timber of all kinds, round,
hewed or sawed, unmanufactured in whole or
in part, turpentine.
Burr or grindstones, hewn, wrought or unwrought,
coal, gypsum, ground or unground, marble in
its crude or unwrought state, ores of all kinds
of metals, slate, stone in its crude or un-
wrought state.
Fish of all kinds, fish, products of, and of all other
creatures living in the water, fish-oil, dj'e-
stuffs, manures, rags.
We propose the following additions to the
above list of free articles :
Agricultural implements, to be defined, bark,
extracts of, for tanning purposes, bath bricks,
bricks for building purposes, earth orchres,
ground or unground, hay, lime, malt, manufac-
tures of iron and steel, manufactures of iron or
steel and wood jointly, manufactures of wood,
minerals and other oils, plaster, raw or calcined,
salt, straw, stone, marble or granite, partly or
wholly cut or wrought.
We propose that the enjoyment of the Cana>
dian coast fisheries shall be conceded to the United
States during the continuance of the new Treaty,
in the manner and on the conditions provided
under the Washington Treaty, except those in
regard to the payment of money compensation for
the privilege.
We propose that, during the continuance of the
Treaty, the coasting trade of Canada and the
United States shall be thrown open to the vessels
of both countries on a footing of complete recipro-
cal equality.
We propose that the Canadian canals, from
Lake Krie to Montreal, be enlarged forthwith at
the expense of C'anada, so as to admit of the pas-
sage of vessels Ato feet in length, with 45 feet
beam, with a depth equal to the capacity of the
lake harbours.
We propose that, during the continuance of the
Treaty, all the Canadian canals and the Erie,
Whitehall, Sault Ste Marie, and Lake St. Clair
canals, in the United States, shall be thrown open
to the vessels, boats and barges of both countries
on the same terms and conditions to the citizens
of both countries ; an<l that full power be given to
tranship cargo from ships or steamers into canal-
boats at any canal entrance, and also to tranship
boats into ships or steamers at atiy canal outlet.
The free navigation of the St. Lawrence river
having been conceded forever by Great Britain to
the United State under the Washington Treaty,
but the free navigation of Lake Michigan having
been conceded for ten years only by the United
States to Great Britain under the same Treaty,
we propose that both concessions be placed on the
same footing, free from restrictions as to report-
ing at any port in the United States other than
the port of destination.
We propose that, during the continuance of the
Treaty, vessels of all kinds built in the United
States or Canada may be owned and sailed by the
citizens of the other, and be entitled to registry
in either country, and to all the benefits thereto
pertaining.
We propose that a Joint Commission shall be
formed, and continued during the operation of the
Treaty, for deepening and r.aintaining in
thoroughly efficient condition the navigation of
the rivers St. Clair and Detroit, and Lake St.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA 383
Clair, on whichever side of the river tlie best and draw certain inferences from thcni in their
channel shall be found ; the expense to be de- Mcinori*ndutii of 1874. They declared that :
frayed jointly by the contracting parties, by con- " The transportation traffic sent to and brou),'lit
tributions corresponding to the commerce carried from forei^'n countries by the Provinces, in jjond,
on in these waters by them respectively. over the radways and canals, and in the ocean
We propose that a Joint Commission shall be ships and steamers trading; from the United
formed, at joint expense, and maintained during States ports, rose under the ojjeration of tiie Treaty
the operation of the new Treaty, for securing the to an importance secondary only to the traffic in
erection and proper regulation of all light-houses domestic productions. Previous to the negotiation
on the great lakes common to both countries, of the Treaty this traffic had assumed consider-
necessary to the security of the shipping thereon, able dimensions, but the vast increase that
We propose that a Joint Conunission shall be occurred under its operation must have drawn
formed, at joint expense, and maintained during very large gains into the coffers of the Republic,
the continuance of the Treaty, to promote the and indinrt advantages quite as valuable as the
propagation of fish in the inland waters common directones. No official returns of the goods which
to both countries, and to enforce the lawsenacted thus passed over the United States seem to have
for the protection of the fish and fishing grounds, been preserved until the fiscal year 1867 68; but
We propose that citizens of either country shall from the returns since published we can form
be entitled, during the continuance of the Treaty, some idea of the great profit that must have
to take out Letters Patent for new discoveries in accrued to the Republic while the Treaty was in
the other country, on the same footing as if they force. These returns thus state the values of the
had been citizens of that country. foreign exports that passed over the United
We propose that the best method of discoun- States iti transitu during the past six years:
tenancing and punishing illicit trade between the _
X • u 11 u *u u- if J »■ J TOTAL LNITlil) STATI-S TRANSIT TRAFFIC
countries shall be the subject of consideration and
co-operation by the Customs Authorities of the ^^"'^ $21,515,604
two countries. '^^'J 21,095,984
That in case a Treaty of Commercial Recipro- ^ "7° 2 5,191,860
city should not have been concluded before the ^ 7^ 25,375,037
end of the present session of Congress, the right ' 7^ 3i>3o5>320
of adjudication of the claim of Canada to compen- ' 73 40,099,185
sat ion for the fisheries, under Articles XXII. to
XXV. of the Treaty of Washington, would in Total transit traffic. $162,662,990
nodegreebe waived, and that in that event the ful- Of this vast traffic, $115,241,704 consisted of
filmentof the stipulation contained in those articles merchandise imported by the Provinces from
would be immediately proceeded with." other countries and carried over United States
It is hardly necessary to say that, while the railways and canals into Canada, and $48,556,557
discussion dragged along for months upon this of it consisted of produce exported abroad from
basis, nothing came of it. Neither President Grant, the Provinces via the United States. The fact that
Mr. Fish, nor the American Congress desired these two amounts appear to make unitedly more
any kind of Reciprocity which Canada could than the whole aggregate of the United States tran-
accept — as Mr. Brown's correspondence in his sit trade, arises from the shipments made from one
Memoirs by the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie fully part of Canada to another, and consequently
indicate. appearing in the list of goods going into the
United States, as well as in that of goods sent out
The transportation advantages of the United from the United States. Nearly the whole of the
States in connection with the Elgin Reciprocity traffic in transitu of the Republic in these six years
Treaty were very great. Sir Edward Thornton was either sent from or sent to the British Prov-
and the Hon. George Brown state certain facts inces. And from its volume in these recent years,
.t.
k ,
'f'r
■
3«4
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
ml.
I*: 1
i r'.
'i'i
Pfr-
we may form some idea of its great extent under
the operation of the Treaty, when Colonial facili-
ties for transportation were so different from
what they now are."
The following document, published In the
Sessional papers — Volume VI., 1873 — illustrates
the situation which led up to the despatch of the
Hon. George Brown to Washington m 1S74.
It is addressed to the Ciovernor-General-in-
Council as follows :
" The Memorial of the Dominion Board of
Trade most respectfully showeth :
That under the operation of the Reciprocity
Treaty, which was entered into in 1854 by the
Government of Great Britain and the United
States, for the purpose of furthering and enlarging
trade relations between the United States and the
Provinces of British North America, the com-
merce and general prosperity of Canada was
greatly promoted and increased ; said Treaty
being also of great value to the commercial
interests of the United States.
That, at the instance of the Government of the
United States, formal notice was given, in the year
1865, for the abrogation of said Reciprocity Treaty,
which was thereupon abrogated in the year 1866 ;
that notwithstanding the abrogation of* said
Treaty, the trade of Canada with the United
States has continued to increase ; and that it is
confidently believed that if a new Reciprocity
Treaty on an enlarged, liberal and equitable basis
were negotiated on behalf of the Domin-
ion of Canada with the United States,
there would be a still further and very much
larger augmentation of the volume of trade
between the two countries ; and that with this
view, the business men and commercial organi-
zations of both countries have been, and are, giv-
ing the question of reciprocal trade relations their
most earnest consideration. That at the fifth
annual meeting of the United States National
Board of Trade, held in the City of New York in
October, 1872, a Resolution was adopted with
great unanimity as follows :
' That the Executive Council be instructed to
memorialize Congress to make an appropriation
for the appointment of a Commission to act in
conjunction with the State Department, in
negotiating a Treaty with Great Britain for reci-
Crocal trade with the Dominion of Canada on a
road, comprehensive and liberal basis, which
shall also include the enlargement of the Canadian
canals by the Government of Canada, and the
Tight of American vessels to navigate the said
canals under the same conditions as are imposed
upon Canadian vessels.'
That at the third annual general meeting of the
Dominion Board of Trade, held m the City of
Ottawa, in January of the present year, a Resolu-
tion was unanimously adopted as follows :
' That the Executive Council be instructed to
memorialize the Government of the Dominion in
favour of the appointment of a Commission to
act with that of the United States, should one be
named, or to take such other means, as shall best
respond to any action on their part, to carry out
a Treaty of Reciprocity in trade with the United
States.'
Wherefore your memorialists do very respect-
fully represent to Your Excellency-in-Council
their most earnest and cordial desire, that you
will be pleased to consider the important question
of initiating some system of Reciprocal Trade
between the two countries that will give effect to
the views herein set forth ; and your memorialists
beg further to express the hope that Your Excel-
lency-in-Council will be pleased to make such
representations to the Imperial Government as
will procure the appointment of a Commission to
meet and confer with a similar Commission on
the part of the Government of the United States
(if such Commission has been or shall be ap-
pointed), for the purpose of framing and negotiat-
ing such a Treaty of Reciprocal Trade as will he
for the mutual advantage and benefit of the trade
and commerce of the Dominion of Canada, and of
the United States.
Signed in name and on'
behalf of the Dominion
Board of Trade, Mon-
treal, Feb. i8th, 1873.
Henry Fry, President.
Wm. J. Patterson,
Secretary. "
The following were the Customs duties levied
on leading Canadian products by the McKinley
tariff of 1890, together with the duties levied by the
previous United States tarift'of 1883. They illus-
trate the distinct nature of the legislation against
Canadian competition in agricultural products
along the frontier, and reveal one of the causes for
Mr. Blaine's position in the negotiations of 1892:
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
385
TkiIIT of lOKI. McKinUy Tariff.
Bailey ..locenti 30 cents jki bush.
K\i\ft Kree 5 centi (wr dozen
llonn valued r.niler $150... 20 "^ 111/, ra/. $30.00 per head
Iloriet, valued at $150 anil
over " " 30 per cent.
Cattle, o»ei a year old " " $l<i 00 per head
Cattle, a year old or len " " : 00 "
Sheep, one year old or more . " " 1.50 "
Sheep, lets than a year old .. . " " 75 "
Hogs " " 1.50 "
Butler 4 cents per 11). 6 cents per lb.
Beans 10 % a</ va/. 40 cents per bush.
Hay $2.00 per ton $4.00 per Ion.
Hops 8 cents per lb. 1 5 cents per lb.
Polntoes I S cents |ier bush. 25 cents per bush.
I'oultry, live 10% ait fa/, per lb. 3 cents per lb.
" diessed " " " S " "
Onions " "pet bush. 40 cents per bush.
Ties and telegraph poles of
cedar Kree 20 per cent. aJ va/.
Sawn pine lumber $2.00 per 1,000 ft. $1.00 per 1,000 ft.
Iron ore 75 cents fier ton 75 cents per ton.
Wool, Canada long or comb-
ing 10 to 1 1 cts. per lb. 1 2 cents per lb.
Flax, not buckled or dressed. $20,00 per ton $20.00 per ton.
Barley, malt 20 cents per bush. 45 cents per bush.
Peas 10 per cent, at/ va/. 40 cents per bush.
The movement for closer trade relations
with the United States has taken various forms
in Canada since Confederation, and some of them
are mirrored in the resolutions and debates of
the House of Commons. On March i6th, 1870,
the Hon. L. S. Huntingdon, afterwards a ntem-
berof the Liberal Government of Mr. Mackenzie,
introduced the following much discussed Resolu-
tion :
" That an humble address be presented to His
Excellency the Governor-General representing :
' That the increasing population and productions
of this Dominion demand more extensive mar-
kets and a more unrestricted interchange of
commodities with other countries.
That a Continental system of commercial in-
tercourse, or other commercial arrangements
bringing under one general Customs union with
this Dominion the countries chiefly interested in
its trade, would tend to expand our commerce,
develop its resources and multiply our produc-
tions.
That such a system should place in a position
of commercial equality and reciprocity all the
countries becoming parties thereto.
That a great advantage would result fcom
placing the Government of this Dominion 'u di-
rect communication with the several States which
might be willing to negotiate for such commercial
arrangements.
That it is expedient to obtain from the Imperial
Government all necessary powers to enable the
Government of the Dominion to enter into direct
communication with such foreign States as might
be disposed, upon terms advantageous to Can-
ada, to negotiate such commercial regulations.
That in all cases the treaties creating such pro-
posed commercial arrangements shall be subject
to the approval of Her Majesty.' "
On the 2ist of March the Hon. Sir A. T. Gait
moved the following amendment :
" That all the words after ' thit ' be left out,
and the following added : ' An Address be pre-
sented to His Excellency the Governor-General,
representing that the increasing population and
productions of the Dominion demand more ex-
tensive markets and a more unrestricted inter-
change of commodities with other countries.
That great advantage would result from placing
the Government of the Dominion in direct com-
munication with all British Possessions and For-
eign States which might be willing to negotiate
for commercial arrangements tending to this re-
sult. That it is expedient to obtain from the
Imperial Government all necessary powers to en-
able the Government of the Dominion to enter
into direct communication for such purpose with
each British Possession and Foreign State. That
in all cases such proposed commercial arrange-
ments should be subject to the approval of Her
Majesty.' "
Mr. Mackenzie supported this amendment, and
the main motion was defended by Mr. (afterwards
Sir) A. A. Dorion. The Conservatives were not
satisfied with either of them, however, and
speeches were made in disapproval by Sir George
Cartier, Sir Francis Hincks, Mr. (afterwards Sir)
A. J. Smith, the Hon. Joseph Howe, the Hon.
Dr. (now Sir Charles) Tupper, and others. Final-
ly the following amendment to the original mo-
tion was proposed by Sir John A. Macdonald and
carried by 100 votes to 58, with the characteristic
remark from the Premier that it would " put a
quietus upon Zollverein, Customs Unions, free-
trade, and the right to declare peace and war."
"That all after the word 'Resolved' in the
main resolution be struck out, and the following
substituted : ' That this House, while desirous of
it.'
'M
386
CANADA : AN KNCYCI.OIVF.DIA.
II ■•■'^
i
Uil
!
e-t: :
obtaining for the DDniinion tlic freest access to
the markets of tlio world, ami tiiiis aunnientinn
and extendinti its prosperity, is satisfied that this
object can be best obtained by the concurrent
action of the Imperial and Canadian dovern-
ments, and that any attempt to enter into a treaty
with a foreign Power, without the strong and di-
lect support of the Mother-Country, as the
principal party, must fail, and that a Customs
Union with the United States, now so heavily
taxed, would be unfair to the Kmpire and injur-
ious to the Dominion, and weaken the ties now
so happily existing between them.' "
I'or various reasons, into which it is unneces-
sary to enter here, the question of Reciprocal trade
with the United States was not greatly pressed
upon public attention during the ensuing decade.
But in the early Eighties a movement once more
commenced in that direction, and was voiced by
the Hon. (now Sir) L. H. Davies in the following
motion presented to the House of Commons on
March 28th, 1884, and seconded by Mr. John
Charlton :
" That in view of the notice of the termination of
the Fisheries) Articles of the Treaty of Washington,
given by the United States to the British Govern-
ment, and the consequent expiration on the ist of
July, 1885, of the reciprocal privileges and exten-
sions of that Treaty, this House is of opinion
that steps should be taken at an early day by the
Government of Canada, with the object of bring-
ing about negotiations for a new Treaty providing
for the citizetis of Canada and the United States
the reciprocal privileges of fishing and freedom
from duties, now enjoyed, together with additional
reciprocal freedom in the trade relations of the
two countries ; and that in any such negotiations
Canada should be directly represented by some
one nominated by its Government "
This was defeated by 95 to 58 votes. In the
following year, however, on April loth, Mr. Davies
again presented a similar Resolution in the follow-
ing words, and was beaten by a similar vote of
105 to 60 :
" I move in amendment to the motion now be-
fore the House that all the words after the word
' that ' to the end of the question be left out, and
the following inserted instead thereof: ' In view
of the early termination of the Fisheries Articles
of the Treaty of Washington, this House is of
opinion that negotiations should be opened with
the United States of America, as well for the
renuvval of reciprocal privileges accorded by that
Treaty to American citizens and British subjects,
respectively, as for the opening up of additional
reciprocal trade relations between Canada and the
United States ; and that in the conduct of such
negotiations Canada should be directly repre-
sented.' "
By the year 1888 questions of Reciprocity and
Commercial Union had been widely discussed in
the country, and on March 14th, Sir Richard Cart-
wright presented the following motion to the
House of Commons:
" That it is highly desirable that the largest
possible freedom of commercial intercourse should
obtain between the Dominion of Canada and the
United States, and that it is expedient that all
articles manufactured in, or the natural products
of cither of the said countries, should be admitted
free of duty into the ports of the other (articles
subject to duties of excise or of internal revenue
alone excepted). Ti^at it is further expedient
that the Government of the Dominion should
take steps at an early date to ascertain on what
terms and conditions arrangements can be effect-
ed with the United States for the purpose of
securing full and unrestricted reciprocity of trade
therewith."
The Government opposed the motion, and on
April gth, after a prolonged debate, the Hon. G.
E. Foster, Minister of Finance, introduced an
amendment to the following effect, which was
carried upon a party division of 124 to 67 :
"That Canada in the future, as in the past, is
desirous of cultivating and extending trade rela-
tions with the United States in so far as they
may not conflict with the policy of fostering the
various industries and interests of the Dominion
which was adopted in 1879, and which has since
received in so marked a manner the sanction and
approval of the people."
The following amendment to Mr. Foster's
amendment, proposed by the Hon. A. G. Jones,
of Halifax, was lost by the same vote reversed :
" That in any arrangement between Canada
and the United States providing for the importa-
tion into each country of the natural and manu-
CANADA: AN KNf:V( lOIMlDIA.
3«7
fnctured productions of the other, it is highly
desirable that it should be provided that during
the continuance of any such arranf^eincnt the
coasting trade of Canada and of the United States
should be thrown open to vessels of both coun-
tries on a footing of complete reciproc.il equality,
and that vessels of all kinds built in the United
States or Canada may be owned and sailed by the
citizens of the other and be entitled to registry in
cither country and to all the benefits thereto ap-
pertaining."
During the succeeding Session — March 5th,
1889 — Sir Richard Cartwright presented another
motion as follows, which was, however, defeated
by 121 to 77 :
" I beg to move in amendment that you do not
leave the Chair, but that all the words after
' that ' be struck out, and that it be resolved :
' In the present condition of affairs, and in view
of the recent action 9f the House of Represent-
atives of the United States, it is expedient that
steps should be taken to ascertain on what
terms and conditions arrangements can be effected
with the United States for the purpose of secur-
ing full and unrestricted reciprocity of trade
therewith.' "
On June 23rd,i89i,Sir Richard moved that it be:
" Resolved — That the situation of the country
requires that the Government should forthwith
reduce all duties on articles of prime necessity,
and more particularly on those most generally
consumed by artisans, miners, fishermen and
farmers ; and, further, that the negotiations which
the House has been informed are to open at
Washington in October next should be conducted
upon the basis of the most extended reciprocal
freedom of trade between Canada and the United
States, in manufactured as well as natural pro-
ducts."
This was lost by 114 to 88. Two years later,
on February 16th, 1893, the same leader once
more asked the House to declare : " That the
present Customs Tariff bears heavily and unjustly
upon the great consuming classes of the Domin-
ion and should be at once thoroughly reformed in
the direction of freer trade, and that the amount
of taxes collected be limited to the sum required
to meet the necessities of the Government, effi-
ciently and economically administered."
This was tlefeated by 126 to 72 votes, and in
the following year, on March 28th, Sir Richard
Cartwright introduced the last of his series of
historic resolutions by the following, which, how-
ever, was defeated by almost the same majority of
126 to 72 :
" That while recognizing in the reductions pro-
posed an admission to that extent of the evils
inrticted upon the people by the system of high
protective duties, the House is nevertheless of
the opinion that the amendments suggested, being
based u|)ou the principle of protection and not
solely upon the requirements of public service,
are inadequate to afford satisfactory relief from
the burdens of excessive and unfair taxation.
That the highest interests of Canada demand the
adoption of a sound fiscal policy which, while nof
doing injustice toany class, will promote domestic
and foreign trade and hasten the return of pros-
perity to our people ; that, to that end, the tariff
should be reduced to the needs of honest, econ-
omical and efficient government, should have
eliminated from it the principle of protection to
particular industries at the expense of the com-
munity at large and should be imposed for revenue
only; that it should be so adjusted as to make
free, or bear as lightly as possible upon, the
necessaries of life, and to promote freer trade with
the whole world, particularly with Great Britain
and the United States."
Intimately connected with the question of
Unrestricted Reciprocity with the United States,
was that of the right to make treaties in which
Canada would have the power to arrange tariff
discriminations as she liked. Hence the follow-
ing motion by Sir Richard Cartwright in the
House of Commons on February 18th, i88g,
rejected after prolonged discussion by a vote of 94
to 66:
" 1. That it has been a matter of extreme im-
portance to the well-being of the p)eoplc of this
Dominion that the Government and Parliament of
Canada should acquire the power of negotiating
commercial treaties with foreign States.
2. That an humble address be presented tc Her
Majesty, praying that she will empower fler
Representative, the Governor-General of Canada,
acting by and with the advice of the Queen's
Privy Council for Canada, to enter, by an agent or
representative of Canada, into direct communica-
tion with any foreign State for the purpose of
negotiating commercial arrangements tending to
^i;:
:1!/-
m
388
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OP.IIDIA.
p:
Inn,
I, ■ I i
l'.=l
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the advantage of Canada, subject to the prior con-
sent or subsequent approval of the Parliament of
Canad^i, signified by Act."
Mr. D'Alton McCarthy moved a somewhat
similar resolution in the House of Commons on
May 2nd, 1892, and one which had a most
intimate connection with the question of trade
relations between Canada and the United States.
It was as follows:
" That, in the opinion of this House, in view of
the vast commercial interests existing between
the United States of America and Canada, and of
the political questions from time to time requiring
adjustment between the Dominion and the neigh-
bouring Republic, It would tend to the advance-
ment of those interests and the promotion of a
better understanding between the two countries
were a representative appointed by the Govern-
ment of the Dominion, subject to the approval of
Her Majesty's Imperial advisers, and attached to
the staff of Her Majesty's Minister at Washington,
specially charged to watch, guard and represent
the interests of Canada."
This was withdrawn after a non-political dis-
cussion, in which the Hon. G. E. Foster mildly
opposed the motion, while the Hon. Wilfrid
Laurier, Mr. George E. Casey, Mr. R. C. Weldon,
the Hon. L. H. Davies, Mr. G. R. R. Cockburn,
the Hon. David Mills, Mr. Ale.\. McNeill and Sir
John Thompson either favoured it or refused to
oppose the principle which it embodied.
An Inter-Provlncial Conference was held on
October 20 to 28th, 1887, in the ancient city
of Quebec, presided over by the Hon. (after-
wards Sir) Oliver Mowat, Prime Minister of
Ontario, and attended by members of the Govern-
ments of all the Provinces except Prince Edward
Island and British Columbia. The following were
the representatives present :
Hon. Hoiiore Mercier,Prime Minister of Quebec.
Hon. W. S. Kiel ling, Prime Minister of Nova
Scotia.
Hon. Andrew G. Blair, Prime Minister of New
Brunswick.
Hon. John Norquay, Prime Minister of Mani-
toba.
Hon. C. F. Fiaser, Commissioner of Public
Works in Ontario.
Hon. A. S. Hardy,Provincial Secretary in Ontario.
Hon. A. M. Ross, Treasurer of Ontario.
Hon. Geo. W. Ross, Minister of Education in
Ontario.
Hon. David A. Ross, Executive Councillor of
Quebec.
Hon. Arthur Turcotte, Executive Councillor of
Quebec.
Hon. Joseph Shehyn, Provincial Treasurer of
Quebec.
Hon. Charles A. E. Gagnon, Provincial Secre-
tary and Registrar of Quebec.
Hon. J. McShane, Commissioner of Agriculture
and Public Works in Quebec.
Hon. Geo. Duhamel, Solicitor-General of Que-
bec.
Hon. F. G. Marchand, Speaker of the Legisla-
tive Assembly of Quebec.
Hon. J. W. Longley, Attorney-General of Nova
Scotia.
Hon. A. McGilHvray, Executive Co-ncillor of
Nova Scotia.
Hon. t)avid McLennan, Provincial Secretary of
New Brunswick.
Hon. C. E. Hamilton, Attorney-General of
Manitoba.
The following Resolution in favour of Unre-
stricted Reciprocity was unanimously adopted :
" That, having reference to the agitation on
the subject of the trade relations between the
Dominion and the United States, this Inter-
Provincial Conference, consisting of representa-
tives of all political parties, desires to record its
opinion that Unrestricted Reciprocity would be
of advantage to all the Provinces of the Do-
minion ; that this Conference and the people it
represents cherish fervent loyalty to Her Majesty
the Queen and warm attachment to British con-
nection ; and that this Conference is of opinion
that a fair measure providin/f, under proper con-
ditions, for Unrestricted Reciprocal trade relations
between the Dominion and the United States,
would not lessen these sentiments on the part of
our people ; and on the contrary may even serve
to increase them, and would, at the same time, in
connection with an adjustment of the Fishery
dispute, tend to happily settle grave difficulties
which have from time to time arisen between the
Mother Country and the United States."
CANADA : AN ENCYCI,01M;1)1A.
389
The Hon. Edward Blake in his famous ad-
dress to tlie electors of West Durham — February
iitli, 1891 — dealt with Unrestricted Reciprocity
as follows :
" Unrestricted free trade with the United
States, secured for a long term of years, would
(even though accompanied by higher duties
against the rest of the world than I, for one, ad-
mire) give us in practice the great blessing of a
measure of free trade, much larger than we now
enjoy or can otherwise attain ; it would greatly
advance our most material interests, and help our
natural, our largest, most substantial and most
promising industries; it would create an influx of
population and capital, and promote a rapid de-
velopment of forces and materials now almost
unused ; in three words, it would give us men,
m>)ney and markets.
Thus it would emphatically be for the general
and lasting good. And this, although of course
it would produce, as all great changes do, tempor-
ary derangement of business and local losses,
would strike hard some spindling and exotic in-
dustries, wholly tariff-born, tariff-bred and tariff-
fed, and would put upon their mettle a good many
manufacturers unaccustomed to the keen breath
of competition, and others who would be obliged
to adopt the specialization and the improved
methods of production and distribution, which,
to the signal advantage of the general consuming
public, a large market allows and demands. As-
suming consent on the part of the States, our
financial difficulty is to be considered. Obvious-
ly, any practicable plan involves differential
duties against the United Kingdom and the rest
of the world. But even with such duties, the
gaps in our revenue, due to the loss of present
taxes on imports from the States and on imports
from Britain to be replaced by home and United
States manufactures, would be very great ; incap-
able of being filled by a tea and coffee tax, a bill
tax, and other available taxes of a like nature,
and by practicable economies.
Direct taxation, even in its most promising
form — a succession tax — ifi, I regret to say,at pres-
ent out of the question. And of the financial prob-
lem presented by Unrestricted Reciprocity I have
seen no solution which would leave us without a
great dt-ficit. I have said that any feasible plan
involves differential duties ; but it does more. It
involves, as to the bulk by agreement, and as to
much from the necessity of thecase, the substantial
assimilation, in their leading features, of the tariffs
of the two countries. The absence of agreement
wjuld give to each country power to disturb at
will the industrial system of the other; and
Unrestricted Reciprocity without an agreed assim-
ilation of duties isan unsubstantial dream. . . .
Since any practical arrangement does substan-
tially involve, not only differential duties, but a
common tariff, Unrestricted Reciprocity becomes,
in these its redeemmg features, difficult to distin-
guish from Commercial Union. And Commercial
Union, establishing a common tariff, abolishin^f
international Customs houses anddividingthe total
duties between the two countries in agreed propor-
tions, is the more available, perhaps the only
available plan. It is much more likely to be
accepted by the States ; and it would also have
advantages lor Canada, in both the trade and the
revenue aspects, over Unrestricted Reciprocity ;
which, while failing to secure to us substantial con-
trol over our tariff, would provide still less ade-
quately for our revenue needs, and would greatly
hamper trade by its stringent Customs examina-
tions. Permanence in the new relation is of high
consequence, both directly and indirectly, to the
agricultural interest ; and is absolutely essential
in order to secure the full development of other
great interests, to prevent needless disxster to
important industries and to realize many of the
benefits of the plan. . . . Our neighbours,
instead of engaging in manufacture here, would
take our markets with goods manufactured there.
And our raw materials, instead of being finished
on the ground, would be exported to be fin-
ished abroad. Uncertainty would alarm capital
and paralyze enterprise ; and therefore I repeat
that permanence is essential to success. . . .
I see no plan for combining the two elements
of permanency of the Treaty and variability of
the tariff which does not involve the practical con-
trol of the latter by the States. And I can readily
conceive conditions under which, notwithstanding
her right to threaten a withdrawal, Canada would
have much less influence in procuring or prevent-
ing changes than she would enjoy did she compose
several States of the Union.
m
390
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
Amongst the British people the Canadian
preference of the United States over British
manufactures would be, perhaps, less unpopular,
considered on economic grounds alone, than the
alternative scheme of food taxes to which I have
referred. Accompanied, as it ought to be, with a
fair settlement of all differences with the States,
and by the establishment on a firm basis of cordial
relations between all English-speaking peoples,
it would secure high political advantages to the
United Kingdom. And the greater prosperity of
Canada, in which the British investor is deeply
concerned, and from which, spite of all tariff
obstacles, the British manufacturer, too, must reap
some slight advantage, would mitigate hostility
to the scheme. But, after all, it would be taken
in very bad part, on economic grounds, by the
British manufacturing interests; and on Imperial
grounds, by other important elements of the pop-
ulation ; and it would seriously affect the present
tone and feelings in regard to the Colonial relation.
The tendency in Canatla of unrestricted free
trade with the States, high duties being main-
tained against the United Kingdom, would be
towards political union ; and the more successful
the plan the stronger the tendency, both by reason
of the community of interests, the intermingling
of populations, the more intimate business and
social connections, and the trade and fiscal rela-
tions amounting to dependency, which it would
create with the States ; and of the greater isola-
tion and divergency from Britain which it would
produce ; and, also, and especially, through incon-
veniences experienced in the maintenance, and
apprehensions entertained as to the termination
of the Treaty."
During: the Session of the Legislative
Assembly of Manitoba in 1891, the following
resolution was passed and duly transmitted to
the Prime Minister at Ottawa on April 2nd —
Sessional Papers, No. 38, 1891, Volume 24,
No. 17 :
" Ordered, — Whereas this House on the 19th
day of March, iSyo, unanimously adopted a resolu-
tion re-affirming the declaration of a previous
Legislature that the Customs Tariff pressed very
heavily on the people of this Province, and pro-
nouncing in favou*- . f Unrestricted Reciprocity
between Canada and the United States, as the
late Hon. John Norquay had so decidedly done in
1887:
And whereas attempts have several times been
made on the part of the Government of Canada
since the cancellation in 1866 of the Treaty of
1854 providing for reciprocity in natural products,
to bring about a wider scheme of reciprocity em-
bracing many articles of manufacture as well as
natural products, and that Government has
recently taken fresh stops, looking once more to
the accomplishment of that end, while the politi-
cal party in the Dominionopposedto the Govern-
ment has pronounced in favour of the unrestricted
reciprocal trade for which this Legislature and
Mr. Norquay prayed; and these facts prove that
all parties in the Dominion are united in a desire
to secure a wide system of reciprocity with the
United States.
And whereas suggestions have been made in
certain high quaiters, that some of the leading
advocates of Unrestricted Reciprocity are aim-
ing at a dissolution of the tie that binds this
country to the Motherland and to link us politi-
cally with the American Republic. And whereas
it is desirable that no misapprehension shall ex-
ist as to the attitude of this Legislature in that
regard.
Be it therefore resolved that this House most
emphatically declares that in pronouncing in
favour of Unrestricted Reciprocity with the
American Union, it did not and does not aim at
leading directly or indirectly, proximately or re-
motely, to such a result. But it sought, and
seeks, simply to secure for the settlers in Mani-
toba the most convenient competitive markets for
the disposal of their produce and for the procur-
ing of their needed supplies under the most fav-
ourable conditions for the sale of the one and the
purchase of the other.
And this House further declares that no treaty
of reciprocity will be satisfactory which will not
place it beyond the power of American legislation
to fix, or American influence to change, the Can-
adian Tariff against other lands, or which will in
any way place Canada at the mercy of the United
States. And it is the opinion of this House that
a fair measure of reciprocity, baseo on proper
conditions which would be at once appropriate to
CANADA; AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
39»
I ■'
our interests and consistent with the preservation
of the integrity of the Empire, would largely pro-
mote the material prosperity of Canadians, and
so tend to make them more than ever content
with their existing political relations."
The Reciprocity negfotiations of 1891-2 with
the United States were of great political and
historical interest. Upon the commencement of
them turned much of the discussion in a Can-
adian general election, and upon the result rests
the practical certiiinty of American aversion to
any reciprocity arrangement wiiich does not give
their products a preference in the markets of the
Dominion. This view of the situatif)n has been
denied, however, by various party leaders, and
it will be advisable to place the official details
upon record here. The proposed for a renewal of
the Reciprocity negotiations was made in an
official despatch from Lord Stanley of Preston
(Lord Derby), to Lord Knutsfoni, then Colonial
Secretary, on December 13th, 1S90, as follows :
" My Lord :
I have the honour to send to your Lordship to-
day a telegraphic message in cipher, of which the
following is the substance :
With reference to my telegram of the loth inst.,
this Government is desirous to propose a Joint
Commission, such as that of 1871, with authority
to deal without limitation and to prepare a treaty
respecting the following subjects :
1. Renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854,
with the modifications required by the altered
circumstances of both countries, and with the
extensions deemed by the Commission to be in
the interests of Canada and the United States.
2. Re-consideration of the Treaty of 1888 with
respect to the Atlantic fisheries, with the aim of
securing the free admission into the United States
markets of Canatlian fishery products in return
for facilities to be granted to United States fish-
ermen to buy bait and supplies and to tranship
cargoes in Canada, all such privileges to be
mutual.
3. Protection of mackerel and other fisheries
on the Atlantic ocean and in inland waters.
4. Rela.xation of seaboard coasting laws of the
two countries.
5. Relaxation of the coasting laws of the two
countries on the inland waters dividing Canada
from the United States
6. Mutual salvage and saving of wrecked ves-
sels.
7. Arrangements for settling boundary between
Canada and Alaska."
Lord Knutsford's telegraphic reply, dated Jan-
uary 2nd, 1891 — Sessional Papers No. 38, Volume
17, i8gi — was as follows :
" Minister at Washington has communicated
to the United States Secretary of State substance
of your telegram of 13th December. Mr. Blaine
The I6tli tarl of Derby, K.G.
replied that to endeavour to obtain the appoint-
ment of the formal Commission to arrive at the
Reciprocity Treaty would be useless, but that the
United States Government was willing to discuss
the question in private with Sir Julian Paunce-
fote nnd one or more Delegates from Canada,
and to consider every subject as to which there
was hope of agreement on the ground of mutual
interests; if not, ai.d to risk so grave a step until
by private discussion he had satisfied himself that
good ground existed for expecting an agreement
,r,:' :"
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CANADA: AN ENCYCL0I^^':I)1A.
■(■,. :>
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by means of a Commission. He added that he
would be prepared to enter into private negotia-
tions at any time after 4th March."
Meanwhile the elections took place in Canada,
the Government of Sir John Macdonald was sus-
tained, and a series of efforts to obtain a joint
international discussion of the question followed.
After many delays, caused chiefly by Mr. Blaine
and the Washington Administration, a meeting
was held on February loth, 1892. The United
States was represented by Mr. James G. Blaine,
Secretary of State, and General J. W. Foster.
The Canadian delegates were Mr. Mackenzie
Howell, Sir John Thompson ami Mr. G. E. Fos-
ter. Sir Julian Pauncefote was of course also in
attendance.
The following is a record of what took place at
the Conference, so far as trade matters were con-
cerned — Sessional Papers, Volume 26, No. 52 :
" Mr. Foster opened the discussion by stating
that the suggestion made by Canada in Decem-
ber, 1890, was for a renewal of the Reciprocity
Treaty of 1854, with such modifications and ex-
tensions as the changed conditions might make
necessary.
Mr. Blaine, with the Treaty of 1854 before
him, said that the article of the Treaty relating
to fishing might be left for separate consideration,
and, taking up the list of free goods established
by that Treaty, remarked that all these goods
are produced by the United States.
Mr. Foster reminded Mr. Blaine of the several
natural products of the United States which now
obtain a Canadian market in large quantiti js, and
which would be received in far greater quantities
if admitted free. After considerable discussion Mr.
Blaine stated that a proposal for a treaty, based
on natural products alone, could not be discussed,
as it would lack the essential element of an
arrangement for reciprocity, as far as the United
States is concerned. If a proposition could be
made ' for taking down the bars,' it would be
quite another question.
General Foster said that Mr. Blaine had re-
plied to us that a treaty for natural products
only could not be discussed. He wished to
know from us whether we were prepared to discuss
a treaty which would include American manufac-
tures generally.
Mr. Blaine added that American manufactures
must be included in order to give the United
States any benefit from the Treaty. He would
like to receive a proposition from the Canadian
Ministers on this basis.
Mr. Foster, while combatting the proposition
that the United States would only receive benefit
from a treaty with Canada which would include
manufactured articles, proceeded to say that
before considering what proposition might be
made on the part of Canada for including such
articles, the Canadian Government would require
to know whether the United States would insist
on differential treatment, or whether Canada
would be free to accord the same terms to other
countries.
Mr. Blaine replied that the Treaty would be of
no benefit to the United States if the like treat-
ment were given to other countries, especially as
Great Britain was in active competition with the
United States in almost every line of manufac-
ture. He added : ' We should expect to have
the Canadians to compete with in manufacturing,
but no one else.'
He admitted that such a proposition affects
Canada differently from the way in which it would
affect an independent country. He said : ' We
experienced the peculiar difficulty a short time
ago of negotiating a treaty with a country which
has a sovereign arm extended over her.* "
The discussion was resumed on February nth,
in the following terms :
" As to Mr. Blaine's declaration of yesterday
that the United States would not be inclined to
accept a treaty upon any other basis than that of
a free entry of both their natural and manufac-
tured products into Canada, coupled with discrim-
ination against all other countries, Mr. Foster
desired to state frankly and shortly the difficulties
which stood in the way of the acceptance of such
a basis by Canada.
In the first place, Canada, would thereby be
obliged to give a preference to United States
goods as against those of Great Britain, with
which country she stood in the close and valued
relation of a Colony to the Motherland. Aside
from sentimental considerations, it was well
known that the only material return which Great
Britain received from the privileges and protec-
li^'
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
393
ith,
be
tates
with
lued
Aside
well
jreat
otec-
tion she gave us was the right to enter our mar-
kets on even terms with all other countries, and
any arrangement which denied that right brought
us face to face with considerations of the most
weighty and serious character. In the second
place, the question of revenue was largely involved.
Canada's revenue was derived from Customs,
excise and public works — very largely from the
first. Under an arrangement upon the basis
indicated by Mr. Blaine, Canada would lose at
once about eight million dollars now derived
from United States imports. She would also
stand to lose a considerable portion of present
Customs collections upon importations from other
countries, which would be largely reduced from
the unequal competition of free United States
goods with the more or less highly taxed goods of
other countries.
Mr. Blaine inquired if Canada had any other
modes of taxation, such as income, land, or other
direct tax.
Mr. Foster replied that the Federal Govern-
ment had not had recourse to any of these forms
of taxation, which were not popular with the
Canadian people, but had relied entirely upon the
Customsand excise tax for revenue. In relation to
internal revenue, Mr. Blaine inquired as to what
articles were included under that head, and ort
being informed that liquors and tobacco were the
only articles included, he remarked that those
duties would necessarily have to be equalized be-
tween the two countries. Whereupon Mr. Foster
observed that such would be necessary, and that,
in doing this, unless the United States consented
to raise its rate of impost Canada would lose a
very considerable portion of her present excise
revenue, inasmuch as her excise tax upon spirit-
ous liquors was $1.30 per gallon as compared with
the United States e.xcise of $1.20 per gallon ; upon
malt or beer the Canadian tax was about double
that of the United States impost ; and upon tobac-
cos the Canadian tax was 25 cents per pound as
compared with a tax of six and eight cents in the
United States.
Mr. Blaine agreed that under the conditions
that would then exist, the manufacture of the
spirits would then be transferred to the corn-pro-
ducing centres. Mr. Foster went on to say that
a third question arose at this point, which was in
its way not less important than the two already
discussed, namely : Granted that discrimination
in favour of United States manufactures in the
Canadian market was necessary, how should the
standard of discrimination be fixed, and what
should be its degree ? Would the Canadian
tariff have to be raised to an equality with that of
the United States tariff upon these articles, or
would the present Canadian tariff be accepted as
sufficient, or would Canada be at liberty to fix the
rate as and when she pleased, provided that the
principles of discrimination were always maintain-
ed ? He took the item of woollen and wools,
and illustrated the above point by a comparison
of tariffs on these in the two countries.
Mr. Blaine said that this was a vital point; that
under the existing tariff on wools and woollens in
the two countries a reciprocity such as he, Mr.
Foster, contemplated would result in manifest
disadvantage to the United States, whose policy
was one of large protection on wools as well as
woollens. Unless such points were guarded, there
would be no security on the one hand from smug-
gling along a border line of over three thousand
miles in length, or on the other of maintaining the
present policy of the United States. This
could, in his opinion, only be done by making the
tariff uniform for both countries, and equalizing
the Canadian tariff with that of the United States.
Some conversation then ensued as to what
would be the effect of such a wide reciprocity
,upon Canada. Mr. Fostei assumed that the trade
of Canada would be directed largely towards the
United States, as the discriminating tariff upon
goods from other countries would practically pre-
vent her from purchasing therefrom manufactured
goods of the kinds made in the United States ;
that her younger and smaller industiies would be
exposed to the stronger competition of older and
well-established industries in the United States,
with their accumulations of skill and immense
capacity for output ; and that in the matter of
animal and agricultural products she would only
gain access to a market which, in nearly all lines
of these products, was supplied to overflowing
with like products raised in the United St.ites.
Mr. Blaine intimated that Canada would then be
in much the same position in trade and industrial
matters as a State of ths Union, one which was a
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394
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
non-manufacturing and mainly an agricultural
State, as the tendency of manufacturing was to
go further and further west and south to the
newer centres of population.
Mr. Foster continued that he had thought it well
to lay thus frankly and briefly before Mr. i^laine
the difticulties that met Canada when waited to
accept as a basis for reciprocity an interchange of
all manufactured articles as well as natural pro-
ducts, and he hoped that Mr. Blaine, who had
had a large experience in negotiating reciprocity
arrangements, and who had studied the subject so
thoroughly, might be prepared to propose a
modified basis for the consideration of the Can-
adian delegation which would tend to diminish
the revenue difficulties and to avoid the disturb-
ance of Canada's present relations with the
Mother Country. He pointed out the generous
treatment now accorded by Canada to United
States trade, and that at the present time,
although Canada collects upon all imported goods,
dutiable and free, a revenue of 20^ per cent., yet
upon all goods imported from the United States
the percentage of duty is only 14^^ per cent. The
free list given by the United States to Canada
last year amounted to only $11,600,000, while
Canada gave the United States a free list of
nearly $24,000,000.
Mr. Blaine, after mentioning that this, he sup-
posed, was largely due to geographical distribu-
tion, said he could easily understand why Canada
was reluctant to enter into a treaty of unlimited,
reciprocity, but that it was clear to his mind that
no other arrangement would suit the United
States, and that it must be accompanied by dis-
crimination in favour of the United States, espec-
ially against Great Britain, who was their great
competitor, and that it must likewise be accom-
panied by the adoption of a uniform tariff for the
United States and Canada equal to that of the
United States. He then remarked that, without
absolutely ending the discussion on this subject,
the delegation might proceed to consider the
other points which had been mentioned."
The published report of these discussions on
both the days mentioned is signed in a rather
significant manner, and in view of disputes which
afterwards arose as to what was said, it is import-
ant to bear in mind that the British Ambassador
— a man bred in the highest principles of honour-
able diplomacy — endorsed the Canadian state-
mcnt, and that the signatures affixed were as
follows :
" M. BOWELL.
John S. 1). Thompson.
viHOKC.K E. FOSTKR.
I concur in the above minute of proceedings,
Jl'LIAN PaUNCEFOTE."
An International Reciprocity Convention was
held in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A., on June 6th
and 7th, 1893, attended by Congressman William
M. Springer, James J. Hill, the eminent American
railway financier, and the Hon. Joseph Martin of
Manitoba, Canada, and a large number of dele-
gates. The following Resolutions were adopted :
" I. That in the opinion of this Convention the
policy unanimously approved by the first Interna-
tional Reciprocity Convention of Grand Forks, and
now re-affirmed, of removing the tariff restrictions
upon our international trade, so far as can be done
consistently with a due regard to the revenue re-
quirements and other interests of the two nations,
may be most advantageously carried intoeffect by a
treaty pioviding for the free interchange of those
classes of the products, both natural and industrial,
of each one, that are most generally in demand or
usually find the readiest sale in the markets of
the other. Such a policy, in the circumstances
of the United States and Canada, is capable of
being applied to many classes of industrial pro-
ducts as well as to the natural products generally.
It would result in giving to Canada a market now
denied it for much of its produce, with a compensa-
ting advantage to the United States, and that
without affecting a large part of their respective
Customs revenues.
II. That cheaper transportation is a matter of
prime importance to the interests of the North-
West, Canadian as well as American, and favour-
ing the improvement of existing waterways and
the constructing of additional channels of com-
munication between the great lakes and the
ocean of sufficient capacity to allow a free passage
of ocean vessels, and which should be free of all
tolls. That any Reciprocity Treaty between the
United States and Canada should provide for the
free and conimon use by the people of bothcoun*
tries of all canals now built, or hereafter to be
built, to facilitate commerce between the great
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/l-PIA.
39S
com-
the
ssage
>f all
n the
)rthe
:oun»
to be
great
lakes and th^cean, and should also provide for free
and open competition between the railway systems
of the two countries, in order to reduce the cost of
transportation from the interior to the seaboard to
the lowest figures consistent with the efficiency
and reasonable prosperity of the roads.
III. That to secure the desired results sought
to be obtained by this Convention, a Joint Com-
mittee shall be appointed by the permanent chair-
man of the Convention, consisting of ten mem-
bers, five of them to be selected from the
Dominion of Canada and live of them from the
the United States ; that it shall be the duty of
this Committee to take charge and prosecute this
work after adjournment of this Convention by
using such means as they deem proper to bring the
matter before the Dominion Parliament and the
Canadian authorities, and before the Congress of
the United States and the American auth-
orities, and before the people of the two coun-
tries."
The flgures of the Export Trade of Canada
in the years 1887-1896 illustrate a significant
transfer in the sale and distribution of Canadian
products from the American to the British
market. The following tables speak for them-
selves :
EXPORTS TO GREAT BRITAIN.
Products of the mine...
The fisheries
The forest
Animals and their pro-
duce
Agricultural products..
Manufactures
Miscellaneous
$38,714,331 $62,627,941
EXPORTS TO UNITED STATES.
1887 1896
Products of the mine... $3,085,431 $ 7,437,814
The fisheries 2,717,509 3,301,671
The forest 9..553.506 13,528,047
Animals and their pro-
duce 7,291,369 3.341.275
Agricultunl products...
Manufactures
1887
7,966,248
1,289,052
569.918
1896
2,232,79?
2,308,349
87.589
Miscellaneous
1887
1896
5 477.722
$ 175.512
1,704,190
4,462,002
y.445.491
12,186,806
16,315,474
32,523,071
9,438,408
0,551.316
1,270,162
3,709,266
62,884
19,968
$32,27S,6i3 $32,237,538
The increase in exports to the Mother Country
was not so significant in one sense as were
the decreases to the Republic, because there is
known to be a boundless market in Britain for
agricultural products of every description. But
the figures in these tables seem to prove that the
Americans only take from Canada what may be
convenient along the border — that which they can
profitably convert into some sort of manufactured
article, such as the raw product of Canadian mines
for their smelters, and the logs from Canadian
forests for conversion into lumber and its manu-
factured myriad forms. During this period the
Canadian export of barley to the United States
has decreased from §5,245,968 in 1887 to
$297,439 in 1896; that of horses from $2,214,388
to $650,761 ; that of horned cattle from $887,756
to $13,150; that of eggs from $1,821,364 to
$97,313. Hostile tariffs, purposely constructed to
avert Canadian competition, have been, of course,
the main cause of this change. Meanwhile, the
export of horses to Great Britain rose from
$38,230 to $1,735,108 ; that of horned cattle from
$5,344,375 to $6,816,361 ; that of hay from$6i,486
to $305,616 ; that of hides from $388,678 to
$1,712,077; that of eggs from nothing to $704,768;
that of sheep from $568,433 to $1,122,091.
In 1874, when the competition with the United
States in manufactures was beginning to be un-
pleasantly felt in Canada, a select Committee was
appointed by Parliament to inquire into the
" extent and condition of the manufacturing
interests of the Dominion." It was composed of
Mr. A. T. Wood, as Chairman, and the following
members : D. B. Chisholm, i^vinilius Irving,
Major John Walker, L. A. Jett^, M. C. Cameron,
of Huron, John Charlton, M. P. Ryan, William
McDougall, Q.c, of Three Rivers, James Norris,
J. D. Buell, J. W. Carmichael, A. F. Macdonald
of Cornwall, C. C. Colby, L. F. R. Masson, Hon.
A. DeCosmos, David Blain, W. H. Brouse, John
Pickard, Hon. P. Sinclair and A. H. Dymond.
f-
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396
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
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The Report was submitted on May 19th, 1874,
and the Committee states through the Chairman :
" That they have, during their investigation of
the subject committed to them, received replies
from 215 persons engaged in the manufacturing
industry in answer to a circular issued by a
former Committee, asking information upon
several points connected with such industry, and
they have examined orally nineteen persons simi-
larly engaged. A synopsis of some of the replies
received, and the oral evidence thus obtained,
accompany this Report as an appendix and are
respectfully submitted to the consideration of
your Honourable House. Your Committee, ui>on
the evidence thus obtained, have arrived at the
following conclusions:
I. It appears that the competition with the
United States, in those classes of manufacture
which come under the influence of such com-
petition, is seriously complained of on the ground
that it is an unequal competition fostered by
the different fiscal systems of the two countries.
The American manufacturers, having the ex-
clusive control of their own market, find it con-
venient to relieve themselves of their surplus pro-
ducts in Canada, in many instances at prices less
than the cost of production, thus making of Can-
ada a ' slaughter market.' It has been established
before your Committee that Canadian manufac-
tures have seriously suffered from this cause and
that the effect of it must be, in some cases at
least, to so hamper the Canadian industry as to
seriously embarrass it, while the country itself
would be injured by the withdrawal from it of
large numbers of operatives who would be com-
pelled to seek work in the United States. This
disturbing element in the manufacturing industry
of the Dominion arising out of our geographical
position, and out of the trade policy of our neigh-
bours, should induce even those who may regard
free trade as a correct principle in the abstract to
recognize the necessity for a modification of that
principle as a measure of self-protection, and your
Committee respectfully recommend the enact-
ment of such laws as will regulate, if it cannot
altogether prevent, the evil complained of.
II. The almost uniform testimony before your
Committee was to the effect that an increased
protection to manufactures will not necessarily
increase the cost of the manufactutpd article to
the consumer, and, in the opinion of your Com-
mittee, the witnesses have made out a very strong
case in support of this view. It appears to be
well established that the cost of manufacturing
decreases as the quantity of goods manufactured
increases. Thus a large manufacturing establish-
ment can afford to sell its products at a lower
rate than a smaller one. If, therefore, Canadian
industry is relieved from the pressure of such
undue competition as that referred to in the first
paragraph of this Report, the effect will be that
the manufacturing establishments will be worked
to their full capacity, and the cost of production,
and the consequent cost to the consumer, will be
proportionately reduced. Some instances in
proof of the correctness of this principle are given
by witnesses whose testimony accompanies this
Report.
III. Although the export trade in manufactured
articles has not yet developed to any extent, your
Committee have ascertained that in some classes
of goods already a successful attempt has been
made to place them upon foreign markets. The
encouragement of this trade as tending to enlarge
the markets for our manufactures, and thus to
promote their prosperity, and at the same time to
increase our foreign commerce, should be effected
by all legitimate means. Your Committee recom-
mend that, to accomplish this object, a draw-back
should be granted on all materials used in manu-
factures made for export.
IV. The attention of your Committee has been
called tothe condition of certain classesof manufac-
turers, who pay under the existing tariff the same
amount of duty upon what to them is raw material
as is paid on the manufactured article. They
mention in this connection the manufactures of
clothing and haberdashery.
V. Your Committee would call the special
attention of your Honourable House to the
importance of such legislation as will develop the
iron mines. Two letters have been received in
connection with this subject ; one from Mr. Ed-
ward Gurney, of Hamilton, and the other from
Mr. Charles Fitzgerald, of Ottawa, which are ap-
pended to this Report, and which the Commit-
tee commend to the special consideration of the
House.
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.01M<:niA.
397
VI. The woollen manufacturers complain that
they suffer in their business by the importation
from Europe of low-priced woollen cloths, made
principally from shoddy, and ask the Committee
to recommend to the Government a scale of duties
graduated upon the quality of the article.
VII. Your Committee have also taken evidence
touching the introduction into Canada of Ameri-
can reprints of British copyright works. Your
Committee call attention to the fact that, whilst
the privilege of publishing the aforesaid reprints
in Canada is granted to the publishers of the
United States, it is denied, under severe penalties,
to the publishers of Canada. Your Committee
regard this state of things as calling for an early
remedy.
VIII. Your Committee believe that "permanence
is an element in any tariff, and that it should be
so adjusted as to afford adequate protection to
existing industries, and to invite the attention of
capitalists to branches of industry which as yet
have not been successful in this country, and
which are yet untried."
A minority Report of some length was also sub-
mitted — Journals, House of Commons, 1874 — by
Messrs Dymond and Walker. It pressed the free
trade view of the situation upon the House; de-
clared the evidence taken to be insufficient, and
not distinctly representative of public opinion ;
praised a revenue tariff, while admitting the evils
of the " slaughtering " process, and declaring the
latter unlikely to frequently recur; urged improved
facilities of communication ; denounced high
tariffs as dangerous, and alleged that the existing
one afforded sufficient " incidental " protection to
Canadian industries.
There has always been a strong^ sympathy
with the idea of reciprocity amongst the com-
mercial classes of the Republic. This was shown
between 1850 and 1870, and again in two petitions
presented to Congress on January 21st, 1881.
These latter were signed in the one case by 500
leading; mercantile firms of New York, and in the
other by 1,030 firms and business men of Boston.
They were similar in words — Congressional Re-
cord, January, 1881 — and read as follows :
" The National Board of Trade, as well as the
principal local Boards of Trade in the United
States, have for the past five years memorialized
Congress and sent delegates to Washington in
behalf of resolutions asking that Congress would
authorize the appointment of a Commission to
ascertain and report to Congress, and thus to the
country, whether there could be any basis, and if
so, what, on which a mutually satisfactory and
advantageous Reciprocal Trade between the
United States and the British Provinces could be
established.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs
reported April 28th, 1880, a Resolution to the
above effect, which is now on the calendar await-
in.r action by the House. Notwithstanding the
urgent appeals thus made, no vote has, during
all these years of effort to secure it, been reached
upon the subject-matter of said Resolution. The
business interests of the country, in asking simply
that Congress will authorize a Commission to in-
vestigate and report upon this great question, and,
in other words, in asking now only that informa-
tion be obtained for them and the country, feel
that the request is a reasonable one and is entitled
to receive early consideration.
A mutual desire for closer trade relations
on the part of the merchants and traders
in the United States and Canada, has existed
ever since the peremptory abrogation by the
United States of the Treaty of 1854, as evi-
denced year after year by resolutions passed by
the great commercial bodies of both countries;
and it is no exaggeration to say, that in all proba-
bility, the failure of Congress to give this business
question due consideration has cost the people of
this country $5,500,000, without any correspond-
ing advantages in return, for fishery privileges
which could have been acquired at any time pre-
vious thereto without cost, through the negotia-
tions of such a Commission as has been asked for ;
and also cost to this country a large amount of
valuable trade, lost to it through the operations
of restrictive tariffs, and has otherwise been detri-
mental to our best interests.
The undersigned believe it possible to establish
a reciprocal trade bet ween Canada and the United
States which shall be mutually Satisfactory, and
equitable, and advantageous to both countries,
and to adjust satisfactorily any existing causes of
irritation by means of the proposed Commission.
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The undersiRned also believe that, inasmuch as
the United States peremptorily abrogated the
Treaty of 1854, and rejected overtures since made
by Canada for renewal of formertraderelations, it is
desirable that the first step towards new negotia-
tions be taken by the United States. The under-
signed therefore respectfully petition that early
action may be taken on the said Resolution."
The Hon. Sir Richard John Cartwrigfht was
born at Kingston, Upper Canada, in 1SJ5 — the
son of the Rev. R. D. Cartwright of that place,
and grandson of the Hon. Richard Cartwright,
an United Empire Loyalist. He was educated
at Kingston and at Trinity College, Dublin, and
for a time studied law after his return. But he
finally abandoned this profession and devoted his
attention to banking and finance — becommg a
Director and then President of the Commercial
Hank of Canada and a Director of the Canada
Life Assurance Company. All his early associa-
tions and family ties were Conservative, and
such were his own political views when he en-
tered public life in 1863 as member for Lennox
and Addington in the Legislate ; Assembly. After
the consummation of Confederation, in 1867, he
was re-elected to the House of Commons, and
again in 1872-3-4. He supported the union of
the Provinces and the earlier policy of Sir John
A. Macdonald ; but for reasons which have never
been definitely known drifted into the Liberal
ranks, and in 1873 accepted the portfolio of
Finance in the Mackenzie Administration. He
was defeated in Lennox and Addington at the
elections of 1878; returned for Huron a few
months later; defeated in Centre Wellington in
18.S2 ; returned for South Huron in December,
1883 ; and elected from South Oxford in 1887,
1891, and 1896. Sir Richard Cartwright was
created a k.c.m.g. in 1879 and advanced to the
G.c.M.G. in 1897. After being in Opposition with
his party for eighteen years, he shared in their
success of i'896, and became Minister of Trade
and Commerce in the Laurier Government. Dur-
ing Sir Wilfred Laurier's absence in England at
the Queen's Diamond Jubilee he was Acting-
Premier. In 1874, 1875, and 1876, under the
Mackenzie regime Sir Richard was in England
upon various matters of public business. He is
a strong, sarcastic and able speaker ; a leader
whose personal dignity and style of oratory is
modelled much more after the English than the
American pattern ; a politician more respected
tor ability than popular with the public. His
course upon trade questions and Canadian rela-
tions with the United States has been the object
of bit*<T reprobation from his political opponents.
His administration of the finances was unfortun-
ate in occurring during the depression of 1875-8,
and amid great dil'iiculties frtim various extraneous
causes. Sir liichard Cartwright has consistently
opposed and denounced protection, and favoured
the principle of free-trade- -if not at all times its
practice. In history he will stand as one of the
half-dozen most prominent figures in Canadian
public 'it': since Confederation.
Sir John A. Macdonald's Manifesto to the
Canadian people was the pivotal point of the
elections of 1891, and the most fervid and remark-
able utterance of a great career. He devoted his
attention almost entirely to the Trade question,
and his presentation of the case lacked no element
of dramatic force or patriotic appeal :
" To the Electors of Canada :
The momentous questions now engaging public
attention having, in the opinion of the Ministry,
reached that state when it is desirable that an
opportunity should be given to the people of
expressing at the polls their views thereon, the
Governor-General has been advised to terminate
the existence of the present House of Commons,
and to issue writs summoning a new House of
Parliament. This advice His Excellency has
seen fit to approve, and you, therefore will be
called upon within a short time to elect members
to represent you in the great council of the nation.
I shall be a candidate for the representation of my
old constituency, the City of Ivingston.
In soliciting at your hands a renewal of the
confidence which I have enjoyed as a Minister of
the Crown for thirty years, it is, I think, conven-
ient that I should take advantage of the occasion
to define the attitude of the Government in which
I am first Minister towards the leading political
issues of the day.
As in 1878, in 1882, and again in 1887, so in
in
RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, G. C. B., 1». C,
Prime Ministeu of Canada.
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CANADA; AN ENCVCLOP.KDIA.
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1891 do questions relating to the trade and
commerce of the country occupy ;i foremost
place in the public niirul, Our policy in respect
thereto is to-day what it has been for the past
thirteen years, and is directed by a firm determin-
ation to foster and develop the various resources
of the Dominion by every means in our power
consistent with Canada's position as an integral
portion of the British Empire. To that end you
have laboured in the past, and we propose to con-
tinue in the work to which we have applied our-
selves, of building upon this continent, under the
flag of England, a great and powerful nation.
When in 1878 we were called upon to adminis-
ter the affairs of the Dominion, Canada occupied
a position in the eyes of the world very different
from that which she enjoys to-day. At that time
a profound depression hung like a pall over the
whole country, from the Atlantic ocean to the
Western limits of the Province of Ontario,
beyond which to the Rocky Mountains stretched
a vast and almost unknown wilderness. Trade
was depressed, manufactures languished, and,
exposed to ruinoqs competition, Canadians
were fast sinking into the position of being mere
hewers of wood and drawers of water for the
great nation dwelling to the south of us.
We determined to change this unhappy state
of things. We felt thai Canada, with its agricul-
tural resources, rich in its fisheries, timber and
mineral wealth, was worthy of a nobler position
than that of being a slaughter market for the
United States. We said to the Americans : ' We
are perfectly willing to trade with you on equal
terms. We are desirous of having a fair recipro-
city treaty, but we will not consent to open our
markets to you while you remain closed to us.'
So we inaugurated the National Policy.
You all know what followed. Almost as if by
magic, the whole face of the country underwent a
change. Stagnation and apathy and gloom, aye,
and want and misery too, gave place to activity
and enterprise and prosperity. The miners of
Nova Scotia took courage ; the manufacturing
industries in our great centres revived and multi-
plied ; the farmer found a market for his produce ;
the artisan and labourer employment at good
wages ; and all Canada rejoiced under the quick-'
ening impulse of a new-found life. The age of
deficits was past, and an over-flowing treasury
gave the Government the means of carrying for-
ward the great works necessary to the realiza-
tion of our purpose to make this country a homo-
geneous whole.
To that end we undertook the stupendous
work, the Canadian Pacific Railway, undeterred
by the pessimistic views of our opponents ; nay,
in spite of strenuous and even malignant opposi-
tion, we pushed forward that great enterprise
through the wilds north of Lake Superior, across
the western prairies, over the Rocky Mountains,
to the shores of the Pacific, with such inflexible
resolution that in seven years after the assump-
tion of office by the present Administration the
dream of our public men was an accomplished
fact, and I myself experienced the proud satisfac-
tion of looking back from the steps of my car upon
the Rocky Mountains fringing the eastern sky.
The Canadian Pacific railway now extends from
ocean to ocean, opening up and developing the
country at a marvellous rate, and forming an
Imperial highway to the east over which the trade
of the Indies is destined to reach the markets of
Europe. We have subsidized steamship lines on
both oceans, to Europe, China, Japan, Australia
and the West Indies. We have spent millions on
the extension and improvement of our canal sys-
tem. We have by liberal grants of subsidies pro-
moted the building of railways, now become an
absolute necessity, until the whole country is
covered as with a network ; and we have done all
this with such prudence and caution that our
credit in the money markets of the world is higher
to-day than it has ever been, and the rate of interest
on our debt, which is the true measure of the public
burdens, is less than it was when we took office
in 1878.
During all this time what has been the attitude
of the Reform Party ? Vacillating in their policy
and inconstancy itself. As regards their leaders,
they have at least been consistent in this particu-
lar, that they have uniformly opposed every mea-
sure which had for its object the development of
our common country. The National Policy was
a failure before it had been tried. Under it we could
not possibly raise a revenue sufficient for the public
requirements. Time exposed that fallacy. Then
we were to pay more for the home manufactured
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIM^DIA.
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article than we used to when we imported every-
thinp from abroad. We were to be the prey of
rings and monopr es, and the manufacturers were
to extort their prices. When these fears had been
proved unfounded, we were as'.uired that over-com-
petition would inevitably prove the ruin of the
manufacturing industries and thus bring about
a state of affairs worse than that which the
National Polic} had been designed to meet. It was
the same with the, Canadian Pa^ Railway. The
whole project, according to our opponents, was a
chimera. The engineering difficulties were insuper-
able ; the r^iad, even if constructed, would never
pay. Well, gentlemen, the project was feasible,
theengmeering difficulties were overcome, and the
road does pay.
Disappointed by the failure of all their predic-
tions, and convinced that nothing is to be gained
by further opposition on the old lines, the Reform
party has taken a new departure, and has an-
nounced its policy to be Unrestricted Reciprocity ;
that is, as defined by its author, Mr. Wiman, in
the North A mcrican Review a few days ago, free
trade with the United States and a common tariff
with the United States against the rest of the
world.
The adoption of this policy would involve
among other grave evils, discrimination against
the Mother Country. This fact is admitted by
no less a personage than Sir Richard Cartwright,
who, in his speech at Pembroke on October 21,
1890, is reported to have said: ' Some men, whose
opinions I respect, entertain objections to this
Unrestricted Reciprocity proposition. They
argue, and argue with force, that it will be neces-
sary for us, if we enter into such an r.rr;>nge-
ment, to admit the goods of the United States on
more favourable terms than those of the Mother
Country. Nor do I deny that this is an objection,
and not a light one.' It would, in my opinion, in-
evitably result in theannexation of this Dominion to
the United States. The advocates of Unrestricted
Reciprocity on this side of the line deny that it
would have such an effect, though its friends in
the United States urge as the chief reason for its
adoption that Unrestricted Reciprocity would be
the first step in the direction of political union.
There is, however, one obvious consequence of
this scheme which nobodv has the hardihood to
dispute, and that is that Unrestricted Reciprocity
would necessitate the imposition of direct ta.xation,
amounting to not less than fourteen millions of
dollars annu.iUy upon the people of this country.
This fact is clearly set forth in a remarkable let-
ter addressed a few days ago by Mr. E. W. Thom-
son — a Radical and Free Trader — to the Toronto
Globe, on the staff of which paper he was lately an
editorial writer, which, notwithstanding, the Globe,
with characteristic unfairness, refused to publish,
but which, nevertheless reached the public
through another source. Mr. Thomson points
out with great clearness that the loss of Customs
revenue levied upon articles now entering this
country from the United States, in the event of
the adoption of the policy of Unrestricted Reci-
procity, would amount to not less than $7,000,000
annually. Moreover, this by no means represents
the total loss to the revenue which the adoption
of such a policy would entail. If American manu-
facturers now compete favourably with British
goods, despite an equal duty, what do you suppose
would happen if the duty were removed from the
American, and retained, or, as is very probable,
increased on the British article ? Would not the
inevitable result be a displacement of the duty-pay-
ing goods of the Mother Country by those of the
United States ? And this would mean an addi-
tional loss to the revenue of many millions more.
Electors of Canada, I appeal to you to con-
sider we'I the full meaning of this jiroposition.
You — I speak now more particularly to the people
of this Province of Ontario — are already taxed
for school purposes, for county purposes, while to
the Provincial Government there is expressly
given by the constitution the right to impose
direct taxation. This latter evil you have so far
escaped, but as the material resources of the
Province diminish, as they are now diminishing,
the Local Governmeni will be driven to supple-
ment its revenue derived from fixed sources by a
direct tax. And is not this enough, think you,
without your being called on by a Dominion tax-
gatherer with a yearly demand for $15.00 a
family to meet the obligations of the Central
Government ? Gentlemen, this is what Unre-
stricted Reciprocity involves. Do you like the
prospect ? This is what w are opposing, and
what we ask you to condemn by j'our votes.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
401
Under our present system a man may largely
determine the amount ot his contributions to the
Dominion Exchequer. The amount of his tax is
always in indirect proportion to his means. If
he is rich and can afford to drink champagne, he
has to pay a tax of $1.50 for every bottle he buys.
If he be a poor man, he contents himself with a
cup of tea, on which there is no duty, and so on
all through the list. If he is able to afford all
manner of luxuries, he pays a large sum into the
coffers of the Government. If he is a man of
moderate means and able to enjoy an occasional
luxury, he pays accordingly. If he is a poor man,
his contributions to the Treasury are reduced to
a minimum. With direct taxation, no matter
what may be the pecuniary position of the tax-
payer — times may be hard ; crops may have
failed ; sickness or other calamity may hr.ve fallen
on the family — still the inexorable tax-gatherer
comes and exacts his tribute. Does not ours
seem to be the more equitable plan ? It is the
one under which we have lived and thrived, and
to which the Government I lead proposes to
adhere.
I have pointed out to you a few of the material
objections to this scheme of Unrestricted Reci-
procity, to which Mr. Laurier and Sir Richard
Cartwright have committed the Liberal party ;
but they are not the only objections, nor in my
opinion are they the most vital. For a century
and a half this country has grown and flourished
under the protecting agis of the British Crown.
The gallant race who first bore to our shores the
blessings of civilization, passed, by an easy tran-
sition, from French to English rule, and now form
one of the most law-abiding portions of the com-
munity. These pioneers were speedily recruited
by the advent of a loyal band of British subjects
who gave up everything that men most prize, and
were content to begin life anew in the wilderness
rather than forego allegiance to their Soverei|;n.
To the descendants of these men and of the
multitude of Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotch-
men who emigrated to Canada, that they might
build up new homes without ceasing to be British
subjects ; to you Canadians, I appeal, and I ask
you what have you to gain by surrendering that
which your fathers held most dear ? Under the
broad folds of the Union Jack we enjoy the most
ample liberty to govern ourselves as we pleast?,
and at the same time we participate in the ad-
vantages which flow from association with the
mightiest Empire the world has ever seen. Not
only are wo free to manage our domestic con-
cerns, but practically we possess the privilege of
making our own treaties with foreign countries,
and in our relations with the outside world we
enjoy the prestige inspired by a consciousness of
the fact that behind us towers the majesty of
England.
The great question which you will shortly be
called upon to determine resolves itself into this :
Shall we endanger our possession of the great
heritage bequeathed to us by our fathers, and sub-
mit ourselves to direct taxation for the privilege of
having our tariff fixed at Washington, with a pros-
pect of ultimately becoming a portion of the
American Union ? I comment! these issues to
your determination, and to the judgment of the
whole people of Canada, with an unclouded con-
fidence that you will proclaim to the world your
resolve to show yourselves not unworthy of the
proud distinction you enjoy of being numbered
amongst the most dutiful and loyal subjects of our
beloved Queen. As for myself, my course is
clear.
A British subject I was born — a British subject
I will die. With my utmost strength, with my
latest breath, will I oppose the ' veiled treason *
which attempts, by sordid means and mercenary
proffers, to lure our people from their allegiance.
During my long public service of nearly half a
century I have been true to my country and its
best interests, and I appeal with equal confidence
to the men who have trusted me in the past, and to
the young hope of the country, with whom rest
its destinies for the future, to give me their united
and strenuous aid in this my last effort for the
unity of the Empire and the preservation of our
commercial and political freedom.
I remain, gentlemen,
Your faithful servant,
John A. Macdonai.d.
Ottawa, P'ebruary 7th, i8gi."
The Hon. Wilfrid Laurier, Leader of the
Liberal Party, followed the Manifesto of Sir John
Macdonald with an Address to the people, dated
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Quebec, February 12th, which dealt at length
with the trade and reciprocity issue :
" To the Electors of Canada :
The Parliament elected in 1887, and whose full
term was not to expire for a half year, has been
prematurely dissolved. The electors of Canada
are now hastily called to elect new representatives
to the House ef Commons. The questions before
the people, and upon which they have to pro-
nounce, are of vital importance, and upon these
questions Her Majesty's Opposition appeals with
great confidence to the sober judgment of the
country. To the issues which separate the Gov-
ernment and the Opposition, another considera-
tion is now added m respect of the manner in
which Parliament has been dissolved. This pre-
mature dissolution deserves the highest censure.
It is to be noticed that Sir John Macdonald in
the Manifesto just addressed by him to the elec-
tors of Canada makes a strong appeal to the
loyalty of the Canadian people, a totally uncalled-
for appeal, for in the present contest nothing
is involved which in one way or another can
affect the existing status of Canada. But loyalty
to the Crown of England would also and in
no less a degree imply loyalty to those institu-
tions which we have received from England, and
to which the people of this country have ever
clung as embodying the best principles of govern-
ment. I submit to the consideration of the
people of Canada that if to the advisers of His
Excellency the word 'loyalty' was anything but
a sham, they never would have advised His Excel-
lency to dissolve Parliament, for they have thereby
placed the Crown in the most painful position of
having broken faith with the Commons and the
people.
By the operations of the Franchise Act the
Ciovernment have practically taken into their own
hands the annual preparation of the lists prepared
by the municipal authorities under Provincial
law. It is eminently desirable that the lists
should be prepared and revised at least every year,
fot the obvious reasons that thousands of electors
are every year coming to manhood's estate and to
the rights of citizenship. During last session the
Government introduced a Bill providing that
the preparation of the list, which under the law
was to take place in the month of June now
past, should be dispensed with. The reason
given for this course was that no general election
was to take place before the revision of the lists
in June of the present year. Upon the assurance
thus given by the Ministers of the Crown, Parlia-
ment agreed in the proposition, and thus the
usual revision did not take place. The con-
sequence is that at this moment, when Parliament
is dissolved, thousands of electors who, by law,
are qualified to vote, wi!l be denied the exercise
of their Right of Suffrage.
Parliament never did the advisers of His
Excellency the injury of supposing when they
made the above proposition that they were not
sincere. Had Parliament supposed that the
pledge then given in the name of the Crown
would be violated, that the electorate might beat
any moment called upon to act. Parliament never
would have agreed to the proposition of the
Government and would have insisted that the
revision should take place as usual. It is mani-
fest that under such circumstances the power
of dissolution should not have been advised ex-
cept for the most cogent, sudden and imperative
reasons. I will not dispute that if some extra-
ordinary event had suddenly taken place which
required the immediate judgment of the people,
a dissolution might have taken place even though
the appeal lay to an imperfect electorate; but
has any such event taken place ? No, not even in
the opinion of the advisers of the Crown, and I
charge it upon these men, ever prone to fasten
upon their opponents the odium of disloyalty,
that they have compelled the Crown to an act
which in the Motherland never would be tolerated.
I call the attention of the people of Canada to
the fact that in the Manifesto of the Prime Min-
ister not a word is uttered, not the slightest
attempt is made to justify the course advised by
him to the Crown, thus plainly showing thpt his
position in this regard is absolutely untenable.
The power of dissolution is one of those powers
which under the constitution rightly belongs to
the Crown, but which should be exercised only
for adequate causes. Its present exercise is a
blow at the Parliamentary system of government
which no Prime Minister would have attempted in
England, or which, if attempted, would have
been unflinchingly resented by the people.
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We have been led to suppose by the Ministerial
press that the dissolution was taking place with the
view of consulting the Canadian people upon the
advisability of sending Commissioners to Wash-
ington for the purpose of attempting to negotiate
a Treaty for the reciprocal exchange of natural
products between the two countries. Indeed, we
have been informed that overtures in that respect
had been made to the Imperial Government, yet,
strange to say, of this not a word is to be found
in the Manifesto of the Prime Minister. In this
Manifesto Sir John Macdonald appeals to the peo-
ple upon the merits of the N.P., and upon nothing
else. Her Majesty's Opposition accept the con-
test on this ground. Sir John Macdonald asserts,
and seems seriously to assert, that the N. P. has
made the country prosperous, ' that the manufac-
turing industries in our great centres have revived
and multiplied, that the farmer has found a mar-
ket, the artisan and labourer employment and
good wages.'
I take issue with the Prime Minister upon such
statements. I characterize them as false in every
particular. This controversy, without any argu-
ment, I leave to the diispassionate judgment of
the electoral body, fully expecting that every arti-
san, every farmer who feels in his heart that the
N. P. has done for him all that is here claimed
• would naturally vote for the continuance of such
a blessing, while on the other hand every artisan
who has to work on half time and at reduced
wages in these so-called revived centres of indus-
tries, every farmer whose farm has been steadily
decreasing in value for the last ten years, would
naturally be expected to vote for reform.
I arraign the N. P. upon every claim made in
its behalf. I arraign it in this especially, that it
was, in the language of its authors, to stop the
course of emigration and give employment and
good wages to every child of Canada, and that it
has been in this respect not only a failure but a
fraud. It was stated in 1878 by Sir John Mac-
donald himself that there were half a million of
Canadians in the United States, and now, after
eleven years of the N. P., the number has been
swelled from a half million to a full million at the
lowest estimate. Her Majesty's Opposition sub-
mit that such a state of things in a country of
such immense resources as Canada is intoler-
able, and that a reform is absolutely required.
The reform suggested is absolute reciprocal .
freedom of trade between Canada and the United
States. The advantages of this policy we place
upon this one consideration : that the producing
power of the community is vastly in excess of its
consuming power ; that, as a consequence, new
markets have to be found abroad ; and that our
geographical position makes the great neighbour-
ing nation of 63,000,000 people of kindred origin
our best market. Indeed, the advantages of this
policy are so various that they are not denied, nor
the statement of the same contradicted, but three
objections are raised against it. It is asserted
(a) that this policy would discriminate against
England ; (b) that it would make direct taxation
unavoidable ; and (c) that it is ' veiled treason '
and would lead to annexation.
(i) The charge that Unrestricted Reciprocity
would involve discrimination against England can-
not have much weight in the mouth of men whose
policy was protection, whose object was to do
away with the importation of English manufac-
tured goods, whose object was to destroy British
trade to that extent. It is as well, however, to meet
this charge squarely and earnestly. It cannot be
expected, it were folly to expect, that the mterests
of a Colony should always be identical with the
interests of the Motherland. The day must come
when from no other cause than the development
of national life in the Colony there must be a
clashing of interests with the Motherland, and in
any such case, much as I would regret the neces-
sity, I would stand by my native land. Moreover,
the assertion that Unrestricted Reciprocity means
discrimination against England, involves the pro-
position that the Canadian tariff would have to be
assimilated to the American tariff. I deny the
proposition. Reciprocity can be obtained from
an assimilation of tariffs, or upon the retention of
its own tariff by each country. Reciprocity is a
matter of agreement, to be attained only by mutual
concessions between the two countries. Should
the concessions demanded from the people of
Canada involve consequences injurious to their
sense of honour or duty, either to themselves or
the Motherland, the people of Canada would not
have reciprocity at such a price ; but to reject the
idea of reciprocity in advance, before a Treaty has
f ••
r. ■■■
I 1--
1' :■
404
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
1:'--|
■ Si'ii'':'
. fc .if ■ 1
IMl''
J')
been made, on account of consequences which can
spring from the existence of a Treaty, is manifestly
as illogical as it is unfair.
(2) Then it is stated that Unrestricted Reci-
procity would be followed by such a loss of revenue
as to necessitate the imposition of direct taxation.
Again, this afar-off, hazy consequence to be pitted
against an immediate result. The loss of revenue
means a decrease of taxation to the extent of that
loss. The equilibrium between revenue and
expenditure could be naturally re-established by
retrenchment in expenditure and by re-distributing
ta.\ation under the same methods that now obtain,
and without inflicting any greater burden than is
now borne by the people.
(3) The charge that Unrestricted Reciprocity
is ' veiled treason ' is a direct and unworthy
appeal to passion and prejudice. It is an unworthy
appeal even when presented with the great author-
ity of Sir John Macdonald's name. As to the
consequent charge that Unrestricted Reciprocity
would lead to annexation, if it means anything it
means that Unrestricted Reciprocity would make
the people so prosperous that, not satisfied with a
commercial alliance, they would forthwith vute
for political absorption in the American Republic.
If this be not the true meaning implied in the
charge, I leave it to any man's judgment that it is
unintelligible upon any other ground.
The premature, uncalled-for, unjustified and
unjustifiable dissolution of Parliament will force
an imperfect electorate to pronounce upon a ques-
tion which the Government, if they believe they
are in the right, would have deemed it to their
advantage to see subjected to the amplest and
fullest discussion. It also closes the door upon
the investigation of grave charges reflecting
severely on the administration of one of the
great departments of State, and as to which any
Government careful of its honour or strong in the
convictions of its innocence would have courted
early and full inquiry in the high court of the
nation. The Opposition hold that the trade ques-
tion in the present contest must take precedence
of all others, and to the solution of the same on
the basis above indicated they are prepared to
give unflinching devotion until complete and final
triumph.
Believing that no other reform can be elTectually
advocated and carried out so long as the economic
condition of the people has not been placed upon
the most satisfactory condition on the other ques-
tions still remaining unsolved, the policy of the
Opposition remains on the broad lines laid down
in former years. In the future, as in the past, it
will strive to maintain the Constitution in the
spirit in which it was conceived, to perfect it
where perfectable, to keep intact Provincial auto-
nomy, and in every manner to promote harmony,
good-will and good fellowship between all races,
all creeds and all classes in the land.
(Signed) Wilfkid Laurier."
The letter written by President William C.
Van Home, of the Canadian Pacific Railway, to
the Montreal Witness on February 27th, 1891, was
an important document, and, apart altogether from
its political influence, represented in the following
extract a view held by many leaders of Canadian
trade and commerce :
" I do not wish to lead you into the labyrinths
of trade and industrial questions relating to Un-
restricted Reciprocity, nor to point out all, or even
many, of the interests that would be damaged by
it, for there are thousands of them. Let me ask
you to look at a correct map of the United States
and Canada, showing all the existing transporta-
tion routes, both rail and water, and consider
what would be the effect on the wholesale trade
of Montreal and Toronto of throwing open the
door of our North-West to St. Paul and Chicago,
the former with single houses doing a business of
$10,000,000 annually, and the latter with single
houses reaching beyond $40,000,000. Consider
the effect, not alone on our wholesale trade but on
our ocean steamship interests and our railway
interests, of throwing Ontario and the whole of
the Dominion open to New York, not forgetting
that the conditions and methods of trade have
radically changed since Canada last had free
trade with the States.
And while you are looking at the map it might
occur to you that the connections at Sault Ste.
Marie, to which you have referred, were estab-
lished with the primary object of taking advan-
tage of our geographical situation and afl'ording
the shortest possible route for the products of
the north-western States to Atlantic steamships
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
40s
plying from Canadian seaports — Montreal, Que-
bec, St. John and Halifax — which was the fact ;
and in this connection I may as well remind you
that the Lachine Bridge, to which you have
referred, is part and parcel of the Atlantic and
North-West Railway, which was built to give the
Canadian Pacific Railway access to the Canadian
seaports, St. John and Halifax, although it inci-
dentally afforded a valuable connection with the
New England States. . . . How long, think
you, would the great cotton mills of New England
continue to use distant China as a dumping
ground for their surplus products if they could
dump them right here in Canada? And where
would the great flouring mills of. the Western
States dump their surplus — in Canada or in
Europe ? Bnt I might go on with such questions
for a week. I will be content if the Witness will
answer those already asked. The Witness could
hardly have been serious in suggesting the saving
to the C. P. R. in the cost of its supplies as an offset
to the results of Unrestricted Reciprocity, or in
suggesting that it would make a great deal of
money in carrying American goods when Canada
should become a slaughter market. On the same
principle, it might make a^great deal of money
out of a famine somewhere in the Dominion."
The United States Tariff Measure of 1897,
better known as the Dingley Bill, revived nearly
all the stringent McKinley enactments of 1890
against Canadian products. Its chief features, as
compared with the Democratic legislation of
1894, called after Congressman Wilson, were as
follows :
Wilson Rill. DinRley Bill.
Cattle less than a
year old 20 per cent. $2.00 per head.
Other cattle worth
not more than
$14-00 20 " 3.75 "
Cattle worth more
than $14.00 20 " 27^^ per cent.
Hogs 20 " $ 1.50 per head.
Horses worth not
more than $150 20 " 30.00 "
Horses worth
more than $150 20 " 25 per cent.
Sheep not less
than a year old. 20 " $i'55 per head.
Sheep less than a
year old 20 " .75 '•
Wilson Bill.
Barley 30 per cent.
Barley malt 40 "
Buckwheat 20 "
Corn 20 "
Cornmeal 20 "
Oats 20 "
Oatmeal 15 "
Rye 20 "
Wheat 20 "
Flour 20 "
Butter 4c. per lb.
Milk (fresh) Free.
Beans 20 per cent.
Eggs 3c. per doz.
Hay $2.00 per ton.
Honey loc. per gal.
Hops 8c. per lb.
Onions 20c. per bush
Potatoes 15c. per bush
Straw 15 percent.
Vegetables 10 per cent.
Fresh-water fish
Apples 20 per cent.
Peaches, plums,
pears Free.
Berries "
Cranberries "
Grapes 20 per cent.
Bacon and hams.. 20 "
Fresh beef, veal,
mutton, pork... 20 "
Lard ic. per lb.
Poultry (live) 2c. '*
(dead) 3c. "
Tallow Free.
Salt (in packages). "
" (in bulk)
Wool
Hides
Flax
Lumber " $2
Paving posts, ties,
telegraph and
telephone posts,
etc
Clapboards " $1
Fence posts "
Laths
Pickets, palings,
staves "
Shingles "
Manufactures o f
wood 25 per cent.
Wood pulp (me-
chanical) 10 per cent.
Woodpulp(chem-
ical) 10 per cent.
Dingley Bill.
.30 per bush.
•45 "
•15 "
•15 "
.20 "
.15 "
.01 per lb.
.10 per bush.
25 per cent.
25 "
.06 per lb.
.02 per gal.
.44 per bush.
.05 per doz.
4.00 per ton.
.20 per gal.
.12 per lb.
.40 per bush.
.25 per bush.
1.50 per ton.
25 per cent.
.oo;J^ per lb.
.25 per bush.
.25 per bush.
01 per quart
25 per cent.
.20 cubic ft.
.05 per lb.
.02 "
.02 "
.03 "
.05 "
.oof "
.12 per cwt.
.08 "
II to I2C. "
20 per cent.
$5.00 per ton.
00 per 1,000 ft.
20 per cent.
50 per 1,000 ft.
10 per cent.
25c. per 1,000
10 per cent.
30c. per 1,000
35 per cent.
r'.rC. per lb.
ic. per lb.
:VV
m
406
CANADA ; AN ENCYCL0P/1<:DIA.
Wilson Bill.
40c. per ton.
Coal, bituminous.
Lead, contained in
silverore 5^. per lb.
Machinery 35 percent
r
m
m
Dingley Bill.
67c. per ton.
i^c. per lb.
45 per cent.
On live stock, wheat, flour, butter, eggs, milk,
hay, potatoes, oats, rye, wool and agricultural
products generally, the Dingley Bill restored the
almost prohibitory duties of the McKinlcy Bill.
On all the articles of the lumber schedule it also
re-enacted the McKinleyduty, and on white pine
lumber it doubled that duty. The single impor-
tant article of Canadian production on which a
rate lower than the McKinleyduty has been struck
is bituminous coal. That on which the McKinley
duty was 75 cents a ton and the Wilson duty 40
cents, was ta.xed 67 cents a ton under the Dingley
Bill. There were a few other features of the Bill
which seem to have been inserted out of special
consideration for Canada. To the lumber
schedule a clause was added providing for the
addition of an extra duty on lumber coming from
a country which puts an export tax on saw-logs,
etc., the extr.a duty to be equal to such export
tax. A similar clause was inserted in the .para-
graph prescribing the duty on wood pulp, the
extra duty in that case being for retaliation
against an export tax on pulp wood. In the item
fixing the duty on printing paper, it was also pro-
vided that in addition to the regular duty one of
one-tenth of a cent per pound should be levied on
printing paper coming from countries levying an
export tax on pulp wood. These clauses were
apparently intended to prevent Canada from pas-
sing any protective legislation in connection with
its timber interests or pulp industry.
The Question of Reciprocity between Canada
and the United States has taken many forms.
The following extract from a speech by the Hon.
G. W. Ross, Ontario Minister of Education, on
January 15th, 1897, may be fairly said to embody
the current opinion of the great mass of the
Canadian people, and is therefore worthy of his-
toric remembrance :
"A treaty to be satisfactory to the people of
Canada, as I understand the matter, should only
be considered upon the following conditions:
I. It must be purely, from start to finish, a
business agreement, that is to say, it must in no
sense involve concessions on our part for which
the corresponding concessions on the part of the
United States are not the equivalent.
II. In order to obtain an entrance to the Ameri-
can market, no territorial right of any kind what-
soever should be surrendered in consideration of
any commercial concession by the United States.
Canadians went far enough in this respect by the
Washington Treaty, when they conceded to the
Americans the free navigation of our canals and
the St. Lawrence River, for which the correspond-
ing concessions were inadequate.
The Hon. G. W. Ross.
III. The stipulations of such treaty should not
even by implication contain any condition which
would give the American Government any director
indirect control over the political future of Can-
ada. It may be said that if we establish trade
relations with the United States, the repeal of
which by-and-bye might seriously prejudice our
financial prosperity, we would by the very force
of circumstances be driven into political union.
About one-third of the whole trade of Canada is
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
407
now with the United States, and still our national
honour has not been corrupted I Why should an
extension of such trade have any debasing effect, or
why should a distinct treaty for facilitating that
trade undermine our national integrity ? If, by
enlarging our trade with the United States, the
country should become more populous and more
wealthy, the very contentment which would be pro-
duced would suppress all restlessness with regard
to the permanence of existing institutions, and
be. to my mind, one of the best guarantees of
national autonomy.
IV. While, in framing a treaty with the United
States, as in framing a tariff, in the nature of
things we are bound to consider our own interests
first, still in no treaty with the United States
should we discriminate against the Mother Coun-
try. Putting the matter on commercial grounds,
it would be most ungenerous on our part for the
purpose of adding a few thousands, or even
millions, to our trade for a specified number of
years, to close out the manufactures of Great
Britain, to whose home markets we have had
practically free access since the repeal of the Corn
Laws. Putting it on national grounds, it would
be unpardonable for us to allow the manufactures
of an alien nation greater privileges in the Canad-
ian market than we would allow the manufactures
of the Mother Country. If we cannot trade with
honour let us not trade at all.
V. While such a treaty should embrace manu-
factured goods, as well as natural products, care
should be taken not to allow the industries which
have been built up in Canada by the intelligence
and energy of our own people to be sacrificed in
order that American manufacturers might find a
market here. What we do not produce ourselves,
as well as goods in the manufacture of which we
have equal facilities with the United States, might
be legitimately subjects of the treaty; but to
destroy a native industry in order that we might
buy foreign goods would not be statesmanship,
nor even good politics.
VI. To appear as suppliants for freer trade
relations with the United States should not be
thought of. For thirty years we have existed,
and have prospered, too, in the face of an American
tariff which was all but prohibitory. Any undue
anxiety on our part to enter the American market
now, would be an expression of want of confi-
dence in the capacity of Canadians to do business
with the world on the same conditions as other
nations. Such a confession of weakness is not
called for in this last decade of the nineteenth
century, and would not increase our chances in
negotiating a reciprocity treaty which would do
justice to Canada. The true national spirit is not
begotten of cowardice and self-abasement."
Two Leaders of the Liberal Party expressed
views of considerable importance regarding Can-
adian and American trade relations in letters
written to Mr. J. F. Lane, President of the Boston
(U.S.) Merchants' Association, regretting their
absence from a Banquet given in Boston on Dec-
ember 28th, 1887. Amongst those present were
the Hon. J. W. Longley, of Nova Scotia, Hon.
Peter Mitchell, M.P.,of Montreal, Senator Mac-
donald and Mr. William Mulock, M.P., of Toronto;
US. Congressmen Hitt, Nelson Dingley, Rogers
and McKenna, and U.S. Senator Hoar, Mr.
Erastus Wiman, and Mr. Francis B. Thurber.
The letter from the Premier of Nova Scotia was
as follows :
" I regret that my public engagements will not
permit me to accept your very kind invitation to
the annual Dinner of the Boston Merchants"
Association. I am very glad to find that the
merchants of your city are manifesting a lively
interest in the important question of the trade
relations between the United States and the Brit-
ish Provinces. While in my official capacity as
Premier of Nova Scotia I am not called upon to
deal directly with matters of trade and commerce,
I nevertheless feel a very deep interest in the sub-
ject which is to be considered at your gathering.
With large opportunities of gauging the public
opinion of this Province, I have no hesitation in
saying that there is a general desire among our
people to see the existing difficulties between
the States and Provinces settled by the adoption
of a liberal arrangement for closer trade relations,
always provided that such settlement can be
effected in a manner honourable to both parties.
Whether the arrangement shall be called free
trade, reciprocity, unrestricted reciprocity, or
commercial union, is of little consequence. The
name is but the shadow. It is tiie substance with
if ■
*'f
4o8
CANADA : AN ENCVCLOIVKDIA.
•■■ I
which we have to deal, and tlie substance is the
largest possible measure of freedom of exchange
for the products of the two countries.
In the period of the old Reciprocity Treaty we
had an experience which enabled us to realize the
advantages of liberal trade relations. The Pro-
vinces undoubtedly gained by that treaty. For-
tunately the doctrine is no longer taught in
matters of trade that the gain of one party is
necessarily the loss of the other. The Recipro-
city Treaty was a good thing for the Provinces,
and a good thing for the States as well. No-
where could this be better understood than among
the merchants of Boston, with which city the
people of the Maritime Provinces have long had
very intimate business relations.
There are on both sides of the line men who,
for selfish or party reasons, are disposed to pre-
vent the consummation of such a Treaty as
would happily settle present complications and
open the natural channels of trade which have
been too long obstructed. Let us hope that
their efforts against the best interests of the
whole people will fail. It is to be regretted
that some persons on your side of the boundary
associate the question of political connection
with that of trade connection. While unscrupu-
lous writers in these Provinces, for purposes
which are well understood here, characterize
almost every advocate of closer trade relations
with the States as an annexationist, it is not
surprising that Americans should receive the
impression that the majority of the people of
the Provinces, or at all events a very large propor-
tion of them, are seeking a political union of their
country with your Republic. Be not misled
with anything of the kind. Undoubtedly there
are in the Provinces advocates of annexation to
the United States. Claiming as we do the largest
freedom of speech in public matters, we recog-
nize the right of those to express their views from
the house-tops if they wish to do so. But you
may rest assured that the great mass of the peo-
ple of the Provinces are warmly attached to
British institutions and are as ready to resent sug-
gestions of political union coming from the other
side of the line as you and your fellow-citizens
would be to resent anything of the same kind
from this side. But there is no reason why our
political differences should prevent the estab-
lishment of such commercial relations as are
calculated to be advantageous to both countries.
' Providence has made us neighbours, let wisdom
make us friends.' So said a distinguished Ameri-
can statesman in a recent letter. The sentiment
should be heartily endorsed by all who desire
peace, happiness and prosperity on this continent.
Trusting that your, gathering may be very success-
ful and instrumental in advancing the good cause.
I am, yours faithfully,
VV. S. Fielding."
The letter from Sir Louis H. Davies, who for
many years had led the Liberal party in Prince
Edward Island, and is now (1897) Canadian
Minister of Marine and Fisheries, was also of
interest and importance. Like Mr. Fielding's, it
was dated December 5th, and read, in part, as
follows :
" 1 have to thank you for your very kind let-
ter extending to me an invitation to attend as
the guest of the Association the annual Dinner
in Boston on the 28th of this month. I appreci-
ate, I can assure you, the compliment very much.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than being
able to accept and say a few words on behalf of
my native Province. The assemblage, as you
say, will embrace some of your most distin-
guished men, and your object is to express your
goodwill toward our people and to promote better
commercial relations between the people of the
New England States and those of the Maritime
Provinces. Probably none of the Canadian
Provinces are more deeply interested in the ex-
tension of free trade relations with the United
States than Prince Edward Island. We find
with you a ready and natural market for our
surplus productions, whether taken from the soil,
the sea, or the forest ; and we are ready in return,
if permitted to do so, to purchase our supplies
largely. Inheriting the same spirit and traditions,
why should we be prevented by arbitrary and un-
natural laws from trading together ? W^e do not
seek a one-sided contract. We are perfectly
willing to admit your fishermen to the richest
fishing grounds of the world, provided you, on
your part, will admit our productions freely into
your market. Many of our people are frightened
at the term Commercial Union, fearing it may in-
volve a political union also. Though I do not
myself share ihese fears, I thmk the frii t^is of
Unrestricted Reciprocity would not act WiSoiy in
clinging to a phrase. We want the substance —
free trade with the States — call it by what you will."
CANADA ; AN ENCVCI.OP.KDIA.
409
The Hon. George E. Foster, Minister of Finance,
during the General Elections of 1891 issued an
Address to the electors of King's County, New
Ikunswick — 12th February — which is of import-
ance from an historical standpoint :
" The policy of the Government has been to
assist in developing foreign markets for our
natural and manufactured products, and to that
end they have liberally subsidized lines of steam-
ers to the West Indies, China and Japan, and
the Mother Country. Proposals for reciprocity
with the British West Indies have been made
by myself in person, acting for the Government,
and I have good grounds for believing that a
large and profitable trade may be opened up
with those islands for most of our natural and
many of our manufactured products. In its trade
policy with the United States, the Government
have always favoured a fair and just measure of
reciprocity, and have made repeated propositions
looking in that direction. Until lately, however,
the United States have made no favourable re-
sponse. Now, however, in the course of diplo-
matic correspondence, the Government of that
country, through its Secretary of State, has
intimated its willingness to enter into a Confer-
ence upon this matter with the Dominion Govern-
ment, and has declared its readmess to commence
this Conference after March 4th. The trade
issue is the great issue in this contest, and it is
of the utmost importance that each elector should
have a clear idea of the points of difference between
the two parties.
The Opposition declare for Unrestricted Reci-
procity, or Commercial Union, with the United
States. This 'means and only can mean :
1. That no tariff duties are to be levied on any
products of either country passing into the other.
2. That Canada is to adopt the tariff of the
United States, which is, on an average, twice as
high as our own.
3. That we are virtually to give up the power of
making our own fiscal laws — a thing which no
free people has yet been craven enough to do.
4. That the tariff of the United States is to
apply to all Hritish and foreign imports — that is,
that while Canada admits United States imports
free of duty, she must discriminate against Great
Britain and the rest of the world, and virtually
prohibit the great part of the imports which now
come in therefrom.
5. That loss and ruin will result to our manu-
facturing industries, to our seaport towns, to our
wholesale business, and, consequently, to our
farmers.
6. That Canada will lose more than half her
present revenue, which will have to be n ade up
by direct taxation. I estimate the loss of revenue
at $18,000,000 per year. The direct tax necessary
to recoup this will be equivalent to $3.60 per
head, or $18 for each family of five.
7. That ultimately the bond which now unites
us to the Motherland will be severed, and that
Canada will become a part of the United States.
Please consider all that is involved in such a
policy, and then contrast it with the policy of the
present Government, which is :
1. To continue to develop home industries, and
the agricultural, mineral and other resources of
the country on the lines laid down since 1878.
2. To keep in our hands the power of framing
our own tariff according to our own necessities.
3. Not to discriminate against Great Britain —
our Motherland and the great market for our
products.
4. To raise our revenue by indirect taxation on
Customs and Excise, and not by direct taxation.
5. To meet the United States in a friendly way,
and negotiate with them for a reciprocity arrange-
ment on lines that shall be just and equitable,
and in accord with the honour and best interests of
Canada, so far as it can be done without infring-
ing upon the lines above laid down."
The Hon. J. A. Chapleau, M.P., at that time
Canadian Secretary of State, delivered a charac-
teristically eloquent address upon the occasion of
a banquet given by the Commercial Club of Pro-
vidence, Rhode Island, U.S., on November 28th,
1891. The speech was an elaborate presentation
of the relations between the two countries, and
the following references to Reciprocity are of his-
torical value :
" The history of Reciprocity negotiations, prof-
fers, laws and reports shows that Canada has
always been favourable towards fair and friendly
trade relations with the United States. In 1847, an
address was moved in the Legislative Assembly of
«. ^
'ffl;;
li>:
410
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP-EDIA.
Canada, praying thatncp^otiations would be entered
into with the Government of the United States to
procure the aihnission of Canadian products for
consumption in their markets, on the same terms
as the products of the United States are admitted
for consumption into Canada; and that perfect
reciprocity may be established between the two
countries. In this same year the old Province
of Canada passed a hiw reducing rates on impost
duties on United States products from 12J to
7^ per cent., and raising the rate on British
imports from 5 to 7J pur cent.
This measure was passed, relying on the sup-
posed willingness of the United States to negotiate
a fair treaty of reciprocity between the two
countries ; it gave an immense advantage to the
exporters of the United States, but no correspond-
ing legislation was enacted by that country nor
was reciprocity granted. In 1849 an Act was
passed, enacting that whenever, under any law of
the United States of America, the articles enumer-
ated in the Schedule of this Act annexed, being
the growth or production of this Province, shall be
admitted free of duty into said United States of
America, their similar articles, being the growth or
production of the said United States, shall be ad-
mitted into this Province free of duty when im-
ported direct from the United States. A similar
Bill was reported by the United States Congress
Committee on Commerce and passed by the
House of Representatives, but failed of consider-
ation in the Senate in both 1848 and 1849. In
1850 Sir Francis Hincks visited Washington on
behalf of the Canadian Provinces and addressed
an able letter to the Chairman of the Committee
on Commerce in favour of the adoption of a
measure of reciprocity on the basis followed by
the Canadian Act of 1849. His efforts failed and
the United States Senate refused to act."
There are a number of speeches and
documents which may be consulted with advan-
tage in connection with the history of Canadian
commerce and international trade relations. Some
of the most important official communications may
be found in the following Sessional Papers of the
Province of Canada prior to Confederation in
1867 and of the Dominion of Canada after that
event :
Volume 17
Appendix
1854-55
4
Number 26
1859
5
30
i860
5
38
i860
5
i3
1H62
5
47
1869
6
40
i«73
8
51
1874
18
13
1885
The Journals of the Canadian Assembly and
the House of Commons should also be consulted
for 1865, 1876, 1877 and 1883. The following
are the most important speeches and documents
dealing with the modern phases of Canadian
and United States trade relations, together with
a reference to the places in which they may be
found :
1887. Mr. Wiman at the New York Board of
Trade. — Toronto Mail, February 23rd.
1887. Sir Richard Cartwright at Ingersoll. —
Toronto Globe, October 14th.
1887. Edward Atkinson's letter to New York
Chamber of Commerce. — Montreal Witness,
November 24th.
1887. Merchants' Club Banquet at Boston, U.S. —
Toronto Mail, December 29th.
1889. Mr. Wiman interviewed at Chicago regard-
ing Commercial Union. — Toronto Globe, Oc-
tober 5th.
1890. Mr. Wiman lectures at London, Ontario. —
G/o6(;, January 13th.
1890. Sir Richard Cartwright speaks at Pembroke
and Meaford. — Globe, October 24th and De-
cember 13th.
1891. Mr. Charlton addresses the Toronto Young
Men's Liberal Club — Globe, January 7th.
1891. Mr. E. W. Thomson's letters on Unre-
stricted Reciprocity. — Toronto World, Janu-
ary and February.
1891. Sir Richard Cartwright speaks at Boston,
U.S. — Globe, February 7th.
1891. Mr. Blake publishes his Address to the
Electors of West Durham. — Globe, February
nth.
1891. Sir John Macdonald addresses a mass
meeting in Toronto. — Toronto Empire, Feb-
ruary 17th.
1891. Sir Charles Tupper speaks at Windsor. —
Empire, February 23rd. *
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP.EDIA.
411
1891. Mr. Laurier speaks at a Hoston Banquet. —
Globe, November 27th.
l8gi. Sir Oliver Mowat publishes a letter ad-
dressed to Mr. Mackenzie. — Globe, Decem-
ber 14th.
1892. Mr. David Mills speaks at Highgate,
Ontario. — London Advertiser, December
3rd.
1893. Mr. Charlton at Waterford, Ontario, — Globe,
November 2jrd.
No reference is made here to the many speeches
in the House of Commons delivered by party
leaders. They may be consulted in the Hansard
Reports during each year's Budget debate, or in
connection with the Parliamentary Resolutions
which have been presented from time to time and
which are quoted elsewhere in this volume. Nor
is special reference made to the ofhcial documents
already given in part ur in full.
A number of United States olTicial papers may
also be consulted with advantage. The chief of
these are the Message of President Taylor upon
Reciprocal Trade with Canada in " House Kxe-
cutive Documents," 1849-50, Volume 8, No. 64 ;
a special Message of President Fillmore in " House
Executive Documents," 183J-53, Volume 4, No.
40 ; a Report of Committee on Commerce,
" Documents," 1852-53, No 4 ; the Reports of
Israel T. Hatch and James W. Taylor, "Docu-
ments," 1859-60, Volume 13, No. 96; a Letter
from the Secretary of the Treasury, "Documents,"
1863-64, Volume g. No. 32 ; the Congressional
Globe, Part 3, 1864, May i8th to 26th, and Part
1, 1865, January nth and 12th.
THE COMMERCIAL UNION MOVEMENT
Mr. Erastus Wlman, of New York, the per-
sistent and enthusiastic advocate ot an American
Zollverein, contributes to this work the following
sketch of the movement and policy with which
his name is so thoroughly identified :
" The origin of the movement in Canada known
as Commercial Union, so far as it can be traced
by those most familiar with it, may be said to
have sprung from a suggestion by Mr. S. J. Ritchie,
a resident of Akron, Ohio. This gentleman by
acquisition of dominant interests in the Central
Railroad of Ontario — subsequently expanded
into important developments of the vast nickel
deposits at Sudbury Junction — had become almost
a resident of Canada, through his frequent Lnd
prolonged visits in the country. A man of large
comprehension of great subjects, a natural-born
student of economic conditions, and above all
profoundly impressed with the field of opportunity
which Canada offered, Mr. Ritchie early realised
the enormous importance of breaking down the
commercial barrier that cut the continent com-
mercially in two. He realized that by bringing
the two English-speaking nations that occupied
this continent in common into closer commercial
relations, it would cause a development as great
on the northern side of the line as that which
had occurred on its southern side. The subject
profoundly moved him, as it will move anyone
who looks at it dispassionately and purely from
a material point of view.
Mr. Benjamin Butterworth, a distinguished
member of Congress from Ohio, now United
States Commissioner of Patents, was and is still
the legal counsel of Mr. Ritchie, as also his most
intimate friend. At the suggestion of the latter,
Mr. Butterworth introduced into Congress, in the
Session of 1887, a Bill looking to a closer com-
mercial relation between the United States and
Canada. It would have been impossible to have
selected a man better fitted for the task of promot-
ing this great and beneficial enterprise than Mr.
Butterworth. Earnest, intelligent and eloquent
beyond almost any of his compeers in Congress,
and representing a central location in Ohio, he
possessed just the requisites to attract attention
to so great a project as th?* which his Bill pro-
posed.
My own connection with the movement, at its
inception, consisted of immediately writing to
Mr. Butterworth, whom I had known in relation
to Congressional legislation for Staten Island,
thanking him for having taken up a subject so
fraught with advantage to my native country, and
equally full of benefit to the people of the United
States. As commercial reporter on the Globe
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CANADA : AN RNCYCLOP.KDIA.
(l ,
newspaper in ToiotKo, I li:ul been familiar with
the enormous advantages whicii had resulted to
Canada from the reciprocity prevailing between
the two countries in natural products and which
terminated in i.S()6. I had for years in the
Toronto grain marixtt cUnibed up on the farmers'
waggons to ascertain for myself the price of wheat
in order to report it accurately ; I hail kept close
watch upon the growing export trade in wheat,
barley, lumber, and all other natural products to
Oswego and other Lake Ontario ports, and had
received from the Toronto lioard of Trade my first
Erastus Wiman.
gold watch as a substantial recognition of my ser-
vices in respect to these figures. These, with the
visible signs of prosperity throughout Ontario,
every township of which had been pe'"sonally
visited by me in connection with the Mercantile
Agency, made me more than almost any other man
familiar with the enormous consequences that
had followed a free market on the American
side for Canadian products. Indeed, the sad-
dest day in my early lik as a young man
was the day on which that Treaty expired;
ami the most eventful scene in my com-
mercial life luui been the occ;ision when, at an
International Convention held in Detroit, a letter
was read from the American Consul-General, Mr
Potter, stationed at Montreal, in which ho gave it
as the deliberate result of his observations that so
valuable and essential had the free interchange of
products become, that rather than lose the Reci-
procity Treaty, Canadians would renounce their
fealty to Great Britain and seek annexation to the
United States. This announcement was vigour-
ously and immediately repudiated by the Canadian
Delegates present, and in a never-to-be-forgotten
speech, by Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia, a seal
was set to the loyalty of Canada to the Mother-
land that has never been and never can be broken.
In a communication to Mr. Hutterworth, I not
only thanked him most heartily for the introduc-
tion of his Hill into Congress, and volunteered to
devote myself to its advocacy in Washington and
before commercial bodies in the chief cities of the
Union, but pledged myself also to advocate it in
Canada. At that time I was in receipt of an
income of fifty thousand dollais a year, and was
prosperous beyond the ordinary lot of men. I
determined to devote a portion of my income to
the promotion of this cause, for, as before ex-
pressed, it was impossible from my previous train-
ing and my perfect knowledge of Canada on the
one hand, and on the other, of the United States,
not to realize the enormous consequences that
would flow to both from breaking down the.
barrier between them.
In, I think, April, 1888, I had the good fortune
to meet at Old Point Comfort, a winter resort in
Virginia, Professor Goldwin Smith, who had
journeyed there from Washington where he is a
familiar figure. I found the Professor much inter-
ested in the objects contemplated in Mr. Butter-
worth's proposal, and as at that time the matter
had been thoroughly discussed in the Canadian
papers, it was natural that he and I should spend
the leisure of a winter holiday in talking over its
possibilities, and the way in which it could be
best promoted. I had felt the necessity of some
designation for the movement, and suggested that
he should, with his great knowledge, give it a
name, whereupon he suggested that of "Commer-
cial Union." The name seemed aptly chosen.
CANADA : AN KNCYCI.OP.F.DIA
413
for it implied and meant all that was in view in
the inovt-mt'tit then taking shape and form. It is
trnc that Politiial Union had been discussed in
Canada and in the United States, and that there
were not a few who felt that eventually smh a
njovement might take shape and form. The Pro-
fessor had not made a secret of his own views on
that subject, but those who looked closely and
practically at the possibility of Political Union
felt it too remote, too uncertain, to have any tangi-
bility of practical success. With C'oruniercial
Union, on the other hand, there was the same kind
of practicability as had been experienced with the
Reciprocity Treaty, which had been in such
beneficent operation for ten years prio' to 1866,
and which, far from having been contri 'atory to
the political absorption of Canada, hati 'lad no
such effect. A precisely opposite resu h.id
followed its repeal.
The project of Commercial Union, as I under-
stood it, was simply this : That there should be
no Customs line whatever between the United
States and Canada ; that the two countries should
make a uniform tariff, which, while not operatinji
against each other, should be operative against
the whole world. In other words, that the tariff
line which now cuts the continent in two, and
which, like a barbed wire fence made it impos-
sible for one brother to trade with another brother
a bushel of potatoes for a bushel of apples without
paying tribute to both Governments beyond the
cost of production — that this tariff, instead of run-
ning across the continent, ihould be lifted up and
placed aroimd it. F"urther, that all the revenues
derived from Customs and internal national tax-
ation should be put into a pool, and divided in
proportion to population. The result of this
latter operation, so far as Canada was concerned,
would have been advantageous.
It is difficult at this distance to recall the
gradual steps which led up to the adoption by
the Liberal party of Canada, as the chief plank
in its platform, of Unrestricted Reciprocity. But
visits to Canada, at all the chief centres of opinion,
and a clear presentation by myself of the possi-
bilities in the United States of some great change
in the relations between the two countries, had
led leaders and others in authority in Canada to
i)elieve that if sincere overtures were made, a
response would be had that would be successful.
In order to convince Canadians that practical
results would follow a Liberal victory in Canada
favourable to better relations, another movement
was made in Congress. This took the shape of a
Resolution passed at the instance of the Com-
mittee of I'oreign Affairs, over which presided
then, as he does to-day, the Hon. Kot)ert R.
Hitt, of Illinois. Mr. Mitt enjoyed to a marked
degree the confidence of Mr. Ulaine, the then
head of the Harrison .Administration, in which
he was Secretary of State. I'ew men in the
country were as well informed upon Canadian
iffairs, and no public man in the United States,
either then or now, more correctly estimates the
attachment of Canada to Great Britain, and the
utter folly of any attetnpt toward a political
uii.on of the two countries. It is important to
bear this in min<l, not only because of what Mr.
Hitt has achieved in the past, but what he may
attempt to achieve in the future in regard to the
relation between the two countries. The " Hitt
Resolution," as it came to be called, was very
simple in its scope anil was as follows :
" Resolved : That whenever it shall be duly
certified to the President of the United States
that the Government of the Dominion of Canada
has declared a desire to enter into such commer-
cial relations with the United States as will result
in a complete or partial removal of all duties upon
trade between Canada and the United States, he
shall appoint three Commissioners to meet those
who may be designated to represent the Govern-
ment of Canada, to consider the best method of
extending the trade relations between Canada and
the United States, and to ascertain on what
terms greater freedom of intercourse between the
two countries can best be secured, and the said
Commission shall report to the President, who
shall lay the report before Congress."
This Resolution on a unanimous recommen-
dation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs passed
the House of Representatives (Session 1890), and
was the action which justified the Canadian Lib-
eral party in the belief that if they were returned
to power, a condition of Unrestiicted Reciprocity
could be created between the United States and
Canada. The people of Canada at the general elec-
tion did not accept this interpretation. While it
j. • ,■
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
was true the Conservative majority was reduce!
from seventy to twenty, nevertiieless the result
was fatal to the hopes of the Liberal party at that
juncture, and wisely and properly enough the ques-
tion of better relations with the United States
took a second place in the subsequent and more
successful contest, from the results of which the
Liberal party are now in power. While it is true
that this brief notice of the Commercial Union
Movement, as such, is in the nature of an obituary,
it nevertheless is the firm conviction in the minds
of careful observers that the seed sown in that
agitation will yet bear fruit. Notwithstanding the
bitterness engendered by the McKinley Bill, fol-
lowed as it has been by the Dingley Enactment, and
iumerous other indications of a want of comity
towards Canada, all these things have failed to
accomplish the result sought in shaking the stead-
fast loyalty of the Canadian people to the British
Crown. The recent events in the Jubilee year, and
especially the high position attained by the Liberal
Premier have confirm'-d the impression in the
United Slates that, so far as mortal vision can
penetrate, the area of the United States cannot
be extended beyond the St. Lawrence, the Great
Lakes and the 45th parallel."
The Hitt Resolution quoted above was preceded,
during the Session of Congress in 1889, by the
following motion. It will be seen th .t Congress-
man Hitt had greatly modified his proposals upon
their second presentation :
" Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled : That whenever it shall be
duly certified to the President of the United
States that the Government of the Dominion of
Canada has declared a desire to establish com-
mercial union v.ith the United States, having a
uniform revenue system, like internal taxes to be
cullected, and like import duties to be imposed on
articles brought into either country from other
rations, with no duties upon trade between the
United States and Canada; he shall appoint three
Commissioners to meet those who may likewise be
designated to represent the Government of Canada,
to prepare a plan for the assimilation of the
import duties and internal revenue taxes of the
two countries, and an equitable division of receipts
in a Commercial Union. And said Commission
shall report to the President, who shall lay the
report before Congress."
During the progress of the American Trade
movement the Commercial Union Club was
formed in Toronto, with the following officers :
President — Dr. Goldwin Smith.
Vice-Presidents — Henry W. Darling, A. H.
Campbell, S. H. fanes, W. H. Lockhart Gordon,
Captain Wm. Hall, and William Cluxton.
Secretary and Treasurer — George Kerr, Jr.
The Executive Committee was composed of
the following gentlemr, J : G. Mercer Adam, J.
N. Blake, C. W. Bunting, W. H. P. Clement,
H. H. Dewart, W. G. Douglas, E. E. A. Du
Vernet, H. P. Dwight, W, D. Gregory, M. H.
Irish, A. F. Jury, Robert Jaffray, T. D. Ledyard,
George S. Macdonald, A. Macdougall, W. D.
Matthews, Jr., Hugh Miller, Thomas Mulvey,
Samuel D. Mills, Peter Mclntyre, William Mc-
Cabe, W. Barclay McMurrich, Q.C., James Pear-
son, G. B. Smith, M.P.P., R. 'C. Steele, W. J.
Thomas, and Fred. W. Walker.
The Club was organized at a meeting held in
Toronto on November 3rd, 1887. Its constitu-
tion and objects were announced as follows :
" I. This Association shall be designated the
Commercial Union Club of Toronto.
2. The objects of the Club are to improve the
trade relations and develop the industries of Can-
ada by securing unrestricted reciprocity of trade
between this country and the United States.
3. The Club is not connected with any political
•^arty ; it invites the co-operation of persons of
whatever political party who are favourable to
Commercial Union.
4. The Club will welcome to its membership,
and regard as eligible to its Executive Committee
and Officers, any who may be favourable to its
object, in whatever part of the Province or Do-
minion they may reside.
5. The agencies which the Club employs are
public meetings, the diffusion of literature, and
co-operation with local associations which may
be formed with the same objects in view."
Papers were read before the Club by Mr. S. H.
Janes on December 6th, T887, by Mr. T. D.
Ledyard on March ist, 1888, by Mr. W. H.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
4>S
H.
D.
H.
Lockhart Gordon on January 17th, 1888, and by
Mr. A. H. Campbell on February 8th, 1888. In
this latter year a " Hand-book of Commercial
Union " was also published under its auspices.
During the General Elections of 1891 a Mani-
festo was issued by the organization, dated Feb-
ruary 13th and signed by Dr. Goldvvin Smith as
President and G. Mercer Adam as Hon.-Secre-
tary. The following extract will indicate the
views thus expressed upon the issue of the day :
"The leading principle of the Commercial
Union Club, which is the removal of restrictions
on trade with our own continent, has now been
adopted as a platform for one of the two great
political parties at present appealing to the
country, while the other so far adopts it as to
admit the necessity of extending commercial
relations v^jth the United States. Upon this
triumph of the principle, the Club congratulates
the friends of the movement throughout the
country. It is most satisfactory to note that not
only the farmer, the lumberman, the miner and
the shipowner, but some of our most important
manufacturing firms have declared for an open
market, trusting to Canadian energy, intelligence,
and enterprise tu hold their own in a fair field.
More than one policy, however, is now sub-
mitted in the name of reciprocity to the country,
and the friends of continental free trade are called
upon to make their choice. Unrestricted Reci-
procity, throwing entirely open to us the markets
of our own continent, both to sell and to buy in,
would give us in full measure the benefits we
seek and the relief for which, as we think, our
commerce and industry call. Combined with the
opening of the coasting trade, it would revive our
shipping on the lakes. Combined with participa-
tion in the fisheries, it would settle the disputes
with our neighbours. Unlike any partial measure
such as the Treaty of 1854, it affords the assur-
ance of its own stability, smce the trade connec-
tions which it would form, together with the
experience of the benefits bestowed by it would
secure it against change, and the tariff wall once
pulled down would never be re-built. We have
the best reasons for believing that the Americans
would consent. Mr. Hitt's resolution in favour
of Commercial Union having passed the House of
Representatives unanimously, and having encoun-
tered in the Senate only one dissentient voice,
while the recent elections in the United States have
been a victory for extended freedom of trade. Un-
restricted Reciprocity must be our first choice."
The late Sir Alexander Gait, in his Report
as Minister of Finance in 1862, to which reference
is made elsewhere, expressed very strong opposi-
tion to a similar American proposal of a Zollver-
ein or commercial union :
" The Committee of Congress, and also the
Chamber of Commerce of St. Paul, have not,
however, made any practical suggestions, but have
advocated the adoption of a system on this con-
tinent similar to that of the Zollverein in Ger-
many. The undersigned can have no hesitation
in stating to Your Excellency, that in his opinion
the project of an American Zollverein, to which
the British Provinces should become parties, is
one wholly inconsistent with the maintenance of
their connection with Great Britain, and also
opposed, on its own merits, to the interest of the
people of these Provinces. It requires no great
foresight to perceive that a Zollverein means the
imposition of duties by the Confederacy, on
articles produced outside of the Confederation,
coupled with free trade among its members.
In other words, Canada would be required to
tax British goods, while she admitted those of the
United States free, a state of things that could
only accompany a severance of all the ties of
affection, nationality and interest that now unite
Canada to the Mother Country. It would also
be essentially against the interests of Canada —
Great Britain is to a far greater degree than the
United States the market for Canadian produce —
and commercial relations should therefore be
extended with her, certainly not interfered with.
Besides, in the consideration of the rate of duties
to be levied on imports, the United States, as
being the more powerful country, would neces-
sarily impose her views upon the Confederation,
and the result would be a tariff, not as now, based
upon the simple wants of Canada, but upon those
of a country now engaged in a colossal war, which
must for many years demand enormous contribu-
tions from the people, among the means of obtain-
ing which Customs duties will certainly rank as
an important source of revenue.
\\
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416
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.-EDIA.
The Minister of Finance therefore respectfully
reports that he cannot recommend Your Excel-
lency to submit the project of a Zollverein to the
favourable notice of Her Majesty's Government.
But he considers that there are many respects in
which it would be found beneficial to extend the
operation of the Reciprocity Treaty with the
United States, and he recommends that the sub-
ject be brought before the Imperial Government,
with a view to such action hereafter as may meet
with Her Majesty's approval."
The question of an American Zollverein was
considered in 1870 by Mr. J . N . Larned in his Special
Report to Congress, and the following expression
of his opinion is important from the United
States official standpoint, and as indicating a po-
sition which Mr. Blaine made still more distinct
in 1892 :
" It appears, therefore, that an intimate free-
dom of commerce between this country and its
northern neighbours, which is so desirable for
both parties, cannot be contemplated except in
connection with a material change in the condi-
tions of the foreign relationship that the Provinces
sustain toward us. It involves, of necssity, an
entire identification of the material interests of
the two countries, by their common association,
in some form or other. If the Provinces do not
choose to become one with i i politically, they
must at least become one with us commercially,
before the barriers are thrown down which shut
them out from an equal participation with us in
the energetic working of the mixed activities of
the new world, and which deprive us, in a great mea-
sure, of the re-enforcement that they are capable
of bringing to those activities. The alternative
of annexation is the Zollverein, or a Customs
union, after the plan of that under which the
German States secured free trade among them-
selves and identity of interest in their commerce
with the outside world.
A majority of the people of the British Prov-
inces may not yet be prepared in feeling (though
many of them are) for an arrangement which
probably involves the disjointing of their political
attachment to Great Britain, and the assumption
for themselves of a state of political independ-
ence ; but the time cannot be very distant when
the persuasion of their interests will overpower
the hardly explainable sentiments by which it is
opposed. Perpetually made conscious, of late
years, that the parental nation to which they have
loyally clung is more than ready to dismiss them to
an independent career, with a hearty God-speed,
and that they are far more endangered than
protected by their anomalous connection with
Great Britain, their feeling with reference to that
connection has confessedly undergone a great
change. At the present time the inhabitants of
the Provinces appear to be in a doubtful, waver-
ing, transition state of opinion and sentiment with
regard to their future policy as a people ; much
afi"ected, on the one hand, by dissatisfaction with
their relations to England, and, on the other
hand, by a mistaken belief that it is the ambitious
policy and fixed purpose of their American neigh-
bours to coerce them into a surrender of them-
selves and their territory to the United States.
That it is alike against the political convictions
and against the manifest interest of this nation
to covet the forcible absorption into its body
politic of any unwilling, alien, discontented com-
munity of people so large as that of the British
Provinces, and that their accession to it is only
desirable, and only desired, if they come by free
choosing of their own, is a fact which they will
probably discern when their reflections have be-
come more deliberate.'"
During the Commercial Union agitation one
of the most important publications of a current
controversial character, which was also of perma-
nent value as an authoritative presentation of one
side of the discussion, was the pamphlet, or series
of re-published letters, which first appeared in
the Toronto Globe in 1887, by the Hon. James
Young, ex-M.P. The following is his interesting
review of the general question :
" It is constantly asked : ' Why cannot the
Canadian manufacturer compete with the Ameri-
can on equal terms ? ' Ask the latter why he can-
not compete with the British manufacturer on
equal terms, and he will answer : ' Th? terms are
not equal ; we cannot compete because of the
cheaper labour and capital, cheaper raw material,
and, in many cases, larger establishments of
Great Britain.' Whatever truth may be in this.
J
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
4»T
there are strong reasons why many of our manu-
facturing industries could not withstand the com-
petition certain to occur if we made our maricets
perfectly free to the large corporations and mono-
polies of a great nation like the United States.
Nor does it necessarily follow from this fact that
Canadian prices are higher, or that the change
would ultimately ensure the consumer cheaper
goods. It is an easy and very common thing
across the line for large corporations to crush out
smaller concerns and afterwards charge higher
prices to recoup themselves. That this would be
extensively done throughout the Dominion by
American manufacturers if Commercial Union
were adopted, is as certain as that man is human,
and the result of such unfair, combined with
legitimate, competition, would not only check the
further growth of manufactures among us, but
cause widespread ruin among those which at pre-
sent exist. ' But,' we are told again, ' with
Commercial Union we would have all the United
States to manufacture for, and ultimately the best
of our manufactures, re-enforced by Americans
and American capital, would have immense estab-
lishmenla sending Canadian goods all over the
Continent.' This is a pleasintr dicam, but only a
dream. Indeed, this is one of the crucial points
at'*hich, it appears to me, that Commercial Union
absolutely fails. Two facts must, I think, make
this perfectly clear to every unprejudiced mind.
They are as follows :
I. All descriptions of American manufactures
are extensively covered by patents, either wholly or
in part. These patents run for long terms of
years and prevent competition with the patented
articles in any of the States or Territories of the
Union. Many of these same manufactures are
made in Canada, but few of them have been
patented here ; consequently while the Americans
could over-run our limited market with their
patented goods, our manufacturers, who make the
same article or parts thereof, would contmue to
be as completely shut out of the States as they
^re at present.
II. Under Commercial Union the commence-
ment of large industrial establishments in Canada
would be checked, if not altogether prevented. It
would offer a premium to manufacturers to avoid
Canada, for the very obvious and powerful reason
that if they located here, the repeal of the Treaty
would lose them eleven-twelfths of their market
and entail serious loss both in real estate and plant.
On the other hand, by locating in the States they
would be ce. tain of the whole of that large market
and enjoy ld.s also whilst the Treaty lasted.
Under these circuinstancus, I submit that what-
ever else may he said in favour of Commercial
Union, it would inevitably be most disastrous to
Canadian manufacturers, both at present and in
future. I shall not enlarge further on this
l.oint, except to say that what this would mean,
The Hon. James Young.
not only to our leading cities, but to such places
as Stratford, Woodstock, Brantford, Gait, Berlin,
Paris, Oshawa, and other rising towns and
villages throughout the Dominion, requires no
prophet to foretell.
Agriculture being admittedly our chief industry,
if it could be proven that Commercial Union
would greatly benefit our farmers, without entail-
ing serious disadvantages upon them, it would
certainly receive my most favourable consideration.
That simple reciprocity would do this everybody
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.'KDIA.
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is agreed. The benefits would not be so great as
under the former Treaty, for there would be no
Crimean war, no slave-holders' rebellion, no Grand
Trunk construction to raise prices abnormally
high ; but the complete freedom of exchange of all
products of the farm, especially on the frontiers,
would be both convenient and profitable, and add
to the prosperity of both countries. But, as I
have remarked before, Reciprocity is one thing,
Commercial Union quite another. The latter
would open the markets ofjioth countries, but only
on certain conditions specified by the United
States, and these conditions, as I will endeavour
to prove, would largely, if not wholly, destroy its
advantages to our farming community. The con-
ditions referred to are the adoption of a contin-
ental tariff and discrimination against our trade
with the Mother Country.
Our farmers, we are told, are suffering from an
oppressive system of protection, which is annu-
ally becoming more unbearable. But what gain
would it be to them, by accepting the above con-
ditions, to place themselves under the still higher
and more exacting Protection of the United States,
whose policy approaches nearer the Chinese
principle of non-intercourse than any other mod-
ern Government ? We are also told that our
farmers are suffering from high taxation, levied
largely for the benefit of other favoured classes.
This is, unfortunately, too true, but farmers' votes
have upheld the high taxation system, and they
have the power to undo it. What relief would it
be, however, to their burdens to place themselves
under what would practically be the United
States tariff, which is at least ten per cent, or
fifteen per cent, higher than the taxes they have
to pay at present ?
Whilst improving our farmers' American market,
Commercial Union, unlike Reciprocity, would
injure their Home and British market. These
three markets absorb nearly all our agricultural
produce, and the former, I submit, is the least
importantto our larmers.for the following reasons:
(i) Because our neighbours raise annually over
$2,210,000,000 worth of the same products which
we raise ; (2) because the British is the consuming
market for the surplus products of both countries
and determines the price; and (3) because they
*ake less of our products than the home or British
markets ; and what thoy do buy, except horses,
barley and a few other articles, is either re-
exported or displaces produce of their own — in
either case adding to the competition of our
direct shipments in the Mother Country.
It is the very marrow of the question to deter-
mine the relative value of these three markets to
our farmers, and we are fortunately now in pos-
session of some reliable data which may guide us
in doing so. The able head of the Ontario
Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Archibald Blue, in a
carefully prepared statement now in my posses-
sion, makes the value of everything produced on
Ontario farms in 1886 to have been close upon
$160,000,000. Adding $140,000,000 for all the
other Provinces, which must be a moderate esti-
mate, we reach a total production for the Domin-
ion of $300,000,000. Assuming that one-half of
these products were consumed by the farming
community themselves, the surplus was disposed
of as follows.
Surplus farm production $150,000,000
Exported to Great
Britain $22,543,936
Exported to United
States 15495.783
Exported elsewhere 1,678,493
39,718,212
Home market consumed $110,281,788
Although only an approximate estimate, these
figures clearly indicate that the home market made
by our manufacturing, lumbering, mercantile and
other classes is incomparably the best which our
farmers possess, while that of Biitain ranks
second and that of the States third. As indica-
tive of the relative value of the two latter, I sub-
join a statement of our total shipments of pro-
ducts of the farm (goods not the produce of Can-
ada included) to each respectively since 1880 :
Year. To United States. To Great Britain.
1880 $13,177,724 1^5.795.797
i88r 14,199,767 34,087,366
1882 16,297.206 35.763.194
1883 18,776,272 29,557,012
1884 14,512,522 25,750,891
1885 15.542.533 30,449.446
1886 15.931.188 26,700,404
$108,437,212 $208,102,110
r
CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
419
During the seven years, therefore, Britain took
more agricultural products directly from the Do-
minion than the States did by nearly $100,000,-
000. This makes it tolerably clear that it is our
principal market for foreign export, and its super-
iority is enhanced by the fact that whilst the
Mother Country sends us comparatively no farm
products in return, our American neighbours are
active competitors not only in the foreign, but in
our home market."
A letter written by Congressman Hitt to
Mr. Wiman on April 25th, 1889, became famous
during the Canadian elections of 1891, and is
consequ^-tly of historic value in connection with
the Commercial Union question and agitation.
It was as follows :
"Dear Sir, — I am greatly obliged to you for
sending to me the proof slips of the ' North
American ' article, and have been much inter-
ested also in Mr. Farrer's letter, which surprised
me somewhat, as I did not think from his con-
versation, which gave me a very favourable im-
pression, that he would be so easily discouraged.
The reasons he gives existed before the Com-
mercial Union movement began with greater
force than to-day. The Republicans as protec-
tionists, it was apprehended, would be against it.
They are not. Their representatives vote for it,
their newspapers have received it kindly, and
often with warm approval. The Jesuit agitation,
which has taken the place of Commercial Union
in his mind, is largely sentimental and will proba-
bly not last long. The other, C.U., is a business
question that concerns each citizen, and in a way
which he does not understand at first, but sees
more and more clearly the more he talks intelli-
gently about it. There is some logic in what F.
says of not making two bites of a cherry, but
going for annexation at once ; but I think he is
misled on that point in a way that often occurs.
Where a man is thinking much on a point and
discussing it, he is liable to narrow his horizon to
those within his reach ; and his own mind, and
perhaps those he meets, having passed on by
discussion to distant results, he takes it for grant-
ed that the wide world, which is so wonderfully
slow, has kept up with him and has the same re-
sults in sight. We must be very patient with
the slow-moving popular mind. If the Canadian
public of farmers, artisans, lumbermen, miners
and fishers can be in three years argued up to the
one point of voting Commercial Union and giving
sanction to the movement in Parliament, it will
be great progress. Slow as such movements are,
the comforting thing is that they never go back-
ward. To you personally it ought to be in your
moments of reflection a consolation that long
hereafter when this ball, which you set rolling,
has gone on and on and finished its work, every-
one may then look back and see and appreciate
the service done to mankind by the hand that set
it in motion. I shall look with interest for what
you may say in Ottawa. The North American
Review article will have a powerful tendency to
keep our public men from scattering away on an-
nexation next winter, and I hope we can get the
offer of Commercial Union formulated into law.
I return the proof slips of the article and the
letter of Mr. Farrer.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) R. R. Hirr.
P.S. — Just received yours of yesterday with
Goldwin Smith's; it reads admirably."
On April 28th, 1887, the Central Farmers'
Institute of Ontario was organized in Toronto,
with Mr. Valancey E. Fuller, President of the
Wentworth Farmers' Institute, as Chairman, and
Mr. Thomas Shaw, of Hamilton, as Secretary.
After organization, Mr. Fuller was elected Presi-
dent of the Institute, Mr. John Dryden, M.P.P.,
Vice-President, and Mr. Shaw, Secretary-Treas-
urer. After a prolonged discussion of the ques-
tion of trade relations the following motion was
passed by a large majority :
" In the opinioi of this Institute, a removal of
all restrictions on trade between the Dominion of
Canada and the United States is desirable, either
by reciprocity or otherwise, as may be agreed
upon by the respective countries, and theOfi cers
and Executive Committee of the Institute are
hereby authorized to take such action in the
premises as shall best promote the object of this
resolution. In the event of fair reciprocity being
unattainable, this Institute shall memorialize the
Dominion Government to suggest to the Govern-
ment of Great Britain the expediency of entering
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420
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/r.DIA.
into a Conimercicil Union with her Colonies in
regard to food supplies, and of imposing a pro-
tective tariff against all foreign countries."
This was purely a compromise resolution. The
trade question was immediately discussed by the
local associations, and between the 28th day of
April and the 4th day of August, resolutions were
carried in favour of Unrestricted Reciprocity in no
less than twenty-two of the Institutes. Eleven
did not vote upon the subject, and only
one, it is stated, carried a resolution in op-
position to the movement. At the meeting
of the Executive of the Central Farmers' Insti-
tute, held in Toronto on August 4th, 1887, two
of the officers had the work delegated to them
of organizing Institutes in electoral districts
where they did not exist, and through whose
medium it was intended to ascertain the minds
of the farmers of the whole Province in regard to
the question at issue.
Of course, this movement aroused intense op-
position in many quarters, and soon precipitated
a national discussion, which only ended with the
elections of 1891 and the renewed victory of Sir
John Macdonald and the Protective tariff. On
May 4th, the Canadian Manufacturers' Association
had met in Toronto at the call of Mr. Frederic
Nicholls, the Secretary, to discuss the question,
and after a debate, in which Mr. R. W. Elliot,
Mr. Thomas Cowan, of Gait, Mr. E. Gurney, Mr.
H. E. Clarke, M.P.P., and others spoke strongly
against the policy, the following Resolution was
unanimously adopted :
" Whereas the question of Commercial Union
or 'Unrestricted Reciprocity' between the Unit-
ed States and Canada has been brought promi-
nently into notice ; and whereas the Central
Farmers' Institute, at a recent meeting, passed a
resolution binding that body to urge the Domin-
ion Government to obtain a Reciprocity Treaty
at the earliest possible moment ; and whereas it
is cons lered that Unrestricted Reciprocity in
manufactured goods would be a serious blow at
the commercial integrity of the Dominion, and
would result disastrously to our manufacturing
and farming industries, and our financial and
commercial interests ; therefore, resolved that
this meeting of Canadian manufacturers is unani-
mously opposed to any treaty between this coun-
try and the United States which would admit
American manufactures into Canada free of duty,
and that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded
to the Dominion Government with a request that
our manufacturing interests be closely guarded in
any negotiations which may take place between
the two countries."
The Toronto Youngr Men's Liberal Club, on
the I2th of February, 1891, issued a " Message to
the young men of Canada " in which the follow-
ing reference was made to the Continental trade
question :
" The main issue in this contest is Unrestricted
Reciprocity with the United States. The Liberals
have advocated this policy for years. Joined by
nature to that country, our trade cannot be sun-
dered by Customs barriers. Our farmers and
enterprising manufacturers demand a wider mar-
ket. On equal terms they are prepared to com-
pete with the Americans. Advocates for Unre-
stricted Reciprocity are called annexationists.
Who are annexationists, when the condition of
the country, brought about by the Conservative
policy, is driving out thousands of our best peo-
ple to the United States ? Who are these vaunt-
ing loyalists but they who, when reminded that
the National Policy might injure British connec-
tion, replied, ' So much the worse for British
connection ? ' We believe that Unrestricted Re-
ciprocity is the only preventive of annexation.
By it we would obtain all the commercial advan-
tages annexation would afford, while retaining
our own political institutions. We believe that
annexation has practically no adherents in the
Liberal party, in spite of the allegations of Sir
John Macdonald to the contrary. Annexation
was the cry when we were accorded responsible
government; it was again the cry when we adopted
decimal currency ; it is the unwarranted cry to-
day ; and is as dishonest and unjustifiable now as
ever before.
Three things are necessary to the accumulation
of national wealth: (i). Natural resources; (2)
the application of capital to the development
thereof; and (3) a market in which to sell. We
have greater mineral and forest wealth than any
country on the globe. But we lack capital and a
market. Reciprocity by supplying the latter will
attain the former. Canadians who have contri-
buted largely to the rapid development of the
United States only await equally favourable com-
mercial relations to return and devote their capital
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOlMiDlA.
4at
and energies to their native land. Many of our
young men are leaving us and taking up their
residence across the line. This is the inevitable
result of the National Policy. England will not
and does not oppose an enlargement of our trade
relations with any country. Diplomatic questions
of grave import are now perplexing British states-
men, and Canada is the cause of much friction
between the Governments of Great Britain and
the United States. The final amicable settlement
of these difficulties, which would be effected
by Reciprocity, is more important to Britain than
any alteration which might be made in our trade
relations. Besides, British investments in this
country to the e.xtent of some $800,000,000 will
share the common prosperity. These are consid-
erations which weigh with the British mind and
which should influence every voter."
The "Butterworth Bill," which was the cause
of so much controversy in connection with the
Commercial Union movement, was introduced in
the House of Representatives at Washington on
February 14th, 1887, and again on December 28th,
1889, by Mr. Benjamin Butterworth, of Ohio.
Its exact terms at the later date, were as follows :
" A Bill to extend the Trade and Commerce of
the United States, and to provide for full Recipro-
city between the United States and the Dominion
of Canada.
Whereas, certain controversies have arisen and
are still pending between the Government of the
United States and the Government of the Dom-
inion of Canada. Whereas, certain controversies
have arisen and are still pending between the
Government of the United States and the
Government of the Dominion of Canada,
respecting commercial intercourse ; and where-
as, by reason of the contiguity of the two
countries and the similarity of the interests and
occupations of the people thereof, it is desired by
the United States to remove all existing contro-
versies and all causes of controversy in the future,
and to promote and encourage business and com-
mercial intercourse between the people of both
c<nintries, and to promote harmony between the
two Governments, and to enable the citizens of
each to trade with the citizens of the other with-
out unnecessary restrictions : Therefore
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America
in Congress assembled, that whenever and as
soon as the Government of the Dominion of Can-
ada shall permit all articles of traiie and com-
merce, of whatever name or nature, whether the
product of the soil or of the waters of the United
States, ail manufactured articles, live stock of all
kinds, and its products, and all minerals the pro-
duce of the mines of the United States, to enter
the ports of the Dominion of Canada free of duty,
then all articles manufactured in Canada, and all
products of the soil and waters, and all minerals
the produce of the mines of Canada, and all other
articles of every name and description produced
in said Dominion of Canada, shall be permitted
to enter the ports of the United States free of
duty: Provided, however, that the provisions of
this Act shall not apply to any product or article
upon which an internal revenue tax is imposed by
the laws of the United States,
Section 2. That when it shall be certified to
the President of the United States by the Govern-
ment of the said Dominion of Canada, that by
the authority of its Parliament it has authorized
the admission into the ports of the said Domin-
ion of all articles of trade and commerce the
growth, produce or manufacture of the United
States, free of duty, the President shall make
proclamation thereof, and shall likewise proclaim
that all articles the growth, produce or manufac-
ture of the said Dominion of Canada shall be
admitted into all the ports of the United States
free of duty, and such articles shall be so admitted
into the ports of the United States free of duty so
long as the said Dominion of Canada shall admit
the products of the United States, as herein pro-
vided, into the ports of the Dominion free of
duty.
Section 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury
is hereby authorized, with the approval of the
President of the United States, and in conjunction
with the proper officials of the Government of the
Dominion of Canada, to make rules and regula-
tions for the purpose of carrynig into effect the
provisions of this Act, and to protect the said
respective Governments against the importation
of foreign goods or articles, through either into
the other without payment of duty, and the Sec-
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.ICDIA.
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retary of the Treasury of the United States shall
furnish to the Customs officers of the United
States all such rules and regulations for the pur-
pose of guiding them in the discharge of their
duties in the premises.
Section 4. That before making the proclam-
ations, or either of them, authorized by this Act,
the President shall be satisfied that ail citizens
and subjects of the United States may have and
enjoy the right of commercial intercourse in all
the ports, harbours and places in Canada with the
citizens and subjects of the Dominion, in as full
and ample a manner in all respects as may be had
or enjoyed by the latter in the ports, harbours
and places of the United States, with the citizens
and subjects thereof."
The Toronto Board of Trade held a large
meeting on May 14th, 1887, to discuss the Com-
mercial Union question, with Mr. William Ince,
President of the Board, in the chair. The lead-
ing business men of the city were present, and
after a lengthy speech, Mr. Henry W. Darling,
President of the Canadian Bank of Commerce,
moved the following Resolution, seconded by
Mr. Goldwin Smith :
"That in conformity with the sentiments of the
Canadian people, expressed at intervals with
great unanimity for many years, this Board re-
gards as advantageous to the mutual prosperity
of the United States and Canada the removal of
every possible restriction upon international
trade, and affirms that the proposal for Com-
mercial Union between the two countries, is
worthy the fullest investigation and most earnest
consideration of the Canadian community."
Nearly all the speakers — including R. W.
Elliot, Edward Gurney, Barlow Cumberland and
E. B. Oslur — opposed the Resolution, and a
number of amendments were moved. Mr. David
Blain proposed one deprecatmg any arrangement
which involved complete free-trade between the
two countries and the adoption of the American
tariff by Canada. Mr. G. A. Chapman proposed
a resolution which favoured the principle of reci-
procity in natural products, regretted the passage
of the Butterworth Bill in the United States
House of Representatives, and suggested another
effort on the part of Canada to open negotiations.
Mr. D. R. VVilkie, Cashier of the Imperial Bank
of Canada, presented an amendment denouncing
Commercial Union and proposing an Imperial
ZoUverein as " the true, natural and most desir-
able future for the Dominion." After a prolonged
discussion, which was continued on the igth inst.,
a substitute amendment was proposed by the Hon.
John Macdonald, seconded by Mr. William
Thompson and accepted by a vote of 88 to about
a dozen, as follows :
*' That the Board desires to place on record the
conviction that the largest possible freedom of
conmiercial intercourse between our own country
and the United States, compatible with our rela-
tion to Great Britain, is desirable. That this
Board will do everything in its power to bring
about the consummation of such a result. That
in its estimation a Treaty which ignored any of
the interests of our own country, or which'gave
undue prominence to any one to the neglect or
to the injury of any other, is one that could not
be entertained. That in our agricultural, mineral,
manufacturing, and our diversified mercantile
interests; in our fisheries, forests, r.nd other pro-
ducts ; we possess in a rare and in an extraordin-
ary degree all the elements which go to make a
people great, prosperous and self-reliant. That
these are fitting inducements to any nation to
render reciprocity with Canada a thing to be
desired, and such as should secure to us a Reci-
procity Treaty with the United States of the broad-
est and most generous character, which, while
fully recognizing these conditions, would contain
guarantees which would prove of mutual and
abiding advantage to both nations ; but that this
Board cannot sanction any proposal which would
place Great Britain at any disadvantage with the
United States, or which would tend in any mea-
sure, however small, to weaken the bonds which
bind us to the Empire."
On February 5th, 1862, the Hon. ElUah Ward.
from the Committee on Commerce of the United
States Congress, made a Report upon the resolu-
tions passed by the Legislature of the State of
New York, in relation to the Treaty between the
United States and Great Britain. The following
is a most important extract in connection with
the German ZoUverein so often referred to in
public trade discussions :
" The wisdom of its founders is demonstrated
by the great test of time. No material alteration
has been made in the principles, or even in the
details, of the laws established at its origin.
CANADA : AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
4*3
Many additional States have voluntarily become
members of its union. It began in 1818 — fifty-
four years ago — when Prussia formed a commer-
cial union with a few minor States. The alliance
arose from no hostility to other Powers, but from
a desire to get rid of those obstacles to intercourse
which separate fiscal laws create among people
whom natural feelings and commercial interests
would otherwise connect more intimately to-
gether, the Prussian tariff of 1818 was adopted.
In 1834 the experience of its benefits had given
strength to its influence. Statesmen perceived
that Prussia^ had, l)y her liberal policy, conferred
upon Germany advantages second only to those
she had initiated by the diffusion of education
and intelligence. At that time the ZoUverein was
joined by 01 her States, and thenceforward included
Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemburg, the
Grand Duchy of Baden, the Electorate, and also
the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and the Thuringian
Association — representing, in all, a population of
26,000,000, It was regarded by philosophic
minds throughout Europe as having brought
many liberal and patriotic ideas out of the realms
of hope and fancy into those o'' positive and
material interest. The political consequences
which must arise from it did not escape the notice
of its founders. They pursued no aggressive pol-
icy, but could not avoid the knowledge that it
tended to lessen the hostility of differently-consti-
tuted governments, and that a powerful political
alliance would arise upon the basis of pecuniary
interests and intimate social intercourse.
It effected so great a saving in the collection of
revenue that in three years — from 1834 to 1836 —
the expenses of the fiscal establishments were
reduced from $18,000,000 to $14,500,000. Ad-
vantageous to all, this result was especially bene-
ficial to the smaller States, whose revenue service,
like that of Canada, was spread along extensive
frontiers, and absorbed a large proportion of their
income. Owing to the increased prosperity, and
the consequently increased consumption of tax-
paying articles, the revenue of Prussia rose from
18.8 silver gros. per head in 1834 to 23.4 in 1838.
The saving in the expense of collection, the
increased prosperity of our people, and the addi-
tional demand for foreign goods consequent upon
it, would afford a basis for a friendly and satisfac-
tory arrangement with European powers, so far
as they might be affected by the adoption of a
policy which could not fail to be beneficial to the
Provinces and the United States.
The laws of the Zollverein provide for the
means of mutual investigation, so as to ensure
returns of revenue from each place of collection.
They contemplate the extension of its operations
to other States, and provide for retaliation where
commercial restrictions adverse to it are adopted.
Its influence has continued to spread more and
more widely. On September 7th, 1851, a treaty
was made with a rival association, called the
Steuverein, and consisting of Hanover, Olden-
burg and Brunswick, by which, from the ist of
January, 1854, both were included in one revenue
system — the Zollverein — thus extending its oper-
ation to 36,000,000 of Germans ; and a treaty for
limited reciprocal trade has been made with
Austria, to last for twelve years from February
igth, 1853. It is believed by many that this
treaty will lead to the actual consolidation of the
whole Germanic race now existing in Europe."
It will be observed that this description of the
German Zollverein indicates political union as a
likely result. Less than two decades sufficed to
prove the prophecy a true one.
In 1870 the question of a Canadian-American
Zollverein was further dealt with by Mr. Ward in
reply to a request for his opinion in the matter
from a number of gentlemen headed by the Hon.
Samuel J. Randall. The following extracts are
from his letter, dated New York, June 15th, 1870 :
" In a report made from the Committee on
Commerce of the House of Representatives on
the 5th of February, 1862, I recommended the
application of a system like that of the German
Commercial Union, to the United States and the
British North American Provinces. The prin-
ciple of this union is that there shall be entire and
unrestricted freedom of imports, exports and
transit among the States which are its members.
Practically there are a few exceptions to the oper-
ation of the rule, and arise from obsolete causes
not existing in the United States or Canada. In
other respects perfect freedom of the exchange of
all the products of human industry exists between
the States thus allied. A treaty between the
+>
414
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
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'•li
United States and Canada, to admit all articles
reciprocally free of duty from each country into
the other, might practically abolish all duties on
importations from any part of the world. Either
country might throw open its ports to ail comers,
and thus compel the other to follow its example.
But under the Zollverein the same duties arc
collected on the outside frontier of the States
thus united. Within that line all trade is as un>
trammelled as within our present union. An
equitable distribution of the revenue thus ob-
tained is made among all the States of the Con-
federation The Zollverein is comprehen-
sively defined to be the association of a number of
States for the establishment of a common Customs
line with regard to foreign countries, and for the
suppression of both in the intercourse of the
States within the border line. There would be
no impediment by discriminating duties made via
New York or Boston. If the merchants of Chi-
cago found it to their interest to purchase at
Montreal, they could do so ; and buyers from the
new Province of Manitoba might buy and sell at
St. Paul, Duluth, St. Louis or New Orleans as
freely as at Halifax or any city in the Dominion.
The St. Lawrence River and Canals would be
open to us on the same terms as to the Can-
adians. Internal revenue laws could, so far as
necessary, be made in conformity with the princi-
ples of the Union. There could be fair and com-
plete competition everywhere within the Confed-
eration, and full scope could be given to the de-
velopment of natural advantages wherever thuy
would bring profit to the merchant, save needless
labour of the people, or yield remunerative em-
ployment to them."
The Hon. Thomas White, M.P., a late much
respected Conservative leader, summarized his
views upon this question during an interview
early in i888 {Canadian Gazette, London, Jan-
uary 26th) :
" Let us suppose, however, that Commercial
Union is accomplished. Canada would find her-
self immediately in grave pecuniary difficulties.
The Canadian Customs duties bring in at the
present moment about $22,000,000, but it is a
curious fact that although there is a higher tariff
in the United States, the income per head is less
than in Canada, and if by poohng the Customs
we received to-day our proportion per head of the
Customs duties of the two Cruntries under a
common tariff, our income would be only
$16,000,000. Thus, to begin with, we would
have to face an annual loss of $6,000,000. In
Canada we have to support the Provincial* Gov-
ernments, and $4,000,000 go every year to Pro-
vincial subsidies. The United States Govern-
ment gives nothing to the States. Many people
think that is a better way, but we have adopted
the other and it is too late to change. We could
not pay the Provinces, and while Ontario might
consent the others certainly would not, because
they have not the same developed system* of
municipal machinery and have no means for the
collection of direct taxation.
To take another point. We have greatly
assisted public works. This many people would
call unwise, but two general elections have set
their seal of public approval upon our policy. All
that, under Commercial Union, would have to
stop. In the United States, in fixing their tariff,
they need have no thought about any such matter.
Thus we should be in the position of living under
a tariff imposed to meet entirely different condi-
tions, for Canada, of course, would not have more
than an advisory voice in regulating it.
Then, again, look ahead. Let us suppose that
twenty-one years were fixed as the duration of
the Commercial Union engagement. When
people grow enthusiastic over the great extension
of Canadian commerce under the Treaty of 1854,
they overlook the prime fact that during four
years of its operation all American commerce was
thrown out of gear by the Civil War, and that
M as the true reason why we did such a splendid
business with the United States under that Treaty.
Now, even Mr. Wiman admits, that the immediate
effect of Commercial Union upon our manufac-
tures would be very serious. Suppose the United
States withdrew from the arrangement at the
close of twenty-one years ? We should find our-
selves with our whole commercial system dis-
turbed, disorganized, and in fact destroyed beyond
the possibility of repair. Our only resort would
be indicated instantly by a natural cry for annex-
ation. Therefore I say that if we want Commer-
cial Union, let us take Political Union as well, and
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPiflDlA.
4»S
throw in our lot once for all with our neighbours
across the border, for better, for worse. These
are the reasons, or some of them, why Commer-
cial Union is impossible. In fact" (and the Min-
ister leaned back and laughed at the bare thought)
" we could never do it ; such a thing is absolutely
unheard of."
Mr. Goldwin Smith has had very little or no
influence upon the modern trend of Canadian
thought or the evolution of Canadian tariff poli-
cies. But he has had a great deal to say by voice
and pen upon these subjects, and as a fictitious
importance is accorded in the United States and
Great Britain to his utterances, the following letter
addressed on March nth, 1893, to the Chairman
of a Boston Commercial banquet — published in
the Boston Herald of March 16 — may be given as
illustrating their nature :
" It is with great regret that I find that it will
not be in my power to avail myself of the invi-
tation which your Club has done me the honour
to extend to me for the meeting on March
15th. The object of the meeting has my heart-
iest sympathy. A glance at the map is enough
to show that the natural relations of the Maritime
Provinces of the Dominion are with the New
England States rather than with the other Prov-
inces, the nearest of which is divided from them
by a wide wilderness, and is moreover little of a
market, as well as separated by race and language.
Examination of the commercial facts confirms
the impression produced by the map and shows
that New England is the proper market of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick ; while with the other
Provinces of the Dominion their trade, though
forced by a rigourous system of protection, is com-
paratively small, and the interchange of popula-
tion smaller still. A deputation of English farm-
ers the other day sent out to survey fields for set-
tlement, pronounced access to the New Eneland
market indispensable to the agricultural ^lOSpcr-
ity of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On
your side there is a corresponding demand for the
productions of those Provinces, and a correspond-
ing loss from their fiscal interdiction. Any mea-
sure of enlarged commercial intercourse between
the Maritime Provinces and New England ought,
therefore, to be welcomed, provided only that it
does not interfere with the prospect of a wider
and still more beneficial measure which might
otherwise come.
We sought Commercial Union which would
have removed the Customs lines, and given us
fisheries, waterways, and all other economical ad-
vantages in common, at the same time permitting
American capital to open up the mineral resources
of Canada, and American manufactures to extend
themselves over a new field ; while the question
of political union, which, though my conviction
about it is strong, I have never desired to see
unduly pressed, would have been left for inde-
pendent solution. A resolution favourable to
Commercial Union passed the House of Repre-
sentatives and failed in the Senate only by a
sipglfL^YOte. But political difficulties arose, as
political difficulties are too apt to arise in the
way of commercial measures which would con-
tribute substantially to the welfare of the people.
An objection was taken to the adoption by Can-
ada of a tariff uniform to that of the United
States on the ground that it would involve dis-
crimination against the Mother Country, though
the objectors themselves were laying protective
duties on her new goods, and, in fact, discrimin-
ating against her by their general tariff, though
not in regard to any particular class of goods.
The friends of improved commercial relations in
Canada thought to get over the objection by sub-
stituting Unrestricted Reciprocity for Commer-
cial Union ; but Unrestricted Reciprocity without
a uniform seaboard tariff would obviously open
the door to unlimited smuggling. Our Canadian
people, however, mistrusted the stability of treaty
arrangements, and feared that when industries
had been built upon them they might be over-
turned, like the former reciprocity treaty, by some
gust of international displeasure.
The train of progress has, I suspect, now passed
the stations both of Commercial Union and of
Unrestricted Reciprocity, and will, with difficulty,
be backed up again to either. In Canada the ad-
vance of opinion has been marked during the last
twelve months. If statesmanship can only rise
above party in its treatment of a continental
question and pursue a well-considered and steady
policy, the train may at no very distant time
draw, amid general rejoicings, into the terminus
4i6
CANADA: AN ENCYCI.OI'.KDIA.
I' '
of Continental union. That the decision may be
wise and bencHcial to us all let us cultivate (;uud
will all round, bury all the feuds that have
estranged New England from old England or her
Canadian offspring, and let the grass of oblivion
grow upon their silent graves.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Goldwin Smith."
Erastus Wlman will live in Canadian History
as the vigourous protnotcr of a movement in
which centered the strife of the most hotly con-
tested general election in the annals of the Dom-
inion. His career has been unique in many
respects. Born at Churchville, near Toronto, in
1834, he entered a printing office at the age of
sixteen, became a reporter for the Toronto Globe
a few years later, and before long was the Com-
mercial Editor of that paper. His ability
attracted the attention of the Commercial Agency
of K. G. Dun & Co., and in i860 he was
appointed head of their Upper Canada branch.
Subsequently he was placed in control of the
more important Montreal division, and in 1867
was given a partnership and the practical manage-
ment of the entire concern at New York. His
influence was soon felt in a wide increase of the
business connections of the firm. Personally he
acquired large interests in Staten Island, where he
lived for many years, founded residential villages,
and did much to make the Island a suburb of the
great city. Railways, roadways and steamship
lines attested his energetic efforts in this direc-
tion. With Jay Gould's assistance he also ob-
tained control of the Montreal Telegraph Com-
pany through a new organization called the Great
North-Western Telegraph Company of which he
was President. In this way, for some years, he
handled much of the news flashed over Canada
and was able to greatly help the Commercial
Union agitation which he began in 1887 and car-
ried on with tremendous activity for three or four
years.
Then came his differences with the Commercial
Agency of Dun, Wiman & Co. ; his retirement
from the business and assignment ; his trial for
forgery, and conviction by one Court ; his
appeal to another and practical acquittal at its
hands. After these troubles he became Manager
of the Staten Island Railway Company, and
gradually recovered some of his lost ground. In
this year (1897) he has been a defeated candidate
for the Municipal Council of Greater New York.
He has also taken the oath and become an
American citizen, after many years of refusal to
take the step.
Questions connected with British Trade and
Imperial preferential tariffs will be dealt with in
a future volume of this work, in connection with
the Section treating of Canadian relation' " ith
the Empire.
THE COMMERCE OF CANADA
BV
THE HON. JAMES YOUNG. exM.P.
and
ith in
with
itr.
THE commerce of a nation naturally di-
vides itself into two classes — foreiKn and
internal. The latter is that which takes
place between the different parts of a
country itself, and so far as Canada is concerned,
the annual exchanges between the different pro-
vinces and territories now extending from the
Atlantic to the Pacific can only be estimated, as
no adequate returns are kept of them. Of its
trade with other countries, however, the official
returns are ample and reliable, and they very
clearly show the present volume and character of
the commerce of the Dominion as well as its
steady development since Confederation took
place.
Our internal inter-provincial trade has now
become quite large and important and is growing
steadily. Before Confederation, and during the
existence of the Reciprocity Treaty with the
United States, it was exceedingly limited. The
annual transactions of the late province of Can-
ada (Ontario and Quebec) with the Maritime pro-
vinces, did not average more than $2,000,000,
and during the first year of Confederation, with
all the fiscal barriers removed, it is not believed
to have exceeded $4,000,000. The expansion
sin I lien has been variously computed. Accord-
in: ' estimates given in the Dominion yearbook,
t' was in the year 1889 $80,000,000 of Inter-
j vmcial trade in sight, and a calculation made
Oi 10 same basis placed the volume thereof in
I.*- f at $113,000,000.
Without regarding these figures as more than
approximate estimates, there is abundance of
other evidence in the returns of railroads, ship-
ping, canals, and other means of transportation,
that the Inter-Provincial commerce of Canada
since the Union has expanded in a fairly satisfac-
tory manner. There is promise too of more rapid
42
progress in future, in consequence of the great
mining and agricultural development now going
on in British Columbia ami Manitoba, the north-
westerly parts of Ontario, and more or less in all
the provinces and territories.
The Dominion began its career with a foreign
commerce of $131,027,532, of which $73,459,644
were imports, and $57,567,888 exports. This was
the result of the first year's operations under the
British North America Act, commencing on the
1st of July, 1867, and ending on the 30th of
June, 1868, and the returns embrace only the
four original provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova
Scotia, and New Brunswick. Manitoba did not
appear in the returns till 1871, British Columbia
till 1872, and Prince Edward Island tih 1874.
Considering that the value of the exchanges be-
tween the provinces themselves no longer ap-
peared in the returns, this was regarded as a
favourable commencement.
Since that time, however, besides the large in-
ternal trade already alluded to, our foreign trans-
actions have nearly doubled in value, and more
than doubled in volume, as the prices of many
native products and other commodities have
largely decreased of late years. The growth and
development of Canadian commerce can be seen
at a glance in the following official statement :
I. TOTAL TKADIi OF CANADA SINCE
CONFEDERATION.
Year.
Value.
Year.
Value.
1868 $151,027,532
i<S69 130,889,946
1870 148.387,829
1871 170,266.589
1872 194,070,190
1873 217,801,203
1874 217,565,510
1875 200,957.26:1
"876 174,176,781
•877 '75.203.355
1884 $207,803,539
1885 198,179,847
1886 189,675,87s
1887 202,408,047
1888 201,097,630
1889 204,414,098
1890 218,607,390
1891 218,384,934
1892 241,369.443
1893 247,638,620
'fp'Ji
ri
■ 1
J •>?'■■; ■'
In . !
I. > I
III': i
i
M- ^ ■
I
'I''
11 f
428
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Year. Value.
1894 340,999,889
1895 224,420,485
1896 239,025,360
Total 2Q years $5,750,151,887
Year. Value.
1878 i72,4o:,454
1879 153.4SS.682
1880 174,401,205
1881 203,621,663
1882 221,556,703
1883 230,339,826
Since Confederation the gross trade with other
countries has therefore aggregated $5,700,000,000.
The sum is rather colossal for analy.sis, but the
returns for each year afford ample scope for com-
parison by confirming to some extent the theory
that commerce has its periods of ebb and flow
like the ocean, for it \/ill be observed by the fore-
going table that the years of our greatest expan-
sion in each decade were as follows: In 1873
$217,801,203, in 1883, $230 .339,826, and again in
1893, $247,638,620. The latter is the largest
amount of trade ever done by the Dominion in
any one year, as that of 1869 was the smallest,
having only been $130,889,945. The annual
average for the entire period was $198,281,099.
Having thus seen the total volume of our com-
merce, the important question naturally arises as
to how much of it was made up of purchases from
other countries and how much of it included their
purchases from ns ? This is very clearly brought
out by the following table :
11. TOTAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS SINCE
CONFEDERATION.
Year. Total Exports.
1868 $ 57,567.888
1869.
1870.
1871.
1H72.
'«73-
1874.
1875.
187b.
1877.
1878.
1879-
1880.
1881.
60,474,781
73.573.490
74,173,618
82,639,663
89,789,922
89.351.928
77,886,979
80,966,435
75.875. 303
79,323,667
7'.49i.25S
87,911,458
98,29o,g23
18S2 102, 1 37,203
1883.
1884.
1885. .
1886..
1887. .
1888. .
1889. .
to90. .
1891.
1892.
98,085,804
91,406,496
89,238,361
85.25'. 3i'l
89,515,811
90,203,000
89,189,167
96,749,149
98,417,21)6
" '3.963 375
'893 118,564,352
•894 117,524.949
•895 I '3,638,803
1896 i2:,oi3,852
Total Imports.
$ 73.4S9.'''44
70,415,165
74'8i4.339
96,092,971
111,430,527
128,011,281
128,213,582
123,070,283
93,210,346
99. .^27,962
93,081,787
81,964,427
86,489,747
105,330,840
119,419,500
132,254,022
116,397,043
108,941,486
104.424,561
112,892,236
1 10,894,630
115,224,931
121,858,241
119,967,638
127,406,068
129,074,268
123.474.94u
110,781,682
118,011,508
Total foi '9 years $2,614,216,232 $3,135,935,655
How immensely the imports of the Dominion
have e.\ceeded the exports is abundantly evident
from the foregoing statement. Since the Union
took place the excess of imports over exports has
been no less tnan $521,719,423 and the average
excess for the 29 years, $17,990,325. Contrary
to a popular notion, I believe this affords ground
for congratulation to Canadians rather than the
reverse, for the ancient theory of the " balance of
trade,"at least so far as mere trade statistics go,
may justly be regarded as exploded fallacy.
Abundant proof of the correctness of this view
may be found in the fact that Great Britain, and
nearly all the most progressive commercial
nations, have almost invariably an apparent or real
" balance of trade" against them, but are, never-
theless, manifestly advancing in wealth and power.
It may be safely asserted that the excess in the
normal returns of a nation's imports over its ex-
ports is, generally speaking, the measure of the
profits oil its annual exchange. The excess,
therefore, of the Dominion's aggregate imports
over its exports since Confederation, amounting,
as we have seen, to the total of $521,719,423,
apparently attests the profitable nature of its for-
eign commerce during that period.
Next in importance to the extent of the com-
merce comes the consideration of the nations with
which we deal, and the nature cf our annual ex-
changes with them. Taking the former first.
Great Britain and the United States far exceed
all other countries in their transactions with
Canada. Together they absorb over eighty-five
per cent, of the aggregate trade of the Dominion,
something less than fifteen per cent, being divided
between the West Indies, Germany, France,
China and Japan, Newfoundland, South America,
Australia, and some thirty other countries. The
following statement setting forth the relative
proportions of the imports from and exports to
the United Kingdom, the United States, and all
other countries during our last fiscal year, ending
on the 30th June, 1896, gives a complete view of
this situation :
III. — THE NATIONS WITH WHICH CANADA TRADES.
IMPORTS FROM. EXPORTS TO.
COUNTRIES VALUE VALUE
Great Britain $ 33,157,234 $ 66,690280
British Africa 7i;oi- 154.465
Australasia 213,683 518,233
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
429
IMPORTS FROM. BXPORTS TO.
COUNTRIBS VALUK VALUE
British East Indies $359,09^ $ 8,841
British Guiana 194.031 274.S36
British West Indies 1,201,392 1,660,808
Newfoundland 5511852 1,782,309
Other British Possessions 6,344 20,841
Total British Empire 35.758,653 7«.><o,3i3
United .States 64,334,800 44,448,410
Germany 6,454.705 757.53'
France 2,7)42,773 581,540
China 1,030,698 659.758
Japan 1,648,232 8,253
Belgium 9^7.457 98,031
Austria 204,637 9,238
Italy 435.774 56.759
Spam 346,940 83.*^. 14
Spanish West Indies 656,258 989,415
Spanish Possessions, all other 1,243,320 '8,759
Switzerland 336,467 285
Turkey 355.995 5o
Dutch East Indies 408,863
Holland 297,251 139,828
South America 385,638 1,221,58?
St. Pierre 81,733 ai5>oi4
Greece 99.473
Norway and Sweden 5j<io9 41,262
Portugal 46,503 41 ,666
Central American States 30,219 11,096
Danish West Indies •7.5'o 35. 252
Russia 15,974 42.823
Denmark 12,907 42.894
Mexico 13.912 23,780
Arabia 10,875
Dutch West Indies 10,256
French West Indies 4.618 125.350
Hawaian Islands 2,839 32,476
Hayti 181,595
Other Countries 3,119 J7.078
Total Foreign Countries 82,252,855 49.903,539
Total Imports and Exports $118,011,508 $121,013,852
The fact that out of a total commerce during
1896 of $239,025,360, no less than $208,000,000
were transacted with Great Britain and the
United States, proves how close our commercial
relations are with those two great kindred nations.
They nearly monopolize our commerce between
them, and the proportion done with each of them
is nearly equal. Taking, for example, the last
decade (from 1886 to 1896) our aggregate trade
with the mother country was $945,988,872, and
with our neighbours $943,350,189. During 1896,
however, our transactions with the latter were
nearly nine millions greater that with the former.
Whilst this British and American trade is
almost equal in volume, there is a considerable
difference in the nature of our exchanges with
the two countries. Taking the returns for 1896,
it will be observed that whilst Great Britain
purchased from us articles valued at $66,()90,28o,
the United States only purchased to the extent
of $44,448,410. On the other hand whilst the
latter sold to us to the value of $64,334,800, the
former's sales to us were only $33,157,234. In
other words whilst Great Britain buys from
Canada more than she sells, the United States
sells to us more :han she buys.
With countries other than the United Kingdom
and the neighbouring Republic, our annual com-
merce is now over $30,000,000 and there are
hopeful signs of an increase in several directions.
During 1896 our transactions with Germany were
ofthe value of $7,212,236, with France $3,364,313,
and with China and Japan $3,346,941. Only a
trifle over two millions of our trade with these
countries, however, consisted of Canadian ex-
ports, but in the case of Australia, Newfoundland,
British West Indies, South America, Hayti, and
British Africa, this position is reversed — these
countries having bought from us more than
we took in return. The most hopeful field for
extending our foreign trade is probably the British
and foreign West Indies, whose trade with the
Dominion in i8g6 was $4,700,851, of which our
sales to them were $2,810,817, and our purchases
$1,890,034. But for the Cuban war these fig-
ures would have been larger.
Before leaving this part of the subject, it may
be mentioned as a significant circumstance, that
for the first time, the official Dominion Year
Book for 1896 places in one group the commerce
of Canada with the United Kingdom and all
British possessions throughout the world. The
aggregate value of our transactions with all parts
ofthe Empire in that year was $106,868,966 and
comprised 30.30 per cent, of our total imports and
58.76 of our total exports.
Let us here consider briefly the character of
the Dominion's commerce. It has now become
quite varied. Not only do the importations
from abroad take a wide range, but the exports
are not now confined so largely to products of
the farm and forest as they formerly were, but
comprise a large trade in products ofthe fisheries
and mines, and even manufactures. The relative
value of each class of Canadian productions
which find a market abroad, is quite interesting
as given in the following statement:
1 .
4 so
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/IiDIA.
it:^'
r ■ I
l-ijiii
i
-I i
IV. — THE NATURE OF CANADIAN EXPORTS, 1896.
Articles. British Empire. Other Nations
Produce of the mine $397. 135
" " fisheries 5>794.96i
" " forest i2,S3o.55i
Animals and their produce 32,818,653
Agricultural products 10,383,749
Manufactures 4,820.539
Miscellaneous articles 20,551
Bullion 1,000
Estimated amount short returned
inland ports
$ 7.662.S«S
5,282,804
>4.645.'3S
3,688,988
3,699,612
4.544.84s
88.; 1 4
206,447
3.329.053
Total Canadian produce . . .
" Foreign "
66.767.139
4.343.' 74
43,148 113
6,755,426
Total $71,110,313 $49,903,539
The detailed statement of the articles annually
exported from and imported into Canada, is of
course too voluminous to be more than referred
to. The list can be found at length in the
Dominion Trade and Navigation Returns. Whilst
the study of all our exchanges with other coun-
tries is interesting, the greatest importance, how-
ever, attaches to the principal articles ex-
changed between the Dominion and Great Britain
and the United States. These cover the great
bulk of our commerce, and by excluding from
survey all articles of less value than $500,000 we
can ascertain with tolerable accuracy of what the
principal articles of Canadian commerce consist.
Taking the exports first, and leaving out all articles
of less value than the sum stated, the following is
the result :
V. — THE PRINCIPAL DETAILED EXPORTS FROM
CANADA IN 1896.
Articles.
Coal
Gold. bearing quartz, etc
Metals, — Copper, nickel, etc. . .
" Silver, metallic, in ore.
Lobsters, fresh and canned
P'ish, all kinds
Furs and skins — marine
Logst
Lumber
hhingles
Timber, s<|uare
Wood for pulp
I lorses
Horned cattle
Sheep
KuHer
Cueese
•'KB'
!■ urs, undressed
Hides and skins
Bacon
I lams
Meats, canned
Wool
.Apples
Cireat Britain.
$ 66,845
1,146,444
2,549,636
760,185
13.890
9,266,768
2,713,811
27,580
1,729,508
6,816,361
1,721,250
893.053
13.924,672
704.768
1,358,686
19.887
3.799.428
370,921
816,850
■1,775
1.303.45'
United States
$2,904,704
1,084,479
681,442
'.595.548
1.118,326
2,152,248
1,182
I.7I7.'43
9,311,868
886, 103
6,828
600,285
328.338
8,870
394.949
24,589
10.359
97.309
381,656
I,065,o<>4
881
2,068
2,101
811,528
85.419
Articles.
Peas, whole and split . .
Wheat
Hay
Leather
Wood pulp
Other articles
Great Britain.
United States.
869.873
263,701
5.677.637
40,424
305.616
1,641,471
1,704,07s
10,359
557.085
"3.557
340,151
2.826.542
The foregoing table is quite interesting and
suggestive. An analysis of it shows how largely
lumber, cheese, cattle, wheat, fish, bacon and
hams, co.il, timber, horses, and sheep compose
the principal Canadian products in request
abroad. That there should have been shipped
from Canadian ports in 1896 102,863 head of
cattle, T.64,689,123 lbs. of cheese and 47,057,642
lbs. of bacon — all produce of the Dominion — is a
fact exceedingly striking and gratifying.
The different cla=ses of productions and the
relative proportion thereof for which the United
Kingdom and the neighbouring Republic furnish
a market are equally worthy of observation. Ex-
cept in lumber, coal, metals and ores, fish, hay,
hides and skins, the value of the articles of Cana-
dian production taken by the Mother Country,
now largely predominate. She has always been
by far the largest consumer of the products of
Canadian farms and forests, but formerly not a
little of our trade with her was done through
American channels. Since the introduction of
the McKinley Tariff system, however, nearly all
our British trade is being done direct between
Canada and the Mother Country, no doubl to the
advantage of our railways and shipping as well
as of our producers and exporters. In consider-
ing the principal imports from Great Britain and
the United States, I shall follow the same rule
applied to the exports, and omit from considera-
tion all articles valued at less than $500,000.
According to this plan, the following result is
found :
VI. — THE PRINCIPAL DETAILED IMPORTS INTO
CANADA IN l8y6.
ARTCLES. ORRAT HKII'AIN. DNITKI) STATUS.
Bicycles, etc $ 59, 197 $ 672,836
Books, Periodicals, etc 219,012 507,308
(irain of all kinds 4.638 1 ,252,898
Coal, Coke, etc '02,528 3,250,239
" ." Anthracite (free) 10,524 5.656,572
Cotton, and Manufactures of.. 3,357.o28 1.067,012
Drugs, Chemicals, etc 247,831 603,927
" " (free) 628,192 938,242
Fsncy Goods 909,436 228.828
Flax, Hemp, and Manfrs. of... 1,310,846 64,128
Fruits and Nuts, all kinds 285,753 1,131,998
(■lass, and manfrs. of 214,964 417,850
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
43 »
all
tween
I the
well
isider-
and
rule
dera-
0,000.
suit is
STATBS.
672,836
S07.308
1,252,898
3.250.239
5.656.57*
1,067,012
603,927
938,242
228.828
64,128
1,131.998
417.850
Articles. Great Britain. United States.
Hats, caps, and bonnets 803,279 402,890
Iron, steel, and manfrs. of. 2,351,518 5,630,499
" " " (free) 2,265,150 1,729,314
Leather and manfrs. of 1 13,567 i,037,<',3i
Oils, all kinds 359.98o 1.034,773
Silks, and manfrs. of 1,896,602 121,858
Paper, and manlrs. of 254,092 672,448
Seeds and roots 13,811 576,918
Wood, and manfrs. of 37.082 497,012
Lumber and timber 1,254,953
Hides; 102,152 1,751,614
Wool 305,679 626,719
Hemp, undressed 413,225 352,489
Tobacco, unmanufactured 517 1,303,374
Cotton, wool, and waste 33.ii3 3.125,761
Woollen manufactures 6.930,213 203,847
Nets, seines, twines, etc 252,689 257,295
Rubber, crude 17,657 833,608
Settlers' effects 429,782 1,714,168
Teas, black, green, and Japan . . 944,025
Closely connected with a nation's commerce
are its facilities for transportation. At Confeder-
ation and for many years thereafter the lack of
them was a great hindrance to progress. We
had, of course, water communication by lake and
river, but our fine chain of St. Lawrence, Wel-
land, and other canals, was then quite inadequate,
and we had no Intercolonial, no Canadian Pacific,
and, except the Grand Trunk, scarcely any other
railway. Throughout the whole Dominion there
were in 1867 only 2,278 miles of railroad in exist-
ence, whereas we now possess two of the largest
railway systems in the world, the Canadian
Pacific with 6,174 miles of track and the Grand
Trunk with 3,161 miles. There is now an aggre-
gate of considerably over 16,000 miles of railroad
in active operation throughout the Dominion.
E.xcept Great Britain no country surpasses
Canada in commercial facilities by water. The
heart of the Dominion rests in the lap of the
most magnificent fresh water lakes on the globe,
whose great outlet, the St. Lawrence River,
passes with majestic flow through our territory
to the ocean. Our great North-West provinces
are dotted over with navigable lakes and rivers
equally grand and beautiful, whilst the extrem-
ities of the Dominion front on the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans, whence our ships sail to all the
principal ports of the world. Recent official re-
turns place the gross registered tonnage of Can-
adian vessels at 825,837 tons and its hardy
seamen at nearly 70,000 and concede to the
Dominion the possession of the fifth, if not the
fourth, largest mercantile marine in the world.
In drawing this review to a close the people of
Canada may justly be congratulated on the
commercial development of the Dominion since
Confederation. The rate of progress has possibly
not been so rapid as its most sanguine promoters
predicted. But considering all the circumstances,
the difficulties inseparable from uniting so many
scattered provinces under one Federal Govern-
ment, together with the absence for so many
years of direct railway communication either to
the eastern or western provinces, it must be held
that the growth of Canadian commerce since the
Union, both inter-provincial and external, has been
of a highly satisfactory and hopeful character.
Ample proof of this is .'ifforded by the official
statistics quoted in this article, and especially by
the broad fact that the external commerce of the
Dominion, which began at $131,027,532, has
attained as high a value as $247,638,620 in a single
year, and that, besides, we have developed an
Inter- Provincial trade estimated at $113,000,000
several years ago. When it is further considered
that this large volume of trade is carried on by
five millions of people, and that our external trans-
actions alone amount to close upon $50 per head
of the entire population, it must be admitted that
Canadians have much reason to feel proud of the
commercial results of Confederation both at home
and abroad.
The commerce of Canada, however, is yet in
its adolescence, and its future has immense possi-
bilities. Confederation is no longer an experi-
ment. Canada is now recognized the world over
as a permanent North American power. Every
part of its governmental machinery, federal and
local, is working in a most satisfactory manner,
and the country is like a young giant among the
nations in the amplitude of its material resources.
With an area surpassed only by Russia and the
United States, with immense natural resources in
lands, forests, mines, and fisheries, with flourish-
ing shipping and manufactures, and all these
sources of wealth about to be more actively devel-
oped by increased population, new railroads,
deeper canals, and faster ocean steamships, it
requires no effort of imagination to picture the
time when Canadian commerce will have doubled
in volume, and Canadian ships and products be
found breasting the waters of every navigable
sea.
•;r'
ma
WB
m
THE PIONEERS OF TRADE IN CANADA
STAPLETON CALDECOTT.
r^
i
A
WHEN in the year 1763, King Louis
XV. of France signed the treaty
ceding to Great Britain that part of
North America known as Canada,
he little thought what the "few arpents of snow,"
as he then termed New France, would ultimately
become, or that a great future lay before the
territory then chiefly inhabited by French set-
tlers and the native tribes of Indians who at
that period lived in considerable numbers along
the banks of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers
and the shores of the great lakes. For many
years the real value of the country was little under-
stood. Its great natural wealth had not been dis-
covered and to the European mind it was largely,
if not entirely, a country of excessive cold where
during the greater part of the year the soil was
covered with a deep mantle of snow. Conse-
quently the industrial development was of a very
elementary character and consisted mainly in the
manufacture of the ruder implements and of
machinery for agricultural purposes. The manu-
factures consisted of a coarse kind of cloth called
" Etoffe du pays," which the Canadian farmer
delighted to clothe himself in and which from its
warm and heavy character was well adapted fr- a
farmer's use ; and boats, canoes, and bu> „;& lor the
navigation of the numerous streams and lakes in
which Canada abounds.
Thus for many years the country made gradual
though slow progress, and up to 1850 it may be said
there was little orno manufacture of textile fabrics
either in wool or cotton beyond the few articles
made, as was the custom then, in the farmers'
houses where the farmer's wife with busy feet and
hands made a strong but useful cloth for bed cov-
erings or blankets :ind a coarse kind of fulled cloth
suitable for home consumption. About the year
1850, one or two woollen factories upon a very
4.V
small scale were commenced. One of the first of
these was started by Stephen Myorick upon the
Rideau Canal at a place called Myorickville and
which I believe is still in existence. In this mill
for some time laboured a weaver called James
Rosamond who was of an industrious disposition
with a large amount of enterprise. He determ-
ined to start a mill under his own management
and with that purpose in view founded what is
now the well-known Almonte Mills, and which are
to-day under the control of the sons of the original
Rosamond who first established them.
About the same time an enterprising man named
Willett started a woollen miir in the village of
Chambly in the Province of Quebec, and by the
great excellence of the flannels there turned out
obtained a large sale for what for years was known
as the Chambly flannels. At Sherbrooke also, an
enterprising Yorkshireman named Adam Lomas,
started a flannel tweed mill which gradually grew
in size until to-day it does a very large amount of
business in all parts of Canada. In Paris, Ontario,
wdre found some valuable water privileges and here
were comment r^ the hosiery interests which have
since grown toe '.isiderable dimensions, largely ow-
ing to the industry and ability of John Penman and
other gentlemen who have formed companies, and
by harnessing the Grand River to their machinery
have built up a great and important Canadian
industry. So at Dundas.with a hosiery mill in oper-
ation under the management of Leonard Brothers,
sons of the late Samuel Leonard — who was trained
in Leicester and brought to Canada the skill ac-
quired in Great Britain. Thus in various parts of
Canada manufacturingcstablishments have sprung
into existence and have had a powerful influf^nce
upon the commerce of the Dominion. But it may
be said that before 1850 there existed practically no
manufacturing worthy of the name, and that prior
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
433
to that date the great bulk of the goods consumed
in Canada had to be imported from Great Britain,
the United States, France, and Germany. Under
these circumstances importers were the great
pioneers of trade, the more important of these
being the importers of dry-goods, groceries, hard-
ware, clothing, and boots and shoes.
At the beginning of the present century Quebec
was the only ocean port which large vessels could
enter, and here for some time was concentrated
the chief importing interests of the country.
Amongst the merchants of the time the names
of Masson, Thibaudeau, Stirling, McSheyne, and
Ross stand out prominently as the great leaders
in the commerce of the country during its earlier
history, and these men are still remembered as
being among the chief merchant princes and
pioneers of trade in their day and generation.
But the mighty waters of the St. Lawrence were
wide, if not deep, and an agitation led to a call for
deepening the river at those points where it was
too shallow to admit of large vessels ascending as
far as the City of Montreal, then rapidly asserting
itself and anxious to make itself felt as a port to
which ocean-going vessels should come, and by
coming, make Montreal the centre of a great dis-
tributing trade. In due course, the river was
deepened, and the natural result followed. Ves-
sels ascended the river, and henceforth Montreal
went forward with leaps and bounds until she
became the chief city of the Dominion. In 1809
the Brst steamship was launched upon the St.
Lawrence, and in 1817 there was established the
first "bank in the country— the Bank of Montreal —
which still continues a healthy and prosperous exist-
ence, and is to-day the largest bank in the country.
In 1821 the Lachine Canal was commenced, but
the factor that most went to establish the com-
mercial eminence of Montreal was the opening of
the Grand Trunk Railway in 1855, and the build-
ing of the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence
River in i860.
The opening of the Grand Trunk, united with
, the deepening of the St. Lawrence River, natur-
ally made Montreal a great distributing centre,
and at this time it drew to the city a body of able
men of business with capacity, experience, and
capital to take due advantage of the propitious
circumstance, that, at Montreal, the river, the
ocean, and the railway all met in happy combina-
tion. Upon this combination the merchants of
Montreal built up a large and prosperous trade.
These men, together with the business men of
Quebec and Toronto, may be said to constitute
mainly the pioneers of trade in the Dominion of
Canada, and it will be a pleasant task to call back
to memory a few of the more prominent of those
who, in their day and generation, did so much to
advance the commercial interests of the country,
and give Canadian merchants an honourable name
in the markets of the world. One of the first
who naturally claims our attention is the Hon.
George MofTatt. He was born towards the close
of the eighteenth century, and coming to Canada
at an early age, established the firm of Gillespie,
Moffatt, & Co., which for many years did a large
business in dry goods and groceries in all parts of
Upper and Lower Canada, as Ontario and Quebec
were then called. Mr. Moffatt was, however, not
only an active, enterprising man of business, but
he also possessed a strong desire to be useful in
promoting the interests of Montreal. He served
in the council of the city as alderman and mayor,
and represented the city in the halls of the
Legislature, becoming a leader in all those enter-
prises which had for their object the material
prosperity of the City of Montreal. It was largely
owing to his exertions that when the gallant Nel-
son, England's darling sailor, fell at Trafalgar, a
monument was erected to his memory on Jacques
Cartier Square. After a career of continued
prosperity he died in 1865, amidst the universal
regret of his fellow citizens, whose interests he
had, during an active business and public career
done so much to promote.
The Hon. Peter McGill, chiefly remembered
now by his splendid foundation of the University
of McGill College, was also one of the pioneers of
trade in Canada. During his business career Mr.
McGill occupied a prominent position as one of
Montreal's merchant princes. He assisted at the
establishment of the Bank of Montreal, conducted
a large and successful business, acquired a consid-
erable fortune, which he used mainly in establish-
ing the College and University which bears his
name, and which many of Montreal's mer-
chants have so liberally assisted and endowed —
notably Thomas Workman, who, after a long
434
CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P,4<:DIA.
mm.
M:
m
rnd honourable career as a member of one of the
largest hardware businesses in Canada, gave a
splendid sum of money to McGill College at his
death ; William Molson, who built a handsome
addition to the College buildings, and W. C.
Macdonald, who has been a munificent benefactor
to McGill, having contributed at different times a
series of benefactions which has placed the Science
department of the University in the very front of
the colleges of America, and enabled its graduates
to study the Sciences under the most favourable
conditions. Another notable figure in the trade
of Canada was J. G. Mackenzie, who in the year
1829, comm«;nced in a comparatively humble way,
a small dry-goods business. Owing to the ability
and energy of its founder, it gradually but surely
won a way to the front until the volume of business
entered the millions, and trade came from all
parts of the united provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada. He was a Scotchman with all the
shrewdness and ability for which his countrymen
have become noted. He was not much given to
public life, but in the circles of business was in-
fluential, and did much to build up the growing
commerce of Montreal, dying at the age of eighty-
four, amidst the universal respect of the public.
Scotchmen appear to have had a large share in
shaping the commercial destinies of Montreal and
of Canada, and perhaps few of the pioneers have
had more influence upon the commercial welfare
of that city than the two brothers, Joseph and
Edward Mackay. Highlanders, born in the north
of Scotland, Joseph, in 1811, and Edward in 1813,
they came to Canada in the early thirties. They
opened up a warehouse in Montreal, importing
woollens and general dry-goods in large quantities,
and thus built up a successful trade. Besides
careful attention to their business, Joseph took a
deep interest in the affairs of the Presbyterian
Church, of which he was an attached member,
and Edward gave much thought to banking and
other conmiercial interests, and as a Director of
the Bank of Montreal for many years was a power-
ful factor in building up its interests and those of
the city generally. Both were bachelors and
both were distinguished by kindness of heart and
clearness of judgment, and in addition to many
other acts of charity, they crowned their life and
work by building and endowing the Mackay Insti-
tute for Deaf Mutes, which has been so useful and
beneficent to the unfortunate class demanding its
kind offices. Another pioneer merchant who,
after building up a large business and acquiring u
large fortune, passed to his rest, was James John-
stone — noted for rigid adherence to what he con-
sidered sound lines of business, and who, though
not cut out for public life nor caring to enter
either the civic or parliamentary arena, yet by
his firm adherence to principle has done much to
leave the impress of his personality upon the
business methods of Montreal.
But there are three men who have done more
to build up the trade and commerce of the Met-
ropolitan city than all the others. The first was
George Stephen — now Lord Mount Stephen —
who coming out to Canada about the year 1854,
entered the warehouse of his cousin, William
Stephen. He had previously been engaged in a
wholesale house at St. Paul's Churchyard, Lon-
don, England, and there had acquired an experi-
ence which he soon put to use in Canada. He
won rapid promotion in his cousin's warehouse,
and by his ability and activity largely increased
the business. He was soon made buyer, and
here came, shortly after his appointment, one
of those opportunities which an able man knows
how to improve. There had been a fire in
the warehouse where he had himself been em-
ployed. He obtained permission to inspect the
burnt stock before the public was admitted,
made an extensive purchase, shipped it out to
Montreal, and sold the goods at a large profit.
This placed him at once very high in the opinion
of William Stephen. He became his partner and
upon his death chief of the firm of Wm. Stephen
& Co. Shortly after this the woollen industry of
the country began to grow into importance, and
seeing another opportunity to go forward he
paid great attention to the development in this
direction and perhaps did more than any other
merchant in Canada to bring the woollen indust-
ries to their present state of perfection. At this
time also the country was demanding a complete
system of railways to bind the great Dominion
together. He had obtained a large interest in
the St. Paul and Minneapolis Railway and this
brought him into relationship with men like
J. J. Hill of St. Paul, Donald A. Smith of the
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
4.^5
ry of
and
he
this
ther
ust-
Hudson's Bay Company, R. B. Angus, and Duncan
Mclntyre, and from their co-operation came the
railway combination which ultimately built and
operated the Canadian Pacific Railway, now
exercising so much influence upon the progress
and welfare of Canada. Lord Mount Stephen,
besides being a shrewd and enterprising man
of affairs and thus enabled to acquire a large for-
tune, has also endeared himself to his fellow
citizens by his munificent charities which, in the
concrete form of the Victoria Hospital of Mont-
real, will hand his name down to posterity, along
with that of Sir Donald Smith, as not on!y a man
of eminent business capacity, but also as one of
Montreal's greatest benefactors.
The second name is that of Andrew F. Gault,
born in the north of Ireland in the year 1833, .who
came with his father, mother, three brothers, and
three sisters to Canada about the year 1848.
They settled in the city of Montreal, then a place
of about 40,000 people, and Andrew Gault, after
learning the dry goods business pretty thoroughly,
saw the coming future of trade through the deep-
ening of the St. Lawrence River and the opening
of the Grand Trunk Railway. He commenced
business with the late James Stevenson under the
firm name of Gault, Stevenson & Co., but shortly
dissolving this partnership he associated his
brother Robert with himself and started, about
the year 1854, the firm of G^iult Bros. & Co.,
which has su continued up to the present day.
He also saw for the cotton industries of the
country a coming future, and throwing himself
into the new enterprise with all his natural vigour
and ability soon became a chief factor in uniting
these local industries under a common ntanage-
ment, and thus largely helped to build up the
present powerful combination known as the
cotton combine, which has done much to give
stability to the cotton manufacturers of Canada.
No merchant of Montreal is better known or
more highly respected than Andrew Gault, and
like so many of his fellow merchants, while fol-
lowing with ability and success the mercantile
career, he has not forgotten the claims of benevo-
lence and charity. Amongst his many benefac-
tions one institution, the Montreal Diocesan Col-
lege, will long help to keep Mr. Gault's memory
green in the country of his adoption.
The third of the three merchants who form the
trio mentioned is David Morrice, a Scotchman
by birth, being born at Perth, Scotland, in the
year 1830, and endowed with all the energy,
shrewdness, and business capacity which has
stamped his nationality upon Canadian develop-
ment. He first commenced his career in Toronto,
but about thirty years ago was attracted to
Montreal, and undertook there the agency of sev-
eral of the cotton and woollen mills then coming
into active existence. He soon acquired a pre-
ponderating influence in this department of trade,
and may be said to have largely laid the founda-
tion of the present cotton manufacturing of
Canada — in connection with Mr. Andrew Gault.
He and his sons now represent the chief cotton as
well as many of the woollen and hosiery mills of
the country, and perhaps no other man has so
much impressed his personality upon the trade of
Canada for the last quarter of a century as Mr.
David Morrice. Like Lord Mount Stephen rnd
Mr. Andrew Gault he has also been a ge )ro'i .
giver to the cause of education and benevolent 0.
He has contributed to the Montreal College a
handsome addition, known as the David Morrice
Hall.
Many other merchants have had their influence
upon the trade of Canada. As is the case with
all cities and nations, the men for the occasion
arise and, in this respect, Montreal has had her
fair proportion of merchants well qualified to
maintain her position, and push forward with
vigour the enterprises which make for the welfare
and progress of the country. Amongst others
who stand out prominently are such men as Sir
Hugh Allan, who did for navigation, in connection
with the city of Montreal, more than any other
man. Together with his brothers, Andrew,
James, and Alexander, he established the Allan
line of steamships which has done so much to
build up the commerce of that city and make it
one of the chief seaports of the world. As in
Montreal, so in Toronto, able men were pushing
the trading interests of the country, and as far
back as 1800 to 1820 we find men like the late
Hon. William Allan busy proving the maxim
" trade and get rich." William Allan was a most
enterprising and honourable man, and succeeded
in both creating a large business and in
■
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i
1
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ii
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1
436
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
,1
acquiring great wealth in his double capacity of
merchant and banicer. When he died he left his
son, the present Hon. G. W. Allan, a splendid
estate in the city of Toronto and an ample bal-
ance in the bank. His former partner, Alexander
Wood, was also a prominent pioneer in trade
during the early part of the nineteenth century,
and he has left behind him the name of Wood
Street, Toronto, as a memento of his busy life
in the Queen City of Canada.
But, coming down to more recent times,
amongst the many able men who have contrib-
uted to make Toronto the prosperous city it is,
the names of William McMaster and John Mac-
donald stand pre-eminent. The first-named
merchant was born in the North of Ireland and
came out here about 1836 to seek his fortune.
His clear insight, his patient perseverance and
his resolute will soon brought him to the front,
and believing in " Old Richard's" maxim that it
was better to hire himself than be hired by
another man, he soon entered the wholesale dry-
goods importing trade, rapidly developed an
extensive business and acquired at the same time
a large fortune. Those were the days when what
are now known as supply stores were started in
the smaller towns and villages of Upper Canada.
William McMaster wisely selected his men to take
charge of such stores as he decided to support,
and thus was able to build up a very successful
business, profitable to himself and at the same
time helpful in bringing Toronto to the front as
a good distributing point. Mr. McMaster in due
course was called to the Senate as a fit person to
represent the commercial interests of Ontario, and
especially of Toronto, in the Upper House of the
Dominion. He made no pretence of being a
politician, but was generally regarded as a man
of Liberal leanings, and was both the friend and
supporter of the late Alexander Mackenzie. He
was also a great supporter of Baptist principles
and left a large proportion of his great wealth
to build and endow McMaster University, which
for all time to come will keep his memory frag-
rant in the minds of the Baptist Church of which
he was during his long life so devoted a member-
John Macdonald was in many respects a simi-
lar man, yet gifted with more readiness in
speech, and having, perhaps, a greater degree
of suavity of manner. He was born in Scot-
land, came to Canada when quite a youth,
like McMaster, and early entered into business
for himself, starting first in the retail way in
the year 1847. He soon left the retail busi-
ness, however, and commenced in the whole-
sale line, a business which continues to the
present day. His natural sagacity, combined
with his clear views and strong principles, soon
made him a power not only in trade circles but
also in the inner circles of politics. He entered
Parliament as a member for Toronto, and there
held a high position as a man of Liberal views
and independent action. But it was chiefly as a
leader in the Methodist Church that John Mac-
donald was best known. Here, by reason of his
natural talent for ministerial work — being an
excellent local preacher among his co-religionists
— his clear common sense and his generous liber-
ality, he acquired a vast influence. Beyond this
his great public spirit naturally made him a force
in all public matters. Notably was this the case
when the Fenian Raid occurred, and at a public
meeting the question was being debated how to
raise money for the families of the men who went to
the front. John Macdonald got impatient at the
delay in bringing matters to a point, and rising
suddenly in the meeting exclaimed, " 1 will give
$1,000, what will the other merchants give?"
With this send off the sum required was at once
subscribed. During his life he was ever ready to
help all objects which had the welfare of human-
ity at stake, and was distinguished particularly as
the friend of young men, and a liberal supporter
of Young Men's Christian Associations, and of all
the benevolent schemes of the Church of which
he was a member. At his death it was universally
felt by his fellow citizens that in losing John
Macdonald the city had lost one of those rare men
who while shrewd and far-seeing in business, yet
served his day and generation according to the
will of God, and became a model for the future
merchant to keep before his eye as a true standard
of what a business man should aim to become.
These and other pioneers of Canadian com-
me.ce have now largely departed, but a similarly
able body of men are still busily engaged in
directing the now greatly extended trade of
Canada.
m
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
437
The Hon. John Molson, M.E.Cm was one ofthe
men who did very great service to Canada in its
early days. He was a pioneer in business, in
bankinp; and in transportation. Born in England
in 1764, he came to Montreal at the age of eigh-
teen, and when the future metropolis had only a
few thousand people within its gates. By the
mortgaging of his estates in Lincolnshire he ob-
tained enough money to start a brewery, but
before success came he had to sell out everything
he possessed in the way of property and invest
it in what looked to most people a hopeless en-
terprise. Eventually it was successful and laid
the foundation of the great fortunes of the family.
In 1809, two years after Fulton's experiment
on the Hudson, Mr. Molson built and launched
the Accommodation — the first steamboat on the
St. Lawrence. This was followed by others until
a good service was established. He was Presi-
dent of the Bank of Montreal during a period of
great commercial difficulty, and for many years
was a member of the Executive Council of
Lower Canada. He died in 1836.
The Hon. John Molson, H.L.C., was bom in
Montreal on October 14th, 1787, and at an early
age became connected with his father's various
enterprises, proving himself both energetic and
capable. He was a pioneer in railway develop-
ment and was President of the St. Lawrence and
Champlain — the first Provincial railway. For
many years he was a Director of the Bank of
Montreal, but retired in 1853 to join his brother,
William, in organizing the Molsons Bank — an
institution which gradually attained and has since
held a foremost financial position. In politics
Mr. Molson was a Conservative and a member of
the Special Council which replaced the Legis-
lature of 1837. He preferred, however, to work
along the line of material rather than political
development. During the Rebellion he should-
ered a musket for the Crown, but afterwards
deeply resented the Rebellion Losses Bill and
was one of the first s'-^ners of the famous Annex-
ation manifesto of 1849. For this he was de-
prived of his commissions as a Magistrate and a
Colonel in the Militia. He was noted for his
generosity as well as wealth, and there was hardly
an institution in Montreal of a charitable nature
which he did not largely assist. McGill College
benefitted greatly by his share in the endowment
of the Molson Chair. He was a Governor and
President for many years of the Montreal General
Hospital, and died in i860, deeply regretted by all
who understood the value of his services in the
development of the City and Province.
The Hon. James Crooks, M.L.C., was born at
Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1778, and came to
Canada at the age of sixteen. He established
himself as a merchant at Niagara, and is
stated to have sent the first load of wheat
and the first load of flour from the Upper
Province to Montreal — a matter of both danger
and difficulty in those days. For twenty-five
years he was a member ofthe Legislative Council
of Upper Canada, and during the war of 1812
was in command of a company ofthe ist Lincoln
Militia, fighting gallantly at Queenston and
other places. He established the first paper-mill
in Upper Canada and carried it on successfully at
Flamborough for many years and until old age
supervened. A pioneer trader, a first settler, a
popular and respected public man, a loyal Can- .
adian in every sense of the world, Mr. Crooks '
died in i860 at the advanced age of 82.
The Hon. John Young played a most import-
ant part in the industrial progress of Montreal
and the Canadas during a period of forty years.
Born at Ayr, Scotland, in 181 1, and educated at
the public school of his parish, he for a time
acted as a local school-teacher until in 1826 he
had saved enough to emigrate to Canada. After
nine years of mercantile work, he was able to
enter into partnership with Mr. David Torrance
of Montreal. From this time his business suc-
cess was great and continuous, while his public
services to Montreal and the Province generally
were equally prominent. He served during the
Rebellion of 1837, ^"<i '" the stormy election of
1846 held the difficult post of Returning Officer
for the city. After the repeal of the Corn Laws
he became President of a local Free-trade Associ-
ation, and later on Chairman of the Montreal
Harbour Commission. He was a pioneer railway
projector and one of the earliest advocates of the
Victoria Bridge scheme. So with plans for canal
4.?«
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOl'-KDIA.
i
improvements and the building of the Inter-
colonial Railway. In 1851 he entered Parliament
and the Government of Mr. Hincks. After
el .ven months he retired from the Cabinet, but
rei'iained a member of the Legislature until
1858. In 1872 he was elected to the Dominion
Parliament, and died in 1878. Always a warm
advocate of Reciprocity with the United States,
he was a prominent member of the celebrated
Detroit Convention and was twice sent on com-
missions to Washington — once in 1849 and again
in 1863. He was Canadian Commissioner at the
Sydney International Exhibition of 1877, and a
strong and frequent writer upon trade questions,
as well as canal, railway and industrial topics.
The Hon. Peter McGlll, M.L.C., was bom in
Wigtonshire, Scotland, in 1789, and in 1809 came
to Canada to join his uncle, the Hon. John Mc-
Gill. His name was originally McCutchon, but
in 1821, by Royal License, he assumed that of
his uncle, whose great wealth he inherited three
years later. The firm of Peter McGill & Co. was
then formed, and through many financial fluctu-
ations continued to maintain a high place in the
commercial life of Montreal. In 1819 Mr. Mc-
Gill became a Director of the Bank of Montreal,
Vice-President in 1830, and President in 1834.
The latter position he held until his resignation in
June, i860. For some time he was President of
the Montreal branch of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, and of St. Andrew's Society. He
was Superintendent of Royal Arch Masonry in
Canada and the first Mayor of the city of Mon-
treal. He was also a Governor of McGill Uni-
versity, a Governor of the Montreal General
Hospital, President of the Lay Association of the
Church of Scotland in Montreal, Chairman of the
St. Lawrence & Champlain Railway Company,
President of the Montreal Board of Trade in
1848, Director of the Grand Trunk Railway, and
a Trustee of Queen's University, Kingston. He
was a Lieut. -Colonel in the Militia; a member
of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada from
1832 till the Union, and of the Executive Council
from 1839 ; a member of the Canadian Legisla-
tive Council after 1841 ; Speaker of the Council
and a member of the Government in 1847-8. He
died in i860.
The Hon. James Skead, Senator of Canada,
was born in Cumberland County, England, in
1816, and when a boy was brought to Canada,
where his father settled at Ottawa — then little
more than a village. In 1840 Mr. Skead went
into the woods with a squad of men and com-
menced his work as a pioneer and most success-
ful lumberman. During the prolonged business
career which followed he was usually successful
and always enterprising. He was at different
times President of the Dominion Board of Trade,
the Ottawa Board of Trade, the Ottawa Agricul-
tural Insurance Company, the City of Ottawa
Agricultural Society, the Agricultural and Arts
Association of Ontario, the Ottawa Conservative
Association, the St. George's Society of Ottawa,
and the Upper Ottawa Steamboat Company. He
was a Director of the Ottawa Association of
Lumber Manufacturers, the Ontario Fruit Grow-
ers' Association, the Canada Central Railway,
and several other Railway Companies. In 1862
he was elected a member of the Legislative
Council, and at Confederation was called to the
Senate by Royal Proclamation. He was Presi-
dent of the Conservative Convention which met
in Toronto in September, 1874. He died in
1884.
The Hon. Austin Cuvilier was for many
years one of the merchant princes of Montreal
and an active, aggressive figure in current poli-
tics. His business talents were very great, and
his commercial establishment was for a long time
one of the most extensive in Canada. He was
one of the founders of the Montreal Board of
Trade and was Chairman of its first meeting.
In 1815 he entered the Lower Canada Legislature
as member for Huntingdon, and soon became a
recognized authority upon all matters connected
with finance and commerce. This seat he held
until 1834. He represented, in 1828, before the
House of Commons — together with the Hon. D.
B. Viger and the Hon. John Neilson — some
87,000 inhabitants of the Province, who had signed
a petition to the King complaining of their de-
privation of certain political rights ; and his ex-
amination before a Select Committee of the
Imperial Parliament proved his ample fitness for
the position. Mr. Cuvilier was again elected for
CANADA : AN ENCYCL0Pi1i:UIA.
4,V)
poli-
Huntingdon in 1841 to the first Assembly of the
United Provinces and became at the same time
the first Speaker of the House. He died in 1849,
leaving behind him a high reputation as a pioneer
merchant and an able politician.
The Hon. John Simpson, Senator of Canada,
Mas born at Kothes, Scotland, in iSii, and when
three years of age was brought to Canada b)' his
father, who settled at Hrockviile. In 1H25 the
son went to what is now the town of Howman-
ville and entered into business with Charles How-
man, after whom the place is named. With h"m
or his family he retained business connections
until 1848, in which year he opened a local branch
of the Bank of Montreal. A little later he
opened another at Whitby, and in 1857 assisted
in founding the Ontario Bank, of which he be-
came President. This position he held until
1878. He served as a Magistrate for many years ;
was a Commissioner to manage the Insane
Asylum at Toronto; and represented the Queen's
Division in the Legislative Council from 1856
until the union of the Provinces when he was
called to the Dominion Senate. For many years
Senator Simpson was actively engaged in mill-
ing, obtained the highest award and diploma
for his tlour at the London Exhibition of 1851,
and was awarded a gold medal by the Earl of
Durham for the best flour produced in Canada.
He died in 1885, leaving a reputation for business
ability, kindly feelings and strong Liberalism.
The Hon. Isaac Buchanan was born in
Glasgow in 1810, and at an early age entered his
father's mercantile firm. In 1830 he came to
Canada and founded a branch of the wholesale
busmess in Montreal, and subsequently in To-
ronto, Hamilton and London. Success was
almost immediate, and the pioneer firm of Bu-
chanan, Harris & Co. soon became well known in
Great Britain as it was in Canada. In 1841 Mr.
Buchanan contested Toronto for the Legislature,
and after a somewhat memorable struggle was
elected. His political views were rather varied.
He was a Liberal, but opposed to the Rebellion
and its promoters; a believer in some kind of
commercial union with the States, but at the
same time a pioneer in the advocacy of Protec-
tion ; and a strong believer in a larger pnper cur-
rency. He resigned after one year in the Assem-
bly, but in 1854 contested Hamilton unsuccess-
fully with Sir Allan McNab. In 1837, however,
upon that leader's retirement, he was elected, and
again in 1861 and 1863. In 18O4 he was Presi-
dent of the Council for n. brief period in the
Tache-Macdonald coalition, but in the succeeding
year ri.lired from public life. Hisd(jminant char-
acteristics were perseverance, skill in business, and
a strong will which seldom bent to new impres-
sions, and never to any change which was not a
matter of principle. He wrote largely upon
banking, trade and currency topics ; was at one
time President oftheTorontoand Hamilton Boards
of Trade ; was a strong promoter of the Great
Western Railway ; and had been a vigorous sup-
porter of Sir Charles Metcalfe, although himself
a thorough believer in responsible government.
He was practically the father of the Canada
Southern Railway. Mr. Buchanan retired from
business in 1878, and died in 1882.
The Hon. John McMurrich was born near
Paisley, Scotlaiul, in 1804, and for some years
after leavim; school worked in the office of a
wholesale firm in Glasgow. In 1833 it was de-
cided to open branch houses in Canada, and Mr.
McMurrich was despatched to supervise the
undertaking. He organized the business in King-
ston and Toronto under the name of Buchanan,
Bryce & Co. After some years' residence in
Kingston he came to Toronto in 1837, and the
firm became known throughout Canada as Bryce,
McMurrich & Co., and so remained until his
death in 18S3. In 1860 he was a member of the
City Council and Chairman of the I'inance Com-
mittee. For two years following 1863 he repre-
sented the Saugeen Division in the Legislative
Council, and from 1867 to 1871 sat in the On-
tario Assembly for West York. He was an active
member of the Toronto Board of Trade ; the
first President of the Dominion Telegraph Com-
pany ; Vice-President of the Toronto, Grey and
Bruce Railway ; Trustee for the Credit Valley
and other lines ; Director of the Consolidated
Bank ; Member of the Canadian Board of the
North British Investment Company, and the
Scottish and Ontario- .Manitoba Company. From
O
i^l\
•'*ll
'm^'
■ u ' :
44=
CANADA: AN ENCVrLOI'.KDIA.
nm
i
n
te.l
I;
1847 to 1850 he was a member of the Provincial
Board of Idiucation, and aj^ain from 1858 to
1870, with one year's exception.
The Hon. James Rea Benson, Senator of
Canada, was born in 1807, and for many years
was engaged with much success in milling and
its kindred pursuit of shipping. He had large
interests in lake vessels, and his business enter-
prise did much to build up St. Catharines. Per-
sonally he amassed a large fortune. For some
time he served in the Town Council antf later in
the Lincoln County Council. He was President
for many years of the Niagara District Bank, and
upon its assimilation with the Imperial Bank of
Canada became a Director of the latter — a posi-
tion which he held until his death. In politics a
Conservative, he was elected a member of the
Legislative Council of ('anada in 1867, and when,
during the same year, Confederation was effected,
he was returned to the House of Commons. He
became a Senator in 1868, and died in 1885.
The Hon. Adam Hope, Senator of Canada,
was born in Last Lothian, Scotland, in 1813. He
came to Canada in 1834, and at once entered
mercantile life. Commencing business on his
own account at St. Thomas, Ont., in 1837, he
removed to London in 1845, and in 1865 to Ham-
ilton, where he became connected with the enter-
prises of the Hon. Isaac Buchanan, and assumed
the chief place in the firm known as A. Hope &
Co. This extensive wholesale iron business he
carried on until his death in 1882. Mr. Hope;
was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1877.
He was a Director of the Canadian Bank of
Commerce, Presid^int of the Hamilton Provident
and Loan Society, and President of the Reform
Association of that City.
James Gooderham Worts was born at
Yarmouth, England, in 1818, and accompanied
his father to Canada in 1831. Three years after-
wards he tock hold of the milling business upon
his father's doath, and in 1845 joined forces with
William Goode.-ham in the now famous distillery
business of Gooderham & Worts. Unusual suc-
cess came to their enterprises, and upon Mr.
Worts' death in 1882 he was reputed to be worth
at least $2,500,000. He was largely interested in
the Bank of Toronto, and for some time was its
President. He was also a Member and at one
time President of the Toronto Board of Trade,
a Director of the Canada Permanent Building
Society, a Member of the Harbour Commission,
and Master of the Toronto Hunt. Mr. Worts
was not only well known for his business ability
but for activity in various directions of value to
the community.
William Gooderham, a pioneer distiller.
banker and railway projector, was born in the
County of Norfolk, England, in 1790, entered the
army at an early age, and served through various
military events in the West Indies. In 1832,
after some years' farming in the old country, he
migrated to Canada and settled at Toronto,
where he joined his brother-in-law, Mr. James
Worts, in partnership. The two entered upon a
retail milling business, which soon developed into
large proportions and afterwards included the
distillery which has made the name of the firm
famous and Mr. Gooderham and his descendants
very wealthy. After Mr. Worts' death in 1834,
one part of the business had been carried on
separately by his son, but in 1845 the whole con-
cern was combmed. Mr. Gooderham was for
fifteen years President and chief shareholder in
the Bank of Toronto, and under his management
the firm became the projectors and practically
owners of the Toronto and Nipissing Railsvay
and the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. Mills
belonging to the firm were also established at
Mcadowvale, at Pine Grove, in Vaughan, and at
Streetsville. Mr. Gooderham died a millionaire in
1881, leaving a name noted for business ability, a
firm employing over a thousand men, and a repu-
tation as a distiller not limited to the confines
of Canada. He had always avoided popular
honours except a term of three years in the To-
ronto City Council.
Joseph McKay, the founder of the well-
known wholesale dry-goods firm of Joseph Mc-
Kay & Brother, of Montreal, was born at Kil-
donan, Scotland, iniSii. This business was an
extensive one, and from its beginning in the
"forties" developed until its founder was a
i
W^-
CANADA: AN ENCVCLOIVKDIA.
441
well-
sph Me-
at Kil-
was an
; in the
r was a
millionaire and able to do his country substantial
service, not only in pioneer trade but in benefac-
tions which will always be retneinbered. The
MacKay Institute for Protestant Deaf Mutes
was founded by him at Montreal, and he was also
one of the founders of the Presbyterian College
there. He contributed liberally to the House of
Industry and Refuge and to the Montreal General
Hospital, of which latter he was a Governor for
many years. He gave extensive support to the
mission work of the Presbyterian Church, and
by his will left $64,000 to various charitable or
religious institutions — ijtio.ooo each to Home and
to Foreign Presbyterian Missions and to the Pres-
byterian College. He died in 1881.
The Hon. Henry Rhodes was born in London,
England, in 1S24, and in 1859 nngrated to Vic-
toria, liritish Columbia, where he embarked ex-
tensively in mercantile pursuits. In these enter-
prises he was eminently successful, and for many
years was at the head of the well-knosvn firm of
Henry Rhodes & Co. He was for some time
President of the Chamber of Commerce at Vic-
toria, and also Hawaiian Consul at that port. In
1865 he was called to the Legislative Council of
Vancouver Island, and held his seat until its
union with the mainland Province. Mr. Rhodes
in earlier life (1845-59) had been prominently
connected with the trade of the Sandwich
Islands. Throughout British Columbia he was
well known not only for business success and
ability but for his hospitality. He died in 1878.
William Workman was born near Lisburn,
Ireland, in 1806, and came to Montreal in 1829,
ten years after his brother, Benjamin. Following
a brief effort at journalism, he took a position in
the mercantile establishment of J. tS: J. M. Froth-
ingham, and in 1836 organized a new firm of
hardware dealers known as Frothingham & Work-
man. This business during thirty years of active
labour on his part grew to most extensive dimen-
sions and brought Mr. Workman both fortune
and fame. He was the founder in 1846 of the
City and District Savings Bank, and for six years
was its President. To this institution he gave
much time and attention, and his ability more
than onre brought it safely through troublous
times. I'rom 1849 to 1873 he was President of
the City Bank, and during three years was Mayor
of Montreal. I'or his valuable S(;rvice3 in this
latter connection he was given two banquets by
the citizens and a diamond ring. During his
term of office he entertained Prince Arthur upon
his visit to the commercial metropolis. Mr.
Workman was at one time or another President
of the St. Patrick's Society, the Protestant House
of Industry and Refuge, the Montreal Dispensary,
the Western Hospital, and the local Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In poli-
tics he was a Conservative. He died in 1878.
Damase Masson was perhaps the most
representative French-Canadian merchant in the
earlier life and history of Montreal. He was
born at St. Genevieve, P.*,]., in 1805 ; com-
menced business at Beauharnois in 1829, and soon
amassed a fortune. But it was all lost during
the Rebellion of 1837, in which he took the so-
called "patriot" side. In 1839, however, he
re-commenced business in Montreal itself, and
by the exercise of prudence, tact and ability soon
won success and wealth. He reached, indeed, the
very front rank, and probably the foremost place,
amongst the I'lench-Canadian merchants of his
time. In 1855 he was elected to the City Council
and helpeil to establish the Montreal Waterworks.
He was a Director of the Merchants' Bank from
its establishment, and of the North British In-
surance Cotnpau}', the Richelieu Steamship Com-
pany, and various kindred concerns. He died in
1878, leaving a memory for inflexible honesty,
affable manners, open-handed charity and great
ability.
The Hon. Isaac Burpee, M.P., was born at
Shertield, N.B., in 1825. In 1848 he removed to
St. John, and with his brother organized the firm
of T. & F. Burpee, which became not only emi-
nently successful in the conduct of a large
hardware business but also widely known for its
upright and honourable dealings. In 1S72 Mr.
Burpee was elected as a Liberal to the House of
Commons for the City of St. John, and towards
the close of the following year became Minister
of Customs in the Mackenzie Government. This
position he held amidst general appreciation of
'jir
•' ;t
442
CANADA; AN ENCYCL0P.4':DIA.
•'i
liiS courtesy and industry until the elections and
defeat of 1878. As a business man during the
earlier days of Provincial development, he was
always progressive, and never .ifraid to put his
own money into an enterprise. The manufactures
of St. John and Portland owed much to his in
itiative. He was an officer in many important
corporations, and, amoi.gst others, a Director of
the Confederation Life Association, the Victoria
Coal Mining Company, and the N.B. Deaf and
Dumb Institution. He was Treasurer of the St.
John Industrial School and Vice-President of the
Evangelical Alliance of New Brunswick. Mr.
liurpee died in 1885.
The Hon. Charles Seraphin Rodier, M.L.C.,
Senator of Canada, was born in Montreal in 1797.
He was one of the wealthief.t, best knov.n,
and most respected citizens of the Province of
Quebec, and left a name which will long be
remembered for puolic and private charities. He
began life as a merchant, and was one of the first
Canadians who imported foreign ^oods. Having
met with great success, he abandoned business
for the legal profession, and was called to the Bar
in 1841. In 1857 he was elected Mayor of Mon-
treal, and was re-elected in the three succeeding
years. His popularity during his administration
was very great and he was generally known as
the '' Father of the People.' In 1861 he did the
honours .f the city to the Prince of Wales, a: ! in
i8(j2 to Prince Alfred and Prince de Joinviile.
In 1867 Mr. Kodier was appointed to the Legis-
lative Counrji of the Province for the District of
Lorin^.ier. which he ••epresented in the Conservative
irferest. He has ooen deF:ribed as a tall, hand-
some nian, of h/rdly manners, an'! full of activity.
Up to wiiliin rt few months jf his decease in 1876,
he bor': his years with womierfu! freshness of mind
and body. He had been President of the Quarter
Sessions of the Peace for the city, and a Harbour
Commissioner; a Coiiimissioner to settle losses
arising out of the Rebellion of 1S37-8 ; and
was a Director of La Banqiie Jac(jues Cartier and
a Lieut.-Colonel in the Militia. In i8h8 he was
called to the Senate.
The Hon. Gcorg'e Moifatt, M.L.C., exercised
during his prolonged life a wide commercial and
political influence in Lower Canada. He was born
in the County of Durham, England, in 1787, and
when but a youtli came to Canada to make his
way in commerce and trade. Montreal was then
liltic more than a trading post, and the young;
emigrant soon found h-mself engaged, with some
success, in trading e.\, Jitions into the wilder parts
of the country and among?t the Indians. Finally
he formed a business partnersiiip, which existed
under different designations until his death. Es-
sentially a pioneer in trade, he was also a much re-
spected public man. During the war of 1812 he
served as a volunteer; in 1831 was called to the
Legislative Council ; and during much of the suc-
ceeding troubled period was a leader of the British
party in thuu body. In 1837 he went to England
to represent the interests of the English minority
and to try to obtain permanent endowments for
the Protestant schools and colleges of Lower
Canada. He was a warm advocate of the union
of the Provinces, and in 1841 was elected a mem-
ber for Montreal in the new House of Assembly.
In 1844, after a year's retirement, he was re-elected
and sat until 1847, when '"j declined to stand again.
He had twice before refused re-appointment to
the Legislati.j Council. During the annexation
novemeuL of 1849 he stood to his principles, nnd
presided f )r a time over the British-American
League, wl.ich had been formed to counteract that
foolish agitation. He died in 18C5 amid the deep-
est respect of the community amongst whom he
had so long lived and l.;boure '.
The Hon. Edward Murphy, fienator of Canada,
was born .., Jounty Carlow, Ireland, in 1818.
and came to Canada in 1824. At the age of four-
teen he became clerk in a Montreal hardware
business, a in 1846 entered the employment of
Frothingham and Workman, where he remained
until 1859, when he was given a partnership in
that most extensive business. He was Secretary
f ir many years of the firsc Irish Catholic Tcmpet-
ance Society in Canada, and was several times
President of the St. Patrick's Temperance
jociety. He was a Captain in the Montreal
Militia, President of St. Patrick's Society, a
Justice of the I'eace, a Director and then Presi-
dent of the City and District Savings Bank, and
Vice-President of the Natural History Society
"CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
443
5, nnd
and the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of
Montreal. In i88f), Mr. Murphy was called to the
Senate and seven years before this had been made
a Chevalier of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
He was a Life Governor of the Montreal General
Hospital and the Notre Dame Hospital ; a Mem-
ber of the Montreal Hoard of Trade; and a Life
Member of the Art Association and Mechanics'
Institute. Taking a great interest in education,
he was for many years a Catholic School Com-
missioner for Monireai, and a Governor of Laval
University. Towards the promotion of conimer-
)c\ety, a
in Presi-
ank, and
Society
The Hon. Edward Murphy.
cial education he founded a scholarship of $ioo
a year in perpetuity. He died in 1896, leaving a
name greatly respected for business skill, silent
and bountiful charity, devotion to his Church and
to the interests of Montreal and the community at
largo.
David Torrance was one of thoso Merchant
I'riiices of Montreal whose long business career
identitied his name with t! , ^-jrcsts of the whole
Dominion. Born in New . .v, U.S.A., in 1805, his
early years were spent in Kingston with his father,
James Torrance, who then carried on an exten-
sive business in that locality. In 1821 he entered
the service of his uncle in Montreal, the late Mr.
John Torrance, as a clerk, and about 1832 became
a partner in the firm then known under the name
of John Torrance & Co., his friends, the Rev. Dr.
Wilkes and the Hon. John Young, being clerks in
the same house. With a view to extending his
business, in 1835, Mr. Torrance entered into
partnership with Mr. Young in Quebec, under the
firm name of Torrance & Young, and on the retire-
ment of the late Mr. John Torrance, the firm's
name was changed to that of D. Torrance & Co.,
which continued to the date of his death in 1S76,
one of his partners for many years past having
been Mr. Thomas Cramp. As a business man
Mr. Torrance had few equals in foresight and
enterprise. ("()mi)rehending the great future which
was before Montreal and her merchants, he did
not hesitate to venture upon the cultivation of
trade between China and Japan and Montreal
nearly half a cnntury ago, when the population of
all Canada was less than half what it is to-day.
His force of character and thorough business
spirit manifested themselves not only in the different
iinport trades which he cultivated, but in the wide
connections which he formed with New York,
San Francisco, London and other ports of the
commercial world. The business of the house at
these places often largely exceeded the transac-
tions in Montreal, and gave to his firm its present
world-wide reputation. In everything which was
calculated to promote the interests of his own
city Mr. Torrance was prominent, and was one of
the first to embark his means in the establish-
ment of steamboat tr.-ffic on the St. Lawrence.
I'-or many years he was a Director of the line of
steamers known as the " Richelieu," and when
the tiade of the port retjuired it, assisted more
materially in the foundation of the Dominion Line
of ocean steameru. For a considerable j>eriod
■^fr. Torrance was a Director of the Ikink of Mon-
i .:al, of which, m 1873, he was elected PreFideiit.
This position, with many others of great tuihlic
trust, he UiAd ;;r.til tiie day of his death.
The Hon. James Ferrler, Senator of Canada,
was born m Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1800, and at
—
:^ ;,
■■■1 ■
I ^r J, ■
444
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
the age of twenty-one emigrated to Canada. He
settled in Montreal, where he soon established
himself, and in a dozen years had acquired a
fortune. He becu.iie a Director of the Bank of
British North America upon its establishment in
the Provinces, and was for six years President of
the Montreal Assurance Company. In 1837 he
stood for British principles of loyalty and should-
ered his musket in their defence. For some
years he was in the Montreal City Council, and
in 1845 became Mayor. During the succeeding
year he was appointed a Lieut. -Colonel in the
Militia, and promptly organized a regiment. He
became a member of the Legislative Council in
1847, and two years before had been appointed
upon the Board of the Royal Institution for the
Advancement of Learning. In this position he
did McGill University much service. Mr. Ferrier
projected the Montreal and Lachine Railway, and
was for some time a Director, and then Chair-
man of the Canadian Board of the Grand Trunk.
He was at various times President of the St.
Andrew's Society, the Quebec Temperance
and Prohibition League, the Montreal Temper-
ance Vigilance Association, and the Montreal
Auxiliary Bible Society; Vice-President of the
Sabbath School Association of Canada and of
the French-Canadian Missionary Society ; Chan-
cellor of McGill University, Director of the In-
ternational Bridge Company, etc. He was called
to the Senate in 1867, and was at the cam-; time
appointed to the Legislative Council I'f CJiiebec
Province. He died lu '888, greatly respected by
the entire people of the I'rovin •. .
The Hon. Isidore Thibaudeau, ex-M.P., was
descended from a French family, mentioned in
history as being in existence during the reign of
Louis XV., and which, on the breaking out of
the Revchition of 1789, migrated to Acadia and
thenc to Canada. Born at Cape Saute, P.Q.,
in 1819, he was for many years head of the
rtrm of Thibaudeau, Thomas & Co., wholesale
merchants of Quebec and Montreal. He was
also Vice-President of La Bancjue Nationale, and
of the 'jiiebec Steel Cc ipany. He had been
Presidi.ut of th- Si. Jean Baptiste Society of
Quebec and a Director of the Grand Trunk
Railway. Mr Tiiibaudeau was Presiuei.t of the
Executive Council of Canada from May, 1863,
to March, 1864 (in the Sandiield Macdonald and
Dorion Administration). He sat forQuebecCentre
in the Canadian Assembly from 1863 until the
Union, when he retired, and was appointed to
represent the Kennebec Division in the Quebec
Legislative Council. There he remained in
charge of Liberal measures until January, 1874,
when he was elected to the House of Commons
for Quebec East, by acclamation, as a supporter of
the Mackenzie Administration. He resigned his
seat in 1877 in favour of the Hon. Wilfrid
Laurier. Mr. Thibaudeau died in 1893.
The Hon. William Todd, a pioneer in the devel-
opment of New Brunswick, was born in 1803 in
the State of Maine, and at an early age was
brought to the British Provinces by his father,
who settled at St. Stephen. There the son was
educated until old enough to enter upon his life
pursuit of the manufactur ; and exportation of
lumber. For fifty years he pursued this line of
wo-kwith signal success, besides taking part in
every enterprise calculated to develop the re-
sources of the Province, and especially of the vnlley
of the St. Croix. He was President of the Prince-
ton Railway, of the St. Stephen Branch Rail-
way, and of the later consolidation of several small
lines with the Brunswick and Canada Railway.
In 1844, he was elected a Director of the St.
Stephen's Bank, and in 1849 became its Presiaent.
In 1854, ^''■' Todd was appointed to the Legisla-
tive Council of the Province, and took an active
interest in the improvement of educational facili-
ties and reform in the management of public lands.
At Confederation he was offered a place in the
Senate of Canada, but through ill-health felt com-
pelled to decline it. He was an earnest church
worker in the Congregational denomination and
President of the local Bilile Society lor many
years. Mr. Todd, who dice' in 187 j, was a free-
trader in principle and a Liberal in politics.
The Hon. Robert William Weir Carrall, M.D.,
Senator of Canada, was born near Woodstock,
Ont., in 1839, and died there on the 19th of
September, 1879. Senator Carrall was the son of
James Carrall, who for twenty years was Sheriff
of the County of Oxford, Ontario, and grandson
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
445
.all
of John Carrall, a United Empire Loyalist who
removed to Upper Canada some time during the
Revolution. He was educated at Trinity College,
Toronto, but did not graduate. He graduated at
McGill University, Montreal, as M.D., in 1850, and
afterpractising his profession forsome years in Can-
ada joined the Northern army during the Civil
War in the United States, as a surgeon.
He was under General Banks at New Orleans, and
attached to other divisions of the Federal
Army in the Southern States, and at Washington.
After serving some three or four years in this way,
he went to Vancouver Island, B.C., and practised
his profe.-lon at Nanaimo ; thence he went to the
Cariboo gold mines. There he was very fortunate
in his mining enterprises. The agitation having
arisen in the lower country in favour of Confeder-
ation with Canada, he joined heartily in the work.
In 1868, he was selected by the people as a candi-
date to represent the Cariboo district in the Legis-
lative Council of British Columbia. He was re-
elected in i87oand became a memberof the Execu-
tive Council under the administration of Governor
Musgrave. In 1870 he was appointed one of the
delegates, with Messrs. Tr'itch and Helmcken, to
negotiate u^on the terms of Confederation which
had been adopted by the Legislative Council.
After they had been amended at Ottawa and
adopted again by the Legislative Council in 1S71,
and the Province been duly united to Canada, Dr.
Carrall was called to the Senate. In politics he
wa,- I Conservative, but never took a very conspic-
uous part in the questions coming before the
Senate. He was always good-natured, social and
companionable, and had a wide circle of acquaint-
ances and friends. He was well known from Cari-
boo to Halifax. One of the matters for which he
was responsible was the Act passed in i87fj, making
Dominion Day a statutory holiday in British
Columbia.
James MacLaren, one of the Lumber Pioneers
of the Ottawa Valley and one ot the wealthiest
citizens of the Dominion Capital, was born near
Glasgow, Scotland, in 1818, and came to Canada
with his parents when a boy. The family settled
on a farm in Carleton County, and as soon as his
school-days were over young MacLaren and one
of his brothers went into partnership in a lumber-
ing business. In 1856 James .MacLaren joined
the firm of J. M. Currier & Co., as a partner, and
a few years later the entire business, including
important mills at Buckingham, passed into his
hands. In this direction he was eminently suc-
cessful, but his enterprise included a wide range
of transactions beyond and outside of its scope.
He took uch interest in the formation of the
Bank of Ottawa and was President of the insti-
tution from its foundation until his death. He
was a member of the firm of W. McClymont &
Co., of New Edinburgh, and the Canada Lumber
Company of Carleton Place; Vice-President of
the Shepherd-Morse Lumber Company of Bur-
lington and Boston ; President of the MacLaren-
Ross Lum" .-.• Company of New Westminster,
B.C., and oi th.; North Pacific Lumber Company
of Port Moody, B.C. In mining operations in
Ottawa and Hastings County, and in the sugar,
salt, and silver industries of Western Ontario he
was largely interested. A man of strictly temper-
ate habits and strong constitution, he died in
1892, leaving behind him a reputation for unusual
and keen business ability, great energy and com-
mercial honour. His fortune was estimated at
$6,000,000.
The Hon. Billa Flint, Senator of Canada, was
born at Elizabethtown, Ontario, in 1805, and at
eleven vears of age was working in his father's
shop at Brockville. In 1829 he settled in Belle-
ville, and for over half a century carried on a
heavy business as a lumber dealer and general
merchant. He employed at times a large number
of men and his average turnover of capital was
considerable. Besides his general business, Mr.
Flint did much pioneer work in the way of erect-
ing buildings — houses, stores, mills, barns — to the
number of perhaps a hundred. In i8j6 he was
elected President of the Belleville Police Board
and made a Justice of the Peace. He was Reeve
of Elzevir — where his lumbering business centred
— for twenty-one years, Mayor of Helleville in
1806, and Warden of the County in 1873. From
1847 to 1851 he sat in the Canadian Assomblv,
and again from 1854 to 1857. In 1S62 ho was
elected to the Legislative Council from the Trent
Division and was called to the Senate in 1867.
He was a strong Liberal, a si;lf-educated and very
^ ■'* V "
I '.U-'
i.'i;-
r4<>
CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
'*' i -I
■•3;i ;
I'"'
successful business man — a typical Canadian
pioneer. Senator Flint died in 1894.
Robert Hay, H.P., was born in Perthshire
in 1808, and after some years' apprenticeship
and work as a cabinet-maker came to Canada
in 1831. Four years later he commenced busi-
ness as a furniture manufacturer in partner-
ship with John Jacques. From a total capital of
f 800, the business grew until the firm shipped
largely abroad, besides supplying a good portion
of the home market. Mr. Hay also controlled
Robert H^y.
a saw-mill and other enterprises. He was a Di-
rector of ihe Credit Valley Railway and of the
Toronto Electric Manufacturing Company. In
1878 he was elected to Parliament from Centre
Toronto as an advocate of Protection, and was
re-elected in 1882. Mr. Hay was a strong prohi-
bitionist, a pioneer manufacturer and a much
respected politician. He died in 1890.
The Hon. Elijah Leonard, Senator of Canada,
was born near Syracuse, N.V., in 1815, and in
1830, after receiving a good common school edu-
cation, came to Upper Canada with his father.
In 1834 they settled in St. Thomas and went into
the business of manufacturing agricultural imple-
ments of a somewhat primitive type. In 1839,
after having meanwhile bought out ind run the
business for himself, young Leonard moved to
London — then a place of 1,000 inhabitants — and
continued oper ;tions there until the building
of the Great Western Railway gave him the
opportunity of going in for the manufacture of
railway rolling stock, which he did upon a large
and successful scale. For some years he was an
Alderman of the City of London, and in 1857
was made Mayor and at the same time City Re-
corder. He took a prominent part in originating
the Great Western, and London and Port Stanley
Railway companies, and was a Director and
Vice-President of the latter. He was also a
founder and Director of the Huron & Erie
Savings and Loan Society. In 1862 he was
elected to the Legislative Council for the Mala-
hide Division, and at Confederation was called to
the Senate. Senator Leonard was a Liberal in
politics. He died in i8gi, and a brief volume of
memoirs, since published by his sons, throws much
interesting light upon early life and conditions in
what is now the Province of Ontario.
Philemon Wright, the "Father of the
Ottawa," was a native of Woburn, State of
Massachussetts, United States, where he was born
in 1760. He emigrated to this country in the
year 1800, and determined on ascending the
River Ottawa in quest of a tract of land suitable
for farming. With this object in view, he stead-
ily penetrated into the country at a great expense
of mental and bodily exertion, and finally located
at a spot sixty miles beyond any previous settler.
After many efforts and irritating delays, he ob-
tained from the Government permission to settle
upon and survey the township of Hull, in the
County of Ottawa. This being accomplished,
he went to work with a will characteristic
of the early New England pioneers, and was
in a few years rewarded for hi.s toil and
hardships by witnessing a thriving settlement
growing up around him. In furtherance of his
agricultural pursuits, Mr. Wright imported from
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
447
istic
was
and
ent
his
rum
"reat Britain, at much expense, some of the most
approved breeds of cattle, and thereby contribu-
ted in the most efficient manner to promote the
interests cf the settlers in that section of the
country. He was also the projector of some of
the chief tmprovements on the Ottawa. He died
at Hull on the 2nd of June, 1839, and left a
numerous family. His memory is preserved in
the beautiful and prosperous settlement of Hull,
or, as it was sometimes called, Wrightstown,
which he commenced and lived to see attain a
considerable position, and which now forms prac-
tically a suburb of the Canadian capital.
The Hon. John Macdonald, Senator of Canada.
was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1824, and at
an early age came to British America, where he
was educated at Dalhousie College, Halifax, and
Bay Street Academy, Toronto. After leaving
school, he served two years with a firm of general
merchants in Gananoque and then returned to
Toronto, when he entered the mercantile house
of Walter McFarlane, then doing perhaps the
largest wholesale trade in Upper Canada. In
1847, he went to Jamaica in search of better
health, and worked with a firm there for a year,
when he came back to Toronto, and in 1849
opened a wholesale dry-goods business on his own
account. Four years later, his venture having
been largely successful, he removed to better
quarters on Wellington Street, not far from where
the modern firm of John Macdonald & Co. has
for many years carried on its large importing and
wholesale trade. In 1861, Mr. Macdonald was
elected a member of the Legislative Assembly,
and held his seat until Confederation, when he
was defeated in the elections for the new House
of Commons. In 1875, he was returned by accla-
mation to the Dominion Parliament for Centre
Toronto, but was beaten in 1878 by the Conser-
vative candidate. An Independent Liberal, he
was opposed to the Confederation of the Prov-
inces, to Commercial Union with the States, and to
the National Policy. He took great interest in
educational matters and for some years was a mem-
ber cf the Toronto University Senate and of the
High School Board. A prominent Methodist, l.e
was long a member of the Executive Committee of
that Church and Treasurer of its Missionary
Society. He was twice President of the Young
Men's Christian Association Conference of
Ontario and Quebec, and took a pronounced
interest in the work of the Evangelical Alliance,
the Bible Society, the Temperance organizations,
and the Toronto General Hospital — to which he
gave $40,000. In 1887, Mr. Macdonald was raised
to the Senate by the advice of his political oppon-
ent. Sir John A. Macdonald. He died in 1890.
His career was one which reflected credit upon
the country and its commerce, and his energy and
perseverance, enterprise and integrity, created
not only a substantial fortune and an important
business, but left a reputation which will not soon
be forgotten.
Hart Almerin Massey, President of the
Massey-Harris Manufacturing Company, was
born in Northumberland County, Ontario, in
1823, and was educated amongst his relations in
New York State. While a boy he exhibited keen
interest in machinery of all kinds, and, after leav-
ing school and managing for a time one of his
father's farms at home in Haldimand township,
he induced the latter to establish a foundry and .
machine shop for the manufacture of implements '
at Newcastle. About 1S47 he assumed charge of '
the family property, and in 1850 became a Magis-
trate for the Counties of Durham and Northum-
berland. In 1852, while acting as a partner and
manager of the business in Newcastle, he manu-
factured the first Canadian reapers and mowers.
Three years later, upon his father's death, he be-
came sole proprietor of the business, and con-
tinued for several years to produce new and im-
proved machines, which soon made the name of
the firm known all through the limited Canadian
population of those days. In 1864 he lost $30,000
by a fire, but this only seemed to encourage him
to more energetic action. Three years later Mr.
Massey made a tour through the United States and
then proceeded to Paris with a numberof machines
which the French Government had purchased
from him. In 1870 the business was incorporated
into a Company with himself as President, and
his son, C. A. Massey, as Manager. New and
impro "ii implements in the form of harvesters,
horse-rakes, mowers, etc., were produced, and the
business soon grew to immense proportions. In
I, • I,;
if.
448
CANADA : AN KNCYCLOr.KDIA.
K
prr.
)
1879 better facilities for shipment were required,
and the Company moved to Toronto, where they
absorbed several important rivals, and iii 1883
did a business of over a million dollars. Since
then it has steadily grown in volume and value
until the Massey- Harris machines find a market
all over the world, and the firm is perhaps the
best known industrial concern in the Dominion.
Prizes were won at the Centennial Exhibition in
Philadelphia, U.S., the Antwerp Intornational
E.xhibition and at manj' others. Mr. Massey was
noted for his philanthropy in different direc-
tions, and the Massey Music Hall, in Toronto,
will remain a lasting monument of his desire to
provide cheap and pood amusement for the piib-
lic. He died in 1896. When the Massey Manu-
facturing Company, of Toronto, A. Harris, Son
& Co., Ltd., of Brantford, and Massey & Com-
pany, Ltd., of Winnipeg, were amalgamated in
i8gi it was with a joint capital of $5,000,000.
Shortly afterwards the Patterson & Hro. Com-
pany, Ltd., of Woodstock, and J. O. Wisner &
Company, of Brantford, were also absorbed.
Henry Franklin Bronson, a pioneer manufac-
turer of lumber in the great Ottawa district,
was born in Saratoga County, New York State,
in 1S17, and even during the time of his educa-
tion showed keen interest in forest life from the
practical business standpoint. In 1840 he entered
into partnership with J. T. Harris, of Qiioensbury ,
N.Y., and this combination of capital on one side
with undoubted resolution, integrity and skill on
the other, lasted for twenty-two years. In 184S,
Mr. Bronson maiie a prospecting tour for pine
through Canada and was greatly impressed by
the motive power of the Chaudicre Tails and the
unlimited supplies of timber in the Ottawa Valley.
Ultimately, in 185^, he moved to Ottawa, and in
thu succeeding year the first mill was erected in
that district for the manufacture of sawn lumber
for the United States market. Others soon
followctl, and ere many years had [)assed, hundreds
of millions of feet of sawn timber were being
anniKiliy shipped across the boundary line. In
i8t»4 Mr. Harris li'ft the firm, and its chief mem-
ber now is the Hon. K. H. lironson, son of the
founder, and member (1897) of the Ontario (hjv-
ernment. Mr. Bronson died in 1889, after a
career of signal service in the development of the
lumber tratlic and to the material growth of the
Canadian Capital.
The Hon. John Hamilton, Senator of Canada,
was born at yueenstown, Ont., in 1801. He was
the son of a Scottish gentleman, who, settling at
Kingston towards the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury, entered into a business partnership in 1783
with Mr. Cartwright, at that place, and subse-
quently removing to yueenstown, carried on a
large and successful business with Mr. William
Heniy Franklin Bronson.
Dickson, .\fter studying in Edinburgh, Mr.
Hamilton entered the firm of Gillespie, Moffatt
6c Co., of Montreal, and while with them served
as a Sergeant of Dragoons during the war of 1812-
14. He devoted nmch of a long and useful life to
initiating, and more or less perfecting, the lines of
lake and river craft between Niagara, Toronto and
Montreal. He had an interest in some of the
earliest steam vessels plymg on the route, which
in many cases he built, owned and chartered.
For a numbor of years he controlled most of the
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP KDIA.
440
1
Mr,
Moffiitt
served
f 1812-
1 life to
lines of
ntoand
of the
which
irtered.
of the
steamers on Lake Ontario. In 1840, in order to
give closer attention to his business, Mr. Hamilton
removed to Kingston, and, after trying one or two
unsuccessful experiments with stt imers of special
construction intended tc overcome the rapids of
the St. Lawence, finally succeeded in his aim. In
winter his line was by coach and wagon or sleighs
from Montreal, the whole way to Toronto, and as
far as Prescott this also was controlled, if not
owned, by Mr. Hamilton. As time went on,
canals were constructed to overcome the rapids of
the St. Lawrence and more commodious steamers
were built, adapted, as far as possible, equally to
lake and river navigation. Mr. Hamilton then for
the first time in Canadian waters introduced iron
vessels; he had the /\is,v/)o>'/, and subsequently the
Kini^sion, designed and put together in Glasgow,
taken apart again, and the various pieces sent
as freight to Montreal, where they were built and
launched on Canadian waters. They formed, with
the Magnet, and the Henry Gilderslceve, for a
number of years, a prosperous through lino be-
tween Toronto and Montreal. Mr. Hamilton was
called to the Legislative Council or Upper Canada
in 1831, and sat until the Union of 1841, when
he was appointed to the Legislative Council of
Canada. At Confederation, in 1867, he was sum-
moned by Royal Proclamation to the Senate. In
January, iSSi, on the occasion of his completing
his 50th year of service in Parliament, he was pre-
sented with an Address of congratulatum by his
brother Senators. In addition to his other ser-
vices, Mr. Hamilton was Chairman of the Govern-
. ing Board of ^)ueon's College, Kingston, from the
granting of the Royal Charter in 1840 to his death ;
and he was, for many years. President of the
Commercial Hank. He died in 1882.
Dileno Dexter Calvin, was born at Clarendon,
Vermont State, in 1798, and died at Ganien
Island, Ont., in 1883. In 1818 he went to Rod-
man, N.Y., where ht worked for three years, and
then removed to Orleans, On., cleared a farm
and afterwards purchased 400 teres of land near
there, and, with the aid of a neighbour, made
square timber, rafted it at Spicer's l>ay, and, in the
summer of 1825, took it to (.hiebcc, clearing $610 by
the operation. Accunlingto Mr. H.J. Morgan's in-
valuable Annual Register, he continued to get out
timber and raft it to Quebec until 1844, when he
purchased a portion of his future home. Garden
Isl.i 1, anti upon it established a branch of his
business. In addition to his rafting and forward-
ing business, Mr. Calvin established a ship-yard
in which many vessels and barges were built.
For twenty years he held a contract with the
Canadian Government for towing vessels and
bai'ges between Kingston and Montreal, the
Government fi.xing the tariff and giving a speci-
fied bonus. Mr. Calvin was for years the owner
of Garden Island, which became an incorporated
village, having all the rights and privileges of a
municipality. Its library is a valuable institution,
and would be a credit to many a city or town.
Notwitiistanding his large business he was deeply
interested in public affairs. In 1845, soon after
becoming naturali;;ed in Canada, he was appointed
a magistrate, ami was from the first Reeve of
Garden Island— as such occupying a seat in the
County Council. In due course he was elected
to the Wardenship, and discharged its duties satis-
factorily. In 186S, he was nominated by the
Conservative party for the representation of the
County of I'roiitenac in the Ontario Assembly,
and from that timeuiitilthegeneral elect ion of 1S82,
excepting during a brief period, he discharged
the duties of the position. He was a strong atlvo-
cate of a Protective tariff years before the policy
was adopted. His career as a legislator was
remarkable for three things : (i) Opposition to the
licensing of the timber limits ; (2) opposition to
the system by which the clergy were entitled to
the revenue of one-seventh of the land; (3) oppo-
sition to exemptions from taxation. About 1869,
the condition of navigation became serious, ajid
the Dominion Government decided to appoint
an Advisory Commission. Mr. Calvin was in-
cluded in the Commission, his colleagues being
Sir Hugh Allan, Colonel C. S. Gzowski, the
Hon. P. Garneau (M.iyor of Quebec), the Hon.
S. L. Shiniion, of Halifax, and Mr. A. Jardine, of
St. John, N.B. In the winter of 1871-72, the
Commissioners rci :oninu'nded,(i) the construction
of a new canal across a glaiir of l.i 1 in Nova.
Scotia, connecting the (iulf of St. Lawrence with
the Bay of Fimdy ; (.;) the deipiMiiug of the St.
Lawrence and Wellaiul canals. Mr. Calvin was
Strongly opposed to a large expenditure of money
450
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
'.« ;
r !
'i s
\r ^
k
• 1
t - V
ill
s, ii
on the St. Lawrence canals with a view to making
them navigable to ocean vessels, for the reason that
such vessels were not at all suitable for lake navi-
gation, and because he thought grain could be
taken to Montreal by barges much cheaper than
by any other way. He was a Baptist and a strict
temperance man for over fifty years, and would
not allow liquor upon the island. Garden Island,
under his control, became a veritable hive of
industry, and a peaceful abode where distinctions
between rich and poor were unknown, and where
there was as near an approach to equality as can
The Hon. James Gibb Koss.
be looked for amid the complex civilization of
the nineteenth century.
The Hon. James Gibb Ross, Senator of Canada,
was born on April iSth, i8i(j, at Carluke, Lanark-
shire, Scotland, where he also received an ordin-
ary education. In early life he emigrated to Can-
ada, settled in Quebec City, and was there engaged
in business as a merchant and shipowner for
nearlj' fifty years. He became one of the best
known business men and most highly esteemed
citizens of the " Ancient Capital." The long and
honourable career of Mr. Koss was marked by all
the characteristics so necessary to obtain respect
and command success in the trying pioneer days
in which he made his name and fortune. In
those days the difficulties of commercial life called
out the best that was in men, and they who suc-
ceeded were indeed "survivals of the fittest."
In politics Mr. Ross was a Conservative, and con-
tested Quebec Centre for the House of Commons
unsuccessfully in 1873 and 1878. In 1884 he was
called to the Senate of Canada. He was also
President of the Quebec Bank and the Lake St.
John Railway Company, besides being a Director
in several other concerns, including the Guarantee
Company of North America. Senator Ross died
in 1888, leaving a high business reputation and
considerable wealth.
The Hon. William McMaster, Senator of
Canada, was born in the County of Tyrone,
Ireland, in 1811, and educated at a private school.
He emigrated in 1833 and intended to settle in
the States, but was persuaded by the British
Consul in New York to come to Canada. In
Toronto he entered a wholesale dry-goods house,
became before long a partner, and in 1844
established a business of his own which entered
at once into competition with Montreal — then the
chief distributing point for both Upper and
Lower Canada. His business expanded in the
course of time to very large proportions. He
was at one time or another Director of the On-
tario Bank and the Bank of Montreal, President
of the Freehold Loan and Savings Coippany,
and Vice-President of the Confederation Life
Association. The Canadian Bank of Commerce
was largely organized through his support, and
he became its first President. This position he
held for more than two decades. For many
years he was Chairman of the Canadian Board
of the Great Western Railway, and when that
section of the management was abolished he re-
mained on the English Board. In 1862 he was
elected to the Legirlative Council for the Mid-
land Division, and ai. Confederation was called to
the Senate. He was for years a member of the
Ontario Council of Public Instruction, and of the
Senate of Toronto University. The McMaster
CANADA; AN ENCYCI.OP/EDIA.
4SI
(Baptist) University, in Toronto, was founded by
him, and he was Treasurer of the Upper Canada
Bible Society. He died in 1887.
The Hon. Jean Louis Beaudry, M.L.C., was
not only an enterprisinfj merchant in the earlier
days of Montreal but or.e of its most prominent
and popular citizens for many years. He was
born in the Province of Quebec, or Lower Can-
ada, in 1809, and was descended from a French
family which migrated in 1666. For a prolonged
period, and up to 1862, he was a merchant in
Montreal, and for twenty years was Warden of
the Trinity House. He was also President of Li
Banquc Jacques Cartier, President of tiie Mon-
treal Fire Assurance Company, and Major of the
1st Montreal Centre Reserve Militia. Mr. Beau-
dry was Mayor of Montreal from 1862 to 1866,
from 1877 to 1879, and again in i88r, 1882,
1883 and 1884. During this remarkable series
of municipal successes he rendered substantial
service to the city. In earlier political life he
had not been successful, being defeated in 1854
— and again in 1858 — when running as a Con-
servative for the Canadian Assembly. He was
called to the Legislative Council of Quebec in
1867 and died in 1886. His career illustrates the
fact that French-Canadians sometimes rival their
English fellow-citizens as successful merchants.
The Hon. James Turner, Senator of Canada,
was born in Glasgow in 1826, and at the age of
twenty-one, after receiving an ordinary school
educaticjn, came to Canada, whore he settled at
Hamilton in partnership with his brother John.
Their original small wholesale grocery business
soon developed under his management mto one of
the most extensive houses in the country. His
shrewdness, energy and integrity brought repu-
tation as well as wealth to Mr. Turner, and he
became known all over the Dominion as a fore-
most business man. Turner, Rose & Co., of Mon-
treal, and Turner, McKeand & Co., of Winnipeg,
were firms in which he held a special partnership.
As far back as 1867 he had begun business in the
latter place — Fort Garry, as it then was — and in
1872 built the first brick store in Winnipeg. He
was one of the founders of the Hamilton Board of
Trade, and was President in i86g ; was one of
the organizers of the Wellington, Grey & Bruce
Railway, aud a Director during its construction ;
was President of the Hamilton and Lake Erie
Railway from its inception until its amalgamation
with the Hamilton and North-Western, which he
was also instrumental in building; and was Vice-
President of the Bank of Hamilton. A Conserva-
tive in politics, he was called to the Senate in
1884, as a representative of the business interests
of Canada. He died in i88g.
Stapleton CaMecott.
Wj
m
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CANADIAN BANKING
BV
GEORGE HAGUE, General Manager Merchants Bank of Canada.
r I ^HE history of Banking in Canada is the
5 history of an evohUion. In its present
I condition, Canadian banking is a growth,
and hke tiie British Constitution has
been largely affected by external circumstances
from time to time ; and by adaptations to those
circumstances in practical legislation. Not that
there have been no discussions about the theory
of the business, for there have been many such.
Men in Parliament who had made a study of
political economy from time to time have taken
part in shaping banking legislation, but it is to
the credit of Canadian legislators that for several
decades back, they have taken counsel with the
men who have the practical handling and respon-
sibility of the business. It has thus come about
through a process partly of balancing conflicting
views, and partly from the development of prin-
ciples and methods in which all agreed, that a
system of banking has grown up in Canada which
is perfectly adapted to the wants of the country,
and has proved itself so during the most trying
periods of commercial depression, no matter how
long protracted. Two leading lines of tradition-
ary influence may be traced, both constantly in
operation, and the one derivable from the United
States, the other from Great Britain. In this
resjiect Canadian Banking is like almost every-
thing else in Canada, whether legislative, political,
religious or social, the balance of influence, how-
ever, being largely with Great Britain.
The early frame-work of our banking legisla-
tion, was almost entirely American, founded on
the charters granted to American bank§ in the
days succeeding the Revolution, and largely in-
spired by that eminent financier of Scotch de-
scent, Alexander Hamilton. Many traces of this
legislation survive in the Canadian Bank Act
of the present day. But Canadian banking
methods, as distinct from banking legislation, have
always been modelled more or less upon those of
Great Britain, and especially of Scotland and Ire-
land. This came about most naturally from the
character of the commercial people of early days,
who were very largely either Scotchmen or North
of Ireland men.
When the need of banking first began to be
developed it was natural that these men should
cast about and (Mideavour to establish institutions
on the model of those they were familiar with.
The joint-stock form of banking was the only one
possible at the time, and the first banks were, of
course, in Quebec and Montreal. The Quebec
Bank and the Bank of Montreal both commenced
business about the year 1817, and have continued
their useful career without interruption to the
present day. The banking business of Lower
Canada was then largely employed in carrying on
the export of products of the forests, which
covered an immensely larger area than they do
now. Nearly the whole of the vast region now
forming the Province of Ontario was at that time
an unbroken wilderness of woods, the only
industry therein being that of the hardy lumber-
man, who ventured into the depths of the forests
to fell the finest of the trees for the purpose of
making timber. That, and the fur industry,
which had its principal centre in Montreal, fur-
nished the only ground for the export business of
the country. The resources of the banks, consist-
ing partly of their own capital, partly of the
means of their depositors (very slender indeed in
those days) were employed in lending money to
the enterprising men who carried on these opera-
tions.
The importers of Canada gradually came to cen-
tre rather about Montreal than about Quebec.
As settlement progressed in the interior regions
452
CANADA: AN KNCYCLOP.KniA.
453
;o cen-
uebec.
2gions
of LoWer Canada, ami along the shores of the St.
Lawrence and Lake Ontario, these merchants
established business relations with the traders
who carried on the business of shopkeepers in
the small centres of settlement, round about
which the forest was gradually giving way to
the beginnings of the farm. These shopkeepers
supplied the wants of the settler, giving long
credit — an absolute necessity in those days — and
receiving in payment, almost invariably, not
money, but such produce of the farm as could
then be spared. The produce was shipped to
Montreal in settlement of the account.
Those pioneer inhabitants were, in many cases,
scions of solid and respectable British houses,
or junior partners therein, or young men who
had been trained in Liverpool, Glasgow or
London, and who brought with them the tradi-
tions and habits of unfailing industry, untiring
work, steady perseverance, and indomitable
energy which have made the commerce of Great
Britain what it is to-day. These were the men
who did business with the Bank of Montreal
in those days, who drew bills on England against
the products of the country shipped there, and
remitted money through the Bank in payment for
the goods im|)orted thence. And it was these
men who, as the country developed, assisted the
traders of the still rising settlements to pay cash
to the farmer for his produce, borrowing money
from the Bank for the purpose, the trader m the
interior being responsible to the Bank for the pay-
ment along with the merchant in Montreal. By-
and-bye, however, an element of nationality began
to assert itself, and purely for this reason a bank
called the Bank of the Peopb, i.e. the French peo-
ple, and the more numerous inhabitants of the
city, was established in Montreal. La Banque du
PiHipIe, after a long, respectable and useful career,
fell a victim to mismanagement and closed its
doors in 1894.
The BankofMontreal commenced business in the
year 1817. Early minute books, still preserved in
the bank, afford interesting details of its first opera-
tions. At the second or third mooting of the
Board, Mr. John Gray havmg been elected as
President, the meeting took into consideration
•' the scale it would be proper to commence on."
They determined, like cautious, prudent men.
that, "it woidd hot be proper to commence on
too extended a scale " and were of opinion that
one cashier, two tellers, and one accountant would
be enough. They rented premises on St. Paul
Street at ;fi50 (Halifa.x currency) per annum, and
appointed Mr. K. Griffin as Cashier, at ^T.joop'"-
annum and the use of the hnuse. Singular to say,
they gave the same salary to the first teller, while
the accountant had £.250. The capital in iHn)
was £87,300 of Canada currency, or $550,000.
The following year it was increased to £"162,000,
in which year it paid 8 per cent. In 1819 it paid
George Hague.
6 per cent., and 6.V per cent, for the next succeeii-
ing seven years. In 18 j6 the terrible disasters that
had befallen the banking community of England in
1825 were reilectod in Canada. The Bank in that
year paid only 3 per cent., and lost more than
half of its reserve. A very conservative policy
was adopted for several years afterwards. No
dividend was paid in 1827 and none in 1828. The
Directors of the Bank cautiously feeling their way,
and having meanwhile accumulated a reserve fund
of §100,000 paid a dividend of 2i per cent, in
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1829. The years of trouble were not ended,
however, for in the next year the dividend was
wholly paid by drawing on the reserve fund.
After that a succession of years of great prosper-
ity set in. In 1832 12 per cent, was pa^d ; in
1833, 1834, 1835, 14 per cent.; in 1836 12 per cent.
From that time the dividend went on steadily
— sometimes 6 per cent., sometimes 7 per cent.,
sometimes 7J per cent., until the period when, by
a series of " leaps and bounds " of unexampled
magnitude, the Bank distanced all its competitors
both in extent of business and profits, and dis-
tributed in dividends and bonus 16 per cent, on an
enormously increased capital, besides adding im-
mense sums to the Rest. It is a curious instance
of h;iw little the wisest can foresee events that only
a year or two before this period, in the days of
depression which succeeded 1857, so far-sighted a
man as Mr. David Davidson, the General Man-
ager, expressed the opinion to a friend that the
Bank of Montreal would never again pay as much
as 7 per cent, per annum.
The Quebec Bank had a capital of ;f52,ooo, or
$208,000, at its commencement. A singular cir-
cumstance took place with regard to its circula-
tion. When the Bank was first established the
Directors were puzzled about getting their paper
issue struck off. Engraving plates had not been
thought of in Canada then, and to have plates
engraved in England would have betit an expen-
sive business. They consulted John Neilson, the
owner and editor of the Quebec Gazette, after-
wards the Hon. J. Neilson, Legislative Coun-
cillor.
' I can serve you,"' said he ; "I have a great
deal of old type out of use. I shall make up a
note in type, every letter of which shall be differ-
ent or nearly so. It will be impossible for any-
one in Canada or elsewhere to imitate the note."
The notes were accordingly struck off and went
into circulation. There was very quiet progress
during the first ten years, but the Quebec Bank,
like the Bank of Montreal, suffered severely in
the great revulsion of 1826-27. In 1830 its cap-
ital was $350,000 and deposits $260,000. In
1850 its capital was only $400,000 with deposits
of $350,000. In i860 its capital was $1,000,000.
In 1870 $1,500,000, while at present it has a cap-
ital of $2,500,000. The deposits have grown
from $350,000 to $4,500,000, and its little reserve
fund of $10,000 to $500,000.
Meanwhile the development of Canada was
watched with interest in England. After that
development had reached a certain stage, a num-
ber of gentlemen interested in its trade — many of
them connected with the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, which was then by far the most important
corporation on this Continent — came together in
London and formed themselves into a banking
company under the name of the Bank of British
North America. Early in its career this Bank
obtained a Royal Charter from the English Gov-
ernment.
This was in 1836. Its paid-up capital was
jf 1,000,000 sterling, a far larger sum than any
bank in Canada had at that time. It contem-
plated operations not only in what was then
known as Canada — the present Ontario and Que-
bec — but over all portions of British America,
and especially such as had a trade with Great
Britain. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New-
foundland and Lower Canada, and in due time
in Upper Canada also, the Bank established its
centres of business. But its Board of Directors
and primary control were in London ; and they
have remained so ever since. Its capital, too,
has remained the same. But, now, instead of
being far beyond that of any other institution, it
only ranks fourth in extent of capital amongst
the various banking institutions of Canada. It
has, however, rendered eminent service to our
commerce, and has introduced a system of in-
ternal administration which has been copied with
advantage by nearly all the Banks in the country.
It has supplied Canada, too, with bankers of
high eminence in their profession.
When Upper Canada had attamed such a posi-
tion that centres of population began to appear,
and the little settlements in the midst of dense
forests becanje thriving villages or prosperous
towns, the Bank of Montreal established offices of
its own in a few of these places. But they were,
from the beginnning, beset with danger, as in
those early days the number of enterprising,
restless, and even reckless persons was far greater
than that of the opposite class. The greater
care, therefor^, was needed to prevent the Bank's
money, or that of its depositors, from gettiii!>
UIPSWW
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPylvDIA.
455
into the hands of those persons, and being lost
in fooiish projects and hastily considered enter-
prises. The la '•Rest of its branches by far was in
Toronto. In the early times spoken of, and
when Montreal was a considerable commercial
centre, Toronto was a small settlement of adven-
turous persons, trading generally with the In-
dians or farming. The little settlement grew ;
but for many years the man who would have
prophesied that a bank could ever find business
there would have been laui^hed at as a visionary.
From one of these early settlers, only recently
deceased, I have often heard the story of what
Toronto was when he was a boy. On the spots
where the Bank of Toronto, the Bank of Montreal
and many other Banks now stand, with magnifi-
cent streets around them, nothing but dense
woods were to be seen, and nothing was heard
but the shout of the Indian, or the growl of the
wolf or bear. This he could remember well, and
from that spot all over what is now Western
Ontario, and from thence to the shores of Lake
Huron, now filled with prosperous towns and
villages, with centres of banking, commerce and
manufactures, crossed and re-crossed in every
direction by railroads, telegraphs and highways ;
over the whole of this immense region there were
only scattered families and settlements to be
found. There was not a single school in all Upper
Canada then. What the country was at that
time may be judged from the fact that the gentle-
!iian previously referred to, when a boy, was sent
to school in Montreal. To get there he walked
all the way from Toronto to Kingston, most of
the way through the forest, and then took a bateau
down the St. Lawrence to Montreal.
Toronto, however, grew apace, when it began
to grow at all. By-and-bye the little town was
prosperous enough to invite the attention of the
Directors of the Bank of Montreal. The branch
then established has continued to this day, and
over the counter countless millions have passed.
Toronto was then, as now, the seat of Govern-
ment for Upper Canada ; British soldiers were
transferred there from Niagara ; Government
moneys were disbursed ; and in time the spirit of
enterprise so prevailed that it was decided to
establish an independent bank with its head-
quarters in Toronto. A visionary project it might
well seem, but it gradually took shape. A com-
pany was formed and a charter granted by the
Legislature, with the proviso that business should
not be commenced until ^10,000 of the money of
those days, or $40,000, was actually paid in as
capital.
I heard it from the lips of one of the promoters
of the movement — the Hon. Henry J. Boulton —
that though the whole Province of Upper Canada
was canvassed from end to end, it was found
utterly impossible to raise this sum of $40,000,
and in despair, rather than let the enterprise drop,
the military authorities were appealed to and the
use of a portion of their funds was secured so as
to make up the balance required. For this the
Government took stock in the Bank. Thus, after
a lapse of more than twelve months, the doors of
the new institution were opened. It was called the
Bank of Upper Canada, and for a long period had
a prosperous career, only, however, to go down
in darkness and disaster through neglect of the
first elements and prime principles of banking.
After a time, the people of Kingston, which is a
much older place than Toronto, and at one time
a place of far more importance, conceived the idea
that there was sufiicient business in and tributary
to the place to afford the materials for an inde-
pendent bank.
The Commercial Bank of the Midland District
was thus projected, and in time the project was
carried out. The Bank, however, did not confine
itself to the Midland District, that is, the region
from Belleville to Brockville. It extended and
established itself in Toronto and in the rising
communities of Hamilton and London, at both of
which places branches of the Bank of Montreal
had been established previously. In time Lhe
Commercial Bank also opened an office in Mon
treal, as did the Bank of Upper Canada.
Hamilton next developed into a place of con-
siderable population, and with increased wealth
and business it was early conceived that a bank
might have its centre there also. This bank was
called the Gore Bank,thedistrict in which Hamil-
ton was situated being named after the one-time
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. It con-
fined itself purely to the district of country tribu-
tary to Hamilton, never extended itself as others
had done over a wide field, but after a not very
456
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.'IvDIA.
Ik'.' :: ' ■
i
11;:?
chequered career finally merged its business into
that of one of our modern banking institutions —
the Canadian Bank of Commerce.
For many years, amidst much political turmoil
and even actual warfare, these banks pursued the
even tenor of their way. Failures were unknown.
Nobody dreamed of gambling in their stocks.
The banks had confidence, and deserved confi-
dence in one another. They gradually learned
lessons of experience as little mishaps befell them ;
but these mishaps were not of such a character
as to endanger their stability. The commerce of
the country was handled almost wholly in Mon-
trtal or Quebec. Canadian wholesale merchants
continued to be of solid and careful character.
Their enterprise was of a calculated and prudent
sort and the banks went on their way, granting
loans, discounting bills, making remittances of
money to England all in a regular, quiet and
methodical manner. But a great break in the
banking prosperity of Canada transpired at the
time when a change took place in the fiscal policy
of England, and protection (which was in Eng-
land the protection of the farmer and not the
manufacturer) gave way to free trade.
It was the manufacturers in England who
agitated for free trade, just as they do for pro-
tection here, so different are the circumstances
of the two countries. When this change took
place it had a disastrous effect upon the busi-
ness of Canada. A heavy fall took place in the
value of breadstuffs and timber. Enormous losses
were made by the holders of produce, by mil-
lers, by the merchants in Montreal, by the ship-
ping firms, by the ship-builders of Quebec, by
saw-millers, and by exporters of timber. So ter-
rible a cloud of disaster swept over the country
that it seemed as if national bankruptcy was im-
pending. Many cf the most important custom-
ers of the banks in all parts of the country were
compelled to succumb, and so serious were the
losses that every bank in the country, the Bank
of Montreal included, saw its reserve fund (not
much in those days) almost or entirely swept
away.
The year 1847 was indeed a dark year in Can-
ada, comnared with which the troubles of later
tunes are mere passing clouds. After a few years
had elapsed business, however, resumed its nor-
mal position, and the banks began to recover
their losses and to add to their reserves. When
the great railway policy was inaugurated in 185J
and large developments took place in conse-
quence, the business of the banks increased to
such a degree that the pr /its realized swelled to
large proportions for those days. The existing
banks increased their capital and new banking
projects were set on foot. Some of these proved
to be of an epiiemeral character, and after a few
years of chequered existence disappeared entirely.
The Zimmerman Bank of Clifton and the Colon-
ial and International Banks of Toronto were of
this character.
It is said, however, and it is very important
in view of what follows, that for many years pre-
viously the United States had been tormented
with numbjrs of wretched institutions, miscalled
banks, having the power of issuing currency,
which power they scandalously abused, and en-
tailed such enormous losses upon the community
that in the Western States men would require to
pay four or five dollars in the " wild cat " notes
of those regions for a glass of whiskey or a loaf
of bread. Canada has often been reproached
for its slowness as compared with the United
States — an accusation which will not " hold
water " when statistics are appealed to. But
there is one thing in which we were slow in those
early days — we were slow to encourage illegiti-
mate enterprise ; slow, too, to establish corpor-
ations and firms whose recklessness speedily led
them to ruin.
Canadians have been in the habit of seeing
their way before proceeding too far, and of be-
ing sure they were right before going ahead.
And, in the end, our methods of business landed
us much further on the way than the rash and
ill-considered methods by which progress was, .it
at any rate in those days, distinguished in the
United States. The years 1854, 1855 and
1856 were years of magnificent harvests, im-
mense railway expenditure, and universal and
widespread inflation of business and the value of
real estate. New banking projects were also set
on foot at that time — some under what was called
the Free Banking Act, introduced by Mr. Ham-
ilton Merritt, of St. Catharines, and by which
banks were allowed to be established under an
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
457
mi-
ll and
Llue of
Iso set
called
Ham-
I which
ier an
analogous system to that prevailing in the United
States. All issues were covered by Government
securities. The system, however, never took
root in Canada. The few corporations established
under it either gave up business or procured
charters to do business in the same manner as
the older Banks. The Molsons Bank, of Mon-
treal, was one of the latter. Other banks ob-
tained charters in the ordinary way, and some
which have now a prominent position had begin-
nings in these days, especially the Bank of To-
ronto, the Ontario Bank and La Banque Nationale,
all of which commenced business about the year
1856. Some years after this the Bank of Mon-
treal became dissatisfied with the results of busi-
ness in Upper Canada, and set on foot a policy
of rigid curtailment. It was possible, at that
time, to make immense profits by loaning money
in New York, and the Bank drew its capital from
the lesser to the more profitable places of employ-
ment. The business community of the Canadian
"West naturally became alarmed for the conse-
quences, and began to devise means for meeting
the new contingencies that had arisen. Out of
the conferences tnat were held at that time grew
the Canadian Bank of Commerce, which, having
commenced business in 1867, rapidly attained a
position of great importance, and in time took
the place of the Bank of Upper Canada as the
leading institution of the Province of Ontario. It
speedily occupied the whole field of the rapidly
growing community of Ontario, and extended
itself to Montreal, Chicago and New York, with
an agency of its own in England. This Bank
has always maintained the highest credit, and
has rendered great service to the commerce
and manufactures of our Western Province.
Not only so, but it has had the singular fortune
to be indirectly the parent of three other institu-
tions. The Dominion Bank, the Imperial Bank
and the Federal Bank were all founded in Toron-
to by men who had been either Directors or offi-
cers of the Bank of Commerce.
In a similar manner it may be said that La
Banque du Peuple was the parent of other institu-
tions in the City of Montreal — La Banque Jacques
Cartier, La Banque D'Hochelaga and La Banque
Ville Marie having all taken their rise from the
same financial circle. Of the banks of the Mari-
time Provinces, I may refer to the Bank of New
Brunswick, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Mer-
chants Bank of Halifax, and others, nearly all of
which have had a prosperous career and the
charters of which, in tlie main, were similar to
those of the banks in Ontario and Quebec.
The development of bank legislation in Can-
ada is an illustration of the fact that applies to
other legislation of a political character, viz. :
that nearly all the theories and questions that
have arisen in connection with banking anywhere
in the world, and especially with the issues of
currency, have been propounded, discussed and
wrought out to practical conclusions in Canada.
This is especially the case with that most difficult
subject, the power of issuing currency, and the
questions as to whom it should be vested in, with
what restrictions guarded, and what security
shall be required. These have been questions
discussed and re-discussed in England and on
the continent for nearly a hundred years back.
In the United States such discussions are not yet
closed, for no satisfactory solution of the great
problem connected with the issue of their cur-
rency has been as yet even propounded.
In Canada during the earlier years when bank
legislation was before the Legislatures of Upper
and Lower Canada, it is curious to notice how
the Colonial office interfered in the matter, and
how jealous the British Government was of the
Canadian Parliament assuming to legislate inde-
pendently thereupon. The English Treasury
Lords, through the Colonial Office, expressed
their views more than once, and those views
largely reflected the currency theories which were
prevalent in England forty years ago and were
embodied in Sir Robert Peel's legislation with
regard to the Bank of England. It is well known
that the Scotch banks and the country banks of
England strenuously opposed the application of
Sir Robert Peel's measures to themselves, as being
unsuited to the needs of agricultural communities,
and largely for the same reason opposition has
been developed in Canada to the same English
currency theories. These theories were attempted
to be put in practice in Canada in two directions,
the one policy being to require that all issues of
notes by any bank should be secured by deben-
tures of the Government ; the other that there
, 1
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should be no bank issues at all other than from a
Government Bank of Issue, which would nractic-
aily be a Department of the Government.
The banks of Canada from the beginning, how-
ever, have had the privilege of circulating their
own notes, and the only " bills," as they were called
in Canada, up to about thirty years ago, were the
notes issued by the banks. These bills, like all
other engagements of the Canadian banks, have
always been payable in gold or its equivalent, and
they are not only payable, but paid during every
day, in the course of the e.xchanges or demands
made by bankers upon one another. This process
is called " redemption," and redemption in gold,
in the judgment of all practical financiers, but
not of all theorizers, is the only efficient and
permanent check upon the over-issue of notes.
Nothing is easier than for notes to be issued, but
nothing is more difficult than to maintain con-
stant redemption. The latter is perhaps the
highest development of the modern science of
banking.
The function of the banker is to ascertain with
approximate accuracy what amount of bills is
likely to be presented for payment at any one
time. That the banks of Canada have mastered
this branch of their business is evident from the
fact that, compared with the hundreds of millions
of notes issued, those which have ultimately failed
of redemption are a mere faction of a fraction.
Even when banks have closed their doors, tem-
porarily or permanently, their bills have generally
maintained their value, or fallen only to a slight
discount until finally paid. The exceptions have
been insignificant. About thirty years ago, under
the auspices of Mr. A. T. Gait, then Finance
Minister, an attempt was made to substitute the
notes of the Government of Canada for those of
the banks. The matter was thorougly discussed
at the time by the press and in Parliament. The
views of bankers and merchants were freely
expressed upon it. Bankers, with one exception,
were opposed to the Government assuming this
function, and pointed out the dangers and diffi-
culties which might arise. Amongst otherthings,
they claimed :
I. That it was impossible to put an efficient
check upon over-issues by the Government, for,
with the Government, the law of necessity would
over-ride every other consideration, and, in a
time of pressure, issues might be emitted beyond
any requirement of law.
II. That such issues, if continued, would inevi-
tably depreciate the value of the bills. (At the
very time when this theory was propounded, the
notes issued by the Government of the United
States were far below par.) It was pointed out
that repeated experience had shown that there
was really no limit to this depreciation ; that every
Government circulation then circulating in the
world was at a discount ; that such currencies in
former days, though issued by Governments which
had proved perfectly stable in other respects, had
fallen to such a discount as to be absolutely worth-
less ; that the laws of finance were invariable, and
that what had happened before would inevitably,
when like circumstances arose, happen again.
III. That if the Government desired to borrow.it
should do so in the open markets of the world, and
on bonds and debentures maturing at fixed periods,
the date of which was known and provision for
which could be made without disturbance to the
monetary condition of the country.
IV. The broad ground was taken that, though
it was the undoubted function of a Government
to stamp coin and to give authority to issue, the
function of redemption could never be performed
successfully except by bankers. For the Govern-
ment as a borrower of money is in many respects
like a private individual. There is no charr.i about
the organization called a government to make it
abundantly safe under all circumstances. The
only thing that makes a Government loan safe, is
the care, prudence and foresight with which its
finances are managed,and the unflinching determi-
nation of the people to pay their debts under all
circumstances. This has always distinguished
Canada and is the foundation of the splendid
credit she enjoys. When these are absent a
government may fail (exactly as an individual may
fail) to meet its obligations altogether, as the
governments of several of the States of the Ameri-
can Union have done. Their creditors have no
possible recourse against them, for there is no
mode of cotnpelling a government to pay except
by going to war with it, a rather serious under-
taking for pr'vate bondholders, and, of course,
never attempted.
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These representations, along with the very prac-
tical one, that to abolish bank circulation would
necessitate an immense contraction of bank dis-
counts and bring about an intolerable disturbance
of commerce, prevailed to the extent that only a
partial issue was attempted. The Bank of Mont-
real, for a good consideration, agreed to circulate
Government bills instead of its own, and to manage
in its own offices the business of redemption.
After a few years, however, this bank resumed the
issue of its own notes as before.
On two occasions attempts have been made by
the Government to assimilate the circulation of
the Canadian Banks to that of the National
Banks of the United States, and compel the de-
positing of Government bonds as security. These
attempts met with serious resistance from the
majority of the banks, who contended : Fir^t,
that such form of security was not necessary in
Canada ; Second, that to compel all issues to be
covered by Government securities would necessi-
tate such an enormous contraction of mercan-
tile loans and discounts as would bring disaster
and ruin to every interest of the country ; Third,
that a system of free issues maintained at a
healthy level by daily redemption (under which
over-issues are impossible), expandirg easily when
crops required to be moved and ti.nber produced
from the iorest, and contracting just as naturally
when these processes were accomplished, is far
more suitable to a country like Canada than a
system by which ii.suts are fixed and cannot be
increased ; Fourth, and tinally, that however
suitable such a system might be when worked
in connection >\ith local banks, each a centre to
itself, it would prove utterly impracticable where
banks have numerous branches. This was proved
by experience when an analogous system was
tried on a small scale under the Free Banking
Act, once introduced by Mr. Hamilton Merritt,
of St. Catharines.
When pointed to the example of the United
States, it was rejoined, first, that in that country
the covering of notes by security had become the
only practicable remedy for the unbearable evils
of rotten issues. Second, that the National
Banking Act was a war measure, devised mainly
with reference to the stringent exigencies of war
times. Third, that it had drawbacks both in
times of expansion and contraction. These
drawbacks have been from time to time so ser-
iously felt that the necessity of a change has forced
itself on the attention of all American financial
authorities. Our Finance Ministers have always
listened courteously to the representations made
by deputations of bankers, and the Government
has certainly listened carefully to the voice of
public opinion manifesting itself through the press
and through the members of both Houses of
Parliament. The Canadian banks have, there-
fore, been left with their free circulation under
the simple proviso that they shall not issue any
notes of a lower denomination than five dollars.
There have, fortunately, been very few bank
failures in Canada compared with banking failures
in the United States during the last seventy
years. But it is well to dwell upon tliein for a
time, as they convey lessons which other banks
would find profit in taking heed to. Putting
aside the breakdown of a few small and ephem-
eral institutions, like the Farmers' Bank of Can-
ada, the first great failure which is to be chron-
icled in the country is that of the Bank of Upper
Canada. This failure was a somewhat typical
one, and it is well worthy of study. It arose
from several causes acting concurrently.
In the first place the Bank " locked up," as
it is called, a very large amount of money in
advances on land, mills, factories and ships, all
of which advances were contrary to sound banking
rules and principles. It incautiously got Us books
filled with advances of this description, and made
very heavy losses in consequence. There were
numbers of men in Western Canada m those
days engaged in enterprises for wliich they had
had no training. While of good family, well edu-
cated and honest, they lacked, as a rule, a faculty
for business. On money borrowed from the bank
they engaged in shopkeeping, milling, grain deal-
ing and a variety of other enterprises of which
they knew next to nothing. In every community
there are more or less of this class of persons, but
the Bank of Upper Canada got far more than its
share of them as customers. Their enterprises be-
coming unsuccessful, they could not pay their
debts. Their sureties proved equally unable to
fulfil their obligations, being generally liable for tea
times as much as they were worth. The
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/EUIA.
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ultimate loss, therefore, fell heavily on the Bank.
Then the Directors of the Bank were men who,
as a rule, knew little of the extended operations
of the country, either in commerce or manufac-
tures, although of high personal character and
considerable local knowledge. If the Bank had
had simply the business of Toronto to deal with
it would, in all probability, have gone on prosper-
ing to this day. But of a bnsiness spread all over
Canada its Directors had no efficient control. It
is said that on a particularly knotty question com-
ing up at a certain board meeting, one of the
Directors observed that " he knew how to sail a
ship, but about banking, he must confess he
knew ne,\t to nothing." Other Directors gave
remarkably shrewd attention to the smaller opera-
tions of the Bank, and the little matters were
sharply looked after. But this was a case, and
by no means an uncommon one, where small
matters received minute attention and were dealt
with on common-sense principles, whilst large
masses of money were risked with scarcely the
shadow of consideration, and, being loaned, were
left to take care of themselves. The Bank had
the Government account for many years, but was
utterly unable to handle it properly. On one
occasion the Bank, at the instance of Govern-
ment officials, but without having the Govern-
ment responsible for them, cashed two bills of
exchange for £100,000 sterling each, drawn by
the Grand Trunk Railway officials upon London,
which bills were returned dishonoured. It is no
wonder that the bank failed ; but its notes were
all paid in full, and so were its depositors. But a
large debt to the Government has never been dis-
charged.
Another great banking failure was that of the
Commercial Bank of Kingston ; this Bank too,
paid all its creditors in full. The Bank was
ruined mainly by one large account, which from
small beginnings grew to utterly unmanageable
proportions, and finally brought the institution to
a stand. The Bank had agreed to advance a
certain sum to the Great Western Railway Com-
pany when that company was helping to build a
line across the State of Michigan to connect
Detroit and Milwaukee. The loan ought never
to have been granted. It was small at first, and
its beginning was only for a month at a time.
But railway building is a terribly exacting busi-
ness. Money was wanted faster than the Great
Western Railway Company in England could
supply it. The Bank was asked to extend its
loans month after month. The account, therefore,
went on gradually mounting up and absorbing
more and more of the Bank's means. From
$50,000 it increased to $100,000, from $100,000
to $200,000, from $200,000 to $400,000. By
this time the Bank became uneasy, but they
were in so far that they dare not stop for fear of
losing the whole of what they had advanced.
They had no security whatever. The $400,000
became $800,000 and the $800,000 $1,200,000.
Then the Bank stopped advancing through force
of circumstances. But to their astonishment and
disgust they found that the Great Western Rail-
way Company, through its Board of Directors in
England, repudiated the loan altogether, and
alleged that the money was not lent to them*
but to another corporation, the Detroit and Mil-
waukee Railway Company. This was a terrible
development for the Directors and officials of the
Bank. But the Great Western Railway took their
stand upon it. A heavy lawsuit ensued, but the
Bank was utterly unable to prove that the money
really was lent to the Great Western, as the offi-
cials who signed the documents were officials of
both companies. A settlement was finally arrived
at involving an enormous loss. But their lawsuit
advertised the position of the Bank to such dis-
advantage that their depositors and shareholders
became alarmed and a drain set in which finally
compelled the Bank to close its doors. Its obliga-
tions were paid in full, and out of its capital of
$4,000,000 $1,350,000 was saved, the remnant of
the business being purchased by the Merchants
Bank, then a local institution in Montreal with
no branches.
There have been since that of the Commercial
Bank several other failures in Canada, not numer-
ous indeed, and almost all of them traceable to bad
and reckless management, and an entire neglect
of the first principles of banking. In Montreal
there were the Mechanics' Bank, the Metropolitan,
the E.xchange, the Consolidated Bank, and La
Banque du Peuple. The last was a melancholy
illustration of the fact that a bank may continue a
course of conservative and prudent management
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOl'/KDIA.
461
for more than half a century and be wrecked at
last, as other great banks and financial institutions
in lingiand have been, by a few years of what is
called enterprising management, but which ouglit
to be designated by the namesof folly and reckless-
ness. The Central Bank in Toronto closed its
career after a very short life and not a very credit-
able record. The Federal Bank after several vicis-
situdes also was compelled to close its doors and
wind up its business. Its creditors were all paid
in full, and the stock-holders recovered a portion of
their investment. The Maritime Bank of St-
John succuoibed to years of pushing and ambitious
enterprise — practically of recklessness and folly —
and the same may be said of the Commercial
Bank of Manitoba.
In closing this briefsketch, it should be remarked
that no banking system, however perfect in the
way of legislation and in internal economy, can
secure any corporation from the effects of bad
management. Banking is a business that has now
settled down upon established principles, which
principles can never be neglected without danger.
But this merit may, with perfect reason, be claimed
for that of Canada, vi2., that it is now perfectly
adapted to the wants and conditions of the coun-
try, and that the system of circulation acts almost
automatically in expansion and contraction,accord-
ing to the ebb and flow of business — yet with
this great merit that the bills issued under it pass
at par in all parts of a Dominion stretching across
the continent.
The early stages of the Canadian banking
system were marked by a curious imitation of
United States forms, combined with Scotch char-
acteristics in practice. The dependence of the
first settlers and, indeed, all classes, for a prolonged
period, upon American newspapers and sources of
intelligence was great, and naturally produced con-
siderable imitation in such examples of successful
financial operation as the first Bank of the United
States furnished during its career. This institu-
tion was in turn based upon some of the principles
controlling the Bank of England, and this brings
the matter back to first principles and to the fact
that our system in the end approximated closely
in many respects to the British basis, and not the
American. In 1792 an effort was made by an
English firm, Phyn, Ellis & Inglis, in conjunction
with two wealthy Canadian concerns, Todd,
McGill & Co., and Forsyth, Richardson & Co.,
to organize the Canada Banking Company as a
sort of national institution. The effort did not,
however, prove successful. Two years later
Lieutenant-Governor J. Graves Simcoe made an
effort to establish a paper currency in Upper Can-
ada of a unique but impossible character, not
unlike certain United States Populist proposals of
the present day. His Report to the Lords of
Trade on the subject is an interesting document,
and in the course of it he says incidentally that
" the necessity of a paper currency, where there is
not sufficient gold or silver, is most obvious ; but
the American Colonies having misused such a
medium of commerce, and converted what might
have been a general benefit into public injury,
by an Act of Parliament at present binding on the
Province of Upper Canada, no emission of this
kind can be legally made." In 1807, another
effort was made by individuals to found a bank,
and a public meeting of the inhabitants of Que-
bec City was called on March 6th of that year.
A similar meeting took place in Montreal, and
petitions were duly presented to the Legislature.
These were renewed in 1S08, and on the 22nd of
February the following petition was presented to
the House of A ssembly of Lower Canada :
" The commerce and agriculture of this Pro-
vince labour under many inconveniences and dis-
couragements from the quantity of specie in circu-
lation being greatly inadequate to its necessities
and increasing population ; from thence enter-
prise and industry languish, and the natural
advantages rising from a fertile soil, large and
navigable rivers, and most valuable and extensive
fisheries in the rivers, bays and Gulf of the St.
Lawrence, remain almost dormant and unim-
proved.
The petitioners therefore beg leave to represent
to the House that, in the present situation of the
Province, nothing could have so great and im-
mediate a tendency to advance the commerce. agri-
culture, wealth and prosperity of the Province as
the establishment of a bank. Time and experi-
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CANADA : AN KNCYCI.OIVKUIA.
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once have incontestably proved the utility iiiid
security of banks. They have been a safe and
convenient substitute for gold and silver, and
have increased the industry and wealth of every
country in which they have been established.
The petitioners therefore most hunibly pray
that they may be incorporated into a body politic,
by the name of The l^ank of Canada, to be estab-
lished in the cities of yuebec and Montreal, with
all the privilef,'es and immunities usually granteil
to such corporations, and subject to such limita-
tions and restrictions as the House in its wisdom
may think best."
Mr. Shortt, of Queen's University, Kingston, in
his "Early History of Canadian Banking," gives
the following extract from the Report of the Com-
mittee ajipointed by the House to examine and
deal with the subject :
"To prove the allegations of the petitions, a
member informed the Committee that the balance
of trade between this Province and the United
States by inland navigation, being greatly against
us, a constant drain of specie from this country
was thereby occasioned, which can be replaced
only by irnjiortations thereof from Great Britain,
or by seiuling down sterling bills to the States
and bringing back their proceeds in gold and
silver coin. That the fornier has not yet been
resorted to, excepting by Government, and is not
likely to be attempted by individuals, and the
latter (bringing money from the States) is
attended with considerable loss, expense and
great risk.
That specie is very sensibly decreasing in this
Province, and some safe substitute would be
greatly desirable and tend to facilitate the trade
of the Province, particularly the export trade,
which is often cramped by the heavy loss on bills
of exchange, consequent upon the disproportion
between the amount of them for sale and the cir-
culating coin. He, therefore, was of opinion that
the institution of a bunk would have a tendency
to remove, at least in part, the inconvenience at
present felt from the scarcity of tlie circulating
medium, and be otherwise beneficial to the Pro-
vince. That such institutions have been useful in
other countries, and though there might be diffi-
culties here to encounter in a matter so new to
the bulk of the inhabitants, yet that he thought it
would finally surmount these difficulties, and at
all events it merited fair trial."
Nothing definite was done, however. A similar
agitation commenced in the Upper Province at
Kingston in 18 10, and a lengthy discussion en-
sued. But the war of i8ij; the issue of Army
Bills, and a consequent abundant though tempor-
ary currency; together with the destruction of the
Bank of the United States by its anti-British
enemies; postponed further Government or private
initiative for some years. On February 8th, 1815,
Mr. Austin Ciivilier introduced a resolution in
the Lower Canada Assembly asking for the estab-
lishment of a bank. In the following year he
presented sundry petitions to the same end, and
the matter was referred to a Committee, which
made an interesting Report on February 8th,
1816. The majority of opinions expressed were
favourable, and a Bill was promptly presented by
Mr. Cuvilier and would have been carried but
for the unexpected dissolution of the House for
reasons unconnected with this matter. A sudden
prorogation in the following Session prevented
the measure once mora from passing.
In 1817, however, the second Bank of the
United States was organized, and the Bank of
Montreal, the Quebec Bank and the Bank of
Canada came into existence in British America
shortly afterwards — the first named being mod-
elled in some respects after the American insti-
tutions. They were not chartered until 1822.
Meanwhile the merchants and others in King-
ston, Upper Canada, had drawn up a petition
to their Legislature in the following words, and
dated January 20th, 1817 :
"To the Honourable House of Assembly of
the Province of Upper Canada in Provincial
Parliament assembled. The Memorial of the
merchants and others of the Town of Kingston
respectfully showeth : That your Memorialists
having taken into consideration the great utility
and advantage of banks to a commercial people,
which has been evinced by the number which
have been established in England and in the
United States of America since the Revolutionary
War ; and feeling the benefit which the latter
derive from the ready aid afforded by their
banks to carry on their establishments and im-
provements in their western territory, which,
although of a much more recent date, is in a
more flourishing state than any part of this Prov-
ince, are of opinion that if found so beneficial in
those countries, they cannot fail of tending to the
pros[)erity of this Province. The want of such
■111'
CANADA: AN KNCVCLOI'.KDIA,
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ople,
hich
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)nary
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im-
hioh,
ill a
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ial in
o the
such
nn establishment was severely felt before the
War, and there is hanliy any doubt but that the
same inconvenience will very shortly occur,
whereas a well-regulated bank would ol)viate all
these difficulties by keepiuj^ up a circulating paper
to meet every public demand. Your Memorialists
therefore pray that Your Honourable House will
be pleased to pass an Act for their incorporation,
and authorizing theni to establish a bank, to be
called " The Hank of Upper Canada," having a
capital of 3^100,000, divided into 8,000 shares of
$50 each share. And your Memorialists as in
duty bound, will ever pray."
This was signed by Thomas Markiand and a
number of others. An Act was passed by the
Legislature upon these lines, but did not become
law at this time. During the succeeding year, as
Mr. Shortt points out in his valuable series of
pamphlets, the Bank of Montreal opened a branch
in Kingston and also the Bank of Canada. In
1819 the Bank of Upper Canada was established
as a private institution, with Benjamin Whitney
as President and Smith Bartlett as Cashier.
Various complications ensued regarding charters
and in connection with the attempted establish-
ment of the Bank of Kingston. On April 5th,
1821, the Upper Canada Assembly passed the
following motion :
" I. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this
House that the establishment of a Provincial
Bank, under proper restrictions, would be bene-
ficial to the country, by remedying the great want
of specie, by securing to ourselves whatever ad-
vantages are to be derived from the issue of a
paper currency, and by establishing a circulating
medium of known security, instead of the paper
of private banks, uncontrolled by any charter or
Legislative provision, and, which, from being
rejected by the Public Receivers, does not answer
effectually all the purposes of trade.
2. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this
House that a Bill should be brought in for estab-
lishing a Provincial Bank by the incorporation of
such persons as shall become stockholders under
the provisions of the Act; the system to be as
similar as circumstances will permit to that con-
tained in the Bill formerly passed for establishing
a bank at Kingston, except that to insure its go-
ing into operation, the amount of stock and de-
posit, and consequently of paper to be issued,
should be reduced."
Owing to a delay in connection with the grant-
ing of tlic Roj-al assent, the charter was not imme-
diately oljtained, and liually, insti.'ad of coming into
the hands of the Kingston merchants and private
Company, was captured by a number of Conser-
vative leaders in York, or Toronto as it afterwards
became. With the help of the Government they
raised enough money to start business in 1823 at
York, with the following significant list of Direc-
tors : Hon. William Allan, Hon. Joseph Wells,
Dr. Straclian, Thomas Ridoat, Hon. C. Widmer,
Hon. John McGill, Hon. James Crooks, Hon J. H.
Dunn, Hon. H. J. Boulton, Hon, James Baby,
George Munro, George Ridout, Hon. George
Crookshanks and the Hon D. Cameron. A pecu-
liar rivalry and conflict followed between the bank-
ing interests of the eastern and western ends of the
Province which terminated in the failure of the
private Bank of Upper Canada at Kingston, the
establishment of the York institution as practi-
cally a Government concern, and the formation, in
1832, of the Commercial Bank of the Midland
District with headquarters at Kingston.
Mr. R. M. Breckenridgre, an American writer
upon economics, has written a fairly complete
and elaborate history of the Canadian liank-
ing System. It was published in 1895, under the
auspices of the American Economic Association
and the Canadian Bankers'Association,and tothis
volume any condensation of historical facts con-
nected with this important department ofCanadian
development must be greatly indebted. The first
banks in Canada were the Bank of Montreal, the
Quebec Bank, and the Bank of Canada. They
were incorporated in 1822, and Mr. Breckenridge
speaks of the laxity of their charters, and
states that : " The shareholders were liable
only for the amount of their subscriptions
to the stock. There was no limit to the note
issue other than the provision restricting the
aggregate of debts. There was no process
whereby to establish the payment in specie of the
capital stock. There was nothing to prohibit
loans upon the security of the bank's stock, or to
prevent the capital once paid in from being loaned
out bodily to tlie directors. The publication of
frequent and periodical statements of the condi-
tion of the banks was not required, nor, except ia
464
CANADA : AN P:NCYCL0P.KDIA.
■m
^4 !:
the case of loans to a foreign State, did the char-
tors enforce by any penalty the prohibitions and
restrictions th.it were laid down."
In their general systems and functions as well as
iti the simplicity of the law rcfjulating their opera-
tion, tlie first Canadian banks resembled the char-
tered banks of Scotland, and the first Bank of the
United States. This was partly due to Cana-
dian respect for British precedents in mat-
ters as yet untreated in her own law, partly to the
number of Scotchmen interested in these early
banks, and partly to the success of the great
American institution mentioned. It is stated
that amongst the one hundred and forty char-
ter members of the Bank of Montreal there
were at least ninety Scotch names, and of the
eighty-nine incorporated as the Quebec Bank,
no less than thirty were Scotch. The Bank
of Canada did not live very long. While not
defaulting in any of its obligations, it seems to
have been badly managed and to have gradually
lost popular confidence. By 1830 its capital stock
had dwindled from £92,825 in 1824, to 3^3,555,
and in the succeeding year its charter expired
and business was discontinued.
The Bank of Upper Canada had a somewhat
stormy history. In the political struggles of the
time it cast its lot in with the Government
and the " Family Compact." It had the
custody of the moneys of the Provincial
Treasury and was the depository of the Wel-
land Canal Company. It was accused of de-
viding its patronage according to the parti-
san activity, rather than the business ability, of
candidates for position, and of discriminating
when it granted credit in favour of the dominant
party. There is reason to believe that, though
preferred by a partis;. n Committee, these charges
contained some measure of truth. The share-
holders of the Bank were, to a great extent, mem-
bers of the Conservative party and the Bank nat-
urally, therefore, had some influence upon legisla-
tion, and especially in the Legislative Council.
But the Bank did good service in the development
of the country and the management of business
interests in the days when technical knowledge
was scarce in the community and financial legis-
lation more or less crude — dangerous also if it had
not been for the careful control and supervision of
the Imperial authorities.
Mr. Breckenridge points out with truth that in
the early days of the Province the Bank of Upper
Canada was the Provincial Bank. It gave assist-
ance " comparatively enormous to the develop-
ment and commerce of the country." Land was
then the single valuable security possessed by its
customers in any quantity, and it was therefore
necessarily more or less a land bank in disguised
form, although in their ostensible character the
greater number of its transactions were doubtless
legally permissible. But he also states its defi-
ciencies : " Its managers and clerks were often
British immigrants who lacked the intimate know-
ledge of Canadians and Canadian trade that life-
long familiarity would have given. In many
instances, too, they failed to exhibit acquaintance
with the simplest of banking principles. Dis-
counts were freely extended to lawyers and legis-
lators, the gentry and professions. ' Accommoda-
tion ' paper was common. Loans were made to
civil servants and to politicians. No one will
deny that the Bank was guilty of much bad prac-
tice, that it paid high rates of dividend which it
could ill afford, that it failed to write off accrued
losses, that it impaired its capital by extravagant
bonuses, that its internal organization was defec-
tive, and that its management was often blind,
reckless and ignorant."
Still the Bank survived for many years. It
was invested with the dignity, and it enjoyed the
prestige, of a Government institution. Its credit
was always high, its " green notes " were held in
great esteem. " Quantities of notes issued twenty
years before, and as bright as they came from the
press, were found in due time stored away, like
gold itself, in the chests of Canadian farmers.
For them the Bank was as the Bank of England."
A position iu its service was a post of honour and
consequence. Its name was a synonym of
strength in popular esteem. The confidence of
the public was re-inforced by their gratitude.
The Bank was indeed the instrument of men of
broad ideas and large purposes — ambitious, enter-
prising, hopeful pioneers. The good they did
lived after them in a national sense, and the
errors of their management were injuries of a kind
that can hardly be termed permanent.
CANADA ; AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
465
It
d the
credit
leld in
wenty
in the
hke
iners.
and."
ur and
m of
nee of
titude.
nen of
enter-
;y did
id the
a kind
Up to 1M57 the Bank of Upper Canada had
grown steadily. Diviileiids of 6, 7, 7, 8, 8 and 7
per cent, were paid in 1852-57. The capital was
increased in 1855, and a 12J per cent, bonus paid
to the old sharcl'ilders. In 1858 the capital paid
in amounted to $5,118,000. The dividend that
year was 8 per cent., ami the Rest was reduced
only $40,000, to meet the losses of the panic
period of 1857. Tor a bank which had worked
in the midst of the land speculation, had un-
doubtedly joined in it, and lost heavily when
property taken as additional security fell to the
lower values ; this, as Mr. Hreckenridge states,
was utterly inadequate. Their mistake was
recognized by the Directors in 1861. Thomas
G. Kidout, who had been Cashier since 1822,
retired, and Mr. Robert Cassels, a banker of
reputation and ability, was employed at a salary
of $10,000 per annum, in the hope that he would
succeed in saving the institution. In compliance
with his suggestions, permission was obtained
from the Legislature to reduce the paid-up stock
to something over $1,900,000, and the par value
of the paid-up-shares from $50 to $jo {25 Vic.
cap. 63). For twelve years or more the Hank
had kept the Government account, and during
this time it was usually a considerable debtor to
the Treasury. But the debt to the Government
was now fixed by an Order-in-Council of the 12th
August, 1863, at $1,150,000, and transferred to a
special account. Some slight general deposits
were allowed to remain, but most of the Treasury
balances were, by November in that year, trans-
ferred to the Bank of Montreal, which became
the Government institution.
The deep-rooted belief in the Bank entertained
by the public still, however, remained strong ; but
after i860 the monthly returns give unmistakable
signs of retrogression on the part of the Bank
itself. The general business had fallen off heavily
as the old towns in which its branches were estab-
lished lost their business to the centres growing
up in the new industrial districts and along altered
routes of trade. Another cause is to be found
in the efforts of the new management to get
affairs down to a solid basis. The circulation
which averaged over $2,100,000 between 1857
and i860, fell in February, 1862, to $1,696,000,
and in August, 1865, to $988,000. Non-interest-
bearing deposits dropped from $1,920,000 in
February, 1862, to $640,000 in August, 1865;
deposits at interest from $2,644,000 to $1,959,-
000; discounts from $6,186,000 to $3,231,000;
but the landed or other property of the Bank
rose from $503,000 to $1,473,000. In this last
item is found the prime cause of the trouble — the
collapse of 1857-58, in the real estate of Canada
West. Niitlier in 1864 nor in 1865 were any
dividends paid. The task of saving the bank had
become by that time clearly impossible ; some of
the assets were worthless ; some locked up in
land. By an Act approved the 15th August,
1866, permission was granted further to reduce
the capital to $1,000,000 in fully paid-up shares
of $20 each. Before this could be acted upon,
the Bank was further weakened by the withdrawal
of deposits, and its stock fell to $3,00 per share. A
loan of $100,000 obtained from the Government
on special securities in the first fortnight of Sep-
tember was of slight avail, and on the i8th of the
month the Bank of Upper Canada stopped pay-
ment.
The writer already quoted calculates that the
Canadian creditors of the Bank of Upper Can-
ada lost at least $310,000 by the failure. " Tho
stockholders lost the whole of a capital which
was once $3,170,000 ; the Government, and
through it the taxpayers, lost all but $150,000 of
deposits amounting to over $1,150,000. For
proprietors and creditors combined the result of
the failure was the disappearance of a principal
which cannot be reckoned at less than five mil-
lions of dollars, a sum equal to 17 per cent, of
the entire banking capital of the Provi.ice. Such
a loss to the Canada of those days, and to Canada
West, where the larger amounts were involved,
was not merely severe ; it was enormous."
Political banking: was not by any means
confined to one institution in the early dajs of
Upper Canada. In 1833, according to Mr.
Breckenridge, a private bank was started by two
partners and taken over by a group of Reformers,
and organized under a deed of settlement as the
Farmers' Joint Banking Company. They began
business with a paid-in capital which nevei rose
above ;f 50,000. But as the President and Solicitor
were both elected from the dominant party, the
i
•'j
,1^'
S:
466
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
■i'f
disappointed Reformers left the Bank, and in
December, 1835, started a similar company called
the Hank of the People. Twelve months after this
institution opened its doors with a paid-in capital
of 3^13,000, the Niafijara Suspension Bridge Bank
was established by a party of Americans.
Though it kept agencies in Chippawa and in
Lockport, New Yoi U, its capital was even less.
Meanwhile, Captain George Truscott, K.N., and a
Mr. J. C. Green, an cx-commissariat oiTicer, the
former propietors of the Farmers' Bank, started a
weak-kneed concern under the name of Uie Agri-
cultural Bank.
But it was not long before the Act of 1857
(7 William 1\'., cap. 13) laid down the principle,
which has since obtained in Canada, tliat it is
" inconsistent with a due regard to the protection
of commerce and the welfare and security of the
people, that any person or number of persons,
some of whom may be of doubtful solvency,
should be allowed, without legislative authority,
to issue their promissory notes for circulation as
money." A summary stop was put to the increase
of such banks by making an unauthorized note
issue a misdemeanour after the ist of July, and
contracts concerning the notes null and void.
Exceptions were granted in favour of the four
private banks just mentioned and the Bank of
British N(!rth .\merica. It is hardly necessary to
say that these pr.vate; institutions had but a brief
and struggling existence.
American influence upon Canadian public
opinion was shown in early banking developments
and ge.ierally with a disastrous result.
The suspension of specie payments by the banks
of the United States in May, 1837, considerably
affected all the Canadian institutions. The more
active and pressing demand for specie in the
markets of the United States immediately caused
a heavy drain of specie from vaeir vaults. Ster-
ling exchange lose to a figure at which anything but
the exptjrt of specie would have been ruinous to
the remitter. According to Mr. Bieckenridge, the
reserves could not be augmented by imports in
time to meet the extraordinary proportion of
demand claims that were presented for payment.
It seemed necessary to do something to save what
gold they still had, and to prevent the contrac-
tion of circulation and discounts which, though
essential to the ;.iaintenaiite of specie payments,
would have been disastrous in the involved con-
dition of the commercial community. The
Lower Canadian banks therefore suspended
specie payments on the i8th of May, 1837.
The Legislature of Upper Canada met in ex-
traordinary session on the 19th of June following,
to consider the financial and commercial difficul-
ties which menaced the Province. The Lieuten-
ant-Governor, Sir Francis Bond Hoail, opened
the session by an eloquent speech, in which, quite
Sir Francis Bond Head.
naturally, he discussed the drain of specie suffered
by the banks, and their, as yet, undoubted sol-
vency. Sir Francis himself opposed a suspension
of specie payments while the coffers of the banks
were still full of coin ; first, as impolitic, imperil-
ling the confidence of the British public whose
wealth the Colony needed ; and secondly, as dis-
honourable, involving breach of faith with the
public creditors. He put the alternatives squarely
—fraud or honour, suspension with full or with
empty specie chests, and then urged the legisla-
m
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
467
tors, " like Britons, to be true and just in all their
dealings."
He spoke in vain. The Assembly passed a
Bill authorising the banks forthwith to suspend
specie payments. As amended in important
details by the Legislative Council, and finally
approved on the nth of July, the measure applied
only to the chartered banks and the four private
institutions. Provided the authority to suspend
was first obtained from the Governor-in-Council,
the banks were relieved from the legal incapacity
to carry on banking operations when not redeem-
ing notes in specie. The Lieutenant-Governor
might impose conditions supplementary to the
Act and call for returns. Actions brought against
banks, unless to liquidate claims or otherwise to
further justice, were suspended during the terms
of the suspension of payments. Courts before
which actions should be brought might stay pro-
ceedings on the application of the defendants and
hearing of the parties. Suspension was to be
optional, not compulsory, upon the banks. The
expiry of the law was fixed for the end of the then
next session of Parliament. During this period
no suspended bank was to issue notes in excess of
paid-in-capital stock, or to dispose of its specie
otherwise than in paying fractional parts of a
dollar, or in redeeming dollar notes.
The Commercial Bank of the Midland District
was the chartered bank which first availed itself
of the Act. Its suspension was authorized on
the 2<jth of September, 1837. The Lieutenant-
Governor imposed, with his permission, the
condition that notes of a suspended bank should
not be used in Government transactions. By
this means the large military outlay, soon to occur,
was prevented from being an instrument for the
inflation of an inconvertible currency. The Agri-
cultural Bank practically suspended, and in
November, 1837, failed utterly, while its partners
decamped, having left behind them about jf 20,000
of notes utterly unprovided for, and claims of
depositors for over ;fi8,ooo, against »vhich but
;f 7,000 of commercial paper could be found. The
Farmers' Bank suspended for only two months at
the close of 1837 ; the Bank of the People not
at all in that year.
The Bank of Upper Canada much desired to
suspend, and the cashier, Thomas G. Ridout,
rather pressed its wishes upon the Lieutenant-
Governor. Wearied and impatient, Sir Francis
is said to have summarily closed the discussion
by exclaiming, " Sir, the principle of monarchy is
honour. The Bank of Upper Canada is the
Government Bank. To maintain its honour the
Bank must redeem in specie." And until the
fifth of March, 1838, it continued so to redeem in
spite of the reduction of circulation from ;f 212,000
in May to ;f8o,ooo in December. The Gore Bank
stood with the Government institution. Finally
all the banks had to suspend, partly because of the
financial situation in the United States, and partly
from the effects of the local Rebellion and the
loss of Canadian credit in Britain. lu Upper
Canada they resumed payments on the ist of June,
1839, and in Lower Canada on the ist of Novem-
ber. On or about the first of July, 1841, and at
the commencement of the period of Union between
the two Provinces and of more defined banking
legislation, the condition of the existing institu-
tions was as follows :
Banks. Cipilal. ^[[^nj'' gptdi. fepoJits. DiMountfc
Bankofli. N. Am. £ £ £ £ £
erica 6<}o,3oo 50,56^ 45182S 184,809 575,752
Montreal Uank... 5oo,o<X) 227,048 125,175 234,686 936,553
People's, Toronto. . 50,0a.)
City Bank 200000 108,572 20,378 50.700 340,391
Kanque du Peuple. 115,759 58,211 8,170 25,300 183,378
Commercial Hank
of Midland His.
irict 200,000 205,429 82,890 98,671 461,615
Bank o( UpperCin-
ada 200,0 ) 142,849 55,125 144,093 406,927
Farmers' Bank . . . 45,122 14,350 7,867 3,079 54,281
Gore Bank ioo,ooo 77,177 26,385 14.481 165,236
Qiieliec Bank 75,000 37,787 15,069 55,219 145,362
Total . . 2,176,181 921,987 386,887 811,188 3,269,495
Meanwhile the Imperial Governmbiit became
alarmed at the financial vagaries which seemed
to be finding some measure of popular favour
in Upper Canada ; and in a despatch dated the
31st August, 1836, Lord Glenelg, His Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for the Coloi:ies,
radically altered the manner in which the Acts
passed by the Legislature of tiiat Province, with
respect to banking and currency, could acquire
statutory force. The Lieutenant-Governor was
instructed not to permit any Act, ordinance or
regulation touching the circulation of promissory
notes, or the local legal tender, to come into oper-
■■k h
i ::
M
468
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
If'
l'^
;t ■
t',4' .,
ation in the Colony without having first received
the Royal sanction, conveyed to him by the Secre-
tary of State.
Events soon proved that Lord Glenelg's instruc-
tionswere well advised. During the session of 1836-
3j the banking mania in the United States seems
to have thoroughly infected the Legislature and
the Province. Bills were passed to increase the
aggregate capital of the chartered banks in Upper
Canada, with its 400,000 people, from ^f 500,000 to
5f4,5oo,ooo,andtoconfera power of issuingnotesto
the extent of £13,500,000. Nine new banks were
ji part of the scheme, another feature of which
was to make the Province a large shareholder in
the Bank of Upper Canada. The effect of the
latter scheme would have been to render the
Bank one of the chief departments of the local
Administration. According to instructions, the
Lieutenant-Governor reserved the Bills and
sent them on to London. There, says Mr.
Breckenridge, they met the scathing criticism
I hey deserved.
The Imperial authorities suspended their de-
cision for the time being and referred all the Acts
liack to the Colonial Legislature for more sober
< onsideration. Before that body again met in
regular session, events had somewhat calmed the
lianking excitement, and not a single one of the
reserved Bills was re-enacted. In December,
1837, a second series of rules, drawn up by the
Imperial Committee for Trade, and recommend-
<;d by great experience and much careful reflec-
tion, were forwarded by Lord Glenelg, with the
advice that they should be adopted by the local
Legislature for its own guidance, and as terms to
be insisted upon in all charters for the incorpor-
ation of banking companies. On May 4th, 1840,
a series of regulations were issued under the
signature of Lord John Russell, which were after-
wards largely incorporated in Colonial bank char-
ters and form the basis upon which the Canadian
banking laws have since developed.
The only British North American document in
which this important Circular is now to be found
is the "Journal of the New Brunswick House
of Assembly " in 1841. In this latter year the
Legislative Assembly of the Canadas appointed a
Select Committee on Banking and Currency
which finally made the following recommenda-
tions — based largely upon the suggested regula-
tions of Lord J. Russell :
" 1st. The amount of capital of the company
to be fixed ; and the whole of such fixed amount
to be subscribed for within a limited period, not
greater than eighteen months from the date of
the charter or the Act of incorporation.
2nd. The bank not to commence business until
the whole of the capital is subscribed, and a
moiety at least of the subscription paid up.
3rd. The amount of the capital to be paid
up within a given time from the date of the char-
ter or Act of incorporation, such period, unless
under particular circumstances, to be not more
than two years.
4th. The debts and engagements of the com-
pany, on promissory notes or otherwise, not to
exceed at any time thrice the amount of the paid-
up capital, with the addition of the amount of
such deposits as may be made with the company's
establishment by individuals, in specie or Govern-
ment paper.
5th. All promissory notes of the company,
whether issueil from the principal establishment
or from the branch banks, to bear date at the
place of issue, and to be payable on demand in
specie at the place of date.
6th. Suspension of specie payments on demand
at any of the company's establishments, for a
given number of days (not in any case exceeding
sixty) within any one year, either consecutively
or at intervals, to forfeit the charter.
7th. The company shall not hold shares in its
own stock, nor make advances on its own shares.
8th. The company shall not advance money on
security of lands, or houses, or ships, or on pledge
of merchandise, nor hold lands nor houses, except
for the transactions of its business ; nor own
ships, nor be engaged in trade except as dealers in
bullion or bills of exchange ; but shall confine its
transactions to discounting commercial paper and
negotiable securities, and other legitimate bank-
ing business.
gth. The dividends of the shareholders are to
be made out of profits only, and not out of the
capital of the company.
10th. The company to make and publish per-
iodical statements of its assets and liabilities
(half-yearly or yearly) showing under heads
SBE
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
469
specified in the annexed form the average of the
amount of notes in circulation and other liabili-
ties at the termination of each week or month,
during the period to which the statement refers,
and the average amount of specie or other assets
that were available to meet the same. Copies of
these statements are to be submitted to the
Provincial Government, and the company shall
be prepared, if called upon, to verify such
statements by the production, as confidential
documents, of the weekly or monthly balance
sheets from which the same are compiled. And
also to be prepared, upon requisition from the
Lords Commissioners ofher Majesty's Treasury, to
furnish in like manner such further information
respecting the state or proceedings of its banking
establishment as their Lordships may see fit to
call for.
nth. No by-lawof the company shall be repug-
nant to the conditions of the charter or Act of
incorporation or the statutes of the Province.
I2th. The provisions of charters or Acts of
incorporation should be confined as far as practic-
able to the special powers a^d privileges to be
conferred on the company, and the conditions to
be observed by the company, and to such general
regulations relating to the nomination and power
of the directors, the institution of by-laws, or
other proceedings of the company^ as may be
necessary with a view to public convenience and
security."
All through the history of Canadian banking
the wise and conservative influence of British pre-
cedent and the often misrepresented control of
Downing Street is to be traced, and it does not
seem too much to assert that the present com-
pleteness and usefulness of the system is mainly
due to the Scotch caution of the early bankers in
Lower Canada, and the wisely used power of the
Imperial authorities in all the Provinces.
The Banks in Nova Scotia were neither as
numerous nor as old as those of New Brunswick,
despite the fact that a bank at Halifax had been
proposed in 1801, and jf 50,000 of the capital sub-
scribed. But it was suggested in this connection
that no other bank should be established by any
future law of the Province during the continuation
of the corporation named, and this monopoly
feature was probably fatal to the success of the
organization. Another project for a joint stock
bank was published by the Halifax Committee of
Trade in February, 181 1, but no action was taken
in the matter by the Assembly. In 1825, however,
a private bank of issue, discount and deposit was
started in Halifax, the advertisement of opening
upon the 3rd of September being signed by
eight partners. This was the Halifax Banking
Company, which in 1872 was sold out to the later
chartered bank of the same name.
The Bank of Nova Scotia, the first chartered
bank in the Province, was incorporated by an Act
approved on the 30th of March, 1832. Its autho-
rized stock was £100,000 in 2,000 shares of £50
each, liusiness might begin when £50,000 was
subscribed and paid up in specie or Treasury
notes. Land might be owned in fee simple to
the value of £5,000. But loaning upon the bank's
own stook, or upon mortgages or real estate, was
prohibited. Mr. Breckenridge thus describes the
institution :
" The structure of the corporation, its powers,
and the restrictions upon it, were of the same
general type as with the banks of the other Pro- -
vinces. There is no need to describe in complete "
detail legislation so like that already familiar. "
But in (i) the stipulations for payment of capital,
(2) the double liability of shareholders, (3) the
minimum placed upon the denomination of bank
notes issued, (4) the penalty for suspending specie
payments, and in (5) the provision for winding up
the bank in case the stock were badly impaired ;
the charter is distinctly in advance of any pre-
viously passed by other British North American
Provinces, and in force in 1832. In the first three
of these peculiar restrictions, the reader will
unquestionably detect the influence of the sugges-
tions made by the Committee of the Privy Council
for Trade in 1830."
One reason for these improvements was the
competition of the Bank of British North Amer-
ica, which began business in Nova Scotia in 1837
and secured the right to sue and be sued in the
name of a local officer in 1838. Then there was
the statute of 1834, which prohibited the issue of
bank notes for sums less than £5, and thus closed
to the banks the profitable and important business
of circulating the one and two pound notes neces-
sary for retail exchanges.
After a prolonged struggle with various difficul-
.<■ *
>•.
m
mn
•Mi :
470
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.-i: DIA.
I' ' 1
i
11
B,-i-
ties, the charter of the Bank of Nova Scotia was
continued in 1847 for ten years. The form of
semi-annual returns to the Government recom-
mended by the Lords of the Treasury was adopt-
ed, and the penalty of charter forfeiture imposed
for note issue in excess of the statutory limit
(thrice the capital stock paid up). The charter
was again extended in 185 3 for a period of fifteen
years, and permission also granted to increase
the capital stock to £400,000. By another Act of
the same session, the Legislature incorporated the
Union Bank of Halifax. A few years later the
Bank of Yarmouth was chartered; then the
People's Bank of Halifax, the Mutual Bank of
Nova Scotia, and the Commercial Bank of
Windsor :
"The banking history of Nova Scotia, there-
fore, is not eventful. The private banks carried
on all branches of banking, including note issue,
in competition with tlie chartered banks. Their
proprietors were men of wealth ; they enjoyed
the confidence of the community ; and conducted
their business according to recognized banking
principles. The currency law, with its penalty
for suspending specie payment, sufficed to keep
the note circulation secure and within proper
bounds. Down to 1873 a bank had never failed
in the Province of Nova Scotia, nor had the
finger of suspicion been pointed at any of them,
either chartered or private. When the Province
joined the Confederation five banks were acting
under local charters, viz., the Bank of Nova
Scotia, Bank of Yarmouth, People's Bank of Hali-
fax, Union Bank of Halifax, Merchants' Bank of
Halifax, and Exchange Bank of Yarmouth, while
the charter of the Commercial Bank of Windsor
was still available."
The Monetary Institutions of Upper and
T .ower Canada, as they appeared after the financial
troubles of 1857-8, were dealt with at length in
an elaborate and careful contribution to the Can-
adian Almanac of 1859. From this statement it
appears that there were then in Canada fourteen
chartered banks, whose united paid-up capital
was $24,050,576, and two free banks with a capi-
tal of $240,000, making a total of $24,290,576.
Of these banks, seven had their headquarters in
Upper Canada, six in Lower Canada, and one in
London. The capital of these institutions were
as follows :
Upper Canada Banks $ 8,617,705
Lower Canada Banks 10,284,038
Bank of B.N. America 5-388,8j3
$24,290,576
The first bank established in Canada was, of
course, the Bank of Montreal, which went into
operation in 1817 with a paid-up capital of £87,-
500, which had now risen to $5,928,820, or nearly
;f 1,500,000 currency. The order and position of
the Canadian Banks then existing is shown in the
following table :
Name. Eilablhhed. Capilal. Capital, iSsg.
Bunk of MDiilreal 1817 0350,000 85,928,820
(Jiicl)cc Hank 1818 300,000 934760
Hank of I'ppor Gmaihi 18^3 41,364 3,126,250
Commercial Hank 1832 400,000 4,000 000
City Hank, Montri.al 1833 200,000 1,196,448
Hank of Hritish North America.. . iSj6 5.3'*8,833
Clore Hank, Hamilton 1836 400,000 800 000
Hamjue (111 Peupic 1845 453948 1,087,610
Xiajjara District Hank 1854 200,000 934 760
Hank of the Counly of Kl^in 1856 100,000 109000
Hank of Toronto 1856 109,700 509,170
Provincial Hank 1856 100 000 140,000
Ontario Hank 1857 154,880 418,551
International Hank 185S 100,000 100,000
Colonial Har.k 1859 112,000 112 000
3,021,892 824,786,202
Besides the head offices, these Banks had
thirty-eight branches and fifty-four agencies;
seventy-eight of which were in Upper Canada,
twelve in Lower Canada, and two in the Lower
Provinces. Of these the Bank of Montreal had
twelve branches and eleven agencies, that of
British North America nine branches and twenty-
two agencies, that of Upper Canada eight
branches and fifteen agencies, and the Commer-
cial Bank eight branches and fourteen agencies.
By a clause in the Act of Incorporation of most
of the Canadian banks, they were required to
render monthly returns of the state of their affairs
to the Government. Under the head of "Assets"
were given coin and bullion, landed or other pro-
per- y. Government securities, promissory notes,
o. bills of other banks, notes and bills discounted,
and other debts due, not included in the foregoing
heads. Under the head of " Liabilities," there
were given the capital paid up, notes in circula-
tion, bills of exchange in circulation, balance due
other banks, and cash deposits. The returns
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
471
786,202
had
ncies ;
anada,
-ower
Ihad
It of
wenty-
eight
mmer-
encies.
most
red to
affairs
Assets"
er pro-
notes,
unted,
egoing
there
;srcula-
ice due
returns
thus periodically supplied furnished the best index
to the condition of the monetary institutions, and
the subjoined table compiled from these returns
presents a general view of Canadian banking
operations during the period between 1842-59 :
Year. Loans. Circulation. Deposits.
1842 $12,097,283 $3,126,776 $2,613,448
1843 11,460,976 3.352,328 3,015,836
1844 15,399,924 5,561,328 4,198,480
1846 20,205,548 6,316,116 4,614,736
1847 20,324,656 6,596,736 4,851,276
1848 17,183,384 5,142,436 3.042,264
1849 15,843,784 4,404,752 2,848,252
1S50 17-499.584 5.159.724 6, 07,040
1851 22,297,120 6,293,728 6,766,392
1854 38,818,656 15,043,424 12,541,944
1856 38,719,360 14,028,676 9,617,552
1857 41,420,086 12,806,251 12,035,667
1858 37.749.135 9.507.573 10,641,324
1859 39,400,012 8,971,534 12,538,471
The difference at different periods '"n the rela-
tive amounts of the loans, circulation and deposits
which this table indicates was a subject which
naturally occup, J a large share of the attention
of monetary writers at that time. The private
Savings Banks were not compelled to publish
statements of their affairs, although the law
seems to have been explicit upon the point.
Those that did so, described their deposits as
follows in the years mentioned :
Montreal City and Dis-
trict April 1849.. $633,246.72
Canada Life Insurance
Company, S. B Oct. 1858.... 119,500.25
Canada Permanent
Building Society Jan. 1859.... 63,357.97
London Savings Bank.. Feb. 1858... 42,382.22
Toronto Savings Bank. April 1858... 83,804.72
Quebec Province Sav-
ings Bank March 1858. 455,291.00
Quebec Province Caisse
D'Economie Feb. 1858... 109,000.00
$1,506,582.88
Various causes combined at this period to oper-
ate against the success of savings banks in Can-
ada. One was the failure of the Montreal Pro-
vident and Savings Bank in 1848. This institu-
tion had on its Board of Directors some of the
most respectable merchants in the city, and had
obtained the entire confidence of the community.
It ultimately paid many of its depositors in full
by conveying to them its securities, which con-
sisted principally of real estate. Small amounts
were paid in full in cash, and those who waited
till the concern was wound up received i8s. 2d.
in the pound. Notwithstanding these facts, the
failure naturally shook public confidence in the
other savings banks in the Province.
The Montreal City and District Savingfs Banic
was formed with the idea of providing a bank fur
poor people, somewhat after the pattern of the
Tottenham Bank, which was the first of the kind
established in England — in 1S04. Many promi-
nent men helped the movement in the Mother
Country, and in Canada it took form and shape
through the active and generous labours of Mr.
William Workman.
In 1841, a general Act was passed by the Legis-
lature incorporating savings banks. Only one
institution of this kind was then in existence, and
it scon merged in the Bank of Montreal as a
separate department of that concern. Five banks
were founded under the Act of 1841. The Provi-
dent and Savings Bank of Montreal; the Mon-
treal City and District Savings Bank ; La Caisse
D'Economie de Quebec ; the Provident and Sav-
ings Bank of Quebec ; and one in Ontario, then
known as Upper Canada. The special feature in
the Act was that savings banks were permitted
to invest in bank stocks and mortgages. But a
lack of confidence was soon manifested on ac-
count of the supposed tendency of some of
the above institutions to invest too largely in
such classes of security, and the establishment
of the City and District Savings Bank was there-
fore seriously considered. In 1S46 it was found-
ed with fifteen Managing Directors, chosen from
some sixty Honorary Directors. They were
William Workman, Alfred LaRocque, Joseph
Bourret, L. H. Holton, Francis Hincks, Darnase
Masson, Henry Mulholland, Pierre Beaubien,
Henry Judah, Charles Wilson, Joseph Grenier,
John E. Mills, Nelson Davis, John Tully, Jacob
DeWitt and L. T. Drummond — all representative
business men. As the institution under the Act
t
K -"J
n
W
♦7a
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
I,' I'
p
If' I
»-'l
m-
of 1841 was essentially of a charitable character,
the then Bishop of Montreal, Monseigneiir
liourget, became Patron of the Bank. The im-
portant decision was made to invest no portion of
the Bank's funds in mortgages, and the prudence
of this determination seems to have been demon-
strated by many years of financial experience.
For the first two years the bank progressed
quietly, but during the general depression of 1848
another concern, the Provident and Savings Bank
of Montreal, was compelled to suspend payment,
and this unfortunate event shook the confidence
of the working classes to such an extent that for
years they regarded similar institutions with sus-
picion. The amount due depositors by the City
and District Savings Bank was, in 1847, $250,702 ;
in 1848, $178,241; in 1849, $153,770; in 1850,
$273,994. But from the latter date progress was
rapid, and each year showed a large increase in
business, excepting those of 1854, 1855 and 1857.
In 1870 the amount due depositors was $2,880,-
769 ; the number of depositors 9,362 ; with an
average of $307.68 for each depositor.
About this time, it began to be seen that greater
security should be given depositors, and a change
was effected in 1871 so that interest would be
ensured whatever the profits or losses in any
particular year. It was therefore determined to
create sufficient stock to place the depositors in a
situation of greater security both as regarded in-
terest and principal, and the change was made by
a Board of Directors constituted as follows :
Hon. L. H. Holton, William Workman, A. M.
DeLisle, Edwin Atwater, Mr. Justice J. A. Berthe.
lot, Henry Judah, A. LaRocque, Henry Mulhol-
land, Henry Starnes, and Edward Murphy. The
capital s;;ock of the bank was fixed by charter at
$2,000,000, and it was stipulated that the books
of the bank should be balanced, and whatever
profits existed at the time were to form a poor
fund to be invested in Municipal or Government
debentures approved by the Government, the in-
terest to be distributed among the various char-
itable institutions of the city. This, of course,
was applicable to all savings banks, as were other
regulations prohibiting savings banks from in-
vesting funds in mortgages or securities other
than Municipal debentures and Government
securities ; providing for the acceptance of bank
stocks as collateral, and that twenty per cent, of
the total amount deposited should consist of Fed-
eral Government securities or cash in chartered
banks, etc. Of the then existing savings banks,
two, the City and District, with two millions
subscribed and $600,000 paid up, and La Caisse
D'Economie, with one million subscribed and
$250,000 paid up, elected to continue their busi-
ness and subscribe the stock ; paying it up accord-
ing to the requirements of the Act.
The accumulated profits of the City and Dis-
trict, when the stock was subscribed, amounted to
$180,000, which constituted the Poor Fund.
Besides this sum, the bank had previously paid to
charities of the city during several years, $80,715.
The interest of the Poor Fund, amounting to
$10,800, is still paid to various charitable institu-
tions according to population, and a new distribu-
tion is made after each decennial census. The
institution has since been converted from a purely
benevolent institution into a joint stock concern.
Twice in its history " runs " have taken place, but
the management has been equal to all emer-
gencies, and has met all drains without having to
pledge any of the Bank's securities or to call in
any of its loans.
The Annual Report for 1896 showed $9,573,-
130 due depositors ; $3,602,360 invested in Do-
minion Government stock and Montreal and
other City or Provincial Government debentures;
$5,102,258 of loans secured by collaterals; and
$1,513,067 of cashon hand and in chartered banks.
The Directors elected for 1897 were the Hon.
Sir W. H. Hingston, M.D., President ; R Belle-
mare, Vice-President ; and the Hon. James
O'Brien, Hon. J. A. Ouimet, E. J. Barbeau, F. T.
Judah, Q.C., Hon. J. A. Chapleau, Lieutenant-
Governor of Quebec, Michael Burke, Robert
Mackay. The first Manager of the institution
was Mr. John Collins, who left the bank in 1850.
He was immediately succeeded by Mr. Edmund
J . Barbeau, who, entering the bank in 1850, retired
in 1880, after thirty years' faithful service, and
was succeeded by his brother, Mr. Henri Barbeau,
the present (1897) Manager.
The first Bank In New Brunswick was
established by an Act of the local Legislature
under the name of the Bank of New Brunswick.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
473
Hon.
Belle-
anies
F.T.
enant-
lobert
itution
1850.
mund
retired
and
rbeau,
was
islature
nswick.
It received the Royal assent on 25th of March,
1820. As expressed in the preamble of the Act,
it was the opinion of the House of Assembly that
" the establishment of a bank in the city of St.
John will promote the interests of the Province
by increasing the means of circu'ation." (60
George HI. cap. 13, N.B.) The capital stock
was limited to £50,000 and the payment of the
whole was required within eighteen months. In
1821 the stock limit wasreducedto^jo.oooand four
years later raised again to £50,000 on " account
of the increase of the trade of the Province."
The President, Directors and Company of the
Charlotte County Bank, to be located at St.
Andrews, were incorporated in 1825, with a
capital stock of £15,000, all to paid up within a
year and a half. (2 Geo. IV. cap. 20). Both
these banks were smaller than those established
in Montreal, Quebec, and York about the same
time, and it is manifest that they were intended
to be only local affairs. The New Brunswick
charters were different in only a few essential re-
spects from those passed in Upper and Lower
Canada. The limitation upon the total debts
which might be owed by the former corporations
was more strict, being twice the amount of their
paid-in capital stock, and the term of their char-
ters was twenty years. In 1834 the Central Bank
of New Brunswick was incorporated, and provi-
sion was made for establishing it at Fredericton.
(4 Wm. IV. cap. 44.) The Act of incorporation
contained a number of new provisions similar to
those recommended by the Committee for Trade
of His Majesty's Privy Council in 1830 and 1833.
In 1834 the Commercial Bank of New Bruns-
wick was incorporated by Letters Patent. The
charter of the St. Stephen's Bank, passed in 1836
(6 Wm. IV. cap. 32) created a corporation capi-
talized for £25,000 and subjected to provisions
similar to those already described. It added the
rules that no stock-holder should own more than
twenty per cent, of the capital stock, and that " no
action should be brought or maintained upon any
bank bill or bank note issued by the corporation
before such bill or note shall have been presented
at the bank for payment and default in payment
thereupon take place." The City Bank was incor-
porated in the same year. Its location was to
be St. John, and its capital was £100,000, half to
be paid in one year, and half within five years.
But it had a very brief existence. The Bank of
New Brunswick received permission to double its
capital in 1837, and by an Act of two years later
the City Bank was united with it.
In 1837 the local Legislature granted the Bank
of British North America powers to sue and be
sued in the name of a local officer, and facilitated
its business in other ways. Later on, between
1841 and 1866, various additions to the capital
stock of the four existing banks were permitted,
and their charters extended to dates between 1870
and 1876. The Shediac Bank was incorporated
in 1857, the Miramichi Bank in 1857, and the
People's Bank of New Brunswick in 1864. The
Miramichi Bank was proposed for Chatham, N.B.,
and the authorized capital was £20,000. The
People's Bank was established at Fredericton
with a capital stock of $60,000. These and many
other details may be found in Mr. Breckenridge's
work. He states that some years prior to 1865, the
Charlotte County Bank ceased its operations and
business, and paid off, so far as they had been pre-
sented, all claims upon it. In the year named it
was authorized, after newspaper notice for twenty-
four months, to wind up its affairs, and divide the
assets remaining among the shareholders, the
further liability of whom for the debts of the bank
was thereupon to cease and determine. A similar
Act was passed in 1868 with respect to the Central
Bank of New Brunswick. In the sessions of 1865
and 1S67, the establishment of a number of new
corporationswas also authorized — the Albert Bank,
the Woodstock Bank, the Northern Bank, the Mer-
chants' Bank of New Brunswick and the Eastern
Bank of New Brunswick. To none of them, how-
ever, was the necessary capital paid up, and they
were therefore as unsuccessful as the Miramichi
and Shediac Banks of the preceding decade. At
the time that New Brunswick entered Confeder-
ation the Bank of New Brunswick, the Coiumer-
ciid Bank of New Brunswick, the St Stephen's
Bank and the People's Bank were in operation,
the Westmoreland Bank in liquidation, and the
five other charters just named still available.
Upon the day that Confederation became a
fact ill 1867 there were eighteen banks carrying
on business in Ontario and Quebec, under char-
m.
474
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
:;-l.^:;;,':.:.
m»
m'\
%: i
It
ti
M'
u
ters gra'^.ted by the Province of Canada, five work-
ing under Nova Scotia charters, and four under
Acts passed by New Brunswick. The Bank of
British North America acted under special
Royal Charter. They were as follows :
Ontario and Quebec. Capital paid up.
Bank of Montreal $6,000,000
Quebec Bank 1,476.250
Commercial Bank of Canada 4,000,000
City Bank 1,200,000
Gore Bank 809.280
Bank of British North America 4,866,666
Banque du Pcuple 1,600,000
Niagara District Bank 279,376
Molsons Bank 1,000,000
Bank of Toronto 800,000
Ontario Bank 1,999,100
Eastern Townships Bank 375.386
Banque Nationale 1,000,000
Banque Jacques Cartier 953.135
Merchants' Bank of Canada 941,182
Royal Canadian Bank 806,626
Union Bank of Lower Canada 748,865
Mechanics' Bank 227,725
Bank of Commerce 384,181
$29,467,772
Novia Scotia.
Bank of Yarmouth 128,600
Merchants' Bank of Halifa.\ 64,000
People's Bank of Halifax 399.789
Union Bank of Halifax 400,000
Bank of Nova Scotia 560,000
X, „ ., $1,552,389
New Btunswiclc,
Bank of New Brunswick 600,000
Commercial Bank of New Brunswick. 600,000
St. Stephen's Bank 200,000
People's Dank of New Brunswick 80,000
$1,480,000
The considerations submitted by leading:
bankers in 1869 to the Canadian Committee on
Banking and Currency, of which Hon. John Rose
was Chairman, and published in the final Report
of that Committee on May loth — Journals House
of Commons, Volume 2, 1869 — are of importance.
Mr. Thomas Paton, General Manager of the
Bank of British North America at Montreal, prw-
sented the following review of the system which it
was proposed to adapt to the exigencies of the
new Dominion.
" The system of banking which exists in the
late Province of Canada is that of Local Joint
Stock Banks, having Provincial Charters which
expire in 1870-71, with paid-up capital ranging
from $266,445 to $6,000,000, the shareholders
being liable for double the amount of their sub«
scribed shares ; and the Bank of British North
America, also a joint stock bank, with a capital
uf ^1,000,000 sterling, but having a Royal Char-
ter under which the shareholders are only liable
for the amount of their shares. The shareholders
of the People's Bank are also exempt from the
double liability clause, but the responsibility of
the Directors of that institution is unlimited.
The banks have the privilege of issuing notes
of one dollar and upwards, the total amount of
their circulation being limited to the paid-up
capital of the bank, together with the gold and
silver coin, bullion. Government debentures, and
legal tenders on hand, the aggregate amount of
their debts being also limited to three times their
paid-up capital, in addition to the amount of
specie, legal tenders and Government securities
held. The banks are authorized to transact all
the business usually transacted by bankers, such
as discounting bills, dealing in gold and silver and
exchange, etc. They are required to furnish
monthly statements to Government for publica*
tion in the Gazette ; to hold ten per cent, of their
subscribed stock in Provincial bonds ; and to pay
a tax of one per cent, on the excess of their circu-
lation beyond the amount of specie, legal tenders
and Government securities held.
The banking system of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia differs but little from that of Canada.
With the exception of two private banks in Nova
Scotia, they are all chartered by the Provincial
Government on the Joint Stock System ; their
charters expire from 1871 to 1890, and their paid-
up capitals range from $50,000 to $60,000. They
do not require to hold any Government bonds,
nor to publish any statement of their affairs
except an annual one, which is sent to the pro-
prietors and to the Lieutenant-Governor. The
banks in Nova Scotia are not allowed to issue
notes under the denomination of $20. The Bank
m
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA. 475
of British North America is empowered by its The following^ is a statement of the business
Royal Charter to carry on business in British of Canadian banicing institutions during the first
North America and parts adjacent thereto, and it year of Confederation :
has branches in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, v.iu. of Amoun. Divided phc. <rf
Nova Scotia, New Brunswicit and British Colum- """•• brij^hl "«'.. 'C' JZlU'L. oc^Va",.
bia, with agencies in New York and San Fran- Commercial Bank 18 $100 $100 3 per cent soiKrcent
Cisco. Its privileges are similar to those of the <■'''■«•*'"';<•••••••••• (' 40 .... 3'/, " 9* "
»u n t r ^L TA • • ..1.1. Niiit,'""* District Hank. I loo 70 xH " 90 '•
Other Banks of the Dommion except that by Its Ha„u ufTor.mio 5 .00 ,004 " u6 ••
charter it cannot issue notes under $4. Under Ontario Hank 12 40 40 4 " 105 "
the Free Banking Act of the late Province of Koyal Canadian Hank. 20 50 50 4 •• 99 "
Canada, however, the Bank issues $r jf'-'k "f C''-"-"'^^'™ ■ • • 3 Jo ,0 ... " ,oj-i ••
J ^ , , , • r -^ Hank of Montreal .... 29 200 200 S " 134 "
and $2 notes, secured by a deposit of Pro- g„,i.ec Bank 5 100 ,00 3;/, •• ,02 ••
vincial debentures, the notes being endorsed city Bank 3 80 80 4 •• 105 ••
by the Registrar of the Province. By its Imperial Bank of B.N. America. 12 /50 /•50 4 •• 106 "
Charter it is required to send statements to the »«7''-- J" ••<="?'=•••■>■;'"« $5° $504 " .07 "
_, . . , . , . , Molson,s Bank None 50 50 4 " no "
Provmcial Government Similar to those furnished K.istern Townships B'k. 3 50 50 4 •• 98 "
by the local banks. It is not required to hold Bamiuc Nationaie . . . . None 50 50 4 " 107 "
Provincial debentures, except to secure its small BanqucjacquesCirtier. None 100 100 4 •• 109 "
note circulation; however, it has, for many years, f'"'^h-^"'^' »''"''; >''""'-- '°° 5° 4 " .08 ••
' ' J J f Union Bank of Lower
held a much larger amount of these securities Canada i 100 100 4 " 102 "
than is necessary for any of the local banks to Mechanics' Bank None 50 15 4 " 100 "
hold. The above is a short statement of the pre- "^"'' "^ ^'^* ^™"''-
. . rui- -iLT-v •• ,. wicl* None 200 200 6 " 112 "
sent system of banking in the Dominion, and, in c, c, „»,„„. n,„i, v „ ,™, ..
i , , " _ . ' at. Stephens Bank ... None 100 100 4 " 100 "
my opinion, is open to but few objections. Bank of Nova Scotia. . . a loo 200 3;^ " 120 "
I consider, however, that the circulation should Union Bank of Halifax. None 100 40 Hi " 262
be secured by Provincial debentures lodged with l'e"P'<='s Bank "f "«•'•
the Government, and that the number of banks, Bank^f YaimouthiN.s. None .^ Z] '• \Z ••'
or agencies which a bank is permitted to establish, Commercial Bank of
should be limited, and in proportion to its paid-up Windsor, N.S.... None 40 10 New 100 "
capital. The amount of the cash reserves as
compared with the liabilities is not regulated by Mr. George Hague, then Cashier of the Bank
the present charters, which has a tendency to of Toronto, wro'e the following comments upon
induce dangerous and imprudent expansion, the banking system in force before and immedi-
This should be remedied, and the statements ately after Confederation (Report of the Parlia-
furnished to Government might be more in mentary Committee on Banking and Currency,
detail. The banking system of the Dominion 1869) :
has certainly been conducive to the development " The Banking System of the late Province of
of the material interests of the country. The Canada is based on the only sound principle on
failure of two of the largest banking institutions which banking should be carried on, viz., the ob-
of the Province (Bank of Upper Canada and Com- ligation to pay all liabilities in gold, and the sys-
mercial Bank), and the evils which have resulted tematic enforcement of this obligation by a regu-
therefrom, ought not to be attributed to the lar system of exchange between the banks,
system under which the banks were organized. Without the last the first amounts^ to little more
but to a disregard of the correct and legitimate than a theory; with it the immense advantage is
principles which ought to govern the manage- gained of a practical test of convertibility. In
ment of all banking institutions, and which, if spite of violations of sound rules in many of the
disregarded, will surely result in misfortune and discounting operations of banks during former
disaster, however perfect the system may be." Mr. years, violations which, in the case of one insti-
Rose's ensuing proposals were not accepted. tution, were of the most flagrant character, and
. )
•■ f.
If
J.I.
476
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/DDIA.
J/i- i - '
M'-
,«,.-
continued for a long period, the excellence of
the system has been such that the loss sustained
by the public has been of a very trifling character.
It has given to Canada a currency uniform in
value over a widely extended territory, independ-
ent of political fluctuations, and constantly re-
deemable in specie. It has also rendered the
small amount of active capital possessed in a
partially developed country available to the ut-
most extent possible. No person acquainted with
Canada can doubt that its banking system has
been conducive to its material interests in a very
high degree, and it is the opinion of many who
are conversant with the matter, that no other
system would have been equally beneficial."
Regarding the questions connected with the
issue of bank notes, their redemption and general
usefulness, Mr. Hague dealt at length. As the
Canadian system has only been improved and
not changed in its foundation features since that
time, his remarks are of present as well as his-
torical value — the Dominion notes afterwards
issued being litnited by law and confined to small
or very large denominations :
"(i) There is a tendency in Government cur-
rencies, which niay almost be termed irresistible
to become irredeemable and depreciated. It is a
fact that no Government currency yet issued, with
some trifling exceptions, has preserved its value,
and some of the largest emissions of such cur-
rency ever known have fallen to ruinous rales of
discount. The uniformity of the result shows
the strength of the tendency, and it is, in my
opinion, impossible to devise any restrictions
which will prevent its operation.
(2) The function of issuing and redeeming
notes payable on demand is so intimately connect-
ed with commercial operations, both inland and
foreign, that none but persons who have close
and constant relations with the active commercial
world can properly manage it. The business of
circulation, in fact, is the business of the banker,
and such it has ever been in the Mother Country,
the centre of the finances of the world, and such
also it has long been in France, whose experience
of the disastrous effects of a Government cur-
rency has been such as to deter it from ever
repeating the experiment,
(3) If the Government has it in its power to emit
paper money, and such paper money becomes a
recognized instrument of currency, the tempta-
tion to extravagant expenditure will be irresist-
ible. Experience shows that the expenditure of
a Government is the most diflicult of all disburse-
ments to be kept within reasonable bounds, even
when there is such a strong restraint as the
necessity to raise money by taxation or loans.
If this restraint were removed, there can be no
question that expenditure would become ruinous-
ly large, and the issues of money far beyond
legitimate requirements. The currency would, of
course, fall to a discount, and the credit of the
country be damaged in the money market of the
world. I am not aware of any advantages which
would arise from a Government currency, except
the facility which it would afford for borrowing
and the saving of interest on whatever amount of
notes might be kept afloat. It is needless to add
that this very facility would be the source of the
greatest danger. As to the superior safety of
Government notes, all experience proves that this
is a mere delusion. There is no security against
such notes becoming so depreciated in value as to
be practically worthless. Under a proper system
of redemption, such as Canada has long possessed,
a banker is bound to redeem his notes under
penalty of closing his doors. The Government
has no such penalty to fear, nor can any pressure
be brought to bear upon its own constituents,
which will deter it from over issues and their
consequences.
The conditions under which banks may issue
their own notes based on Government securities
are fundamentally different from the above, and, as
between the two systems, there can be no ques-
tion that the latter is to be preferred. The prin-
cipal advantage it offers is, that the currency issued
under its provisions has a preferential claim to the
securities deposited to cover it. To the Govern-
ment it secures a demand for its debentures on the
part of the banks. The disadvantages of such a
system, speaking of it simply as a theory, are that it
compels a bank to lend to the Government to the
full amount of the notes it may be required to
issue. This prevents the capital and credit of the
bank being availed of to meet the requirements
of commerce to the extent which these loans may
amount to.
CANADA ; AN KNCYCI.OP.KPIA.
477
ay issue
curities
, and, as
no ques-
rhe prin-
cy issued
m to the
Govern-
es on the
if such a
ire that it
;nt to the
quired to
dit of the
uirements
oans may
It should be romuinbercd also that Government
securities are liable to heavy fluctuations from
political causes ; and to coiiuiel bankers to invest
such large sums in this sliajie is to subject them
to a disadvantage which might, under certain
contingencies, be fatal ; and this without any cor-
responding return. If the case of the Hank of
England is cited in this connection, it should be
remembered that this bank has always had the
immense advantage of the Government account.
Further, it is questionable whether even this cur-
rency would be brought within the operations of a
regular redemption, such as has long existed in
Canada, and which is the essential feature and
safeguard of our system. The National Hank
notes of the United States are never redeemed,
and schemes for making them redeemable have
hitherto proved impracticable.
In considering the question it should never be
forgotten that these banks have at no time been
worked on the basis of specie payments. In my
opinion, speaking as a practical banker, until a
system has been subjected to this test it is impos-
sible to judge of its merits. In this opinion I am
confirmed by eminent financial authorities in New
York. As to the effect of such a system in any
.country m which it prevails, I am not aware that
it does prevail in any country but the United
States. That country in past years has been
afflicted with banking systems and currencies of a
most heterogeneous character, many of them per-
nicious and unsound to the last degree. Enor-
mous losses have been suffered in consequence,
especially in the Western States, and almost any
change would have been welcomed which rid the
country of such dangerous pests. The National
system is undoubtedly a change for the better,
but it is needless to add that Canada never
suffered from those evils which rendered the
change desirable. The currency system of Great
Britain is of a mixed character."
The views of the Hon. R. D. Wilmot, one of
New Brunswick's most distinguished and respect-
ed public men, differed from those of the majority
who shared in this Banking and Currency Report
of 1869. The following quotation is therefore of
some value :
" The Banking System prevailing in the late
Provinces of Canada md in New Brunswick has
been similar. In Nova Scotia (as in England)
the banks are r(,'stricteil from issuing notes of a
smaller denomination than I'ive l\)im<is (ijjo) ;
the circulation below that consists of Provincial
notes to the extent of about $2.00 per heati of
the population. That this circulation has not
been injurious to the Hanks is proved by the fact
that no bank has ever faiiid ; nor any lower
dividend been declared than at the rate of six
per cent., usually much more ; v.hile in the other
Provinces disastrous failures have occasionally
occurred, causing loss to the stockholders and
note-holders and inconvenience to the public at
large. Doubtless the existing bank system has
been conducive to the development of the material
resources of the country, but being too much de-
pendent upon credit and the state of the foreign
trade, has, when the foreign exchanges have been
adverse, intensified the periodical revulsions in
business, which have been so disastrous to indi-
viduals and of great inconvenience to the trading
community.
The anxiety of the Banks to command foreign
Bills of Exchange has caused them to give an
unhealthy stimulus to the creation of articles of
foreign import, while they do not grant the neces-
sary facilities for the domestic trade of the coun-
try. Statistical returns show that the invested
and floating capital of the Dominion exceeds
fourteen hundred millions of dollars (§1,400,000,-
000) ; the annual value of the raw products is two
hundred and ten millions of dollars ($aio,ooo,-
000) ; and that of manufactures and other pro-
ducts amount to, doubtless, over one hundred
million of dollars more ; yet the utmost extent of
bank note circulation has not exceeded fourteen
millions of dollars ($14,000,000), or only one per
cent, of the capital — an amount (juite inadequate
to exchange advantageously the annual products
of industry. Money is but a representative of
value, an instrument of exchange, or in other
words, a more condensed, economical and con-
venient form of barter ; and unless the (piantity in
circulation bears a fair proportion to the articles
of merchandise to be vended they must be sold
at prices which may not be remunerative in
money, or upon credit, creating debt unnecessarily
with all its accompanying uncertainties ami
478
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.I^DIA.
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danficrs— the groat cause of all the financial
panics and convulsions of trade.
As the foreign trade of the Dominion bears but
a small proportion to the value of the domestic
trade, and as the bank-note circulation depends
so entirely upon the state of the foreign trade, an
importation of a few millions beyond the value of
the exports causes such a demand upon the banks
for Hills of Exchange, and in their absence for
specie, that they must necessarily curtail their
discounts, restrict their note circulation and make
money scarce, reducing values lo, 20 or 30 per
cent. I am, therefore, of opinion that the present
Banking System does noi afford the facilities
necessary for the most beneficial development of
the industrial resources of the Dominion."
The Bank of British North America has
always been upon a somewhat different footing
from the other Canadian banks. Ii worked under
special Royal Charter instead of a local one, and
took advantage of the old-time Free Banking Act
to obtain the right of issuing small notes. The
head of the institution is not a President as in
other banks, but a Chairman, who takes the
position in monthly rotation from amongst the
Directors in London, England. In early days
the agencies in British America were controlled
by an executive officer, who only visited them
occasionally. Mr. Thomas Paton, the first
General Manager, held this position of Inspector
prior to his appointment. His successors in the
former post included Mr. Charles McNab, Mr. R.
R. Grindley and the present incumbent, Mr. Harry
Stikeman. In 1848 its branches were twelve in
number and have since increased to seventeen.
Mr. Paton, in 1869, furnished the following excel-
lent summary of the history and position of the
Bank to the Committee on Banking and Currency,
(Journals, House of Commons, Volume 2, 1869) :
" In transmitting my replies to the questions of
the Select Committee on Banking and Currency,
I avail myself of the opportunity of placing before
the Committee the position of the Bank of British
North America, which differs in some respects
from that of the other banks in Canada, and the
Royal Charter of which expires in 1870. The
Bank was established in 1836, with a nominal cap-
ital of jf 1, 000,000 sterling, by merchants and
others in London deeply interested in the com-
merce and prosperity of the North American
Colonics, and desirous of introducing British cap-
ital for their further development. In the years
1836 to 1840, £690,000 sterling was paid up
and employed in legitimate banking business at
the branches which were then opened in the
Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, New
i^runswick. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
During these years the business of the Bank was
conducted under an Act of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, which authorized it to sue and be sued in
the name of an officer in England, and similar
Acts of the Legislatures of the several Provinces
in which branches were situated were obtained.
But considerable practical inconvenience having
been experienced in conducting the Bank's affairs
under so many different statutes, which, although
like in substance, contained conflicting conditions,
the Directors applied, in 1840, to Her Majesty's
Government for a Royal Charter of Corporation,
extending ever the United Kingdom and all the
North American Colonies, which was granted (it
was understood) after communication with the
Colonial Governments.
During the discussion as to conditions on which
a charter should be granted to this Bank, it
appeared to be the opinion of Her Majesty's Gov-
ernment that a large paid-up capital afforded a
better security to the public than the clause of
double liability introduced into the charters of the
local or Colonial banks, and the Directors were
required to call up the remainder of the capital of
£1,000,000 sterling, as a consideration for the
grant of a charter of incorporation, whereby the
shareholders are relieved from personal liability
after payment of the full amount of their shares.
This charter was renewed in 1859 with the con-
sent of the several Colonial Governments, and
it will expire on the ist June, 1870. The divi-
dends and bonuses together, received by the
shareholders of the Bank, have not exceeded nine
per cent, in any one year, and the average for the
whole thirty-two years has been only £5 13s. gd*
per cent. A large portion of the present Proprie-
tary having acquired their shares since the grant-
ing of the original charter will not be willing to
increase their liability for the sake of so small a
return on their capital as they have received, which
CANADA ; AN ENCYCI.OI'/KDIA.
479
is very much below that of any well-conducted
bank in London, nnd also much lower than could
reasonably be expected from the employment of
capital in distant colonies or foreign countries,
and there is consequently almost a certainty that
the shareholders, most of whom reside in Eng-
land, will prefer the affairs of the Bank to be
wound up, and their capital returned to them,
or' to be employed elsewhere, rather than incur
any additional liability.
Since the establishment of the Hank its busi-
ness has been conducted in accordance with
sound principles of ban!:ing, and it is claimed
that it has aided in improving the system of
banking in this country, and has always main-
tained the most amicable relations with the other
banks in the Province. A large staff of experienced
officers has been selected and from time to time
recruited from banks in Britain, and many local
banks have marked their approval of the manner
in which the business of the bank is conducted,
and their desire to introduce its system of bank-
ing and management into their respective insti-
tutions, by choosing as their principal officers
officials from the Hank of British North America.
At present eleven of the chief offices in those
banks are thus filled. The Bank, since its estab-
lishment, has enjoyed entire public confidence,
not only in the Dominion but abroad. It intro-
duced into the North American Provinces
a large amount of capital at a time when
the banking capital of these Provinces was com-
paratively limited, and has assisted in no slight
measure in developing the resources and aiding
the advancement of the country."
Under the subsequent arrangements and the
new Dominion banking system the Bank of Brit-
ish North America retained its old time privileges
and rights. In the Bank Act of 1890, the clauses
respecting capital are made non-applicable to
this institution, and by sections: it is also debarred
from issuing notes beyond 75 per cent, of its
capital, e.\cepting against a deposit of Govern-
ment bonds.
It is stated on good authority that the ex-
emption from the double liability, or from any
liability beyond the amount paid up, was granted
at the time of incorporation on account of much
of its capital of £1,000,000 .sterling being at once
forthcoming in gold and transmitted to the British
American Colonies at a very critical period in
their financial history. Mr. E. Stangcr, Mana-
ger of the Toronto Branch of the Bank (1897)
has stated that this action was always great-
ly appreciated by the late Sir George E.
Cartier, who believed that the country was saved,
as a consequence, from severe financial embar-
rassment. The Reserve Fund of the institution
is jf275,ooo or 11,375,000, while its capital
remains at one million pounds sterling. Its
Directors for 1897 were Messrs. J. H. Brodie,
J. J. Cater, Gaspard Farrer, H. R. Farrer, R. H.
Glyn, E. A. Hoare, H. J. B. Kendall, J.T. Kings-
ford, Frederick Lubbock and George D. What-
man. The Secretary of the Bank in London
was Mr. A. G. Wallis.
The Hon. Sir Francis Hinolcs was born at
Cork, Ireland, in 1807, and was educated at the
Belfast Institution. In May, 1823, he was arti-
cled by his own expressed wish to the mercantile
firm of John Martin & Co., and with them he re-
mained until 1830, when he sailed to the West
Indies as supercargo on board one of their vessels. .
At Barbadoes he met a Canadian whom he ac- "
companied to Toronto, in Upper Canada, with a
view to obtaining information concerning business
and commerce in that Colony. During the suc-
ceeding year he came out with his wife and settled
in Toronto, where he soon won a high reputation
in business circles and a prominent place in
political affairs. He was for a time Secretary
of the Mutual Insurance Company and Cashier of
a new banking institution. But after the Rebel-
lion of 1837 he turned his attention to journalism,
and in 1839 founded the Toronto Examiner, which
he edited for several years, and in 1842 the Mon-
treal Pilot, which he also directed. Mr. Hiiicks
was first elected to the Legislature in 1841 for the
County of Oxford, and was shortly afterwards
appointed Inspector-General of the Canadas — as
the Finance Minister was then called. He re-
signed in 1843 and was defeated in Oxford in
1844, but was returned again four years afte>*-
wards, and became Inspector-General once
more under Mr. Robert Baldwin. Upon the
latter's retirement in 1851 he also became Prime
Minister, and held the two posts until 1854.
48o
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOl'.KDIA.
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He visited Washington on several occasions
in order to confer with the British Minister
there regarding the commercial intercourse be-
tween the two countries, and in 1854 was selected
by Lord Kigin to accompany and help him in
the negotiation of the afterwards famous Reci-
procity Treaty of that year. In 1852 he had
been a Delegate to the Maritime Provinces upon
the Intercolonial Railway question, and in the
same year went to London to urge the repeal of
the Clergy Reserves Act and the grant of a guar-
antee to the Intercolonial. There he made the
arrangements with the Peto, Brassey^ Betts and
Jackson Company, which ultimately resulted in
the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway.
He was appointed Governor of Barbadoes
and the Windward Islands in 1855, and at the
close of his term in 1862 became Governor of
British Guiana. Upon retirement from the latter
post in i86g he was created a k.c.m.g., and a
short time afterwards accepted the position of
Canadian Finance Minister under Sir John A.
Macdonald. In 1873 he resigned his portfolio
after having had much to do with the moulding
of the Canadian Banking System, and retired
from public life. His pen, however, continued
active for many years afterwards in connection
with financial and fiscal questions, and his volume
of Reminiscences, published not long before his
death in Montreal in 1885, contained much valu-
able historical material. He had been President
of the Confederation Life Assurance Company,
President of the City Bank of Montreal, and
afterwards of the Consolidated Bank. He sup-
ported Lord Svdenham's banking proposals in
1841 ; vigourously defended Sir Robert Peel's
Bank Act in 1847 ; and largely controlled the
financial legislation of 1851-1853.
Between 1858 and 1866 fourteen bank
charters, authorizing a capital of $9,460,000, were
obtained, with required and immediate payments
of $1,475,000. Only seven of these institutions
were organized upon anything like a permanent
basis. The charters of the Banks of Clifton and
Western Canada, and of the International and
Colonial Banks, were repealed in 1863 — all of these
concerns having meantime suspended payment.
In 1858 the Bank of Canada was chartered, and
the charter afterwards purchased by the Can-
adian Bank of Commerce in 1867. During the
year i860 La Banque Nationale, of Quebec
City, was incorporated by the Hon. Ulric J.
Tessier, Isidore Thibaudeau, Eugene Chinic,
Cirice Tetu, Olivier Robitaille, David Dussault,
and Prudent Vallee. In 1864 the Merchants'
Bank of Canada was organized, and La Banque
Jacques Cartier in 1862 — the latter by Louis
Beaudry, S. V. R. Trudeau, R. A. R. Hubert, C. S.
Rodier, Jr., Andree Lapierre, J. B. Couillard, Chas,
Lacaille, Jean B. Rolland, R. St. Jean, and other
citizens of Montreal. The Royal Canadian Bank
was chartered in 1864. Its incorporators were
John Bell, Q.C., Lieutenant-Colonel George T.
Denison, James Metcalf, William Barker, J. P.
Wheler, R. A. Harrison, Q.C., S. M. Jarvis, M. R.
VanKoughnet, Thomas Woodside, William Mc-
Kee, Robert Walker and others.
The unfortunate Mechanics' Bank came next
in 1865, and the Union Bank of Canada in the
following year. Th^ former was incorporated by
Alexander Ramsay, James Mara, Thomas D.
Hood, David McNiven, Charles J. Brydges, Wil-
liam Ailton, Alexander Molson, James Thomson,
and Charles Garth ; the latter by Charles L.
Levey, John Burstall, John Sharpies, Joseph
Roberts, Timothy Dunn, Matthew G. Mountain,
and other citizens of yuebec.
Since Confederation tliere have been two
distinct periods of Canadian banking expansion.
The first was from about 1868 to 1874. The
Merchants' Bank of Halifax was organized in 1869
by Sir Edward Kenny, William Cunard, Thomas
E. Kenny, Senator Northrup and others; and the
Dominion Bank charter was asked for by John
Worthington, James Crowther, John H. Craw-
ford, M.P., Hon. J. C. Aikins, W. S. Lee, Hon.
John Ross, etc., in the same year. The Metro-
politan Bank of Montreal was chartered in 1871
by Samuel Waddoil, Maurice Cuvillier, M. P.
Ryan, Henry Hogan, and the Hon. A. P. Caron,
M.P. ; but, after some years of ambitious effort
a.jd sometimes unwise transactions, wound up
its affairs in 1877, with a loss of some $800,-
000 capital The Bank of Liverpool, N.S., was
another unfortunate institution of this year's de-
velopment, and so with the Bank of Acadia,
the
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THK HON. SIR FRANCIS HINCKS.
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
48J
N.S., which was chartered in 1872. They were
controlled largely by American speculators, and
after short but disastrous careers failed in 1873,
with much loss to the community.
In 1872 the Exchange Bank of Canada was
incorporated at Montreal by M. H. Gault, Thomas
Caverhill, Hon. A. W. Ogilvie, E. K. Greene,
William Rodden, Sir Alexander Gait and other
leading financial men. In August, 1879, after a
somewhat unfortunate career, it was obliged to
suspend payment, but resumed again in Novem-
ber and continued operations until 1883. The
institution had a hard struggle for existence dur-
ing its later years, and was twice helped by
loans or deposits from the Government at critical
junctures. This gave rise to Parliamentary dis-
cussions and the epithet of " a political bank "
bestowed upon it by the Hon. Edward Blake.
The loss to its creditors has been estimated at
$690,000 and to its shareholders at $1,800,000.
The Maritime Bank of Canada, established at
St. John, N.B., in this year, also had an unfor-
tunate history. It was chartered by James Dom-
ville, M.P., John W. Cudlip, Sir Albert J. Smith,
J. V. Troop, Charles H. Fairweather and others,
and in its iirst eight years is said to have lost
$600,000. The bank was re-organized in 1883
and its paid-up capital reduced to $247,000. In
1887 it failed, with a loss to its shareholders of
about $1,000,000.
La Banque Ville Marie was a French-Canadian
institution chartered in 1872 by N. Villeneuve,
Denis E. Papineau, J. C. Cassidey, L. N. Du-
verger, P. A. Fanteux, C. F. Papineau of Mon-
treal ; Louis Archambault of L'Assomption ;
George Caron of St. Leon ; A. H. Paquet, F.
Zavier and A. Biron of St. Cuthbert ; and Pierre
St. Jean of Ottawa. The St. Lawrence Bank
was also chartered in this year by John Charles
Fitch, F. Shanly, John Hoskin, Q.C., Thomas
Dick, Robert Hay, W. F. Allen and others. In
1876 it was re-organized as the Standard Bank of
Canada, and the shares in the old institution of
par value of $100 were exchanged against new
shares worth $50. The Bank of Hamilton was
another of the institutions chartered in 1872. It
was organized at Hamilton by John Winer, Ed-
ward Jackson, Edward Gurney, Hon. James
Turner, J. M. Williams, M.P.P., Charles Magill,
M.P., A. T. Wood, John Stuart, Edward Martin
and others. The Halifax Banking Company was
chartered at the same time by William Pryor,
Brenton H. Collins and the Hon. Philip Carteret
Hill, in the capital of Nova Scotia, while the
Superior Bank of Canada was organized at Tor-
onto by the Hon. Adam Crooks, Q.C., John
Shedden, S. Nordheimer, James Michie, A. H.
Sibley, Sir George A. Kirkpatrick, N. Rooney,
Thomas Dick, Clarkson Jones and others, and
soon afterwards became known as the Federal
Bank of Canada.
Its career began under apparently bright and
prosperous auspices. In 1882 the capital was
doubled and then amounted to $3,000,000, while
its stock in J uly of the succeeding year sold at 150J.
But in 1884 its time of trouble commenced and
rumours of various kinds caused a run upon its
head office, which a temporary loan of $2,000,000
from the other banks checked. In 1885 the cap-
ital was reduced to $1,250,000, and two years
later, by agreement with other institutions which
arranged to contribute $2,700,000, if required, its
affairs were voluntarily liquidated without loss
other than that of the shareholders.
La Banque d'Hochelaga was one of a number
of institutions formed in 1873. Its shareholders
seeking incorporation were Claude Melancon,
Louis Tourville, Joel Leduc, Louis Monet,
E. A. Genereux, L. O. Turgeon, A. S. Hamelin
and others, all mentioned as " traders of the City
of Montreal." At the same time the Stadacona
Bank was organized at Quebec by Pierre Garneau,
T. Hunter Grant, Sir Adolphe Caron, J. L. Gibb,
A. Tourengeau, M.P., S. B. Foote, etc. In 1879,
owing to adverse fortune, its liquidation was
decided upon, and something like a million dollars
was withdrawn from the banking capital of the
country. The old Niagara District Bank was
re-organized in this year as the Imperial Bank of
Canada, with headquarters in Toronto instead of
St. Catharines. The incorporators were John
Morrison, R. Carrie, R. S. Williams, A. Oliver,
M.P.P., W. T. Mason, A. M. Smith, J, J. Vickers,
Joseph Davidson, John Fisken, Patrick Hughes
and W. J. Macdonnell. The Pictou Bank, (Pictou,
N.S.) was chartered in 1873 by John Crerar, J. T.
Ives, William Gordon, A. J. Patterson, Robert
Doull and other local men. After various misfor-
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CANADA: AN ENCYCL0I\'!-:DIA.
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tunes, the institution went into voluntary liquida-
tion in 1887. La Banque de St. Hyacinthe was
also formed at this time in the town of the same
name in Quebec, by Pierre Bachaud, F. X. Cad-
ieux, the Hon. M. Laframboise, the Hon. W. H.
Chaffers, G. C. Dessaulles, Louis Marchand, L.
Delorme, M.P., and others.
La Banque de St. Jean was also chartered by
local men in St. Johns, Quebec, during this year.
Those seeking incorporation included Louis
MoUeur, Jr., M.P.P., F. G. Marchand. M.P.P.,
A. Decelles, J. E. Molleur, Isaac Coote, T. R.
Jobson, etc. The Bank of Ottawa was formed
in 1874 under a charter obtained by James Mac-
Laren, the Hon. George Bryson, Robert Black-
burn. M.P., C. S. Tate, Alexander Fraser, Daniel
O'Connor, Charles Magee and Edward McGilli.
vray.
Though not a new institution, the Consolidated
Bank of Montreal was organized during this
period by the union of ♦he City Bank and the
Royal Canadian Bank in 1875. The action was
taken largely under the initiative of Sir Francis
Hincks, who was President of the first-named
concern. But, despite his ability and experience,
the result was most disastrous. The reasons for
the failure, which followed in i87q, have been
stated by a banking authority as (i) the small
rests and mediocreearningpower of the two banks
at the time of amalgamation ; (2) the evils of a
double-headed system of management ; (3) the
incompetence of certain higher employes of the
bank; (4) the unjustifiable advances to firms of
small calibre ; (5) the unhealthy condition of
Canadian business generally at the time.
A number of other institutions were chartered
during these years, which failed in obtaining
enough capital to commence business. Of such a
character was the Bank of Agriculture, chartered
in Hamilton in 1869; the Bedford District Bank,
Waterloo, Quebec, and the Western Bank, Yar-
mouth, N.S., in 1871 ; the Bank of St. John,
N B.,anil the Bank of Manitoba. Fort Garry, in
1872 ; the Three Rivers Bank, Three Rivers,
Quebec, and the Central Bank of Canada, Mon-
treal, in 187,5 ; the London and Canada Bank,
Toronto, in 1874. Meantime the Gore Bank, with
headquarters at Hamilton, went into liquidation
in 1869, owing largely to complications with the
affairs of the Bank of Upper Canada ; and the
Commercial Bank of New Brunswick, and the
Commercial Bank of Canada failed. But the ex-
pansion of banking business had been very great.
The paid'Upcapitalof banksin Canada increased
from $32,500,162 on June 30th, 1867, to $55, 102,-
959 on June 30th. 1873. The notes in circulation
increased from $10,102,439 to $24,956,046, and
the bills discounted from $54,899,142 to $121,977,-
754. Many banks increased their capital, about
$5,000,000 each being added by the Bank of
Montreal, the Merchants Bank of Canada and the
Canadian Bank of Commerce. Then came the
period of financial stringency and " hard times,"
when, according to Dun, Wiman & Co., the fail-
ures in Canada rose from $12,334,191 of liabilities
in 1873 to an average of $25,000,000 in 1875-77,
and brought about many of the bank difficulties
mentioned.
The second period of expansion in banking^
matters commenced about 1882. Between that
date and 1886 thirteen new banks were incor-
porated. There were four in 1882, three in 1883,
four in 1884, and two in 1886. Of these, four were
proposed for Winnipeg, Manitoba, but only one,
the Commercial Bank of Manitoba, started. Of
the two for Montreal, including the Planters'
Bank of Canada, which was to have branches and
local Directors in the United Kingdom and the
West Indies, neither began business. Of two
intended for London, Ontario, only the Bank of
London in Canada was established. Of the three
whose head offices were to be in Toronto, only the
Central Bank of Canada and the Traders' Bank
of Canada secured the necessary capital. One
other corporation, the Western Bank of Canada,
opened in Oshawa, Ontario. Of these institu-
tions several were very unfortunate or badly
managed. The Bank of London in Canada was
chartered in 1883 by William Woodruff, Hon.
John G. Haggart, M.P., George K. Atkinson,
Hugh Sutherland of Winnipeg, George T. Orton
of Winnipeg, P. J. Brown, and Duncan Mc-
M illan. Though its capital and business were com-
paratively small, the Bank or its President was very
speculative, and the failure came in 1887, largely
helped through association with an insolvent Loan
Company. The Central Bank of Canada, with
CANADA: AN ENCYCl.OP.KDIA.
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headquarters in Toronto, started in the same year,
and suspended also in 1887. Its incorporators
were David Hlain, Henry O'Hrien, y.c, C.
Blackett Robinson, Robert Hay, H. P. Dwi^lit,
Samuel Trees, and A. McLean Howard. After
four years of business, its capit.U of $500,000 and
the proceeds of the double liability of shareholders
were alike sunk. Note-holders and creditors
were, however, practically paid in full.
The Commercial Hank of Manitoba was equally
unfortunate. Chartered in 1884, during the
period of inflation, by the Hon. A. G. Hannatyne,
J. B. McKilligan, Hober Archibald, H. M. Howell,
Henry Vivian and others, it practically represen-
ted the private banking business of MarArthur,
Boyle & Campbell of Winnipeg. It was managed
in a way beneficial to local development, but not
apparently upon sufficiently strict business princi-
ples, and in July, 1893, was obliged to suspend
operations. The Traders Bank of Canada was
incorporated in 1884 by Edmund G. Burk, John
Carveth, Lt. -Colonel Cubitt, J. B. Fairbairn,
Aaron Buckler, J. J. Tilley, R. R. Loscombe, A.
H. Leith, John Milne, John Rankin, and other
capitalists — chiefly of Bownianville, Ontario. The
Western Bank of Canada, with headquarters
at Oshawa, was chartered in i88j, by a number
of local men, including W. F. Cowan, R. Hamlin
W. F. Allen, T, H. McMillan, John Cowan,
Henry Brian, William Brien, A. English, and J.
A. Gibson.
Efforts were made at this time to attract Eng-
lish capital into Canadian banks after the Aus-
tralian fashion, but without much success. The
Commercial of Manitoba did obtain some small
portion, to the subsequent sorrow of the English
shareholders. In 1875 the projected Banque St.
Jean Baptiste of Montreal and the Chartered Bank
of London and North America had made efforts
along this line, but without success, and their
charters were forfeited. So with the London and
Canada Bank chartered in 1877, and the Chartered
Bank of London and Winnipeg, in 1880. During
this second period of expansion the Canadian
banks did a good business. On December 31st,
1880, their total deposits were $79,000,000, and
on the last day of 1889 were $126,000,000; the
total liabilities rose from $121,000,000 to $171,-
000,000 ; the discounts to the public from
$105,000,000 to $150,000,000 ; and the total assets
from $192,000,000 to $252,000,000. '''hen came
the reaction and the failures which have been
referred to, and a reduction in the capital of five
banks between 1882-88 amounting to $4,000,000.
The financial inflation of 1880 in Winnipeg
and the North- West will not soon be forgotten in
the Dominion. It affected many parts of Can-
ada, and naturally caused much trouble to the
banks in Manitoba. The era of railway construc-
tion, immigration, settlement, and trading in real
estate, between 1879 and 1880, had developed a
land " boom " of the most distinct American
type. The price of building lots in Winnipeg,
the Provincial capital, rose above the value of
land centrally located in Toronto and Montreal.
All kinds of land schemes were started, and there
was a corresponding expansion of enterprises of
every kind. " Thousands of persons in Ontario
sold the solid securities which often comprised
their entire fortune to put the proceeds in lands
in prairie villages of which the ink on the first
survey was hardly dry." As others lost, they lost.
The upward flight of values was high, but it was
brief, and the end came late in the autumn of 1882.
Millionaires in prospect found themselves paupers
in fact. The inflation was tolerably thorough
throughout the Province ; and when land values
fell, a good part of the community became prac-
tically insolvent. This caused other failures in
what might be termed legitimate busi.iess, and
this re-acted heavily upon the banks. As Mr.
Breckenridge says :
" It was on this account, and not because they
had loaned on land or encouraged the inflation,
that the chartered banks who had established
agencies in Manitoba lost heavily. Of the five
banks earliest to enter the field, three dismissed
their Winnipeg managers. This will indicate
how grave were the losses, but not how great. To
know that, one would need for some years to have
attended the regular board meetings of at least
seven different banks. None of these institutions
were compelled to suspend payment. One ad-
vantage of branch banking is the possibility under
it to spread and differentiate risks; the gains of a
bank and the safety of its loaning business as a
whole does not depend on the ups and downs o^
a single community or commercial and industrial
group. HavinEf staked but a part of their funds
in Manitoba, liie banks passed through the trouble
>. •
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486
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.^iDlA.
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with their entire resources lessened, no doubt, but
by no means destroyed, and from gains in the
East they were enabled to meet losses in the
West. The only outward signs of loss were
lower dividends, reduction of, or smaller additions
to Rests, and, : ^ one or two cases, reduction of
capital stock."
The number of chartered banks in the
Dominion ru joth June, 1895, was 38. The recent
development of Canadian banking business may
be seen by the following statement compiled by
the Dominion Statistician :
Capital paid up Circula- People's
Year. per head of tion deposits
population. per head. per head.
1871 $10 30 I5 75 $15 48
i88i 13 76 6 60 21 81
1891 12 56 6 54 30 70
People's
Year. discounts Liabilities. Assets.
per head.
187I $23 33 $22 07 $34 46
1881 27 04 29 40 46 38
189I.... 35 40 38 75 55 72
The flrst chartered bank to suspend business
in Canada after the Confederation of its Pro-
vinces in 1867, was the Commercial Bank of New
Brunswick. The Bank of Acadia (Liverpool,
N.S.) suspended m 1873 ; the Metropolitan
Bank of Montreal in 1877 ; the Mechanics Bank
of Montreal, the Consolidated Bank of Montreal,
the Bank of Liverpool, N.S., and the Stadacona
Bank of Quebec, in 1879 ; the E.\change Bank of
Canada in 1883. The Maritime Bank of St.
John, N.B., the Pictou Bank, the Bank of
London, Ontario, and the Central Bank of Can-
ada suspended in 1887 ; the Federal Bank in
1888 ; and the Commercial Bank of Manitoba in
1893. In all, fourteen banks suspended, repre-
senting assets of over $22,000,000 and liabilities
of over $15,000,000, Of these institutions eleven
have redeemed their notes in full, within a reason-
able time, and the others after a more prolonged
period. Eight paid their deposits in full ; one
(the Mechanics') paid 57J per cent., one (the Ex-
change, paid 64 per cent., exclusive of the final
dividend, and one paid 86f per cent. Mr. R.
M. Breckenridge has summarized a valuable re-
cord of Canadian banking disasters and failures
in the following concise words :
" If any conclusion may be drawn from the
study, it is that the disasters have been due to
faults of practice rather than defects in the
system. It is clear that legislation, scientifically
framed, has not prevented poor management, bad
management or fraud. No one, probably, ever
expected it would. It is clear also that it has
not saved shareholders from loss. A careful
estimate shows that, by reductions of capital,
liquidations, failures, and contributions on the
double liability, shareholders have sunk at least
$23,000,000 in Canadian banking since the ist of
July, 1867. This sum, more than thirty-seven
per cent, of the present paid-up banking capital,
is independent of the losses provided for out of
profits, or met by reduction of Rests. The secur-
ity of a group of banks, however, must be judged,
not by the losses of their proprietors, but by those
of their creditors. We may see now how well the
Canadian system has minimized the creditors'
risks. Out of fifty-six chartered banks, some
time in operation in Canada since the 1st of July,
1867, just thirty-eight survive. Ten of those gone
before have failed. But the total loss of principal
inflicted during twenty-seven years on note-
holder, depositor. Government, or creditor whom-
.soever, has not exceeded $2,000,000, or less than
one percent, of the total (1890) liabilities of Can-
adian banks."
The following^ table, condensed from the Mont-
real Journal of Commerce by Mr. George John-
son, the Dominion Statistician, gives the highest
and lowest quotations for the stocks of certain
banks in the years mentioned, and shows the
remarkable growth of many of these institutions :
1875. 1895.
Montreal H. 195 226
L. 179 2i4i
Ontario H. 113 97
L. loi 80
Merchants H. 118 172^^
L. 90 160
Molsons H. 117 180
L. loi 160
Toronto H. 199 248
L. 117 221
Commerce H. 138 146
L. 118 130
^i I
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
487
ons :
1895.
226
214}
97
80
172^
160
180
160
248
221
146
130
1875. 1895.
Standard H 168
L if)i
Ville Marie H. 103 "Ji
L. 86 70
Eastern Townships H. 125 145
L. 100 135
Quebec H. 116 130
L. 107 112^^
Union of Canada H. 106 103!^
L. 83 97
Hamilton H. 95 160J
L. go 153
Dominion H. 120 276J
L. Ill 245
British North America H. 152 156
L. 146 looj
Nationale H. 115 78
L. 105 55'^
Jacques Cart ier H. 107 119
L. 15 100
Imperial H. 106 190
L. 100 177.J
Hochelaga H 129
L 120
The Canadian Bankers' Association was
organized on December 17th, 1891, at an inau-
gural meeting held in Montreal. Mr. George
Hague, General Manager of the Merchants Bank
of Canada, who had for years urged its forma-
tion, was elected President. The importance
of having such an association had been im-
pressed upon leading bankers when conferring
together, in j8go, regarding the renewal of the
bank charters. After considerable difficulty, owing
to the wide extent of the Dominion and the di-
verse interests represented by various localities,
a constitution was finally arranged and officers
elected. The objects of the Association, as stated
in its constitution, were as follows:
" To carefully watch proposed legislation and
decisions of the Courts in matters relating to
banking, and to take action thereon ; also, to take
such action as may be deemed advisable in pro-
tecting the interests of the contributories to the
bank circulation redemption fund, and all matters
affecting the interests of the chartered banks.
It shall also be competent for the Association to
promote the efficiency of bank officers by arrang-
ing courses of lectures on commercial law and
banking, by discussions on banking questions, by
competitive papers and examinations. Prizes
may be offered for proficiency, under the direction
and control of the Executive Council."
The annual meetings of the Association and
the Presidents elected have been as follows :
Time. Place. President elected.
May, 1892 Montreal George Hague.
June, 1893 Toronto E. S. Clouston.
Dec, 1893 Montreal B. E. Walker.
July, 1894 Hahfax B. E. Walker.
Sept., 1895 Quebec Thomas Fyshe.
Sept., 1896 Ottawa F. W. Thomas.
Oct., 1897 Niagara Falls.... D. R. Wilkie.
Mr. Clouston, General Manager of the Bank of
Montreal, declined to act in 1893, and, at a sub-
E. S. Clouston.
sequent meeting of the Executive Committee, Mr.
Walker, of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, was
elected in his place.
The Bank of Montreal has the double distinc-
tion of being the first bank in Canada and the
greatest banking institution upon the continent of
America. Its capital and reserve fund are alike
the largest of any Canadian or American institu-
tion. The men who organized it in 1817 were
f 1,7
M
M
488
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
•m<: .
B
■iJ-
remarkable for their caution, and when the new
venture was started with Mr. John Gray as Presi-
dent, they were content to rent offices at ;{"i5o
per annum. The charge of the business was
placed in the hands of Mr. Robert Griffin, as
Cashier, and operations were commenced with a
paid-up capital of $350,000. In 1819 this was
increased to $650,000, and in the following year
to $750,000. In connection with the organiza-
tion of the Bank the Quebec Ga~ette of May 29th,
1817, had the following extract, stated as being
quoted from the Montreal Herald of May 22nd :
" In the first pages of this paper the articles of
the Montreal Bank Association are laid before
the ppblic. Such an establishment has always
been a favourite with this journal, and we cannot
but congratulate the community on the prospect
of a wonderful change for the better in the agri-
cultural and mercantile pursuits of this Province.
The articles of this most laudable Association, so
far as we are enabled to judge from practical ex-
perience in our younger years, and from much
reading, are drawn up with great judgment and
wisdom, and seem extremely well calculated for
our local position. We forbear making any
remarks on the subject for the present, further
than that we wish the establishment the utmost
success in all its bearings."
Associated with Mr. Griffin in the early man-
agement of the Bank were H. Dupuy as Account-
ant, and Mr. Stone, an American, as one of the
Tellers. The Directors, during the first year, were
men of high business standing, and included
John Gray, George Gardin, John Forsyth, Hon.
H. Gates, James Leslie, Hon. George Moffatt,
F. W. Ermatinger, D. David, Hon. A. Cuvilier,
John McTavish, George Piatt, Hiram NichoUs,
and Charles Bancroft. The story of its ensuing
financial development is one of the most remark-
able things in banking history. In 1829 its capital
was $850,000 ; in 1841, $2,000,000 ; in 1845,
$3,000,000; in 1855, $4,000,000; in i860, $6,000,-
«oo; in 1873, $12,000,000, at which it now (1897)
stands. During its prolonged career the Bank of
Montreal has had the following Presidents :
Name. ' Date of appointment.
John Gray 9th August, 1817.
Samuel Gerrard 5th June, 1820.
Hon. Horatio Gates 6th June, 1826.
Name. Date of appointment.
Hon. John Molson December, 1826.
Hon. Peter McGill 1835-60.
T. B. Anderson 4th June, i860.
E. H. King 2nd November, 1869.
David Torrance 3rd June, 1873.
Lord Mount Stephen. ..loth March, 1876.
C. F. Smithers 6th June, 1881.
Lord Strathcona and
Mount Royal May, 1887.
The Cashiers or General Managers of the Bank
have included some of the ablest of Canadian
financiers, and were as follows :
R. Griffith, Cashier 1817
Benjamin Holmes, " 1827
Alex. Simpson, " 1846
David Davidson, " 1855
E. H. King, General Manager 1863
R.B.Angus, " " 1869
C. F. Smithers, " " 1879
W.J.Buchanan," " 1881
E. S. Clouston " " 1890
In the first full year (1819) of the Bank's opera-
tions a dividend was paid at the rate of eight per
cent, per annum, and since then (with the excep-
tion of the years 1827 and 1828, when it paid
nothing to the shareholders) the annual dividends
have ranged from six per cent, to sixteen per cent.
That its affairs have been carefully conducted will
be seen by reference to the rest, or reserve fund,
which is practically so much additional capital.
After eight per cent, had been paid as a dividend
in 1819, a balance of $4,168 remained on hand,
and was laid aside as a reserve fund. From that
date of small beginnings the amount has steadily
grown. In 1825 it was $30,780, going down to
$12 064 in the following year, and up to $107,084
two years later; in 1830, it stood at $31,360.
Five years later it stood at $80,660, going up to
$197,828 in 1837 ; in 1840, it showed $89,480; in
1850, $120,192 ; in i860, $740,000; in 1870,
$3,000,000; in 1880, $5,000,000; in 1883, $5,750,-
000 ; in 1897, $6,600,000. Meanwhile the great
disasters which befell the banking community of
England in 1826 exercised a powerful influence
upon Canadian commerce, and strained the strong-
est institutions. Even the Bank of Montreal was
only able to pay three per cent., and that at the
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPyEUlA.
489
cost of more than half of its reserve. Years of
depression followed, but with i8j2 came the
change, and the dividends steadily increased until
sixteen per cent, was paid in dividend and bonus
upon an enormously increased capital.
The prosperity which the Bank of Montreal
has usually had, and its immunity from anything
like serious disaster, must be attributed more or
less to the ability and prudence with which its
affairs have been managed. Under the Presi-
dency of Mr. John Gray, a careful banking system
was established, and Mr. Gray's policy was
Hon. Peter McGill.
endorsed and perpetuated by his successors in
office. In 1827 Mr. Benjamin Holmes had suc-
ceeded Mr. Griffin as Cashier, and during his
regime it was established that the Bank must
depend rather upon the Cashier than the Presi-
dent for general management. Mr. Holmes held
his position until 1827, when he resigned, and
Mr. Alexander Simpson, who had for some years
previously been in charge of the Quebec branch
of the Bank, was appointed to his place. On
Mr. Simpson's retirement in 1855, Mr. David
Davidson, who had been for a considerable time
manager of the Bank of British North America in
Montreal, became Cashier, and at his suggestion
an Act of Parliament was demanded, and granted,
changing the title of Cashier into that of General
Manager. Mr. Davidson was a man of great
ability, and seems to have combined enterprise
and caution in his policy. His first act was a re-
organization of the Bank's system by the introduc-
tion of Scotch methods and principles. At that
time our financial institutions were feeling the
strain of the long-contmued commercial depres-
sion following upon the abolition of the Preferen-
tial Trade system, and Canada was suffering as
only a young and undeveloped country can suffer
in such a time of general disaster. The depres-
sion became a panic in 1857, as a result mainly
of United States troubles, and to Mr. Davidson's
bold policy and full appreciation of the position it
is said that much of the comparative immunity of
the merchants of Montreal was due. Thus a
double object was gained, and while the trade of
Montreal was saved, a very valuable business was
preserved and assured to the Bank.
On Mr. Davidson's retirement to become the
Treasurer of the Bank of Scotland, Mr. E. H.
King, who, as well as Mr. C. F. Smithers, had
been trained in the Bank of British North
America, succeeded to the general management.
His name is distinguished as that of a banker
of exceptionally great ability. Mr. King con-
tinued the policy so successfully inaugurated by
Mr. Davidson, and year by year the position of
the Bank was strengthened while the shareholders
were rewarded with increasing dividends. So
greatly did Mr. King impress himself upon the
business and policy of the institution that in 1859
he was made President, with Mr. R. B. Angus
as General Manager. It was, in fact, a joint
management, for Mr. King did not merely preside
over the Bank's meetings and give its affairs a
brief portion of his time, but devoted himself
entirely to its interests in conjunction with Mr.
Angus. After his retirement in 1873, matters
again reverted into the hands of the General
Manager.
During the succeeding six years Mr. Angus,
who had won the respect and confidence of
Directors, shareholders, and public alike, re-
m
f't'.'i'"'
490
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOI'.KDIA.
w
inained in practical control of the Hank. In
1879 he resigned, and it was feared that his
ability, experience and prudence would be greatly
missed. The Directors, however, turned to Mr.
C. F. Smithers, who had been connected with
the institution almost continuously since 1858,
and had filled the position of Inspector with
much success and, latterly, the position of New
York Agent. Under his management the Hank
weathered the difficulties of that time, and in
i88i the Directors recognized his services by a
reversion to the policy adopted during Mr. King's
regime, and appointed him to the Presidency,
with Mr. \V. J. Buchanan as General Manager.
Mr. Buchanan had been connected with the Bank
since 1853, filling many posts in succession. Mr.
Smithers continued until 1887 to devote all his
time and abilities to the Bunk. In that year he
retired and was succeeded by Sir Donald A.
Smith — now Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.
Mr. Clouston became General Manager in 1890.
It is interesting to note that half a century
ago — in 1848 — the capital of the Bank was $7.50,-
000, and the Directors included such prominent
local business men as the Hon. Peter McGill, T.
B. Anderson, Hugh Allan, John Molson, John
Redpath, Thomas Ryan, Harrison Stephens and
John Torrance. The Directors elected in 1897
were Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, R. B.
Angus, E. B. Greenshields, Hon. George A.
Drummond, A. F. Gault,W. C. McDonald, Hugh
McLennan, W. W. Ogilvie, and A. T. Patterson.
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal was re-elected
President and Senator Drummond Vice-Presi-
dent.
The Quebec Bank was formed in 1818 by a
number of Quebec merchants and residents, who
did not think the newly organized Bank of Mont-
real sufficient for the needs of the Province and
of their own city. According to a notice in the
Quebec Gazette of February 22nd, a public meet-
ing was called for the 5th inst. following of all
who were " concerned in the agricultural trade
and general interests of the Province, to take
into consideration the e.xpediency of establishing
a bank in this city." The resolution which fol-
lows was duly passed at this meeting :
"Resolved, that the establishment of a bank in
the City of Quebec is an object of the highest
importance to the community at large ; should
materially assist the agricultural interests of the
district, and afford great relief to the commerce of
the country, so much depressed at this moment.
Resolved, that the said establishment of a bank
on principles of solid capital and integrity is
immediately and urgently required by all classes
ol the citizens of Quebec ; and more particularly
so as the actual quantity of gold and silver is, as a
circulating medium, inadequate to the wants of
this district, and subject to perpetual fluctua-
tions.
Resolved, that a bank should be established in
thecityof Quebec, to be entitled the Quebec Bank ;
and that at such future period as may be thought
advisable, a memorial be presented to the Legis-
lature, praying that an Act may be passed to
incorporate the same.
Resolved, that experience has proved that a
bank may be established and operated, on princi-
ples of the most solid and perfect security, both
to the individual stockholders and to the public
at large, without any charter of incorporation.
That this meeting do approve of the schedule
now submitted as the basis of a contract of mutual
association, for the establishment of a bank in
this city."
Articles of association were accordingly drawn
up by the Committee which was then appointed,
and these were afterwards accepted. By the 17th
of September sufficient stock had been subscribed
to permit of the Directors being elected. The
following were duly chosen : J. M. Woolsey,
President; Thomas White, Vice-President ; P. A.
de Gasp(5, James McCallum, Sr., Benjamin Tre-
main, John Jones, Jr., W. G. Sheppard, Charles
Smith, Louis Massue, John Goudie, Jean Lange-
vin, E. C. Lageux and Henry Black, Directors.
Some efforts had been previously made to amalga-
mate the projected concern with the Bank of
Montreal, but unsuccessfully, and the latter insti-
tution soon opened a branch of its own in Quebec.
The Presidents of the Quebec Bank following
Mr. Woolsey's retirement were W. G. Sheppard,
who was elected in 1823; Charles Smith, 1832;
John Eraser, 1838; James Gibb, 1842; W. H.
Anderson, 1859 ; D. D. Young, 1863 ; Hon. James
G. Ross, 1869 ; Robert H. Smith, 1888 ; John
Breakey, 1897. Noah Freer was the first Cashier,
and held that position from 1818 to 1852. He
was succeeded by Mr. C. Gethings, and he in turn
by Mr. William Dunn in 1861. Mr. James Steven-
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA. 491
8on, who proved himself an able financier and „ ., . „."'«'"*' ,, ^ '"*•''
' Vear. Month. Clri;uliillun. Month. Llri;ulaliun. l:«|mn>loB.
was well known throughout the Dominion as a ,857 January.. $11,873.7.10 Decemi«;r $8,757,315 $3,116,415
leading banker, was Cashier from 1865 until his 1858 October.. 10,177,414 .May 7,(38^,350 2,495,064
death in 1894, Three years before that time the 1859 (Jciolicr. 11,236,055 .May 8,122.125 3.HJ.950
title of the office was chanRed to General Mana. >»^ October.. 14,756.242 May 9,478,44° S,m,»o2
y, -,. xf I^ II It \f 1861 Uclol)er.. 15,259,202 April 10,036,451 5. "2, 751
ger. Mr. Thomas McDougall succeeded Mr. ,862 February. 12,812,268 December 9,868,997 2,943,027
.Stevenson. 1863 OctoUr.. 11,288,890 .May 8,372,567 2,916,323
The capital stock of the bank is $2,500,000 and 1864 January. . 10,982,726 August... 8,525.475 2,457,251
the rest $600,000. The Report for the year end- "«6S October.. .4,258.655 July 8,169,289 6,189,366
ingisth May, i897,gaveitsdepositsas $7,061,538; it illustrates how great the fluctuations were
its note circulation as $903,485 ; and its notes and and how usefully the banks responded then, as
bills discounted as $8,299,641. The President they do now. to the requirements of the commun-
elected at the annual meeting in 1897 was Mr. jty. with these figures may be compared those
John Breakey ; the Vice-President, Mr. W. J. of 1895, which, of course, covered the whole
Withall ; and the Directors chosen were, G. K. Dominion of Canada. The lowest circulation
Renfrew, S. J. Shaw, John T. Ross, Gaspard {„ that year was in February, and arflounted to
Lemoine, and W. A. Marsh. $28,815,434 ; the highest was in October, and
The Bank of British Columbia was incorpor- '.^'f''^ '^^ *°*-?l "^ $34,671,028. These figures
ated by Royal Charter on 31st May, 1862. 'n^'cate better than many pages of argument how
with Mr. F. W. L. Macklem as Chairman of the ^^""'^^^ *^^ h^n\,mg system of Canada responds
Board in London. The Victoria, B.C.. branch was *° *^" *=""'^""y "''"'^^ °^ f '^"""'■"^ '^'^'^^ ^^^ **»
J • .. . -iU r I^ i.r 11 move crops and carry on business over ^,000,000
opened m that year, with James D. Walker as ■, r , ■ , , ,
y, u J J u TA nf T SQuarc milcs of thinly scttlcd temtory.
Manager. He was succeeded by D. M. Lang m ^ ■'
1864, W. C. Ward in 1866, and George Gillespie
in 1892. The branch at New Westminster was "^^^ Merchants Bank of Canada owes its exist-
opened in 1864, at Vancouver in 1886, at Nan- ^"^«^ *° *^^ exertions of one of Montreal's great-
aimo in 1887. at Kamloops in 1887, at Nelson in «^' citizens, the late Sir Hugh Allan. It was
1892, and at Kaslo and Sandon in 1896. The founded in 1864 (despite a general belief that
Bank of British Columbia has no branches out- ^^^'^^ ^^^^ ^^'"'^'y '■°°'" f""" ^"''^h^'^ banking exten-
side of the Province, and, judging by its gradual s'°") ^"^ commenced business with a subscribed
extension, as settlement and mining progresses, capital of $1,000,000. Those who asked for incor-
has been mainly desirous of keeping in touch with poration were Hugh Allan, the Hon. Louis
local development. Since 1876 the Chairman has Renaud. Harrison Stephens, the Hon. John
been Sir Robert Gillespie. The paid-up capital ^''^^"S. H. H. Whitney. Damase Masson. Andrew
is ^600,000 and the Secretary and Manager in ^llan. Edwin Atwater. William Edmundstone,
London is Mr. S. Cameron Alexander. The Jo^n Smith, Ira Gould and R. Anderson. Sir
other Directors in London for 1897 were C. W. ""^^ Allan became President and Mr. Jackson
Benson, Henry J. Gardner, T. G. Gillespie and ^ae. Cashier. Before the first Report, produced
Guy Oswald Smith. The bills discounted and '" !"'>'. 1865, the paid-up capital had been
loans during 1896 amounted to £1,092,403, and increased to $537,060, and as justification of the
the deposits to £1,508,078. The Reserve Fund judgment of those who had started the Bank,
of the Bank was then £100,000, or $500,000. a dividend at the rate of eight per cent, was paid for
the first year. In the following year the paid-up
The following table of the highest and lowest capital was increased to $657,952, upon which
circulation of bank notes in the old Province of the net profit was $94,793, or nearly 14J percent.
Canada during 1857-1865 inclusive, from the upon the capital. During this year a further
Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Bank- issue of stock was made and taken up, which
ing and Currency — Journals, Hou.se of Commons, increased the capital of the Bank in 1867 to
1869 — is of value : $941,970, or an average of $857,985 for the year.
f'
m
493
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP.KUIA.
'IKm.
Si
^{j; ;.,, :
^r- ■
upon which a net profit of §108,^08.50 was m.uli-,
or uj per cent. On this declaration of succtss
it was resolved to increase the subscribed capital
to $J, 000,000, whicli was at once taiien by tiie
existing,' stockholders. Ne|,'()tiations were after-
wards commenced for assuming the business of
the Commercial Hank of Canada, which had its
headipiarters at Kingston, and had recently
suspended payment. They finally resulted in the
shareholders of the Commercial Hank receiving
one share in the Merchants Hank of Canada for
every three in the suspended concern. To meet
the great volume of business thus created the
Directors determined to further increase the sub-
scribed cai)ital to $4,000,000. The stock offered
was taken«up, and, also, a further issue of $i,ooo,-
000 in I1S69.
Tor many years the success of the Hank was
very great and numerous branches were opened
in various parts of the Dominion, which added
greatly to the general business done. The ordin-
ary net profits on each year's operations were 12^
per cent., eight per cent, dividends were paid and
the balance added to the Rest. The Report of
1873 showed a paid-up capital of $6,946,280, a
Rest of $1,700,000, and a net profit of $753,712.65.
Although the mercantile community met with a
severe check in 1874, the Merchants Hank made a
net profit of $940,968, and paid its shareholders a
dividend of nine per cent. In 1875 the Report
gave a paid-up capital of $8,102,046.67, a Rest of
$1,850,000, and a net profit of $834,202.84, which
allowed a dividend of nine per cent. A period of
depression set in about the banking year 1874.5,
which continued for six years. The Hank made
heavy losses during this period, and confidence
was much shaken.
During the year 1876-77, the General Man-
ager, Mr. Jackson Rae, resigned his position, and
Sir Hugh Allan vacated the President's chair.
The Hon. John Hamilton was elected President,
and the Directors had to cast about for the best
possible Manager to meet the emergency. For-
tunately for the Directors and shareholders, the
man they needed was available, and Mr. George
Hague, formerly Cashier of the Bank of Toronto,
accepted the position. He had learned his busi-
ness in England and learned it well before he
came to Canada in 1854. His f;rst banking posi-
tion here was that of Accountant in the recently
formed Hank of Toronto. Then followed the
Managership of a branch, and that of the head
office and the institution generally during a term
of fourteen years. On his taking charge of the
Merchants Bank a new policy was promptly
inaugurated, which included the cutting down
the number of branches, and a well-organized
system of inspection. A careful survey of the
position by the new Manager and a Committee of
the Directors showed that the Capital Account had
to be reduced to about five and a half millions, and
the Contingent Fund to $750,000. In this dissec-
tion nothing was spared, everything doubtful was
written off, and the institution placed upon a
sound basis. Public confidence soon came to the
hclj) of the Management, and the re-organization
resulted in a better system of business, with the
result that dividends of six and seven per cent,
were paid. By the Report of 1878 the paid-up
capital was shown to be $5,461,790, the Rest
$475,000, the Contingent Fund $530,000, and the
dividend for the year was seven per cent, on the
capital.
The subscribed capital at this time was $6,000,-
000, and the remaining instalments after 1878
were gradually called in, until the amount paid up
equalled the amount subscribed, viz., $6,000,000.
The business and profits of the Bank thereafter
steadily increased, and dividends of 7 per cent,
were regularly paid. The Rest also steadily
increased and amounted in 1883 to $1,150,-
000 ; in 1889, to $2,135,000 ; in 1895, to $3,000,-
000. When the Rest attained the latter sum
(being half of the capital) the dividend was
increased to 8 per cent., at which, with the
Rest at $3,000,000, it is still maintained. In
the year 1882 Sir Hugh Allan was again elected
President. He shortly afterwards died suddenly
in Scotland, and Mr. Andrew Allan, his brother,
was chosen to fill the vacant post, and has re-
tained it ever since.
In 1897 Mr. Thomas Fyshe, Cashier of the
Bank of Nova Scotia for many years, became
associated with Mr. Hague in the General Man-
agement. During the same year the following
Directors were elected : Mr. Andrew Allan,
President ; Mr. Hector Mackenzie, Vice-Presi-
dent ; and Messrs. Jonathon Hodgson, John Gas-
■■
MMWMMlMM
tmmi I I ■
fter
was
the
In
jcted
enly
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f the
ame
Man-
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llan,
'resi-
Cas-
M/
CANADA: AN RNCVCI.OFMiniA. 493
■ills, H. Montagu Allan, J. F. Dawes, Robert deposits dmountiriR to $5,50^,766; a Reserve Fund
Mackay, of Montreal, Mr. T. 11. Dunn of (Jiie- of f'^550,000; call and siiort lo.ms on stocks an<l
bee, and Mr. Thomas Long of Toronto. bonds of $I,JJO,J()^ ; current loans and discounts
of Ss.rm.fjji. It is interesting to note that dur-
It Is Interestingf to note here the organization ing the eii^lit years preceding susiiension, iSSs-qj,
of a somewhat peculiar institution, winch retained the circulation of the Hank increased by $450,000,
its early characteristics until its suspension in its deposits by over $4,001 (,000, and its loans by
1894. The French-Canadian banking firm of $4,200,000.
Viger, DeWitt ct Cie began business in iXjj. It
was a co-partnership composed of some twelve The Canadian Bank of Cd " 'roe, which ranks
principal partners or members, and an indefinite in relation to its capital as o.. > the chief finan-
number oi cominandiUiires or partners in com- cial institutions of the Dominion, was established
mendam. Of the principal partners was required in 1867, the first Directors being the Hon.
a considerable contribution of capital in each William Mc Master, President ; H. S. Howland,
case; in them exclusively was vested the man- Vice-President; James Austin, William Elliott,
agement of the bank ; and against them was a T. Sutherland Stayner, and John Taylor. The
joint and several liability for all the debts of the promoters had purchased the charter of the Bank
bank. T\\o comiKanditaires had no voice in the of Can. ida, which had been obtained in 1858 from
management of the bank, were exempt from any the Legislative Assembly of that time by a num-
liability beyond the aniount of their subscribed ber of prominent men including the Hon. William
stock, and were entitled to dividends on their Cayley, Hon. Joseph Curran Morrison, Angus
contributions of paid-up capital at the same rate Morrison, y.C, Hon. John Ross, Hon. Henry J.
as the principal partners. Concerning this insti- Boulton, and Lieut. -Colonel F. W. Cumberland,
tntion Lord Durham remarked in his famous For various reasons it had never become operative
Report: " The establishment of the Banque du and the name was now changed to that of the Can-
Peuple by French capitalists is an event which adian Bank of Commerce (29-30 Vict. Cap. 87-8).
may be regarded as a satisfactory indication of an The paid-up capital of the new institution at the
awakening commercial energy among the French, close of the first year was .$916,359, and the Rest
and it is, therefore, very much to be regretted $40,000. Sincethat date the capital has increased
that the success of the new enterprise was uni- as follows :
formly promoted by direct and illiberal appeals to 1869 $1,408,875
the national feelings of the race." The firm was 1870 2,036,765
incorporated in 1844 as La Banque du Peuple 1871 3,193,000
with an authorized stock of ;f 200,000. 1872 4,748,334
The incorporators and original promoters were 1873 5>^75>273
the Hon. L. M. Viger, Jacob DeWitt, Pierre 1874 6,000,000
Beaubien, Augustin TuUoch, Hosea Ballow It now stands at the latter figure, the Reserve
Smith, Rom^fald Trudeau, Pierre Jodoin, A. E. Fund amounting to $1,000,000. In 1870 the
Montmarquet and others. The institution during amalgamation of the Gore Bank and the Cana-
its half century of existence had the following dian Bank of Commerce was effected. The former
Presidents: Hon. L. M. Viger, Jacob DeWitt, institution had been established at Hamilton
H. F. A. Quesnel, H. B. Smith, John Pratt, C. S. as early as 1833, and up to the time of the failure
Cherrier,y.C.,and Jacques Grenier. of the Bank of Upper Canada in 1866 had enjoyed
The Cashiers included M. Letoumeux, B. H. a fairly prosperous career. But the necessity of
Lemoine, A. A. Trottier and J. S. Bousquet. transferring its somewhat heavy Montreal account
The statement of this Bank, on March ist, 1893, to the Commercial Bank, which in the succeed-
theyear before suspension and liquidation, showed ing year was incorporated with the Merchants
annual net profits of $155,220 upon a paid-up Bank of Canada, caused embarrassment to the
capital of $1,200,000; a circulaton of $752,446; Hamilton institution, and between June, 1867, and
?;
PPF
494
CANADA : AN RNCYCLOP.EDIA.
■\t
<\'>
»-1i .ii
^fi
June, 1868, its deposits were reduced by $76,000
and its circulation by over $330,000. The Bank
of Montreal and some uf the Ontario banks
at^l^anced $350,000 for its help, and in June, 1869,
its stock was reduced by Act of Parliament. The
Bank was still solvent, but the shareholders
decided in August of the same year to accept an
offer from the Canadian Bank of Commerce of
lifty-five cents on the dollar upon their paid-up
.ock in shares of the Commerce worth $1.05}.
Thus disappeared the last of the banks chartered
by Upper Canada. This change naturally
increased the business of the amalgamated insti-
tution very largely. Branches were opened or
maintained at points where the Gore Bank had
operated, and elsewhere, until the total number
amounted in 1897 to forty-six. The Presidents of
the Canadian Bank of Commerce since its incep-
tion have included the Hon. William McMaster
from 1867 to 18S6; Mr. Henry W. Darling from
1886 to 1890; and the Hon. George A. Cox from
1890 to the present time. The General Managers
have been: Mr. A. Greer, 1867-68; Mr. R. J.
Dallas, 1868-70; Mr. Henry S. Strathy, 1870-73;
Mr. W. N. Anderson, 1873-86; and Mr. Byron
E. Walker, from the latter date to the present.
Details concerning: Canadian bankingf history
might be extended almost indefinitely. The
Niagara District Bank was incorporated at the
request of the Hon. James Morris, the Hon. John
Sandfield Macdonald — afterwards Premier of On-
tario — the Hon. John Ross, the Hon. Hamilton H.
Killaly, the Hon. William Hamilton Merritt,
Thomas Clarke Street, James Benson, John
Arnold, J. P. Merritt, Thomas R. Merritt, Nehe-
miah Merritt and William Mattice. Its capital
stock WIS /['25o.noo. In 1875 the institution was
amalgamated with the newlyfornrjd Imperial Bank
of Canada under the management of Mr. D. R.
Wilkie who has since been chiefly instrumental
in bringing the institution into its present strong
position. Like Mr. Wilkie in connection with
the Imperial Bank, Mr. Hague with the Mer-
chants' Bank, and Mr. Fyshe with that of Nova
Scotia, the late Mr. R. H. Bethune was the chief
moulding influence in connection with the rise
and progress of the Dominion Bank, which now
possesses a reserve fund equal to its capital, and
an unusual measure of public credit. He took
charge of its affairs at the incorporation of the
bank in 1871 and managed them until his death
in March, 1897. During the year 1855 two other
banks were organized, which are still in existence
(1897). The first was the Eastern Townships Bank,
which included amongst its promoters and incor-
porators Benjamin Pomeroy, Duncan McDonald,
George F. Bowen, L. E. Morals, Albert P. Ball, Sir
A. T. Gait, Hon. John S. Sanborn and others,
chiefly of Sherbrooke in Lower Canada. The
second was the Bank of Toronto, which com-
menced business with a capital stock of $500,000 —
of which $27,435 was paid-up. Its chief incorpor-
ators were William Gamble, Sir William P. How-
land, John Brunskill, George P. Dickson, W. R.
Wadsworth, Abraham Reesor, John W. Gamble,
John Proudfoot, Ebenezer Perry, Gooderham &
Worts, T. R. Merritt, and Hon. T. N. Gibbs.
Mr. J. G. Chewett was its first President, and his
successor for many years was the late William
Gooderham. The Ontario Bank has had various
financial, and even political, fluctuations. It was
chartered in 1857 by tha Hon. John Simpson,
Edward J. Burton, John Milne, John Burk, David
Fisher, John McClung, F. F. McArthur, William
McMartry, the Hon. T. N. Gibbs and others in
Bowmanvillc, and vicinity. Mr. David Fisher
was Cashier for many years.
m
TWIMMgaiiiii'
THE CANADIAN AND AMERICAN BANKING SYSTEMS
BYRON E. WALKER, F.G.S.
IN common with other social developments
modern banking is mainly the resnlt of here-
dity and environment, and not of arbitrary
legislation or the general admission in any
wide degree of settled principles in the practice of
banking. A student endeavouring to understand
the science of banking or seeking to discover some
body of principles underlying the practice of bank-
ing throughout the world, is confused by the radi-
cal differences between the systems of the various
nations and the complicated nature of the condi-
tions surrounding each of these systems. The most
cherished dogma of one country is rank heresy in
another. The principles suitable to an old coun-
try, with a compact population, a highly deve-
Ithas been occasionally urged by writers in finan-
cial journals published in the American Republic
that banking in Canada is a monopoly, and there-
fore unsuited to the democratic principles of the
United States. These writers have overlooked
the fact that the Province of Ontario, the centre
of progress and thought in the Dominion, is the
most democratic community in the British Em-
pire, and that the legislation of Canada, whether
in form or not, is in reality as liberal as it well
can be. Banking in Canada is not in any sense
a monopoly. Whether it can be said to be " free
banking," as understood in the United States,
depends on what is meant by that term. In the
United States a certain number of individuals
loped railroad and telegraph organi;;ation for the having complied with certain requirements — more
distribution of commodities, and information and
wealth enough to be lenders to other nations, are
not applicable to a new country with a scattered
population, imperfect means of distribution, and
little wealth apart from fixed property— a country
indeed, requiring to borrow largely from older and
wealthier communit;cs.
Again, if in any country banking has been left
to develop itself in accordance alone with the re-
quirements of trade, or nearly so, that country has
been fortunate in this respect as compared with
others where the national debt, caused by war or
extravagances in public works, has been made the
basis of the currency. Sometimes, however, the
condition of the present environment in two coun-
tries may be in many respects similar, and yet a
practice in banking which has worked out desir-
able res-jlts in one of those countries cannot be
attempted in the other. The body of banking
principles in the other country may be so differ-
ent, because of hereditary influences, as to make
it impossible by any kind of evolution to add the
practice which has proved so serviceable else-
where.
numerous anil more complicated, by the way, than
the Canadian reiiuirements — become thereby an
incorporated bank, if we regard the consent of
the Comptroller of Currency as a matter of fo>-'".
In Canada, merely in order to follow the British
Parliamentary methods, when a certain number
of individuals have complied with certain require-
ments, they are supposed to have applied lor a
charter, which Parliament theoretically might re-
fuse, but which as a matter of fact would not be
refused unless doubt existed as to the bona fide
character of the proposed bank. Then, as in the
United States, on complying with certain other
requirements and obtaining consent of the Treas-
ury Hoard (performing in this case the same func-
tion as the Comptroller of Currency in the United
States) the bank is ready for business.
The main difference in the matter of obtaining
the privilege from the people to carry on the
business of banking is that in Canada the sub-
scribed capital must be $500,000 paid up to the
extent of one-half, or $250,000; and this fact
must be proved by the temporary deposit of the
actual money with the Treasury Department. If
'. !
495
^
m
';■ i .
ill
^£ii!K -,
496
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.HDIA.
it is contended that a monopolistic element is in-
troduced by malting the minimum paid-up capital
$250,000, I have only to point to the varying
minimum of capital in the U. S. National banking
system, based upon the population of the city or
town where a bank is established. The minimum
with us is placed so high because with the privi-
lege to carry on the business of banking is
attached the privilege to open branches and to
issue a bank-note currency not secured by i>necial
pledge with the Government. In the opinion of
many Canadians the minimum is too small. So
much for the statement that banking is less
" free " in Canada than in the United States. I
think the term " free bankinf,," about which so
much was written in the ante-bellum days, is a
misnomer, and I hope there are many in the
United States who agree with me that a little less
freedom in the ability to create a bank and a little
more knowledge on the part of the people regard-
ing the true function of banking and its high
place in the world of commerce would be for the
public good. What is wanted is the most abso-
lute evidence, when a bank is created, that its
projectors are embarking in a bona fide venture,
and have put at risk a sum considerable enough
to ensure that fact.
In Canada, as in the United States, sharehold-
ers in banks are subject to what is known as
" double liability." For the benefit of any who
may not understand the phrase, I will quote the
section in full: " In the event of the property and
assets of the bank being insufficient to pay its
debts and liabilities, each shareholder of the bank
shall be liable for the deficiency to an amount
equal to the par value of the shares held by him,
in addition to any amount not paid up on such
shares." I can remember when the practical
value of this power to call on the shareholders,
in the event of the failure of a bank, for a second
payment to the extent of the subscribed amount
of the shares was doubted by many. Shares were
transferred just before failure to men unable to
meet such calls and willing to be used in this
manner, or shares were found to be held by men
of straw who owed a corresponding amount to
the bank. Or, again, many of the shareholders
were borrowers for amounts far in excess of their
holdings in shares, and the failure of the bank
precipitated their failure as well, and they were
thus unable to pay. Of course there were always
some real investors amongst the shareholders,
but the value of the double liability was a very
variable and doubtful quantity. These features
have not, as we know, all passed away, but we
have done as much as we could to guarantee an
honest share list, and to prevent the shareholder
from escaping his liability.
Banks are not allosved to lend money on their
own or the stoclof any other Canadian bank, and
as the minimum paid-up capital of $250,000 must
be deposited with the Finance Department before
a bank commences business, this should insure an
honest capital at the start. All transfers of shares
must be accepted by the transferee. No transfers
within sixty days before the failure avoid the
double liability of the transferrer unless the trans-
feree is able to pay. A list of the shareholders in
all banks is published annually by the Govern-
ment, and this book is eagerly examined by in-
vestors to ascertain changes in the share list of
banks which might indicate distrust. As the
capital of each bank is large, and the number of
banks small relatively to the United States, there
is, regarding everything connected with the credit
of a Canadian bank, an amount of public scrutiny
which leads to circumspection in the conduct of
bank authorities. Again, the very fact that the
capital is large and that the banks have many
branches, and a more or less national character,
causes the stock to be widely held. In the
largest banks the share lists number from 1,800
to 2,000 names. We still, doubtless, have plenty
of bad banking, and will always have it. No
legislative checks will prevent that, and even a
severe public scrutiny will not altogether prevent
it, but our banking history since the Confedera-
tion of the old Provinces into the Dominion in
1867, shows that the double liability has been a most
substantial asset, and has done much towards
enabling liquidated banks to pay in full. In the
Province of Ontario we have the fine record of no
instance, save one, since Confederation in which
all creditors have not been paid in full. In the
case of this one blemish the dividends amounted
to ggi cents to depositors, only the unwarrant-
ably high fees paid to the liquidators causing the
dividend to fall below 100 cents. In the short
■as
:tsz^sss^
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
497
Jife of this institution almost every sin in the
calendar of banking had been committed.
Under the United States National banking
system the life of a bank is limited to twenty
years from the date of the execution of the parti-
cular bank's certificate of organization, but at the
expiration of the first, or any succeeding period,
the bank, if it elects to do so, may have its cor-
porate existence renewed for the same number of
years. Under the Canadian system the charter
of every bank expires at the same time, and the
renewal period is only ten years. I do not intend
to discuss the length of the period — most of us
think it quite too short. It is the effect of all
charters expiring at the same time to which I
desire to draw attention. This condition of
things doubtless arose merely from the Provinces
having granted the existing charters before Con-
federation in 1867, and having then surrendered
their authority over banking institutions to the
Federal Government. As the charters granted
by the old Provinces expired, the banks working
under them became institutions subject to the
new Federal or Dominion Banking Act, and by
its conditions every charter expires at the same
time. This ensures a complete discussion of the
principles underlying the Act, and of the details
connected with the working of it, once in ten
years. In the interval we are almost free from
attempts by demagogues or ambitious but ill-
informed legislators to interfere with the details
of our system, although during the session of
Parliament preceding the date of expiry of the
c^^arters we have to defend our system from the
demagogue, the bank-hater, the honest but inex-
perienced citizen who writes letters to the press,
sometimes from the press itself, indeed from all
the sources of attack which institutions possess-
ing a franchise granted by the people experience
when they come before the public to answer for
their stewardship.
But, while resisting the attacks of ignorance, we
are, of course, called upon to answer such just
criticism as may arise from the existence of de-
fects in our system developed by the experiences
of time. Or, perhaps, as when the Act was
under discussion in 1890, we may see the defects
even more clearly than the public, and may our-
selves suggest the remedies. Whatever may be
said for or against these decennial battles, the
product of the discussion is a Banking Act, im-
proved in many respects by the exchange of
opinion between the bankers and the public.
The Canadian banking system having been sub-
jected to unsparing analysis by an unusually en-
lightened people — perhaps too democratic in ten-
dency and too jealous of every privilege granted,
but anxious to build rather than destroy — is
brought at each period of renewal to a higher
degree of perfection.
Banking; principles. What then is necessary in a
banking system in order that it may answer the
requirements of a rapidly growing country and
yet be safe and profitable ?
1. It should create a currency free from doubt
as to value, readily convertible into specie, and
answering in volume to the requirements of trade.
In saying this I do not wish to be understood as
asserting that banks should necessarily enjoy the
right to issue notes. Whether they should or
should not issue notes must always, I presume,
end in a discussion as to expediency in the par-
ticular country or banking system.
2. It should possess the machinery necessary
to distribute money over the whole area of the
country, so that the smallest possible inequalities
in the rate of interest will result.
3. It should supply the legitimate wants of the
borrower, not merely under ordinary circumstan-
ces, but in times of financial stress, at least with-
out that curtailment which leads to abnormal
rates of interest and to failures.
4. It should afford the greatest possible measure
of safety to the depositor.
I think, in Canada, that our system possesses
all these qualities, and that the people are confi-
dent that we have a currency perfectly suited to
our trade and other requirements. We have not,
however, arrived at the present reasonably com-
fortable condition by any other process than the
usual slow development from a past full enough
of error and bitter experience.
Note Issues. In the successive banking acts of the
Dominion Parliament banks have been empowered
to issue circulating notes to the extent of the
unimpaired paid-up capital. By the first Act the
note-holders had no greater security than the
depositors and other creditors. At the renewal
... 'I
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498
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.I-DIA.
■■';
of charters in 1880, the circulating note was made
a prior hen upon all assets ; and at the last re-
newal, in 1890, the banks, at their own suggestion,
were in addition required to create in two years a
guarantee fund of five per cent, upon their circu-
lation, to be kept unimpaired, the annual contri-
bution, however, if the fund is depleted, to be
limited to one per cent. The fund is to be used
whenever the liquidator of a failed bank is unable
to redeem note-issues in full after a lapse of sixty
days. Notes of insolvent banks are to bear six
percent, interest from the date of suspension,
until the liquidator announces his ability to
redeem. Banks are also required to make arrange-
ments for the redemption'at par of their notes in
the chief commercial cities in each of the Prov-
inces of the Dominion.
The change in 1880, was caused by the failure
of a small bank with a circulation of about $125,
000, paying all creditors, noteholders included,
only 57^^ per cent. The change in the Act now
in force, was due to the demand for a currency
which would pass over the entire Dominion with-
out discount under any circumstances. The history
of banking in Canada since Confederation shows
no instance in which a depletion of such a guar-
antee fund would have occurred. Fines from
$1,000 to $100,000 may be imposed for the over-
issue of notes. The pledging of notes as security
for a debt, or the fraudulent issue of notes in any
shape, renders all parties participating liable to
fine and imprisonment. As the Crown prerogative
of payment in priority to other creditors had been
set up on behalf of both Dominion and Provincial
Governments, the Act places the claims of the
Dominion second to the note issues, and those of
the Provinces third. Notes of a lesser denomin-
ation than $5 may not be issued, and all notes
must be multiples of .$5. Notes smaller than $5
are issued by the Dominion government. The
distinctive features of these bank note issues are :
(a). They are not secured by the pledge or
special deposit with the government of bonds or
other securities, but are simply credit instruments
based upon the general assets of the bank issuing
them.
(b) In order that they may be not less secure
than notes issued against bonds deposited with
the Government they are made a first charge
upon the assets.
(c). To avoid discount for geographical reasons
each bank is obliged to arrange for the redemption
of its notes in the commercial centres throughout
the Dominion.
(d). To avoid discount at the moment of the
suspension of a bank, either because of delay in
payment of note issues by the liquidator, or of
doubt as to ultimate payment, each bank is
obliged to keep in the hands of the Government
a deposit equal to five per cent, on its average
Byron E. Walker.
Circulation, the average being taken from the
maximum circulation of each bank in each month
of the year. This is called the Bank Circulation
Redemption Fund, and should any liquidator fail
to redeem the note of a failed bank recourse may
be had to the entire fund if necessary. As a
matter of fact liquidators almost invariably are
able to redeem the note issues as they are pre-
sented, but in order that all solvent banks may
accept, without loss, the notes of an insolvent
bank, these notes bear six per cent, interest from
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVK DIA.
499
the
onth
tion
fail
may
As a
y are
pre-
may
Went
from
the dates of suspension to the date of the liquida-
tor's announcement that he is ready to redeem.
Elasticity of Currency. I have already stated in
attempting to outline what is necessary in a
banking system in order that it may answer the
requirements of a rapidly growing country, that
" it should create a currency free from doubt as
to value, readily convertible into specie, and
answering in volume to the requirements of
trade." In an admirable paper on " The Note
Circulation" read in December, i88g, before the
Institute of Bankers in London, England, by Mr.
luglis Palgrave, only two requisites in a note circu-
lation are directly stated as essential : " First, that
it should be completely secured. Second, that it
should be readily convertible into metallic
money." But the discussion which follows bears
directly upon a third requisite ; that it should
answer in volume to the fluctuating requirements
of trade — in a word that it should be elastic.
This last is a much less important point, however,
in England than in North America.
In referring to bank issues I will reverse the
order in which the three requirements are placed
in Mr. Palgrave's paper, and take up the question
of elasticity first. I shall not attempt to discuss
the many and conflicting views held regarding
paper money, its use and abuse, and whether there
is any scientific basis for its issue. In Canada as
in the United States, the resulting difference in
business transactions, after cheques and all other
modern instruments of credit have been used, is
almost entirely paid in paper money. It is there-
fore of the greatest importance that the amount
of this paper money existing at one time shall be
as nearly as possible just suflicient for the
purpose. That is, that there shall be a power to
issue such money when it is required, and also a
power which forces it back for redemption when
it is not required.
I may, therefore, safely lay it down as a prin-
ciple that : (i) There should be as complete a
relation as possible between the currency require-
ments of trade and whatever are the causes which
bring about the issue of paper money. (2) As it
is quite as evident that no over-issue should be
possible as that the supply of currency should be
adequate, there should be a similar relation be-
tween the requirements of trade and the causes
which force notes back for redemption. Now,
certainly one of the causes of the issue of bank
notes is the profit to be derived therefrom, and
it is clear that an amount sufficient for the needs
of trade will not be issued unless it is pro-
fitable to issue. Likewise it is clear that it should
not be possible to keep notes out for the sake of
the profit if they are not needed.
In Canada, bank notes, as we have seen, are
secured by a first lien upon the entire assets of
the bank, including the double liability, the secur-
ity being general and not special — not by the
deposit of government bonds, for instance, as in
the United States. Therefore it is clear that it
will always pay Canadian banks to issue currency
when trade demands it. Because bank notes in
Canada are issued against the general estate of
the bank, they are subject to daily actual redemp-
tion ; and no bank dares to issue notes without
reference to its power to redeem, any more than
a solvent merchant dares to give promissory notes
without reference to his ability to pay. The
presentation for actual redemption of every note
not required for purposes of trade is assured by
the fact that every bank seeks by the activity of
its own business to keep out its own notes, and
therefore sends back daily for redemption the
notes of all other banks. This great feature in
our system, as compared with the National Bank-
ing system of the Republic, is generally over-
looked, but it is because of this daily actual
redemption that we have never had any serious
inflation of our currency, if, indeed, there has ever
been any inflation at all. Trade, of course be-
comes inflated, and the currency will follow trade,
but that is a very different thing from the exis-
tence in a country of a great volume of paper
money not required by trade.
I will not discuss at length this quality of elas-
ticity in our system, because it is generally admit-
ted. But some one may claim that a similar
quality might be given to a currency secured by
Government bonds, and I desire to make it clear
that such elasticity as is required in both Canada
and the United States is impossible with a cur-
rency secured by Government bonds. In the
older countries of the world it may be sufficient if
the volume of currency rises and falls with the
general course of trade over a series of yeora, and
14-;
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CANADA i AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
without reference to the fluctuations within the
twelve months of the year. On this continent it
is not enough that the volume of currency should
rise and fall from year to year. In Canada we
find that between the low average of the circula-
tion during about eight months of each year and
the maximum attained at the busiest period of
the autumn and winter there is a difference of 20
per cent. — the movement upward in the autumn
and downward in the spring being so sudden that
without the power in the bani<s to issue additional
notes in the autumn serious stringency would result,
and without the force which brings about redemp-
tion in the spring there would be plethora. As a
matter of fact, the system works automatically,
and there is always enough and never too much.
Bond-secured Currency. If our currency were
secured by government bonds, the volume in
existence at any one time would be determined
by the profit to be gained by the issue of such
bond-secured currency. It would, therefore, be
necessary to fix a maximum beyond which no
currency could be issued, but as such an arbitrary
limit would be mere legislative guess work, it
would be productive of the evils incident to all
efforts to curb natural laws by legislation. As we
all know, when the National Bank charters were
offered by the American Federal government to
the State Banks the bonds of the United States
bore five to six per cent, interest, and the business
of issuing currency against such bonds was so
profitable that a maximum such as I have referred
to was fixed, with an elaborate provision stating
how the banking charters were to be distributed
as to area, in order that each state or section of
country might have a fair share. This was followed
by several adjustments, the last limit being
.$554,000,000. But no one was satisfied with the
interference with free banking, and the cry of
tnonopoly was frequently heard. Subsequently
the maximum was abandoned — indeed the bus-
iness of issuing notes against government bonds
had become unprofitable and there was no longer
any fear of inflation.
The condition in the United States under which
the issue of currency was unduly profitable, and
the fear of inflation was present, did not actually
last many years, but it lasted long enough to
create in the people a hatred of banks, which has
not yet quite passed away. The condition which
followed showed, it seems to me conclusively, the
unsoundness of the system in the matter of pro-
viding an elastic currency, a currency at all times
adequate in volume. The currency wants of the
Republic increased with the great increase in
population, but the volume of National Bank
currency decreased because by the repayment of
the national debt and the improvement in the
national credit the bonds which remained out-
standing yielded so low a rate of interest as to
make the issue of National Bank notes unprofit-
able. If the government bond yields such a low
rate of interest as to make it unprofitable to issue
currency, banks will not provide sufficient cur-
rency for the wants of the country. It was in-
deed this unfortunate contraction which to a
great degree made it possible for the Bland Act
silver issues, from 1878 to 1890, to create so little
financial disturbance.
I hope therefore it is clear that if the business
of issuing currency against government bonds
were profitable too much currency would be the
result, and if it were unprofitable too little would
be issued. We would require in Canada to have
a condition of things under which the profit of
issuing notes would at all times bear an exact
relation to the amount of currency required by
the country, the profit therefore changing not
only as the currency rises and falls over a series of
years, but at the time of the sharp fluctuations
within each year already referred to. No such
relation, however, could very well exist with an
issue based upon government bonds.
Security. My last point is that placed first by
Mr. Palgrave in his discussion with the English
bankers: "That the currency should be com-
pletely secured." I do not know whether we are
to understand also that a note must pass through-
out the entire country without discount for any
reason, but I include that in the point to be dis-
cussed. Now, it is better, for the reasons given,
that bank issues should be based for security on
the general assets of the bank, with a prior lien
to other creditors ; and also, taking the world as
a whole, such notes will be actually safer because
the effect of a system of notes secured by govern-
ment bonds — a loan forced by the government,
practically — must sometimes be to produce
CANADA : AN ENCyCLOP.IiDrA.
SOI
an
luse
ern-
ent,
luce
national bankruptcy, as in the case of the Argen-
tine Republic. Still, I cheerfully admit that the
United States National banking system has
taught us that a currency issued by banks may be
made to pass over the entire area of a great nation
without discount. This is a great quality in cur-
rency. To the ordinary individual, who knows
and cares little about banking except as it affects
the bank note he happens to carry in his pocket,
it appears to be the one quality necessary.
In Canada, experience has shown that as long
as the notes are a prior lien on the assets of the
bank, including the double liability, ultimate loss
is scarcely possible — has not, at all events,
occurred as yet. To secure a circulation, at the
close of December, 1895, of $30,807,041, the
banks had assets of $316,536,510, to which the
double liability of $61,800,700 is to be added,
making a total of $378,337,210, or twelve dollars of
assets against every dollar of currency. It has been
pointed out, however, that the assets are not thus
aggregated against the circulation, and that all
banks are not as secure as these figures seem to
show. But the security in this respect, in regard
to each bank, varies little from the general aver-
age, the lowest percentage being $6.18, as against
the general average of $12. The lowest percent-
age applies to but two or three small banks, none
others falling below about $8 for every dollar of
circulation. To this I have added the 5 percent,
guarantee fund applicable in its entirety to meet
the notes of any individual bank.
The Branch System. In discussing the banking
systems in older countries, the borrower is not
often considered. Men must borrow where and
how they can, and pay as much or as little for the
money as circumstances require. I believe too
strongly in the necessity for an absolute perform-
ance of engagements to think that it is a require-
ment in any banking system that it shall make
the path of the debtor easy. Every banker should
discourage debt, and keep before the borrower
the fact that he who borrows must pay or
go to the wall. But on this continent the debtor
class is apt to make itself heard, and I wish to
show what onr branch system does for the worthy
borrower, as compared with the United States
National Banking system.
In a country where the money accumulated
each year by the people's savings does not exceed
the money required for new business ventures, it
is plain that the system of banking which most
completely gathers up these savings and places
them at the disposal of the borrowers is the best-
It is to be remembered that this involves the sav-
ings of one slow-going community being applied
to another community where the enterprise is
out of proportion to the money at command in
that locality. Now, in Canada, with banks hav-
ing forty and fifty branches, we see the deposits
of the saving communities applied directly to
the country's new enterprises in a manner
nearly perfect. The Bank of Montreal borrows
money from depositors at Halifax and many
points in the Maritime Provinces, where the
savings largely exceed the new enterprises, and
it lends money in V:\ncouver or in the North-
West, where the new enterprises far exceed the
people's savings. My own bank in the same
manner gathers deposits in the quiet, unenterpris-
ing parts of Ontario and lends the money in the
enterprising localities, the whole result being that
forty or fifty business centres, in no case having an
exact equilibrium of deposits and loans.are able to .
balance the excess or deficiency of capital. "
While the bank economizes every dollar, the '
depositor obtains a fair rate of interest, and the
borrower gets his money at a lower rate than
borrowers in any of the other colonies of Great
Britain, and at a lower rate than in the United
States, except in the greater cities in the east. So
perfectly is this distribution of capital made that
as between the highest class borrower in Montreal
or Toronto, and the ordinary merchant in the
North-West, the difference in interest paid is not
more than one or two per cent.
In the United States banks have no branches.
There are banks in New York and the east seek-
ing investment for their money, and refusing to
allow any interest because there are not sufficient
borrowers to take up their deposits, and there are
banks in the west and south which cannot begin
to supply their borrowing customers because they
have only the money of the immediate locality at
their command, and have no direct access to the
money in the east which is so eagerly seeking
investment. To avoid a difficulty which would
otherwise be unbearable the western and southern
U
5°*
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOl'.KDIA.
il
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v.,
ii^'i :
iiV-l'
^■Iri-
banks sometimes re-discount their customers,
notes with banks in the east, while many of their
customers not being able to rely on them for
assistance, are forced to float paper through eastern
note brokers. But, of course, the western and
southern banks wanting money, and the eastern
banks having it, cannot come together by chance,
and there is no machinery for bringing them
together. So it follows that a Boston bank may
be anxiously looking for investments at four or
five per cent., while in some rich western state ten
and even twelve per cent, is being paid. These
are extreme cases, but I have quoted an extreme
case in Canada, where the capital marches auto-
matically across the continent to find the bor-
rower, and the extra interest obtained scarcely
pays the loss of time it would take to send it so
far were the machinery not so perfect.
The Depositor. The legal position of the depos-
itor is about the same in both countries. The
note-holder's claim is preferred in Canada. We
must not, however, expect that any Government
will relieve a depositor from the necessity of using
discretion as to where he places his money.
Governments never have done and never can do
that. Men must look around and, after measuring
the security offered, judge where they should
entrust their money. It is perhaps easier for a
man with limited intelligence to make a selection
if the banks have large capital, as in the Domin-
ion, and are of semi-national importance, provided,
of course, that the basis of the system is not
unsound, as in Italy and Australia. In Canada
we do not borrow from abroad, although we
would not object to do so if money could
be obtained at low enough rates of interest
—our banks having large capital and small
deposits relatively — and we do not lend on
real estate. The official figures on June 30th of
1895 show that before Canadian depositors hav-
ing claims amounting to $180,600,000 can suffer,
shareholders must lose in paid-up stock and
double liability as much as $123,400,000 and
$27,000,000 of surplus funds — in all $150,400,000.
There is probably no country in the world where
greater security is offered to depositors than in
Canada.
As I have indicated, it should be the object of
every country to economize credit, to economize
the money of the country so that every borrower
with adequate security can be reached by some
one able to lend, and the machinery for doing this
has always been recognized in Canadian banks.
That is surely not a perfect system of banking
under which the surplus money in every unenter.
prising community has a tendency to stay there,
while the surplus money required by an enterpris-
ing community has to be sought at a distance.
But if by paying a higher rate of interest, and
seeking diligently, it could always be found, the
position would not be so bad. The fact is that
when it is most wanted distrust is at its height,
and the cautious eastern banker in the United
States buttons up his pocket. When there is no
inducement to avert trouble to a community
by supplying its wants in time of financial stress
there is no inclination to do so. The American
banks, east or west, are not apt to have a very
large sense of responsibility for the welfare of the
country as a whole, or for any considerable
portion of it. But the banks in Canada, with
thirty, forty, or fifty branches, with interests
which it is no exaggeration to describe as national,
cannot be idle or indifferent in time of trouble,
cannot turn a deaf ear to the legitimate wants of
the farmer in the prairie provinces any more than
to the wealthy merchant and manufacturer in the
east. Their business is to gather up the wealth
of a nation, not a town or city, and to supply the
borrowing wants of a nation.
There was a time in Canada, about twenty
years ago, when some people thought that in
every town a bank, no matter how small, provided
it had no branches, and had its owners resident in
the neighbourhood, was a greater help in the town
than the branch of a large and powerful bank. In
those days, perhaps, the great banks were too
autocratic, and had not been taught by competi-
tion to respect fully the wants of each community.
If this feeling ever existed to any extent it has
passed away. We are, in fact, in danger of the
results of over competition. I do not know any
country in the world so well supplied with banking
facilities as Canada. The branch system not only
enables ever,' town of 1,000 or 1,200 people to
have a join :,iock bank, but to have a bank with
a power behind it generally twenty to fifty times
greater than such a bank as is found in towns of
WrnKmSBBBBBB^
«el
t.
I
E. H. KING, PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OF MONTREAL, 1869-73.
15' .
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
50J
similar size in the United States would have.
Hut one of the main features of the branch
system is connected intimately with our power to
issue notes based upon the general assets of the
bank. When the statement of a large Canadian
bank is examined by an American banker the
comparatively small amoimt of actual cash is
noticeable. He may notice that the bank is care-
ful to have lar^e assets in the United States
which may be taken back to Canada in times of
financial strain there, and large assets in convert-
ible shape at home. But having regard to actual
cash as the machinery for carrying on the business
at the counter, he might enquire very naturally
how a bank with forty or fifty branches could get
along with so little cash. The simple answer is
that the tills of the branches are filled with notes
which are not money until they are issued, and
which, therefore, save just that much idle capital,
and just that much loss of interest.
When our charters were under discussion in
1890, I had occasion to defend our system, and
have copied freely from a pamphlet written by me
at that time. I must not, therefore, omit to
repeat a statement made then, which might excite
criticism more readily, now that the banking sys-
tem of Australia has collapsed. In making a
comparison between individual banks with small
capital and banks with branches and large capital,
I urged that: — "The probability of loss to the
-depositors in one bank with several millions of
capital is less than the probability of loss to some
of the depositors in ten or twenty small banks,
having in the aggregate the same capital and
deposits as the large bank."
The retort could be made that " if the large
bank fails, the ruin will be so the much more wide-
spread." This is quite true, but while it appears
to be an answer to the point, it is not. If the
conditions of two countries are about the same
and the ability of the bankers and the principles
ofthe banking system in other respects equally
excellent, it must still remain true that the proba-
bility of loss to the depositors in one or more of
the ten or twenty small banks is greater than the
probability of loss to any of the depositors in the
one large bank.
There are some features in our deposit business
which present an interesting contrast to the
American system. There are perhaps not a half
dozen savings banks, as the term is understood in
the United States, in the whole of Canada, and
those only in the largest cities, and there is really
little need for the existence of any. The Govern-
ment carries on the Post Office savings bank sys-
tem, copied in some respects from Great Britain.
It is unnecessary and unsuited to our country, but
perhaps it affords the very ignorant a refuge from
the dread of bank failures. The safeguards always
necessary when a Government undertakes to carry
on a regular business are so many and so tedious
that the leading banks have not found it necessary
to allow as high a rate of interest as the Govern-
ment.
In addition to this, we have as competitors for
deposits the companies authorized to lend on real
estate. Most of those companies, however, now
borrow only on debentures, at fixed periods.
Some of this money is borrowed in Great Britain,
but much of it is obtained at home. I may say
also that while, as in the United States, banks
have fortunately no power to lend on real estate,
the restriction is perhaps not necessary now, as
land banking and mercantile banking are clearly
separated in the minds of every intelligent man of
business in Canada. And, as Canadian banks do
not buy paper made for the purpose of obtaining
money, as is done in the United States, but loan
only to their own customers, supplying their en-
tire wants, and seeing that the money is to make
or move some product about to be sold, we do not
so often discover that we have unwittingly been
booming a corner lot, building a mill, or helping
to float a risky company.
Bank Reserves^ If my paper were not already
too lengthy, I would like to have discussed the
question of reserves. In Canada, we hold with
the majority of the banking world, outside of the
United States, against fixed reserves. With us
no reserves are actually required by law. The cash
reserve in gold and legal tenders has averaged for
some years about 10 per cent., but it will be re-
membered that our till money is almost entirely
supplied by the bank note circulation. The
smaller banks keep their available resources in
securities, call loans at home, and balances with
their bankers in Montreal and New York. The
large banks, in addition to their securities and
f
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504
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OP.KDIA.
call loans in Canada, lend latRcly on easily liqui-
dated securities in tlie United States. ThechanKc
making notes, those of denominations less than
$5.00, arc issued by the Dominion Government.
The settlements at the clearing-houses are made
in legal tenders, special notes of large denom-
inations being issued by the Government for the
purpose. Forty per cent, or whatever cash re-
serve a bank may keep, must be in Dominion
legfil tenders — a provision entireiv in the interest
of tlic (iovernmiiut. It is no longer necessary,
and is so unworthy of our otherwise creditable
system that we must hope our Government will
some day relieve us of such an unscientific re-
quirement.
Dank Inspection. We have in Canada no public
bank examiner as in the United States, nor are
our annual statements audited as in Australia.
When the audit system was proposed bankers re-
sisted it because we felt that it pretended to pro-
tect the shareholders and creditors, but did not
really do so, and if the audit did not really protect
it seemed better that shareholders and creditors
should not be lulled by imaginary safeguards, but
be kept alert by the constant exercise of their own
judgment. So far as we have ever discussed with
the Government the question of public bank ex-
aminers, apart, of course, from denying the neces-
sity for anything of the kind, we have confined
our arguments to pointing out its impracticability
when banks have many branches. This may in
the minds of some constitute an argument against
branch banking. I simply state the facts. But
we say that, while it may be very well — if it really
does lessen bank failures — to have public examin-
ers for the protection of the people, it is much
moie necessary with branch banking to have bank
examiners, or, as they are called in Canada, in-
spectors, on behalf of the executive of the bank.
And this practice is growing in the United States,
where everything is under one roof.
When it comes to the quality of the work done
by our inspectors, I would not admit that any-
thing could well be better. In my own bank it
takes five tniined men an entire year to make the
round of ihe branches. Some of these officers
devote themselves to the routine of the branches,
verifying all cash, securities, bills, accounts, etc.,
testing the compliance of officers with every regu-
lation of the bank, reporting on the character and
skill of officers, etc., while the chiefs devote them-
selves to the higher matters, such as the quality
of the bills under discount, loans against securi-
ties — indeed, the quality and value of every asset
found at th : branch, ''"hey also deal with the
growth and prolitablen the branch, its pros-
pects, etc. Now all t tatters have already
passed the judgment ot ti. -/ranch manager, and
the more important have been referred to and
approved by the executive, so that it may be said
that three different judgments are passed upon
the business of the branch. But it will be said
that the chief inspector may be under the sway of
the executive, and his reports a mere echo of the
opinion of the latter. This is quite true — the re-
ports may be dishonest. We do not tell the pub-
lic that the inspector is specially employed for its
protection. He, like the general manager, is
merely a part of the bank's machinery for con-
ducting business, and the public is left to judge of
the bank by its chief officers, its record in the
past, its entourage.
Canadian banks make a very full return to the
Government at the close of each month. These
are published during the month, and are keenly
discussed by the public. The Deputy Minister of
Finance has tue power to call for statements of
any character at any time. In the larger banks
the officers insure their fidelity by funds estab-
lished within the bank. Many of the banks also
have funds arranged for the superannuation of
their officers.
mmm
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
505
The " Free Bankingr System " in Canada waa
a product of Amoricii continuity and cxuinplu.
The relations existing between the Provinces and
New York State in particular, after the abroga-
tion of the Hritish preferential arran^^ements in
1846, were very close, and there was an undoubt-
ed tendency in the years immediately followinf,'
to regard the legislation of that State as having
somethmg to do with its apparent prosperity and
credit. In 1849 Millard Fillmore, as Comptroller
of New York, gave an emphatic utterance in
favour of the free-banking policy, and this was
followed by the adoption of laws drawn on the
New York model in Massachusetts, Ohio, Ver-
mont, \Msconsin and other American States.
As Mr Brcckenridge points out m this connec-
tion, Cai "iians overlooked the fact that in New
York the i " banking s .stem had been established
primarily a,, (i) an escape from the complete
monopoly of banking, discount and deposit, as
well as issue, conferred upon the chartered banks
in 1818 ; and (2) a remedy for the shameless, cor-
rupt and unendurable practice of regarding bank
charters as spoils for the victorious party to deal
out as rewards for partisan services. The char-
tered banks of Canada, on the other hand, en-
joyed no exclusive privilege save in the function
of issue. Even in that there was abundant com-
petition. Nor was there then the suspicion even of
corruption or partizanship in the distribution of
bank charters. But in spite of the lack of analo-
gous conditions, in spite of the fact that twenty-
nine New York banks failed in the first five years
of the law's operation, and that the special de-
posits of securities realized but 74 per cent, of
the defaulted notes, a measure presented to the
Canadian Assembly by the Hon. W. Hamilton
Merritt in 1850 was modelled after the free bank-
ing laws of New York. Its objects are sufficient-
ly described as (i) to provide for the establish-
ment of small banks; (2) properly to secure their
circulation ; (3) to relieve, in part at least, the
financial difficulties of the Government by widen-
ing the market for its securities, and at the same
time so stimulating the demand as to raise their
value. Of this plan and its origin Mr. B. E.
Walker, in the " History of Banking in all
Nations," states that :
" Anyone having the opportunity to examine
the correspondence of a Canadian bank at this
time (1850) would at once realize how close were
the trading and financial relations of Upper Can-
ada and New York State — relations relatively
much more important than now. The leading
bankers of many of the large cities of the Stale
were well known individually to leading bankers
in Upper Canada, and apart from the mere
routine of business, an extensive correspondence
was carried on. In Canada the experiment was
being tried of banks specially chartered, with large
capital and branches, and with a circulation not
specially secured. The banks haJ come through
the trying times of 1847-8 without suspension or
failure, but they did not open branches fast
enough to satisfy the most enterprising of the
business community; the Provincial Government
was straitened financially, and the people had the
common delusion that there was not enough
money in circulation. In New York State, the
opposite policy of banks with small capital, no
branches, and a specially secured circulation was
on trial, but the people of that State were so much
more prosperous than the people of Canada, that
it is not strange that many desired to try the
banking system which had apparently contributed
toward such good results. In consequence, a
measure was passed entitled an " Act to Estab-
lish Freedom of Banking in this Province," etc.,
having for its object the creation, under a general
act and not by special charter, of small banks
without branches, with a circulation based upon
the securities of the Province."
The failure of the system soon became evident
so far as Canada was concerned ; and on March
6th, 1857, the Hon. William Cayley introduced a
measure for its discontinuance. For some rea-
son or other, this was not pressed, and in i860
the Hon. A. T. Gait again proposed its repeal.
But his accompanying proposals were so far-
reaching that action was again postponed, and it
was not until 1866 that the policy was finally
stamped a failure by Legislative enactment.
William Hamilton Merritt continued his faith in
the system, which he declared in 1857 to be "the
best adopted in the world," and in 1S63 the New
York plan was accepted by the American Con-
gress as the practical basis of their future (and
present) National Banking System.
Six Canadian banks took advantage of the
original Act, of which only the Bank of British
North America and the Moisons Bank survive.
They may have benefitted by its operation, but
the others, after a brief period of struggle against
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CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
the competition and prestige of the chartered in-
stitutions, had to give way or obtain charters. The
Zimmerman Bank was the first to go. It was
founded in 1854 by the capitaUst whose name it
bore; and upon his death, three years later, it
was re-christened the Bank of Clifton, and
dragged on a somewhat uncertain existence until
1863, when its charter was repealed. The Bank
of the Niagara District was by the Act of 1855
required to obtain subscription and payment of
its million dollars of stock in five years. This
period was extended in 1857 to 1861, and in the
latter year to 1866. In 1863, however, the capital
stock was reduced to $400,000, and the institu-
tion succeeded fairly well until 1873, when severe
losses, suffered through different failures, brought
about its amalgamation with the Imperial Bank
of Canada. The Provincial Bank and the Bank
of the County of Elgin had a feeble existence
under the Act, but by 1861 had practically disap-
peared from business. Sir Francis Hincks, who
aiterwards admitted the failure of this whole
American policy in Canada, gave the following, in
1854, as the reasons for that result :
1. A large and not small increase of banking
capital was needed.
2. '. here was not money enough in Canada to
provide this.
3. It had to be obtained from outside the
country, and English capitalists had no confidence
in small and scattered institutions.
The following: is a very just reference to the
Canadian System in its relation to that of the
United States, and to the nature of its continuous
evolution in the direction of improvement. The
fact that this summary is written by an American
author, Mr. R. M. Breckenridge, increases its
value :
" One of the strongest contrasts which this
whole record presents to such a history of banking
as that of the United States is in the continuity of
the progress. There has been no recurring strug-
gle to establish a great Government bank, no
epidemic of wilil-c:it banking, no rejection of one
system for experiment with another. A certain
continuity, without doubt, can be discovered in
any banking system. Men do not wholly break
with the past or build on foundations entirely
new. But down to the present day Canadians
have always held to the plan on which were framed
the statutes governing their first banks. Addi-
tions have been made, new safeguards against
public loss introduced, limits restraining corpor-
ate activity have been narrowed in some parts
and widened in others, a few arrangements
for the advantage of the Government have been
attached, but never has there been a successful
attempt to tear down the fair work of the first
builders and oU of the ruins construct anew.
When defects have appeared in its structure,
Canadians have not forthwith condemned the
heritage of the past, and petulantly, illogically,
swept it away to make room for some new, untried
affair, arranged on different lines. After study of
the trouble they hove endeavoured by some slight
strengthening, some little alteration, to keep and
enhance the certain benefits of what they already
possessed. The present Bank Act is unquestion-
ably better, more careful, more strongly and
scientifically drawn than any previous legislation ;
the banking practice is more sound ; the steady
improvement, save with respect to investors' pro-
fits, is hardly less remarkable than the continuity
discernible in its development ; yet the economic
character of the functions permitted the banks,
and the methods of their fulfilment, are the same
under the Dominion system of 1890 as under the
Provincial charters of 1821."
Three forces appear to have had a beneficial
influence in this conservative and preservative
direction, ist. Competition, by quickly exposing
weak, careless, or untrustworthy management, has
hastened the withdrawal, or loss, of imprudently
invested capital, and by making the conditions of
success more severe has immensely increased
the necessity for vigilance, caution and care.
Especially has this been seen in the require-
ments of daily settlements and the consequent
necessity for assets which may be utilized to a
considerable extent at a moment's notice, and.
The salutary effect of competition has been aided
by the trenchant criticism which the increasing
clearness and fulness of the monthly Return has
facilitated — the criticism which may be expected
in each case from other bankers, from business
men and from the public. Popular sentiment has
also become keenly sensitive to the defects which
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
507
bank failures may have exposed in the established
system oi safeguards. After such events as those
in which the Mechanics' Bank, or the Central
and London Banks figured, public demands for
reform have been prompt, general and emphatic.
3rd. The action of the bankers, in their Associa-
tion meetings, in general consultation, and at the
time of the Bank Act revisions, has been appar-
ently influenced by an honest appreciation of their
own privileges ; by a recollection of certain difficult
experiences in times of depression and trouble ;
and by a desire to remove from the banking system
every possible cause for popular dissatisfaction.
Their own sugestions in the direction of improve-
ment have been numerous, and their united
efforts as individuals,and as representatives of their
customers and shareholders, have been certainly
productive of useful results. The popular appre-
ciation of this fact, however, depends upon the
approval felt for the general banking system
which ichey have thus helped to preserve.
An authoritative and valuable comparison
of the two systems was made on August 4th, 1893,
by Mr, Walter Watson, Agent of the Bank of
Montreal in New York, who has had large exper-
ience in both Canadian and American methods of
banking. He stated that the banks of Canada
are a handful, operating through dozens of
branches in the Dominion and outside of it. The
banks of the United States are legion, and not
one has anywhere a branch properly so called.
They have correspondents, but each correspond-
ent has its own affairs to attend to, and is mainly
looking after its own individual interests. A
Canadian branch has but one interest to conserve
— that of the bank to which it belongs. The
three main advantages of this latter system he
thought were : i. The augmentation of capital by
concentration. 2. The control of this capital
by a single governing body. 3. The maintenance
of immediate, direct, trustworthy and full infor-
mation as to commercial and financial conditions
at all points of operation.
" The importance of large capital in a bank no
one doubts; the ;f 125,000,000 sterling of the
Bank of England speaks for itself as a factor in
the immense influence of that institution. Nor
can it be questioned that large resources under
one control can be better applied to safeguard
the financial situation when stringency sets in
and panic threatens than can equal resources
under a number, and especially under a great
number of separate controls. It may be said
that it depends upon the quality of the single
control, and so it does ; but such control is not
likely to come into incapable hands; the tend-
ency of vast banking institutions is into the most
capable and at the same time the most conserva-
tive hands, as the example of the Bank of Eng-
land illustrates. The third advantage inherent in
the branch system — the furnishing of constant
and trustworthy information from all parts of the
field to the single governing body responsible for
the direction and conservation of great capital —
though last, is by no means least."
American experience especially illustrates how
important this point is. Dozens of the minor
banks .vent under in the crash of 1893 largely
because they did not know what was going on
oi'*side of their city or town. They perished
through isolation and ignorance. Had the Cana-
dian system prevailed in the United States, these
banks would have been branches of a few large
banks centred in the main cities of the State
of the Republic, and chiefly in New York. This
would have insured to each of these branches
tiie benefit of all the knowledge of conditions
gathered by the parent bank from all its branches;
guidance from the main office in the light of this,
intelligence ; and finally, the active support of the
entire resources of the institution in any moment
of danger — support which the close-knit organ-
ization of the ramifying bank would have enabled
the governing body to give with the utmost
promptness at the right moment.
" The Canadian system," declared Mr. Wat-
son, "ought to be adopted in the United
States. There ought to be in New York a
great bank, with a capital of at least $100,000,-
000, and with branches in every important city in
the States. Its influence would be speedily felt.
However, I do not expect to see our system
adopted here, because there are too many men in
the United States who want to be at the head of
a bank. There is not sufficient willingness to
serve."
Mr. Arthur Weir, of La Banque Ville Marie
and a well-known financial writer in Montreal, has
made the following reference to the United States
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508
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPitDIA.
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monetary system as compared with the Canadian
— August 25th, 1S96 :
"The first point that will strike the reader is
the unyielding basis of the United States currency.
It is inelastic. Whatever the currency, it will be
seen that the security held against it is not per-
miited freedom of action, whether the notes be in
circulation or not. The National Banks cannot
readily dispose of their bond-holding, though their
notes may be lying in their vaults in idleness.
The money paid for the bond is withdrawn from
banking use. If, on the other hand, there is a
brisk demand for money, the banks may almost as
well lend out Government currency or gold as
invest it in bonds to purchase the right to issue
notes of their own. In other words, whether the
demand for accommodation be active or dull, the
volume of money remains practically unaltered-
Therefore, rates of interest must advance in busy
times, while at other times the borrower must pay
a rate rendered high by the amount of money
lying idle and unproductive. Further, to add to
the exp siveiiess o*" money in the United States,
the banks are compelled by law to hold money
idle against from fifteen to twenty-five per cent,
of their deposits. When United States bonds
were selling below par and carried high ru^es of
interest, the National Banks profited by their
circulation. Since the bonds went above par
and interest was reduced there is little or no
profit. National Bank circulation went down
$200,000,000 between 1884 and 1890, notwith-
standing prosperous times, on this account. At
present prices (1896) of bonds, a bank has to
invest $1.20 against every $1.00 of its note issue.
The boniis, of course, bear interest."
On Aufifust 16th, 1893, in the columns of the
Montreal Star, Mr. W. Weir, President of La
Banque Ville Marie, addressed an open letter
to the President and members of the United
States Congress. He compared the Canadian
and American banking systems greatly to the
advantage of the former. The following remarks
are noteworthy :
" It is a remarkable fact that the United States,
which lias ever been distinguished for the readi-
ness with wliich it adopts all kinds of improve-
ments ill iiiclustrial pursuits, clings to a system of
banking under which no other country that I
know of could carry on its business. Your Na-
tional Bank Act, originated under entirely different
conditions, is now wholly unsuited to the require-
ments of your commerce of to-day. The basis of
your bank currency is being continually contracted,
while your business calls for continual expan-
sion, and even if there were no Sherman Act and
no Free Coinage Act to disturb your finances, the
very cast-iron and non-elastic nature of your bank-
ing system would periodically create a scarcity of
money whenever the demands of the West or of
the South called for currency to handle their
crop.
I am aware thai in the memory of the peopl'j
of the United States painful recollections of the
insecure character of the old State Bank currency
still linger. But the example of Canada, a much
poorer country, should be sufficient to satisfy your
people that a more elastic note circulation can,
by prudent safeguards, be made perfectly secure.
Canada, under her admirable banking system,
experiences no extra pressure when currency is
required to handle her crops. The bank circula-
tion expands, and there is no strain upon the
resources of the banks to buy bonds on which
to base the circulation. In fact, the greater the
demand for currency the easier the money market,
and as the circulation returns its redemption is
met by the realization of the products for which it
was advanced.
Twenty years ago some of the most eminent
financiers of Canada, including the late Sir
Francis Hincks, favoured the establishment of
banks with small capital, but that gentleman
later in life admitted publicly, and to myself per-
sonally, that his opinion on this point had
entirely changed, and by the Canadian Bank Act
of 1890, no bank can go into operation without a
subscribed capital of $600,000, and a bona fide
paid-up capital, deposited with the Government,
of $250,000. When the bank has appointed its
Directors, and is prepared to commence oper-
ations, this capital is handed over to its manage-
ment."
In harmony with this general statement the
following eulogy of the Canadian system may be
quoteil from the New York Commercial Advertiser
of January i8th, 1890 : " We know of no system
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPi«:DIA,
509
that more closely conforms to the best and broad-
est economic ideals of banking ; none better cal-
culated to afford the largest possibi-? public accom-
modation; none better adapted to iiisure a safe
utilization of the surplus balances of the people ;
and none better qualified to supply the daily
fluctuating wants of trade with a safe and con-
venient circulating medium."
Mr. Breckenridge qiotes, in his volume upon
the Canadian Banking System, from the same
journal in 1893 — the exact date is not given — a
very striking statement of the causes for the
superior credit and stability of the Dominion's
financial institutions :
" ist. Because the Canadian Government has
followed the action of Great Britain in adopting
a single standard of exchange, or measure of
value.
2nd. Because the leaders of neither political
party in Canada have uver patidered to the
populistic demand for the free coinage of silver.
3rd. Because the leaders of both political
parties have steadfastly opposed the issue and
circulation of coin or paper currency of doubtful
value.
4th. Because the bank currency of Canada is
payable in gold coin on demand.
5th. Because the monetary system of Canada
has never been made a political issue.
6th, Because the electors of Canada have per-
sistently demanded honest money, irrespective of
their party affiliations."
the
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THE BANKING SYSTEM OF CANADA
D. R. WILKIE, General Manager Imperial Bank of Canada.
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TH E Chartered Banks of the Dominion of
Canada are incorporated ullder 53 Vic-
toria, Chapter 31, entitled "An Act
Respecting Bani(s and Banking " (as-
sented to on 1 6th May, 1890), which came into
force on the ist July, 1891. The first General
Banking Act of the Dominion was assented to in
1871 (34 Vic. Chap. 5). Up to that time no
general Act existed applicable to all banks alike
— the banks then in existence owing their special
privileges to Acts of Incorporation granted by
the old Provincial Legislatures or to Special Acts
of the Dominion Legislature passed since Con-
federation (1867).
The charters, renewed or authorized under the
.Act of 1871, were granted for a period of ten
years only, and while the powers of lending and
of borrowing through deposits were extended
beyond what were previously enjoyed, the privi-
lege of issuing notes of a smaller denomination
than $4.00 was prohibited. This restriction was
imposed for the purpose of affording the Govern-
ment a monopoly of the smaller notes issued ;
and by the Act of 1880 (43 Vic. Chap. 22) this
monopoly was further extended by fixing the
minimum denomination at $5.00. The circula-
tion of Dominion notes under the denomination
of $5.00 on 30th June, 1897, amounted to $7,507,-
630. The main features of the Act of 1871 were
incorporated in the Act of 1880, and form the
basis upon which subsequent legislation upon the
subject of Canadian Banking has been framed.
The Act of 1880 was considered and passed
during a period of unusual political and commer-
cial excitement. The success of Sir John A.
Macdonald's appeal to the country in 1878 on the
policy of " Protection to Home Industries " was
shortly afterwards followed by an agitation for a
The writer is indebted to The Forum for permission to make
free use of his article in that periodical of May, 1892, in the pre-
paration of this contribution.
National Currency with no other basis than Na-
tional Indebtedness. The agitation led by Mr. Wil-
liam Wallace, M.P., of South Norfolk, was unsuc-
cessful, but advantage was taken by the Govern-
ment of the feeling in favour of an extension of
the Government issues to obtain authority from
Parliament to increase the authorized circulation
of Government notes from $12,000,000 to $20,-
000,000, at the same time, under protests from Sir
Richard Cartwright and other Opposition leaders,
the gold reserve to be held against the outstand-
ing circulation was reduced from 27^ per cent, to
15 per cent.
The Bank Act of 1880, with a few unimportant
amendments, continued in force until the ist of
July, 1891, when the present Act became law.
It must be borne in mind in discussing Cana-
dian bank legislation that the Canadian people
have not been harassed to any serious extent by
the exigencies of a War Department, nor have
they been influenced by Provincial as opposed to
Federal interests. Banking legislation so far has
been guided only by the supposed requirements
of the community, tempered by a natural desire
on the part of the Federal Government to
encroach as far as they considered it safe and
politic upon the bank issues, and to enjoy
a forced loar without interest by compelling
banks to hold a large proportion of their cash
reserves in the shape of Dominion Government
notes not bearing interest.
To assist in framing the Act of 1890 represen-
tatives from every chartered bank were invited
to Ottawa by the Minister of Finance, the Hon.
G. E. Foster, and the suggestions and remon-
strances, which they had every opportunity to
express, were for the most part adopted and
regarded. The Act of 1890 opens out with the
necessary interpretation clauses. The charters
of then existing banks, and of any banks subse>
510
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPi*:DIA.
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vited
Hon.
mon-
y to
and
1 the
irters
ubse-
quently incorporated under its provisions, are
made to expire on the first of July, igoi.
The capital of any Bank thereafter incorporated
is fixed at a minimum of $500,000, with
shares valued at $100 each. Provision is
made for Provisional Directors, for the opening of
stock books, for meetings of shareholders, and for
the election of Directors. Before commencing
business $250,000 must be paid up in cash to the
Minister of Finance, and this must be done within
one year of incorporation. Provision is made for
payment over to the Department of F"inance of
the sum of $5,000 as the first contribution of the
bank to the Bank Note Circulation Fund, about
which I will say more hereafter.
Shareholders have the authority to fix within
certain limits the number, qualification and remun-
eration of Directors, and the maximum amount of
loans and discounts which may be afforded Direc-
tors and other persons and companies. In the
event of insolvency each shareholder is liable for
the debts of the bank to an amount equal to the
par value of the shares held by him in addition to
any amount not paid up on such shares. Author-
ity is given for the establishment of Guarantee
and Pension Funds for the officers and employes
of the bank. Contributions to these Funds by the
banks, under the authority of the shareholders,
are approved of. This new provision in banking
legislation has been very generally utilized.
Before 1890 a si.ecial Act of Parliament was
needed by each bank desirous of affording itself
and its officers the advantages of such a mutual
system of guarantee, and the personal rt^sponsi-
bility of each emplo •«! for the good behaviour and
efficiency of his fellow employe. These Pension
Funds tend to solidarity on the part of the em-
ployes, and thus serve as an inducement to long
service.
Directors are elected annually. Their stock
qualification is fixed at a minimum of $3,000 to
$5,000, dependent upon the amount of capital of
the bank, but the minimum may be increased by
a resolution of the shareholders. To prevent the
abuse of the proxy system, shareholders' proxies
for use at annual or special meetings must have
been executed within two years of the time they
are used. This provision is unnecessarily drastic
— three years would have been more reasonable.
At the same time. Directors are none the worse
for being frequently brought in touch with their
constituents.
The capital stock may be increased from time
to time, subject to approval of the Treasury Board
(a Committee of members of the P^ederal Gov-
ernment), and the additional capital carries with
it the same privileges concerning note issues as
does the original capital. The new shares must
in the first instance be allotted pro rata amongst
existing shareholders. Capital stock may be re-
duced by resolution of shareholders to an amount
not below $250,000, but the consent of the Trea-
sury Board to the reduction must be obtained.
The provisions governing the payment of calls
upon shares, the transfer and transmission of
shares, etc., are very complete and exhaustive.
Shareholders, before being permitted to transfer
their stock, may be compelled to liquidate any
liability or debt to the bank which exceeds the
value of their remaining shares. This lien of the
bank upon its own shares can be abused ; but, on
the other hand, it has been found most beneficial
in preventing the exercise by shareholders, possi-
bly by Directors, of the influence pertaining to
their holdings in the creation of liabilities to the
bank.
Purchasing, dealing in, or lending money upon
the security or pledge of its own stock, or of the
stock of any bank, is strictly forbidden under
penalty. " Short sales " of bank shares at
one time in Canada was a popular but danger-
ous and illegitimate stock-gambling operation,
and is made illegal by Section 37 of the Act
which provides that only the registered owner of
shares can sell or contract to sell the same. The
penalty for any contravention is fine or imprison-
ment. Executors and Trustees, where the nature
of the trust is expressed, are not personally liable
as shareholders for double liability upon shares
standing in their name, but the estate and funds
in their hands are liable. Dividends are limited
to 8 per cent, until the Rest equals 30 per cent, of
the paid-up capital, but the capital must not in
any event be impaired by payment of a dividend
or bonus.
Cash Reserves. During the discussions about
the Act in i8go, a strong effort was made by the
Minister of Finance, and by the other officials of
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CANADA : AN ENCYCLOP/liDIA.
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the Finance Department, to introduce the principle
ot fixed cash reserves. The basics wereahnost a
unit against any such hard-and-fast regulation,
pointing with convincing force to the evil effects
of a similar principle upon the money market of
the United States ; to the fact that the United
States Treasury had during successive financial
crises been obliged to come to the assistance of
the money market; and to the fact that there have
been in the United States frequent departures
from that principle. It was also argued that if
such a regulation had been in existence in the
Dominion, instead of temporary embarrassment
followed by gradual liquidation, Canada would
have been brought face to face more than once
with crises working terrible havoc amongsi the
mercantile, manufacturing and agricultural inter-
ests of the country. The fixed cash reserve pro-
posal was therefore abandoned, leaving, however,
a regulation which compelled banks to h'^ld at
least forty per cent., and as nearly as possible fifty
per cent., of their cash reserves in Government
notes upon which no interest is paid.
Note Issues. The three objects aimed at by the
Bank Act in authorizing the issue of bank notes,
are safety, convertibility and elasticity, the whole
without monopoly. They will be considered in
the order named. Safety. Under the Act of 1880
the note circulation of each bank was limited to
the amount of the unimpaired paid-up capital, and
became, in case of insolvency, a first charge upon
the assets of the institution, and, if necessary,
upon the double liability of shareholders.
During the whole term of t^ Act, six banks,
with a paid-up capital of nearly three millions of
dollars, had failed or gone into liquidation. Every
dollar of circulation had been paid or provided
for in cash. With such a record there could not
be any grave excuse for questioning the safety of
the Canadian bank note, but, to provide for contin-
gencies, it was considered advisable to strengthen
slill further the basis of security. This was done
by establishing a " Bank Circulation Redemption
l-'und," the amount payable for each bank to the
fund to be adjusted annually, and to be, in all, five
per cent, of the average circulation of such bank
for the previous twelve months — 2 J per cent, to be
paid before 15th July, 1891, the remaining 2J
per cent, to be paid before 15th July, 1892. The
fund on 30th July, 1897, amounted to $1,859,936
on an average circulation of $32,062,710, and
varies, of course, from year to year. The fund is
held by the Finance Department at the credit of
each bank contributing thereto, and bears interest
at 3 per cent, per annum.
In case of the suspension of any bank, and of its
failure within two months after such suspension
to arrange for payment of its outstanding notes
and all interest thereon, the fund becomes avail-
able for the liquidation of that liability. Interest
runs on the notes of a suspended bank, without
presentation of the notes themselves for payment,
at 6 per cent, per annum from date of suspension
to such date as is named for payment thereof.
The fund, if availed of, and if not repleted by the
suspended bank, is to be made up proportionately
by contributions from the other banks on demand
of the Finance Department ; but such other banks
are only to be called upon to make good to the
fund its share in payments not exceeding in any
one year one per cent, of the average amount of
its notes in circulation. The holder of a Canadian
bank note has therefore as his security :
(a) A first lien upon all the assets of the
Hank itself.
(b) A first lien upon the double liability of
shareholders of the Bank.
(<•) The " Hank Note Circulation Fund."
(d) The absolute guarantee of every other
Bank in Canada (subject to maximum
assessment during any one year of one
per cent, upon its average circulation).
To reduce the system to figures on the basis of
the condition of all the banks on 30th June, 1897,
the circulation, which then amounted to
$32,366,174, was secured by:
(a) Assets amounting to (indu-
ing Circulation I'unii) $335,203,890
(i) Double Liability 62,713,748
Total Jycurity $397,917,638
It may be said that the existence of such a
mass of security will tend to reckless banking or
may lead to over issues during times of panic or
even of stringency. To provide for such a con-
tingency, heavy penalties, running from $100,000
if over issue exceeds $200,000 to $1,000 if over
issue is more than $1,000, and does not exceed
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■MnHMn
CANADA : AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
5IS
$2u,ooo (100% of the amount if excess is less than
$1,000), are incurred by the issuing bank for such
over issue. The pledging of note issues is pro-
hibited and punished by fine and imprisonment
of both parties to the matter.
Convertibility. Section 55 of the Act reads as
follows : " The bank shall make such arrange-
ments as are necessary to insure the circulation
at par in every part of Canada of all notes issued
or re-issued by it, and intended for circulation ;
and towards this purpose the bank shall establish
agencies for the redemption and payment of its
notes at the cities of Halifax, St. John, Charlotte-
town, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Victoria,
and at such other places as are from time to time
designated by the Treasury Board." The effect
of this regulation is that to-day the notes issued
by the Bank of Nova Scotia in Halifax are
accepted without discount in British Columbia,
and the notes of the Bank of British Columbia
pass current in the eastern Maritime Province.
Prior to i8go, the note-holder travelling from Pro-
vince to Province was compelled to exercise a
measure of discrimination, in filling his wallet
and in accepting change, which was customary in
the United States during the old days of State
Bank issues.
Elasticity. The normal expansion of bank note
circulation during the harvest months commenc-
ing with August has usually been about $7,000,000,
equal to an increase of about 23% over the normal
circulation of the early summer months. The
necessity of providing for this heavy and impet-
uous drain upon the resources of the country was
acknowledged, and the public, including those
otherwise in favour of a. Government issue of
notes, or of bank issues secured by deposit of
Government securities, withdrew their objections
to the continuance of the bank issues. Elasti-
city of note issues, in Canada at least, is indis-
pensable to the easy and automatic exchange
of one product for another and of products for
money, and so successfully has the system worked
here, that during the movement of crops, with calls
from all parts of the Dominion for money, and
more money, the Canadian banks are not only
able to supply all legitimate demands without
advancing the rate of interest by a fraction of
one per cent., but are able also to lend very large
amounts to the grain dealers of Chicago, St.
Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and other grain cen-
tres in the United States. The President of the
Winnipeg Board of Trade, Mr. Stephen Nairn,
in his annual address in 1892, could not refrain
from drawing attention to this feature of the sys-
tem, and the following excerpt therefrom will
hardly be considered out of place :
" Amongst the privileges of the trade may be
mentioned our admirable banking system which,
perhaps, cannot be excelled anywhere. Our early
legislators were very wise and sagacious when
1
D. R. Wilkij.
they provided for the contraction and expansion
of the circulating meiiium of the country. Not
only is this felt in the comparative ease with
which money can be obtained, when the interest
of the country requires it, but it tends largely to
keep the cost to the borrower steady and at rea-
sonable rates of interest. Were this feature of the
banking system wanting in such a season as this,
money would not only be scarce, but the rate of in-
terest would be much higher than it is now. And if
this is so with but 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 bushels
of wheat to move, what would the state of things
be, as may confidently be expected ere many years
go round, when not 23,000,000 or 30,000,000, but
1
I' I
5M
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPifiDIA.
m
It.
^'
100,000,000 to 150,000,000 bushels must be taken
care of. Without proper banking facihties, the
movement of grain would be seriously retarded,
resulting in great loss to the producer and trade
alike. It has been stated that upwards of $3,000,000
has been borrowed from Canadian financial insti-
tutions this season by grain-dealing firms in Min-
nesota and Dakota, to assist in moving their large
crops. We have every reason to feel proud of
our monetary institutions in Canada, exercising,
as they do, such a powerful influence in the ma-
terial advancement of the country."
The saving of capital under the Canadian sys-
tem is not confined to the amount of notes in
circulation. To that amount must be added the
" till money," which, in a country of such vast ex-
panse, served by upwards of 500 bank branches,
may be safely estimated at $16,000,000. This
amount is supplied by bank notes, which can be
held indefinitely awaiting the convenience of the
depositor or borrower without loss of interest, or
expense to the banks or their customers.
Business and Powers of Banks. Beyond the gen-
eral authority to " carry on such business as
appertains to the business of banking," includ-
ing the advancing on bills of lading and ware-
house receipts, special authority is given to lend
to manufacturers upon the security of> goods
manufactured or procured for such purpose ; to
lend to the purchaser or shipper of products of
the field, forest, mine, and waters; and upon live
stock and dead stock and products thereof. Every
opportunity therefore is extended to those en-
gaged in legitimate business — and they can rea-
sonably count upon receiving financial assistance
if satisfactory security is forthcoming. Assist-
ance may be given to dealers in cattle and agri-
cultural products of all kinds, to saw-millers,
lumbermen, etc. The form of pledge is short
and the transaction itself does not require public,
or, in fact, any registration.
Although the taking of mortgages and hypo-
theqiies upon real and personal property by way of
additional security is permitted, the lending of
money upon the security of mortgage or hypothe-
cation of any land, tenements, or immovable
property is foroidden. To meet the necessities
of the ship-building community in Quebec and
the Maritime Provinces the right of acquiring
and holding security upon ships or vessels while
buiL'ing, and when complete, is recognized, and
the same rights as are enjoyed by individuals
under the laws of the Province in which such
ship or vessel is being built are extended to the
banks.
The Branch System. After perusal of the fore-
going it will, perhaps, be apparent to the profes-
sional reader that in order to avail itself of the
full benefit of its powers to issue currency and
of the facilities afforded for making advances, the
inducement to extend the operations of a bank
beyond the limits of its headquarters would con-
stantly present itself, and v.'e find that, distant as
is the Atlantic from the Pacific in these latitudes,
branches may be found in Halifax, N.S., and
Victoria, B.C., of banks having their headquarters
in Montreal. Edmonton in the far North-West,
two hundred and fifty miles north of Calgary, is
accommodated by branches of banks having their
head offices in Toronto and Montreal, and has
the same banking facilities and conveniences as
if it were a suburb of one of thos^ financial cen-
tres. Nelson and Rossland, in the very heart of
the Selkirks, are equally well served. But for the
branch system the Canadian North-West and the
gold-bearing regions of British Columbia could
not possibly, in so short a period, have reached
their present stage of development. The con-
struction of the Canadian Pacific Railway could
not have been so speedily and successfully com-
pleted. The wholesale merchants of Winnipeg
and Vancouver are paying no higher interest
charges than are paid by the merchant princes of
Montreal, and the isolated North- West settler can
borrow upon the security of his grain in warehouse
upon as favourable terms as the millionaire specu-
lator in the United States City of Chicago.
Compare the hardships endured by the Dakota
settler if he has the misfortune to require a tem-
porary loan. The two per cent., if not three per
cent., per month that he is compelled to pay by
way of discount, stands in grim contrast with the
financial ease enjoyed by his Canadian cousin in
Manitoba, who, warehouse or pledge receipt in
hand, can approach his banker with comfort and
satisfaction, knowing that any needful advances
can be obtained at a moderate rate of interest on
the products of his farm. The banking facihties
of the Canadian North-West should therefore of
themselves commend that district to the prospect-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
StS
ive settler and turn the scales in its favour as
against any equally attractive agricultural lands
to the south.
Returns to Government. In addition to an elab-
orate Return ofthe assets and liabilities of the bank
to be furnished monthly, as on the last days of
each month, banks are required to send in
annually a list of shareholders. The Government
may also call for special returns from any bank
whenever " they are necessary to afford a full and
complete knowledge of its condition " (Sec. 83 and
86). In addition to this, the bank has to " annually
make a return of all dividends which have re-
mained unpaid for more than five years, and also
of all amounts and balances in respect of which
no transactions have taken place or upon which
no interest has been paid for more than five
years," (Sec. 88).
Beyond obtaining the information called for by
the foregoing provision it was the pronounced
intention of the Government, in 1890, to compel
the payment over to them of all balances and
amounts included therein. This threatened
action was freely styled " legalized robbery " and
" confiscation." An united front was presented
by the combined banks against the proposition,
which, if carried into effect, would have been the
means of placing depositors in Chartered Banks at
a disadvantage with those in the Government and
Post OfBce Savings Banks and in Savings, Loan
and Trust Companies, by placing under the cus-
tody of the Government amounts deposited with
banks in preference to other depositories, thereby
disclosing the private business of valued clients
and alienating the most desirable class of deposits.
The discussion in the House of Commons on this
clause was sharp and acrimonious, and ended in
a threat from the Minister of Finance that con-
tinued opposition to the clause as it now stands
(being minus the confiscation) would end in the
postponement of all banking legislation. This
would have made the situation a very serious one,
as owing to the approaching lapse of all existing
charters there would have been financial anarchy.
The unfairness of the enactment, even as it stands,
may be measured by the fact that the Government
does not render a similar return regarding balances
in the Post Oflice and other Government Savings
Banks which are to-day the strongest competitors
of the chartered banks for the deposits of the
people. The total of Post Office Government
Savings Bank deposits has grown from $2,387,648
in 1869 to $48,396,091 on 30th June, 1897.
Insolvency. Suspension for nmety days consti-
tutes insolvency and operates as a forfeiture of
charter. Regulations exist for the enforcement
and collection of the double liablity of share-
holders. Transferors of shares within sixty days
of suspension are held liable if actual holders fail
to meet calls. And " as a condition of the rights
and privileges conferred by this Act or by any Act
in amendment thereof, the following provision
shall have effect : The liability of the bank under
any law, custom or agreement to repay moneys
deposited with it and interest (if any) and to pay
dividends declared and payable on its capital stock,
shall continue notwithstanding any statute of limi-
tations or any enactment, or law relating to pre-
scription ; this section applies to moneys hereto-
fore or hereafter deposited, and to dividends
heretofore or hereafter declared." (Sec. 90).
Although no instance is on record in Canada of
any statutes of limitation having been pleaded by
a bank as a defence to an action brought by a
depositor or note-holder, the above enactment was
intended to cover the case of banks insolvent or
in liquidation, and to prevent the confiscation by
creditors or shareholders thereof of unclaimed
credit balances and outstanding notes. Another
clause provides for the payment of such amounts,
in case of insolvency or liquidation, to the Govern-
ment of the Dominion after a reasonable period
subsequent thereto.
The banking system of Canada is unique and,
I believe, peculiarly adapted to the requirements
of the country, but it must be borne in mind by
those who are responsible for its administration
that its permanency depends upon a prudent use
by them of the powers and privileges which it
confers,and which they must be careful not to abuse.
on
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5'6
CANADA : AN ENCYCI,0IM:DIA.
,.1 ■' ,
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The flrat Important steps taken after Con-
federatiuii in connection with the banicing system
of the new Dominion was during the Parliament-
ary session of 1869. On May 14th the Minister
of Finance, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Rose,
presented a scheme of general revision and Inter-
Provincial assimilation which excited keen con-
troversy and had afterwards to be withdrawn.
It was a distinct effort to introduce the American
banking system into Canada, and the resolutions
themselves are understood to have been prepared
under the direct supervision of Mr. E. H. King,
President of the Bank of Montreal — in accord-
ance with the previously announced views of his
Board of Directors. The speech may be sum-
marized briefly and conveniently as follows :
1. The circulation unsecured by Government
bonds was to be gradually and entirely reduced.
2. Notes of uniform appearance, furnished by
the Government, and up to the amount of their
paid-up capital stock, were to be issued by the
banks in return for a deposit with the Govern-
ment of gold, Dominion notes, or special Domin-
ion securities.
3. The bank notes were to be legal tender
throughout the Dominion, and a redemption
office was to be established in Montreal or the
capital city of any of the Provinces.
4. The banks were to hold reserves of specie
equal to 20 per cent, of the secured notes in cir-
culation, and one-seventh of the deposits at call.
5. The notes were to be the first charge upon
the assets of the bank in case of insolvency, and
the deposits at call and not bearing interest the
second charge.
The chief point in Mr. Rose's introductory
speech was that connected with the proposed
change in the circulation. He first of all described
the existing position : " In Nova Scotia the
banks could issue three times the amount of their
capital, plus their deposits ; in New Brunswick
twice the amount of their circulation ; and in
Ontario and Quebec to the full amount of their
capital stock, plus what specie they had in their
hands and the Government securities." He then
dealt at length with his intended changes — To-
ronto Globe, May 15th, i86g. This paper, in the
powerful hands of Mr. George Brown, maintained
an effective opposition to the Minister's proposals.
Duringr the Parliamentary Session of 1870,
the Canadian Banking System was thoroughly
discussed in connection with the adaptation
of the underlying principles of the various
Provincial systems to the exigencies and re-
quirements of the new Dominion. Sir Francis
ilincks, as Minister of Finance, had charge of
the Government measure introduced for this pur-
pose, and the following is an extract from an
important speech made by him on March ist :
" The question was one surrounded with diffi-
culties, and one in which all classes of the people
were interested. It was one also in which gentle-
men of the greatest practical knowledge held
widely different opinions. Circumstances had
occurred since the last renewal of the bank char-
ters, which impressed upon the entire community
the necessity of affording greater security to note-
holders. He did not desire to conceal his own
opinion upon the subject, and perhaps it would be
better for him at the outset to declare that his
opinion had long since been formed upon the sub-
ject of a circulating medium for the country.
But having done his utmost to establish what he
considered to be the best kind of currency, some
thirty years ago, he became quite satisfied that
the public mind in this country was not educated
to that degree that would make it possible to carry
such a system into force. His opinion, if he
were called on to say what was best for the coun-
try, was strongly in favour of a Government bank
of issue as the sole circulating medium, the pro-
fits of which would go to the country. But the
subject was fully discussed in 1841, when a mea-
sure was brought forward on the recommendation
of Lord Sydenham, who was himself a strong
advocate of the measure, and who recommended
it in his opening speech to Parliament. It was
then found that public opinion was against it.
The reasons were obvious.
In Ontario and Quebec alone, during many
years, there had been loaned to the public on the
basis of the circulation of the banks, not less
than eight or nine million dollars, and the with-
drawal of this circulation, and the substitution of
a Government issue based upon Government
securities, would necessitate the withdrawal of
these loans to the public. He was strongly im-
pressed with the difficulty in 1841 ; and while he
CANADA ! AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
s>?
was theoretically in favour of a bank of issue, he
did tiut conceal his opinion that if any such scheme
was to be carried out, it was absolutely necessary
to adopt some measure to prevent the evils that
would be produced by the sudden withdrawal of
these loans to the public. Since 1K41, although he
was more than once in the Government, he never
deemed it expedient to attempt to bring forward
that scheme again. In i86b a Provincial note issue
was sanctioned, and he had to confess he was
rather astonished to find that the Honourable
Gentleman who had introduced that measure had
succeeded in obtaining the assent of Parliament
to it. Had that measure been successful, that is
to say, had all the banks in the Dominion accepted
the conditions of that Act, then he would have
considered that it was a wise measure, and that
the subject had been very satisfactorily settled; but
inasmuch as only one bank (Montreal) agreed to
accept the conditions, thereby placing itself on
a different footing from all the other banks in
the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, he must
say that he looked upon it as quite impossible
that it could have worked well. His opinion was
clear that it is necessary that all banks should be
on the same footing, and it was impossible that
this Act could be worked satisfactorily while
a great advantage was given to one bank which
hadaccepted theconditions of the Act. Of course,
he did not desire in the slightest degree to impute
any blame to the bank which accepted of this
proposition ; on the contrary, he thought that the
Government was very much indebted to it for
adopting a policy which at the time was indis-
pensable to maintain the public credit. The other
banks not having accepted theconditions, and the
charters being about to expire, it was absolutely
necessary, as he had already stated, for the
Government to determine what conditions should
be imposed upon the banks renewing their char-
ters, and how those charters should be made to
give due security to the note-holders."
During the debate which followed all schools of
financial thought were represented. Those who
wanted one great Government institution ; those
who desired a number of small and scattered
banks, independent of each other ; those who
liked a circulation guaranteed by Government as
a result of bonds deposited for security to the
full amount of the issue ; those who wanted the
American system, and those who preferred the
Hritish mode of operation ; all had their varied
ideas upon the subject. The Government pro-
posals were, however, adopted and formed tho
basis of the present system.
The Canadian Banking Act was renewed in
1880 under the auspices of Sir Leonard Tiiley
as Finance Minister. On April 26th of that
year he presented the following resolutions,
which, after considerable discussion, were ulti-
mately accepted by the House : " Resolved : That
the charters of the several banks to w'.iicli the Act
respecting Hanks and Banking (34 \'ic., Chap. 5)
applies shall be extended to the ist day of July,
1891, subject to the following provisions :
1. That after the ist day of July, i88i (on
which day the charters, if not extended, would ex-
pire), the payment of the notes of any such bank
intended for general circulation, shall be the first
charge upon its assets; and that the bank shall
not, after the said day, issue or re-issue any such
note for a less sum than $5, or for any other sum
not being a multiple of $5.
2. That from and after the same day any such
bank, when making any payment, shall, on the
request of the person to whom the payment is to
be made, pay the same, or such part thereof, not
e.\ceeding $50, as such person may request, in
Dominion notes for $i or for $2 each, at the
option of the receiver.
3. And that from and after the passing of the
Act to be passed in pursuance of these resolu-
tions, the proportion of the cash reserves to be
held by any such bank in Dominion notes shall
never be less than 40 per cent.
4. That the form of the Monthly Returns to
Government be so amended as to show more
clearly the financial position of the bank.
5. That Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Act of the
now last Session (42 Vic, Chap. 45) respecting
the numbering of bank shares be repealed.
In speaking to his motion. Sir Leonard Tiiley
made some important references, from which the
following may be quoted :
" It is well known that for the last two or three
years, or since the banks have been deprived of
the privilege of issuing $1 or $2 notes, or any
5'»
CANADA : AN ENCYCI.OIM'.DIA.
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9
note loss than $4, there have been complaints
from all parts of tiie country that people could
not obtain stnall bills, 'llie (josernnicnt do not
propose the establishment of cx|)eiisive machinery
for puttiiifj these notes into circulation. I'ersons
now askiiifj for the payment of cheques upon a
bank freipiently ask for $1 or $j notes, but can-
not obtain them. It is not the business of the
hank to circulate them ; they have no interest in
circuiatiiif.^ them or in keeping them out ; they
are only anxious to put their own notes in circu-
lation. We propose requiring; the banks to pay
!j>50 in small notes. This is one of the means by
which the (iosernmcnt proposes to obtain an in-
creased circulation for the $1 anti $.j notes, and
at the same time to {jive aciommodation to peo-
ple who require these notes. We will, in that
way. in part supply the demand for $1 and $2
notes that are required for the payment of
labour. I quite a^ree with the Hon. Gentlemen
opposite that you cannot force $8,000,000, or
^4,000,000, or even $2,(joo,ooo, suddenly upon the
c(juntry. If we do, we must expect to have to
provide for it at short notice, because if you put
it in the hands of contractors, you may have to
take it up next day. After July, 1881, we shall
take from the banks the rifjht to issue $4 notes,
smd it is by these means that the Government
expect to obtain a much larger circulatitJii for
their notes. It is true, as was just stated, that
the circulation must necessarily be limited, be-
cause large transactions are generally done by
cheque and not by Bank or Dominion notes. But
the circulation is used in the payment of labour
by our manufacturers and other employers of
labour. The great difficulty has been to obtain
these small notes. The Government would have
to use expensive machinery if they undertook to
establish a bank of issue, and so they only pro-
pose to use the old machinery, with some addi-
tional provisions in the new Banking Act, with
which they will obtain an increased circulation ;
and these small notes do not return to the banks
or the Government for redemption as the larger
rotes do."
In 1890, the Bankinfi: Act was agrain amended
and renewed. The Measure was introduced in
the House of Commons on March 20th by the
Hon. George E. Foster, in an important speech,
from which the following is an extract along
historical lines :
" In 1867 the first enactment was passed which
<lid little else than continue for three years the
charters of the incorporated banks then in exist-
ence, and applied the system of a tax upon the
bank circulation to the banks in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. In i8(j8 another idea seems to
have prevailed, anil legislation was introduced
which coiiteiiiplated the taking over by the
Government of the note circulation of the country,
under certain arrangements which should be made
with the banks upon il.- principle, I think, of pay-
ing the ditfereiit banks a certain rate per annum for
the average circulation which they at that time pos-
sessed, and which should be continued until the
expiration of their charter. It appears, however,
that this plan was not adopted by any of the
banks with the exception of one, which, I think,
was the Bank of Montreal, and in 1870 the legis-
lation was repealed. In that year the first
extended legislation was had in reference to the
banks. The charters were then continued for ten
years, and it was made obligatory that banks that
were newly started should have a 6oh(I /((/(! paid-up
capital of §200,000 ; that the circulation should
never exceed the paid-up capital ; that they should
have no power to circulate notes below the value
of $4 ; and also that a certain amount of the cash
reserves shoiiKl be in Dominion notes, the mini-
mum being thirty-three per cent, and the maxi-
mum to range in the vicinity of fifty per cent. A
double liability of the shareholders was also pro-
vided for in that year, '^nH nrrnnf uents were
made to have lists '
returns puMi^'u;.) '
shareholder
In 1871 li lion w.L
chief feature> A the A.
h<
. and stated
tion of the
put
lin .A in which the
of the preceding year
were embodied and S' me change was made in
reference totheamoum [capital — which was then
fixed as it remains to-day — that the subscri' I
capital must be $500,000, with $100,000 paid p
when a new bank was established, and $ior o
more paid up within two years from the of
its commencing business. The next legisi 'n
took place in 1880, when the principal fea les
added were that the Dominion notes to be ueld
as reserves should not be less than 40 per cent.;
that the issue of the $4 notes be taken from the
banks ; and that the privilege of issuing fives and
multiples of fives be continued ; and that notes
have a preferential lien in order to give greater
security. These are the principal features of bank
legislation as it exists to-day.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
5«9
In looking over that IfRishition it seems to have
been the purpose of Parliiiiiuiit not to interfere
violently with what may be called the natural
growth of the bankiiij^ system in this country.
I'arlianjent from time to time, at these iliffcrent
periods of revision, affirmed the principle that it
possessed authority to control the circulation, and
the power of circulation was continued toaKreater
or less degree to the banks iis a privilege, the
Government, in the meantime, taking over a cer-
tain proportion from period to period, of the
smaller note circulation of the country. It also
appeared to be the desire of rarliameiit to hedge
around the banking system which then prevailed
by more severe conditions of charter ; by regula-
tions which should be restrictive upon the dealings
of the banks, especially with their stock and with
the stock of other banks; to foster the laying by
of reserve capital; and by a judicious require-
ment of Returns, to perfect the system and render
it as safe as possible, without interfering volun-
tarily with the general principles upon which the
banks had been operated from the earlier time."
The particulars of the Chartered Banks since
Confederation in their discounts, liabilities and
assets are as follows :
Vf>r.
1868.
1869.
1870.
1871.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1876.
i«77.
1878.
1879.
1883.
1881.
1882.
1883.
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
1888.
1889.
1890.
1891.
1892.
1893.
IS<)4-
ISOS
I Sl)0
Total of
discounts to
ths people.
• 52,299,050
56.433.953
66,276,961
84,799,841
106,744,665
119,274,317
iji,68o,iii
136,029,307
127,621,577
125,681,658
119682,659
113,485,108
102,166,115
116,953.497
140,077,194
143.944,957
130,4(^0,053
126,827,792
132S33.313
139.753.755
141,002,373
149.95** 980
153.3°'. 335
171,082,677
193,455.883
206,623,042
204,124,939
203,730,800
213,211,996
Liabilities.
»45, 144,854
50,940,226
65,685,870
80,250,974
90,864,688
98,982,668
116,412,392
104,609,356
09,614,014
99,810,731
95.538.831
96,700,113
111,838,941
127,176,249
149.777.214
145,938,095
137.491.917
138,762,695
146,954.260
149,704,402
163.990,797
173,029,602
173,207,587
187.332.325
208,062,169
217.195.975
221,066,724
224,794,322
232,338,086
Assets.
979,860,976
86,283,976
103,197,103
'25.273.631
148,862,445
166,056,59s
187,921,031
186,255,330
183,499,801
181,019,194
175.450.274
173,548,490
184,276,190
2oo,6n,879
227,426,835
228,084,650
219,998,642
219,147,080
228,061,872
230.393.072
241,504,164
253,789,803
254,546,329
269,307,032
291.635,251
302,696,715
307,520,020
310,536,510
320,937,643
Mr. E. H. King was for many years the
most prominent banker in Canada, and, perhaps,
upon this continent. He was the Napoleon of
Canadian financial operations. The affairs of
the Hank of Montreal during his rcf^ime were
managi'd upon a large scale, and it was maiie one
of tile most potent banking institutions in the
world partly through his skill and ability. Horn in
Ireland in i8.j8, he came to Canada dining the
" fifties" and entered the Hank of Hritish North
America. In 1837 he resigned to become In-
spector of the Hank of Montreal. During the
succeeding year he was appointed Manager of the
Montreal branch, and on March 28th, i86j, be-
came General Manager. This position ho occu-
pied until November, i86g, w'len he was elected
President of the Hank, and during four years more
administered its affairs. When he retired in
187J the stockholders presented him with a mag-
nificent silver service which had cost .$10,000.
Mr. King went to England, where he lived quietly
upon the handsome fortune he had accumulated
— with only an occasional visit to New York or
Montreal — until his death in April, iSqG. His
management of the Hank of Montreal was con-
spicuous for a prolonged and brilliant effort
to make it a Government institution some-
what after the style of the Bank of England,
and for the rivalry between the three larger
banks — the Montreal, the Commerce, and the
Merchants' — during which their capital was re-
spectively raised by some $3,000,000. Mr. King's
reputation for ability was very great, though his
public popularity cannot be said to have reached
a high level. This was inevitable from the mea-
sures which he considered it necessary to adopt
in 1863-66, when, at the cost of a million dollars
to the bank, he wiped out a large business in
Upper Canada based upon accommodation paper.
The writing off of these bad or doubtful debts,
and the temporary restriction of many business
operations based upon the unsound and wholesale
practice of using " names " as security, was a
process which required great strength of mind
and character. And the result was that while the
Hank of Upper Canada and the Coinniercial
Hank of Canada fell victims to these and other
practices during the years immediately preceding
Confederation, the Bank of Montreal became
mi
ii&i
520
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.KDIA.
i-
%M
stronger and stronger. It had a fourth of the
capital and the assets and a third of the business
exhibited in the banii returns of the period,
and was besides the Government depository and
iiscal agent.
This position therefore gave Mr. King an extra-
ordinaiy degree of influence when lie endeavoured,
in 1867-g, to procure the adoption of the Ameri-
can banking system — free banks and a Govern-
ment-secured currency — in Canada. He won
over Mr. Rose the Minister of Finance, and the
Government, but in the end the scheme failed
through opposition from the other banks, led by
Mr. Hague and Mr. Peter Jack of Halifax, and from
the public. The banks, no doubt, disliked the
locking up of so much capital in the hands of the
Government, and also feared a development by
which the Bank of Montreal with its greater
wealth and resources would practically and grad-
ually secure to itself the control of the National
note issue. During these years also Mr. King
carried on vast financial operations in New York
which, tluHigh serious risks were run, turned out
immensely profitable to the Bank.
The Canadian system of Currency and the
form and value of ihe coins in circulation have
undergone a myriad historic changes. During the
French ref^ime the monetrry system was mainly
French, although various other coins were in
use. In early times a species of paper money was
freely us«d, and in 1685, according to Park-
man, a card currency was issued. Mr. Garland, in
his work upon " Banks, Bankers and Banking,"
speaks of a report in 1698 that the currency of
Canada consisted wholly of paper. In 1714 the
card currency was estimated at about two mil-
lion livres. In 1717 this card money was con-
verted into bills, and by the Declaration of
Quebec, the currency of Canada was made the
same in every parti':ular as that of France, and
French coins only were legal tender.
About this date paper disappeared, b;it only
for a time. It was again re-issued after 1729
and continued to the end of French rule. The
effect was distinctly disastrous. Mr. James
Stevenson has stated in this connection that
the average annual imports of the Colony in
1749-1755 amounted to about £210,000 sterling,
and the average exports to about £60,000 sterling.
Mr. Parkman, speaking of 1772, declares that:
" In the last bitter years of its existence the
Colony floundered in drifts of worthless paper."
After the Cession to Great Britain, regulations
were issued in 1764 and in 1766, and an effort
made to retain the higher French coins in use.
But the population possessed a iiabit of hoard-
ing their gold, and for a long time money was
very limited in this form. Charles Carroll, the
American revolutionist who was in Canada in
1776, estimates the total specie thus preserved or
concealed amongst the people at one million
pounds sterling. With the passing of French rule
there also disappeared the French paper money.
The next and natural result of the prevailing
scarcity of currency was the creation of another
local and special paper money. It took the form
of due bills which passed from hand to hand and
circulated in accordance with the credit of those
who made them. At first they were simply written
promises from merchants to pay such and such
an amount in goods, but they soon' increased in
number and application to a degree which afforded
much practical relief to the people. In various
forms these "bons," as they came to be called,
circulated widely in Lower Canada for many
years. Incidentally they were of service in pre-
paring the I'^rench Canadians for the use of bank
notes. During these years it should be remem-
bered the use and value of local coins, etc., was
determined to a great extent by the custom of
the English Colonies to the south. When the
Revolutionary war came, Canadian currency con-
sisted mainly of French coins, left in the country
after the conquest ; Portuguese and Spanish coins
brought in from the Southern Colonies ; and
British coins introduced directly from England
as soon as the supply from the South was
checked. Mr. Shortt illustrates the extraordinary
diversity of values at that time by quoting in his
" Early History of Canadian Banking," the fol-
lowing extract from a Report of the Merchants of
Montreal to the Governor-General, Sir Guy
Carleton, in 1778 :
" By the present laws respecting gold coin we
pay considerably more than the mint price for all
Portugal gold, all guineas and French Louis d'Ors,
and considerably less for Spanish and some kinds
of French gold, yet we apprehend that the loss
m
CANADA: AN KNCYCI.OM'DIA.
s»«
occasioned by this tlifference is not so great as the
inconvenience would be of altering the present
rate. We are of opniion that guineas should not
be taken at 23s. 4d. unless they weigh fully 5 dwts
8 grs., because they are at that rate about is. per
oz. higher than in England, and to take them at
a less rate would heighten the difference and like-
wise encourage the sweating and clipping that is
already too much practised."
According to Mr. George Johnson, the Domin-
ion Statistician, the first step taken in British
America for a really comprehensive revision of its
currency was in 1795, when, to remedy the evils
resulting from the coined money in circulation
beii'g so reduced in weight, debased in value, and
composed of such a variety of pieces peculiar to
all countries trading with this continent, an
Imperial regulation was issued fixing a standard of
value founded upon the average intrinsic wo.th of
the gold and silver coins of Great Britain, Portu-
gal, Spain, France and the United States. Sub-
sequently various Acts of various Legislatures
established a valuation for these pieces, at which
thev were generally accepted.
The so-called Halifax currency, which held a
prominent place in early days, was an arbitrary
money of account used in all the British North
American Provinces until the decimilizationof its
currencies was decided upon. The denomina-
tions were dollars, pounds, shillings and pence ;
the table was I2d.«-i shilling; 20s. = ^"i ; 5s. = $1 ;
the dollar being originally the Spanish pillar
dollar, coined before 1772, and containing 3S5
grains of fine silver. This currency was estab-
lished for the Province of Canada by Imperial
ordinances made shortly after the conqmst, and
which changed the monetary nomenclature liom
French to English, but adopted as the money
unit, according to Mr. Breckenridge and otiier
writers, a shilling equal in value to the old French
livre. The unit was often altered slightly, and,
after the debasement of the American coinage in
1834, was reduced so that the dollar unit of the
two systems would correspond. In 1841 the
pound sterling was reckoned at 24s. 4d. curn-ncy;
the dollar (U.S.) at 5s. id., but after 1850 at 5s.
In 1858 the Province of Canada finally adopted
dollars and cents, and pounds, shillings and pence
as the only money of account. In 1871, the Fed-
eral Parliament passed an Act (Chap. 4, Acts of
1871) respecting the currency which gave to tie
Provinces of the Dominion an uniform system, tiie
single gold standard atiopti^d being that of th'!
British sovereign of the weight and fineness pre-
scribed by the laws of the United Kingdom. It
was to pass current at 4.86 2/3. Provision was
also made that until otherwise ordered by Her
Majesty's proclamation, the gold eagle of the
United States of the fixed weight of ten penny-
weights and eighteen grains troy, and of a settled
standard of fineness, should be legal tender in
Canada. The same Act provided for a goUl coin-
age for Canada when desired, but none has yet
been minted. Silver coins were made legal ten-
der up to $10, and minor coins to 25 cents. The
silver coins in common use are 50, 25, 20, 10 ami
5 cents, although the 20-cent piece is being
steadily withdrawn from circulation.
In addition to the coin used the Canadian Gov-
ernment has power to issue Government notes.
These were fi^st used in the Province of Canada
under the law of 1866. The authority was
limited to $5,000,000 on general account, and
$3,000,000 to re[>lace notes of banks surrender-
ing their power of issue. It was provided that
twenty per cent, of the note? issued should be
covered by specie reserve and the remainder by
Government debentures. On the formation of
the Dominion, the permitted issue by Act of
1868 'was enlarged to $8,000,000 — any amount
in excess of $5,000,000 to be covered by 25 per
cent, in specie, or in specie and Canadian securities
guaranteed by the Imperial Government, and
for the remainder in unguaranteed boiuls issued
by authority of Parliament.
The issue was ag;iin changed in 1S70 and fixed
at $9,000,000, with a 20 per cent specie reserve,
any excess to be full)' covi.'reil by specie. In 1873
the issues in excess of $(),ooo,ooo were required
to be covered by specie to the extent of 35 per
cent. Ill 1875 a 50 per cent, specie reserve was
reciuired for $3,000,000, above and beyond the
$(),ooo,ooo, aiiy excess over $1.:, 000, 000 to be
fully covered. In 18S0 the law authori/ed the
issue of $20,000,000, tt) be covered by at least 15
per cent, of gold, 10 per cent, adilition in gold or
Dominion securities guaranteed by Great Britain,
'm
T
Mil
j:
m''
ir
I
I
522 CANADA: AN ENCYCL0P^:DIA.
and the remainder in unguaranteed bonds; any of 1895. To this total might be added the head
excess above $20,000,000 to be fully covered with offices, numbering thirty-five in Canada, and in
gold. In 1S95 an Act provided that the issue might some cases the branches operating outside of the
exceed $20,000,000 provided that in addition to Dominion. Aside from important agencies in
any amount required to be held in gold under New York such as those maintained by the Bank
previous Acts, a further amount in gold equal to of Montreal, the Commerce and the Merchants —
the excess of issued notes over twenty millions which transact a large business therewith Canadian
should be held. These notes are full legal tender, capital — several of the banks have regularly estab-
redeepiable in specie on demand, and are of the lished branches abroad. The Bank of Nova
following denominations: 25 cents, $1, $2, §4, $50, Scotia has a large agency in Chicago, U.S.A.,
$100, $500, and §1,000. Occasionally old issues and a branch at Kmgston, Jamaica. The
of Provincial notes in denominations of $5, $10 Bank of British Columbia had branches in
and $20 may be met with. 1895 at Tacom."., Seattle and San Francisco,
U.S.A., and, like the Bank of British North
The following: particulars regarding: C'>.nadian America, maintains its headquarters in London,
banks as they appeared in 1897 are compiled from England.
various oiBcial sources :
i M ^ ^ The Right Hon. Sir John Rose, Bart., was born
Hani,. W.I is ^ u^ '" ifJ20, at Turriff, in Aberdeenshire, and was
la 6'i s-j J a educated in local schools and at King's College,
i> I rx, . 1 .«?, '^i .. "^^^ «A ■* ™^ .'\berdeen. While still a youth he came with his
Bank of .Montreal 1H17 36 ^12,000,000 86,000,000 •'
Quebec Bank 1818 6 2,500000 500,000 parents to the County ot Huntingdon, in Lower
Bank of New Brunswick 1820 None. soo.ocx) 550,000 ^^ , ■ „„, r .• „ , j , _ t 1
Halifax Banking Company... 1825 15 500,000 325,000 Canada, and for a time earned a not Very lucra-
Bank of Nova Scotia 1832 28 1,500,000 1,500000 tive livelihood by teaching in the schools of the
Bank of British North.'Vmerica. 1836 16 4,866,666 1,338,333 ,, t u' tj r 1 l ,
Si. Stephen's Bank 1 8 36 None. 200,000 45,000 liastem lownships. Before long, however, he
Molsons Bank ^^ii^i 2,000,000 1,400,000 removed to Montreal, Studied law, and was called
Bank of Toronto 1855 13 2,000.000 1,800,000 , , • o • 1
Union Bank of Halifax 1^56 7 500,000 205.000 to the Bar m 1842. With a Commanding pres-
BirLVvalouth ■.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•; ;KnL. '-^Z ^C;^ ^"^^' ^^^■^"est manner, and a power of fluent
Eastern Townships Bank i860 8 1,500,000 750,000 speech and ikill in debate, he soon built up a high
Banque Naliimale i860 9 1,200,000 . 1 • 1 ■ .. l. ,1 1
SuminersideBankof I'.K.i... 1862 None. 48666 14,000 reputation vvhich, in time, gave him the largest
Ban<|ue Jacques c-iriier. 1862 15 500,000 235.000 commercial practice in Montreal and the coutrol
Bank of British Gilumhia. .. 1S62 6 2,919,996 486,666 r , 1 .f .
Merchants Bank ot Ciinada... 1864 30 6,000,000 3,000,000 of the legal business of many Wealthy concems —
Se'sB^^kolNefBruns:"'''^ '^ ^°°'°°° ^"'•"'° the Hudsou's Ba> Company, for e.xample. He
wick 1864 None, i So 000 120,000 also conducted much of the Government's legal
tJnion Bank of Canada 1866 22 1,200,000 300,000 , . j • .0 o 1 r-. . ,-
Commercial Bank of Windsor, business, and in 1848 was made a Queen s Coun-
N.s. ... 1866 None. 343,783 108,000 gg]^ In the Social and political life of Montreal
Canadian Bank of Commerce. 1S67 19 6,ocx),ooo 1,000,000 ,, „ , , .
Merchants' Bank of Halifax.. 1869 22 1,500,000 1,075,000 Mr. Kose also took an active and prominent part.
^"nT.^^"'.'.!'.^T°""!'. 1869 None. 250,075 30,000 Throughout his career he wasE Conservative, but it
Merchants' Bank of P. E. I.... 1871 None. 200,020 50,000 was not Until 1857 that he entered the Legisla-
Dominion Bank 1871 16 1,500,000 1,500,000 , ... c^ ,. ., „ , .
B.nquedeSt.Jean 1873 None. ^61.450 ....... tu^e upon appointment as Solicitor-General m
Bank of llatnilton 1873 17 1,250000 675,000 the Macdonald-Cartier administration, a post
Banque ViUe Marie 1873 8 479620 10.000 , . . . . ,, ^., ., . ,. , ' .," .
Bankof Ottawa 1884 11 1,500,000 1,065,000 whicn he held until the resignation of the Minis-
E:n:|::dTs\"H&e-.V.:; l87^^ ? 5w;^ 'tl:'^ try in August, 1858. In this first contest of his
Imperial BanK of Canada 1S75 20 1,963,600 1,156,800 it is interesting tO note the fact that three Con-
Standard Bank of Canada. .. . 1876 18 1,000.000 60^000 i' 1 J iU II /-- ¥-.,/-
Western Bank of Canada 18S2 7 377 816 105.000 servative leaders, the Hon. George E. Cartier,
Traders Bank of Canada.. .. 1885 17 700,000 85,0 00 pjon. Henry Starnes and himself, were pitted
Total ... 456 »6o,756,8i3 926,728,799 against three leading Liberals of that day — Hon.
Thenumberofbranches, in Canada, of Canadian L. H. Holton, Hon. A. A. Dorion. and Hon. T.
banks was therefore 456, according to the lists D'Arcy McGee. Mr. Rose was the only Con-
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
523
servative elected. For brief periods in the latter
part of 1858 he held office as Receiver-General
and again as Solicitor-General, but on the loth
January following he was transferred to the De-
partment of Public Wori<s. In this position it
was his duty to provide for the accommodation
of the Prince of Wales during His Royal High-
ness's visit in i860. Pressure of private business
and public work compelled his retirement from
the Government in June, 1861, but he remained
a member of the Assembly until Confederation.
In 1864 he was appointed by the Imperial Gov-
ernment as Commissioner on behalf of Great
Britain under the treaty with the United States
for the settlement of the Oregon claims.
Mr. Rose was elected to the new Parliament of
the Dominion in 1S67 for the County of Hunting-
don by a large majority, and in November of the
same year succeeded Sir A. T. Gait as Minister of
Finance. At that particular time the work of
this Departtnent was e.xtremely difficult and com-
plicated. It had to deal with the accounts of
the old Province of Canada, with unassimilated
Inter-Provincial tariffs and systems of inland
revenue, with currency troubles, and special diffi-
culties in the Maritime Provinces. His Budget,
financial measures and tariff re-adjustment
showed, however, much ability. In July, 1868, he
successfully floated half of the Intercolonial Rail-
way loan in London, and during the succeeding
session introduced his much discussed and not
very popular currency and banking scheme in
Parliament. It was distasteful to western mem-
bers of the House and to the bankers, and had
ultimately to be withdrawn. Mr. Rose resigned
his position and left Canadian public life in Sep-
tember of the same year to reside in England,
where he became a partner in the well-known
banking firm of Morton, Bliss & Company, or as
it was now termed, Morton, Rose & Company.
He had been a delegate at the Conference in Lon-
don regarding Confederation in 1867, and later on
was appointed to inquire into the financial griev-
ances of Nova Scotia. He was a member of the
Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learn-
ing; a Governor of the University of McGill
College; a Major of the Light Infantry Volunteer
Militia ; a Director of the Montreal Telegraph
Company and of the North British end Mercan-
tile Company; and President of the City Gas
Company. His efforts in i86g at Washington
resulted in an informal Convention, from which
came the Treaty of 1871. In 1870, Mr. Rose wms
made a k.c.m g. ; in 1872 a Baronet ; and in
1878 a G.C.M.G., in recognition of his services as
Executive Commissioner of Canada at the Paris
Exhibition. Sir John Rose was appointed
Receiver-General of the Duchy of Lancaster in
1883 by the Prince of Wales, and in 1886, he
became an Imperial Privy Councillor. He died in
1888.
The official figures of Chartered Banlcing:
in Canada, so far as its paid-up capital, notes in
circulation and total deposits are concerned, have
been as follows :
Capital
tiotfs in
'I'otal on
N'ear.
piiid-up.
Circulation.
Deposit.
1868....
»3o,5o7.447
89,350,646
»33.653.594
1869....
30,782,637
9.539-5' 1
40,028,090
1870....
33.'''3'.249
15,149.031
48 763,205
1871....
37,095,340
20,914,637
56.287,391
1872...
45,190,085
25,296.454
61.481,452
IS?.?----
54,690,561
27,165,878
65,426,042
IS74---.
60.3S8.340
27,904,963
77.n3.754
1875,...
64.452,846
23.035 639
74642,446
IS76,...
66,804,398
21.245.935
72.852,686
IS77....
65,206,009
20,704,338
74,106,287
1878....
63,682,863
20,475,586
70,856,253
IS79....
62,737.276
19,486,103
73.I5'.42S
iSSo....
60.052,117
22.529,623
85,303,814
I88(....
59-5.M.977
28,516,602
94 346,481
1882....
59,799,644
33,582,080
110,133,124
1883....
61,390.118
33,283,302
i..7,648,383
1884....
61,579,021
30,449,410
102,398,228
188.;....
61,711,566
30,720 762
104,014,660
1886,...
61,662,093
31,030,499
111,449.365
1887....
60,860,561
32,478,118
112,656,985
18S8....
60,345.035
32,205,259
125,136,473
1889...
60,229,752
32,207,144
134.650,732
1890....
59,974.902
32.»34-5"
135,548,704
i89r....
60,700,697
33. 06 r, 042
148.396,968
1892..
61,626,3 t I
33,788,679
166,668,471
>893..-.
62,009,364
33.811,925
174-776,723
1S94
62,063.371
31,166.003
i8i.74?,89o
1895...
61,800,700
30,807,041
190.916,939
1896....
62,043,173
31,456,297
193,616,049
The percentage of lia
in 1868; 54.45 in 1878;
in 1896.
bilities to assets was 56.55
67.J5 in 1888; and 72.39
d r ;
wijq^n-cv<7»»^'
M
GENFRAL INDEX
Ablmtt, Sir J. J. C « 4
Abenaquis Indians 58, r.9. (Kl, tW, tJi)
Abercrotnbie, General 07 H
Sent to Canada. ill
Serves against Montcalm ti8
Abercromby, Sir Ralph 1H2
Al>erdeen, Earl of _ 2(1
Abolition of Lesislative Council or Manitoba 42
Abolition of Slavery in Canada .'ttl
Abraham, HciRhls of tiO, Wt
•' Plains of ;W, 7 J, 7lS
Abrogation of Reciprocity Treaty 312
Anticipated jW-'i
Detrimental to export trade wuh United States H72
Dismay Iclt on account of 3-^8
Protests m.uie at;ain.st ; 342
Report of Committee of Executive Council con*
cerntng 358
Acadia.. 28, 21», 37, 47, 57, 61, 02, tiJ, W, Go, 7U, 71, 148
Acadia, Bank of (>ee Banks).
Acadians, Expulsion of - 38
** Plots amongst (li>
Acland, Sir Henry 2.W
Act (2U Vict.) to encourage civilization of the
Indians 2(W
To enfranchise the Indians 20(1
Act(22Vict.)''espectingcivilizationof the Indians. 2(M
Act, Indian (of 1870) 208 «, 270
Act, Indian Advancement I'O
Act, Sianip WJ
Act of 18t)3 for the management of Indian affairs. 200
Adam-i, Henry 112
Adams, John I(t0, UO. HI", 330, ;«1, 347
Adam^, Sanu.l Slt.liW
AddinKt>n IIU.UI
Adirondacks 51
Africa 1H2
.'\frica. South 280, 343
Agriculture, Bank of (See Banks).
Aericuhure, Oka Indians allotted lands for . . . S-tO
Indiansof Western Canada allotted lands for .. 259
Table showing Indian progress in 271
Aikens, Hon.J.C •»«)
Ailton, William 1«0
Aix-la-Chapelle Treaty of 38. 05. 71
Alabama correspondence , 351
" Claims :Wl
Alaska 222
Atbanal, Father 30
Albany, N. Y -i-. 04, 170
Albany, Fort 51
Albert Bank (See Banks).
Alberta...... 12, 217. 22S-9
Allan, Hon. William 175, 4(«
Allan, H. Montague 4!W
Allan, Sir Hufc;h ;V'>5,4:i5. 4llt, 4!)1 2
Allan, Andrew 43. 41*1 2
Allan, James 4115
Allan, Alexandre 43.5
Allan Steamship Line 41
Allen, Hon. Isaac 110, 115
Allen, Sir John Campbell IPJ
Allen, Ethan U2
Alleghans, Tbe 223
Aleutian Islands 222. 2:i5
Alleghany Mountains 37. 120
'• River m
Alexander. Sir William 152
Names Nova Scotia 02
Obtains grant from King of England (12
Relurns h'»me (>2
Alexander VI., Pope .'«*
Alexander, Robert 113
Alexander, S. Cameron 4!H
Alexandra, Town of l'*^!
Aleeria 295
Algonquin Indians 51 2-1 5-8, 200, 221, 'SMI
^ 212, 2.-i(>
Burying grounds of 224
Canada's name said to urisinate ainongst 1115
Chief central race of *-arly Canada 21'0
Extended through the centre of the continent . 2(t0
Kiu'ht in the War of IHI2 254
Have nearly all passed away 22((
Irifluence on Canadian Lakes of 220
Algonquin Indians— CtfM//MMr//.
LauKUages of 223,224
Population ol the :nrt)
Stand by the h rcnch 211
Small divisions ol ihe 2UU
'1 he Five Naiiuns ut war with tue 218
Almanac, C^naaiun 470, 471
Almon, Hon. W. T UO
A monte Mills 432
Ailcuez, Father 220
Allumette Inland 52
Amazon River 236. 240
America, North 02-4-5. 77. 82 9, 1(K>, 120. 211 2
America, Continent of 17, 30, 59. 72, ltl3
American emissaries KM)
Americans in London liMl
American Revolution 38,90, 137,218
•• Agricultural tariff" . 374
" Banking System 508, 5(10
" Bureau of Statistics 341
Civil War 'MU, 342, 344. lii^l
Colonies 91,99,123,137
*' (Jovernment refuse to discuss trade reci-
procity 342
History 2:«»
'* Lumber duties 375
" National Bank Act 5(18
*' States, central 319
** Surrenderon the Banks of Niagaia ... 101
'* Writers 90,98
Americans, The... 100, 102 5, 107. 100(1,170, 171.
172 6, 180, 180, 18;V7 8-4
Dc::lare war against Great Britain 187, P.N)
Defeated at Chateauguay 40
Defeated at Lundy's Lane 40
Driven out of Canada. ... 39
Eager for Conquest Itil
1 nvade Canada 179
Join with Napoleon 157
Not prepared for war 150
Amherst Jeffrey, Lord 121. 131 , 207
Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the B.iti&h
Army 75
Biography of 75
Commands tbe Forces in North America 75
Compelled to defer action. 08
Follows Pepperell's plan at Louisburg G7
Gives orders to his troops (lO, 7U
I^ads an expedition against Louisburg 07
Marches to Lake George and builds ships 08
Raised to the Peerage 75
Am .>: Htburg.. 159, 1025, 104, 108, 175, 1<M>, l!l|,252
An -.vr<!am loO
Anct.-!
192
Anderson, R 491
Anderson River 2-1*
Anderson, James 249
Angers, Hon. A. R 44
Anglican Church. 'M
Anglin, Hun. T. W :104
An(;us, R. H 435,489
Anhalt Zerbest 97
Anjou 47, 48
Annapolis B(>sin 28
Annapolis River 77, 82
Annapolis RovaL.38, 04, 05, 71. 77, 80, 82, 8:1 (See
Port Royal).
Inhabitants of SI. 82
Anne, Queen 81, 214
Presents a Bible to the Mohawks :iIO
Writes to Governor Nicholson 80
Annexation as the result of Commercial Union. . 421
•• Manifesto 437
Anson, Admiral Lord t'>5, 75
Anticosti, Island of 27, 121, 195
Apache Indians 213
A[ialachicola River l!'"^
Arapahoe Indians. 213
Arbitration. Court of 13
Architologv 222
Arctic Archipelago 42
*' Coast 33, 228
'• .Seas ;«. ,W 73
" Circle 3(J, 2:t;">
** Expeditions 34
Archibald. Sir A. G 225, 250, 273, 281
Archibald, Hon. T. D ;155
Argall, Samuel 6\, 77
Argentine Republic 349
Argentine Confederation 2fM, 21K)
Argenteuil, Srsigneury of 117
Arizona, U.S.A 213
Army Bill OfBce |89
Army Bills, is.sue of 4(12
Armand, P6re 34, ;ifl
Armstrong, Lieutenant-Governor 82, 84
Arnold. Benedict 92. 03. 101, 102, 121
Arromouchiquois Indians 242
Arsenault, Hon. J. O m
Arthur, Sir George 1850
Arthur, Prince 441
Arundel, Lord (of Wardour) 183
Ashbury, )ames 107
Ashburton, Lord 05
Ashburton Treaty 49
-Xsia 100, 222, 235
Assiniboine River 34, ;i(i, 2f J3
Assinitjoine Indians 228^220,2:13,234 201
Assiniljoia. District o' 42. 197, 221,228-9
Aspinall, Joseph ;i57-8
Astoria, Fori ai, 32
Athabasca. District of 31 2, 42. 197. 228 9
Atlantic Ocean 34, 54.00,120,100, 193.200.
209, 220, 267
Atourrho 2IO
Atsonas, The 228
Atwater, Edwin 472, 49V
Auchmuty, Dr i]8
Austria 64, 65. 00, 340 0. 2J»4, 343
AusteHitfc Battle of 183
Austrian Succession, War of the 65
Austin. James 4iKi
Australia'Canada Line 44
Australian Exports to England 293
Australian Colonies 204
Aylmer, Lord 145, 186, 200
Ayrshire 146
Aztecs 206
Azala, Pedro de 22
Baby, Francois 314
Baby, F*on. James i(a
Back, Sir George, Insearchof Sir John Row li'J
Journey to Fish River 'Si
Baccalaos 24
BaHdeck,C.B US
BallK-ia discovers Pacific Ocean 26
Baldwin, Hon. Robert 479
Bahimore, U.S.A 172
Bank of Acadia 480,481-6
Bank of Agriculture 484
Bank, Aericulturat 406-7
Bank, Albert 473
Bank, Bedford District 481
Bank of British North America 444. 4.M, 478. 491
Additional powers granted (r> 47.1
And the new Dominion banking system 479
Beginning of business by ... 460
Brancncs and auencies of 470
Conditions of gr.inting Royal Charter to . . . 478, 479
Contemplated operations of 4.54
Controlled in London 4.54
Exception in favour of 406
Management of 470
M r. Paton on the history and position of . , . 478. 470
Paid-up capital n836) of 1,54
Powers in Royal Charter of 475 8
Present ranking o' 4.54
Renders distinct benefits to Canada 454. 470
Reserve fund of 479
Royal Charter obtained by 4<VI. 478
Takes advantage of Free Ranking Act 478
Bank of Canada 4(P2-4, 480 4, 519
Bank of Clifton 480
Bank, Charlotte County . 473
Bank of Commerce, Canadian, Gore Bank merged
into 4.56, 493
Assumes Hank of Canada Charter 4.57. 4H0
History and Reserve fund of 41Kt
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIW.DIA.
5*5
Bank of Commerce, CuutdUn—CotitiHtud.
Inllutinces formation of Dominion, Imperial,
and Federal Banks 457
Ini:rea.<e^ busitiets and becomei one of the chief
financial institutions of Canada 484*04
Organizition of 4dO
Presidents and General Manafrera of . . 41Kt
Rapid extension and services to commrrce of. . 457
Bank, Consolidated 4({0, 48<)-U
Organization of 484
Sir F. Hincks' connection with . . . 4H4
Keasonf for failure of 4Hi
Bank, Commercial, of Midland District (Also
Commercial Hank of Kin^^ton, Upper Canada
or of Canada) formed at Kingston 4in, 463
Branches and agencies of 470
DifiicuUies in organization of Milii
Extension of 4.').'i
Failure of 4(1U
Suspension of specie payment by 407
Bank. Colonial 4'fi, 4H0
Hank, Ctty, of New Brunswick 473
Bank, City 4S»)-4
Hank of Manitoba, Commercial 4(>d, 4Ht H
Itankof Windsor, Commercial 470
Bank, Central 4(U 84
Hank, D .minion l.»7, 4MII 41)4
Hank, Exchange 4 JO, 48:*. 4WI
Hank of England ...'.1)8
Hank of Eastern Townships 4!U
Hank of Yarmouth, Exchange 4TU
Hank, Federal 457, 4^1. 4h:1, 48(i
Hank of Fort Garry 484
Hank, Farmers*, failure of 450. 4ri(i-7
Hank of France 'ilW
Bank, Gore, established at Hamilton 4r>5. 4!)3
Liquidation of 484, 41W, 404
Merged into Canadian Bank of Commerce
456, 49!1. 404
Redemption in specie payment by- 407
Bankinz Company, Halifax, established 4tiO, 483
bank of Hamdton 483
Hank of Hamburg 206
Hank of Canada, Imperial 457. 404
Bank of X^ndonin Canada 484-6
Hank of London and North Anierica 485
Hank of London and Winni)>eg 485
Hank of Liverpool, N.S 480. 481, 486
Hank, Maritime 48^$
Hank of St. John, Maritime 461
Hank of Manitoba 484
Hank, Mechanics, failure of 460, 48<l. 486
Bank, Metropolitan 4(MI. 480
Hank of Halifax, Merchants 4'>7-70
Hank, Miramichi 473
Hank of Canada, Merchants' 4tl, 45'2
Bank, Merchants', organization of 480
And Mr. Hague's new Policy 4l>2
Business and success of 401, 402
Incorporation of 401
Increaseof capital by 484
Hank, Molsons i'M, 457
Hank of Montreal, establishment of offices in Upi>cr
Canada by 451
Accumulation of reserve fund by 4 ')3
Advantage of David Davidson's system to 4S0
Ai^encies and Branches of 470
Branch opened at Kingston of 4'i3
Capital in 1810 of 451*
Changes title of Cashier to that of General
Manager 480
Circulation of Government bills by 450
Cominencementofbusinessby..45l!, 453,46*2,470 487
Curtailment policy of 457
Dangers met by offices in Upper Canada. 454
Dividends paid by 488
Early branch at Toronto of 453
Early dividends paid by 453, 451
Effect of Enrlish banking disasters on 4Vi
Financial development of 488
Ground for prosperity of 488
Incorporation of 4tt3 4lil
Increaseof cnpilal by 481
Influence of >lessrs. King, Angus, and Smithert
unon 480
Tohn Gray, first President of ,. 45!*, 4S7
Presidents and General Managers of 488
Rnpid advance of ..... .^ 454
Salaries of first employes in 453
Service rendered by E. H. King to 510 5:>0
Small scale of commencement ,-..., ■_ ^'lU 4S7
The first and largest banking institution of
America ^ 487
Bank, Montreal City and District Savings 4il
Directors and patrons of 471 2
Formation of 471
Greater security procured for 472
Peculiar regulations of 472
Bank, Montreal City and District S&vings^Continueii
Poor Fund and annual report (1806) uf 472
Hank, Mutual 470
Bank, Northern 473
Bank of New Brunswick, Eastern 473
Hank, Mercbanti:' 473
Bank, Commercial 473-84-S6
Hank, Central 473
Hank of New Brunswick 457 73
Hank, Niagara District 166. 48:V04
Bank of Nova Scoti.i, incorporation of 450
Charter continued (1847) of 470
Competes with Bank of B.N. A 460
Management of 460, 470
Prosperity of ^ ^7
Bink, Ontario 430. 457, 1.^0
Hank of Ottawa 415, 481
Bank of Halifax, Pe. pie's 470
Hank, People's 472
Bank.Pictou 483 4-6
Hank, Provident and Savings of Quebec 471
Hank, Quebec, commencement of business bv
45:^454, 480
Capital at commencement of 454
Capital and deposits of 454
First notes u-^ed by 454
losses in 1826 27 454
Need for 480. 4110
Organizatiun of 462, 4t». 4t», 40(1
Presidents of 4!»(l
Bank, Royal Canadian 480
Bank, Stadacona 483 6
Hank, Superior 483
Bank, St. Lawrence 183
Bank, St. Stephen's 114.47.1
Hank, Shediac 473
Bank of St. John 486
Bank, Traders 481-5
Bank of Toronto 440, 457, 404
Hank of Three Rivers 484
Bank of Upper Canada, need for organization of . 455
Becomes the Provincial Hank 454
Branches and agencies of 470
Business transaction^. U 465
Complications with Gore Bank of 484
Custfxiy of public money by 461
Directors of 463
Failure of first 4.'i5, 450, 4('>0 (»
Falling off in general business of . 4H5
Formation of 4.'i5
High creditor 4(>4
Loss by failure of 465
Mistakes and bad practices of 464
Opened as a priva' e institution 463
Petition for enablishment of 162, 463
Political aspect of 454
Stops pa>|ment . 465
The Province a sh.ireholder in 467
Bank of the United States 2!»8
Destruction by anti'Hritish sentiment of 462
Influence on Canadian currency of 4(r2
Organization of 461
Bank of United States organized again 462
Hank of Halifax, Union 470
Hank of Cana-'a, Union 480
Hink of Yarmouth 470
B.-ink. Waterloo 484
Hank, Western 484 5
Rnnk, Westmoreland, liquidation of 473
H.ink of Western Canada 480
Hank, Zimmerman, of Clifton 456
Hankine. Political .465. 4r»6, 483
Hank*^ have few failures compored with those of
U.S 450
.\ct to urevent increase of political 466
Arts relating to 510
Adapted to the needs of Canada 452
•A-zilation in Upoer Canada for 4(52
AUo based to some extent on First Bank of U.S. 461
Alteration in Acts regarding. 467
Ameri'-an influence on Canadian 452, 466
Arid the process of redemption 458
And Sir Francis Hincks 430
And the financial inflation of 1880 48.5
And the inspection of their Reserves !HX.i. 504
Aporoximaie to English methods. 461
Hill authorizing suspension by. 46(), 467
l^ond-secured currency of American fl(*0
Branch 'system of 501
Branch system of Canadian 514. 515
Branches and acencies of . 470
Hranches established in Upper Canada of 454
Business and power of 514
Hu-iness of circulation confined to 476
Ca'^h reserves of 511. 512
Causes of failure in 475
Charactei-istics of early stages of Canadian 461
Charters soon obtained by new 457
B anks— C(>n/;» wr</<
Charters granted several 480
Charters of 480
(Junditinns under which notes are issued by . . . 47tS
Currency system of 409
Details regarding 494
tjevelop with progress of civilization 405
1 )evelop upon a larger scale 457
I >ifrerence in charters ot American and Canadian 407
Dis:ussion of alleged monopoly b> 4U5
Di<>cus.sJon regarding 516
Dissatisfaction and curtailment amongst the 457
Early success of Canadian 4<']6
Eflfect of banking mania (1837) in U.S. upon. . 4(17
Effect of British precedent on 469
Effect of Free Banking System on 50 >, 608
Efl^ort to introduce American aysti. in i to the. . . 516
Element of nationality in early 453
English interest in Canadian 454
Establishment of French Canadian 403
Excellent Sy.stem and double liability of 406
E. H. King'stheory and work concerningihe 510,520
Financial strin^'ency affects the 484
First steps taken after Confederation about the. 516
Free Banking Act brings into existence several
456 457
George Hague's opinion in 1869 upon. .475,476, 477
Government of the 474, 475
Growth of business in 484
Grounds for success of Canadian 509
Have the privilege of circulating their own
notes 458
Have not a monop-jly in C.inada 405
Incorporation of early 463
Increase with advanced civilization 454
Increaseof business by 4;i6
Influence of Alexander Hamilton on 452
Influence of Great l^ritain and Ireland upon 452
Insolvency regulations regarding 515
In Canada contrasted with American system,
405. 406, 5'«. 507
In Ontario and Quebec at Confederation .... 173. 474
In Manitoba 485 (I
In Nova Scotia 4(iy, 470
In Upper and Ixjwer Canada 470, 471
In United States and New Brunswick 474, 475
Laxity ofCharters in early 463 4
Local joint stock 474
Lord Sydenham's proposals regarding the 480
Make an effort to secure English investments . . 485
Mr. Breckenridge deals with system of Can-
adian 4fj5
Mr. Breckenridge on failures of Canadian..".. 486
Mr. D. k. Wilkie upon 510, 51 »
Nature of failures amoncst Canadian .450-61
Nature of bills payable by , 458
New projects connected with 456
Newly projected 484
Note i-sues of 407 80, 512. 513
Note circulation if 4111
Number of chartered 486
Of Canada contrasted wuh American In-.ii-
tutions 456
Of issue 0I6. 517
Of New Brunswick 472, 473
Organization of the fir.tt 462
Originated in Quebec and Montreal 452
Paid-up capital of at Confedeiation 474
Pioneers connected with 452. 45:1
Policy of Imperial Government regarding 468
Policy of, reearding Canadian currency 457, 458
Position in IStJOof 516
Hrimiiive forms of early 4.i2
Principles controlling 407
Principles regulating 407
Recent development of the 4o6
Recommendations of Select Canadian Commit-
tee upon 4(w 469
Renewal of Charters of 517 8
Report of Parliamentary Coniniitiee upon.. 474. 475
Requirements for establishment of 4!t5 406
Reserve funds of ^wept away 4,vi
Resemble Scotland's charte'ed institutions 464
Resources of first Canadian 4,')2
Returns to Government by the . . . , 515
Rules drawn up by Imperial Comn.ittec for.. . 4('»8
Second expansion of business amongst 4H.'i
Security of Canadian ;*)|mI
Sir Francis Minclcs in favour of Government 51(5
Sir F. B. Head on suspension of specie pay-
ment bv 46(J
Sir Francis Hincks, and Canadian 516
Sir Robert Peel's policy with English 480
Statement of business of 475
Statistics in IS-Wof Canadian 47(»-l
Stati-;tics (1807) concerning ,'>23
Sratlsticsof capital, etc., of 467,470-1
Statistics and i'^ormatton of Savings 471
^.t/
/ y
526
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
^■t:^'i:l
Siaiisiics o( M9, 522, A23
Stephen Nairn dealii with nlM, 611
Suspension of Specie payment )>y Lower
Canadian -ttUl
Smp*{nsion and results upon the. . . .' 4(U1 7
Systems in United Srates and Canada of .'MMI
1 he depositor and the !iii2
The gradual growth of i5!£
The First Canadian 4(14
Two periods of expansion amongst 4S0, AKi
Uniform currency of the 470
U.S. National, and their influence u|>on Cana-
dian System 4117, 405, 501. 508
Value of stocks of 480, 4H7
Bankerii' Association, Canadian 4MJ
Ilamine de St. llyacinthc 484
lianquede St. lean baptiste 485
Banque de St. Jean 4Ki
llanque I >'HocneUga 457, 4811
tianquedu Feuple 4511 7, 4tiO 10
Banque laa^ues Cartier 442, 457, 480
Banque Nationale 414
Banque Ville Marie 457-8:1
Barbeau, E.J 472
Barbeau, Henri 472
Barclay. Captain li>:t, hio, 108, Wi
Barker, William 480
liarinft Bros., failure of 2*.KI
Barre, Sieur de la "U, 218
Barr, Colonel 12M
Bartlett, Smith 4t>:i
Basden 170, 102
Bathurst, Lord W
Batoid LajucHcux Indians 210
Batoche, Battle of 43
Baltleford Industrial School 281
Beaslcy, Richard 211
Beaubien, Pierre 171, 4!«
Beauce 41
Beauiloin, Abbe 24
Beaudry, Louis 4hO
Beaui^ry, Hon. J. 1 1*55, 451
Beauharnois 441
" Militi.T 107
Beauharnois, Marquess de 31, 70, 73, 2(K)
Beaujeu 72
Beaustiour Fort 05, 83, 81
Beauport 08. 132
Beaver Dams 163, 101, 18:*, 101
Begon, M iche! 70
Bedford County U4
Bedford District Bank (See Hanks),
Behring Straits 31,235
Sea -XiAli, 14
Belgium 13, 2;U 5
Bell, John 480
Bellechase It»8
Belle Mtf, Straits of 193
Belle Isle 25
Bellemare, K 472
Belleville 415
Belly River 22'J
Bengal Army, The . 182
Benson, C. W 401
Benson, Hon. James Rea, Biography of 440
Beorne of Greenland 20
Berkshire Law Courts 101
Berkeley, Vice-Admiral l.'>5
Berlin Decrees, The IKUi
Berthier 118, 148, l.i2
Berthelot, J. A 472
Bermuda 23, 01, 147, 181 .=>
Bertrand, Alphonse 85
Besant, Sir Walter 112
Beihune, R. H 4!i4
Blard, John 150
Big Bear, C.tpture of . 43
Bigot, TraMLoii 70,148
Big Stone Lak-s 107
Biscay, Bay of 05
Bisshupp, Sir Cecil ... 182
Bisshopp, Lieutenant-Colonel, Biography of 182
Bisshopp, Colonel 1{«. KM. 175, 191
Black Rock 100, BU, 108, 171. 18:1, 191
Black River as an Indian boundary 240
Blackfoot Nation. The 221, 225. 220, 2:14
And the Sun Dpnce 2:1.5
Confederacy of 229,230 2:0
Language of 234
Of Alconquin origin 221
Related to the Chippewayans 2:11
niackfeet Indians 201, 20:i. 204. 270, 2SI
Blackfoot Crossing . ■ ■ 270
Bladensburg 180
Blake, F. N., United States Consul, Captain
Brant's letter to 251
Reports ju Indians of British America .20,5 7
Blake, Hon. Edward, on political l>anks 48:t
Blakjston, Captain 34
Blair. Hon. Andrew O :i88
Blanchard, Hon. Hiram ILV5
Blanchard, R W
'* Blenheim." H.M.S 44
Blenheim, Battle of 04
Bliss, D.iniel 115
Blood Indians 22.5. 228. 229 2X1, 201
Boerstler, Colonel 1U1
Bolivia 29.5
Bonavista, Cape 21
Bonaparte, Napoleon 157
Bosquet, J, S 493
Boston, Kfass 04. 95, 100, 181
A fleet from 01
Famous riot in 91
Flags half<mast in 1.57
Indian treaty made at 272
Nicholson's return to (i,5
Mobs control the Government in 89
Twelve ships of war sent to 105
Bostwick, Colonel 192
Boscawen, Admiral 07, 85
Commands fleet in 17.58 07
Considers the expiit.«ionof the Acadians 8.5
Botsford, Hon. A, K 3.5.5
Houlton, Hon. HenryJ 456 tKl iW
Boundaries of Coast Indian tribes 240
** of land surrendered to the Government
by the Western Indians 258, 273-4 5
Bourbon Fort 118
Bourget, Archbishop 471
Bourgeois, Margaret 54
Bourinot, Dr. 1. G 21, 25 20
Bourret, Josepn tH
Boutroue, Claude de 70
Boutwell, Hon, Geo. S 380
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury 38(»
Bowell, Sir Mackenzie 41
As Canadian Commissioner to I'.S :170
Visits Washington on Canadian Reciprocity
delegation :i92
Bowmanville 4:19
Bowman, Chas -I.'IO
How Kiver country 225. 220. 229
Bovd, General 107, 1S8, 11«
Bradstreet, General I>8
Crosses 1.4ike Ontario 08
Captures Fort Frontenac 08
Braddock, General . tlO
Leads an expedition and meets an ambush Qfi
Hrailford, tirst locomotive railway at 40
Brandon, Manitoba. . 293
Brandywine River 145
Brant, Captain Joseph— Thayendanegea. Ill, 240,
2:19.21:1,211
Attends a ball in London 2>5<>
Authorized to receive securities 241
Biography of 250, 2.M
Estimates the number of Indians. 219
Influence of 218
Iro(|Uois settle under. 213
Sleniorial to 251
Bruntford, Ontario 219, 2.51 , 253-8
Breckenridge, R. M.,on Canadian Bankine Svs.
tern 4(3. H)5, 407. .500
On suspension of specie payments .... 40<t
On financial inflation of 1880 485 480
On Canadian Banking disasters 480
On Canadian and American Hanking Systems. . .50tl
Brecken, Hon. Fred .'1.55
Breha'uf discovers Lake Erie :iO
Breda. Treaty of 37, 02, 70
llreevoort 24
Bright, Rt. Hon. John :Vi7
Hrinton, Daniel (J 2:1.5
Hrion-ChnlH>t, Philipi>e de . 27
Bristol, Calwt sails from 17, 19
Cabot a resident of 17
Delegates at unveiling of Cabot memorial 20
Manuscript (14!t7) discovered at 22
Men discover New''oundland 20
British Columbia Indians 222 3, 21.5. 270-1-2
British Columbia. . .20, 32, 35, 38. 42, 190, 1!>7, 2«I0,
222, 270, 293
Admitted into Confederation 42
Coast navigators IJtO
(^Jold found in 41
Indians as compared with Mountairieers of 222
Mixture of races in *.;22
M luntain ranges l!)t)
British Empire 20, U7, 172, 180. 199
" And Ameriran envoys mtet 172
" And Caruidian commanders 181
" And Foreign Bible Society. 227
" Association 227
" Capture the American c'>pit»1 180
" Colonies 82 120. i:i8. 149, 2!»4 .5-*l
'• Columns gallantly charge 170
" Constitution 11:1,130,14(1. 141
** Conquer Canada .120, 218
Hi itish Crusiert captured 1S4
" Cruwn 81,125.214.270
*' Defeat on Lake Erie 105
" Depot at Beaver Damt> 104
" Dominions 294,29.5,290
" Employment of Indians .^ 98
" Engage in a glorious contest ' 170
" Exports rednt td I.'»0
" Fiscal system 280
" Flag 93,130. 214
'* Fleet m,im
'* Fleets carry out the Orders-in-Couiicil — 184
*' Fleet defeated on l^ike Champlain IICI
" Forces retire under cover 101, 104
" Goods importation reduced 290
" Government. :», iri. 111, i:i2. 140. 140, 1.53,
1;>1, \.W, 158. 102, 104. 179. 241, 278
" Governors-General of Canada 14.5
** < iovernment names the Eastern Townships 202
*' Historical works ... 97
" Investments withdrawn from the United
States 299
" Irociuois serve under the 213
" Isles 112
" Jefferson angry with the 187
" Alanufacturers 287
*' Masters of Lake Ontario IlKl
" Men-of-war 100
" Ministers at Washington 1,58
" Miniitry 122, i:t8
** Monarchy 129, 140
** Naviktatinn laws repealed 40
'* North America, Bank of. (See Banks).
" North American Provinces 300,304
'* North America Act passed 41
'• North American Fisheries 40
" Origins in Canada 202
" FarTiament 110, 120
" Parliament in 1783 UW
" Peerage It»9
" Po&seuions and British goods 287
" Posts 07
" Preferential trade system alralished 288
" Preferential system and navigation laws.. 297
" Protestants 122
" Provincial trade with the Wett Indies 300
" Settlements 05
" Ship4 of war liMt
" Sovereign and the Indians 277
" Subjects 81. 8.3, 110. 1 10
" Tariff 287
" Territories 72, 9tS
" TreatiesofCommerce 294
** Trrops 70,9:14, 117
'• Parliament 122,121,125,137-9
" allies in the war 159
'* and French-Canadians fight side by sidr. . 175
** armies conquer a country 135
" artizans starving 1,56
" cause betrayed 175
" establish themselves 172
" hold Maine 175
'* Orders'in 'Council 176
" outposts in the war 100
" pluck overpowers the enemy 109
" possessions in the last century 150
'* position on the lakes 102
" property a prize in war 181
•' rule 1.58, 172
" settlers and their complaints LIO
" ships excluded from American port^ 1.50
" statesmen and their policy 149
" storm Fort Niagara 11K2
" sustain a heavy loss 109
'■ Ihe 148,180,181.191,123
" The whole of America becomes 47
" troops in Canada 181
'* troops hold Niagara 170
Brittany 27,47
Hrock, Maj. Gen, Sir Isaac 159,181.18:1 180. 2.55
Admired and loved by Tt:cumseb 213. 251
Biography of 181
Described by Sir Allan McNabb 185
Dies at Quei*nston lleigblk 181
Hull surienders to 187
I^ved hy the Indians - 187
Memorial to 183 5
The brother of 180
The Indians' friend 25.5
Hrockville 102. 191, UW, 4:19
Hrodie, J. H 479
Hronson, Henry Franklin, Biography of 418
Hronson, Hon. E. H 448
Brouage, Frante 28
Brown, General 107.170. 171,179. 192
Advances with U S. Aimy 170
CIroues to Fort Erie 170
Expects Chauncey's fleet 170
Retreats unsuccessful and wounded 171
Brown, Hon. George 523
CANADA : AN ENCVCF.OP.KDIA.
5*7
^rownitown
Uruce, Sir Kreilerick
Bruce, Colonel 2MI,
Urul6, Utienne
iirytlgt*, Charles J •i>V)
Bryce, Kev. Geurge IU7 2-'i),
Buchanan, W, J
Buchanan, Hon. Isaac. Uiugraphy of .
Delegate to Dftruit Convention . . ■ ■
Buck, Colonel, surrenders
Buckin)4hamt Duke of
Buckingham County
Buckingham, Mills at
Buenos Ayres
BuflTalo. The 2-Ji»,
Buffalo, U.S. A IIW. no, VM,
Bullock, Colonel
Bulwer, Sir Henry
Bunker's Hill, Battle of
BurgoynCf General U2, Ui,
Burke, Michael —
Burke, Edmund.... 8t>, 81). OO.U't, 117, 127, 1:17 U, 1
Burpee, Hon. Isaac
Biography of
Burlington Heights. . . . I JD, ItXS, 167, lUI, m KUt,
170, m,
Burstall, John
Bushland
100
278
rri
im
227
4MU
4:u)
170
41
Hi
2:Ja
2:to
:m
im
'M5
02
121
472
40 1
iMn
441
Butler, Bishop
Bury, Viiicount, Biography of
Cabot, John 17-30
Character and achievements uf 18 21
Landfall o» lU, 20. 21 , 22, 25
Voyages and adventures of 17, 18, Itt
Cabot, Sebastian 23
Discovers Hudson's Straits 37
Encouraged b)r Henry Vll 29
Explores American coast 2(1
Honours conferred upon 24
Invited to Spain 24
Maritime enterprises of 24
Reputation and character, ruling passions and
heroic deeds of 23
Returns to England 21
Caen, William 5!*
Caen, Emery 53
Caine, Hall 44
Caisse d' Economic de (Quebec 471
Caldwell, Henry 114
CalHecott, Stapletcn, on the Pioneers of Trade. . . 433
Calgary I N.W.T 229, 2P3
California discovered by Cortez 2ti
Callbreath, J, C, compares different tribes of
Indians 247
Callieres Point 54
Calvin, D.D., Biography of 440
Cambridge, Mass. 118
Cambridge University 125
Camden, Karl 91)
Cameron, Sir Roderick W 119
Cameron, General D. R 35
Cameron, M.C 301,302
Cameron, Hon. D. . 4(13
Campbell, Lord William 8t
Campbell a'.d Che Wyoming Massacre 213
Campbell, T. E 281
Campbell, Sir Alexander 43, 281
Campbell, Robert, exploraiions and travels of . . . 32
Canada, loyalty of ... 156-7 172
Abolition of s'~very in 39
As a British country 92
Banks and Loan Companies of 291
British commanders in 181
British Governors-General of 145
British treaties affecting 294
Central Railway 4118
Commerc* of 427, 428, 429, i'M), 431
Company 277
Constitution of 141
Customs of 137
Derivation of the word 195
Duke of Kent visits 175
Effect of treaties made by France and England
on _ 70
Expends a considerable sum on the I ndlans .... 270
Exports to Great Britain and United Slates of. . 293
Financial crisis of 1857-58 in 297-9
First railroad in 40
First t tench leaders of H2
Fiscal policy of 294
French laws of 129
Geographical features of 139
<;nv-rnment of 39, VM), 148. 2*1. 258, 273. 270
History of the settlement of 108
Imposes duties on US. products 290
Imperial constitution of 132
Indian population of 270
Industries of 292
Canada— Cofi/iHMt''/.
Inl« llect of the p<:ople of 1,'kl
Invasion by the Americins uf 17")
Legislatures of. .;i9, 109. Vl't. V2i\ 128. 130. VH,
141-7, 114. nL'-8. 170-7, 180, 182 :i 430
Likes EnKliith J mlicature 127
Lumber Company 41,'i
New settlers attracted to 175
Nobilityof 57, 111
Occupies a conspicuous posiiion i;;()
Occupies the North*west . . , , 225
Permanent Building Society 410
Political development tn ] 1 '>
Population of . . 3!>, (», 8,1, 158, 175, 2t)8
Proclamation issued to the people o( 177
Saved by Carleton 95. 1U3
Shares in the financial cr.-ish of the United
Stales , . 288
Social conditions of under Briiish rule . , l.'A*
Southern Railway 439
Sturdy yeomanry of ■ 158
Temperance Act 42
The defenders of 104
The fiscal history of 285, 2tll
The Home Government reacted in 211
The infant manufactures of^ 'Mt2
Thepeopleof 194
The place-names of 195, 1!»9, 201, 205
The political condition of ... 190
The provincial finances of 189
The value of the American market to — 293
Trade of 17. 60, 150, 2S0
Trade interests of 127
Union of Upper and Lower 281
United Stairts manufacturers have full sweep of 21HJ
Unjust tariff policy of the United States
towards 303
U.S. declaration of war reaches L*)8
Canadian General Elections (1891) 375
'* Hanking Act, renewal of 518
" " " provisions of .. 510, ol7, 518
*' " Acts :,\( -.11
" Manufacturers' Vssociation and t'wni*
mercial Union ^ '*
" ** Resolution pa-Ncdliy .. - •■*
" '* Secretary of the ,i
'* people, rriticisbd UO
" " aversion to R'^publican priu'
ciples of no
** " attacked by Fenians 110
'* " assailed by L^riff laws 110
*' ^ reciprocity proposals . . 370
Canadian-American Zottverein di cussed 423 4
Canadian Hank of Commerce (See also Hanks>440, 450
Canadian Bankers* Association 480
Canadian Pacific Railwa ' 274, 399. 4:t5
Building of 291-2
Callh a mountain after Sir John Macdonald. . . . 190
Contract signed for 42
Driving last «pike of 43
First Presideni of. 199
First sod turned of >. 42
First steamship of 43
Government grant a subsidy to 292
Names many Canadian places 199
Projected route of 275
Territory of 110
Canal, Lachine, commenced 433
Canal, Chambly 300
Canals of Canada, expenditure for 3t\i)
Deepening of 449
Value to United Stales of 'MHO
Canby, Benjamin 211
Canniff, Dr 108, 112
Canning, Right Hon. George 83
Cantons, Swiss BNJ
Cape Breton Mand 21, 24. 25, .>4, 242
Acadians remove to and return from 81
As C-ibot's land fall 25
Change in Government of 154
Fortress on ... . ...... 81
Ix>yalists move to 115
Politically separated from Nuva Scotia 39, 115
Population of 122
Position of and eastern coast of 24
Restored tn France 71
Retained by France fi-i
Re*united lu Nova Scotia in 1820 154
Surrenders to the English f>7
Cape Town, South Africa 280
Cape of Gootl Hope 182
Cape Diamond I'tO
Cape Chidley 24
Cape Bonavista 21, 25, 71
Cape Colony 44
Caractacus 219
Cirbonniere, Island of 59
Cardinal, fir*t Cnnitdian 43
Cariboo eaters 229. 2'<4
Carillon-Grenville canal 140
Carignan Regiment.... 73, 48, 49
Battle of 74
Carlelon County 4I&
Carleton Place 44&
Carlelon, Sir Guy, (Lord Dorchester) 80.
03, 04, 98. HI, 115, 118, 121, 122, 114, 145. 119, 250-
Acts as Commander in Chief. 95
Appointed Governor*General of Canada KJS
As a hero, a soldier, a statesman 121
Believes in centralization 123
Biographical details of 103
Debtof<Janadato 93
Differs from Chiff Justice Hey.. 127
Personally familiar with Canada 121
Policy of 101, 122
Quebec Act. the work of 103
Refers to English criminal law in Canada 12ft
Refuses intercourse with Rebels 03
Rescues the Lt)yalists Ill
Saves Canada fur the Crown 94
Serves under Wolfe 93, 103
Statement of 14ft
Supervises Colonial Government 12&
Takes possession of Canada 93
The prosperity of Canada in 1808 due to IfiO
Carleton, Colonel Thomas 115
Carnwath, E.irl of |1D
Carrall, Senatcr, biography of . 445
Carrall, James 444
Carrall, John , 44&
Carroll of Cnrrolltown, Ch.Ttles 98
Cartier, Jaaiucs.25, 28, tJI. 73, lO.'*. 190. 198. 199. 2O0, 210
Biographical details of . 27
Discovers River St. Lawrence 20, 27
Expedition in 1604 of 28
Fir-.t and second voyage of 27, 37, 210
Kindly rtrceived by Indians 27
Names St. John River 37
.Seizes Indian Chiefs 27, 23ft
Third visit to Canada of 27, 37
Cutier, Sir George E 42, 479,522
C'artwright, Sir Richard 30i
Biographical sketch of 39&
Refers to the depression 290
Keiniposesthedutyop *ea and coffee ^
Casco Bay, conference of 272
Cas.sels, Robert 4(13.
CassilJs, John 493
Castlpre.igh, Lord . . 97, 199, 347
Cataraqui founded 38
Cathoiic Register 1,'lft
Cater. J.J 471^
Caughnawaga 38, 218
Caughnawat;n, land granted to Indians of 257
Caulfield, Governor 81
Cavo Descubierto 22
Cayugas, The 209, 2lft
Cayley, Hon. William 493
Cayenne 182
Central Farmers* Institute of Ontario 413'
Central America 223
Central Hank of New Brunswick (See Banks).
Central Hank of Canada (See h.ink.s).
Census of United States in 1890 270 t
Ceylon, Island of 182
Chadwick, E. M.,compileshistoryofr'ie Iroquois. 217
Chalcurs, Bay of 115, 121, 123, 198, 340
Chamber of Commerce at Victoria 411
'* " '* at St. Paul 342
" " " at Milwaukee ... 342
" " " at New York 341
Chambly. Village of 432
Chambly Fort. .50, 72. 93, 115, 111, 121. 123. l.VJ.
IGO, 107. 170. 191. 21S
Chambly, Jacques de 8ft
Champlain. Lake 5(i, 58, «W>, <i8, 93. W, 301
Chaniplain, Samuel de. . .20, 29. 50, 59. 01. 02, 73,
77,198,199.218, 2'2
Associates with Poi.'grav^ 28
Assists the Algonquii s fll
Central figure of Canadian exploration 28
Death of 29. 37, .54
Discovers I.Ake5 Huron, Ontario and Nipissing. 2ft
Discovers Lake Champlain ',^\
E.xplores coast as far as Cape Cod 2!>
First and second visit to Canadaof 37
Founds Quebec 51 01
Makes settlement on St. Lawrence 29
Military, naval and engineering services of 28
Reaches Tedousacand returns to France 28
Statement regarding the Micmacs by 211
Struggles wiih the Irotjuois 20
Takes part in varied adventures .52
Chiipleau, Hon. (Sir) J. A 47 i
Chatmian, G. A . Pt Toronto Board of Trade 422
Charles Vll 1. of France 'iO
Charles I X . of France 29
Chaile>; 1. of fUngland 29, 02
Ch.irltsof Spain 24
Charle<>ton, U.S 9, 04, 200
:f!
■ !' I
Sa8
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
pill i
CharlcfilHiurK 1A2
Chftiloitctown, P.K.I 281
ratriot 281
Charllon, John 200, 371
Churlutte County Hank (Hee Haiuk),
CharniMy, Charles de 85
Chanter uf the Hundred Partners V
Charteied Hanks fliH, Ml*, o22
Chartered Hank of London and Winnipeg (Sue
Hanks).
Chftteaiisuay Af)
H.uleof 40, VM
M'lnument at \K
Chats Falls /i2
Chatham, Lord H«. W) I, \\Yi
Chatham Stf.iki. IlKt
Chauben, Captainede . . . fA), 73
Ch.iudiere, cataract o *t'i
ChaumonotdtKovurs Lake Erie ;vt
Chejdie, Ur H4
Chelsea 17. :U)
( hesaiwake Hay Ul, Ik)
Cheque du Le Her bl
Che<(ter fie Id's letters I.'i;*
Cherokee Indians 2iH». 217. 2IH, 27U
4 hewett, I. G 4!M
Ciiicayo U.S. Hoard of Trade WVl
Ciiy of. 32. :W. till. 28i». 371. 4<)4
ChiKiircio 77, 7H. 71*. W), 8J. Kl
Chili, Treaty with 2!W
China 2'.W. 2!t7
Chinic, Ku«ene 480
ChiniHik Indians, languaKe of 222
Chippewayan Indians 221, 222, 22U, 2:U
Fort ■. ;«
Chippewa Indians fight undrr Pontine 24!)
*' give up their i>lands 277
" " in the war of 1812 2J4
** " renuiince claim to Michili-
m.ickinac 272
" " sell their lands 72, 73. 2,>«, 2(U
Christian V. of Denmark — INt
Chrisimeaux Indians 2(>2
Chrysler's Farm, Hattle of 40
*' •* Monument at 44
Church of Scotland in Canada 4;W
Churchill River 31
C'liurch, Established 104
Cipantio 18
City and District Savings Hank 441
City Bank (See Banks).
City Hank of Montreal (See Banks).
< ivil Service clerks 203
Civilization, Thavendanegea's opinion cf 2.*>0
" Half'breed Indians advanced in. .. 2(i2
** encouraged among the IndianH..2lW> 271
Civil Jurisdiction, Court of 138
Clarendon, I^rd i:W, I31»
Clark, General 3l»
Clarke, Major>General Sir Alured 144
Clarke, II. E -IIO
<:iarke. Dr. Adam 130
Clarkson, Mrs. Margaret 1 19
Clay, Henry 180
Clearwater River, as an Indian l>oundary 217
Clement lY., Pope I;r4
Clergy Reserves Question 41
Clergy Reserves Act 480
Clifton, Hank of (See Hanks).
Clinton, (Jeneral Sir Henr 103
Commands in New York 1*2
Promises aid to Cornwallis IW
Seizes Charleston and sends mes.sage to Corn*
wallis 04
Succeeds Howe in Command 01
Clive, Lord Hi
Coalition, The Tachd-Macdonald 4;ty
Coast fisheries 381
Cochran, Admiral Sir Alexander 18| r>
Co<le Marchand 137
Coeur de Lion, Richard 2.*)2
Coffin, Colonel \V. F. 104, 251
Colborne, General Sir Joh'i(l>ord Seaton) 1 15. 2(N), 270
Colden, Cadwallader 210. 217
College, Slcfjill, founding and endowing of. . A'X\, 431
College, Alontreal Diocesan, founditig of \'X^
Collins, John Ill
Colonics, The 01, 80, 01, IW, U>, 111, 121), 121, 124
Ci.lonial Government 34, 137
Colonial Hank of 1 oronto(See Hanks).
Colonial Conference 44
Colonies, Thirteen 80. IW, 01), 1 4.% 103, 211, 212
Efforts to obtain French troops of ... . |Hj
<^'iovernment of 07, 137
History and taxation of ... . 80
Internal arrangements of 137
Napoleon an enemy lu Ol}
No ()ower to tax the 07
Receive aid from France 102
Violent protest!* of ))*>
Cohimbia River... 222
Columbia, Treaty with ... 2m
Columbus, Christopher 17, 22, 23. 20, 2:V>, 2.3(1
Course across the Atlantic of 18
Discovers San Salvador and Jamaica 20
Im^mrtant achievements of 17
l.andson American continent 20
Talks with Ferdniand 20
Commerce of Canada, Iwfora and after Confedera-
tion 427
Character of 420, 430, 431
Influence of manufacturing establishments on. . 432
Leaders of 433
Commercial Hank of New Brrnawick (See Banks).
Commercial Bank of Windsor (See Hanks).
Commercial Hank of Midland DiMrict (.Se<- Banks).
Commercial Hank of Manitoba (See Hanks).
Committee, Srtect, on Hankini; and Currency.4A8. 400
" Imperial, trade recommendation!* of. .408
*' Of Trade, Halifax 400
" On Bankint^and Currency, Canadian
474,475
Cnmmotis, Canadian House of K'l
Commons, Imperial House of 137,280
Company of One Hundr d Asbociates 37
Confederacy ot the Iroquois 200, 218
Confederation, coiiimerLe be;ore and since
284, 201. 427. 428, 431
Lile Association 442. 480
Fathers of the movementfor 200
First ten years of 202
Negotiations for 44.'>
Position and success of S.Vt. 277 8, 2M), 301, 312
Provinces join in 288
Re*organization after 2117
Conference, Inter-Provlncial 43
Conierence(Indi.in)of Cnsco Hay 272
Conference with Indi ns in Ifi71 2.VJ
Confederate Council lor Trade 300
Congress, U.S. supporters attacked by Loyali-sts
and Indians 21?
Actsof(18I.'i) 317
A ppoints Commissioners l(kt
Commissioner to Canada sent by 118
Committee of ai2, ;t40, 3(M, 3!>7
Consular fees of removed !i')0
Continental »l-5, 08
Declaration of Independence by IKt
F.iils to obtain co*opcratiun of the Indians 212
Issues address to Canada in 1774 00
Letter to n member of ... 187
Passesan Act declaring war against England. 157, 175
Passes t'.e Silver Hdl 2t»9
Recommendation of 116
Sp«ech of M r. Eusi is in 189
Confidence Fort 33
Connecticut Wars wiih the Pequot tribes 212
Connecticut River 12:{
State of 03, 10.3, lltO, 210, 210
Conservative Government, the 303
Announces an incrtase of duties 280
Defeated at the polls 280
Policy of 280
Conservative party in Canada 343
Strong protective policy of \Wi
Consolidated Buik of Montreal (.Ste Hank>).
Conspiracy of Pontiac 212
Constitutional Act of 1701 12.'j, 135-7, 140
Divides Tpper Canada into six districts. . . 200
First ;jut into operation ^ 144
Convention at Detroit concerning Reciprocity
Treaty 351
At St. Paul in 1803 31H
Resolution at Detroit 352
Copenhagen 181
Coppermine River 31, 33, 222
Copyright Conference 44
Cooper, Fenimore 210 220
Cook, C.iptain 20, 31. 30
Corea, Treaty wiih 2*.U
Cormeau, Hon. A._H Ky
Corn Laws, Abolition ot 287
Cnrtoreal, Jasper, enters the S». L;iwrence 37
Cornwallis, Ltud 05
Cornwallis, Hon. Edward 30, 84, KW
Overruns Georgia and evacuates Charleston ... 04
Surrenders and returns to England !l.>
Cosji, J uan de la 22
Costa "kica. Treaty with 21*4
Cotion manufacturing, foundation of 4^(5
Couillard, L H ISO
Council, North- West, and the Indian Iiipiortrafiic 250
" held by Major WaNh with Inthan chiefs. 2(il
Onincil, Legislative 120, 134, i:«. 130, 117. 170
Canadian Executive 277
JVr>|v)s.Tl for nil hereditary 140
Queljec Supreme i;i7
Coureurs-dii-Hois iV)
Courts of Justice constituted in N.S ;18
Court of Probate 18:1
Cnirtemanche 67, .'fl
Cowan, '1 bunias ||ii
Cox, Kohs ^2
Cox, Hon. George A 41^
i.raig. Sir James H 145
CraiDpton, .Sir John yi|A
Cramp, Thomas ^\'\
CraW'ord, Hon, John H 4^;ii
Crees 228 0,20112215
Confederacy of ^28, 23^1
1 HfTerent dialects of 223
{ealous nf the Chippcwns 274
^nguage of jJ34
Merciless massacre of 213
Syllabic characters among the 227
Thirst dance among 234
Treaties made with 274
Treaty with the Plain and WtM.d. 27.^
Treaty with the Willow 27.5
Women of, liitioothcmsftvcs 231
Cresa^i, Manpiessde , 72
Crete 73
Crevecour hi.u ({|)
Crillon, Du : de 7ti
Crimean W.ir ..201,278, 28U
Croke, Alexander 81
Cromwell, Oliver Ift2
Cronin, P. F 130
Crook, General, and Sitting Bull .. 200
Crooks. Hon. James, Biography of 437, 403
Crookshinks Hon. George lUO, 4(13
Crow Indians 2it|
Crown Point U;>, 00, 02
Crowther, James 4H0
Crutchly, M.ijor Charles lli»
Culloden, Buttle of 74, 7«
Cumberland, F. W 4UC{
Cumberland F.>rt a2
Cumberland, Duke o'^. 1^
Cumberland Hjuse 8;i
Cumberland, Hailow 422
Cunard, William 400
Currency, Agitation for a national 510
Adoption of j£ s. d. in fi21
Changed in 1870 fl21
Diversity of values in 620,521
Early development of 620
First step In comprehensive revision of 621
Halifax system of 621
Issue of Government notes for 62!
Currier, ]. M. &Co 4^,■^
Cusick, David 217
Custer, General and Sitting Hull 213, 200
Cuvillier, Maurice 480
Cuvilier. Hon. Austin, Biography of 4^
Cypress Hill 225, 201
D'AilleboHsi, Chevalier 64, 57, 72 3, 200
L^'Aiguillon, Duchess. . . 64
Dakota, U.S 203,371
Dakota Indians 221, 220, 213
Dalhousie College. Halifax, N.S 447
Dalhou&ie, Earl of 81, 145,2110,313
Dallas. R. J 4J»|
Daly. Hon. M. B 20
Daly, Hon. T. Mayne 281
DanfECrCape 202
Daniel, Captain 64
Darien, Isthmus of 3(>
Darling, Henry W .. 432
Darroch, M.<jor-Gencral HI
Dartmouth, William, Earl of 90, 120
Dartmouth Massacre 6i(
Dartmouth. N. S 244
Davidson, David 4.')4,488
Davies, Wm. Howell 2f{
D.ivies. Sir L. H :«(j 8, 405-8
Davis Strait 200
Davis, Nel-on , 471
Dauhic, Adam ... ^
Dauversiere, Dela 64
Dawes, J. P 4fl3
Dawson, Dr. Geo. M :«, 245 7. 257
Dawson, Dr. S. E - .22, 24. 25
Dawson Route 273 4
Dawson, Sir William 203
Dawson, S.J 20173
Deaf and Dumb Institute, N.B 412
I >eane. Dr. Charles 24, 25
Dean Inlet . 31
Dearborn, General. .40, 100, 101. HW, HU, 170, 188, 101
Dease River 200
Dease Lake 240-7 8
Dease, P. W 3;{
Debenture System, 1847 354
DehiofC.inada 301
De Hienville.M 67-0
De Hiencourt, Jean 85
De Honaventure 85
W.
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
5»9
4!»t
2l(
»l
Wi
n4
■.m
4:<2
M
I'-tl
6li
241
188!)
2110
471
SA
M
4I»
!i)7
I, -iS
"U
2IE<
64 711
'.S
:n
191
W-7H
. mi
. 671>
85
85
P« Houcherville 7M
|)e Hras, Marc Aniuine . 7>)
De Uruuillan, Si. Ovid* 82
|)e Urouilloti) Francois HTi
Da Callierw 68, M, 7:i
DeCaen «1
Da Cha^tea, M 28, .')(), TA
U« Charnisey, M «i2, 77
De Chomedey, Paul M
De Courcelca. Governor Atl, (V(, 73, 218
D'Orwnetis, M 72
DeCourcel, Maron i'A
Declaration of Independence 8U,1lU.U:t. lU, Wi,
ID.-). 120
Declaration of Quebec 52t)
De Ornwti, Colonel m
De Kannawidah 21(1
Delancey'ji Battalion 11. 112, llli
I^elaware Indians 2U(M2, 218, 2;>8
Delaware Loyalittt 1 Kt
Delaware, U.S KM
Delegation at Washington 'Mi
Del^anaudiere, Charle* Ill
De Lery, 1. C. C 1 U
DeLi»le.A.M 300.472
De Monts, Pierre 2H, 21», 61 2. dO. 73-7, 86, 1U8
Demerara 3«K»
Denfc Tribes 229, 232 4
Deniaon, laeut.Col. G. T lOl
Denonville, Governor 67, 59. 63. Gl, 73, 218
Denmark ..90, 287. 21>ii, JI9
D«p«ttnientof Cartography at Seville 24
Department ol Indian AfTairn 281
Derby, E. H 310
Kecntnmendations (twelve), made by 3(U
Report to U<S. Government of 'liV.>>3
Derby, Earl of, Foreign Secretary . 373
Derby, Lord :it3, 3U(
Deiibarres, Major 116
Demrdtn^ Canal Accident 41
De Salaberry, Colonel 107,192
D'EstradeH U
l>etroit, U.S.A. . 40, 73, 121. 122. i:m, l-Vt, l.V.),
ItK), 161-6, 249, 2.V2, 272
River 146
Detroit Convention . . .351, 4!i8
letter of John Uright concerning 368
Meml>ersof 356
Resolutions upon Reciprocity of 352
Speech of Hon. Joseph Howe at 'XtCt
Dettingen, Battleof 74-6, 82
De Tracy 218
Dewdney, Hon. Edgar 281
De Witt, Jacob tW, 471
Diamond. Cape 103
Dieppe. France 28, 47, 63. 54
Dieskau. Haron 49. 06
DinRlcy(U.S.)TnritrBilI
Keannt; upon Agricultural interestsofCanadaot. 377
Chief features as compared with Wilson Hill of
405, 4(KJ
Passes House of Representatives and Senate . . . 376
Reference made by Krastus Wiman to 413
Resentful feelinf^sof Canadt.ins against 377
Revives nearly all the McKinley enactments 405
Unfriendly tone of 377
Discovery of America 22
Distilleryof Gi>oderham& Worts 410
I>ixon Entrance 216
Dobbs, Captain 192
l)ocksiader, John 241
Dog Rib Indians 229, 231. 219
Dominion. Aggregate trade of 428-9
Hank (See Banks).
D.win British Columbia 416
Of Canada Archives 42
Telegraph Company 4!W
Dominica 181
Dominican Republic . . 2*.»5
Dongan, Governor 67, 63, 64
IVOrleans, Isle 27
Dorchester Couniy Ill
Dorion, Hon. (Sir) A. A :«.>, 622
Doucette, Governor 81, 84
Dover. Village of _■ 188
Downie, Captain ... 172. ItW
Downing Street 137, 144
Dragoons, 2nd regiment of 76
Drake, Sir Francis 29. 61. 239
Drucour, Chevalier de 67
Drummondville • • 44
Drummond, Hon. L. 1 471
Dorchester, Lord (See Carleton) aS. 113. 117.
144, 146, 146. 117, 314
As Governor-General of Canada 146
Divides the Province of Quebec 200
Too stronK for Governor Sinicoe. . . 2(U
Drummond, Sir Gordon 146. 161, 189, 192
Administers the Government of Canada 182
At the battle of Lund/s Lane 171
Drummond, Sir GoT^inn—ContiHurif.
ltci:omes a K.C. II. and a General 182
C\iuntermand<iihe retreat ot Kiall 171
Kaily careei ol |H2
luues a Pruclamuiiun in 1816 1K9
Drders a new levy of ihe militia 170
Kcbuildt public officet at York 168
Kr|iul«c»« sortie at Fort Erie 172
Sund)i a detachment to capture Oswego 169
Serves uriiler the Duke of V'jrk 182
Dryden, Hon. John 419
Ury (.mods huMness, beginnings of 431
I>ubour|{, Franklin M 97
Dubuque, Iowa 28(»
Duchambon 09
l>uche!>nay, Picherenu 73
l)uchi:sneau, Jaci|ues 70
Duck Ijike 43
Oudley, Uird ^8
DulTerin, Lord 227, 257 8, 2t(6, 275
Duluih. U.S 57,60, 73
Dummer, William 272
Dumfries, Township of 241
Dun, T. H 490
iJun, Timothy 4K3
Duncaster, Township of 2i)7
Dundas, kt. Hon. Henry 19, IW
Dund.i-i HnHteryMill 432
Dnndas County lU
Uunt), Thomas 114
Dunn, Hon. J. H 4tW
Dunscombe, L W »N)
Dunsford, George 119
Dupleix 66
Dupre, Le Cie 114
Dupuy, Claude Thomas 70
iJupuy, H 488
l>U(]uesne, Governor -(ieneral 06, 73
Duquesne, Fnri 66, 120
Uiirand, Father 82
Durantaye, De la 57, 73
Durham, Lord 40, 146. 313 4, 43;t, 49:i
Durham County 144
Durieu, Bishop ;U6
Hussauli. David 480
Dutch, The .511, 57.61,217, 218
Eagle Creek as an Indian boundary 216
Eastern Town.sbips Ill
Eastern Townships, Hankof(aee Bank^).
East York 204
Edgar, Mrs. J. U 119
Edmonton, N.W.T 32, 217, 22,>, 281
Euuiund:iione, William 491
Edson, Josiah 105
Education 433, 434
Contributions of David Morice to A'Mi
Helped by endowment of Mc.Master University 44 1
Eduration of Captain Joseph Brant 260
** amon^ the Indians generally 272
'* or' Dr. Oronhyatekha 253
" provided ifor the Indians of Western
Canada 2.69
'* of the Oka Indians 257
Edward VI. of England 24, 29
Edward, Fort Gil
Eelking, Von 97
Egnell and Kaska Indians 248
E?ypt 182, 296
Elgin, lAdy 40
Elgin, Lord, nf^otiates the Reciprocity Treaty..
200, 280, ^87
Elein, County of 2i2
Elibank, Lord 76
Elizabeih, Queen 29. 13;i
Ellis, Henry 84
Ellis, Rt. Hon. Welbore 99
Ellijti, William 4t«
Elliott, R. W 420
Empire, The 1(«». 121
Endowment of Mc(J.ll College 4:tt, i'M
Of McKay Institute 434
Enfranchisement for the Ind'ans 266
England. 29 32. 40, 67. 69. 61. 62. 61 66. 67, (».
60. 75, Kl. 86, 89, 90, 01, 92. »t. 95. 97. 100,
104-7. U8. 119. 122. 127. 129. 132. 136 7. 111.
14.5. 1.52-3. 161. \My. 16'i. 176. 176. 177. 182, IK\,
186. 196. 199, 211 2, 219, 244, 257-8, 27U, 275.
28ti, 298-9
England, the flae of 62. 214
Address ot Congress to the people of 92
Adherents to Church of 107
And her American Colonies 9tl
And France struggle for the mastery. .71. S3, 8fl, 1.56
At the clo-ie of the war 96
Becomes mistress of the New World (W
Church of 129 227
Claims the ' ' ri;Tht of search " 1.56
Colonial vessels could only trade with 104
KntfiAnil—ContiHued.
Financial crisis in 164
France enters into war with ... tkV
Gives blood money to her Colonies 8tl
I ncurs a heavy national debt 8tt
Luwsol 127, 129, 131, m. 134
LjyalistH have fiiends in n5
Merchant adventurers of 12!<
NB|H)leon proposes to crush 183
Receives Auttralian eximrtM 293
Treaties made by 70
Kngliiih supersede the Dutch in N.V 21fi
" and French traders seek wealth 228
*' Colonies 8186
" (Jolonies fear Ihe Indians 212
" cross swords with the French 82
" (Government 149
'* Mi.strusted by the Indians 210
'* seamen 155
'* settle in Virginia, New England and
Newfoundland 61
" strive lor the cuntrni of the fur trade 64
'* The 49, 50. 67, 68. 6:*. 64, tW, VMl
" Universities 151
Enterprise Kort ... 33
Eric the Red !»
Ericson, Lief 2tt
Erie, Uke. . . .30, 111. 122, 159, 160, 172, 192, 2IH. 2.52
** Flotilla collected at the end ot Lake 161 5
'• Indians 209. 223
Ermatinger, Edward 32
Eskimos, The 222, 228, 22t», 231. 262
.\s manufacturers and sailors 222
Dress in seal skins and travel in sleighs 222
Language and fu<xl of 23 1
Live beyond the Arctic Circle 2i2
Rivalled by the Half breeds 262
E».ex l>ought from the Indians 272
Kstaing. llaron D" 86,100
Esquimaux Bay 37
Europe .59, 65, 77, 98, 154, 157, 168. 179. 181, 2:«
Kustis, US. Secretary of War 1,56
Evans, Rev. James 227
Evantiellcal Alliance of N.H 442
Exchange Bank o( Montreal (Ste Banks).
" " of Canada fSee Banks),
*' " of Yarmouth (.See Bariko).
Executive Council 1 19, 138. 146. 186-9, 2"7
Exhibition, Indian and Colonial 43
Exhibition, Territorial 281
Expenditure, Indian . . 2iO
Exports of Canada since Conlederation 427, 428
" and imports '* *' 428
*' from Canada to United States (18911). ... 430
'* " " to Great Britain (1896).... i'M
'* Nature of Canadian 430
F.ilkirk, Battle of 74
Fanchon, (tabriel 32
Farmers' Joint Bunking Co 465
Faroe Islands 26
Farrer, Edward 419
Farrer, Gaspard 479
K.irrer, H. R 479
Farrer. T. H. ( Lord) 296
Featherstonhaugh, Captain 35
Federation .is planned oy Hiawatha 216
Fenians invade Canada 41
Ferdinand of Spain 20. 22, 24
Fernandez, Francisco 26
Ferrier, Hon. James, Biography of 443
Fielding, Hon. W. S., attends Intet-Provincial
Conference 38S
As Premier of Nova Scutia 407
Views on trade questions of 408
Writes Utter upon Reciprocity 407
Fillmore, Millard .505
Financial inflation of 1880 485 6
Finisterre, Cape 65
FinKiy. Hugh 114
First meeting of Parliament 39
First Colonial See 39
Fish, Hon. Hamilton 265,373 381
Fish Creek, Engagement at 43
Fisherj David 494
Fisheries question discussed in 1888 343
** sectionof Washington Treaty 386
Fiscal policy of Great Britain 339
'• ** '• UnitedStates 338
*' leeislation of Canada 361
" relations (Canadian) with United States. . . 379
Fitzgibbon, Col. James, Hintirnphy of 161, 191
Five Nations (See also Six Nations and Irwiuoisj
53, 50, 209, 221
And the Dutch form a " covenant chain " 217
Beat the Algoniiuins and destroy th? Hurons . . 211
Become dominant in all Upper Canada 218
Conquer the *' Neutral Nation" 218
Government of the 210
History of the 217
S30
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
m:
iM
Vive NalioHA— C(*m//mh^^.
Imleblnl to une individual 21(1
Join with the French umUr Champlaln 2IH
name becuinei ii won! of ttrror 'Mi
Overcome and reduce right Indian natiun» . . 2!H
kcmatn coni|u«rur« of Upper Canada '/IH
Kf taliate uptin the French 21H
Threatened by extermination 210
Try to destroy the French Mttlementi . 211
Flanderi 74, 82, IH2
Flathead Indtanii y'^>
Flemmg, Sir iiandford ...:«>, lit
l^hni, Hon. Hilla, HioKraphy of il't
Florida. Went 121, 2tl7
Florida, Kast 121. 2(17
Florida, U.S 23, 2U. M, 01, W, 72, 172, 2i:*, a-M
Forbe.s General IM
Fort Carleton 27'!
" Churchill 221
" Kdward 07
** Krie..l09, 102-.5, 170, 171, 172, 17fl. 1«7, IHH,
lUi, 1U2, UK), 2^M.2a.5
** Garry 12. 225
*' " Hank of (See HauUs).
** George 158, 101, 102, 103, 101, 100, 108,
17U, 1711,187, IHH. UH. 102
•• Maiden 101
*• Matilda 181
•* Mein* 1015, IIU
** M iMisnauKa 170
*' Niagara llll. 170
•• of St. Au>;u9tine 72
** Pitt 275
*• Kichetieu founded U7
•' Sandiinky Il»l
" Schlo«er l;i|, JlU, U»2
*' .Simpson 1122
" WaUh .. JOl
*' Wavne lOt
" William Henry 07, 08
•• William 274
Foster, Hon. George K 370
Addre&s to Electors of Kings County by 4IHI
Amendment concerning Kecipnxiity by 3M1
As Minister of Finance 400
Connection with Bank Act ( 1890) of olO
Contrasts policit;s of the two parties 4(10
On the Trade Question 509
Presents Canadian Hanking Act 518, 510
Foster, General J. W.
370
Foster s Hrigade 171
Fox. Charles jamen 80, 80, 90, Ik), 140
Fox Indians ft'J
Fux River 00
France 27, 28, 29, 48, 51, 01. ft'> 0, 70,
71. 72, 75. 78, 79. 81 2-3. 91, IW, lOfl, 107,
120. 121, 129, 131, 13K. KtO, 110 8, 1X\, 1.50 7.
170 0, 182, 185, 270, 280, 295, 298, ^10, 319
France, War declared nj;ainst 02
A formidable rival to Kngland 83. 80
A formidable rival to Kngland .83, 80
Accepts Franklin's proposals IH
And Kngland again at war 05
Assistance given the U.S. by 91, 90
Canadian Commerce increases with 201
Canadian territory restored to 02
Cedes Acadia to Great Hritain 80
Creates the Supreme Council ... 70
Declares war atfmnst Great Hritain 03
Kleven fur companies formed in 280
Exports to the United Sutes of . , 293
Frontenac receives support from 03
<jives financial aid to Thirteen Colonies . . . 102, 103
Intendant Talon annexes territory to 30
King of 00, 74. 80. 82, 152, 257
Surrenders territory 69
Treaties made with 70
Under the " Reign of 'I'error " 100
Francis 1. of France 27, 20
" Il.of. •• 29
Franco- Canadian Treaty 44
Frankford, Onl 2.')3
Frar.klm, Michael 84
Franklin, Henjamin 00, 02, 00, 98, 110. l.W
Responsibility of men like 07
Wants Canada to be (riven up 05
Writes about the Indians 210
Franklin, Sir John 32
Expedition or(;anized by 3,'!
Fri>;htful sufferings of 3^1
Journey to Arctic coast of 33
Organizes second expedition to the North 33
Reaches Gieat Hear Lake 'Xi
TraveUby Red River X\
Eraser, Simon, Voyages ol 31
Fr.iser River and the Indians . , . 210
Eraser River 32, 31. 222
Free Trade. Kffect on Canadian banking of 4'i*l
Agitated by Knglish manufacturers 450
Diu&trcus effect on Canada of 156
Free Hanking Art, a product of American
contiguity 5fUS
I'.tfect on Canadian banking of l.'iO, 457. 451t
Fuilurein Can-ida of .Mt5
Mr. Hreckenridge's opinion of .'Hk'iO
Mr. H. K. Walker't opinion of 50.*^
Uperaiiont in Canada of. 400, A0.'>, ANl
Origin of 505
Provinions of . 475
Sir Francis Hiicks on results of .5110
Frcderlc.jn, N.H 30. 115
Frederick the Great of Prussia Otl
French settlements and explorers 57. .VS, .^O
'* and Hriiiih Canadians fight side by side. . 175
French-Canadian Seii{neurial System 190
Fren.h-Canadiani..48, 92, 08, i:tO, \M\, 130, 113,
118,157,107. 108, 2<K»
And the Indians 272
Characteristics, origin and types of 40
Pontiac's resi>ect for proi>erty of 2.'>0
Settle on Assiniboine River 203
French, Shawnees come into conOict with *2(M
" Acailemyj clubs and Constitution . 140
. '* and Kni;lish traders 22H
" and Knglish wars 201), 211
*' at war with the Irotjuois 218
** colonists dread the Indians 209
colunista 120, 122, 118, \:a\
" destroy a Mohawk village 218
" inhabitants of Canada 110
" influence spreads 229
" invade the Oiicmdagas' territory 218
" Micmas come under the influence of 213
" Revolution and Government I>i8
French River 37, K\
French Mills 107
Frenchtown HW. 191
French, 1 he . ..'i7, 58, <W. 01, 05, 72, 82, 84. 05, 1 15. 200
Fresnoy, IJe 72
Frobisher, Sir Martin 2)t, 20, 01
Frog l^ke Massacre 43
Frontenac, Fort 50. 50, 00, lU, 111, 218
*• County 144
Frontenac, Comte de 37. 57, tKI. IM. 73, 200. 280
Achieves a great success 58
Arranges three expeditions and compels success. 03
Biography of 74
Chastises the Iro<iuois Ot
Receives instructions from France 03
Receives word from King Louis 0^1
Fry, Henry :W4
Fuca, Juin de 2il, 30
Fundy, Hay of 01, 111, 115, 212
Funk Islands 2.5
Fur trade 04
Adventures in the 50
Adventurers assist Champlain .52
Companies of Canada 50
Monopoly of the l.'W
Fury Strait 'Uti
Fyshe, Thomas 492
Gage, General 04. 240
Gasnon, Hon. Charles A. K 388
(;arissoniere, De la 05. 00, 72, 73, 204
Gallatin, A., U.S. Minister to St. James 317, :i48
Galloway, Joseph 113
(Jalt, John 40
Gait, Sir A. T 288, 372, 4.50
A member of Executive Council 350
Affords an excuse to the U.S. for ab.-ogation < f
Reciprocity Treaty 311
As Canadian M inister of Finance 303
Finds his tariff unpopular in England 311
Moves amendment to the Huntingdon motion.. 385
Official Report upon trade of 414
Opposes Commercial Union 414
Replies to charges of U.S. Co.igress, etc — 'Ml,
342, 3I;», :i'M), ^51
Report presented and signed by IMj^i
Tariff of 280. 311
United States references to Tariff of 311 2
Writes a fiscal pamphlet in 1859 288
Gananotiue 102, 191
Ganong, Gilbert 8.5
Garden Island 410, 4.V1
Gardner, Henry J 401
Garland, U.S. and Canadian Currency 520
Garneau. Hon. P 440
Garry, Fort 31
" ** Indian treaty made at 273
Garth, Charles 480
Gasp6, Aubert de ... . 73
(;a5pc, County 144. 10.5. 200
(iaspereau, Fort 83
Gault, Stevenson & Co 435
Gault Hros. ^ Co ., 43.'»
Gault, Andrew T., builds up cotton combine 435
Character and benefactions of 435
aauttt, Halifax nt
" Montreal ,'^), l,'i4
" Quebec 140, l.^l. 151. 1,'.2
George I. of Kngland 70, 81, 82
(Jeorge II. of ~* 272
GeoTgelll.of ** . .81», 0.1, 01-2, KNI, 113, 122,
132. IJO, 137. i:*\. 198, 272
Accepts aid from (ierinnny \t(\
Addretiand petition presented to li;i, 1211
Arul reliteiuus matters 137
Hclief regarding the colonies of Ml
Children and wife of ]0(}
Closing years of the reign of . ... ]5A
Descent, character and polii y or 96,07
Message sent to the Commons by 126
Supports Parliament against the Peem OA
Unjustly denrunced by Americans 98,00
Writei to Lord North OH
Geirge, Fort 00, 1.58
George, Lake 5*1.0.3. 08
Georgia, St.ue of Kl, HIM'NI. 111. 120
l^yalistsof 112, 113
Overrun by Lord Cornwallls IH
Georgian Hay 37, 218
(Georgia, Strail.<t of 32
( ieological survey of Canada 215
German Empire, The 3(0
Germaine, Ixird ( leorge 80, \f2, 90
An utterly incnp.ible Minister 89
llurgnyne under the control of 04
Entire failure and resignation from the Ministry
of a5
Germany IHl, Iff, 214, 291
Ghunt 174
Hritish and Americin Envoys m«et at 172
Treaty of 40, 172. IIKI
Gibbs. Hon. r. N <450, 281, Xm
Giblxin, Genei al, and Sitting Hull 2)10
(iibralter 0,5
Gillespie, George 401
Gillespie, Sir Ruliert 491
(iillespie, T. G 491
Ottmour, Rev. J.,on theHalf-Hreeds 2iU
Oitpin, Ur. J. Hcrnard, on the Micmac Indians . 21 J
Gladstone ll«l, 225
Gladstone. Rt. Hon. W. K :U3, 310
(flasgow University 28i|
Glengarry Regiment 102-3, ISl. 18:1
Glengarry 107.141. lOH
(ilenelg, Urd 270, 278, 407 8
Glynne, Mr. Sergeant 128
(;iyn,R. H 470
(iooderham, William, llio^raphy of 440, 404
Good HojM, Cape of 'M)
(iomara 22, Zi
Gore Hank (See HanksX
(iosford. Earl of 145, 278
Gould, Ira 491
Government, Karly French 243
Imperial 1^. HI, 211, 2.58
'* Responsible 94
Governor-General of Canada 26. 73, 11H». 206
" '• •* New France 27,20
Governor*in-Council 260
Grahamd, John 113
(irau. M 44
t;rand River Reserve 215,217.210
Grand River, as part of an Ottawa Indian settle*
ment ... 251
Grand River 215
Grand Trunk R.iilway 310, 480
Canadian Board of . . 441
Commencement of 41, 41
I nfluence on trade of 435
Opening of iX\
Grand Fontaine, Governor of Acadia 77, 78
Grand Khan 10
(irand Manan as an Indian rendeivous 243
Grand Pilot of Spain .. 21
Grand Rapids 275
Grant, William 114
(!rant. General, President of the United States . . 38.i
(irantham, I^rd WJ
Granville. I.ord 379
Graves, Admiral 145
An incapable officer not amenable to reason 115
Would not supply ships in time \ti
Grave, Dupont .50
(iray, John, first President Hank of M.intreal ... 488
Great Hritain.. 40, IW, 70, 71. 72. Ot; 7. 100. I(t2,
111. 113, 110, Vm, 121, 122, 12.5. 127. 128. i:t2.
133, 135,130, 140. Ill, 110. KK).5 7 8, 15l,l.\5.
1.50, 157, 102, 172 7, 178 18.5, IW»
Great Britain. Laws of 71, j-jl
A double relation to Canada of i:J9
Agricultural exports to 2Xi
American f Aiyahsts go to 107
A whi>per of separation from iV}
C.->nada cedf;d to 120
Canadian connection with ICO
CANAi)A: AN ENrYCI.OIMlDIA.
Sit
2.'»»
'JIA
4H0
441
.41
4:ci
4:1:)
78
l<)
213
21
27ft
114
38,J
370
U5
!».'»
Vti
5l>
488
121
i:w
107
. 120
Grrat TlriiAtn— r^nZ/iiNr'/.
Canadian trade wiiii ■ 201
Cunkcuucncta of a Hvparalion mim . .17H, 170,
m IIMJ. 211, 2M, 288. 21K1, 205
Encouragen trada In Cantiuu 287
k.nt(iiu«d in a ureal contOHt 17<I
Y rancc ct den Aca Jia to 81), H4
iiivrH a medal to Ue Salalwrry \Hi
helped by ttia Indiana 212
IriterLdurMe with thu htatti 01 I<'i4l
ietTernon'M hatred of 187
jntfof Mtl, Ml
Marerurlwarins than the U.S K'lti
I'arliameniary aucuniciit* uf U7
KcHtorrfi Cuba to Spain 72
Ketaliaies upon France. 181
Supremacy 01 101* 1-7
'I'.tket puiteiHiun of Canada 28il
The Irotitiuii loyal adhureiiin <j| 2I>^» l'>Vt
'1 1)6 market for Canadian farn'eri* 21)2
IVade relationi with Canada uf 1J8, 4Jtl
Under a i)0!iitil>le di!icrimin.itiun 21)7
Union with the Knipire of 1 lU
United Statntdeclartft war uitaiuMt . . 187
r.reat Hear Uke....: ;«, 22U
lireat Fish Kiver 'Xi
< ;reat Slave Uke ,. 221, 221»
(ireat ManitouUn Ihlund (See ManttouLln IkUuuI). 270
Oreat Wextern Railway 11,28811.431). 44ti
Cireat Weitern Railway Vo., i^onmiercial llanl^'^
loan to 4«()
Green, John Richard lJo-7
Green, jlenjamin 81
lireen, I. C 4(Jtf
Green Mountaina 51
Greer, A 41^^
Greenfield 183
Greenland 2tl
Grenada, Island ot 182
Grenada.... 121
Grrnier, Joseph 171
Grenier, Jacijueit 4U3
Grenville, W. Wyiiuimiii U!)
Grey County 203
Grey, Earl 'Mi, 313
GrilTm, R 4:»3, 487
Grimsby Ittl
Grindley,R.R 478
Grinnell. W. H 341
Grosseilliers, Sieur de 5U
Grus Ventres Indians 261
Giiast. Pierre du 28
Guelpn founded Hi
<tucrniey. Island of . IHl
Gurney, Edward ;UH>. 41U 22
Gzowiki, Colonel Sir C. S 44U
Habeas Corpus Act 39, 92
Hague, George, General Manager Merchants
Bank 4»2, 521)
On Canadian Danking System 475. 47ti, 477
President Canadian Hankers' Association 487
Sketch of Canadian Itanking by 452, 4U1
Haida Indians 222, 240
Hakluyt, Prebendary of Itristol 2^19
Haldimand 215
Haldimand, Governor Ill, 145, 2(10
Hale, Dr. Horatio 2I«-7
Half-breed Indians, Hon. John Noniuay one of. . 2lM
As buffalo hunters 2<13
At war with the Indiana 263
Characteristics of 2.12 3-4
Compared with the full blool Indians 2tU
Diseases common to 217 01
Hereditary rights amongst 2(i2
In the Territories 205
Language of 2ti2-5
Manufactures and employments of 202-3
Of Red River Settlement 2)>;i 4
Of Scotch descent or French extraction 2o3 4-5
Of the Roman Catholic faith 2(K1
Sir Daniel Wilson deals with 203*4
Usually found in frontier settlements 203
Haliburton, Arthur I I M), 125
Halifax Currency 272, 520, 521, 522
Halifax Hanking Company (See Hanks).
Halifax, City of.. 20, 38. 105, 115, IM, 175, 182,
18U, 244, 280, 405
Arrival of Sir John Thompson's body at 44
Hritish regiments arrive at 167
Fisheries Award 42
Founded by the English 05. 244
Carttttt first paper published in Canada 38
Harbour and County named 195, 2(K!
Lord I^Audon sails for 07
Loyalists iiettle in Ill
Raises funds for Montreal 6re sufferers 151
Treaty of Peace concluded at 244
Halkett, Fort 229
llallowell, Robert 105
Hamburg, Hank of ',£1)8
lUnuhoii, Hon. John, Hiugraphy uf, 44tt, 4U2
Hainilion Hoard ot 1 rade 43U, 451
lliimiltou, Hon. C. E 3H8
Hamilton Provident and Loan Society 410
'* Reform AnAociation 410
Hamilton, Alexander 452
ILimiitim, Ciiyt.f 103, 1U2, 290, l.Vi
Mani.lton, l.jlunvl Aichibald 112
Hfluiihon, Hnnk of (See Hanks).
Hriinlin, Hun. H.tniiibul 355
Hammond, Sir Andrew 'A , Ml
Hiniptun, Gci.rral 40. 107, KM, 179, 192
Hanipshire Cou.ily . . 1 14
Hundcock Major lliO, Htt*
H.innay, fames 77, %\o
Hanover 00,97
Hanoverian Urder. 1H2
Hordy, Hon. A. S 388
Harding. Dr. W. S HO
Hare Indians 229, 2:tl
Harnmn, D. W 32
Harrison, Cicneral 107. 192, 213
And his troopi harass the Canadian settlers. . . . KM
Recalled to Detroit 100
Strengthens his {Kisition and lollows up Procter. Kl)
Harriao 1, Ldward Ill
Harrison, R. A 48U
Harrissc, K 2!*, 21, 25
Harvard Univer»i.y 115, 118
Harvey, Colonel Sir John..H(4. Ilk}. !07. 182, imt, 191
Commands in linlaud and IS made a General .. 182
Governor of New Hrunswick 1M2
Govetnot nf Nov.i S^utia 182
Governor of NewrmiiiUland 182
Important letter upon the war of 1812 by 181
Serves in Holland under Lord Lake 182
Harvey, R.M 17
Hastings County . . , 415
Hatch, Hon, Israel T., kuport of 310
Hay. Robert, Hio;;rap.iy 01 -140
Hay. John 110
Hayes, Fort. 57
Hayhurst, Privaiu 41
Hayti 319
Head. Sir Francis Hond 270, 460. 407
As Lieut. •Governor of Upper Canada ,,. 276
Canadian Indian Treatieaarranged by 270
Despatch to Lord Cilenelg of 270, 277
Hearne Samuel., 231
Heck, Harbara 107
Helmcken 445
Hennepin, Father ;Uj, 02
Henry, Hon. W. A 303
" Alexander 31, 32
'• Patrick 80. 90
Henry IV. of France 28, 29, 01, 77
•' II. '■ 29
" III. •* 29
" VII. of England. 29. 01
" Vlll. of England 29
Herbert of Lei, Lord 343
Heriot. J. C. A 119
Hertel, Francois 57, 04, 73
Heise 90, 2<K)
" Cassel 97
" Hannn 97
Hessians, The 151
Hey, Chief justice William 121,124
" as an English Lawyer 125
" as Chief Justice ol^ Canada 127
" differs with Carleton 127
Hiawatha.. 221
A chief of high rank and of the Onondago bloi,d. 210
A perfect diplomat 210
A permanent Federal (^(overnment proposed by. 210
Appeals to other tribes 216
Born in the 15th century 210
Hraves the wrath of superiors in rank . . 210
Founds the great Iroquois Confederacy 210
Genius of, acknowledged and praised 210, 217
Summons his own tribes together 210
Wins over the chief of the Mohawks 216
Higginson, I. M 281
Highlanders, The 08, 107
Hill, J. J., of St. Paul 4:U
Hillsborough. Earl of 99
Hincks, Sir Francis 4:W, 471, 5<)8
Deals with Clergy Reserves 480
Early life and progress of 479
Founds the' Consolidated Bank 484
In favour of Bank of Issue 517
Influence upon Canadian luinkiiig of 480
Journalistic and political career of 470, 480
Literary work of 480
Negotiates respecting Reciprocity treaty 480
On ihe Free Hanking System 506
Railway p4)licy of 48t)
Speech against Sir A. T. Gait by 385
Himl.lLVonle 34
Hindustan, I'Uinsnl 80
Hingston. Sir W. H 47il
Hinturical Socielyof Nnva Siotia Vi
Hilt, Hon. R. R, Commercial Union plan uf. . . . 313
Letter on Cimimercial Union from 418, 4IU
HUuoietl by KraHius Wiman 413
Kehii!ulion in Congress of 413
hecuixl motion in Congress of and the Canadian
Li'ieral party 413
Hoare, E. A 470
Hubari.Lord 90, 100
Hochelana 37. 2'i3, IWI
H<>u(jnerl, <>illis 70
HodgKon, Jonathan 402
Holland m,91,Ut.lMI, 102, 1041, 181, IKi
Holmes, Henjamin 4K8
Holton. Hon. L. It :i05. 471, 472. 522
Honiefiuvernment 99, LU), 101, lOK
hope, Hon. Adiirn, Utographv of 440
Horton, N.S 213
Ho<tnier. Professor ■ 112
House of Commons, Uritish 110, P.M. 127. 182
ilouserfLords Ki.V ML 1440
House of Commons, Canadian. . 2.'>8, 2riO. 270.
281,290,299 'M>\, 3At
Hu»)erl. R. A. R 48U
Hudson's Bay Company..:**), 37, 40,42,50.59.71,
123. l.M), 193, 199. 221, 2.58, 263
And the North-Wesl (. ompaiiy 203
And the Red River Settlement. 203, 267.273, 43'). 454
And the Indians of Western Canada. 225 7,219, 2.'»8
Resources of 2ft3
TerriiorieH grantrd to the 207
Hudson's Hay .20, :i0,3». 'Xh 3*1, 57. 69, 61. tW. 04 , 70,
71, 147. l.'»(),2U0, 200.2-JO, 221.230, 273. 275, 2«fl
Hudson River 51. 91. 216
•* " Loyalists Ill 115
Hudson's Straits 211 71
Hudson's Hay, Territory of . . . .03. 01. 05, 25S, 202 3 4
H udson, Henry 61
Hughes, Sir Richard 81. 200
HiiBuenots 53. tt2
Hull. General 159, 107, 179, 189. 100
Ciiy and forces captured by the British ■ ■ ItiO. 191
Crosses Canadian frontier l.'»8. 187, 190
I HfTicult to understand action of IfH)
Intends to overpower Canada 158, 189
Proclamation to the Canadians 158, 177-8
Privision convoy captured from 150
He-crosses the Detroit River 159, 190'
Startled by Brock's summons nt Detroit . 159
Hdeston, William 120
Houton, La 49. 285 •
Howe, Sir William 92 94
Incapacity and inactivity of 94 .
Pleasures and gaieties at Philadelphia of . 94
Resigns and returns to England 94
The ball at his feet, but fails to do his duty .... 94
Wins possession of several States 94
Hood, 'Ihnmas D. .... 480
Howard, Hon. Thos 275
Howard, Allan McLean 110
Howe, Captain 244
Howe, Hon. Joseph 281, 355 6
Howland, Sir W. P 350
Report to Government by 303
Howbnd, H. S 493
Hull, Settlement of 410. 447
Humlrtr Hay 163
Humbolt, Haron. 25
Humphries, Captain 155
Hundred Associates 48,50,5:1.54,199, 280
Hunter, Archdeacon ]^V4
Huntingdon County 144
Huntingdon, Hon. L. S 373
Piesenis motion calling for an American Customs
Union 385
Huron County 302
HuronLake27. 30.31.33, 3ft. 53.58. 00. Ill, 150.
HB. 201, 2(«», 218. 2'»0. 254. 258, 273. 270, 279, 371
Huron Indians . .51, 53. 51,5*1.67,68.209,212, 220
Aid Frontenac and the French 03
Are friends of the Jesuit priests. . . 200
Fight in the war of 1812 254
Meet partial destruction 209
Of Loretto 202
01 to-day compared with the Ircquois 210
Population of ... 511, 209
Resemble the I ro<iuois in characteristics 2()9
Sell their lands. 258 72
Settle near Mackinac 59
Stand by the French 21 1
The Jesuit Mission nlliesof 211
War waged against the Five Nations by 218
Huron and Erie Savings Co 446
Huskisson, William 339, 348
Iberville River 72
I
53»
CANAOA: AN ENCYCLOIVKDIA.
Wr''«
IcfUnd 2U, 'Ji».1. 2'^
lilinolt, PrairiHur *2S0
" Indiani h!,'£H)
'• Klv«r 01)
" Stntt of 3J, t,^ iU, 218
Imperial Act 35
lin)ieriAl lUnk ofCinaila (Sa« Itankit).
Imticrial Cnmmtiteefor I'raite 408
Jni))«ria) (iuverntnent alarnicU at C'.iniiilian finan*
lUI vaKnriei 4fI7
" Crown i:W, IIW
" Government Statute 43, l.'Ul
" lirnnt to the Si« Nationt 215
•• Policy i:w. i:i7. IIA
" Privy C.>uncil 41. 2H0
'* Privy Council, Judicial Commiit-e 4:t8
" Su^MndH deciHionrctiardinif Hank At*. 4t)8
Imperial Parliament .31, 41, 42, 44. VI, KM. 1(^,
1U0, 12ft. 120, 130-8, 144, 1A3. 100, 211. 2H1.
201, :ioui 2
Select Committee of 4;«
lmp«rial Kegulation fir Kevitlon of Currency. . . . A21
Imperial 'larUr in 1845 2H7
Ihcarnntion, Marie de 1' ^4
imorporation. Act uf, rettulating llnnii* 470, 471
Independent Order of Forentert 2M
lu'lia 30. fil, 182
Indians 40. 02.81. KU.l.'ig-tiO. laVO, 107, KM. 102,
107. 20A, 200, 210 1-29, 228, 220, Z^i 2tl
A lund for educatini; '2|0
A reproach to the United States 212
A ktrikinic fact rcKardinii lltO
Act kindly to firnt En^liih fteitlem 210
Act regardinK terriiorietof 207-8
Adhere tn England during the War 80
AlTected in a startling manner by Tecumxch . . 2<'>2
Allegiance xecured by llrock of LVf
Allowed a voice in the Dominion (luvernment. 213
AlwA^K true to Canada and England 21 4
American history written by the enemies of 213
American and Canadian tre.iiiient of 200, 270
Amusements and tribal customs of 221
And belief in the driuge '£Xi
And explorers come into collision 2IN1
And the word "Kebec" liW
And their legends 217
Ainual expenditure u^fon the 270
Ainuat Report on affairs of the 217
Antecedents of the 210
Appearance, cuMoms and beliefs of 210
As compared with the white man 213
As gamblers 224, ZV.\
At regarded by our statesmen 225
Assemble to listen to Sir F. U. Head 270
It flieve in a future state :22l
Blindness prevalent amongst 232
llrant. Captain, and the 241 .'iO 5.3
Career as a free-born savage closed 214
C'mracterof the 200
Chief-* and warriors of, execute a p iwer of
attorney 211
Chi|drenandlhefoodnf 231
Civilization amongst £12
Civilization has destroyed the 20!)
Cjmmunicate with one another on birch bark .. 227
C )mpared with the Italian and Spaniard 2011
Conflict between Americann and 150
Cos* the white voter nothing ... 215
Cremation amongst 2:13
Curious traditions amongst 223
Described by Oliphant 279
I )';sire instruction in farming 275
D-flTerent spelling in the names of 223
l>esiringtoenteraprofessionmu<>t be enfranchised 270
1) fferent dialects of 223
Diflerence of treatment of American and Cana-
dian 200 1 70 71
n-ess of 21011. 223, 231
Effort to evangelize the 120
E!ect their chiefs 220
Election of chiefs amonfj 233. 234
Electoral franchise conditionally granted to.... 270
Eloquent speakers amongst 224
E'lfranchisement ol 206 09 70
Exhibit at the World's Fair 281
Feelings towards the white man of ZVi
Feelings towards the United States of 254
Fight in the war of 1812 2.'i3 4
Oimesand dances of 224, 233
Government fund of the . 270
Granted municipal government 270
Habitations and occupations of 230
Half Breed 261-5
Have had no one to write their history 2.'10
Have schools on their Reserves . 2*^0
Help British f^gulars 93
History has hot done justice to the 206
Idea of etiquette amongst 240
Illegality of supplying intoxicants to 200
In the United Sutea 213
Indians— C^N/iNw/t/,
Influence ol, killed by Wolfe's victory 212
InduMricsof the 245.'»0-02 71
Keepupamnn'of clerks at Ottawa 215
I^and sold for benefit of. , 211
Language of 223
Led astray by Kiel 213
LcsCarb<ji d 'MrrilwH 21"^
Ix>ve of liljeriy amnn.{itt 2(HJ
lAjve personafatlornment 223, 'JU
Love the ** pnw-w<iw". .,, ,, 2-1
Matsacre Virt{inians 212
May be admitted to Uniwrkiiy A t and Mcdir tl
Degrees 200 270
Meanslfeli^tfnc«dehtroye.l amongst 213
Medicine M«n airtongtt the 211, 2J1, '.112 3
Mercilcsmiess of . . , , W
Must t>e educated and biicomc civilited 2-5
Native books of the 2^(4
Ni:ml>er of s<:ho<i|ii amnng!it 270
Of Itritiith Columbia 245
Of Canada as compared with others 258
Of Nova Scotia 72, 211 5
Of the Canadian North-Went 228
Of the old order pass away 22<'>
Of the Yukon Dinirict. 215. 20" 9
Of Western Canada .220, 22:1, 2."iH 0, 2110
Oka trilM cf 250
Origin of theories regarding 235
Peculiarity of the character of 2.'il
Physical a|)t>earance of the 210
Picture writing of the . . 220
Policy of the Canadian Gjvernment towards ... 271
Polygamy common amongst 232
Pontiac and the . . 210 -M)
Population of 22.^ 220, 270 I 2. 290
Raised for Canadian Service 00
Recent history of the 224
Referred to by Franklin 210
Religious belief of 211. 224, 234. 272
Represented as cruel and vengeful 2:19
Reserves held by 220
Restless at times 225
Robbed of their intellect by liiiuor 211
Send contributions to BrcKk Memorial Fund. . . IHO
Sometimes desire education 220
Strict ideas of territorial rights amongst 210
Submit address to the Queens Kepreseniativ*- . . IKIi
Support British forces 105,178 0, 18.i, 212
Syllabic characters used by 227
Tahltan 210 8
Taku, Tinni and Kaska 240 9
Tatoo, CuHtoms of 2:i:i
Tecumseh the great chief of 251-4
Terms of surrender of lands by 73, 257-8
Territory of, claimed by New Englamlers 211
The exploring Euroiteans and the 210
The French meet a new nation of 221
The land question an important one to 210
The melancholy history of 213
The original population of 200
The religion and education of. 219
The threatening altitude in 1870 of 225
Total numtier in Canada of 217
Transactions with the Government of 220
Treated unjustly by Americans 80
Treaties with 225, 258, 272 :i-4 5 7
Try to live like theiwhite man ■ 213
Unwilling to divide the land 225
Use (he sign language 223
Varied stature of 220, 230
Wars among the ZM
Welcome Cartier 195
Well treated by the Hudson's BayCompany.. 221-5
Women make soft leather 223
Women of 200, 2:U, 2:12
Worship a Great Spirit and believa in dreams . . 21 1
Indiana, Litnte of. 213
I ndian Department of Canada 270, 279
Indinn Archipelago. 222
1 ngersoll, David 11)5
Inglis, Rt. Revd.Chas., Biographical details about 118
Appointed M.L.C. and Bishopof Nova Scotia. . 118
Compelled to leave New York 118
Grandson of becomes Bishop of N.S 115
Inglis. Maj. Gen. Sir John E. W 118
211
nquisitinn.
Insane Asylum of Toionto 439
Intercolonial Railway 42
Sir Francis Hincks' connection with 480
Sir John Rove's connection with 623
Intercolonial Reciprocity 301
Interior, Minister of the 27.V6. 281
International boundaryline 228 9
International Hank of Toronto iHQ
International Bridge Comtvny 414
Iroquois (See alw Six Nations, Five Nations,
and Mohawks). . . .29. 38, 51, 52. Ki. 5,V.58, 01,
6:t. 74, 200. 210, 212, 217-18, 210, 220. 223,
240, 256. 257 272
Ansi^teil by ih« Dutch M
Claimed at Hriii»h subjects 57
Compared with the Hurons 2U0*10
Condition since 1812 ol J13
Cunquer man)f other tribes KUJ
Conquer the Sha*nee)i WO
Early policy and intentions of 6&
(!iven grants of land 213 15
Hostility to ^be Kri-nch nam* of 04
Human sacrifices bv SI t
Hunting grounds of flO
i'ouulation ami ability of 200 10
Stand by the English in 1770 211
The ncourge of French Cunaila M
Remarkable urganizaii'in of tie 31A
Firnt settlements in Canada of 81A
Historyoftbe ...Sl.'V
The Confetteracy of t he, 21 i
Possess much putriotism 1115
Induced to surrender territory ami mII their
lands to the Government 81A
The wampum of the 210 17
The basis of rule amnngil the 217
League of the 'i\7VJ
Book of Rites of the 217
Are called unitedly "Six Nations"... 818
Government of the ... 21U
Resemble the .Sioux 821
System of Totems ZM
Fight in the War of 1812 8M
Address showing antagonism lo ih« United
Siatesof. 255
Lord Duffer n's address to the 2.'M
Ireland . .. 74 5. 100, LV). 179, 182-3, 199. 21».)
Irish Catholic: Temperance Society 412
Irving, /Kmiliui 302
Isle Royal 222
Me-Aux-Noix 100. 100
Isle-Aux-Coudres 108
Iskoot River 24.1
Italy 41
Treaty of C mmerc • with 20.1
liiard, Colonel 172, 170
Jackson, General, President of the United States.
297. 330, 348
Jack, Peter 520
laciiufs Cartier. Hanque 412
lacqiies Cartier Square, Montreal 433
facqucs, John 410
lames' Bay 20 I
lames L of England 20, Li2
lamaicA 20, 170, :iiMI, 313
lapaii 18, 201, 203, 340
fardine. A 440
larvit, Samuel Peters 480
Superintendent of Indian Affairs 281
Iroquois' letter to 255
Jarvis, Hon. W 241
Jeflerson, Thomas 00, 118.156, 187
Anticipates an easy con(|uest of Canada 180
Jena, Battle of .18:$
Jersey, Governor of 76
Jesuit's College foundeil 37
" estates taken possession of 39
Jesuits, The 50, 51, 131, 132, 134, 272
" educate Joliette . 60
** amongst the Algonquins 206
" as mi^sionaries 210. 211
Jodoin. Pierre 403
iofEues. Father 811 *
oinville. Prince de 442
olictte, Louis, discovers Mississippi River. 30, 00. 210
Joly de Ljibiniere, Sir H 2JI0
Jones, Hon. A. G 1 10
Moves amendment concerning reciprocity S80
Johannesbourg, Battle of 75
Junquiere. De fa 00, 73. 2(X), 210
Johnson, George 101, 205, 48.1 7
On treaties made with the Indians 273
Johnson. E. Pauline 215
Johnsons Dictionary 153
Johnson, Governor 128
Johnson, Sir John 281
Disbands ''^Royal Greens" Regiment Ill
Johnson, Sir John, biographical details of 117
Forms and commands a New York Regiment .. 117
Supt.-General of the Six Indian Nations 117
Succeeds to the Baronetcy and becomes member
of the Legislative Council. L.C ■ . 117
Johnson, Sir William 21 1
As Supt.-General of Indian Affaire 00, 74, 212
Biographical detaiU of 74
Influence upon the Indians of 218
Helps to educate Joseph drant 2.50
Force of braves under ft!
Is created a Barcnct for his services 06
Johnston. James A34
CANADA: AN liNCYCLOIVKDIA.
j'j.\
.... M
.... «
.aw- lit
, . !ii;i
.... Mi
.... ituo
, ... M
. .m 13
.... ni
. iiii
. Ml
. . 2UD 10
. 211
.... 68
Sift
Sift
, ... iift
21"
iiift
Iheir
tVi
. . ,'/10 17
... 217
..ai7ii»
m
t\»
:.:::iJ?
.... ml
2M
Jnited
. . . 2.M
a, iiw. '!»■'>
.... 412
. . . . 3(M
.... 223
1(10, \m
.... 108
.... 2U
.... 41
..303
.173, 170
Slates.
07. 330, 318
521)
412
4;«
410
201
. ...20, 1.V2
1711, :iiui, 313
>UI, 203, 310
410
4S0
281
2.'»
211
118, IJO, 1H7
180
183
78
87
39
132, 131, 272
60
206
210,211
403
211 •
442
«r.36, 60,210
200
110
;ily 8811
. 75
fi, 73 2<)0, 210
101, 2lli, 48.1 7
273 6
215
LW
128
281
Ill
117
117
117
117
211
212
74
218
2.V)
61
06
431
ImUh llinry 171. I7i
Jm1»ii,K.T i7J
K«na tha nxplurrr
Kitne, Haul, »tu«liai ^rt lii huiup,
Journay lo I'ucltic Cua»t ui
M»ka
.imi,
!(I2
III
31
pairilln£it uf liutiuii III,.' 34
Voluma imlili.lieil ill 1880 l.y 31
K^^ku liiiliaitH, laiiitunKa »■)>! pliyatcal appaaratiue
of 216*8
'I'aitiparumant and lialtit« ul' 218-11
Kallcy, Kubart 311
Kemui, Sir lames ll.t, 21*1
Kendall, ' "
Kent.
Kent County
Kent, b'iuglit Iroin the Indianii. .
Kentucky, II, S
Keni|.:l>r(; Kiver
Kenny, Sir l-^iward
all, I. H. II i;o
, ll.tt.ll. TheDukaul 30,111,1112, IT.t
.74.1, 111
272
IIUI
fill, 77, Hi
IKU
l.ail/oii*Cliariiy , 73. 2H.1
l.au/on, (iovvrnor il
I. aval, M. lie, llrnt Catholic lliohiip In Ijuibei: .37, IIM
l..iwren<'e ,(i(jvern»r tif Acwlia 83, 81, 3211
j..iyar(l. Sir Aithur II ;i,',|
/./ L'ltmuUtH, lirnt 1* reiiL'l, iittwnitapar 31)
l.aaille MilU. IIIM, lIHt. 170, 1112
l.ai:ulle Kiver Ill, Ills
l.a Com '.'2 21
\a Uruine Ikla 21 2
l,e llave,N.S 711.77,213, 211
l.a l.i,ulii!, I'ira 83, 211
l.a I'lata 2|(l
l.a K,>,,|ue, Al ml 117,28, J7I, 472
l.e Sueur, W. I) •Jim
l^eaKue, IlrilUh Aiiierii;nn . , .112
l.elilanc, Hon. Nidore 8.'t
l.eblanc, lliin. U. J 8
I.eckv. Kt. lion. W. E. H...
Kenny, 'I'hoinaii K IHO
Keewatin, Ui.lrlct of 42, SU, 220, 2711
Kicka[MM) Indianit 2.'il
KiloiB-no, k I 111
Kinusfotd, l)r 03,08,181, IKII
Table of Canadian eventi during the war by. . . . IINI
Kin«.f,.rd,I.T.. 170
King, K. If 3,W, 481)
UavitUnn'H p,j|icy carried out by 18i)
History aiiubiottraphical detalN uf .'ill)
keiitrictft "accommodation," pajier and loam .. .Ill)
Speculative policy of Mil
Services to Hank of Montreal by .''dll. >*>2II
Triea to introduce American llankint; Sy«n-ni,.flllMO
King's Kangeraand American Keijiment HI
'* '• of Carolina und American I)ra-
goons Ill
King's Koyal Regiment of New York 117
" Keaiinent \K\
King's Collefie granted a Koyal Charter .31)
Kingston, Jamaica 170
Kingson, Canada. .38, 118, 146, l.'iH, HUl. 101. 161,
170,413-0, 4.V>, 4112 3
Demonstration ma.le at 103
First Parliament at Ill
.Saved from the American troops 102
Kirby, William 11)7,1123
Kirke, Admiral Gervahe 53
Demands Champlain's surrender 02
Returns to England A.'!, 02
Sails up St. Lawrrnce .1^1, 02
Wife and crew of .'>3
Kirke, I,oiiis ,'>3
'* Thomas '<\
" Sir David 37
Kutchin ■iB.\.'M
Knight Commander of the llath. . . .118, 107, lOII,
1711, 171, 17i>, 181. 218
Knox, General Henry 1113
Kootenay District 31
Koochin Indians 210
L'Acadie 1.12, 1.11
1,'Assomption 110, lo2
I.abillois, Charles W 85
Labrador 21, 23, 2v1, 121, 103, IIW, 222
1 jicaille, Charles 480
Ijichine Canal Ill, ,17, 110, 133
" BridRe 40.)
" Town ;il), 411, 203
Iju:hine, Slassacre by Indians at 38
Laffeldt, Hattleof 71,75, 76
Laird, Hon. David, Indian Report uf 274
BioKraphical details of 281
Ijtke, Ixjrd 182
Lake of Two Mountains >M
l.ake of the Woods .'15, 103, 101, '225, 228, lilS
l.ambton 272
l..anaudiere, De 72
Undi, Indian. .211, 256, 257 8 0, 2000, 271). 207-8,
272 3-4-5 6 7
I^angevin, Sir Hector, Report on Oka Indian
claims '2.17
Member of Executive Council X>0
Lang, 1). M 401
Languages, Indian '242 6, 248 0, 2l>2
l.apierre, Andre 480
Lamed, J. N., Special U.S. Agent to investigate _
Reciprocity 380
Quotations from Report ol 380
Special Repvt of(1870) 415
Laurier. Sir Wilfrid 200, .388, 308, 444
Addresses the people in answer to Sir John
Macdonald 402
Moves a resolution in the House of Commons. . 3IU
Political policy of '201
Reforms sugKested by 403
Replies to charges made against Unrestricted
Reciprocity 403, 404
Views concerning the N. P of 403
Lee, W. IL, Clerk of Coun.il
Lee, Walters.
I,eeds
I.efroy, Sir Henry, arrives at Ked kiver . . ,
Engages in meteorological uliservalions _
I.Pk'er, Pierre H 8,1
I. I'gge, Francis 81
LcKgo, William, on Indian treaties 273-6
Legl^latures, Canadian . . . :I8, ;ill, 1 1 . I:i8, 1 1 1, 1.18,
170, 180, IVi 0, 1,'*8 0, 2011, '2811, ai)0
Le^isIatureofN.V. Slate passes Resolutions .'III)
Leinster County lit
I.t Manittur. ini
Le .Moine, Sir James jna
L« Moyne, Charles 58 0, 63, 73. 87
Pierre and llierville and l.<,nt;ueuil 50, 01
Serigny anil Assigny and .Maricourt ,111
Sainte-llelene f,i»
Leinoine, II. II Iiijt
Lennox County in
Lennox and Addiiii^ton jil)
Leonard, Hon. Llijah a,1.1
lliotTaphical details of 416
Leonard Itruthers start hosiery mill 132
Leonard, Samuel \'A*
Leonidos 'JPU
LesCarbot, tjiioted 212
l.etourneux, ,M 41)a
Levey, Charles 1 180
Levesconte, Hon. Isaac aiMI
Levis, Marshal Due de a8, 00, 70, 1111
At the Itattte of Cari^nan 75
Hiographical details of 75
Commanils at Montmorenci and returns to
Froncc 75
Created a Marshal and Peer of France 75
Seeks active service again 75
Lewis, Colonel 1111
Lewiston KKI, 171, 102
l.exingtan, Hattleof. IMI '2. H1
l.iatd River 32. 210 7
Liberal Party of Canada '280 K), 303
In power in 1873 373
Mr. Laurier as the l..<ader of 401
Pledges of, during elections in 1801 375
Promises to make one more effort for Reciprocity 378
Liberia, Treaty with '205
" Liberty, Sons of" 105
Li^onier, General ^5
Lincoln, Abraham 01
Lincoln County Ill
Lisbon, Portugal ilO
LisRar, lAjrd '200
Little Dig Horn, Battle at 2011
Little Slave Lake a2
I.ittlehales, Sir E. B '201
Liverpool, Karl of 00, 100,3:18
Liverpool, N.S., Bank of (See Banks).
I.ockport, N.Y 217
Lonias, Adi.m, starts flannel tweed mill 132
London 1U6, 123, 120, 138, 140, 161, 175, '21^, 217
Convention signed at 411
Exhibition 43!)
Treaty of 40, 103
London and Port Stanley Railway 446
London anil Canada Bank (See Bank.sl.
London and North America, Bank of (See Hanks).
Long, Thomas 403
Long Point 1.11), 188, 101)
Long Sault .12, .15
Longley, Hon. j. W ■&■»
Longue Pointe Lunatic Asylum 43
I,on«ueuil, Baron de 73, 200
Lord Mayor of London, The I'JO
Lords of Trade and Plantations 124
" Houseof 127, 1'28
I.orne, Maniuess of 42
Lotbiniere, M. de 72, 1'26 7, 131, 108
Loucheux In.lians 240
Ixiudoun, Earl of. 07
I^ngpr* ... 118
Louisiana ,10, 60 00, 86, 121, 1'22
Louis X H. of .'.''ranee 20
Louis XIII. ol Prance '.':), 15j
Louis XIV. of France Oil, lU, 61, 73. la,, 15 j
Louis .W. „f France l.iO, 43'^
I.ouisb>juig in tlir I'rancb ami Knglish wars ;I8,
U,U5,71,75,HO, 81,82, 811, ll/(
Loviti, lion. John K.I
Lowell, J. Kiiisell I nt
Ujyal American KeKiment Ill, 115, I IN, |||)
I .uyal i-'oresteis' Keginient Ill
lAjyal New EiiiflanUurs .. W'i
Loyal and Patriotic Society, Forerunners I, r IIU
|)|re<.li,rsuf the_ . \ir*
l.artte subscriptions sent tu Niagara by I7.i
Recorded proceedings of «,, I7,'&
'I'reusurer and orgaiiuer of 17^
Luliec 317
Lillilwtk, Sir luhn 'J!J»
Lubbock, Frederick . 4711
Ludlow, Chief Justice 115
I.U'lluw, Gabriel ll.S
Lumber nuiniifa<-turersaiid pioneers. . . . 138, 415, 418
l.tindy's I.. ine Memorial 41
l.undy's Lane. H.ittl« of . . .40, 1711 1, 170, 182, lOH, Wi
Lunenburg, N.S '24'.^
l.ymburner, Adam 1311
lliogrnuhical details of 1411
Descriues condition of the Provinces MH
Eloquent Speerh in House of Commons by. .. 1111
Ex imined by House of Commons ■ 13H
Holds conference with Pitt 138
Member of (Quebec Kxe.'.utive Council 1411
Opposes ilivlsion ot tha Provinces 1311
Lynn Canal, B.C '2411
l.ylton, Loril 201
Lyillelon, Lord 12T
M alKine, Adam 114
Macdonald, Sir John A.. 42 ,3, 312. ,'1.10, 373, 302 8, 447
As leader uf the Conservative Op|iusiiit,n 'Mfi
As .Minister of the Interior '^81
Declaration upon protection at Hamilton by 2811
FaliKuls N. P. Kesolulion of 3()J
Kingston Monument tnhcnor of 44
Keturns to power in 1878 2U1
Promises to increase duties 3P*i:
.Memorial unveilrd at Toronto 44
Mountain in the Rockies called after lOU-
Moves an amendment to a Resolution in Cca<-
mons 802
One of the Fathers of Confederation 20(1
Ottawa Monument in honor ol 44
Simple modest nature of 100'
•Macdonald, Hon. James :UII)<
" Hon. John S indfield 4UI
" Hon. HuRh J 281
Hon. John 4:tll, 417
W.C 434
Micd.innell, Sir Hugh 119
McKen/ie, Hector |W!
.Mackeniie, Hon. Alexander 31,43,228 SKI '.fSi
'■ Government 442-t
" District 228
" J.G 434
W. L Iia
River 32 3. 2'2!l, 21111
.Mackay, Joseph, Biography of 410-1, 4M
Mackay, Edward, •* " 4;Mi
.Mackinac, Straits of 59,60
"_ Island of 60
.Mackintosh, Lieutenant-Governor, C.H 281
Mackay, R.ibert 472, 40U
.M.icklem, F. W. L 401
.MacLaren, James, Biography of 44.%
iMaclean, Rev. John isai
-Mac.Murrich, Hon. John, Biography ol 430
Macomb, General . . 107, 108, \Ti
.Machar, .-\gnes Maule \^)%
.Madras, India 38,65
Madison, James, President of the United States
00,156,184-8
Madawaska 11)7
Mailagascar, Treaty with iiO-S
Magellen, Straits of 3I>
Magdalen Islands 1113. '220. 2-23
.Maguaga 150, 100 1
Mah'atta War 182
Mahon, Loid 97
Maine, US.A ... .48, Oil, 73, 77, 81, 111, liO, M.1,
I7'2, 17,1, 203,301,375
Maitland, Sir Peregrine 84, 145
Maisonneuvr, Sieur de 37,54,240
Malo Navigators 47
Mallory, Henjamin 100
Malplaqiiet, Battle of. 64
Manitoba Post 273 «
Manitoba, Lake 30, 285
Manitoba 35 42, 65, '258, 263-5, 270 1, 270,
280, 203, 300
Manitoba School Question 107, 4 ll
Manitoba Hanks 485
hk "^
P
If
.1 Mi
■ ; ,1-, 1.
"'; fi '
'1.1 1«,
..'■ ■■:.!.
■1 '■
. 1
1^
in
a
:;34
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
Manitoln. rank of (See Ihnks)
Miuiuuulm Mands ...223,273,27(1,270
Itl anchester 1112
^lanchester School ili'-ory IH)
Man, Isle of. IXi
Alance, Mdlle. Jennne Hi
Mansfield, it-arfof i:W .i
ftlanufacit;rer«j KlFects of American Civil War on.. i'2i
Kirst efforts in Canada of i'M
Manifesto of iSir Juhn A. Macdonald to Klectors
oi CanLida :«»S, IW, 4(H>, 4(»l
Api*eal to Klectors a^ninst Uuresiricictl Rec'i-
prociiy ir. KM). 401
Conservative Policy defined in IvUS, IIW
I'airiotic conclusion of 401
Rerorn. Policy, descril>ed by ;^!t!), 4<>(l
Manifesto of Hi.n. Wilfrid Laurier 4(L', 4(W
Reply locharcesby 4(t2
Maryland, Hon. F. l1 ^88
Maritime Provinces G2,8t, 111, l.M. 2lt>,2lt>,
2Si), -.m, 3o0, '^rt
Maritime liinik of St. John (See Hanks).
^[..()lMne ILuik of Canada (See lianks).
Markland, rru>nias 4fi3
Maikhani, Sir Clements 23
Martjuetie, Father, di.-covers Mississippi 'M, 210
Marcy, Hon. \V. I,., in defence of Unrestricted
Reciprocity 3(W, 40:i
Marco I* 'lo 18
Maia, James 48*1
Maria Theresa. Empress *».i
Marson, I'ierre "'">
>Liriiniiiue, I^land of ISI, 1S2
Martyr, l*eter 22
P Ary, Qneen of England 2!*
J,.r.rylant',Siateof.... UU, 212
l.ovalists and Volunteers of Ill, li:t, 115
M.iryoit, Hrhish Attornpyiip'ien.l _. I'M
".'Liscarenc, Paul, Governor of Nova acoiia . . .(i.'i,
si,2U. L>72
Massercs, Francis, Attorney-General of (^)nehec
, 121, 12J, 121
IJio.raphyof 12.'»
Ori>;inal documents of 122
Massachusetts, State of lL».(«, C*. 7M, S;t. W,
KHJ. ii:i 118, liM, 212. _;t
Mi._ achnsetis Bay '-72
Masson, Uaniase. . 47'
hiographyof Mi.
Massey Mnsic ilall 4 IS
M.LSNoy-lI.irris Manufai.iii ing Company 4 '. 418
Massey, Hart A., Pioj;raphy of ... U7-8
M.ilher, CoLlnn <►;*
•■ Maihow," The 17, 18, P.), L'O, 2ii
^fatlawa Kiver. ;»•*
Matchedash li.iy. J*
Manrop.is, Lake 72
Alay, Sir Tl'oiiias Ers; .ne.. 11*7
McArfhur, Ctncral l*t»
McCauIey, Mis. Anna. 11-*
McCuIIoukIi, H. Lustace 1
McCarthy, D'AUnn Rcsolulion in 181t2 by 388
McCliiito-.k Channel 2<Mt
McCull.). h, Hun. Hugh, U.S. Treasnrer.... ;i.V>. .>..;.
McC vm.>iiti*tCo.,W Ua
McClure, C.enernl P.|2
Causes Niaijarato be burned ■ I'vS
Sii- ceeds Fanison ; retreats m his outposts. . . ItiH
M-Uoriell, Licut.-Colonel, the Hon. John. Idl,
is;tti. *
Mcf>...ieii. CoAint.1 George, hrilli.int exploit of, UlL' x
Itio^raphy nf. , .. iKt
Mul.v.fialJ, C. A 1P.>
McDonald, Culonel.
M.:I)..iieall, H.'i. Wm
McFarlane, Waller
M.rCee, II. .n. I. D'Arcv
Wc'iill Univ.-rsity and Cullej^e.
McGlll, H.->n. Jnhn
ftl. (iill, Hon. Peier
Ilioifi.phy of
M.dillivrrA'. ilon. D
Mclnnes, H ^. D
McEntyre, Puncan
Mi.Kay, lion.
I!t2
i2, 2Hl,:i)H(, :Vi!t
417
ii.:ai, 'i22
H' 42, 2811, r:A\,
V.W. 4iW
ixi
4:w
:^^'8
:i:..>
iX*
2r:i. 2r.)
AIcKee, Alexai.--r 1^72
McK««-, William 4S0
M.Kinlcy Tariff Mill 4'i. :W|
Duii'is heating on l^ineley Hill of 4tK), 4'>*I
1) iiies levied on Canadian pruducls by jK'i
Illustrated byTibles XAi
Iniluence on Canadian trade of 4.^1
Keductionin iiiinher duties hv ''7->
Reference made by F.rasius Wiman to 4i:i
Produce of United St.-Mes prolecicd by '^'_'*
|V.)visions ciiicerning Canadian :.k:ricuUure of.. .'*".'»
Mcl-nne, U.S. Minister to St. James liTJ
Mcl^eod, )ohn '2
Mcl.eotl. I. ini. Colonel 'Jill. 2.ti
Mr\f;.siet, Hon. William ;fcM, 4:«t 4!t:i
Uiogral'liy of loo-l
^^c^[aster University, building and endowing of. . 4!K1
McNabb, kcvd. John 2-'8
McNab, Hon. Sir Allan Napier I8j, 28(1, 4:«»
McNah Charles 478
McN .Alexander :t,'W
Mc: -n, David 48(»
McSiiane, Hon. J;imes ;iSK
MeL'li.inics 11;, nk of Montreal (See Uanks).
Medcalfe, Lieut IliO, 1!«
Mendierton, the Inilian Chief 2i:t
iMemornniliim at WnshlnKton, 18d() Itttlt
Memorial of Dominion Hoard of 'I'rade 1184
Memorial to General Rnxik 185
** conconinjj Colonial coasting trade. ... 379
Memorandum, by Sir K. 'i'hornlon and Hon.
Oeoree Hrown(18:4) 383
Menneval, Robineau de 85
Mennonites 107
Meichants Hank of Halifax (See Hanks).
Merchants Hank of N.H. (See Banks).
Mercier, Hon. Honorc 388
Mcrrimac River G4
Mcrriit. Hon. W. Hamilton.... IIU, 345, iM, 4.»7,
41)1. AfWi
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, (Lord) 4:m
Methodist Church ard Mcthotlism. . . 13. <H, 1U7, 21W.»
Metropolitan Hank of Montrtal (See Hiuiks).
MeuIIes, Jac(]uesde 70
Mexico :ttHI
Me.K;co, Gulf of 50, (Kl, til, PJO
Mexico, Treaty with 20tS
Mia.ni Indians ii»I. (JO. 218. 2^11, 251
Michigan, Lake.30,37,50, 122, 200, 2.tl. :i,Vl.;«Jl 2. 'M'tH
Michigan, Stale of UMI, 175, 3(11, 'Ml
MichUimackinac..36, o7,5S, 12l). 122, l.>0, IW). P.^,^
212, 2.^1, 272
Mirmac Indians of Nova Scotia 105, 107. 2i):i 0.
211.2'JO, 223
Dress and language of 212
K.uly hostility against the English of 243 4
H.dfbre' '"amongst 202
Home lite and traditions of 212 3
Means of defence used by 212 3
Origin and early customs of 211 2
Present condition and physical appearance o' . ,211 5
^♦one and Iron period amongst 212 3
Treaiy acknowletlging sulimission of 272
Under ihe Government of the French 213
Under the Goverrment of the English 213
Middleton, Henry, ''resident ot" Coniinentai CpH-
gress . . HHI, P.t2
Midulesex, bought from the Indians 2V2
Middlesex Co inty 2nl
Milan, Duke of. , 21, 2.'i
Mdes, General 2(11
Mills, Hon. David 2f)2, 27.% 281, 200, im, 3.SS
MilsjohnE 171
Miller. Colonel l"!
Milton. Lord 31
.'.iinas Hasin 77.78,70,80.81,82,8;*
MinegMen 1S2
Miliiieapohs 371
Alinnesotci, U.S..\ 107, 221, 2m, 371
M inorca 7i»
Mitiucton, I'.iand of ft!>, 72
.Nliraniichi H;uik(See H.inks).
Miramichi, N.S 213
Mississiciuoi County 100
Mississippi Valley ,oO, 03
Mississippi Rivei . . . 2(>. 3*i, .'>0 50. (Jtl.fll. Oi. 72 r..
\20, 121, 122 .», IvV), 102 3. 21ll, 210, 221. 2.M, 2,'!ii, 280
Mississanga Fort 170
Miisissauga Indians 251
Missionaries amongst the Indians 215
,\ltssouri River 30
Mitchell, Hon. IVier, Revipw of Canadian fiscal
relations with U.S. by 37''
Extract from Report of 370. 3H0
Mobile Indians 200
Mnffalt, flon. George i'X\
Hiography of. 1 '2
Mohawk Church on the Grand River 210
River _7I
*' Towns 57 8
" V.-illey ; 00, 212
Mohawk Indians (See lri«nii>is, Six Nations, Five
Nations, etc.). .111, 117, 2lKt, 21M2T3. 210.
217. 251
Adherence to Great Hritain of. .. Ill
Adopt Hiawatha into th-ir own tribe 217
Emigrate tjthe UptMjr Lakes Ill
OntheBayofgninie 21, .210
The great chief of the 210
Village destroyed by the French 218
Mohican Indians . 210
Mnlson, Hon. John, M.L.C 4:i7
Hiography of. - 4*t7
Molson, .Alexander ■ 1^'
Molsnn, William ■ ■ :*■'«
.Molson Chair in Mcfdl College 471
MoNons Hank(Ser .ank*).
Monck, Lord. Gosr nor-G' ncal of Canada. . .12, 3V* ^t
Moncton General 08, Tk S3
Monk, Judge 244
Alonongahela River Ofl
Monson, Sir Edmund 112
Sloniagnais Indians A2
Montana, U.S A 200
^lonte^egro, Treaty with 20(1
Monicalm, Marquess de liH, 40, 07, 74, 280
Hiographical details c( 75
Commands the French forces in Quebec 38
Fastens the entrance to Canada 07
Massacre of the Fjigtish by allies of 07
Prepares to meet Wolfe face lo fate 68 fll»
Weakened by Higot's corruption 70
Wounding and death of. 6!)
Montgomery. Cleneral 30, OH, It', W KW, 121
Montigny, Sieni- de 73
Montni.igny, De 54, 73, 108, 200
Montniarquct, H. E 4i<i
Montn)oreni:i .... 75. 108
Montreal, City of 27. :«, 33. 37. :«, 40, 41.
47, 48, 50. M, ,'AU iiS, 07, 70. 7.5, HI. 112, 122,
I'M), i:iO. 148, 1.V2. 101, n.% 170, 10.% lot), 1!W,
21HI, 202, 218, 250, 280, 207, 3(H). :io2, 310. ;i|3.
4<»4, 40.'), 4:t7, 454>. 4G0
Montreal, V.M.C-A. organized in 41
Access to and lirst Hank in 43;t
American efforts to reach 107
American troops in IW
Articles of Capitulation or 123. 1111
As a great trude distiiixiiing centre 4311 4
Henc factors of IIW, llvl, 43.>
De(Jallieies holds a nireting at 51^
DeLevis falls back upon (iil
Des( ripiion of streets in 152
I tiocesan College founded in 43i
First Mayor of 4;w
First Provincial Synod held in 41
First through tram leaves. 43
Founded in 1012 54,01
Gathering of Indians at . . 2*.^)
Great fire in J,V|
Iiivaders check(''l at Chaieaugimy 100
Lord Dorchester compelled to leave 1)3
* "'alists in. ""
I .oya
115
Memorial loSIr Johii A. Macdonald 41
Oiwning Victoria Hridge at 41
Origin - f name of JO.j
Saved in 1000 ft5
Speech delivered to ihe electors of . J" (
Surrender lo Hritish of 70, i J)
Threatened by the Irotjiioi! <M
Montreal U'itmss 404
Hoard of Traile 4:18
" City and DlNtrict Savings Hank(S<:e Hanks),
" 1 )ispensary 411
" <:<tzctf 1.^4
" General Hospiial 4:^8, 4n
" Insurance Coinpai.y 444
' Presbyieiian College 441
*' Provident and Savings Hank (Soe Hanks).
" Waterworks 441
^loraviantown, Hattleof 40, ItIO, 102, 2.M
Morgan, Hon. L. H 210
1' 41
:i:i8,3i2,:vi7
. 2.'*8 0, 273
10, 107,18:i
Alorgai
Morgan, l.ewii H
Morrice, l>avitl, Hiogrnnliy of,
Morrill, Hon. J. S
Morris, Hon. Alexander
Hiography of
Makes treaties w-th the Indians.
Morrison, Col. J. \\\, Hlogrnphy of.
" Angus
" Hon. Joseph Cnrran
Morris^-urg
Morocco. Treaty with ,
Morse, Zedeuiah
Moscow , . ,
IMostyn, Rear Admiral
M -tte, Catdillacdela
Mott, Henry..
Mound Huilders
Mountain Lulians
Mountain, Matthew (i
Mount Stepht^ii, Lord, heroines (iisl PicMent
theC.P.R
Mowat, Sir Oliver IM,
M . 't-dy. Colonel
Moody, Port
Muir, Major
MulhoUand, Henry
Muscat, Treaiy wiih
Muskoka
MiisRiave, General
Muskoutan Indians
Mutual Hank of Nova Scoiia (See ;'anks^.
Mutual Insurance Comimny
.Myorick, Stephen, starts tlr»t woollen faclcry
Myorickville
Mttnro, G'^orue
Mnnlo.k.T. W.C
•luiphy, Hon. KdM.nd, Htugraphy of
- 217
. 4;i5
, 373
I. 275
280 1
I 5
!, Iit2
. m\
. i%\
. 107
2!t,"i
270
. 157
85
. 73
. 254
. 22H
. 213
. 480
f
11KI
:iN«
41
4 I.'I
101
1712
20.'.
217
445
2M
. 470
. 432
432
4<«
281
. 112
CANADA; AN ENCYCI.Or.KOIA.
S3S
Murphy, Kdwin V'2
M urray, Culunt:) 1(>8
Murray, General the Hon. James (>S IIKI, IJI.
U.Vlt, 1!K», 2(«t
As Governor*Cteneral of Canada lit
lUoKraptucal details of 7tt
Defends Minorca and refuses n large bribe from
the enemy 7fl
Join'* I^rd Amherst's forces "(i
rreseiit nt battle on Plainsof Abraham lit
Succeeds to chief command 7(j
Nanaimo, 11. C Wi
Nairn, Stephen ollt I
Napier, Lord m\t .'»4
Napier, Colonel I). C 2Sl
Napoleon 8ti, 1550, 175. 181, 181* 4. UK). 'Jut)
Narragansett iilli. '2Ui
Nass River and the Indians 'Jit; 7
National Policy 21tl, liifll, :US
Arraigned by Hon, Wilfrid Lnuiier. [{)'.{
Defended by Sir John Macdonald :iW
Inauguration and results of lHlil
Nationale, Hanquc(See Itanks).
Natural History Asso»:iation ... H'2
Natchez Indians (id
Navigation Laws, American 'Xi[\
'* " Kustixh :us, :us
NeilM»r, Hon. John .. 4;iS. 4.M
Nelson, Fort .V.I
Nflson River 'M, 27.'»
Nelson, Lord Mil. 4KI
Netherlands (iO, \H1
Newark 144
New Itrnnswick .. 77. Ki Hi7, Il.'i, IIS. IIH. 117.
l.Vi, ItiL 17*2, ia:i (i, 1117, UW, -jMi, 'M\. '2(1*2.
;*(Ki, ;tii'2, ;ni8, :i75
New Hrnnswick, First English settlement in. . . . IIS
Accepl^ Confederation 41, "288
Assembly, Journal of 4(iS
Hank of (See Hanks).
Banks in 172. 47;i
H'jundarirts of 17:2
Colonists who went to .107, '2S(i
Delegates at Washington fioin '.iXi
Early (.Jovemment of 115
Eastern Hank of (See H.viks).
Indian popul;^tiun of '2(10, '2(t'2-7l>
Indian industries in *271
Lecislative Council of. Ci, ll.'i, 1S2
Made a separate Province It!t, I.M
Merchants Hank of (See Hiinks),
St. Joitn founded in II I
New Caledonia ;V2
Newca'.tle. Huke of 'Mm, :m. 'M.i
New F-dinburuh 41.'>
New Knglana...82, ^:^^ iW, 104, ll-'. 1'2I. l.itl, Kli,
'2i!i, '2i;t.272. 2sti.:ri
Colonies' trealineni of the Indians 21 1
Indians broken up 2is
Menaced secession of HHl
Opposition to war in l.'t?
PrupleliKht the Indians '2<kl
Puritans compared with the Imtlans MV.i
Troops raided in K\. Wi
War with King Pbdip 212
New Fiance 31, lij, :i8, 58, *W, ('».), (i!», 71. 77,
8i'>, 1 is. 'i(HI, 4:12
French aristocrats pour "nto 72
Frontenac's high position in 7Ii
Ham|>ered by indiiference at home (til
Injured by corruption of itsotficiiils (ill
Sovereign Council of 70
Newfoundland. .18, 21. 21, 8U. 15(t, lti:t, ISI 2, lia
:u:t, :u;i, luts
Along thr shores o) (il
At i Confederation Conference 41
City of St. John's founded in ;i7S
New York Chy—ConttHueif.
I.oyal voluntet:r» rrum Ill, 113
Schemes for capture of (il
.Several banks fail in _. 2!M
KesoUitions passed at a Convention in 175
New York State.... 51, 57, (i-'l. (i^'>. SU. !W. 1*4. KM.
'Ml 212. 215, 217, 2111. 371
Currency of 272 IW
History by Judije Smith of 1 18
Judge of the Stipreme Court of. ... 1 1.>
Leijislature and early Hriiish leaders in 117
Lejiishture ol HIS, 404
New iitcaiand 41
Niagara XmS, 170, 18,\ IIW. 2I'2. 213. 'I.'rl, 2S0
Hurningof 1(J8, U.'). ISII. ISl
First Parliament meets at ■*!». I tl
General Harrison leaves ItiS
Van Kcnsellaer's force at I(»0
Niagara District.... IU7, 112, VMi, 14(1. llK». Itll.
Kill, 172. 218
Men of the revolution settle in ... |M7
U. E. Loyalists in Ill
Niagara Fort liS, l.Vi, Hil, 108, 171. 188, lit'
** River 123, l.')(i 170. 18.'{, IIU
*' Falls :*i. (i,'>(i. 130, 171, :«ii
Niagara Sus{>ension Hridge Hank (Sec Hnnks).
" DI^trict Hank (See Hanks).
Nicholls, Freil., on Commercial Union 110
Nichobon. Sir Francis 38. (Jl,(i,'>. 80. 81, 82. 84
Nicolet, Jeiin, discover^ Lake Michigan M'l. 37
Nipissing Like 31, :tti, 37, 5:*, 121. P.>7, 22i|
" Indians 'S*t
Nitka Indians, The 2*22
Norfolk County Ill
Normandy
Nornianbj , M.iniuessof .
Noripiay, Hon. John
Career ot
North American colonies.
Sorth Amfrkan Kaicw,
Union .
.17.48,51
73
;i88JH»
2(il5
137, :i<ii
.\rticle on Commercial
418
North American Continent. . 17, 23. X), 75, 77, IHl,
II,'), llll
English extiedition sails for
First discovery of
Fisheries of .^
Northamptonshire
North Hntish Insurance Com[ any
North Carolina, U.S.A 83, 103. Ill 1: 3 •2(H;.21
North, Lord 111.1.0. nil. 123, 1*2S
As Prime Minister 110
Declaration in 1775 of P2I
George III. writes to OS
Shows a dispusition to give up American contt st lOti
■ ~ - ■ :ioi
415
North Oxford.
North Pacific Lumber Co . .
Northern H.mk (See Hanks).
N irtheinUailniad »"
Noribriip Senator ISO
North WVst Territories. 12. 10, i*\, 57. iiTt. "0,
73. '200, '225, '228, 2.i8. 270. -275, '281. '201. •2!t2-3
North West Cjnipany and the Krd River Settle-
ment '203
Notili West Council '2.'»0
'* kebelUon .... 43, 2lii
3(»l,
Discovered by Hristol n
Discovered by John Cn
French fisheries privilci;
Surrendered by France.
Theories regarding
New ( ilasgow
New Hampshire. U.S..\. .
New lersev, U.S.A
■ ew Slexico discovered
'20
iid ':oasi explored. '2li
i shores of . ., (lO, 7t
(k'»
21. 25
'281
.'.". 113 212 72
01, io:milip.mi.-), ho
2(1
(Vew Netherlands (»2
New Orleans. U.S.A 50. 72, 73, 80, 172
Newpoit, V S.A 182
New South Walts It
New W -stminsttr. H.C 41. 415
New Y . k City, U.S A . . .(i2, 80. 02. 01, !l.», I07,
112. 111. 117, 118, 210, 21W, '20il
Kest people come to (an (da from 107
Hrltish evacuation uf Ht3
Hritisb tiiiops bold Kt
Loyaliiit Americans leave 187
•200,
512^
Its.
213.
.22(1. '270
.. . '271
.41,288
..:W. 151
. . 181
105. 200, 2*20. '2ti2
110
•* Half-breeds
" Fur Trading Company
" Passage
Notre Dame Cothedral
Note issues in Canada
Nova SoJtia. Ilisliop of
French and Indian wars in
Indian j)»>pulation of
Indian industries in
ioins in the Confederation
..egislature of _
Prevost commands the tr>x)ps in . .
Submission of the I ndians of
The Micmac Indians of
U. E, Loyalists* Association in . . .
Nova .Scotia M, :*S. 01. (i;i, 71, 77. SO. 81. Kl.
05, KMt, 107, 115. 1P.\ 117 l'>i». l.'.M, I(»2, 170.
108, •20'H,'2'.r2.20:(. 223, 211 3. *2li2, '2Sti. '21^ :«m
AcadianscKpelledfrom 115
Acadiansin SI. K\
Hanksin 4tiit, 4.'l'. l!N)
Hank of 400. 523
Houndary lincfof 8,'*
Hritisb population in 38
Ceded to the English j*8
Courts of Justice constituted in IW
neleg.iies at Washington, 18(W 353
Early l<'.nglish (Jovernois of HI
First mention of the name of 37.0-
Forts along the borders of (Vi
Governor of 80, R3. HI. 172. 182
Loyalist bands mig-^ t to lU
Settlers in M.V2, 107, 1 1 1
Nootka Sound 31
Norway U
Norway House Xi, 27.1
Norwich 7(1
Oatci, Titus 214
O'Hrien, .Xrchbishop 2*1
" lion. James 472
Odelltown Iti7, 101, llW
Odell, Hon. Jonathan 115
Ogdensburg, N.Y....1I»J. 107. 183. 101, 218, :kil, tm
Ogden, David 1 |;i
Ohio River 30.(i.>, 0(i, 121, 12*2, 123, L)(|
Ohio Valley 0.'», 120,200, 2.S(l
Ohio, State of KMi. lOL 213, 221, '20.^
Ojibiw.iy Indians 57, 73, 2)KI, 212, 2.V{
Hecome a separate people 221)
Change their name in >one cases to Crees . . _'"2ll
Confederacy of ■_*_': >. SXi
Language of 220, '2;H
Pbysicalaspect of 22il
Signification of the name of 22!J
.Sell their lands 2.")rt
Okanagan River 2'2'i
Oka Indians v'l7
Have a dispute with the Seminary of St. .Sulpice 2.n(
l^nds granted to the 2;*)W
Place of settlement of 2Mi
Religion of the 2i'>i$
Kenp.>val and terms of settlement wiili .. 2,*»7
Olier, Jean Jacques ,54
Oliver, flioiiias ItOI *i
Oliphant, Lawrence '27S, 2S0, '81
.Vs .Administrator of I ndian affai s 270 811
Career of 280
<'onnectcd with the Indians of Canada *27S
De> libesthe Indians 278,271)
Livi-s il life of advenii'ie 27H
Onoriilaga Tribe /(JJ, .'»<)
I.^ike ,59
" Imlians •2iHt. 2l(i, 218
Oneida Indi.-ms .'»(J-,VI, 20it, 212, 2IS, 211)
Ontario, Lake 27, :«. 3ti, .^i, .'lO. HI, 123, \W.
10,3, ItiO, 17*2, IS.'), 101-3. *200, '204
Ontario. Province of 30, IS, .vi. ml. 123. 114,
IIG, 151, KkS, 107, lim. '20*2, '2o:i, '2(hl. 270 3,
270. '281, '280, '288, 203, :i02, 371, 104
A child of the L.yalists ll.-|.(;
And its position tor trading with United States. 371
Hank, founding of 43*)
Hank of (See Hanks).
Council of Public Instruction 4.'»0
Fruit Growers' Associatio.i 4;i8
Geok;raj)hical position c •" 371
Indian industries in 271
Itidi.in populati ninlHOflof 270-2
Rrtcei' es it.^ fn-t stttlers 1()7
U. E. L'jy.ilists' Association 1I9
Or.-inge Rangers | j j
( >raiige, Fort *V4
Ordersof King-in t'ouncil 317-8,359
293
... 40
2(»
.47
H»
2.i3
Hta
42'J
Oregon, U.S.A
Oregon Hound.iry Treaty ...
Orkney settlers
Origin of the French Canadians
Ormsby, Major
OrQi.hyatekha, Dr., Sketch of
Oswego, N.Y 50,(V», 111, MO,
Osier, I*;. M., opposes Comiiicrcial Union
Oit.iwa River 51, 51 .">, !«, 212. 2LS, 2*20
Discivereci by Chaniplain ;{0. ;i7, ;S8
Ottaua i'itt'zi-H .-jI
Ottawa, BankoflSee Hanks).
'* City 31. :Vi. 11, tax, 215. 217. -225 27.T
" County U5 (S
'* Hoard of 'Irade and othfr socii:ties . 4;^
Ottawa Indians ."i7, 2»lO 12, '2*20, 25|. 2.')8, 270, 277
Kight imder Potitiac in the ln<ii,-.n War
Fight il the war of 1812
Sell their lands , . .
Ottawa selected by the (.^>ueen as the capital
First meeting ot Parli.im»nt at
Lading corner stone of IXiminion Hnildingsnt- .
Monumeiii of Sir John A. Macdonald at
Koyal Sixiety meets at I;
Outaganis Indian:
I!)
254
2.»S VI
.41
. a
41
. 14
. U
22<>
Oudenarde, Ha'tle of |[(
Ouimet, Hon. \. \ .\..\ . . 47:4
Oxford Orders-in-Courcil 1.^7 (it*
Oxford University 44,'}
Pacific Ocean. . . .
I'.icific Coast. , . .
Painr, Thomas. . ,
Palgravc, Inglis, .
Palln, P. E
'M\. :m 31. (11
:*.■►, :ttt. 22'i
110, 107, IIH
40!)
8.1
m
E;l«iJ
53f>
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPyiCDIA.
'i'/Ml
ralliser, Capinin . 31
faliner.tton iiiaiiu actuivrs Ikki M\i
Fitnaiiia, Slrnitii ol '£U\
Papineau, Hon. Joseph IM)
Paraguay, Treaty wUh 2!HI
Parr, Governor »4, 11 1. H5
Farrtown 1 U 5
Paris, Ontario 4H2
Paris, Archives of HI
Paris, France »S, A*, (((t, (m, 81
Paris, Treaty of :W. i»!». IKt VM, llil, VM
Parkman, Francis 71, 'JIO all, 28,i, .VJll
Parliamentary Chronicle V.iH, i;«», III)
Partition, Treaty of l^i
PaMiuilaKo 18. IS), *Jl
Passaniaii noddy Rivrr 81
l*atlcrson, Wal'ter IW
l'aiter>oti, Wm, J H84
Patterson, Rf-v. Geoice l\V>
Patterson, Hon. William lilW
Paton, Thomas, Reviews Canadian Dankine Cur-
rency 471. 475 8 n
Pauncelute, Sir Julian :t7(t, :i«l
P'j.-ice Kiver ;J1, L'lil. 228, 22!*, 272
l*e.irson» Colonel 1 7'^
Peel, Sir Robert ;i89, 457, 4S0
Peel Kiver 1*2
I»eel County T-W
Pekin 'MA
Peltrie, Mdlle. dela 51
Pelly River :V2
Pcmatiuid, Fort.. 59, ftl, 7:*. 71
Pembina Aloiintains. ... ..... 22U
PenetanRuisbene 11*7
Peninsular War 118
Penman, John, builds up hosiery induiitry 4;t2
Penn. William 2t«
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.... 28, 60. 83, U-S, ll»7, 115,
123, 212, 210
Pennsylvania Loyalists, The Ill, 113
Peiitagoet 70
Pennvfather, K. T 250. 2S I
Pfinobscot River 81
Penobscot 172, 212
Pton Indians 251
I'eople's Bank of Halifax (See IJani.s).
Peoria, U.S., Ciiy of G(*
Pepper^ll, Sir Wm., Second harjnet 71
Pepperell, Sir William, First baronet
Career of 74
Plan of attack upon Lorisbourg iu
Pequot Indians 212
Perceval Ministr>'. V^', 187
Perioi, Franci* Marie 8t»
Perrot, Nil .las.. ;tti, 57,00
Perry, C- .nmm'ore 2.V2
Peiriot, P. j 8;'>
Perry, Jor.mander 105 8, llfci. '^52
Pcr:<i?, Trealy with ^.t5
r : r.W. J 273
■ ■' - Principal 41
Pm . Hon. J. Phillips. :Ul 51
rniladeiphia, V.S Ul, 112 4, 107,217, 2:1';. TM
Phi'ip, King 2IK}, 212
Philiip";, tlovernor of Nova Scotia
Arrives at Annapolis 8.3
Writes to the lA)rds of Trade "8
A'.idiaiis comply with orders of . H4
Philips, Sir William, expedition totjuebec under
. , ._ :t8, 08, 73
Itiographical details of 73
Picardy, Normandy 48
Pictou, N.S 40
Pieman Indians 228, 22'.», 2:t^ 21)1
Pike, Generi.1 llKi. 1711
Pilgrim Fathers 107, Um, III, */M»
Pittsburg, U.S.A (;8. 12n
Pitt, William 07,71. 75, 70
Declines togive way and attacks Fox i:W 1 (it
Defends the Ca>iaaa vvi vigorously 1113
Hulds frequent coiiference.s with Canadian
ofTicials 13S
Intr'jducestheA<:tofl791 i:(8
I^Iakes a declaration resardiiig Hurke 1 III
Sceakson Canada in House ui commons 137
Pi/iifuid 8!I
Placentia, Newfoundlatid 71, 243
Planters Hank of Canada f^See Bank<>).
Plaitsburg 107, 108. 100. 172. 101. Irt*
Plymouth ««. 115. 2;iH
Pocahontas . 212
Poe. F.dgar Allan 203
Point Harrow IW
Poirier, Hon. Pascal .■ 8.^
Pniiou, France 4», 77
Police, Mounted^ 275
Ponce lie Leon discnvifs Florida 211
Pontiac, Chi«i ".f the Ottawas .'18
Vonti&c— Can tin ued.
.\bility and character of .24050
Accepts hlnglish sovereignty 212
As a leader of men 240. 250
Fail 4 to captuie Detroit 212
Not treated with respect 212
Personal influence over other tribe:. 212, 2511
Redeems his promis.v)ry notes 240
Schemes to n^issacte the Knglish 212, 210
Submits to Sir Wm. Johnson 212
The conspiracy of 212
Pope. Hon. W. H 31)0
Popham. Captain Ilt2
Port Chartrani 72
" Hover 170. 102
" Mouton 11)7
" Roj-aUSee Annapolis) 28. 37. ;i8. 57, 01,
02,03,0I,7(t. 77, 78 7il, 8(» 115.242-3
Port Talbot 188. \Vrl
IVrcupine Hills 220
Portage la Prairie 225, 20.3
Portland, U.S., City of 57, :i'tl
Duke of 211
Portneuf 57
Portugal :iO, ll.'i. lS:i. 340
Hankruptcy of 2!^
Treaty with 21Mt
Portsmouth PJO, 181
Postal .Service :^00
Post OlTice Hrpartment 2iiI-3 1
Potomac Ri\ er 172, 180
Pottawattomie Indians fieht under Pontiac 210
Fight in the War of 1812 l!5l
Sell iheir lands 258 272
Pontgrave 2S, 20
Poundmaker, Surrender of 43
Poutrincourt, Haron de 28, 37, 80
Powell, Hr., repoitson the Indians 245
Powtll, Grant 175
Powe:i,George 114
Pratt, Jjhn 4it3
Prairie des Chiens 102
Prefrreniial tr.ide system and method 313, 480
Presliyierian Church 31, 12
Prescutt 107, 101, 108.410
Prescott, Major-General H5. 2IMI
Presiiue Isle 101, 212
Prcvost, Sir George... 81. 1118, 11.5, lOO, 101, \\\1.
IfW, UM, ItiO. 107, KiO, 170, 171, 172- 101
Biographical details ot 181 2
Refers to American outrages 181 5
Retreats from Plattshurg 103
Prince Albert, N. W.T 22.'.. 20.'»
Prince Edward Island ;i8, 41, 42,1.7, H."., I.il,
212.211, 281. :H(0
AdmitttM into Confederation 12
Acadians now settled in t-'l
Indian population of 270
Indian industries of 271
Made into a separate province .M
Named in Diike of Kent's honour 30
Prince KJward County 141. 108
Prince Regent 177,180.103
Prince William Henry Isles I!W
Prince of Wales American Volunteers IH
Prince of Wales Island 210
Pring, Captain 100, I!I2
Principles of Hanking ;<0L 3li(. 40... .^H
Prideaux, General IS, 08
Piima Vista ,10
Privy Council, Imperial 42. 131, 2li. . 21Hi 301
Prolw te. Court of ^K\
Proclamations, Royal I'.H 131. 177 1212
Pro ter. General . ...... I.iO, 100 .5. HMi. ItW
Military efTorts a ilailureof ItVi 0,252 3
Retreats to Burlington Heights IWi
iVcumseh's contempt and hatred of .'i'tl-7
Protection, Colonial 2^.H 2, :«il, :MI 421
American ptriod of 'W2
Isaac Buchanan an advocate of 430
Petitioned for prior to the Ga't Turiff Ill
Vvtory of the movement for HO
Protest.tnt Indians . 272
"* Home of Industry and Refuge.. 441
•' Missionaries 12!) '.V^. 235
" St.ttes 100.137 8
Prouse, ' ..ilge 25
Provencher, Lifut. -Colonel 273
Pro"incial Legiilatures 117 8, 110
'• Brink 5INt
" Government 100
Provident and Loan Society, Hamilton 440
Prussia IKi. '287
Putnam. Judge James 115
Quelle Act 38,91,02,00 101. 1'JO. 123, 124,
^ 125. i;« 7. 138. 139, 116
Attacked in the House of Ccnmiona 127
Better Government ui'der 291
Conciliated the Roman Catholics and saved the
Province 124
Creates some dis.satisfaciion KtO
1 livides the Province i;w
Motive, character and effect of . . . . 120, 122, KiO, 131
Provi.sionsof tbe...^ 121, 133
Proposed modifications of the 128
The handiwork of Carleton
Quebec City . . .27. 30, 37 9, 47, fil. 54. 50. 68. 01,
08, 70, 75. 70, 8;*, 80, lt», 93. 111. 112, 118, 119.
121, PA P24. 125, 120. 131, l.'O, KIO 0, 148, 149,
351, 152, 10;i, 175, 182, 18,3, 189. 1U5, UKi, 200.
205, 2(Wt, 217. 278, 280. 280. 288, 300
Quebec. . . 41 50, .W. 54 7, 50. HI, 81. KJ, 9:i-5. 109.
113. 124, 130, 139, 144, 150. 152, 15:1, ll» 105,
190 244, 300
Quebec City a hundred years ago \a{\
Acadians carry disputes to 80
As a centre of the Province 139
Arrival of first ocean steamer at 41
Articles of capitulation of 131
Battle of the Plains of Abraham near 38
And the trade of Alontreal 28.5
Carleton accompanies Wolfe to KKl
Complimented on its polite socie'v LW
1 >efeat of General Montgomery ■. 39
Kleciric telegraph in 40
French Governm.;nt at 243
Jesuits' College founded in 37
1.and'.iiJe at 40, 43
Last Hritish regulars leave 42
Mail stages established in 1721 at 38
Montgomei y addresses manifesto to 100
Origin of name of. lil7-203
Parliament Buildings in 203
Sieges of 37. 38, 73 4, 145
The original centre of population 2(M)
Quebec, Province of. .. .30, 18. HI, 129, 133 4-7 9.
i:*8, 151, 243, 250. 200, 271, 277
Bank founded in 4,52
Boundaries of 122
Di' -ded into Upper and Lower Canada 200
Firit Parliament meets at 144
First school opened in Canada al 37
Foundation laid by Chnmplain of 29, 37
Cieogrnphical position of 371
<irear nrejn 40-1
Indjans dispose of their manufactures 2(?2
Indian population T 270
Interprovincial Cor.fertnce at 43, ;i88
Mr. Ijturie.'s AddN>ssda;ed from 402
Populat' m of £70
Seapo. t ol 405, i
St. John's gate in the citadel of ,'
Supreme Council nt 285
Tt:ini>«- ranee League in 444
Theatricals in 41l
Vessels in 1791 visiting |lit Port of 297
Wolfe before the wall> oi (Wi, 120
Queensland 44
Queen's University 438
Queenston, Ont 255
'Jufenston Heights , 40
I'attleof ICO, 101. KM, 170, 171. 170, 181,
18:i, 18.'). 180, liNI, 101, 192
Queen's Rangers HI. lU. 115, 118. 145
Quinte, H.>, of 5;^. 107, 217. 219, 2.V>
Quirpun Islands 103
;w,
Qu'App«1tr, Lake.
(Quakers, The
.265.271. 2. .
107
Radl.aN
Ratr , Cape
Hacj Ur
Discovers fate of Franklin
Makes fa>>test Arctic journey ever known
Pursues discovery of Franklin
Rereive.i leward from the Brlti.sh Government..
Travels anain in IS.'»;i
Winters at For; Confidence
Kae, JarUson
Railway, Si. Si'Dhen
Prttnswick anif Canada
Cannda Central
<^an.idian Pacific 309, 405,
Construction of Grand IVunk
Construction of Great Western 369, 4;M»,
Credit Valley
(Jreat W*5tern
Ixindon and Port Stanley
Opening of Grnnd Trunk
Princeton ,
St. Paul and Minneapolis
St. 1 awrrnce and Champlain .437,
Toronto, Gri'y and Bruce
91
25
,31
•x\
'X.\
•xx
•x\
:t3
;u
491
444
444
4:w
4:k5
:vi9
44ft
4:»>
44i>
140
4:13
4H
434
438
4:t9
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA
S37
Railway expenditure of Canadian Guvernm'int.. 300-1
Kainy River '-'J.V Tlo, 228
Raleigh, Sir Walter 2ti, '^M
Ramezay, Dc flU. 131, *JllO
Raiiulies, Batite of VA
Ramsan Islands llt^t
Ramsay, Alexander 4K0
Randall. Hon. Samuel J 423
Raiidot, Jaaiues 70
" Antuine Denis 70
Rawdon, Lord . . 143
Raynal, Abbe HO
Razior, Fort Ill
Kfizilly, Isaac de ;>i. 77, 8ii
Rebellion Looses Bill 40. 313, 437
Reciprocity Treaty of 185|.« i 41. :t;j5(i«i, 180
Kecollcts, The 132, 210
Red River 32. ;«, ;C., 3i;, 122, 224
Red River Rebellion 12
Red River 324
Red River Settlement 34. 203 4, 271-
Red Cloud, the Indian chiei ' >1
Redpath, Peter 'Aihj
Reed, I. L...
d, Hayter. uepuiy nupi. ui inuian /iiiairs. . .ni -^
Refiirnent,15ih,80th, ay.h 1M2
Reed, Hayter. Deputy Supi. uf Indian Aflairs. . .271 2
60th, 7mh IKi
8th. 41st in
49th lal, IK\
100th. lU.h Royal Veterans .■... 181
I5th, 75ih 182
3ll.h 118
Reuinareceive^iits name 42
Reuina, N.W.T 1:81 1(3
Reigale ■ . 12.'>
Reliance, Fort 'Xi
Remedial Order 44
Renaud, Hon. K 3.yi
Repentigny "2
Repentigny, Montesson de .57
Report of Lord Durham 4113
Report of Lcf;islalive Committee on petition for
Bank and on the «irain of Specie to
U.S ; 402
** British Columbia Indian Superintendent 24.5
*' Canadian Indian Superintendent 257
*' Committee, Select, ou Banking and
Currency 478
" Dr. George M. Dawson upon Indians. . 21.'i
•* Dr. Powell on B.C. Indians 2iri
•* llaj^ter Reed, Indian Commissioner 271
* Indian C'^mmissionersof UpperCanada 2.*>0
•' Indian Commissio'iersof 1847 25"
" 1850 ... .258. 202
*' Merchants Bank of Cana'ja liU 2
" Parliamentary Committee on Banking
arid Currency 474, 475-7
" United States Consul on Cinadian
Indians 251, 2lw'). 200. 207
*' Zebediah Morse and Professor Marsh
on the Indians, 270 1
Repulse Bay 33
Revolution, American ....100, 124, 125,177, 212,
213, 250
Movement which resulted in !lil
Tor ies of the 11:!
Two events connected wpth the 213
War of the .-..US. 118, lilt, 120. 145. 213 10
Revenue t tinimissian ........ ;V>2, liSA
Revenue Tariff. 2tU. 21*2
Rhodes, Hon. Henry, Biography of 441
Rhode Island. U.S.A l(W. UtO. 113
Riall, General Sir P., takes part in War of ISl-i .. llW
Biographical details ainiut 181 2
Checks the enemies' advance ■ ..... 170
Commands at Lundy's Lane 170 1
Follows General Brown 170
Pursues the American Militia 108
Retreats towards Niagara 170
Wounded and taken prisiner 171
Richardson, Sir John 3^1, UMi
Richard, Hon. A. D 85
Richelieu County, Uuebec 114
Rirhelieu, Cardinal 50,63,61,11)9
Richelieu Steamship Company 441
Richelieu Line of Steamers 443
Richelieu .51, 62, 64, 6.5, 60. 5H, 1*2, 191
Richmoiui, Duke of 95, 145
Rideau Caiml 432
Ridgewav. Itattle of 41
Ridoui. Thomas 403, 405. 407
Riel. Louis 213. 2(U, 271
Rimoiiski County 1!)7
Ripley, General 170
Ripon, Lord 44
Roanoke, Virjiinia 21^
Roberts, Charles G. U 114
Roberts, Captain 159, 190, 196
Robert, M 70
Robert, Joseph 480
Rubicheau, Henri M 85
Robin.son. Maj.-Gen. C. W 119
Robinson, Hon. W. B 258. 73
Robinson, Colonel Beverley ll.>, 118, 119
Robinson, General Sir C. r. P., Biography uf 118
Robinson, Hon. Peter ]!9
Robinson, Hon. William 119
Robinson, Hon. John Beverley 119, 175
Robinson, Sir ). Beverley, Chief Justice uf Upper
Canada 118
" Makesan elotiuent speech 187
" Serves at the Battle of Queenston
Hrights 187
Robinson, Christopher, Biography of 118
Rubitaille, Oliver 480
Rochelle, France 47, 48, 49, 77
Roberval, Sieur de 27, 28, 37, 01, 73. 20<(
is.i<^ [. , ^larquess de la 28, 73
':.'± ster, N.Y 217
PocV I i^hani. Lord 137
:' -^Ky Mountains 31, 32. 34, 3;». 191. 221. 2J8.
229, 210, 2:)8, 275
Rocoux, Battle of 75
Rociiuemoni, De 53
Rodicr, Hon. Charles S., Biography uf 442, 480
Rogers, Commodore 157
Rogers Major ^9 50
Uolland, Jean B 480
Rolette, Lieutenant IIM)
Roman Catholic Church 31.50, 71, 80
Roman Catholic Km.incipatinn. .94, 128, 129, 131, 132
'• '* Education and Religion
124,130,151,227. 277
*' " F«th held by Half-breeds of Red
River. .. 2ai
" " Indians 272
' " Missionaries in British Columbia. 245
" *' Sentiment, States and Lovalty. .
''18,100, 107
Roman Catholics 107, 122,123,131
kopes, Chiei Justice 105
Rntjue, Francois de In 73
Rose, Sir John, a Report presented by 301
Rose, Sir John, Canadian B.tnking Scheme of 570
Appointed an Imperial Privy Councillor 623
As Can.tdian Finance Miiiister MI2, 373
Communication to Colonial OfTice from 3t>5
Connected with Treaty of 1871 522
Public career of .52'".
Refere.ices to Reciprocity made by 305
Ross, General, and the capture of Washington.. . .
172, 18,)!
Ross, Hon. A. M., Treasurer of Ontario 388
Rots, Alexander 32, X\
Ross, Hon. D. A :i88
,480, 493
f 4.-)0
.. 388
Gives six conditions under which Treaty nneht
beconsidered 4(Mi, 407
Spcechon Reciprocity Question by 4oO
Ross, Sir John 'Xi
Kosseau, John B 241
Rosamontf, James, founds Almonte Mills 4:t2
Ros.lyn, Karlof 115
R.issier, R. W. 281
Rosiers, Cape 121
Rothene, La. 72
Rotienburg, Lieut. -General dc Ita, 181, \Ki
Roumania, Treaty with 29ti
Rouen, France 47
Rowe, George 113
Royal Artillery 181
Royal Arrh Masonry 438
Royal Canadian Academy of Art« founded . 42
Royal Charter granted King's Collr^e It9
Royal Commissioners and Commissions. . . . .^', 44. 98
Royal Canadian Bank(See Banks).
Royal Fusiliers, 144
Rojal George 101
Royal <'ieograpliical Soi'iety 34
Royal Pro* tarnation rcKartflng the Indians 2(>7
of 17fW 278
Royal Society of Canada 22. 25. 20. 42, 195
Royal Scots 108
Royal Navy 182
Rovai SiTciety of London 2IU
K.iyal Standard 131.114
" Royal William'* Steamer 40
Rupert's Land 42, 228
Rupert, Fort 57
RugRtes, General ■ . . 105
Rush, Mr., Acting U.S. Secretary of State 193
" U.S. Minister at St. James M7
Russell, Lindsay 273
Ruisell. Lord John(Kari) 280. 351, 408
Ixu^.■>, null. u. t\
Ross, Hon. John
Ross. Hon. James (ilbb, Biography of
Ross. Hon. G. W
Russell. President Peter 241
Russia 6C, 287. 295. 349
Ryan, M.P 480
Ryan, lion. Thomas 300,355
Ryerson, Dr. G. Stirling J B»
Ryerscn. Rev. Dr. Egeiton ZVi
Ryswick, Treaty of 38, 59, 04
Sabine, I^renzo 90, 104, 100-7, 355
Sable island 28
Sahloniere, M arquess de la 72
.Sackelt's Harbour 53, 111, 100, |IJ2, 10;j. 107.
UiS, 109. 170, 191
Sac Indians 2(t9, 212
Saginaw, the wilds of . . . 3()l
Sajiuenay River 27, 01, 02, 200
Saintonge 48, 77
Saint Castin 73
Salvador, Treaty of Commerce wiih 29tt
Salaberry, Colonel de 40, 107, 18,3, 194,251
Biographical details of 181
Salmon Falls 57
Saltonstall, Colonel 1(|5
Salle, Cavelierde la :W, 60, 04. 203
Kxplores the Mississippi 20, CO, 02
Seeks a route to China 30
Sandfield Macdonald Administration 441
Sandwich Islands 21»5, 349, 441
Sandwich, T-.wn of. 158, 159, 177, 178, 179. 187
Sandusky, Ohio l(i.5, 191,212
San Salvador discovered by Columbus 20
Santee dialect 234
Sarcee*. Tribe 221,228,229,234
Saratoga 94, 9.5,107,114, 121
Saratoga Lake 50
Sarnia, Port 304
Sa^tkaichewan Valley 34
^ , *' River 30,31.33,34.30,229,275
Saskatchewan, Origin of the name 204
District ol 42
Saskatchewan River 221, 22.5, 227, 280
Saugeen Indians 258
Saugpcn B.-\y 25i, 277
Saulteaux Indians 197, 220 229,2,34,201. 274
Stult Ste. Mane. . .59, 192, 2CG, 220. 223, 229, 202. 404
" '* *' Canal 44,5!>
Saunders, Admiral Sir Charles 08, 131
Biography of 75 fi
Saunders, Judge 1 15
Savings Banks 471 2
Savannah, U.S 230
Schoolcraft, Henry R 282
Schenectady, N.Y 5*J, 57, (W
Scottish and Ontario*Manitoba C >mpany 439
Scott, Thomas 42
Scott, Sir Hercules 17i
Scott, General WinOeld, in the War of 181:; 170 1
Schlosser, Fort IJH, i<)2
Schultz, Sir John Christian 2(12
Schuyler, Major-Gencral 58. 91», 100
Seaton, Lord fii4
Secretary of State for the Colonies, history and
appointmeris topositionof 137
Seigneurial Tei me 41. 72
Secord, Laura, the wife of a militia ofiicer UM
Undertakes a perilous journey 104
Warns Lieutenant Fitzgibbon lt*4
.Seigneurs, The .50, 03, 122
Selborne, Lord 343
Select Committee of Imperial Parliament 4'M
Selish Indians 222
Selkirk, Lord 29, 203
Selkirk Settlement ;ii2
Selkirk, Manitoba 274
Seminole War 213
Seminary of the Foreign Mission 132
Jesuits' 152
Of St. Sulpice 132
Recollets 132
Senate, United States 370
Seneca Indians 59. 2i»», 212, 210, 218, 210
Seneca County, N.y ,17
Servia 290
Seven Yeats' War 40, ((6
Sewell, Hon Jonathan, Biographyof 118
Seward, Hon. W. H .... 351
Seymour, Sir Geor.^e 346
Shannon Rivtr 183
vShannn,,, S. L 440
Shannon, R. W., Article by 61
Shanly, Walter 3.56
Sharpies, John 480
Shaw. The mas 410
Shawnee Indians flO, 212, 218
A strange wandering people Sng
Come into conflict wiih ihe French 209
Conquered by the Inxiuois 2^
Espouse the side of France 2W
m
St
ft
■ 4!
.'I-
it] ^
ii
538
Shawnee Ind'ians-'CoHtiHueif.
Fight in War of 1812 2H
General Harrison wins a victory over ...,..., 2Vi
Settle on Canadian soil *^)
'I'ecumseh an oflTshoot from 254
SheafTe, General Sir K, H., Biographical details ni
102,175.181
Collects troops and Indians and surrounds the
eiipmy 161
Forces the Americans over the Height of
tjueenston 181
Obeys Brock's List orders ItJl
Si^ns armistice and orders a retreat ltil-3
Shediac Bank (See Uanks).
Shehvn, Hon. Joseph 388
Shek s Creek as an Indian boundary 21U
Shelburne»EirIof 1»5, «), 117, ll»9
Shelburne. N.S 115
Shepherd-Morse Lumber Company. 442
Sherbrooke, Sir John Coape iSl, Uj, 172
Sherbrooke» P Q 4U
Sherbrooke, Lord 343
Sheridan. Richard Hrinsley i;J8
Sherwood, Hon. Gr!ori;e 281
Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts Im, Olt
Shortt. Professor A HV2, 41W, TiJil, 521
Shushw.ip lndi.ins. ....... 2:^2, 215
Siam, Treaty with 2115
Sicannie J iidiaa language and p pulation 2llt, 2IU
Sidney, Lord llj, 116
Sifton, Hon. Clifford 281
SigonahC'TheiJIackbird") 277
Sirver, W. Chambtrlaine 119
Sillery founds Jesuit College 37
Simcoe County 5;t, li»l>, 2(t4
Simcoe, Lake and County . 205
Simcoe, General J. Graves li\), 11 >, 117, HI,
2(M, 21.5. iCil
Biographical details of 115 (>
Divide> Canada into two pans 21K)
Great scheme ev<'lved by 204
Issues a proclamation 144
Smip-'on, Wemysh McKenzie 273
Simpson, Fort 32
Simpson, Sir George SI, 33
Simpson, Thom;u 39
Simpson, H in. John, Biography of 4it8
Simpson, Alexander 482
Sioux Indians. . . .50, (KM, 220, 224 5, 2-U 2:Ji, 254, 2()l
Are fierce and cruel in war 221
At war under Sitting BuU 213
Called the " Little Iro(iuois of the West " 221
Confederacy of 233
Early explorers meet the 221
History simll.^r to the Iroquuis 221
Known as the " I*eople of liie Lake" 221
Language of th- 2^1, 234
Massacres in IStU by 1*21
Resemble the Iroiiuuis 221
Settlements in Manitoba of 221
Tribal quarrels of 197
Sitting Bull in conflict with the United StP»es — 200
Crosst-s the line into Canada 200-1
Major Walsh confers with 201
Prevents his people from selling their land 2l)l
Promises to submit to Canadian laws 201
Returns to the United States 201
Six Nation Indians, (See Iroquois, Five Nations
and Mohawks) 117, 212, 240
Six Nations, surrender of lands bolonsinj? m.... 241
Address illustrating antagonism to United S!iates
of 255
Appoint delegates to negotiate with Government 2''.1
Become subject to the laws of Canada 2i 7
r .posit their money with the Government 215
Government of 218
Granted land by Louis XIV 272
Hir.tory of the 217
Number of residents in the Grand River Reserve 217
Present condition of 219
Receive an Imperial grant of land 215, 219
Receive grants of lands^ 257
Regulate their own affairs 219
Take an active pirt in the American R« volution 218
Vengeance by American forcesupon 213, 218
Skrad. Hon. James 355
Biography of. 438
Skrena River 210
Stave Indian language and population 249
Slave Indians 229
Small, John 175
Smithers, C. F 489
Smith, Sir Donald A. (See I^rd S'rathcona and
Mount Royal) 434,435
Smith, John 491
Smith, Guy Oswald 4ni
Smith, W. H 21t7, 300
Smith, Colonel Osborne 274
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP/KDIA.
Smith, Goldwin 419, 422, 42.1
Sinilh, M^ior Uenerul Sir (jtor^t: 81
bniith, Rev. Dr. Watson 1 lil
Smith, Sir A. } littl, ;t72
Smith, Hon. William 114, 140
Hioi;raphical details of 117-18
Writes to Lord Dorchester 1 17
Smylhe, General 1(K, 17!», lill
So.ikie Indians :,'')4
Society cf Notre Dame ^4
Suncino, Katmondo di Ill, 2.i
Snrel, (Juebec :t7, 1 18
South African Republic ai.'>, 2!I0
South Carolina, U.S. A lUl), 1(11), 111 ;i, 2IH1
Southampton 182
Suuriquois Indians 212
Souris River 221, 223, 228
Southesk, Earl of 34
Soto, F'.rdinand de, discovers Mississippi 2(1
Sovereign Council of New FrrtncR 70
Spain.. 30, di, 6!), 71,91, SW.lHi, lOB, 182,287, 2iW, .1(10
Spanish Succession, VVar of (U
Speaker of the Assembly, First 430
Specie Payment, Suspension of 400, 407
.Spilsbury, Captain I!t2
Spotted EaRle 201
Spotted Tail ...... 201
Stadacona Bank (See Uanks).
Stairs, Hon. W. J 3.i;>
Stamp Act 80, 89, 120
Stanger, E 479
Standattl Bank of Canada (See Banks).
Stanley, Lord ,343
Stanley of Pre.ston, Lord 3!ll
Starnes, Hon. Henry 17'J, 522
State Archives of Milan 21
Statute Labojr Law 21.>
Suynor, T. Sutherland 493
Steadman, T 241
Steamboat, first on St. Lawrence 437
Steamships, Establishment of Allan lin^ of 435
Stephen, Sir George (Se-^ Lord Mount Stephen).
Stephens, Harrison 491
Sterling, E.nrl of 02
Stevenson, James ii2l)
Steeves, Hon. W. H., St. John N.B ;«j
Stewart, Rev. Dr. John 107
Stick Indians 210
Stikeman, Harry 478
Stikine River as a mute of trade 240
Stockton, Alfred A 119
Stone, Mrs 191
Stone Fort Treaty 2.t« 9 73
Stoney Creek 104,191
Battle of 40
Indians 229. 2:)(). KC,
Stone, W. L 239
Stonetand named by Ericson 20
Stowe ChronicU 22
Sttathcona nnd Mount Royal, Lord 431-5, 489
On the preservation of the buffalo 200
Strathy, Hem y .S 494
Strathy, Lt.-CoIoneiA. L 119
Stratford, Ont 2.'i3
Strachan, Bishop 181, 4(a
First Bi.shop of Toronto 17.'i
Founds the Loyal and Patriotic S iciety 17.»
Writes an historic letter to Jefi'erson 187
Street's Creek 170, 192
Sabernse, Daniel de 8.1, '.;I3
Snlpicians, The . . 2.')0
Suite, Benjamin 47
Sullivan, General 213, 218. 219, 24l)
Surinam, Capture of 183
Susa, Treaty of 70
Susquehanna Indians 218
Susquehanna, Val'eyof the 2t>9
Superior, Lake . .30, 33, 34, a't, »i. 37, Ml, 0(1 200 209,
220. 221, 22:J, 223, 229, 2."il, 2o8, 273, 280, 371
Su;-erior Bank of Canada (See Banks).
Supreme Council of Canad,'\ ... 40
Supreme Court of Canada 12. 43, 119
Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. . . . 200, 281
Swampie Indians 204
Sweden 44
Swfden and Norway, Treaty with 296
Swift, General 192
Swiss Confederation 21t0
Sydney, Lord 99, 14.i, 180, 199
Sydney, C.B 39
Sydenham, I flrd - 40,480
Sydney International Exhibition 4^18
Synod, First Provincial 41
St. Andrew's Society of Montreal 438
St. Andrew's, Manitoba 204
St. Anne's Point HI, 115
St. /llbans 41
St. Auguitine, Convent of. 54
St. Joseph
St. Joseph River . . . .
St. Laurent, llalfllri
St. Bartholomew, Massacre of 214
St. Caliere kiver 159
St. Catharines, building up uf 440
St, Christopher's Island ({5
St. Clair Lake ajj
St. Croix, Island of jjg
.St. Croix, Development 01 444
St. Croix River 3(( "7,1)5
St. David's 170, 1S«, 192
St. Denis i.i2
^t. Domingo 14.^
Sle. Koye ]o2
Ste. Foye, H.itile of (19
.St. Genevieve, P. (^ .. 441
St. Grorpe, Battle of l.;ike 2,>()
St. Garmain-en-Laye, Treaiy of 37, 03
St. Hyacinihe, Banquede(See Banks).
St. Ignace 59
S;. Jean Baptiste Bank (See Banks).
St. Jean, B.inquede(Sce Banks).
St. Jean, R 480
St. John, N.B 39, 42, O'J, 70, 114 5, 154, .3(H), 442
St. John's Gate at Quebec 76
St. John, Lake 121
St. John, N.U., Telegraph 77
St. John, Mandof (See P.E-I ) 39, 05, HI, 1 14
" Molyneux 273
" Rivet... .81, 8;t, 114, ll.'i, 119, lit, 198.
243, 301, 308, 375. 405
St. John's, Newfoundland ;17, 01
St. John's, Province of Quebec HI, 115
" ■ ' 159
00
reeds at 205
St. Lawrence (tank (See Biink ).
St. Lawrence, Gulf of, . ,37, 6;t, 71, 1'2I, 193 .'i, 340,
341, 318, 350, 3.-12, ;«7, :f01, 304, 381
St. Lawrence River 27, '28, 2!). 31, 3i), 47, 48
54, .V>, 50, 01, 71, 73, 93, 1U7, HI, 114, 115, J20, 3,59
St. Lawrence Kiver, Exports .:tnd imports via .... 350
Abolition of lolls on 3.t0
F^xpenditure for canals on 300
For ha.-liours and Ili^hthtuises of 3('t()
International use of 302
l<i,iht of navit^ation under Reciprocity Treaty. . 308
Sr. Lawrence Valley Ctl. 1'20
St. Lawrence and Champlain Railway Co 4?" 8
St. I.oT'is Kipids 28, 272
St. Louis, Fort ,54
St. LouiSj U.S., DHegates at Detroit 351
;*■,. Luc Come, de la 72
St. l.usson, Sieurde 00
St. .Malo, F.ance ,, ,27, '28. .'lO
St. Maurice County 114
St. Ours 72
St. Peter, L.ike 340. .TOO
St. Paul, Minn 371, 395, 404
St. Paul and Minneaoolis Railway 434
St. Pierre, Island of '. 09, 72
St. Regis 191,217,218, 2.51
Si. Koch, Quf bee 41
St. Sanveur, Quebec . 41
St. Stephens liink 444
St. Stephen, N B 441
St. Sulpice, Stminai y of •iT(), i>.i7
St. Therese \^-l
St. Therese, F^rt .Mi
St. Thomas 440 6
St. Vincent, Admiral Lord 146
Tochi, Archbishop 34 5
" SirL. P aiS
Taschereau, Cardinal 43
Tadousac, P. Q 28 ,53, 01, 02
Tagish Indians 246
Tahkil Indians 2111
Tahl-tan Indians, language and territory 'jf 2411
iealously protect their territorial right.. 247
lannerof livinft amoiiRst 217
Mythical beliefs and physical appearance of . , . . 247
Liable to peculiar diseases 247 8
At oie time used stcne instruments 248
Do not recognize hi^reditary rights 248
Marriage and property laws of 218
Ability and temperament of 248
Takulli Indians , 246
Talfoid, Froome 256
Talon, Intendant 72
Annexes the Ijke region to France 36
Ability and tK)licy of 04 '0
Taltecan Indians '223
Tangier island 180
Tangier River, N.S 41
Tarducci, Francisco 24. 25
Tartars and In.lians 210-12
Tpunton. I ord 280
Taylor,Jol.n 193
CANADA: AN ENCVCLOP.^.niA.
535
luylor. _
K^portioU. S. Secreiaf^ of Treasury (1800)... ail
S-iilles charge made against Canada Ml
T tumseh 40, 190, 209. 212, 237, 241)
A faithful BritUh supporter Iti6 tj, 21l{, 251
And his men fiKht gallantly to the last Ittd
A worthy associate of Sir Isaac Brock 2i;{
Aversion of to external ornament . 262
Kegs Procter " to ha^e a big heart " Kid
Character, influence and ability of 261, 2.>2
Cummands emht hundred Indians IIhi
Deathof J60. 102. 2j;i
Described by Colonel Coffin 2ol
Famous speech face to face with Procter. . . 2.VJ, '^M
Meets Bruclc and di->iinguishes himself l.'iD
Personal appearance and oratorical talent ot . . . . 2.i2
Plansto unite all the Indians 2.i4
Remonstrates with Procter 1(15
Tekahionwaka 2lo
'I'eniple, i^'xt Thomas 85
Temple, Earl 1*9
Tennessee, U.S A 213
TerrelKinne, P. g ....152
Terry, Ucneial 200l
lestard, Jacques 73
TesKouat . . 62
Tcssier, Ulnc J 4H0
Telu, Cerice 4S0
Texas, State of tiO 2i:J
1 hames Kiver, Oniaiin llW, 102, 203, 211). 2,53
'1 hayendancgea (St-e Brant) 212, 210
Thermopyliu, Battle ot Hi", 20(»
Thibauueau, Hon. Isidore I'M, 480
Biography of 414
Thicannie Indians 210
Thlinkit Indians, Place of settlement of. 24d
" *' Language and territorial rights
of 21117
Thomas, William, designs Brock's monument . . IHIJ
Thompson, Sir JohnS. 1) 43 4, 'Mti
Thompson, David 31, 31
Toompsun River 34
Thompson,CharlesPouiett(Se^ Lord Sydenham). 14.')
Thompson, E. W.,and Unrestricted Reciprocity. 4<K)
Thompson, Jame.s 4Sn
Thompson, William 4i;2
Thornton, Sir Edward, tries to obtain Recipro-
city 373, 381
Joint memorandum of 383
Three Rivers' Bank (Sec Banks).
Three Rivers, P.y....37, 48, 51, 6o, 57. 70. 72, 0.3.
110, 148, 151, 2U2
Thunder Bay i-^H
Thurlow, Edward, Lord 131
As Lord High Chancellor i;«)
Biographical details of i;tO
Slat jment up»n IJuehcc by i;*0
Thwaites R. O 25
Ticonderoga Port 51, (i7, (J8, 75, 02, 01
Tiiley, Sir Leonard 2!U
Ittographical details of 317
Conneciiun wiih Canadiiin Bank Act of 517 H
Policy of as Finance Minister 280
Takes the duly off tea and coffee 280
Tariff jirotwsals of ;t03
Tinne dialects 2:U
Tippecanoe, Battle of 213
Tisdale, Hon. D 110
Titsho-t'-na Indians 248
Tobacco N.ition 63
Todd, Mc(;ill ikCo ItJI
Todd, Hon, William, Biugraphyof 444
Toi;:y, Henri de. (W
Tonnage of Canadian vessels 431
Toronto :m, 110,175, 170. 18,3, 2> 7 1"1
Grey and Bruce Railway 4:10 1'*
Retaliation for th'? pillage of 180
Second capture of .... 101
Suoplied with provisions from the United State«. 2tW
Toronto Board of Trade 4.30. 410
Discussion on Commercial Union 422
Toror :o, Lnyal and Patriotic Society in 175
Toronto Hunt, Master of 410
'* and Nipissing; Railway 410
" Electric Manufacturing Co 44lJ
•' General Hospital 447
" Ymnig Mrti's Liberal Club manifesto . . . 420
'* University 253 tV2
" Pioneer merchants 434>
Toronto as a trading settlement 4.'h't
Branch Bank of Montreal establitiSed in 456
The seat of Government fcr Upper Canada .... 455
Toronto, Bankof<See Banks).
Tories of the Revolution 112
Torrance, Diviil, Biography of 413
Torrance. Jainrn 143
Tour. Charles de la 82, 85
Townsend, General the Marquess 38, 08, IIH
Biograph V of 7(1
Townsend, Thomas 127-8, 131. 1!M»
Tiade and Plantation, Council of. 00
Traders' Bank of Canada (See Bankh).
Tracy, Marquess de 73
Transportation questions 383-431
Treaty at Anna[>olis Royal with the Indians 272
Treaty, Ashburton 40
•' Brown draft of Reciprocity. 372
*' Firj>t Canadian Indian .. 250
No. Six 274-5(1
" Oregon Boundary 40
Reciprocity 41.280.287,288 200 382-;l
'* Stone Fort 250, 2(iO
Treaty of I,ancaster 240
'■ of 1780 3(il
" of 1888 385 301
'* of St. Germain-en-Laye 37, 70
'* of Breda 37. 70
** of Peace with the Iroquois 38
" of Utrecht 38, 71.80.81.82,83.84. 272
•' of Aix-la-Chapelle 38. 71, 82
" of Paris. .38. Gii, 71, U(i, 120. 121, 122. 123.
125, 130, 132. 118. 103, 244
" of Versailles 30
" ofWashington 42
•' of Ghent 172, 11*3
*' of London 103
" ofPeace 03 131
" of Ryswick 38 70
' ' of Separation 114
" of Su>a 7(>
" uf Westminster 70
*' of 1727 with the Indians 272
'* of 1781 " '• 272
*' .>fl7!»0 '* " 272
" <.f 18.VJ " " 258 9. 273
" of 1871 *• '* 25Sy,273 4 5
'• uf 1875 with the Indians 274 5
" Lf 1877 with the Indians 275(»
* of Peace with Indians at Halifax .... 214
" ..f Forts Carleton and Pitt 2750
*' uf Qu'Appeltc Lakes with the Indians. ,274-5(1
•■ . f Uu'Appellc 274,275. 27(i, 281
*' of Winnipeg , 274, 275
Treaty ofConimerce with Argentine Confederation,
1825 2111
" Austro Huneary, 1870 2ill
" Belgium, 18G2 2!l4
Bolivia. 1810 2;U
Chili, 1S;>1 201
Columbia. 18(iO 2!H
" Corea. 188il 201
Costa Ric.i. 1810 201
Denmaik. 18(;0I8tJl 2i»5
'* Dominical. Kepublic 21*5
France, 1882 205
•' 18Jt;i 21*5
" Germany (/^-'llverein), I8(i;) 205
Liberia, 1818 20.'»
Madagascar, IHtJo 83 21*5
" Morocco. 18.5(1 21*5
Muscat. ISOl 205
Persia, 1811 57 205
" Portu'^il, 1803 2:*.)
Russia, 18,V.) 21*5
" Sandwich Islands, 18i>l 205
Siam. 1885 206
" South African Republic, 1881 205, 20(5
Spain, 18'.>2 2i*li
" Sweden and Norway. 1S2I) 20t»
" Swiss Confederation, 1855 20 i
" 'I iinis, 18.57 21H
Uruguay, 1885 2!Ki
Venezuela, 1825-34 200
Treaties with Western Indians.. 225, 22ti, 2.58
273. 274. 275-G
with Indians described by Morris 2(>5
Treaties, Canada and the right to make 387
Treaties of Commerce from which Canada is
e.\cepted 20(1
Trent River . All
1 lent Affair 1.5ti
Trenton 119
Trinidad. Island of 182, :««*
Troitici, A. A 41*3
Trout River ... 42
Ttoyes 61, 4.'J7
Triideau. Romwald 403
Trudenu, S. V. R 48 J
Triiscott, Capt 4t>d
Truio, N.S 281
Trutch, Sir J. W 445
Tucker, Colonel 171
Tullcxh. Augustin 40^1
Tully, John 471
Tunis, Treaty with 20tf
Tupper. Sir Charles 110,343376
liipper. Sir Chailes Hibbert U9
I urcotie, Hon. Arthur 388
Turenne, Marshal 73
Turkey 349
TurnbuU's work on Connecticut 210
Turnei . John 451
I'urner, Hun. James, Biographical details of .... 451
Tuscarora Indiana 217
Become the Sixth Nation 210
Driven out of North Carolina 212
Seek the protection of the Five Nations 218
Two Mountains, Seigneury of. 256-7
Tyler, Sir Henry 44
Tyng. Sheriff 105
United Empire Loyalists 104, 105, 107, 112,
133, 1.58. 286
Acts passed in the New Voric Legislature against 117
American cruelty to 105, lOG
As judges, lawyers and clergymen Ill
Biographies of prominent L')3
British Government inquires into claims of lit
Compose the Government of New Brunswick .. 115
During the War of 1812 UO
Found the Province of Onurio 101 8. 113,
125, 13t), too
George III takes an interest in lilS
(irants given to .wns of Ill
Honour roll amongst Ill
Kirby's Poem on the qualities of 107
Nu.nbers and oistributjonof 115
Of the present day 119
Of the Atlantic coast 111-5
Organizations formed by 1 19
Origin of the name of 105, HI
Prominent in Canadian hisiory 117
Realize the value of American promises 117
Reason for the name HI
Served in the ranks of Great Britain 106
Six Nation Indians active as 218
Slowly begin to secure homes lf}Q
Take part in the Revolutionary War Ill
The Association in Nova Scotia of 119
The Ontario A-i'-ociation of. .... 119
The Quebec Association of 119
Touching illu^tiation as to the feeling uf 109
Were largely the fientry of America 107
Union Bank of Canada (.See Banks).
Union Bank of Halifax (See Banks).
Union Jack 155100169
United States. . . .35, 30, 40, 41, 43, 48, 77. 8.'). 01,
95-6,07 103, 110, UO, l.-i7, l(i4 5. ItlO. 175 7.
17^, 170. 185, 101 3, 2;C), 2.);i. 270, 271. 287
And (ire?' i.itain survey the 40Lh parallel. . .. 225
And Silting Bull 2(iO
And th Reciprocity Treaty 280, 287
And the War of 18i2 251
Brant misrepresented by literature of 251
British Territories surrendered to 125
Canada said to he dependent on 207
Canadian conflict with the 180
Canadians emi)^r.ite to the 2!'2
Canadian trade rises with the 201
Consul Blake's Rejort to the (Juverninen:
of 241 0.5 7
Continues its internal sl.-we traffic 10*1
Decrease of Indian population in 270
Demands for Reciprocity with lioi
Entire imiwtts of 304
Exports to Hritish North Atneriian provinces. . . [MH
Fateipfliiiedon York by the 184
Fenian bands orgatuzi^d in 110
Financial crash in the 288, 207 9
First Roman Catholic .Archbishop of *. . . . 89
Foraging parties from Detroit 102
Hunters raid the Canadian buffalo 200
Immigration and Briti>h capital effects 289
Impose duties upon >peclfied Canadian products
2m. 200
In a deplorable commercial condition 89
Indians and their tr.atnieni in the 213, 240
Indian agents of the Government of 270
Indian expenditure of Canada and the 270
Industries after the Civil War in 289
Injured by capture of Michigan I.'i9
Interchangeof products between Canadaand. . ;VI3
Iroquois Indian antagonism to 2.53
Naval war with the 172
Objects to Canadian tariff increases . 288
Public mind blinded in 298
Republican institutions of 1 10
Te.:iimsth's dislike to the people of 2.52-3
The Indians of Canada and those of the .2t)0 1. 270-t
The peace party in B18
Troops burn the Town of Nork Is8
Troops in hoittiltties with the Indians 376
w
■I' .V'
!; 'Ill:
54°
CANADA: AN ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
"i
m
i
United Stuun—CoHtimuii.
Underukn to repay Holland 103
Unprovoked declaration of war by the. 178
Wants Canada to join the Union 101
Whit the »ar brought to the 172
Upper Canada, Bank of (See Hanks).
Upper Liard River 210
Ur^iuline NunH {t\
Uruguay, Treaty with 2li(l
Vallee, Prudent 180
Valley Forge M
Valliere, Nfichael de la 8.i
Van Buien, Martin . 318
Vancouver destroyed by tire .. - 43
Arrival of first C. P. K. steamer at 43
Vancouver, Captain 31
Vancouver's Island 31, 3«, 41, 2i!
Vancouver, Fort 32
Van Horn, Major lau
Van Home, .Sir William C, President of Canadian
Pacific Railway 401
Lalterto Montreal lyittussupon Reciprocity.. 401 3
Van Koughnet, M.R 4811
Van Koughnet, Hon. P. M. W 281
Van Rensellaer, Ueneral 100, 101, 1U2, 170, lUl
Vaudreuil, Marquess de JU, OU, 111), 72, 73,
73, St, 121, 131
Vaudreuil County 1118
Venezuela 296, 310
Venice DO
Venosta, Marquess 44
Vercheres, Fort 58, l'J8
Verendrye, Pierre de la .. . .30, 3,i, 30, 03, 73, 2i)4,
223, 228
Vergennes lOS)
Vermont, State of 31, 63
Verrazano, Kxplorations of 2tt, 27, 37
Versailles, Treaty of 39, 115
Vetch, Col. Samuel 84
Victoria bridge 41,340,433
Victoria Hospital, endowed 433
Victoria, H.C 40, 41, 196, 441
Victoria Beach 198
'• Dale VjH
•' Peak ' 198
Victoria Coal Mining Company 412
Victoria, H..M. Queen 20
Victoria County 190, 201
Victoria Hospital chari'.ies 433
Viger, Hon. D. B 4:«
Vignau, Niculas .V2
Vikings 26
Ville Marie 37, 51
Villebon, Chevalier de 85, 115
Villien, Sebastien 85
Vimont, Father 54
Vincent, General KB 4 6, 191
Vineland 27
Virginia, State of. .26, 02.77, 103, 113'I3, 118, 137,
2'I6, 212, 2;i0, 240
Vittoria 118
Voltigeur Regiment 167
Waddell, Samuel 480
Wadsworth, General 101
Walcheren Expedition 181, 18.3
Wales, H.R.H. Prince of 41, 253, 442
Walker, Admiral Sir Htvenden 01
Walker, Roburt 480
Walker, James D 491
Wi.lker, B. E 487, 491, 49.3. 504, 605
Wall .Street, N.V 299
WalUc*, Sir William 211
Wallis, A. t; 479
Walsh, Major, settles among the Indians 260
Appointed in charge of the Canadian Vukon
nbtslrict 201
Confers with Sitting Bull and the American
officers 261
Warburton l-' egulars 8.3
Ward, Hon. ■ .lijah. Report upon Reciprocity of. . 422
Congressin. lal Resolution of 351
0,i Canadian American Zollverein 424
Warren, Commodore. 05
, Sir John Borlase 1S2
gton, City of 150, l,'i8, 181
Warren.
Washington, City _
Washington, destruction of the imhlic huildinut
at. 172,180 187
Washington, Repori to British Ambastadur at. ._. . . 3 2
Canadian delegai ion at — ■*!-'. jtlS
Committee of Ways and Means at 2.13. 361
Delegation in 186t; at j-Vij
Gait and other commissioners at 3"j*
I'on. George Brown goes to J*42
Hon. George Browi^at... 373
Hon, John Rose go*'S to S"**
Reciprocity Treaty signed at jWW
Suggestioni made by British delegates at 'Mi
Treatyof 3(2. 381, 293
Washington, George. . .116, 80, 89, 90, 9;M, 101, |II2,
Authorized to employ Indians
Describes his oflicera and soldiers
Gets hii troops into shape
Gloomy situation at Valley Forge of.
Issues a proclamation to Canada
Never won a hattle in the Revolutionary War. .
Skill and patience of
Washington, John Augustine 103
Washington. State of 32
Waterbury, D. H 119
Waterloo County 215
Waterloo Hank (See Banks).
Watkin, Sir Edward W 351, .^j3, 355
Watson, Walter 507
Wayne, Fort 101, 191
Wedderburn, Alexander (Lord Loughborough). . 130
Weir.Arthur. ,')07, .308
Weir,W ..308,509
Weldon, R. C 3*«
Welland Canal C ;mpany 404
Welland Canal and Hon. W. Hamilton Meriitt .. 343
Welland Canal 140,300,449
Welliti^^ton, Grey and Bruce Railway 151
Wellington County 215
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Uuke of. .157, 171,
181, 199
Wellington, Centre 303
Wells, Hon. Joseph 4IH
Wentworth, John 84
Wentworth V olunteers 112
Wentworth, J 1 13, 272
Wesley, John 91, 107
Westchester Volunteers 112
Western Hank (See lianks).
Western Bank of Canada (^ee Bsnk-.).
West lndie». . . .49, 50, 61, 03, S;!. 94, 101. 107, 118,
153, 137, 138, 102, 181, 280 7 5, ;)00, 340
Weft Indian Regiment 182
Westminster, Treaty of 70
Westminster Abbey 74, 227
West York Militia Regiment 183
Wexford, Township of. 257
Weymouth 115
Whately, George D 479
Wheeler, Sir Francis 63
Wheler, J. P. 480
Whigs 91
Whitby 439
White, Hon. Thomas 281, 424
White, Rev. Dr.... 119
Whitney, Benjatnin 463
Whitney, H. H 4«i
Widmer, Hon. C 463
Wilberforce, William 113
Wilkes, Rev. Dr 443
Wilkie, I). R 422 491, 510 15
Wilkinson, General 40, 107, 108, 179, 188, 192
Willcocks, Joseph 1119, 170
William Henry, Fort 56, 60
William 1 1 1, (of Orange), King of Englni.d . .034, 129
William IV., King of England 185
Williaml, I. C. C 114
Williams, Israel 105
Williamsburg 240
Williamsburg 118
Wilmot, Montague 84
Wilmot, Hon. R. D 477 8
Wilson, James 241
Wilson, Cha'les 471
WiUon, iiir Daniel 262 3 4
Wilson, Sir Charles Rivers 4(
Wilson, (U.S.) Tariff Bill 276, .'142, 370, 405
Winchester, General 1(1,5, 179, 191
Winder, General 180
Windsor, .Military Knights of 183
Windward Islands 3tjo
Windsor Castio 44
Windsor, Ont .241, 301
Wiman, Erastus, Delegate at Detroit Convention
.(1865) 335
New York advocate of an American Zollverein. 410
Sketch of Commercial Union movement by . . .
....110,411,412,413
Winnebago Indians .30, 254
Winnipeg, City of ... .41, 197, 'M, 22;t, •i'ii, 228-9,
2ll,2.->3 3 73, 293
Winnipeg Lake. . . .21, 31, 32, 33, ,31, :I0, 122, '2IIJ,
•2U0, li'W, '.'21,2.'5, 275
Winnipegosit, Lake 36, 201
Winsluw, Lieut. -Colonel 83, Hi
Winslow, Edward Hi
Winsor, Justin D ... 25
Winter, Brigadier 104, 191
Winthrop, Governor 02, 63
Wisconsin, U.S. A 00, 219, 371
Withrow, Rev. Di 180, 190
Wolfe, Major-General James, Biographical details
of^ 74
Chargesthe FrencbattheheadofhisGrenadiers 09
Makes a secret advance on the Heights tiO
Makes a desperate attack on (Quebec 08, 75
Serious position and illness of 6J
Victory and death of 69, 80, I'iO, 1 19
Victory of destroys Indian influence 212
Wolfe, Major-General 38, 67, 68, 70, 9;t, 103, 138
Wood, Alexander 4:10
Wood, A. T 303, 395
WootI, Abel 175
Wood, Captain 101
Woods, Lake of the ^. . . 371
Woodstock Banks. (See Banks.) *
Woodside, Thomas 480
Wolseley, Field-Mar>hal Lord 42
Worcester 105
Workman, William, Biography of 411, 471
Workman, Thomas, endows McGill College . .4:13, 434
Worthington, William *. 21
Worthington, lohn 180,187, 480
Worthington, Ihomas 23(1
Worts, James Gooderham, Biography of 440
Wright, Philemon, Biography of 447
Wrightstown, Settlement 01 447
Wurtele, Hon. J. S. C 119
Wyoming MjMsacre 213
Yarmouth, Bank of (See Banks).
Yarmouth. N.S 76,115,214
Yellow Knife Indians 240
Yellow Head Pass 34
Yeo, Sir James 103, 10.3, IftJ
York, Upper Canada (See I'oronto).. 40, 119, 1,39,
162-4,108,184, 188, 191, 200
Attacked by the Americans 162
Commodore Chauncey makes an attack on IGft
General Brock knd the volunteers of 160-1
General Drummond hastens to relief of 171
Letter written by Dr, Strachan at 187
Old Frenchrfort at 162
Opening of the Legislature at 157, 176
Second capture by the Americans of 191
Taken by the Americans 163
York Factorv 32, 33, 3t
York, H.R H. Duke of .lO.lSJ
Yorktown, U.S. A 91-5, 146
Young, Hon. Jatnes, his opinions of Commercial
Union 416, 417, 418
On the commerce of Canada 427
Young, Hon. John 491
Biography of 4.37
Yonngstown 192
Vukon District 32
I 'dian population of 245 6-7'8'9, 270
.Major Walsh appointed in charge of 200
Zimmerman Bank, of Clifton iS6, 608