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OK TKK QlKHKC Illfill ScilOdl,. [FIFTY COPIES.) QUEBEC: Printed at tifk " Morxim; CiiRoxrcLK '" Office. 1S8-J y^ ir""'i i' ' M -ij i -'- ii ; j>u ' i lpisa^sqF=atc J ? 5* "K\ ■ JVI.MIIIII I. 1 JWI wwmwM \ 1 Mo -1 The M.AI\ITI/W.EPi^OYINCES; .( THEIR ORIGIN AND INHABITANTS. -A. r».A.FER RE.A.ID BKFORK THK ^it^vatjj and §ii^toic4 ^oeietjj tsi ^\\t\^tt, 2Nn FEBRUARY, 1882, UY JOHN HARPEE, B.A., RE.I.S., Rector op the Qtebec Www School, [FIFTY COPIES.] QUEBEC: Printed at the " Morninp. Chroxicle " Otfice. 1882. y.^ r y- 6-. i THE MARITIME PROVINCES; THEIR ORIGIN AND INHABITANTS. Read before the Literary and Historical Society, 2nd FEBRUARY, 1882, BY CrOlEIIN" H-A-I^IPEIi, B.A., F.E.I.S., RECTOR OF THE QUEBEC HIGH SCHOOL. There are not a few of our modern-time philosophers, who have been tempted to think with Mr. Buckle, that the present in the history of a country is only a developed past ; that, as a growth, it bears towards the past the same re- lation which exists between the oak and the acorn from which the oak has sprung. Those who maintain this doctrine, which is simple enough in its enunciation, and almost axiomatic at first sight, argue that the principle of cause and effect is to be observed as plainly in the record- ed actions and settled condition of a community, as in the natural phenomena discussed and explained by the science of chemistry or astronomy. The history of mankind, in their opinion, is but a co-relation of events, woven together by natural laws as effects, to produce in turn, as causes, other effects. In this way, the vast panorama of events from the beginning of things is to be recognized as an immense chain, whose links have been forged and joined together by the moral forces of nature, those mighty Cyclops ./ . jtsai J> — 2 — hy which, they say, the v*'hole fabric of history has been constructed on true scientific principles. Thus it is de- clared that by events and /row events, the characteristics, which mark any particular period in a country's history, are produced accordinj^ to that method which we glorify every day as nature's own ; that method by which certain chemical elements, when arranged according to <^efinite conditions, always produce definite chemical compounus, by which certain conjunctions of the heavenly bodies occur at certain definite periods producing certain sublunary effects, by which the acorn, when it grows, becomes an oak, the rose-bud a rose-bush, the apple-germ an apple- tree. According to this theory, the individual lives of men and women are the atoms, the humble elements, of which the great events are the complex visibly developed expo- nents. In a word, those boldly marked peculiarities which distinguish one tribe from another, that public spirit which we as often call sedition as patriotism, those habits, whose absence in others is with us who possess them little better than the ignorance of barbarism, those desires and appetites promoted by the sympathies of one section of the world and prohibited by the antipathies of another, and, above all, that almost indefinable identity which runs as a common factor through the individual characters of the majority of a nation, are said to be promoted by the action of one mind upon another, aff*ected, as it may be, to a greater or less extent by the geographical position of the country, its physical configuration and its climatic changes. The theory is certainly an attractive one to students of a philosophic turn of mind. Nor has its in- fluence been unfelt by nearly all our historians in their investigations. Indeed, no one can study history as it ought to be studied, without perceiving that underlying the visible amalgamation of events into an historic period, . [ there is an approach towards the scientific method, and assuredly, there is a science of history, in as far as a science may be recognized as the mere knowledge of classilied fact. But the world and its ways of thinking must as- suredly move on apace, ere the general student of history can be induced to give an unwavering adherence to Mr. Buckle's theorv of the crystallizing or chemical process among events. The past, we are continually saying, has had a decided influence on the present. We all willingly admit that the proverb "history repeats itself" has not unfrequently been verified. Many staid orthodox people would even go so far as to say that some of the more striking historic scenes, such as the Reformation, the En- glish Commonwealth and the French Revolution, appear to have been very largely the co-ordination of previous events and circumstances. But further than this it is hardly necessary to go, unless vs'e wish to be driven to- wards the ultimate assumption that all our actions proceed from self-interest, an assumption on which the " science of history " theory must surely suffer shipwreck. Let us rather be content to look upon the past as the modifying antecedent of the present, not its cause. As its records ap- peal to our emotions, rather than to our understanding, let us, from the contemplation of those examples and warnings, which they lay before us, learn to sympathize with, and imitate the noble and the good, to detest and shun the base and the evil. Let us examine its archives, not for the purpose of determining some pre-conceived theory, but much in the same way that we contemplate the back-ground of a beautiful picture, by bringing it and all the other parts of the design to bear upon one another, so that we may divine the purpose of the artist, while admiring his workmanship. In this way, we may corro- borate the truth that life is real, and that God is its author. 'J^tdM^'- -<^ — ,/ -4- tmprossed therefore with this our simpler theory of the advantages to be derived from the study of historic records, we may safely remark that the present ot a country, with- out some coiTesponding past as its background, forms a study almost as uninviting as the examination of a mere profile, on the naked canvas. As an intellectual exercise, such a study is of little or no value. Like the reading of newspaper items, there is in it no improvement to the mi.id, no lasting impression for the memory, no corrective to our taste, no guide to our will-power or judgment in the process of imitation. And perhaps one of the reasons that may be advanced to explain the lack of interest taken in the history of such a country as the Maritime Provinces of Canada, is the prevalence of the somewhat immature idea among readers, outside of the Canadian provinces, that Canada, being one of the youngest countries in the world, has really no past of any great importance. It may be true, that in the annals of a colony like Canada, so long remote from the centre of the w^orld's civilization, and which, on this account has been brought only periodically within the current of the world's history, there must necessarily be but few events which have attained to the true dignity of historical narrative. But we all know that the story of a simple man's life is often as interesting and instructive as the biography of the hero who has heard the echoes of his own greatness resounding from the four quarters of the globe. There are events ai^d events. And truly the achievements of the past, or the examples of patriotism it exhibits, are not to be considered important or unimportant, merely on account of the greatness or littleness of the effects produced. Nor should we in Canada here, think of despising what the students of other countries are inclined to overlook. Canada has a past of which wo certainly need not be ashamed. From the time when Jacques ^5- Cartier dropped his anchor into tho clear waters of the St. Lawrence, and Do Monts, with the assistance of Champhiin, built a residence for himself on the little island at the mouth of the St. Croix, in Acadia, there can bo traced a lo* g lino of brave men, who persevered in the struggle for a living with fearful odds against them. These were the modest heroes, who, in advancing their own fortunes, struggled for the advancement of the country, — men who in times of distress, darkness and despair, often spent their whole energy in buoying up the hopes of their fellow-countrymen, in supporting the young and tender institutions of the country, ox in striking down the tyranny or selhshness which stood in the way of enterprise, industry and progress. It is this story of inglorious victories won, this record of the internal life of the people, studded here and there, it is true, with public events of the utmost importance, which truly represents the past of Canada, and stands as an in- teresting background to the picture of its present civiliza- tion and advancement. Though it is not my purpose, in this paper, to describe the great events in the history of the Maritime Provinces, I cannot refrain from drawing your attention to one of them, which does not usually receive much attention from our historians. The opening chapter in the history of New- foundland and Nova Scotia is perhaps one of the most romantic in the annals of history. It refers to the discovery of Helluland, Markland and Vinland, by the sons of Eric the Red, an old Viking, who had escaped from Norway to Iceland, and thence to Greenland. The mist of tradition that hangs over the scene, recalls to mind the idealistic tales of old Homer, in his Odyssey, as he gives that wonderful account of the wanderings of the King of Ithaca amid the intricacies and allurements of the -33gean Sea. On reading, for the first time, the story of the Northmen's visit to the 7 _ mi ■^ % /^^s Western world, the memory goes back to schoolboy days, when we were drilled in the dignified, and somewhat dreaded, hexameters of Virgil, and drew from the narrative of the jEneid the tale of the providential escape of ./Eneas from burning Troy, and his after voyage in search of a new home in the Mediterranean. And what heroes these were to us in our younger days! How the difficulties they encountered were magnified by the difficulties which we encountered in the text ! How pleasant it was to collect the minutiae of their lives, and how, even later in life, we delight to mention them by way of reference while mould- ing our sentences! And yet, if the glory of heroism is to be measured by the danger encountered, those brave Northmen, who, for the sake of their benighted countrymen in G-reenland, set out in search of a more congenial clime, surely merit our praise, and the enthusiasm of our poets, as much as do the above nati deorum, w^hose exploits have been immortalized by the two greatest poets of antiquity. The dangers of the ^gean Sea were chiefly those of the land, which the steersman seldom lost sight of. It is true it had its storms, such as that which threw Ulysses on the beach near the bathing ground of Nausicaa and her fair attendants, or that which later on scattered the galleys of Xerxes along the base of Mount Athos. But what were these compared with the steadfast wrath of old ocean, as witnessed on the Atlantic, and of which we have lately had such graphic accounts, that wrath which may be compared to Air's broatliiiiw time — When Boreas pnrilies his masters realm From noxious fumes, death's warping net for mortals. Eartii's cleansing time — When ofi'al down the rivers swept Disseminates through the churning deep And fructifies its hidden fields. Atlantic's sowing time- When Neptune from his crested helm Scatters his sedgv seed o'er Ocean's bed. ^ -7 Nor was Mneas so ignorant of his destination as may at first appear. The ancient poets had a geography of their own, and certainly it was a muddled affair. But we can at least learn from them that the Lybian shores and the outlying islands of the Mediterranean were not unknown to the Trojans. And as Yirgil carries his hero from Sicily to Carthage and from Carthage to Italy, he convinces us that the selection and not the discovery of a suitable country w^as the main difficulty in the mind of ^Eneas. But it was different with our heroes the Northmen. "When they launched their cockle shells of boats and turned their prows towards the west, their expectation of finding a haven was almost as shadowy as the flitting cloud land which lined the western sky. With no guide save the bright stars overhead, and skilled only in a seamanship which w^as required to navigate the fiords and seas of Norway, these brave men perseveringly kept towards the westward. On they pushed, sometimes tossed like a bubble on the mighty swell of the ocean, sometimes hidden in the fogs of Greenland, or moving through the mazes of the mountain icebergs, still on they went, determined to see the land, if there was any, on which the sun set. And shall we not praise them ! In our own days, we hear our press uttering indirectly the praises of men, who are ever anxious to show the foolhardy side of their heroism by attempting to cross the Atlantic in small open boats. This is to praise the hardihood of the boy who ventures out farther and farther upon the thin curving ice, which bends under his weight. At the best iu is a shuddering kind of praise. But the Northmen set out with a purpose as clearly defined as was the purpose of Columbus ; at least so say the Sagas of which I will remark further on. They were perhaps impelled by a more selfish, though to them a hardly less noble, expectation than that of the enthusiast who spent — 8 — K half a lifetime in trying to induce the sovereigns of Europe to listen to his project of discovery. They had been driven out of Norway with their father, on account of that father's misdeeds. Even from the somewhat inhospitable shores of Iceland, w^here they found a place of refuge for a few years, they were obliged to depart to the still more inhospitable shores of Southern Greenland. Their motive therefore for seeking a place of setUement further to the southward is not hard to discover. To settle quietly near Cape Farewell was a hopeless thought for those w^ho had known the comforts of life. Eric's attempt at colonization in the land of icebergs, though afterwards fruitful of interesting results, was not in its earlier stages without its forebodings. The sons of the old Yiking became dissatisfied. The bold rest- lessness of their father appeared in them in an oft-repeated desire to set out on some daring expedition. The eldest returned to Norway, and learned during his voyage thither that an Icelander, driven westward by adverse winds, had beheld away in the distance the dim outline of other lands, which seemed to differ in natural features from Iceland or Grreenland. The story of course was not credited. But it was a good excuse for men who wished to better their condition to urge upon their father, now growing miserly in bis old age, the necessity of fitting out an expedition for the south. Eric's consent was obtained. The self-interest of men who wished to improve their own fortunes, and the comfort of their families, succeeded. Yet surely we must admire their spirit of adventure, even if it were animated by a motive which some denounce as selfish. Was it not this same spirit which scattered over southern climes, the northern tribes of the old world, to share the wealth of their southern neighbors ? Was it not this same self-interest which drove the Gauls down through their mountain gorges into the fertile plains of Italy, and sent T f' — 9 — ' ■) ' ■ I them battering at the very gates of the empress city ? "What was the influence which brought our Saxon fore- fathers from the forests of G-e: -any to drive the ancient Celts into the extreme corners of Britain ; and our French forefathers from the plains of Normandy to keep in sub- jection for a century or two the Saxon race ? What was the influence which sent Cortez to Mexico, Pizarro to Peru, and Raleigh to Guiana ? The spirit of plunder some call it nowadays. But in earlier times men called it a spirit of •^.dventure, and raised their huzzahs in honor of its daring deeds. And even we of the present time sometimes grow ecstatic over it ; for remember it was this same spirit of adventure and self-interest which animated to a very great extent our Alexanders, our Cajsars, our Fredericks, and our Bonapartes. Even dreams of gold were not absent from the minds of the enthusiasts Columbus, Cabot and Cartier, as their charters very well testify. But, be this as it may, to improve one's circumstances at all hazards was undoubt- edly "the chief end of man" in the creed of the Vikings, those pirates of the romance of the middle ages, from one of whom our Queen does not disdain to claim descent ; and we can almost imagine that the sons of Eric, as they steered their course through the currents of the North Atlantic, and lay back of an hour to enjoy the swell of the ocean, would sometimes enliven their voyage by singing the song which their father had taught them — the song which tells us that the romance of the Vikings was what some now call the romance of plunder and self-interest. Here are a few stanzas of the rhyme : — * " I iini a Viking' lold Tlio frolic ot the .«ca From bay to bay I roved In .searoli of i-'outhoni proy. I cared for king nor law, E'on God at times forgot — A hrcman on the (k'cp, • My fortune there T .souglit. 2 / J'l p — 10 — In early days my home Ijay towards the polar Hca, Where wintry blasts blow keen ' O'er harvests dank and ilree. There nature's grandeur frownedj Mid beauty wild and nude, On honest toil and its rewards But smiled on hardihood. From boyliood I was tranied To riile the (lord's wave, In search of lish and fowl, The Maelstrom's swell to brave. Ruujih was my garb and scant, And rougl) and scant my cheer, A tdilsome cheerless life was mine To a spirit uncurbed by fear. But I heard of southern lands, An'', hope braced all my powers, My (h'eanis were all of gold, Mv thoughts were golden showers. As r heard of all the wealth That makes life gay and free. And iitted up my iisher's craft To sail the southern sea. Europa's bays I swept— A Viking bold become — The Southern's wealth I stored T'enrich my kin at home. ' To civilize my native vale. To live a life of ease, To rule a king by dini of gold, Thus roamed I o'er the seas." In this connection, a word of explanation may be given about the Norwegian Sagas, from two of which the tradi- tional story of the Northmen's visit to America is taken. The term Saga is an old Norse word signifying a tale, a report, a document, and has been used latterly altogether in connection with certain narratives which constitute the ancient literature of the Scandinavians. These narratives profess to be founded upon traditions, and evidently have been elaborated, in the process of memorizing and tran- "ribing, by the old story-tellers and scribes of that northern ^oe. Modern investigation has succeeded in separating the semi-historical from the purely legendary Sagas, and in the former are included the two narratives which tell us of -11- Eric Randa and his sons. Those documents are by no means corroborative in their collateral statements, but the source from which has been drawn the substance of their story seems to have been a common one. Interesting as the vvlir.le subject is, it is of course not my purpose to dis- cuss minutely the historical aspect of a pre-Columbian dis- covery of America. As there are many arguments for and against the truth of such a discovery, a separate paper would have to be written on th» question. For instance Bancroft, in the opening chapter of his history, throws the story aside as worthless and as one which nobody should have the patience to discuss. Several have suffered at the hands of critics, for narrating the event in the pr-^cise lan- guage of history. It has been said that the doubtful story detracts from the renown of other discoveries ; that Co- lumbus is thereby throv^'u in the shade ; that great natural changes have worked wonders in the northern seas, which when considered, must render the story ridiculous ; that Greenland as a Norwegian colony is a myth ; that there is no mention of such a discovery in authentic Norwegian history ; that even Iceland was little known in the tenth century. To all these the less impatient answer may be made, that the internal evidence to be collected from the two Sagas, which narrate the event, is sufficient to over- turn therji as mere assertions. The story was certainly known before the time of Columbus. It is highly prob- able that he heard of the adventure during his visit to Re- kiavik. The descriptions of the lands discovered, espe- cially in the case of Vinland, indicate the Atlantic shores of North America, the shores of Newfoundland, Nova Sco- tia, and Massachusetts. The fogs, the bare barren rocks, the cold biting blasts, the icebergs drifting down from the Arctic seas, make up a picture of Newfoundland to be seen even in our own times. The Markland of the Sagas was i — 12- evidontly the Nova Scotia of to-day as scon from the At- lantic. The equal days and nights, the genial climate, the fertile soil, the honey dew on the grass, the wild maize and the rich clusters of grapes, the numerous islands and their products, all indicate that the Vinland discovered w^as the original of the land near Cape Codr Then again when we study the narrative in the light of the manners and cus- toms prevailing at the present day in the Ultima Tliule of the ancients, the circumstantial evidence becomes stronger and stronger ; and when last of all we consider the fact that the Sagas referring to Eric are found classed among the histories and not among the legends of ancient Norwegian times, we surely must come to the decision that the tale of the discovery of America in the tenth century, with the odds all in favour of its historical verification, may v/orthi- ly rank as an opening chapter in the history of America. As a contrast existing between the Saga historical and the Saga legendary, I may quote Sir Walter Scott as he w rites of the latter. In that weird tale of his the Pirate, in which he describes events as having taken place in 1720 or thereabout, he utters the following : — "At this time, the old Norwegian Sagas were much remembered and often rehearsed by the fishermen of Shetland, who still preserv- ed among themselves the ancient Norse tongue, which was the speech of their forefathers. In the dark romance of these Scandinavian tales lay much that was captivating to the youthful ear ; and the classic fables of antiquity were rivalled at least, if not excelled by the strange legends which were to be heard from the native Shetlanders. Often the scenes around the visitor were assigned as the locality of wald poems, which, half recited, half chanted by voices as hoarse if not as loud as the waves o'er which they floated, pointed out the very bay on which they sailed as the scene of a bloody sea fight; the scarce seen -18- - s Ls rs. le >v F In heaps of stones that bristled over the projecting cape, as the dun or castle of some potent earl or noted pirate ; the distant and solitarj'^ gray stone on the lonely moor as mark- ing the grave of a hero : the wild cavern up which the sea rolled in heavy, brown, and unbroken billows, as the dwel- ling of some noted sorceress." Thus does the "Wizard of the North," in describing the Saga legendary, indirectly enhance the value of the Saga historical, and assists us in the verification of the story of the Northmen, the first of Europeans to see the shores of the Maritime Provinces. The history of all nations, at their origin, is perplexingly shrouded in a cloud of tradition, and the story of the North- men, as I have shown, makes no exception of the Maritime Provinces in this respect. But this uncertainty, caused by the vagaries of tradition, does not end with the Northmen : it is in fact all that is left to us after a i)rotracted study of the past of the aborigines of these provinces. The Mic- macs, as an historical study, hold about the same relation to the historic period that opens with the arrival of the French settler, which the ancient Britons, the Gauls, the Pelasgians, or the Hellenes hold in reference to succeeding times occurring respectively in England, France, Italy and Greece. Of their deeds among themselves in past times there is no authentic record. They have never been able to go back further than a generation or two from their own times, unless in the recital of a few fables and romances which have evidently been handed down through many generations. So that when the historian desires to devote a chapter to the savage tribes which held the seaboard of the Dominion in past ages, he has to confine himself to the discussion of their manners and customs, their means of obtaining a livelihood, and the influence which the Euro- pean settler has had upon their destiny as a distinct race. And so often have these points been discussed that it is not -14- easy to say anything conccrnini^ thorn which has not al- ready been said. For instance, how oi'ten has it been re- peated in our ears that the red man must eventually disap- pear before the onward march of the white man and his progressive ideas ? How often has the insufficient infe- rence gone the rounds, that as the animal nature sinks be- fore mental activity, so the savage must deteriorate in pre- sence of civilization and its eflects ? It is true that the Eu- ropean, in his attempts to bring the Indian within the pale of his more modern manners and customs, has not been very successful, and whatever proofs can be found in other parts of the Dominion against this assertion, it is cer- tainly true with respect to his efforts in the Lower Prb- vinces. But has the man of civilization gone about his work in the right way or at the right time ? I think the answer to that is found in the fact that he has really not altogether failed in improving the condition of his dusky neighbours. The exertions which have been put forth in settling them on their own lands, in reducing their speech to a written language, and in j)lacing the Bible in their hands, have not been without their gratifying results. But is it not only in very modern times that the Indian has been able to learn anything good of the white man ? "What example was placed before him by Europeans — by the French and English — when they quarreled among them- selves for the mastery in the country, which was his by right of inheritance ? The French trainin^f him in the arts of cruelty and theft, and the English torturing him after- wards for showing his aptitude in learning the barbarous lesson ! And what a code of morals w^as at first placed before him by those who were ever seducing his daughters and sisters, and making murderers of his sons and brothers ? It is just possible that in the case of the Micmacs the doc- trines of (Christianity and civilization have been taught too rUr — 15 — las lat the em- by arts ler- ons iced ters jrs? oc- too late. It is said that they arc already gradually decreasing in numbers, notwithstandinj^ the fostering care of the re- spective Provincial Governments. The few settlements which exist are, however, held together by the spirit of chiefdom which still prevails ; and this in itself is, in the opinion of some, suihcient to prevent them from becoming an extinct race. Notwithstanding the intermixture of white blood, they may continue to exist as a distinct class, living in the provinces as the gypsies do in England, part- ly dependent on charity for their livelihood, partly on de- sultory employments. But while the white man has had an influence upon the Indian in early times to his moral hurt, in more modern times to his bodily comfort and probable decay, the Indian, on the other hand, taught the white man many a lesson, without which he could hardly have contended against the hardships of a forest life. At the outset, the Indian was the superior being of the two, — he knew all about the forest trails, the rivers, the lakes, and the hills, ajid as a guide was indispensable to the early settler. He was even richer than most of the adventurers who arrived from France and England ; for was he not the lord and owner of the soil ? and could he not tell the colonists of his trea- sures in furs and the products of the chase ? In numbers also the Indians had the advantage over those little com- panies that in early times were to be found as squatters at the head of some bay or on the banks of some navigable river. Then again, when the French and English were contending for th(i imperium, the Indian may be said to have held in his hand the balance of power. Sometimes he was in favour of the English, but very much oftener in favour of the French, For years he was a terror to the city of Halifax. On one occasion the savages de- stroyed the thriving settlement of Dartmouth ; and at other \ — 16 — times forced the Germans of Lunenburg to protect them- selves behind a strong barricade round their town. Alto- gether the Indians played an important part during the development ot the provinces into a regularly organized English colony ; and consequently in his dealings with them, either in obtaining land from them by treaties and bar- gains or by violence and conquest, in purchasing for a trifle their furs and other small wares, or in resisting their stealthy attacks on his home, the Frenchman, the English- man or the Scotchman must have acquired many of those habits and characteristics which are peculiar to his de- scendants, the Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers. The problem of the probable extinction of the Micmac, surrounded as it is with his past activities, and his present indifference to the progress of the times, is an interesting one to those of our scientists who strive to verify the •' survival " theory. As a study in archaeology, the Indian will continue to engage the attention of our budding his- torians. Our poets will not forget to fan his forest experi- ences into a blaze of poetic fervour, dreaming, like their forerunners, of the glories of the forest primeval, the chivalric oratory around the council fires, and the sensuous blessings which awaited the red man in the happy hunting grounds of a future life. In our holiday excursions, in search of the game which glistens in our river pools, or scuds through our forest glades, we will still place our confidence in "Lo" as a reliable guide and helpmate. Per- haps the ultra aesthetic tastes of the present time, Vv^hen they begin to influence Canadian society, may cause some to regret the i)ast age which he represents, and the opening era by which it is eclipsed. The busy burr of our mills a^~l factories , may appear less interesting or pleasant to some than the cooing of the wild pigeon that feared no fowler ; the shooting of our rapids in a canoe, more Ling in or our Per- hen ome ling [Is Lt to no lore \ ■ ) I my picturesque than navigation by steamboat ; the conical wigwams and palisades of an Indian village, a sweeter pic- ture than the palaces of our merchant princes and our smoke-girt towns ; the sweep of our steel bound railways and the scream of the steam-horse, less romantic than the Indian's trail and his ecstatic war-whoop. But what of all this to the future of the Indian. He can never return. As a factor in the progress of the Maritime Provinces, he is now a mere cipher, perhaps ia, minus quantity, a burden. The decree of the survival of the fittest, I am afraid, has gone out against him. And the bright prospect of peace and pros- perity which lies before our country, as well as its present pro- gress and advancement among the nations of the earth, is too pregnant w^ith the happiness of those who now are its pos- sessors, and with the glory of God who made all things for their best use, for us to regret the degeneration of a race that resisted our first attempts at its civilization and improve- ment. As the traditional period in the history of a country is usually succeeded by an epoch more strictly historical, and one referring to those migrations of outside tribes, w^hich gave affairs an impetus towards a new condition of life, so the true history of the Maritime Provinces opens with that tide of immigration which, in the seventeenth century, began to flow from the countries of Europe, towards the western shores of the Atlantic. The Dorian and ^olian Migrations spread over the Peloponnesus a race of hardy warriors, whose descendants made the leaf-shaped penin- sula the cradle of events which rendered Europe victorious over Asia and her despots, and which thus moulded the future destiny of the world. The Phoenicians, in their descent upon Africa, established a city commonwealth, which, in its rivalry with Rome, has filled the pages of history with the great events of the Punic Wars. With 3 i — 18 — like results did the Franks push their way into the heart of Gaul, and by their operations lay the foundations of an empire, which, for centuries, has ranked as one of the first nations in the world. In like manner did the Saxons enter a country which was little better than a wilderness, and by their prowess and courage, disseminate those elements of character, which have made ih.'? name Anglo-Saxon the synonym of progress and enterprise. Thus have migrations begun new eras. There is no history of Greece before the Dorian migrations. Nothing eventful is known of Africa previous to the building of Carthage. Coesar and his legions, it may be said, created a history of invasion and subjection in Gaul, but it was Clovis and his followers who stamped, by their achievements, the opening chapter of the history of France. And what is all we know about Britain, before the migration of the Saxons, the Jutes and the Angles ? Just what we know of primeval Greece, of I'alasgic Italy, ofpre-historic Africa or of Canada when the Indians were its only inhabitants. Thus there may be a relationship established between the migrations of old, and the immigration movements, which brought to the provinces of America, the French, the English, the Irish, the German, and the Scotch colonists, during the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries. Indeed as a study the latter are by far the most interesting of those. The task of deducin'g national characteristics from the intermingling of various tribes, and from early historical events is nowhere so easy as in the new countries of the world. Of the old world migrations we can only have the merest outlines. "Wo can only surmise by what they subsequently effected, the character of the people who joined in them. The people themselves we cannot accompany. We know nothing of their thoughts and feelings. "We kilow nothing of the life they left behind, of the influences which had I '^.' ^ -19 — moulded their character in one land, or of thosnrroundinj^s which were to mould them dillerently in a new land. For instance it would be temerity itself to say whence comes the bravado of the modern Greek, the charlatanism of the Italian, the stolidity of the German, or the lively and brilliant spirit of the French. The origin of such oharac- terislics is buried in antiquity itself. Like ihe round towers of Ireland, they stand before us as real ellects, sterling realities, of which no one can say who was the builder, who the originator, what their origin. But it is altogether dillerent with the first migrations of Europeans across the Atlantic. We know all about them. No expedition set out without its historian or recorder. In every band there was generally some one who could place in manuscript the events of the voyage, and the early conditions of the country, when it was reached. Besides, the emigrants came from old-time kingdoms and empires, where the national character had long been formed. Indeed as a people and nation, their whole career is now known in all its details. We know not only the date of the discovery and foundation of the various provinces of Canada, but we know the individual lives and characters of those who were the leaders of the expeditions ; and thus it is that the task of seeking the foundation of certain Canadian traits of character, and of some of the manners and customs of our couniry, is an easy one, when compared with a similar search in the annals of other countries. Let us look then at the various immigration movements which have thus affected the growth and development of the Maritime Provinces, and the character of their inhabitants. Again giving way to a very common weakness, if weak- ness it may be called, of comparing later movements with earlier movements, lesser events with greater, I turn ycur /" attention to the opening of the seventeenth century. The date 1603 is one which is marked indelibly on the mind of everyone as being the year in which good Queen Bess passed away to her rest ; and by means of it school-boys still assist the memory in retaining the date 1605, the year in which the first permanent settlement was made in Acadia by the French ; for thus by three years does old Port Royal in the Maritime Provinces take precedence of old Quebec. In Elizabeth's time, the early era of discovery and colonization had attained to its zenith of glory, and no doubt it w^as in emulation of the seamen who had sailed from the Thames and the Bristol Channel, and had made their renown in the western seas, that Jacques Cartier left his native port of St. Malo, and DeMonts the imperial harbour of Havre, to establish their colonies in New France, Next in interest to the story of the Northmen, and quite as romantic in its details, is the history of the discovery and early colonization of Acadia by the French. The name of Acadia, so sweet to the ear of the poet, simply means in the original Micmac, a place abounding in, or ha^'ing in abundance everything it possessed — a i^lace abounding in forests, fish, and fur-bearing animals. The name in its purity of course is Acadie, being thus preserved in the names of such places as Shubenacadie and Tracadie. And just as the gold fields formed the first attraction towards the fertile sierras of California or the large paddocks of Australia, or as that vast sweep of prairie land of ours has made so young a name as Manitoba known all over the world, so the shiploads of furs and fish which could be obtained for a mere song in Acadia, attracted hundreds of traders to the Port of Canso and its vicinity. Indeed, as in the case of the Californian miner whose perpetual thought was of gold, and as in the case of the ■Ml KSW^ ■n^ • The nincL of m Bess Dol-boys ;he year nade in loes old sdeuce of Liscovery , and no .ad sailed lad made irtier left , imperial in New and qnite discovery ch. The ,et, simply iiig in, or -a place lals. The preserved Tracadie. attraction Ithe large I of prairie [)ba known fish which attracted ts vicinity. \(xx whose -ase of the I ^2i — Winnipeg speculators whose daily cry, I am afraid, is land, when the European fishermen and traders found their way to the shores of the Maritime Pr^rinces, they cared for nothing in the country save its fish and its furs. They beheld the thick forest around them as a vast hunting ground, in which could be entrapped the bear, wolf, beaver, fox and other animals, whose skins had a welcome market in England and France. And as a matter of fact this trade in fish and peltry was the origin of the Maritime Provinces as a fixed community. Just as in other parts of Canada, as everybody knows, the owners of the vessels which arrived once a year, bought the furs from the natives at a nominal i^rice. Afterwards as trade increased, and competition by chartered companies sprang up, collecting stations were established at various points, where the native fur-trappers could leave their forest spoils in ex- change for provisions. At these stations Europeans were appointed as the collectors, who, as the first merchants of the country, became the first farmers ; for around their rude dwellings, when they found it to be their interest to remain permanently in the country, they soon began to clear and to cultivate a patch of land, which could produce for them a supply of corn and vegetables. The attempts to colonize Acadia began with the ill-fated expedition of the Marquis de la Roche. The story of the sufferings encountered on the sands of Cape Sable Island may yet be woven into a novel as interesting as " Ilobinson Crusoe," or its modern imitation by Charles Read. And there is another subject for our poets and painters in the events which enshrine the names ot De Monts and Champlain, as they steered from Annapolis Basin to the little island at the mouth of the St. Croix, and back again to build their capital at Port Royal. There is in our library here the whole story told by one, who if not an eye witness of all BB i^aBw ^•^m %' ^2~. the events, could say of many of them, as ^neas said to Dido, quorum magna pars fax. From Marc Lascarbot, that romantic advocate from France, v\'^e can learn of the labours, pleasures and hardships of Acadia's first permanent settle- ment ; and certainly his harmless gossip and quaint hu- mour make up a pleasant tale. His records of receptions, amusements, hunting parties, festivities, and explorations throw a halo of interest around the times ; and show how he and his associates resisted the rigours of the climate and bore up against the hardships of their new life. From the first there was peace with the Indians and no thought of invasion. The abundant provisions sent out from France to the brave colonists were increased by the game and fruit of the famous Annapolis valley. The natives brought in large quantities of furs, and showed their white friends where and how more co'.IJ be found. The society of Le bon temps, our historian's own idea, with its feasts and frolics, its hunting and exploring parties, its poems and songs, helped to wear away the fierce winter days with their long nights, as each of the loaders took his turn in providing for the common table. At that table was fre- quently to be seen the bent form of an old Indian chief. This was that old Member tou who had befriended the French braves from the first. His presence there formed the living link between the age of barbarism going out in the Maritime Provinces, and that of civilization coming in. Over a period of a century and a-half, up to the time of the first siege of Louisburg, the afiairs of the French con- tinued to develope. Events cluster for the most part around the little copital. Port Royal. The jealousy, which sprang up in the hearts of the New Englanders against the French colony, can hardly be understood by us of the present time, but certainly around Port Royal and along the shores of the Bay of Fundy were to be seen, in 1700, m Ill iiii. lof m- irt ih. 1st le \S 0. 7v .i -.23 — evidences of a ruthlessness which ought to have made any civilized nation blush. One of the most memorable in- stances of cruelty was Colonel Church's second expedi- tion. With a force of fifteen vessels and five hundred men he was commissioned by the New Eni^landers to destroy everything French along the Bay of Fundy ; and he per- formed his work in a manner satisfactory to the blindest spirit of revenge. From Penobscot to Chignecto nearly every village was burned to the ground, and the inhabi- tants forced to seek shelter in the woods ; while around Beaubassin and the district of Minas, every means of de- fence was removed, the refractory were put to death, and all property was torn down in order that it might be swept away by the tide, which the dykes that had been cut down by the avengers no longer kept back. Yet, notwithstanding heartlessness of this kind, the Aca- dian settlements flourished. The appearance of old Anna- polis with its dyked farms rendered fertile with the rich alluvial deposits of its river, — with its fine meadows, its fields of wheat, rye and oats, and its tidy kitchen gardens, — with its garrison life, rendered eiijoyable by the merry social gatherings of its three hundred families, makes up a picture which, with a little romance to heighten its colour, might rival the pleasant imagery of Longfellow that- still 80 often stirs up sympathy for the unfortunates of Grand Pre. I need not tell you that the whole A'alley, dug up and cultivated by the industry of the past fifty years, is now a garden in itself; and, if we are to believe Paul Mas- carene's report to the Board of Trade, it gave promise as early as the seventeenth century of its present fertility. In the days of stage coaching, no brighter ride was to be had in the Maritime Provinces than that which begins with the birth-place of Sam Slick, and carries the traveller down the broad pathway which stretches between the North and 3^ ^BBSm 24 \ South Mountains of Nova Scotia. What variety of scenery there is on every hand, as the driver, who is possibly a bit of a poet, points out to us the spots of historic interest, those pleasant farms of which, as Longfellow says, " naught now, but tradition remains." On the right stretches the marshland towards the Basin of Minas, and away in the distance rises Blomidon, the terminus of a well defined range of hills. As we pass amid the milder scenery, Aca- dia, for the moment, becomes Arcadia, with orchards, orchards everywhere. The sluggish river winding in and out with its hundred links, lazily flowing between its yel- low banks, and laden with that golden mud which, when spread over field and meadow by the farmer, makes the valley smile with fertility ; the striking contrast between the yellow of the river's bed and the bright green of the closely shaven meadows ; the high hills of the Bay of Fundy just crested with the floating fog on the far away side ; the little villages that ev'cry two or three miles peep out on us from behind a curtain of green and orange and yellow ; and last of all, as we reach our halting place for the day in the little hostelry of Annapolis, the golden sunset just kissing the high land, and warping its eflulgence over the sleepy v/aters of the great triangular basin, — all these produce for us a magnificent panorama, with a still more magnificent transformation scene at its finale. No one can readily forget such a seen a after once looking upon it. Standing amid the ruins of the fort of the old capital, with a reverence for things past as our monitor, and the poet's fancy to set the strings of the heart in gentle vibration, who can fail to dream of the emotions which stirred the souls of DeMonts, Champlain, Poutrincourt and Lescarbot, as their eyes fell for the first time upon the beautiful harbour of Port Royal and its surroundings? Does not the same dream sanctify some ^of us at times, when from i J rs: >-v 11 o 1 t — 25- the commanding site of the King's Bastion we drink in a soul-purifying draught at nature's shrine ? As her beauty lies spread out before us, does our fancy not flutter ior a moment around the memories of those who first lay at anchor in our great roadstead ? No need to wonder why Champlain, after once seeing our Cape, selected it as the site of his capital ! Our thoughts, as the eyes sweeps round from Beauport to St. Joseph, are probably w^hat his thoughts were, our emotions his emotions, the same lifting "up of the soul to God — from nature to nature's God — the same thankfulness that he has made this world of ours so beautiful to dwell in. As Tom Moore said when standing on the brink of Niagara : — "At such a moment we perceive enough of nature's grandeur to set imagination on the wing — imagination which at such times can outrun reality. We feel as if approaching the dwelling place of the Most High, and remain for a while in that delicious absorption which the enthusiasm of piety alone can produce. Our whole heart and soul ascend towards the Deity in a swell of devout admiration." So it must have been with the little band who made a home for themselves at Port lioyai. The develo] >ment process of the scientists, even when assisted by the industry of the husbandman, does not change the face of nature very much in two centuries ; and surely we are safe in saying that the beauty which attracted the first French settlers was that whicli now attracts thousands of holiday-seekers to Annapolis- Basin. But all activity was not confined to Foit Royal. Further up the bay, at Chignecto, there were to be seen both wealth and enterprise. There was enterprise in the building ol expensive aboideaux on the rivers, and in the trade which had sprung up with Louisburg in hay, oats, and cattle; while there was wealth in the coal seams which were to be seen cropping out on the surface, and in the fine stretches 4 £ V \V ."iff mitmm 9BP 26- \ of meadow land. At the head of Cobequid Bay, near the spot where the flourishing town ot' Truro now stands, a little community of fifty families farmed and fished, and there hid for a season from the Government orders in regard to the taking of the English oath of allegiance. At Canso, which is the oldest of the French settlements in Nova Scotia, fortune was very fickle. There, wealth was as easily lost as gained ; a good fishing season then, as now, made the fisherman forget his woes ; a bad one threw him into the hands of creditors who knew how to make his debts hang over him like the sword of Damocles. On the Saint John river, French enterprise grouped itself round the three principal forts — Latour, Jemseg, and Nashwaak. The defense of the first by the brave Avife of a brave man, and the attack upon Nashwaak, are about the only two interesting events in early New Brunswick history, and they have been told in as many literary styles as there are hues to the rainbow. When General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, was sent to the Island of St. John, that is Prince Edward Island, he found at Port La Joie a settlement with its fort and French commandant, and was told of other settlements along the eastern coast. He also found some French families living on the banks of the Miramichi, where French Fort Cove and Beaubair's Island have each their romance. There is no certahity in the statements made about the discovery of Prince Edward Island, and there is as little in the reports about its early occupation by the French. We are told that Sieur Doublet, a French naval officer, received a grant of the whole island from the Company of New France, and that he, in company with two others, managed to make a living out of the fisheries. In 1752 there were more than a tliousand inhabitants, as is testified by a French report which extols the country for its fertility, the abundance of game, and the value of its 1 — 27 rc fisheries. In the year of the fall of Lonisburg there were four thousand people, an increase which can be explained by the troubles existing between the English and French on the mainland, and the expulsion of the Acadians in 1775. Many of these unfortunates escaped to the Island to join those of their own nationality who had taken farms there. In mentioning the expulsion of the Acadians, al)out w^hich so much has been written by everybody who has undertaken to write about Nova Scotia, I have only a word to say, and I have said the same many years ago. There are two sides to the story of Acadian prosperity and inno- cence, as it w^as witnessed around the Basin of Minas. The frugality aiid comfort of these simple hearted farmers, their large Hocks of sheep and oxen roaming over the well cul- tivated farms, their plenteous crops raised by the hard hand of industry, their quaintly built dwellings, but above all, their piety and simple manners, their benevolence and up- rightness give life and interest to the chapter over wdiich we love to ponder. In a book lying before me, 1 am told that their expulsion w'as owing to their disloyalty, or rather to their intrigue and want of lidelity. There is some truth in this, as they were apt to ba too easily led into error by the flattering tongue of that tempter of men, Joseph De Loutre. But those who write of them as idlers, quarrel- some, living in the squalid misery of WTotched huts, yet hoarding up gold for its own sake, have the prejudice of thousands of readers against them. One can hardly give credence to the truth of the eclogue produced by Raynal in his prose and Longfellow in his verse. The Acadians were not all saints because an apparently unjust decree of exile was issued against them ; nor were they all bad be- cause they refused to take an oath they abhorred. Their punishment was the effect of stubbornness and duplicity, not of crime. As a matter of fact only about half of them / ■■ 1 Wore exiled, numbers of them contriving to lingel* around the homesteads, and others of them seeking refuge in set- tlements far remote from the influence of the English soldier. When peace was concluded between P'rance and England, a large number of these unhappy people were allowed to return, and settle on lands provided for them by the Government. The principal Acadian settlements are to be found in Clare, Yarmouth or Cumberland, and along the shores of New Brunswick ; Grloucester and Ma- dawaska are purely French counties; in "Westmoreland, Kent and Northumberland are to be found large numbers of the descendants of those who had been expelled. I have also a word to say about Louisbourg, whose trade and w^ealth in its palmy days is still the cause of regret for its destruction. It was built for the protection of its lisheries, and though the expense of its fortifications was great, the revenue from the fish trade made it a profitable outlay. With the West Indies and New England there was for many years a considerable traffic ; in return for fish there came from the former sugar, tobacco and coffee ; from the latter fruit, vegetables, oats, shingles and bricks. It w^as also the centre of commence between Europe and Canada, the furs of the St. Lawrence country being there exchanged for the manufactured goods of England and France. Its Government was purely military, with the Governor at the head of the Supreme Court, which tried the soldier and civilian under the same legal authority. There was also an Admiralty Court for the prevention of smuggling, as well as an Inferior Court for the punishment of minor offences reported by the police. The religion of the colony was regulated by missionaries from our city of Quebec here. There were hospitals under the care of six friars, and schools under the superintendence of the nuns. There were strong, handsome buildings, busy streets, T 29 tnarkcts and wharfs on which the merchant jostled the idling- soldi(ir and drove a hard bargain with the poor fisherman. Long lines ol warehouses, holding the wealth of the lishiug season, or its proiits in European goods, stood within and without the walls ; and of all this only a few mounds of ruljbish remain within the line of its glacis and ditch. The dismantling of its walls and fortilLcations, the destruction of its houses and streets, the expulsion of its inhabitants, surely prevented what can be seen in Quebec every day, — an English minority living in peace and har- mony with a French majority under the impartial protec- tion of the mother land. As one passes across the little Louisbourg graveyard near Point Koch ford, with here and there a human bone, the splinter of a wooden cross, or a rough stone looking through the dark soil, the heart cannot fail to beat tenderly for those who lie there, so hurriedly buried in the hour of misfortune and triumph, so strangely foreshadowing by the mingling of their dust, the peace which now prevails between French and English, in Acadia united to Canada. The fall of Louisbourg was the last throe in the struggle which gave birth to Now Scotland. And contemporaneous history shows what a terrible time it was all over the world, when the first eiforts were being put forth by the French to make something permanent out of Acadia. Perhaps there is no period in the history of modern times so full of historical phenomena as the lirst half of the seventeenth century — the epoch in which the pioneers of New France were beginning their severe task of laying the foundations of a new principality in the west. For instance, in Eng- land there was to be witnessed the great contest between liberty and prerogative, ending with a scene tljie like of which Englishmen had never before been called to look upon, nor ever will again — the execution of their king on — 30 — the public scallbld. In Franco, the assassination of Itcnry IV" by tlie iiiiiatic Kavaillac — a crime which makes the blood curdle when we see it repeated at our neighbour's^ door by the wretched Guiteau — opened the way for Ivi- choliou's ambition and the terrible wars it excited. In Germany, the " thirty j^ears' war," in ruining the trade of the country, and in crushijig the pi'ople under a burden of taxation, crippled the already debilitated power of the emperor and cut up the empire into a multitude of petty states. And so it was also in other countries. Spain w^as in an unsettled state from the cruel eccentricities of Philip II; Sweden was all excitement, under the brave Adolphus, who had need of all his bravery in checking the simul- taneous aggressions of three powerful States ; Russia was convulsed by the murder of the Cxar, the appearance of several pretenders to the throne, and the hornlile outrages of the invading Tartars ; Poland was overwhelmed by the united attack of six of her most dangerous enemies, and saw her King forced to flee to a neigliboring State for pro- tection ; and even little Denmark, who did not dare to call her mind her own in the midst of such turmoil all over Europe, was violently disturbed by the unseemly strife be- tvs^een her nobles and the common people. But this is not all. The commotion did not conline itself to the quarrels of kings and nations, and the ambitious cruelties of men. The w^hole earth seemed to be convulsed in some strange manner, as if nature had joined in the turmoil, or as if Providence was violently regulating at this period, more than at any other, the alfairs of the world. Hardly a country escaped the various plagues, which continued, for a time, to decimate the people. Fierce tempests swept over England, swelling the sea up upon the land, with such destruction to life and property, that men began to think of the times as an approach towards a final dissolu- — 31 — T — " r tion of all thins^s. Some of the phonomona can only be explained by reference to the superstition and ignorance of the period. There were immense conflai^rations in the towns and in the forests ; marvellous appearances filled the heavens ; one day, the sun hid its face, when neither earth nor moon was the cause of the eclipse; and ag-ain, it ap- peared, accompanied by two twinlike suns, haloed by no less than three rainbows ; the prodigious apparition of an armed host, was seen in the sky, earthquakes shook to their foundations some of the towns in England and Scotland, and strange noises were heard rumblins^ through the air, as of armies on the march. Altogether it was the strangest of times. There seemed to be nothing but wars and rumors of wars, commotion in heaven and earth. With the cold shiver of superstition running through us, as we study the appearances and counter-appearances which are reported to have been obsc rved, can we wonder why it was that Acadia had such troublous times in her infancy. The cruelties of the New Englanders, in their exterminating attacks upon the Acadian settlements, and the still more cruel reprisals by the Indians on the New Englanders, only make up a chapter of violence, which was to be read at the time in every other part of the world. What we may wonder at is how the country ever developed to the point to which the French farmers brought it. Farming and fighting, the plough and the musket, the hoe and the sword, were all the time playing the old antagonistic game, with the odds in favour of the latter, and when we read the whole story of the contest, and look at the impress which the French really left upon the Maritime Provinces, we cannot but praise that industry, patience and long suffering patriotism which characterized the Acadians, and which, I need not say, characterise all their descendants ■in these Provinces. Still speaking and thinking in their -32 — native patoia, thoy hold aloof from the blending of the races going on in their vicinity. But they are not the less loyal to provincial interests, though they still love to talk of the patriotic exploits of tlieiv Ibrefatliers in the very districts of the country, which Providence seems from the first to have selected for them as peaceful retreats, t^ome- times they hold a public festival or national gathering, as that seen last summer at Memramcook, when their French blood is again w^armed, under the inlluence of French oratory, and the enthusiasm of their leaders. In June of the year 1749, and in May of the year 17H3, there occurred two events which have had a remarkable influence in developing the Maritime Provinces as nourishing English colonies. Those involved the founding of what are now their two largest cities, IlalifJAX and St. John. After the date of the treaty of Aix-Li-Chapelle, a change took place in Britain's colonial policy. Tin; expense of defending a country, in w^hich there was only a handful of Englisli- speaking sulyects, led British statesmen to consider what ought to be done to improve the country, so as to make it an attractive place for those Englislimen who wished to make a new home lor themselves in America. The build- ing and capturing of Nova Scotian forts, it is true, had brought some glory to British arms, but everybody felt that conquest without colonization was fiuit of the Dead Sea kind. TTp to this time, the English communities in Nova Scotia had made little or no progress. And why should we bo surprised at the lact ? It w^as more than a hundred years since James I, gave over to his favourite, William Alexander, tlie whole territory of the Maritime Provinces. But their whole history during that time is a mere recital of subjugation and subsequent restoration. The country was no sooner reduced by British arms, than it was restored to the French, wiienever the two mother _ mm ""^"mmmmmm ■M — 38 — I of the the loss J to talk he very rom the Some- n-'ing;. as ■ Fronch Fioneh HlUhero nfluenoo Kiiglish are now Lfter the place in ndin<^ a English- er what make it ished to le bnild- ruc, had )ody felt he Dead nitios ill nd why than a aA'ourite, Maritime ime is a storation. ms, than i mother lands settled their disputes and European quarrels. One year, the English settler became the privileged party, and next year all his privileges and advantages were set aside by the French, once more dominant. In ^jigland, there never had been any well deiined policy, with respect to the future ol this part of Canada. Englishmen were ac- customed to talk of Nova Scotia in the most heedless man- ner. They were inclined to think that the eternal iitness of things, pointed to Acadia as a French colony, just as it pointed to New England as a perpetual English colony ; and who will say that but for the jealousy of the New Englander against the French, and his subsequent hatred of taxation and tea, the justice of the thought might not have been supported by the course of events ! But, in 1749, the Province of Nova Scotia, which in- cluded, at this time, the territory now comprised within the Maritime Provinces — all Acadia, except Cape Breton — was finally secured to Britain. There was to be no more ceding of the country to France. A scheme to encourage immigration was set on foot, and readily received the sanction of the British ministry; although, I am afraid* their readiness in accepting the scheme, must be traced to another cause than the interests of Nova Scotia. David Hume speaks of the movement in this way : — " As the public generally sullers at the end of a war, by the sudden dismission of a great number of soldiers and seamen, who have contracted a habit of idleness, and linding themselves without employment and the means of subsistence, engage in desperate courses and prey upon the community, it was judged expedient to provide an opening, through which these unquiet spirits might exhale, without damage to the commonwealth. The most natural was that of encouraging them to become members of a new colony in North America, which, by being properly regulated, supported V ■ i j li r-T . « - j iiii r ifr ' ' — 34 — and improved, might be the source of great advantages to its mother country." Be this as it may, a better prospect was before the young colony- The evils under which the Nova Scotian fishermen and farmer had long groaned, were to be attended to. The affairs of the country, so ill-governed for a hundred years, w^ere thrown into the hands of the Board of Trade and Plantations, which at this time was presided over by the Earl of Halifax. In 1748, an adver- tisement appeared, under the sanction of George II, in which it was declared that "proper encouragement would he given to such of the ofiicers and privates, lately dismissed from the land and sea services, as were willing to settle in the Province of Nova Scotia ; that the fee-simple of fifty acres of land should be granted to privates, free from the payment of taxes for ten years ; that, over and above these fifty acres, each person should receive a grant of ten acres for every individual of which his family should con- sist ; that further grants should be made in proportion as they should manifest their abilities in agriculture ; that every officer, tinder the rank of ensign in the land service, or lieutenant in the navy, should be gratified wuth four- score acres on the same conditions ; that two hundred acres should be bestowed on ensigns, three hvtndred on lieutenants, four hundred upon captains, and six hundred on every ofllcer above that degree ; that the lands should be parcelled out as soon as possible after the arrival of the colonists, and a civil government established, by virtue of which they should enjoy all the liberties and privileges of British subjects, with proper security and protection ; that the settlers with their families should be conveyed to Nova Scotia, and maintained for twelve months at the ex- pense of the Government, which should also sttpply them with arms and ammunition as far as should be judged necessary for their defence, with proper materials and uten- ( ■ < — 35 — sils for clearing and cultivating their lands, erecting habi- tations, exercising the fishery, and such other purposes as should be judged necessary for their support." This legislation had the desired effect. The tide of emi- gration began to flow in favor of Nova Scqtia. Cornwallis ar- rived in Chebucto Harbour in 1749, and was accompanied or followed by nearly three thousand families during the first season. Halifax became the successful rival of Annapolis Royal. New companies of immigrants arrived every year. English and Irish settlers came and spread over the adja- cent districts. Dartmouth, which is situated on the oppo- site side of the harbour from Halifax, sprang up as a thriv- ing village. A distinct judiciary w^as established for the province, including a Supreme Court, County Court, and the Court of General Sessions, and in 1758 the first meet- ing of the Legislature took place in the capital. Nor did the young province look only to Britain for her colonists. Reports of the lesources of the new country audits pro- spe' ts were published in Germany, and at one time a large fraction of the population of Halifax were Germans. In 1759 a proclamation was issued inviting the people of New England to take possession of the farms of the expatriated Acadians. The invitation was responded to by a large number of farmers who laid the foundation of the towns or villages on the Basin of Minas and the Bay of Fundy. Thus too were established the towns of Liverpool, Horton; Amherst, Truro, Newport, and Falmouth. In the mean- time, an English settlement was made at Maugerville, on the St. John River. People from the neighbourhood of Boston raised houses for themselves near the marsh lands around Cumberland and Sackville. Over the whole pro- vince there sprang up little communities, which in later times have developed into places of some importance. A new and cheering chapter in the history of progress began -S6 — in the Maritime Provinces. Nova Scotia had at last become an English colony. The age of ever recurring change and appeal to arms had passed. And what improved matters all the more rapidly lay in the fact that very many of the settlers were farmers of experience. The most of them had the sterling characteristics of useful members of society. They knew already what it was to struggle with a will against difficulties and dangers. The New England immi- ffrants knew wiiat it was to reduce the wild forest land to a sta'e of order and cultivation ; and around their new homes, on the hill's side of some Nova Scotian valley, by the shores of some New Brunswick river, or in sight of the golden sand of a Prince Edward Island bay, their industry soon made " the w^ilderness to blossom as the rose." Even before the "War of Independence, the Maritime Provinces began to lose their reproach of being a barren, inhospitable land, swarming with savages, and fit only for the adven- turer, the hunter, or desperado to live in. The year 1749 is certainly the dote best to be remembered by Nova Sco- tians, and here is how one of their poets celebrates it : — Hail to the clay when the Britons came o'er And planted their standard, with sea-foam still wet : Above and around us their spirits shall hover. Rejoicing to mark how we honour it yet. Beneath it the emblems they cherished are waving, The rose of old England the wayside perfumes, The Sliamrock and Thistle the nin-th winds arc braving, Serenely the Mayflt)\v-er bJuahes and blooms. In the temples they founded, their faith is maintained ; Every foot of the soil they be(i[ueathed is still ours ; Tlie graves where they moulder no foe has profaned, But we wreathe them with verdure and strew them with tlowei's The blood of no brother, in civil strife pour'd, In this hour of rejoicing encumbers our souls. The frontier's our tield for the patriot's sword, And cursed is the weapon that faction ctmtrols — 37 — I ♦ Then hail to the day ! 'tis with memories crowded Dolightiul to trace thr(j' the mists of the past ; Like tlie features of beauty, bewitcliiiigly shrouded, Tliey shine tliro' tlie shadows time o'er them has cast. I have mentioned the German element in this great im- migration movement. At first there were nearly two thousand of them, who took up their residence in the north end of Halifax, where the name Gottingen, which still indicates one of the streets, bears testimony to the fact of their settlement. But there was a difficulty in the matter of language and style of living. They knew not a word of English, nor much of English customs. Besides, the rocky soil in the neighbourhood of Halifax caused much disap- pointment to those who had read in the proclamation inviting them across the Atlantic, much about the fertility of Nova Scotia. The Government had to consider their case, and that speedily. It was deemed expedient to select a separate district for them at Malagash Bay on the east coast, and there they built the town of Lunenburg. A few of them remained in Halifax, living in the district which is still called Dutch Town, The local history of Lunen- burg is not without its interest. The inhabitants, we are told, suffered very much at first from the stealthy attacks of the Indians. For a while there was sedition among themselves, for some of them thought that they had been badly treated by the British Government. But, notwith- standing all this, the colony llourished, spreading its influence over the tract of land now known as Lunenburg County. It is difficult to forget the words with which Joseph Howe confronted the electors of this district, and won them over to those who were in favour of responsible government. " I half expected," he was accustomed to say, •' that they would have broken my head, but do you know they carried me home on their shoulders." And no won- der, for this is how he met them. " I have been told " T!!^!^Kffi. — as- says he, " how useless it was for me to come here ; that the Grermans did not love free discussion ; that they could not understand me ; that they were deeply prejudiced ; that they venerated my opponents much as some of the heathen nations reverence the ape. Can this be true ? Have you the hands to toil, and the frames to endure, yet not the intellects to understand the true interests of our common country ? Does the old G-erman blood lose its generous and ennobling qualities when it circulates through a Nova Scotian's veins ? Have you the industry, the fru- gality, the honesty of fatherland, yet lack its love of light, its patriotic ardor, its aspirations after knowledge, its devotion to national liberty? Forbid it heaven! The German an enemy to free discussion ! That would be strange indeed. Who, when the world was shrouded in darkness — when knowledge was confined to the student's cell — and free discussion was a crime, first invented the printing press ? A German. Where is that precious relic of human ingenuity and intelligence still preserved ? In a German city, beneath the shadow of the noble hills of the vine clad and abounding llhine. Let it never be forgotten that with the German dynasty came responsible govern- ment into England ; that under the House of Hanover it has flourished ever since, and that Queen Victoria, our English Queen, sprung from a German stock, rules by the principles we have assembled here to assert. If, then, you are Germans, as your forfathers were in 1758, you cannot be enemies to free discussion. But you are Nova l*>cotians ; you are my countrymen, bound to love, to cherish and to guard the land which Providence has given you as a home for yourselves and an inheritance for your children, and it is a foul slander to assert that, in the struggle for our dearest interests, you will be found behind the rest of her population." I SaSBB^SBiBIBHiHWiBliiWI 39 The eighteenth of May is another of those red-letter days in the history of the Maritime Provinces. This is the natal day of the city of St. John, which its inhabitants never fail to commemorate in some fashion or another ; and already we hear from the press of that enterprising town of the prospect of a grand celebration of the " Landing of the Loyalists," when 1883 brings about the centenary of that event. And not to St. John alone, but to all the colonies in British North America is 1783 a memorable year ; for it was during this year that there arrived in the north those loyal bands, who were none the less intelligent, though spoken of by Edmund Burke as " persons who had emi- grated from the United States, anxious to flee from the blessings of the American system of government." "There may be " he says, " many causes of emigration not con- nected with government, such as a more fertile soil or more genial climate — but tliese people had forsaken all the advantages of a more fertile soil, and more southern lati- tude, for the bleak and barren regions of Canada." The words of the author of the " sublime and beautiful " are certainly anything but complimentary either to the good sense of the Loyalists, or to the country which owes its improvement in large measure to their enduiing efibrts. But we, who can read without pr 'judice and from the full- est of information, never doubt nowadays that the pu^-est motives and highest sense of duty alone actuated the vast majority of those who, as soon as the war was over, turned their backs upon their past comforts, upon their happy homes and fertile farms, upon those jmrsuits which their fathers had followed before them, ay ! even upon many friends and relatives who had remained steadfast to them amid all the changes of political strife. They were not of those who had to emigrate from the pressure of want, or to escape the privations of a narrow livelihood. They % k ly y/ r " ' ' ,.fff' HIP-, had no need, like thousands who now tjry their luck in the forest lands of Canada, lo go elsewhere than New England to seek some asylum where in return for their labour they might obtain the comforts of life for themselves and their children. It was not wath them a matter of food and clothing. They had been accustomed from their youth up to the pleasures and enjoyment of civilized life, to the advantages of education and Christian refinement. Their homes in New England and New York, were, in many cases, counterparts of what in the motherland are called the " Merry homes of England." Nor had the republican government peremptorily ordered that they should leave these homes. There w^ere conditions by which they might retain them. But they had not assumed the name of Loya- lists to throw it aside when it interfered with their worldly prospects. They were Loyalists in more than name. Their attachment to their sovereign and to native institutions was what had been seen in more remote times in the sturdy Acadians, and w^hich, perhaps, in these unfortunates, ought to have been more respected by the British Govern- ment. Allegiance to the British Crow^n had been instilled into their minds from childhood, loyal submission to law and order w^as a principle of theirs which thousands of them never thought of questioning, " God save the King," was one of their heartiest anthems. And do we not see a record of all this in the marked loyalty of the people of the provinces by the sea ; we might say, over the whole of Canada ? "When the long political struggle which shook the two Canadas culminated in the rebellion of 1837, there were held, in nearly every town and village in the lower provinces, publie meetings by means of which the people proclaimed in fervent language their deep attachment to the sovereign and the government. And again when the State of Maine sought to encroach upon the territory of ( ■) — 41 see >ple lole ^ook lere '^er )ple to Ithe of New Brunswick, and there was every indication of war between the settlors on the opposite sides of the St. John, the same loyal cry of sympathy for the sister province was heard from every nook and corner in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Nor \\ere they content with mere words. The Nova Scotian House of Assembly unanimously voted .€100,000, and countenanced a levy of 8,000 men to assist the New Erunswickers in repelling the invader. Thus and in many other ways have the Loyalists left their impress upon these provinces. They came to the three provinces to devote all their energies in restoring to them- selves and their children that home-life, which their loyalty to Britain had caused them to abandon. And we all know how successfully they completed their zealous and praise- worthy task. Tlie regions of Canada, they soon found out, were neither bleak nor barren. It was certainly not a land flowing with milk and honey, and this they knew before they left their waving cornfields and fruitful orchards in the United States. But it was, and is, a land where indus- try may always reap the reward of its toil, and this they soon discovered. The struggle with the forest lands began. Farms began to be cultivated. Trade with Britain assumed a more regular and commercial character. Schools and churches were built. Towns began to extend their bounds. The various provinces were divided up into counties. The form of government became representative. And at last those who had endured the privations and hardships of the winter of 1783, began to look with contident hop3 on the prospects of their newly adopted country. I have said that the citizens of St. John claim the 18th of May as the day on which the founders of their city arrived within the shelter ( f their spacious harbour. The hex- ameter of Virgil O fortunali quorum jam mcania sur^unf,waH selected as a hopeful motto, for the new born town, as the 6 I r>*- - mm wmm bnsy immigrants set to work in raising dwellings for them- selves and families. They did not all arrive at the same time, but before the year was out not less than live thou- sand found their way to the shores of New Brunswick's largest river. Among them weredisbanded soldiers, lawyers, clergymen, merchants, farmers and mechanics, — each provided with a guarantee of two years' support from the British Government. This great influx of population brought about the orga- nizing of a new colony under the name New Brunswick, which had up to the year 1784 comprised part of Nova Sco- tia under the name of Sunbury county. Thomas Carleton, who was the first governor of this new province, landed at Parrtown, as St. John was then called, on Sunday, the 21st November, 1784. Next day he issued his first proclamation, setting forth his prerogative as the King's deputy, and calling upon all the inhabitants to be loyal to the interests of the new colony. For two years he ruled the province through a Council of twelve prominent Loyalists. Then he issued warrants for the election of twenty-six members to serve in a House of Assembly which he succeeded in organizing. St. John by this time had become an incor- porated town, the first city in Canada governed by a mayor and aldermen. The honor of being the capital of the pro- vince waS; however, taken from it at a very early period in its history, for when Governor Carleton mo-^-ed his residence to St. Ann's, he changed the name of that place to Fredericton and established it as the seat of government, which it has remained ever since. A very large number of the Loyalists took up their abode in Nova Scotia. In fact they soon constituted a fair pro- portion of the original English settlers in nearly every place of importance in the Maritime Provinces. In some parts, however, they are to be traced more distinctly than (■• -4^- )de |ro- jry ine Ian ill others, their descendants being found in larger propor- tions in the counties of Digby, Annapolis, Guysborough, Shelburne and Hants. It is not pleasant to think that in connection with this movement of immigration, two of the governors eventually became bankrupt. The year which saw New Brunswick a separate province, brought to Cape Breton Island, a governor of its own in the person of Major Desbarres. As soon as he had selected a site for his capital on the sheltered slope where the town of Sydney now stands, he issued a manifesto which proclaimed to intend- ing settlers that free provisions would be granted to those who made their home in Cape Breton, and that all such would likewise receive material for building purposes, and even assistance in clearing their land. This was a tempt- ing oiler to those who had decided to seek a home on British American soil, and over three thousand men and women — mostly Loyalists — accepted the terms and moved to that arm of the sea, which one of our British admirals has designated '' the finest harbour in the world " — to Sydney Harbour. The first winter was a verv hard one for these three thousand souls; for the provisions ran out, and Nova Scotia was unable to render assistance. Happily for the new colony, a store-ship from Quebec was found at Arichat and conducted to Louisbourg harbour, from which place its cargo was carried on sleds to Sydney. All this expense had to be assumed personally by the governor, and when the amount was placed before the authorities at home they refused to reimburse the Major. Shortly after he was withdrawn. He lived in Halifax to the ripe old age of 103 years, but his claims against the British Government, strange to say, were never fairly considered. The other case of bankruptcy had for its victim, Walter Patterson, the first governor of Prince Edward Island. When he came out to that province, it was understood, L -44- that his salary of five hundred pounds and the salaries of his subordinates wore to be drawn from a fund derived from quit-rents. But many of the landlords failed to pay the amount of this tax to the Government, and as a i^ov- ernor can no more starve to death with ecjuanimity than any ordinary mortal when there is a chance of escape, Patterson undertook on his own authority to sell the lands of the defaulters. This raised a storm about his ears both in Charlottetbwn and in London. Scandalous reports were circulated against him at the Colonial OIFice, and Lord Sydney, then (*olonial Secretary, began to have strong sus- picions against a governor who could have the heart to devise such a simple plan of saving himself and family from starvation. The landlords, it was true, would not pay the quit-rents, but neither did they want their lands sold. The governor might go without his salary, but that was his look-out. Consequently an order came out from Eng- land to the effect that the lands which had been sold were to be restored. This Avith the governor was to return the cherry after it had been eaten. The money realized from the sales had gone to pay his debts ; and the House ot Assem])ly would not listen to his plan of passing a Bill re- garding as valid the land sales of 1781. Just at this time began to flow the tide of immigration among the Loyalists. If he could only encourage a few thousands of them to come to Charlottetown and b3 his friends, he might succeed in getting elected a House of Assembly more favourable to his designs. This was what the wily old governor thought, and on the impulse he acted. For the lir.st time in his career as governor of the colony he had the proprietors with him. They actually raised a handsome sum of money to assist in taking the Loyalists across the Straits of North- umberland. Orders were at once issued to apportion lands to them. Hundreds accepted the deeds of conveyance, T — 45 to t, is rs 'Y ni- ls 1^) and many of tluMn settled on the very lands which had been sold. All this time, moreover, the order to restore the lands sold was kept oat of sight. The governor was soon busily engaged in making friends among the Loyalists, in prospect of a dissolution of the House of Assembly. In a word, the elections of 178.') seonred tlie return of members friendly disposed towards His Excellency, and during the second session of the new House, an Act was passed giv- ing effect to the sale of lands made live years before. The working out of the whole scheme however cost Patterson over three thousand pounds, and virtually lost for him his position. The Act was disallowed by His Majesty, a suc- cessor was forthwith appointed, and thus the first governor of Prince Edward Island was oblioed to return to En^-land a ruined man. In connection with the name of the said Walter Palerson we may associate the large influx of a 'Scottish population after the completion of Captain Holland's survey of Prince Edward Island, for it was this immigration of Scotchmen to the Island, that inducted the British authorities to send Patterson out as its first governor. Our President, Mr. LeMoine, entertained us last winter with his very pleasant sketch of the Scot in Canada ; but as he touched but lightly on the Scottish, or rather Celtic, element found in the popu- lation of the lower provinces, I daresay, he will excuse me, if I supplement his popular narrative by a paragraph or two As in the case of the Acadians and the Loyalists, their devotion to a failing cause brought about their exi:)atriation, so had loyalty towards a dethroned line of kings much to do with the arrival of Scotsmen as settlers in the Maritime Provinces The Celtic chiefs of Scotland true to the Stuart cause, flocked round the standard of "bonnie Prince Charlie" in 1745, and fought their last great battle for him on the field of CuUoden. After that disaster, ^i6^ i I! Charles Edward roturiitul to Franco; but for many years alter his departure I'roui ScotUuid there coiitiuued to exist a very disordered state of sooiety in the lli^hhinds inso- much that troops had to be stationed at various centres to watch the chins and their secret operations. All ove ) Highlands there was much the same rebellious feeun^ against the government as is to be seen to-day in Ireland. At length, a plan was proposed })y which 8^»veral purely Highland regiments could be organized, and sent a])road. The recommendation was speedily acted upon and huiulreds of young Celts gladdened with the prospect of gaining glory anywhere in their native kilts, leit.their homes amidst the fastnesses of the Grampians, for the battle-Iields of the continent of Europe and of C^inada. History tells us what stuff they were made of Everywhere they ])roved them- selves the bravest and wiriest of British soldi(»rs. ^ es Wolfe had them in his army when he stormed the w ^ .>eotlund that reverence for religious cere- mony vrhich made him uneasy about his children, and many a long chat he and his wife had about the serious responsibility w^hich rested upon them in the matter of their unchristenod bairns. "It's a heathenish place" the wafe would say, "when one cannot even get their weans baotized." " But what can we do? " the husband would gloomily remark, " I am sure Mr. McGregor might have come round this way, when he was on the Island." " Don't you think we might go into town some day, and get Mr. Desbrisay to do it," pleaded the wife. .■j,i||iii^;iiim(j, - ^49 — " Not if I know it," groaned the Presbyterian, "I want none o' my boys to grow up Episcopals." Mr. Desbrisay was the Church of England clergyman. They were not alone in their dilemma. Other families in the settlement were growing up in the same condition. No missionary had ever v-sited the settlement, and now they were beginning to give up all hopes. At last the heads of the various families discussed the matter among themselves, and all being impressed with the necessity of taking immediate action, it was proposed that, as soon as the harvest was in, they would go up to town in a body, with all their children, infants included, and ask Mr. Desbrisay to enrol them in the usual way as members of Christ's visible church. For some unexplained cause they waited until November, when providing themselves with food and other necessaries for the journey through the woods to Charlottetown, they set out, mothers, fathers, boys and girls, and little children in arms — a goodly crowd of twenty or thirty persons. Arriving safely in town, after a two days' tramp in the forest, they applied to Mr. Desbrisay, who with his usual politeness and kindness admitted them to the church, and x^erformed the ceremony of baptism. Then began the journey homewards. A great load seemed to have been removed from the parents' hearts. It was a kind of holiday with them all, and the miles were as nothing under their willing feet. But towards the afternoon the sky began to lower. The men became anxious. Surely the storm would keep off until next day ! But the more they hoped, the cloudier it seemed to grow, until at last the lic^ht flakes beiran to fall, and the wind began to sigh and moan through the trees. The men buttoned up their homespun coats, and took the living m bundles from the mothers' arms . 7 the little ones clune: to — 50 — the skirts of her who tried to give them shelter. On they went, the snow falling thicker and thicker, and forming a soft but heavy impediment to the little limbs now growing weary. "What was to be done ? They could not return to the town for they were more than eight miles from it. The cold became intense, and penetrated the thickest clothing. The snow fell thick and fast, and blinded them in their slow progress. Even the babies were wide awake and crying with the cold. There was nothing for it, stop they must, and make their camp for the night. At once the men and the big boys went to work with a will. Selecting a sheltered grove, they huddled all the women and children together, and began to collect some brushwood for a fire, and soon all were standing on the warmest side of an immense crackling heap of forest refuse. The children under the new influence became drowsy, and the men, alive to the emergenc}^, tore the green boughs from the silver firs, and tried to make a kind of bed on which the little ones could lie, with boughs below and boughs above. All night the storm continued, and all night it became colder and colder. The frost began to attack their feet, their faces and their ears, notwithstanding a constant replenishing of the fire, and long before morning, the awfulness of the situation was to be seen in the coun- tenances of the men. When the sun rose, the snow was from two to three feet thick all around. Few of them had escaped being frost- bitten, and the cries of the children were truly pitiable. Help must be obtained from some quarter or all wo'ild perish. At length the men :Iocided that some of them must go forward and bring back assistance from the settlement. This could not be done in a day, for it was more than thirteen miles away, and men could not go very fast through ^t^ ' ^WUm mmammmi »— ol — ^ three feet of snow. Still it was the only chance left, and three of them set out. What a terrible day that was for the benighted families ! One can hardly credit the endurance which bore thera up during the still more terrible night, with the ther- mometer many degrees below zero. It was not till late in the morning next day that the necessary help came in rough sleds drawn by oxen and men ; though for some it seemed as if the assistance had come too late, for many of the children and some of the mothers were lying insen- sible on the damp boughs, when the shouts of their neigh- bours were heard in the neighbouring w^oods. After much toil, however, they all reached the settlement about sunset, though it was many a day before all recovered from the trip to Charlottotown. In summing up the various elements of population, I have again to introduce the soldier. There are three dis- tinct movements which involve the introduction into Nova Scotia of several disbanded regiments, and these must be kept separate and distinct in the memory, if we wish to understand fully the influence which such settlers had upon the provinces. The first movement under Governor Cornwallis had an excellent eflect upon the country, on account of its thorough organization. The second I have spoken of as the disbanding of Colonel Eraser's regiment, whicn also included the military migration of 1763, the date of the Treaty of Paris. But there was a third immigra- tion of soldiers after the American "War of Independence, which, on account of its disorganized character, was not so happy in its effects. When Britain had no longer need lor the armies engaged in the war with the United States, the usual policy was adopted in connection with the dis- banding of the various regiments — the men were provided with the means for starting a farm in some part of Canada, -^,— «. S2 I'! .' ! !i Those who decided to accept the terms offered, were sepav .ted into companies, and distributed over the various sections of the country in such numbers as, it was thought, w^ould not be prejudicial to the districts in which they were located, nor to the interests of the soldiers themselves. There is no need to enumerate the various settlements to which they were sent. In many cases they were far from bein": successful farmers. Nor is this to be much wonder- ed at. The training- which a soldier undergoes is not, as a general thing, calculated to produce in men those steady habits which formed a sine qua non in the successful early settler. The excitement of removing from town to town in time of peace, and from camp to camp in time of war, the lack of self-dependence and personal enterprise, their loose convivial habits formed but a poor antecedent exper- ience for the rough, constant, laborious task of clearing farms, or of making a livelihood in the settlements of the Maritime Provinces, such as they were in early times. Though probably quite willing to carry out the peaceful injunction of " beating their swords into ploughshares," they w^ere not so willing to profit by the operation. In many cases they became the w^orst of idlers, leading a life of degradation to themselves, and of everything but social improvement to. the community in which they happened to be thrown. Here is what Ur. McGrregor says of some of these soldiers, whom he found living in Pictou, when he first went there : " In the fall of 1783 and spring of 1784 there came about twenty families of soldiers, mostly Highlanders, who had been disbanded after the i)eace with the United States, and some of the officers on half pay- There was a set of prolligates, at the head of whom were the gentlemen of the army, whose emnity to the Grospel grew fast, and in a short time became outrageous. Before the end of winter some of them threatened to shoot me . .L, Al. ^-^ ^ T Mt- 1 \ and burn the house in which I lodged. Some of them who had their wives in Scotland lived with other Avomen here, and some of them lived with other men's wivesi whose husbands were in Scotland. The half-pay officers intended and expected to exercise nearly the same authority over the men after they were disbanded which they had done before, and for a time succeeded wonderfully. They held a meeting with a view of sending me bound to the governor, expecting their influence with him to be such that their mere accusations would procure my banishment. They continued for seven years pests and plagues to the congregation, circulating the most mischievous lies they could devise. But they ran fast to poverty and destruction, so that scarcely one of them remained at the end of that period. Two of them were drowned, one died in the poor- house in Halifax, another was found dead in a stable, having fallen from the hay-loft in a drunken fit. Another cut his throat." And thus docs the old clergyman enu- merate them. Of course they were not all like this. There were very many exceptions. In other communities many of these soldiers became the most respectable of citizens, leaving behind them descendants, who have influenced the highest social circles of the Provinces, and whose best boast is of their grandfathers who fought in the Revolutionary War. Another element of the population of these provinces I could hardly dare to omit, an element which to-day is found stronger in the towns and cities than in the country districts. Irishmen have had an influence in the develop- ment of the Maritime Provinces which cannot be overlooked ; in fact so great has it been that in many districts in New Brunswick the accent among the common people is decid- edly Irish. There was, however, in the case of the Irish, no special immigration movement which marks their ad- -ii- u l! vent to the country, or which can be spoken of in any dis- tinct record. The cause of their coming was the same as that which induced thorn in thousands to go to the neighboring republic — the social, commercial and political troubles at home, or a praiseworthy el fort to improve their fortunes abroad. Their immigration is of comparatively modern date. The}'' came to the provinces, long after the English, the Celts, and the Loyalists had opened up by their industry the more fertile districts. They came to an organized community, arriving in companies either at Halifax or St. John, sometimes remaining permanently in these places, sometimes proceeding inland and settling wherever they found a suitable locality. They now com- prise a very large proportion of the city populations. Some of the wealthiest men in town and country were and are Irishmen, and not a few of them have left their impress upon the history of their adopted province as prelates, politicians and orators, I need not tell you that North of Ireland men and Low- land Scotsmen are to be found sprinkled all over the country, for where is the city, the province, or the country in which no Lowland Scotsmen are to be found ? Whether they are the salt of the earth or not, they seem to have been spread over the world, much as tliat healthy condiment is spread by our cooks over everything comprised within their culinary operations. Certainly if they are the salt of the earth, as they tliem^ielves in their happy moments claim to be, they have not lost their savour at least in the Maritime Provinces, where they are to be found occupying important positions — commercial, political, and professional; and you can hardly read a chapter of i)i*ovincial history without finding some Scotsman mentioned for his enter- prise in improving the lives and condition of those who B!y"wp'^"»T?^ww«w — 55 — happened to be his neighbors — with due attention of course to his own interests. To complete this sketch of the Maritime Provinces and of the national character of those who first opened them up, I should perhaps mention the settlements which have been established in more modern times. There are the Maroons who came from Jamaica, the Negroes who escaped from the States in time of slavery, and the Danes who came direct from Denmark. But these have had no influence in producing those characteristics w4iich tend to indicate that community of thought and feeling, which is grad- ually becoming a unit in the union of all the Canadas. I have enumerated only the great migrations. The people, as you are aware, are essentially English — the exi^onent there as elsewhere of the three elements, Eng- lish, Scotch, and Irish. "VVe cannot speak of them, it is true, as deiinitely as of tlie people in the United States, who are declared to be, by a facetious writer, Englishmen without their caution, their reserve, their fixed habits, their cant and their stolidity. But they certainly have all the independence of the original stock, all the pluck and deter- mination, with more of quick and restless enterprise. The Celt who still clings a little to his Ga3lic and his Highland customs, and the Acadian who has not yet laid aside his patois, keep aloof as I have said from the blending process otherwise going on among the peox")le. I can point out to you a Highland editor down there who still denounces English, Scotch and Irish as foreigners, and an Acadian orator who still claims for the Acadians distinct provincial privileges. But the unification of the other elements I have mentioned is becoming more and more complete every year. As in the other provinces of Canada, the English speaking people still commemorate periodically the old nationalities and the associations w^hich embalm ^...- — 56 — them in their minds and memories. But these celebrations, as elsewhere in America, have no pclitiral significance. The Englishman, and his sons and grandsons who have probably never seen England, still delight to celebrate St. George's Day; the Scotsman still unfurls his scroll in- scribed with its nemo me impune lacessit on the last day of every November ; the Irishman still takes a pride in the celebration of St. Patrick's Day and its pleasant festivities ; but these are mere ceremonies connected with the rose, the thistle and the shamrock, which do not now promote dissension among the different nationalities. In glorifying the motherland, the people are not now, as in the days of Sam Slick, inclined to despise their adopted country. Canada First is becoming a stronger doctrine among the "Blue-noses." The Province, the Dominion, the Empire is to a certain extent the order of their patriotic thoughts, and the old appeal to the various nationalities by politi- cians is now seldom if ever heard. This was not always the case. Even sixty years ago, there was hardly any approach towards that identification in provincial interests which is to be seen to-day. Even then it was hardly understood by those politicians who claim to have had something to do with the development of a 'common pat- riotic provincial feeling. For instance in the struggle for Responsible Government here is one of the mildest of hundreds of appeals to the various nationalities. " Of what in the end need we be afraid ? Will any Englishman find fault with us ? He would say, — what you are now contending for, I also struggled for sword in hand. Is it a Scotchman who would find fault with us ? Let him turn to his own loved land when a few officers were sent down from London to exercise all the power and influence of the land, and when corrupt minions domi- neered over the energies of a whole people. "Will an Irish- I JiMdt 57 — ^S of man find fault ? Let him glance over the g-roen fields of his native land, and see how that country has been degraded and restricted from causes similar to those of which we complain. AVill Nova Scotians blame ns Y If I thought so, I would pray to heaven every night that not another child might be born on the soil, but that a race so degraded should pass from the face of the earth." As a contrast, this is how the orator of the present day appeals to his audience in the Maritime Provinces. " Let us not forget our lilastern heritage. Of us living by the sea, enjoying a climate the best in the world, possessing a country which for its valuable iishcrics, its mineral resources, its wealth of forest and agricultural capabilities is, for its size and population, second to none under the sun. "Where will you find a happier, more intelligent, and because industrious and frugal, more virtuous yeomanry than those who dress the hills and cultiA'-ate the charming vales of our province ? And where will y^a find a hardier and more skilful class of men than those who reap the rich harvests of our own waters, and smite the sounding fur- rows of our own seas ? Let us but as faithfully perform our duty as did our fathers, and those who celebrate the centennial of our Dominion will be able to look back upon a record full of noble deeds and brilliant achievements* and look forward to a future of ever widening promise and boast of a heritage which in the grand march of its progress* shall realize only what we see in prophetic vision — "The little one become a thousand and the small one a strong nation." With such words ringing in our ears, for they were delivered in St. John a short time ago, we cannot help turning from the background of the picture to its foreground. The foreground of Canadian history is prominently marked by that most interesting event, the passing of the Confederation Act. It is now more than fourteen years 8 — 58 - since the p.'opio of Nova Scotia and N',3\v llruiiswick eiitoved into a union wiili thoir in'i'^'lihor.s of the river provincjs, the contvactiug parties liaviiii>' bi^eii iirgi'd on by tlie hope of thus forming- th(^ nucleus of what has certainly- become the most inllnential colonial confederacy in the world, and wiiat mtiy yet become a great and pow- erful nation. As we all very well rem(mil>er, there were prophets in those days who fed themselves on their preju- dices, as there are prophets of that nurture in all great move- ments. There were men then who prophesied ruin to the weaker provinces and tyranny by the stronger ; and there were those who lit up the prospect for the New Dominion, as it was called, with gleams from their imag- ination, which may have deceived and certainly bedazzled thousands of voteis. There were those who, in actively opposing the scheme, uttered the most lamentable wails of loss of liberty, loss of trade, increased taxation and other calamities ; while there were also those, who in promoting the change, joyously proclaimed it to be the panacea of all political and commercial ills. Of course we who lived in the country at the time had to take sides in the issue, some with indifference, others with the greatest zeal and patri- otic pride. While yet in the heat of the contest, we could hardly rely on our own judgment with respect to the effects of such an important measure. On both sides there were prejudices to be overcome which AV^ere continually presenting themselves in the most loerverse form. Some predicted an unhinging of our loyalty, an unrest for inde- pendence, a hastening towards annexation. Even the most impartial and indiiferent of us, who know from history how easy it is to establish a political union by Act of Parliament, gave it as our opinion that it would be long before the various sections could be blended together into a nationality which would mean more than the name. < \ — 59 svvick I rivor oil by rtainly in tho pow- ; were preju- iiiove- uiii to r ; aud ,e New * iinag- lazzlcd kctively A'^ails ol' \ other imotiiig" a of all ived in e, some . patri- } could to the s there iiiually Some inde- eu the from by Act 3uld be oa'ether 3 name. •r Perhaps we were all a little, astray in oar proij;'nostication8. A very sadden consolidation oi' the interests ol' the varioas provinces lias certainly taken place within tlie last ten years. The improved means of travel and tho closer social intercoar.se which has thas been promoted, have worked a rapid change towards a unilied Canadian nationality. A new literary period may be said to have spruiiu' up provid- inL>- a Canadian literatare for Canadian reader.s. The commercial interests of the various sections we mast all admit have at least been assimilated. Very late events have shown that our statesmen are not content with bt'ing known in person only to the people of one section of the country ; they roam about from Cape Breton to British Columbia seekini^, let us hope, not whom they may devour, but to become more intimately acquainted with every nook and corner of this great colony. Altog-ether there has been within the past few years an active movement amongst us towards a common future, involving the devel- opment of a truly national spirit — a desire to live, and work, and co-operate as Canadians. As the old national feelings gradually lost their prominence iri presence of the stronger provincial sympathies, so the sectional interests of individ- ual provinces are in like manner gradually disappearing before the common desire to ennoble our common country and through it to ennoble our lives. It is then, this narrowing towards the vanishing i^oint of former provin- cial prejudices, this unifying process going on between the eastern and western sections, this drawing together and consolidation of our interests as a united people, this desire to know, and to be known of each other, as members of one nationality — protected it is true by the outer circle of a great and mighty nation — but all Canadians, one brotherhood, united under the indue nee of a loyalty towards Britain's Queen and British liberty which has » — 60 — never wavcrod ; — it is this or all of those which I advance as my excuse for readiiii»- this papor on the Marilirae Provinces bol'ore a Quebec audience. And what a country this of ours is to fill us with all the enlhusiosni of palriotism, to hind us closer and closer together as one people as one kindred. The mere extent of the country would not, perhaps, impress the, mind so strongly, il' there was not so much of the vast, the ma'^nifi- cent, the national, in all its leading- featun^s. I have spoken of prophets, but liere are the words of one of the strangest of prophets, one who fought for many years ngninst the fulfilment of li's own prophecy. Long before the Confede- ration ugitation he says : — "You feel at every step that Canada must become a great nation, and at every step you pray most devoutly for the descent upon the country of that wisdom and foresight, and energy which shall make it the great treasury of British institutions upon this conti- nent, and an honour to the British name. AH the lakes of Scotland thrown together would not make one of these great inland seas, which form as it were a chain of Medi- terraneans ; all the rivers of England old father Thames included, would scarcely fill the channel of the St. Law- rence. There is a grandeur in the mountain ranges, and a voice in the noble cataracts which elevate the spirit above the ignorance and the passions of the past and the perplexities of the present, and make us feel thnt the "reat Creator of the Universe never meant su'^h a o bo the scene of discord, but will yet in' ^ -vi with the union, the virtue, and the true rioti. by \vhich alone its political and social condition shn^i be made to take, more nearly than it does now, the uipress of its natural features. Canada is a country to be proud of; to inspire high thoughts ; to cherish a love for the sublime and the beautiful, and to take its stand among the nation Ivance irilirae ith all closer extent lind so lai^iiili- gpoken rangest list the oiifede- tep that ep yon Liitry of 11 make is conti- lakes of of these )f Medi- Tharaes 5t. Law- ges, and le spirit and the ho "veat o bo with ^ nv hich made to jss of its id of; to sublime B nation — 01 — of the earth in spite of all circumstances which oppose the growth and progress of a young country." In face of such a prophecy as this then, and in the face of its gradual ful- lihnent, it surely is becoming in us to learn what we may of our fellow countrymen in all parts of our common country, wherever may have been the spot of our nativity, whatever may be our prejudices in favor of the province which we single out from all others with the endearing name of home. 9