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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. irrata to pelure, nd □ 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 story of the Nations A Series of Historical Studies intended to present in graphic narratives the stories of the different nations that have attained prominence inhistory. In the story form the current of each nationd life is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes are presented for the reader in their philosophical relations to each other as well as to universal history. 12°, Illustrated, cloth, each Hai Leather, each . . $1.50 . $1.75 L 90R FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME. ■HH m CANADA •*v» ■^ CO s n u w to ao I v> b] «! ilU; 5,H)K'\ OF 7»IE NATIONS I CANADA en CO ao H en & H «; X wr i* 'i.\ HUl.lKj^ur, K.C.M > I NF:W C I . P(JT LONi; ■'S lo THE STO«Y OF THE NATIONS CANADA w SIR JOHN BOURINOT, K.C.M.G.. LL.D., D.C.L. CLEKK <.K THK CANADIAN HOUSK OK COMMONS ; IIONORAKV SECRETAKV OK ,HB KOVAI. SOCIKTV OI- CANADA ; DOCTEUR-Os-l KT I KHS OK I.AVAI. t-NIVEKS.TV H0N01.ARV MKMIIEK OF THK AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY AUTHOR OF SEVERAL WORKS ON THE CONSTITUTION AND HISTORY OF CANADA NEW YORK ^ G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN 280044 o- Copyright, 1896 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall, London By T. fisher UNWIN I Dedicate this Story of Canada BY PERMISSION TO HER EXCELLENCY IhE COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN WHO HAS WON niF. ESTKEM AND AFFECTION OF ALL CLASSES OF THE CANADIAN PEOl'LK BY THE EARNESTNESS WITH WHICH SHE HAS IDENTIFIED HERSELF WITH EVERY MOVEMENT AFFECTING THE SOCIAL AND INTELLLCTUAL PROGRESS OF THE NEW DOMINION I! *i ah CO ha de m( fin be; res me At of sod Ih tha stit soci peo The suc< allt bec< sary PREFATORY NOTE. In writing this story of Canada I have not been able to do more, within the limited space at my command, than briefly review those events which have exercised the most influence on the national development of the Dominion of Canada from the memorable days bold French adventurers made their first attempts at settlement on the bank:^ of the beautiful basin of the Annapolis, and on the pictu- resque heights of Quebec, down to the establish- ment of a Confederation which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Whilst the narrative of the French regime, with its many dramatic epi- sodes, necessarily occupies a large part of this story, I have not allowed myself to forget the importance that must be attached to the development of in- stitutions of government and their effect on the social, intellectual, and material conditions of the people since the beginning of the English regime. Though this story, strictly speaking, ends with the successful accomplishment of the federal union of all the provinces in 1873, when Prince Edward Island became one of its members, I have deemed it neces- sary to refer briefly to those events which have I: m VI PRE FA TOR V NOTE, n^ happened since that time — the second half-breed re- bellion of 1885, for instance — and have had much ef- fect on the national spirit of the people. I endeavour to interest my reader in the public acts of those emi- nent men whc se names stand out most prominently on the pages of history, and have made the deepest impress on the fortunes and institutions of the Dominion. In the performance of this task I have always consulted original authorities, but have not attempted to go into any historical details except those which are absolutely necessary to the intelli- gent understanding of the great events and men of Canadian annals. I have not entered into the intrigues and conflicts which have been so bitter and frequent during the operation of parliamentary government in a country where politicians are so numerous, and statesmanship is so often hampered and government injuriously affected by the selfish interests of party, but have simply given the con- spicuous and dominant results of political action since the concession of representative institutions to the provinces of British North America. A chapter is devoted, at the close of the historical narrative, to a very brief review of the intellectual and material development of the country, and of the nature of its institutions of government. A survey is also given of the customs and conditions of the French Cana- dian people, so that the reader outside of the Domin- ion may have some conception of their institutions and of their influence on the political, social, and intellectual life of a Dominion, of whose population they form so important and influential an element. ; .51 PREFATORY NOTE. vn The illustrations are numerous, and have been care- fully selected from various sources, not accessible to the majority of students, with the object, not simply of pleasing the general reader, but rather of eluci- dating the historical narrative. A bibliographical note has also been added of those authorities which the author has consulted in writing this story, and to which the reader, who wishes to pursue the subject further, may most advantageously refer. House of Commons, Ottawa, Dominion Day, i8g6. I' t ■H Bib Int Thi A Bi Froi The Sami Gent lit CONTENTS. J' AGE Bibliographical Note xix I. Introduction — The Canadian Dominion from Ocean to Ocean I II. The Dawn of Discovery in Canada (1497-1525) . . 19 III. A Breton Sailor Discovers Canada and its Great River U534-1536) 29 IV. From Cartier to De Monts (i 540-1603) .... 44 V. TuK French Occupation of Acadia and the Foundation OF Port Royal (1604-1614) 51 VI. Samuel Champlain in the Valley of the St. Lawrence (^608-1635) 67 VII. CiEntlemen-Adventurkrs IN Acadia (1614-1677) . . 93 ix i X CONTENTS. VIII. PAGE The Canadian Indians and the Iroquois : their Organ- isation, Character, and Customs .... iio IX. Convents and Hospitals — Ville-Marie — Martyred Mis- sionaries — Victorious Iroquois — Hapless Hurons (1635-1652) . 129 X. Years of Gloom— The King Comes to the Rescue of Canada— The Iroquois Humhlei) (1652-1667) . . 146 XI. Canada as a Royal Province— Church and State (1663- 1759) -^56 XII. The Period of Exploration and Discovery— Priests, Fur-Traders, and Coureurs de Bois in the West (1634- 1687) 168 XIII. The Period of Exploration and Discovery— France in the Valley of the Mississippi (1672-1687) . . .177 XIV. Canada and Acadia— From Frontenac to the Treaty of Utrecht (1672-1713) 192 XV. ACAOIA AND tl.E ROYALE— FROM THE TREATY OF UTRECHTTO the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1713-1748) . . 210 XVI. The Struggle for Dominion in the Great Valleys of North America— Prelude (1748-1756). . , .221 CONTENTS, xi XVII. Thb Struggle for Dominion in the Great Valleys of ''*°* North America— English Reverses and French Vic- TORIES— Fall of Louisbourg and Fort Duquesne (1756-1758) 23y XVIII. The Struggle for Dominion in the Valley of the St. Lawrence— Canada is Won iiy Wolfe on the Plains OF Abraham (1759-1763) ...... 247 XIX. A Period of Transition— Pontiac's War-The Quebec Act (1760-1774) 267 XX. The American Revolution— Invasion of Canada— Death OF Montgomery-Peace (1774-1783) .... 280 XXI. Coming OF the Loyalists (1783-1791) j^j xxn. Foundation of New Provinces— Establishment o'^ Repre- sentative Institutions (1792-1812) . . . .302 XXIIL The War of 1812-1815— Patriotism of the Canadians . 316 XXIV. Political Strife and Rebellion (1815-1840) , . .338 XXV. Responsible Government and its Results— Fedfral Union— Relations between Canada and the United States (1839-1867) ^61 I f if ft Xn CO JV TENTS. XXVI. _ _ PACE End of the Rule of Fur-Traders — Acquisition of the Northwest — Formation of Manitoba — Kiel's Rebel- lions—The Indians (1670-1885) 380 XXVII. British Columbia and Prince Edward Island Enter the Union — National Events since 1867— Makers of the Dominion (1867-1891) 404 XXVIII. Canada as a Nation — Material and Intellectual De- velopment — Political Rights 415 XXIX. French Canada 426 Index 451 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PACB CHATEAU of ST. LOUIS (1694-1834)* DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1834 .... Frontispiece. Front a drawing by W. y. Sewell in Hawkins's ** Pictures 0/ Quebec" {Quebec, 1%"^^). MAP OF CANADA I Revised to date by Surveyor-General Deville, F.R.S.C. VIEW OF CAPE TRINITY ON THE LAURENTIAN RANGE 9 From a photograph by Topley^ Ottawa. ROCKY MOUNTAINS AT DONALD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, 13 From Sir W. Van Home' s Collection of B. C. photo, graphs. UPPER END OF ERASER CASfON, BRITISH COLUMBIA . I5 Ibid. SKETCH OF JUAN DE LA COSA's MAP, A.D. 1500 . 25 From Dr. S. E. Dawson's *' Cabot Voyages" in Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., 1894. * To explain these dates it is necessary to note that Champlain lived for years in one of the buildings of the Fort of Saint Louis which he first erected, and the name chateau is often applied to that structure ; but the chateau, properly so-called, was not commenced until 1647, and it as well as its successors was within the limits of the fort. It was demolished in 1694 by Governor Frontenac, who re- built it on the original foundations, and it was this castle which, in a remodelled and eillai^d form, under the English regime, lasted until 1834. xiii Is ill 1^ Ii ;(,, XIV LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. •; PAGE PORTRAIT OF JACQUES CARTIER . . . • 3' From B. Suite's '■'■ Ilistoire des CanaJiem-Franfais" {Monirea/, x8%2-84). ' ANCIENT HOCHELAGA 39 From Ramusio' s "■ Navigationi e Viaggi" {Venice, 1565). THE "dauphin map" OF CANADA, Ctrca 1543, SHOWING CARTIER's DISCOVERIES ... 44 From collection of maps in Parliamentary Library at Ottawa. PLAN OF PORT ROYAL IN ACADIA IN 1605 . . 57 From Cliamplain's works^ rare Paris ed. of 161 3. CHAMPLAIN's PORTRAIT 69 From B. Suite's ''Ilistoire des Canadiens-Fran^ais." HABITATION DE QUEBEC 7* From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. of 1613. champlain's lost astrolabe .... 79 From sketch by A. J. Russell, of Ottawa ^ 1879. ONONDAGA FORT IN THE IROQUOIS COUNTRY . 83 From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. 0/1613. INDIAN COSTUMES Ill From Lafitau's •* Mceurs des Sauvages" {Paris, 1724). IROQUOIS LONG HOUSE II9 From Morgan's " Houses and Home Life of the Aborigines" {Washington, 1881). PORTRAIT OF MARIE GUYARD (m^RE MARIE DE l'incarnation) 131 From B. Suite's "'■ Histoire des Canadiens-Fran^ais." PORTRAIT OF MAISONNEUVE 135 Ibid. PORTRAIT OF LAVAL, FIRST CANADIAN BISHOP . 159 IHd. Iff LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. CARD ISSUE (paper MONEy) OF 1729, FOR 12 L«lVKfcy IV right. PLAN OF OPKRATIONS AT SIF.OK OF QUEBEC . Made from a more extended plan in " The Universal Magazine" {London, Dec., 1859). MONTCALM AND WOLFE MONUMENT AT QUEBEC . From Dr. Stewart's collectioit of Quebec photographs, VIEW OF QUEBEC IN 1760 From ^"The Universal Magazine" {London, 1760). VIEW OF MONTREAL IN 1760 .... Ibid. PORTRAIT AND AU I'OGRAPH OF JOSEPH BRANT (thavendanegea) From Stone's '' Li fe of Joseph Brant" originated. {New York, 1838). prescott gate and bishop's palace in 1800 . From a sketch by A, y. Jitissell in Ha^okins's ^'^ Pictures of Quebec." PORTRAIT OF LIEUT. -GENERAL SIMCOE . From Dr. Scadding's " Toronto of Old" {Toronto, 1873). PORTRA T OF MA J. -GENERAL BROCK From a picture in possession of y. A. Macdonell, Esq., of A lexandria , Ontario. PORTRAIT OF COLONEL DE SALABERRY . From Fennings Taylor's '^Portraits of British Ameri- cans" {W. Notman, Montreal, 1865-67). MONUMENT AT LUNDY's LANE .... From a photograph through courtesy of Rev. Canon Bull, Niagara South, Ont. PAGB 249 261 263 265 299 307 323 329 i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII PORTRAIT OF LOUIS J. PAI'INF.AU .... From Fcnuings Taylor's '* Portraits of British Ameri- cans," PORTRAIT OF lilSMOP STRACHAN .... Il>i,i. PORTRAir OF W. I, VON MACKENZIE From C. Litidsey's ''I.i/c and J'imts of IV. L. Mac- kenzie" {Toronto, 1863). PORTRAIT OF JUDf.F IIAMHURION, AUTHOR OF " THE CLOCK-MAKER " . . . . Fyom a portrait t^iven to author (>y Mr. F\ Blake Crofton of Legislative Library, //<, ix, N. S. PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH HOWE From Fennings T'aylor's '^'^ Portraits of British Ameri- ca;:s. PORTRAIT OF ROBERT HA LOW IN .... Ibid. PORTRAIT OF L. H, LA FONTAINE .... Ibid. PORTRAIT OF L. A. WILMOT From Latliern' $'''■ Biographical Sketch of Judge Wilmot" {Toronto, iS8i). FORT GARRY AND A RED RIVER STEAMER IN 1870, From A. f. Russell's '^ Red River Country" {Montreal, 1870). PORTRAIT OF LIEUT. -COLONEL WILLIAMS From a photograph by Topley, Ottajva. INDIAN CARVED POSTS IN r.RITISH COLUMBIA From photograph by Dr. DarusoUy C.M.G,, Director of Geological Survey of Canada. PORTRAIT OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD From L. J. Tachfs '' Catuidian Portrait Gallery" {Montreal , i890-'93). HACK 347 349 359 365 369 371 389 399 401 405 n. ^1 XVlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ARMS OF THE PROVINCES From Rourinot's "'How Canada is Governed'''' ( Toronto, 1895). PORTRAIT OF HON. GEORGE BROWN From photograph. PORTRAIT OF SIR GEORGE E. CARTIER . From B. Suite's '^I/istoire des Canadiens-Frani^ais." PARLIAMEN'J- HUILDINCi AT OTTAWA From a photograph by Topley, Ottawa. QUEBEC IN 1896 lyom Dr. Stewart's collection of Quebec photographs. STREET SCENE IN A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE NEAR QUEBEC , Ibid. OLD CHURCH AT BONNE STE. ANNE, WHERE MIRACLES WERE PERFORMED .... Ibid. A CANADIAN CALECHE OF OLD TIMES . From Weld's '■'Travels in North America" {London, 1799). LOUIS FRECHETTE, THE FRENCH PORTRAIT 01 CANADIAN POET ....... From L. y. Tach^'s "Canadian Portrait Gallery." PORTRAIT OF HON. WILFRID LAURIER, FIRST FRENCH CANADIAN PREMIER OF THE DOMINION, Ibid. PACK 409 411 427 429 433 437 441 447 . 409 . 421 • 427 437 441 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Jacques Cartier's Voyages, in English, by Joseph Pope (Ottawa, 1889), and H. B. Stephens (Montreal, 1S9J) ; in French, by N. E. Dionne (Quebec, i8gi); Tol'ion de Longrais (Rennes, France), H. Michelant and E. Rame (Paris, 1867). I/Kscarbot's vWto France, in French, Tross's ed. (Paris, 1S66), which contains an account also of Cartier's first voyage. Sagard's History of Canada, in French, Tross's ed. (Paris, 1866). Champlain's works, in French, Lavcr- (licre's ed. (Quel)ec, 1870) ; Prince Society's English ed. (Boston, 1878-80), Lafitau's Customs of the Savages, in French (Paris, 1724). ' 'harlevoix's History of Nrw France, in French (Paris, 1744) ; Shea's English version (New York, 1866). Jesuit Relations, in French (Quebec ed., 1858). FerL^nd's Course of Canadian History, in P'rench (Quebec, 1861-1865). > Jarncau's History of Canada, in French (Montreal, 1882). Suite's French Canadians, in Fn.iich (Montreal, 1S82-84). F. Parkman's series of histories of French Regime, viz. : Pioneers of France in the A'^ew IVorld ; The yesuits in North America ; llie old Regime ; Frontenac ; 'I' he Discovery of the Great West ; A Half Century of Conflict ; Montcalm and Wolfe; Conspiracy of Pontiac (Boston, 1865-1884). Justin Winsor's From Cartier to Frontenac (Boston, 1894). Ilannay's Acadia (St. John, N. B., 1879). W. Kingsford's History of Canada, 8 vols, so far (Toronto and London, 1887-1896), the eighth volume on the war of 1812 being especially valuable. Bourinot's "Cape Breton and its Memorials of the French Regime," Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., vol. ix, and separate ed. (Montreal, l8gi). Casgrain's Montcalm and IJvis, in French (Quebec, i8gi). Haliburton's Nova &•<)//« (Halifax, 1S29). Murdoch's A>T/fl .$"<:('//« (Halifax, 1865-67). Campbell's i\'(7r''- FRANK «^ .'■ / • •• ■^'» /J ms^% »0»T ^v.'4' ^ f ^^.^H*\.>^i/-^ » i MAC K>C: N Z ,:^5..^5^' ;;^' 5^ ?r f -r- rm «^ ^roRT WAi . LI N .'J' [r»^^>V- •-.^tf 'ft! ^ic^ CU- r.c. t?!; &Vp^"> IJ- I c \^ ChesterfJ'ld "l!^ rroRT ^ MUANCt 'S^^^f^i^iv^v'"^^.®^^ iHT P»(0Y>niMCt/->J j» ON Q 5; / 5 0'*'' fthobQSCoU. ATHABASCA e n \ [L^ nds H d^ n % % .r ,ort ^^.. €•» // •/•A /*o/»ja «. CAieAitr"'!,,,, , «fci5r HAmuooK t<.-6* ^/yj ..XI JiTTAOt ,%»" I neticiNt MAt |f"'»' ••Al %e ft*' IJ** .-<^^ ^^*^!^'*' u^ L0f/S40i/^a K E E ip89 O QUEBEC ^ j\~ ■"-""i'tiiy»7'ri Ci^HAUFAX P±tvf 6^ i»»*Tv (Tta^ f>0 'iiitiitOj ICNACt 1NTREAL2 .'V >«' v\ .t ...>«'* •'«• \o Ceot^ A/AICSTOf .Simcot VW/., 71fOA/1 ;<2^ '>'"„.,.'.'.'.'•'"".; ^1, / A/>^r ^^^<>H\^ 90 eo 70 i I' i THE STORY OF CANADA. I. INTRODUCTION. THE CANADIAN DOMINION FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. The view from the spacious terrace on the verge of the cliffs of Quebec, the ancient capital of Canada, cannot fail to impress the imagination of the states- man or student versed in the history of the Ameri- can continent, as well as delight the eye of the lover of the picturesque. Below the heights, to whose rocks and buildings cling so many memories of the past, flows the St. Lawrence, the great river of Canada, bearing to the Atlantic the waters of the numerous lakes and streams of the valley which was first discovered and explored by France, and in which her statesmen saw the elements of empire. We see the tinned roofs, spires and crosses of quaint churches, hospitals and convents, narrow streets winding among the rocks, black-robed priests and ir f i; «JI =KTC THE STORY OF CAJSTADA. sombre nuns, habitans in homespun from the neigh- bouring villages, modest gambrel-roofed houses of the past crowded almost out of sight by obtrusive lofty structures of the present, the massive buildings of the famous seminary and university which bear the name of Laval, the first great bishop of that Church which has always dominated French Canada. Not far from the edge of the terrace stands a monu- ment on which are inscribed the names of Montcalm and Wolfe, enemies in life but united in death and fame. Directly below is the market which recalls the name of Champlain, the founder of Quebec, and his first Canadian home at the margin of the river. On the same historic ground we see the high-peaked roof and antique spire of the curious old church, Notre-Dame des Victoires, which was first built to commemorate the repulse of an English fleet two centuries ago. Away beyond, to the left, we catch a glimpse of the meadows and cottages of the beau- tiful Isle of Orleans, and directly across the river are the rocky hills covered with the buildings of the town, which recalls the services of L6vis, whose fame as a soldier is hardly overshadowed by that of Mont- calm. The Union-jack floats on the tall staff of the citadel which crowns the summit of Cape Diamond, but English voices are lost amid those of a people who still speak the language of France. As we recall the story of these heights, we can see passing before us a picturesque procession : Sailors from the home of maritime enterprise on the Breton and Biscayan coasts, Indian warriors in their paint and savage finery, gentlemen-adventurers and pioneers, INTRODUCTION, igh- s of isive lings bear that nada. nonu- tcalm h and recalls :c, and . river, peaked church, 3uilt to et two catch He beau- iver are of the l)se fame f Mont- ff of the iamond, people can see Sailors le Breton )aint and I pioneers, rovers of the forest and river, statesmen and soldiers of high ambition, gentle and cultured women who gave up their lives to alleviate suffering and teach the young, missionaries devoted to a faith for which many have died. In the famous old castle uf Saint Louis,* long since levelled to the ground— whose foundations are beneath a part of this very terrace — statesmen feasted and dreamt of a French Empire in North America. Then the French dominion passed away with the fall of Quebec, and the old English colonies were at last relieved from that pressure which had confined them so long to the Atlantic coast, and enabled to become free common- wealths with great possibilities of development be- fore them. Yet, while England lost so much in America by the War of Independence, there still remained to her a vast northern territory, stretching far to the east and west from Quebec, and containing all the rudiments of national life — " The raw materials of a State, Its muscle and its mind." A century later than that Treaty of Paris which was signed in the palace of Versailles, and ceded Canada finally to England, the statesmen of the provinces of this northern territory, which was still a British possession, — statesmen of French as well as English Canada — assembled in an old building of this same city, so rich in memories of old France, *See frontispiece. The first terrace, named after Lord Durham, was built on the foundations of the castle. In recent years the plat- form has been extended and renamed Dufferin, in honour of a popu- lar governor-general. I' ar^ THE STORY OF CANADA. and took the first steps towards the establishment of that Dominion, which, since then, has reached the Pacific shores. It is the story of this Canadian Dominion, of its founders, explorers, missionaries, soldiers, and states- men, that I shall attempt to relate briefly in the fol- lowing pages, from the day the Breton sailor ascend- ed the St. Lawrence to Hochelaga until the forma- tion of the confederation, which united the people of two distinct nationalities and extends over so wide a region — so far beyond the Acadia and Canada which France once called her own. But that the story may be more intelligible from the beginning, it is necessary to give a bird's-eye view of the coun- try, whose history is contemporaneous with that of the United States, and whose territorial area from Cape Breton to Vancouver — the sentinel islands of the Atlantic and Pacific approaches — is hardly in- ferior to that of the federal republic. Although the population of Canada at present does not exceed five millions of souls, the country has, within a few years, made great strides in the path of national development, and fairly takes a place of considerable importance among those na- tions whose stories have been already told ; whose history goes back to centuries when the Laurentian Hills, those rocks of primeval times, looked down on an unbroken wilderness of forest and stretches of silent river. If we treat the subject from a strictly historical point of view, the confederation of prov- inces and territories comprised within the Do- minion may be most conveniently grouped into INTRODUCTION. $ the its Ltes- fol- end- rma- :ople zx so inada .t thf ming, coun- iiat of I from nds of dly in- >resent [ountry in the lakes a lose na- wbose irentian iown on pches of strictly |of prov- :he Do- led into several distinct divisions. Geographers divide the whole country lying between the two oceans into three well-defined regions: i. The Eastern, extend- ing from the Atlantic to the head of Lake Superior. 2. The Central, stretching across the prairies and plains to the base of the Rocky Mountains. 3. The Western, comprising that sea of mountains which at last unites with the waters of the Pacific. For the purposes of this narrative, however, the Eastern and largest division — also the oldest historically — must bf separated into two distinct divisions, known as Acadia and Canada in the early annals of America. The fin t division of the Eastern region now com- prises the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Bruns- wick, and Prince Edward Island, which, formerly, with a large portion of the State of Maine, were best known as Acadie,* a memorial of the Indian occupa- tion before the French regime. These provinces are indented by noble harbours and bays, and many deep rivers connect the sea-board with the interior. They form the western and southern boundaries of that great gulf or eastern portal of Canada, which maritime adventurers explored from the earliest period of which we have any record. Ridges of the Appalachian range stretch from New England to * Akdde means a place or district in the language of the Micmacs or Souriquois, the most important Indian tribe in the Eastern pro- vinces, and is always united with another word, signifying some natu- ral characteristic of the locality. For instance, the well-known river in Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie (S^g^bun-akade), the place where the ground-nut or Indian potato grows. ;i^ THE STORY OF CANADA the east of these Acadian provinces, giving pictur- esque features to a generally undulating surface, and find their boldest expression in the northern region of the island of Cape Breton. The peninsula of Nova Scotia is connected with the neighbouring province of New Brunswick by a narrow isthmus, on one side of which the great tides of the Bay of Fundy tumultuously beat, and is separated by a very romantic strait from the island of Cape Breton. Both this isthmus and island, we shall .see in the course of this narrative, played important parts in the struggle between France and England for do- minion in America. This Acadian division possesses large tracts of fertile lands, and valuable mines of coal and other minerals. In the richest district of the peninsula of Nova Scotia were the thatch- roofed villages of those Acadian farmers whose .sad story has been told in matchless verse by a New England poet, and whose language can still be heard throughout the land they loved, and to which some of them returned after years of exile. The inex- haustible fisheries of the Gulf, whose waters wash their shores, centuries ago attracted fleets of adven- turous sailors from the Atlantic coast of Europe, and led to the discovery of Canada ;i:"d the St. Lawrence. It was with the view of protecting these fisheries, and guarding the great entrance to New France, that the French raised on the southeastern shores of Cape Breton the fortress of Louisbourg, the ruins of which now alone remain to tell of their ambi- tion and enterprise. Leaving Acadia, we come to the provinces which INTRODUCTION. alii of juring hmus, Bay of by a Breton, in thi^ larts in for do- ossesses aines of strict of thatch- lose sad a New be heard ich some he inex- ers wash f eidv en- Europe, i the St. ing these ; to New theastern Dourg, the I eir ambi- are watered by the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, extending from the Gulf to the head of Lake Superior, and finding their northern limits in the waters of Hudson's Bay. The name of Canada ap- pears to be also a memorial of the Indian nations that once occupied the region between the Ottawa and Saguenay rivers. This name, meaning a large village or town in one of the dialects of the Huron- Iroquois tongue, was applied, in the first half of the sixteenth century, to a district in the neighbourhood of the Indian town of Stadacona, which stood on the site of the present city of Quebec. In the days of French occupation the name was more generally used than New France, and sometimes extended to the country now comprised in the provinces of On- tario and Quebec, or, in other words, to the whole region from the Gulf to the head of Lake Superior. Finally, it was adopted as the most appropriate designation for the new Dominion that made a step toward national life in 1867. The most important feature of this historic coun- try is the remarkable natural highway which has given form and life to the growing nation by its side — a river famous in the history of exploration and war — a river which has never-failing reservoirs in those great lakes which occupy a basin larger than Great Britain — a river noted for its long stretch of navigable waters, its many rapids, and its unequalled Falls of Niagara, around all of which man's enter- prise and skill have constructed a system of canals to give the west a continuous navigation from Lake Superior to the ocean for over two thousand miles. 8 THE STORY OF CANADA. The Laurcntian Hills — " the nucleus of the North American continent " — reach from inhospitable, rock-bound Labrador to the north of the St. Law- rence, extend up the Ottawa valley, and pass event- ually to the northwest of Lakes Huron and Superior, as far as the " Divide " between the St. Lawrence valley and Hudson's Bay, but display their boldest forms on the north shore of the river below Quebec, where the names of Capes Eternity and Trinity have been so aptly given to those noble precipices which tower above the gloomy waters of the Saguenay, and have a history which " dates back to the very dawn of geographical time, and is of hoar antiquity in comparison with that of such youthful ranges as the Andes and the Alps."* From Gaspe, the southeastern promontory at the entrance of the Gulf, the younger rocks of the Ap- palachian range, constituting the breast-bone of the continent, and culminating at the north in the White Mountains, describe a great curve southwest- erly to the valley of the Hudson ; and it is between the ridge-like elevations of this range and the older Laurentian Hills that we find the valley of the St. Lawrence, in which lie the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The province of Quebec is famous in the song and story of Canada ; indeed, for a hundred and fifty years, it was Canada itself. More than a million and a quarter of people, speaking the language and profess- r * Sir J. W. Dawson, Salient Points in the Science of the Earth, p. 99. )rth blc, .aw- eiit- rior, ence Idest 2bec, have vhich enay, ; very quity res as it the le Ap- of the the iwest- tween older lie St. ec and ng and \ fifty n and a 3rofess- Earih. p 11 •I .at ai if. O ad lO THE STORY OF CANADA. ing the religion of their forefathers, continue to oc- cupy the country which extends from the Gulf to the Ottawa, and have made themselves a power in the intellectual and political life of Canada. Every- where do we meet nanies that recall the ancient regime — French kings and princes, statesmen, sol- diers, sailors, explorers, and adventurers, compete in the national nomenclature with priests and saints. This country possesses large tracts of arable land, especially in the country stretching from the St. Lawrence to Lake Champlain, and watered by the Richelieu, that noted highway in Canadian history. Even yet, at the head-waters of its many rivers, it has abundance of timber to attract the lumberman. The province of Ontario was formerly known as Upper or Western Canada, but at the time of the union it received its present name because it largely lies bv the side of the lake whicli the Hurons and more famous L"oquois called " great." It extends from the river of the Ottawas — the first route of the French adventurers to the western lakes as far as the northwesterly limit of Lake Superior, and is the most populous and prosperous province of the Do- minion on account of its wealth of agricultural land, and the energy of its population. Its history is chiefly interesting for the illustrations it affords of Englishmen's successful enterprise in a new country. The origin of the province must be sought in the history of those " United Empire Loyalists," who left the old colonies during and after the War of Independence and founded new homes by the St. Lawrence and great lakes, as well as in Nova Scotia INTRODUCTION. II and New Brunswick, where, as in the West, their descendants have had mucii influence in moulding institutions and developing enterprise. In the days when Ontario and Quebec were a wilderness, except on the borders of the St. Law- rence from Montreal to the Quebec district, the fur- trade of the forests that stretched away beyond the Laurentides, was not only a source of gain to the trading companies and merchants of Acadia and Canada, but was the sole occupation of many adven- turers whose lives were full of elements which as- sume a picturesque aspect at this distance of time. It was the fur-trade that mainly led to the discovery of the great West and to the opening up of the Mississippi valley. But always by the side of the fur-trader and explorer we see the Recollet or Jesuit missionary pressing forward with the cross in his hands and offering his life that the savage might learn the lessons of his Faith. As soon as the Mississippi was discovered, aiul found navigable to the Gulf of Mexico, French Can- adian statesmen recognised the vantage-ground that the command of the St. Lawrence valley gave them in their dreams of conquest. Controlling the Riche- lieu, Lake Champlain, and the approaches to the Hudson River, as well as the western lakes and rivers which gave easy access to the Mississip[)i, France planned her bold scheme of confining the old Eng- lish colonies between the Appalachian range of mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, and finally domi- nating the whole continent. So far we have been passing through a country 12 Till'. STORY OF CANADA, where the lukcs and rivers of a cjrcat natural basin or valley carry their tribute of waters to the Eastern Atlantic; but now, when we leave Lake Superior and the country known as Old Canada, we find our- selves on the northwestern height of land and over- looking another region whose great rivers — notably the Saskatchewan, Nelson, Mackenzie, Peace, Atha- basca, and Yukon — drain immense areas and find their way after many circuitous wanderings to Arctic seas. The Central region of Canada, long known as Rupert's Land and the Northwestern Territory, gradually ascends from the Winnipeg system of lakes, lying to the northwest of Lake Superior, as far as the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and comprises those plains and prairies which have been opened up to civilisation within two decades of years, and offer large possibilities of power and wealth in the future develo})ment of the New Do- minion, It is a region remarkable for its long rivers, in places shallow and rapid, and extremely erratic in their courses through the plains. Geologists tell us that at some remote period these great central i)lains, now so rich in alluvial deposits, composed the bed of a sea which extended from the Arctic region and the ancient Laurentian belt as far as the Gulf of Mexico and made, in reality, of the continent, an Atlantis — that mysterious island of the Greeks The history of the northwest is the history of Indians hunting the buffalo and fur-bearing ani- mals in a countrv for many years under the control of companies holding royal charters of exclusive -I 1 basin Eistern pcrior d our- l over- otably Atha- d find Arctic >\vn as rritory, tern of ;rior, as ns, and ^e been ides of er and e\v Do- r livers, ratic in »d these [eposits, om the lit as far of the of the history •ing ani- control :clusive < < ■r. 1* E- y. D C o ■r^i 14 THE STORY OF CAXADA. trade and jealously guarding their game preserves from the encroachments of settlement and attendant civilisation. French Canadians were the first to travel over the wide expanse of plain and reach the foothills of the Rockies a century and a half ago, and we can still see in this country the M^tis or half-breed descendants of the French Canadian hunters and trappers who went there in the days when trading companies were supreme, and married Indian women. A cordon of villages, towns, and farms now stretches from the city of Winnipeg, built on the site of the '>ld headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Compuny, as far as the Rocky Moun- tains, Fields of gol len grain brighten the prairies, where the tracks of herds .f buthilo, once so numer- ous but now extinct, still deeply indent the surface of the rich soil, and lead to some creek or stream, on whose banks grows the aspen or willow or poplar of a relatively treeless land, until we reach the more picturesque and well-wooded and undulating country through which the North Saskatchewan flows. As we travel over the wide expanse of plain, only oounded by the deep blue of the distant horizon, we become almost bewildered by the beauty and variety of the flora, which flourish on the rich soil; crocuses, roses, bluebells, convolvuli, anemones, as- ters, sunflowers, and other flowers too numerous to mention, follow each other in rapid succession from May till September, and mingle with '* The billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine." Ascending the foothills that rise from the plains :rvcs dant t to 1 the ago, is or idian days irried , and lipeg, »f the ^oun- airies, umer- urface im, on 30plar more )untry As only rizon, and soil ; es, as- ncrous ession ishine. " plains ) m V. u t/; < fa c c ?: w u Ui PL. i6 THE STORY OF CANADA, to the Rocky Mountains we come to the Western region, known as British Columbia, comprising within a width varying from four to six hundred miles at the widest part, several ranges of great mountains which lie, roughly speaking, parallel to each other, and give sublimity and variety to the most remarkable scenery of North America. These mountains are an extension of the Cordilleran range, which forms the backbone of the Pacific coast, and in Mexico rises to great volcanic ridges, of which the loftiest are Popocatepetl and Iztac- cfhuatl. Plateaus and valleys of rich, gravelly soil lie within these stately ranges. Here we find the highest mountains of Canada, some varying from ten to fifteen thousand feet, and assuming a grandeur which we never see in the far more ancient Laurentides, which, in the course of ages, have been ground down by the forces of nature to their relatively diminutive size. Within the re- cesses of these stupendous ranges there are rich stores of gold and silver, while coal exists most abundantly on Vancouver. The Fraser, Columbia, and other rivers of this region run with great swiftness among the cafions and gorges of the mountains, and find their way at last to the Pacific. In the Rockies, properly so called, we see stupendous masses of bare, rugged rock, crowned with snow and ice, and assuming all the grand and curious forms which nature loves to take in her most striking upheavals. Never can one forget the picturesque beauty and impressive grand- eur of the Selkirk range, and the ride by the side of INTRODUCTION. 17 the broad, rapid Fraser, over trestle-work, around curves, and through tunnels, with the forest-clad mountains ever rising as far as the eye can reach, with glimpses of precipices and caflons, of cataracts and cascades that tumble down from the glaciers or snow-clad peaks, and resemble so many drifts of snow amid the green foliage that grows on the lowest slopes. The Fraser River valley, writes an observer, " is one so singularly formed, that it would seem that some superhuman sword had at a single stroke cut through a* labyrinth of mountains for three hundred miles, down deep into the bowels of the land." * Further along the Fraser the Cascade Mountains lift their rugged heads, and the river " flows at the bot- tom of a vast tangle cut by nature through the heart of the mountains." The glaciers fully equal in magnitude and grandeur those of Switzerland. On the coast and in the rich valleys stand the giant pines and cedars, compared with which the trees of the Eastern division seem mere saplings. The coast is very mountainous and broken into innumerable inlets and islands, all of them heavily timbered to the water's edge. The history of this region offers little of picturesque interest except what may be found in the adventures of daring sailors of various nationalities on the Pacific coast, or in the story of the descent of the Fraser by the Scotch fur-trader who first followed it to the sea, and gave it the name which it still justly bears. The history of the Western and Central regions of the Dominion is given briefly towards the end of this * H. H. Bancroft, British Columbia^ p. 38. 3' i8 THE STORY OF CANADA, narrative, as it forms a national sequence or supple- ment to that of the Eastern divisions, Acadia and Canada, where France first established her dominion, and the foundations were laid for the present Cana- dian confederation. It is the story of the great Eastern country that I must now tell in the following pages. S'«', Sti' II. THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN CANADA. • (1497— 1525.) On one of the noble avenues of the modern part of the city of Boston, so famous in the political and intellectual life of America, stands a monument of bronze which some Scandi'navian and historical en- thusiasts have raised to the memory of Leif, son of / Eric the Red, who, in the first year of the eleventh century, sailed from Greenland where his father, an Icelandic jarl or earl, had founded a settlement. This statue represents the sturdy, well-proportioned figure of a Norse sailor just discovering the new lands with which the Sagas or poetic chronicles of the North connect his name. At the foot of the pedestal the artist has placed the dragon's head which always stood on the prow of the Norsemen's ships, and pictures of which can still be seen on the famous Norman tapestry at Bayeux. The Icelandic Sagas possess a basis of historical truth, and there is reason to believe that Leif Eric- son discovered three countries. The first land he made after leaving Greenland he named Helluland on account of its slaty rocks. Then he came to a 19 / I i:^U fr 'X', 30 THE STORY OF CANADA, flat country with white beaches of sand, which he called Markland because it was so well wood* d. After a sail of some days the Northmen arrived on a coast where they found vines laden with grapes, and very appropriately named Vinland. The exact situ- ation of Vinland and the other countries visited by Leif Ericson and other Norsemen, who followed in later voyages and are believed to have founded set- tlements in the land of vines, has been always a sub- ject of perplexity, since we have only the vague Sagas to guide us. It may be fairly assumed, however, that the rocky land was the coast of Labrador ; the low-lying forest-clad shores which Ericson called Markland was possibly the southeastern [)art of Cape Breton or the southern coast of Nova Scotia ; Vinland was very likely somewhere in New England. Be that as it may, the world gained nothing from these misty discoveries — if, indeed, we may so call the results of the voyages of ten centuries ago. No such memorials of the Icelandic pioneers have yet been found in America as they have left behind them in Greenland. The old ivy-covered round tower at Newport in Rhode Island is no longer claimed as a relic of the Norse settlers of Vinland, since it has been proved beyond doubt to be nothing more than a very substantial stone windmiji of quite recent times, while the writing on the once equally famous rock, found last century at Dighton, by the side of a New England river, is now generally admitted to be nothing more than a memorial of one of the Indian tribes who have inhabited the country since the voyages of the Norsemen. THE DAWN OF HI SCO V EN Y IN CANADA. 21 II Leaving this domain ot legend, \vc come to the last years of the fifteenth century, when Columbus landed on the islands now often known as the Antilles— a memorial of that mysterious Antillia, or Isle of ♦^lie Seven Cities, which was long supposed to exist i .e mid-Atlantic, and found a place in all the maps before, and even some time after, the voyages of the illustrious (jrenoese. A part of the veil was at last lifted from that mysterious western ocean — that Sea of Darkness, which had perplexed philosophers, geographers, and sailors, from the days of Aristotle, Plato, Strabo, and Ptolemy. As in the case of Scandinavia, several countries have en- deavoured to establish a claim for the priority of dis- covery in America. Some sailors of that Biscayan coast, w' 'ch has given so many bold pilots and marinei the world of adventure and exploration — that Basque country to which belonged Juan de la Cosa, the pilot who accompanied Columbus in his voyages — may have found their way to the North Atlantic coast in search of cod or whales at a very early time; and it is certainly an argument for such a claim that John Cabot is said in 1497 ^^ have heard the Indians of northeastern rvmerica speak of Bacca- laos, or Basque for cod — a name afterwards applied for a century and longer to the islands and countries around the Gulf. It is certainly not improbable that the Normans, Bretons, or Basques, whose lives from times immemorial have been passed on the sea, should have been driven by the winds or by some accident to the shores of Newfoundland or Labra- dor or even Cape Breton, but such theories are not i i| 22 THE STORY OF CANADA, /U s based upon sufficiently authentic data to bring them under the consideration of the serious historian. It is unfortunate that the records of history should be so wanting in definite and accurate details, when we come to the voyages of John Cabot, a great nav- igator, who was probably a Genoese by birth and a Venetian by citizenship. Five years after the first discovery by Columbus, John Cabot sailed to un- known seas and lands in the Northwest in the ship Matthew of Bristol, with full authority from the King of England, Henry the Seventh, to take possession in his name of all countries he might discover. On his return from a successful voyage, during which he certainly landed on the coast of British North America, and first discovered the continent of North America, he became the hero of the hour and received from Henry, a very econoinical sovereign, a largess of ten pounds as a reward to " hym that foundc the new ile." In the following year both he and his son Sebastian, then a very young man, who probably also accompanied his father in the voyage of 1497, sailed again for the new lands which were believed to be somewhere on the road to Cipango and the countries of gold and spice and silk. We have no exact record of this voyage, and do not even know whether John Cabot himself returned alive; for, from the day of his sailing in 1498, he dis- appears from the scene and his son Sebastian not only becomes henceforth a prominent figure in the maritime history of the period, but has been given by his admirers even the place which his father alone fairly won as the leader in the two voyages on which THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN CANADA. 23 England has based her claim of priority of discovery on the Atlantic coast of North America. The weight of authority so far points to a headland of Cape Breton as the prima tier r a vista, or the landfall which John Cabot probably made on a June day, the four hundredth anniversary of which arrives in 1897, though the claims of a point on the wild Lab- rador coast and of Bonavista, an eastern headland of Newfoundland, have also some earnest advocates. It is, however, generally admitted that the Cabots, in the second voyage, sailed past the shores of Nova Scotia and of the United States as far south as Spanish Florida. History here, at all events, has tangible, and in some respects irrefutable, evidence on which to dwell, since we have before us a cele- brated map, which has come down from the first year of the sixteenth century, and is known beyond doubt to have been drawn with all the authority that is due to so famous a navigator as Juan de la Cosa, the Basque pilot. On this map we see delineated for the first time the coast apparently of a conti- nental region extending from the peninsula of Florida as far as the present Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is described in Spanish as mar descubierta por los Ingleses (sea discovered by the English), on one headland of which there is a Cavo de Ynglaterra, or English Cape. Whether this sea is the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the headland is Cape Race, the south- eastern extremity of Newfoundland, or the equally well-known point which the Bretons named on t'le southeastern coast of Cape Breton, are among the questions which ent^r into the doi|)?iin of specula- I— . mtutuuumtim JSSSS 24 T//£ STORY OF CANADA, tion and imagination. Juan de la Cosa, however, is conclusive evidence in favour of the EngUsh claim to the first discovery of Northern countries, whose greatness and prosperity have already exceeded the conceptions which the Spanish conquerors formed when they won possession of those rich Southern lands which so long acknowledged the dominion of Spain. But Cabot's voyages led to no immediate practical results. The Bristol ships brought back no rich cargoes of gold or silver, or spices, to tell England that she had won a passage to the Indies and Cathay. The idea, however, that a short passage would be discovered to those rich regions was to linger for nearly two centuries in the minds of maritime ad- venturers and geographers. If we study the names of the headlands, bays, and other natural features of the islands and countries which inclose the Gulf of St. Lawrence we find many memorials of the early Portuguese and French voyagers. In the beginning of the sixteenth century Caspar Cortereal made several voyages to the northeastern shores of Newfoundland and Lab- rador, and brought back with him a number of natives whose sturdy frames gave European specta- tors the idea that they would make good labourers; and it was this erroneous conception, it is generally thought, gave its present name to the rocky, forbid- ding region which the Norse voyagers had probably called Helluland five hundred years before. Both Caspar Cortereal and his brother Miguel disappeared from history somewhere in the waters of Hudson's H pi*"" <^ •••■■'" {^^ .fflKS B° s ^«»' N./ \ -■° 1 Ji 3 1/ \ o O o o Oo V ^ \ o ,J O on. .Sii ti SKETCH OK JUAN I)K I,A COSA's MAP, A.D. ^500. 25 ^-*««gitf *mmitmit»i 26 THE STORY OF CANADA. \J rj\ Bay or Labrador ; but they were followed by other adventurous sailors who have left mementos of their nationality on such places as Cape Raso (Race), Boa Ventura (Bonaventure), Conception, Tangier, Porto Novo, Carbonear (Carboneiro), all of which and other r»ames appear on the earliest maps of the north- eastern waters of North America. Some enterprising sailors of Brittany first gave a name to that Cape which lies to the northeast of the historic port of Louisbourg. These hardy sailors were certainly on the coast of the island as early as 1504, and Cape Breton is consequently the earliest French name on record in America. Some claim is made for the Basques — that primeval people, whose origin is lost in the mists of tradition — because there is a Cape Breton on the Biscayan coast of France, but the evidence in support of the Bretons* claim is by far the strongest. For very many years the name of Bretons' land was attached on maps to a continental region, which included the present Nova Scotia, and it was well into the middle of the sixteenth century, after the voyages of Jacques Cartier and Jehan Alfonce, before we find the island itself make its appearance in its proper place and form. It was a native of the beautiful city of Florence, in the days of Francis the First, who gave to France some claim to territory in North America. Giovanni da Verrazano, a well-known corsair, in 1524, received a commission from that brilliant and dissipated king, Francis the First, who had become jealous of the enormous pretensions of Spain and Portugal in the new world, and had on one occasion sent word to r other f their e), Boa Porto i other north- gave a tof the rs were IS 1504, French s made 2 origin ere is a ice, but [1 is by lame of iinental tia, and entury, Jehan lake its ence, in France iovanni eceived td king, J of the I in the word to THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN CANADA. 27 his great rival, Charles the Fifth, that he was not aware that " our first father Adam had made the Spanish and Portuguese kings his sole heirs to the earth." Verrazano's voyage is supposed on good authority to have embraced the whole North Ameri- can coast from Cape Fear in North Carolina as far as the island of Cape Breton. About the same time Spain sent an expedition to the northeastern coasts of America under the direction of Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, and it is probable that he also coasted from Florida to Cape Breton. Much disap- pt)intmcnt was felt that neither Verrazano nor Gomez liad found a passage through the straits which were then, and for a long time afterwards, supposed to lie somewhere in the northern regions of America and to lead to China and India. Francis was not able to send Verrazano on another voyage, to take formal possession of the new lands, as he was engaged in that conflict with Charles which led to his defeat at the battle of Pavia and his being made subsequently a prisoner. Spain appears to have attached no im- portance to the discovery b}' Gomez, since it did not promise mines of gold and silver, and happily for the cause of civilisation and progress, she continued to confine herself to the countries of the South, though her fishermen annually ventured, in common with those of other nations, to the banks of Newfound- land. However, from the time of Verrazano we find on the old maps the names of Francisca and Nova (iallia as a recognition of the claim of France to important discoveries in North America. It is also from the Florentine's voyage that we may date the t' ■ linn iriMimMMiMIMa— a ^r III 28 THE STORY OF CANADA. discovery of that mysterious region called Norum- bega, where the fancy of sailors and adventurers eventually placed a noble city whose houses were raised on pillars of crystal and silver, and decorated with precious stones. These travellers' tales and sailors* yarns probably originated in the current be- lief that somewhere in those new lands, just discov- ered, there would be found an El Dorado. The same brilliant illusion that led Ralegh to the South made credulous mariners believe in a Norumbes^a in the f lests of Acadia. The name clung for many years to a country embraced within the present limits of New England, and sometimes included Nova Scotia. Its rich capital was believed to exist some- where on the beautiful Penobscot River, in the present State of Maine. A memorial of the same name still lingers in the little harbours of Norumbec, or Lor- ambeque, or Loran, on the southeastern coast of Cape Breton. Enthusiastic advocates of the Norse discovery and settlement have confidently seen in Norumbega, the Indian utterance of Norbega, the ancient form of Norway to which Vinland was sub ject, and this belief has been even emphasised on a stone pillar which stands on some ruins unearthed close to the Charles River in Massachusetts. Sinon e vcrob ben trovato. All this serves to amuse, though it cannot convince, the critical student of those shadowy times. With the progress of discovery the city of Norumbega wa3 found as baseless as the fables of the golden city on the banks of the Orinoco, and of the fountain of youth among the forests and everglades of Florida. III. A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA AND ITS GREAT RIVER. (1534-36.) In the fourth decade of the sixteenth century we find ourselves in the domain of precise history. The narratives of the voyages of Jacques Cartier of St. Malo, that famous port of Brittany which has given so many sailors to the world, are on the whole suffi- ciently definite, even at this distance of three centu- ries and a half, to enable us to follow liis routes, and recognise the greater number of the places in the gulf and river which he revealed to the old world. The same enterprising king who had sent Ver- razano to the west in 1524, commissioned the Breton sailor to find a short passL'ge to Cathay and give a new dominion to France. At the time of the departure of Cartier in 1J34 for the " new-found isle " of Cabot, the world had made considerable advances in geographical knowledge. South America was now ascertained to be a separate continent, and the great Portuguese Magellan had 29 ft? ", ( i' -H" 30 THE STORY OF CANADA. passed through the straits, which ever since have borne his name, and found his way across the Pacific to the spice islands of Asia. As respects North America beyond the Gulf of Mexico and the coun- try to the North, dense ignorance still prevailed, and though a coast line had been followed from Florida to Cape Breton by Cabot, Gomez, and Ver- razano, it was believed either to belong to a part of Asia or to be a mere prolongation of Greenland. If one belief prevailed more than another it was in the existence of a great sea, called on the maps " the sea of Verrazano," in what is now the upper basin of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes of the west, and which was only separated from the Atlantic by a narrow strip of land. Now that it was clear that no short passage to India and China could be found through the Gulf of Mexico, and that South Amer- ica was a continental region, the attention of hope- ful geographers and of enterprising sailors and adventurers was directed to the north, especially as Spain was relatively indifferent to enterprise in that region. No doubt the French King thought that Cartier would find his way to the sea of Verrazano, beyond which were probably the lands visited by Marco Polo, that enterprising merchant of Venice, whose stories of adventure in India and China read like stories of the Arabian Nights. Jacques Cartier made three voyages to the conti- nent of Ame-ica between 1534 and 1542, and proba- bly another in 1543. The first voyage, which took place in 1534 and lasted from April until September, was confined to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which he Jacques Cartier, C^^^^^JW J» 32 THE STORY OF CANADA, I explored with some thoroughness after passing through the strait of Belle Isle, then called the Gulf of Castles (Chasteaux). The coast of Labrador he described with perfect accuracy as extremely forbid- ding, covered with rocks and moss and " as very likely the land given by God to Cain." In one of the harbours of the Labrador coast he found a fish- ing vessel from La Rochelle, the famous Protestant town of France, on its way to the port of Brest, then and for some time after a place of call for the fisher- men who were already thronging the Gulf, where walrus, whales, and cod were so abundant. A good deal of time has been expended by historical writers on the itinerary of this voyage, the record of which is somewhat puzzling at times when we come to fix Cartier's names of places on a modern map. Con- fining ourselves to those localities of which there is no doubt, we know he visited and named the isle of Brion in honour of Admiral Philip de Chabot, Seig- neur de Brion, who was a friend and companion of Francis, and had received from him authority to send out Cartier's expedition. The Breton saw the great sand-dunes, and red cliffs of the Magdalens rising from the sea like so many cones. It was one of these islands he probably called Alezay, though there are writers who recognise in his description a headland of Prince Edward Island, but it is not cer- tain that he visited or named any of the bays or lagoons of that island which lies so snugly ensconced in the Gulf. We recognise the bay of Miramichi (St. Lunaire) and the still more beautiful scenery of the much larger bay of Chaleur (Heat) which he so A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA. 33 m n.imed because he entered it on a very hot July d;iy. There he had pleasant interviews with the natives, who danced and gave other demonstrations of joy when they received some presents in exchange for the food they brought to the strangers. These people were probably either Micmacs or Etchemins, one of the branches of the Algonquin nation who inhabited a large portion of the Northern continent. Cartier was enchanted with the natural beauties of " as fine a country as one would wish to see and live in, level and smooth, warmer than Spain, where there is abundance of wheat, which has an ear like that of rye, and again like oats, peas growing as thickly and as large as if they had been cultivated, red and white barberries, strawberries, red and white roses, and other flowers of a delightful and sweet perfume, meadows of rich grasses, and rivers full of salmon " — a perfectly true descrip- tion of the beautiful country watered by the Resti- gouche and Metapedia rivers. Cartier also visited tiie picturesque bay of Gaspe, where the scenery is grand but the trees smaller and the land less fertile than in the neighbourhood of Chaleur and its rivers. On a point at the entrance of the harbour of Gaspd -an Indian name having probably reference to a split rock, which has long been a curiosity of the roast — Cartier raised a cross, thirty feet in height, on tile middle of which there was a shield or escutcheon witli three fleurs-de-lis, and the inscription, Vive le 'ley lie France. Cartier then returned to France by way of the strait of Belle Isle, without having seen the great river to whose mouth he had been so close 'V- :n ■ ".i it ■ i' r 34 THE STORY OF CANADA. when he stood on the hills of Gasp6 or passed around the shores of desolate Anticosti. Cartier brougiit back with him two sons of the Indian chief of a tribe he saw at Gaspc, who seem to have belonged to the Huron-Iroquois nation he met at Stadacona, now Quebec, when he made the second voyage which I have to describe. The ac- counts he gave of the country on the Gulf appear to have been sufficiently encouraging to keep up the interest of the King and the Admiral of France in the scheme of discovery which they had planned. In this second voyage of 1535-36, the most memor- able of all he made to American waters, he had the assistance of a little fleet of three vessels, the Grande Hcrmine, the Petite Hennine, and the Eim^rillon, of which the first had a burden of one hundred and twenty tons— quite a large ship compared with the two little vessels of sixty tons each that were given him for his first venture. This fleet, which gave Canada to France for two centuries and a quarter, reached Newfoundland during the early part of July, passed through the strait of Belle Isle, and on the loth of August, came to a little bay or harbour on the northern shore of the present province of Que- bec, but then known as Labrador, to which he gave the name of St. Laurent, in honour of the saint whose festival happened to fall on the day of his arrival. This bay is now generally believed to be the port of Sainte Genevieve, and the name which Cartier gave it was gradually transferred in the course of a century to the whole gulf as well as to the river itself which the Breton sailor was the first to place A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA, 35 definitely on the maps of those days of scanty geographical knowledge. Cartier led his vessels through the passage between the northern shores of Canada and the island of Anticosti, which he called Assomption, although it has long since resumed its old name, which has been gradually changed from the original Natiscotic to Naticousti, and finally to Anticosti. When the adventurers came near the neighbourhood of Trinity River on the north side of the Gulf, the two Gaspe Indians who were on board Cavtier's vessel, the Grande Hermine, told them that they were now at the entrance of the kingdom of Saguenay where red copper was to be found, and that away beyond flowed the great river of Hoche- laga and Canada. This Saguenay kingdom extended on the north side of the river as far as the neighbour- hood of the present well-known Isle aux Coudres; then came the kingdom of Canada, stretching as far as the island of Montreal, where the King of Hoche- laga exercised dominion over a number of tribes in the adjacent country. Cartier passed the gloomy portals of the Saguenay, and stopped for a day or two at Isle aux Coudres (Coudriferes) over fifty miles below Quebec, where ma«" A^as celebrated for the first time on the river of Canada, and which he named on account of the hazcl-ni ts he lound '* as large and better tasting ^' iose of P'-ance, though a little harder." Car- t then follow, cd the north shore, with its lofty, wcu-wooLled mountains stretching away to the north- ward, and came at last to an anchorage not far from Stadacona, somewhere between the present Isle of yi V - \ a *i if 1^ W Si in 36 THE STORY OF CANADA. Orleans and the mainland. Here he had an inter- view with the natives, who showed every confidence in the strangers when they found that the two Gasp6 Indians, Taignoagny and Domagaya, were their companions. As soon as they were satisfied of this fact— and here we have a proof that these two Indians must have belonged to the same nation — " they showed their joy, danced, and performed various antics." SubsequenUy the lord of Donna- cona, whose Indian title was Agouahana, came with twelve canoes and " made a speech according to the fashion, contorting the body and limbs in a remark- able way — a ceremony of joy and welcome." After looking about for a safe harbour, Cartier chose the mouth of the present St. Charles River, which he named the River of the Holy Cross (Sainte Croix) in honour of the day when he arrived. The fleet was anchored not far from the Indian village of Stadacona, and soon after its arrival one of the chiefs received the Frenchmen with a speech of wel- come, " while the women danced and sang without ceasing, standing in the water up ' o their knees." Moored in a safe haven, the French had abundant opportunity to make themselves acquainted with the surrounding country and its people. They visited the island close by, and were delighted with *' its beautiful trees, the same as in France," and with tlie great quantities of vines " si'ch as we had never before sjen." Caitier called this attractive spot the Island of Bacchus, but changed the name subse- quently to the Isle of Orleans, in honour of one of the royal sons of France. Cartier was equally A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA. 37 charmed with the varied scenery and the fruitful soil of the country around Stadacona. At was now the middle of September, and Cartier determined, since his men had fuily recovered from the fatigues of the voyage, to proceed up the river as far as Hochelaga, of which he was constantly hearing accounts from the Indians. When they heard of this intention, Donnacona and other chiefs used their best efforts to dissuade him b)' inventing stories of the dat:'C:ers of the navigation. The two Gaspe Indians lent themselves to the plans of the chief of Stadacona. Three Indians were dressed as devils, " with faces painted as black as coal, with horns as long as the arm, and covered with the skins of black and white dogs." These devils were declared to be emissaries of the Indian God at Hochelaga, called Cudragny, who warned the French that " there was so much snow and ice that all would die." The Gaspe Indians, who had so long an acquaintance with the religious customs and superstition>- of the French, endeavoured to influence them by appeals to*' Jesus" and "Jesus Maria." Cartier, however, only laughed at the tricks of the Indiars, and told them that " their God Cudragny was a mere fool, and that Jesus would preserve them from all danger if they should believe in Him." The French at last started on the ascent of the river in the Em:!: iilon and two large boats, but neither Taignc^agny nor Domagaya could be induced to accompany the ex- pedition to Hochelaga. Cartier and his men reached the neighbourhood of Hochelaga, the Indian town on the island of Mont- 38 THE STORY OF CANADA, real, in about a fortnight's time. The appearance of the country bordering on the river between Stadacona and Hociielaga pleased the Frencli on account of the springs of excellent water, the beauti- ful trees, and vines heavily laden with grapes, and the quantities of wild fowl that rose from every bay or creek as the voyagers passed by. At one place called Achelay, " a strait with a stony and danger- ous current, full of rocks," — probably the Richelieu Rapids* above Point au Platon — a number of Indians came on board the Einn'illon, warned Cartier of the perils of the river, and the chief made him a present of two children, one of whom, a little girl of seven or eight years, he accepted and promised to take every care of. Somewhere on Lake St. Peter they found the water very shallow and decided to leave the Einerillon and proceed in the boats to Hochelaga, where they arrived on the second of October, and were met by more than " a thousand savages who gathered about them, men, women, and children, and received us as well as a parent does a child, showing great joy." After a display of friendly feeling on the part of the natives and their visitors, and the exchange of presents between them, Cartier returned to his boat in the stream. " All that night," says the narrative, " the savages remained on the shore near our boats, keeping up fires, dancing, crying out * Aguaze,* which is their word for welcome and joy." The king or chief of this Indian domain was also called Agouahana, and was a member of the Huron- Iroquois stock. * The obstructions which created these rapids have been removed. nee cen on luti- and bay ilace ,ger- -licu lians : the esent ^even take tbey leave elaga, r, and who |i, and Lnving hg on Id the lurncd ' says shore iig out joy- is also iuron- C/5 < O Oi < < a X u o a H ^. U O < i't ik. smoved. 39 1 '^^pmmmm 40 T//E STORY OF CANADA. The French visitors were regarded by the Indians of Hochelaga as superior beings, endowed with supernatural powers. Cartier was called upon to touch the lame, blind, and wounded, and treat all the ailments with which the Indians were afflicted, " as if they thought that God had sent him to cure them." Cartier's narrative describes the town as circular, inclosed by three rows of palisades arranged like a pyramid, crossed at the top, with the middle stakes standing perpendicular, and the others at an angle on each side, all being well joined and fastened after the Indian fashion. The inclosing wall was of the height of twoi lances, or about twenty feet, and there was only one entrance through a door generally kept barred. At several points within the inclosure there were platforms or stages reached by ladders, for the purpose of protecting the town with arrows, and rocks, piles of which were close at hand. The town contained fifty houses, each about one hundred feet in length and twenty-five or thirty in width, and constructed of wood, covered with bark and strips of board. These ** long houses " were divided into several apartments, belonging to each family, but all of them assembled and ate in common. Storehouses for their grain and food were provided. They dried and smoked their fish, of which they had large quanti- ties. They pounded the grain between flat stones and made it into dough which they cooked alr.o on hot rocks. This tribe lived, Cartier tells us, " by ploughing and fishing alone," and were " not no- madic like the natives of Canada and the Saguenay." J BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA. 4 1 Carticr and several of his companions were taken by the Indians to the mountain near the town of Hochelaga, and were the first Europeans to look on that noble panorama of river and forest which stretched then without a break over the whole con- tinent, except wliere the Indian nations had made, as at Hochelaga, their villages and settlements. From that day to this the mountain, as well as the great city which it now overlooks in place of a humble Indian town, has borne the name which Cartier gave as a tribute to its unrivalled beauty. As we look from the royal mountain on the beautiful elms and maples rising in the meadows and gardens of an island, bathed by the waters of two noble rivers — the green of the St. Lawrence mingling with the blue of the Ottawa — on the many domes and towers of churches, convents, and colleges, on the stately mansions of the rich, on the tall chimnevs of hujje factories and blocks upon blocks of massive stores and warehouses, on the ccean .'.teamers on their way to Europe by that very river which Cartier would not ascend with the Emdrillon ; as we look on this beauteous and inspiriting scene, we may well under- stand how it is that Canada has placed on Montreal the royal crown which Cartier first gave to the moun- tain he saw on a glorious October day when the foliage was wearing the golden and crimson tints of a Canadian autumn. On Carrier's return to Stadacona he found that his off:cer:i had become suspicious of the intentions of the Indians and had raised a rude fort near the junctio.n of the /iverof St Croix and the little stream 42 THE STORY OF CANADA, called the Lairet. Here the French passed a long and dreary winter, doubtful of the friendship of the Indians, and suffering from the intense cold to which they were unaccustomed. They were attacked by that dreadful disease, the scurvy, which caused the death of several men, and did not cease its ravages until they learned from an Indian to use a drink evidently made from spruce boughs. Then the French recovered with great rapidity, and when the spring arrived they made their preparations to return to France. They abandoned the little Hcrmine, as the crew had been so weakened by sickness and death. They captured Donnacona and several other chiefs and determined to take them to France " to relate to the king the wonders of the world Donnacona [evidently a great story-teller] had seen in these western countries, for he had assured us that he had been in the Saguenay kingdom, where are infinite gold, rubies, and other riches, and white men dressed in woollen clothing." In the vicinity of the fort, at the meeting of the St. Croix and Lairet, Cartier raised a cross, thirty-five feet in height under the cross-bar of which there was a wooden shield, showing the arms of France and the inscrip- tion Franciscus Primus Dei Gratia Francorum Rex Regnat. When three centuries and a half had passed, a hundred thousand French Canadians, in the presence of an English governor-general of Canada, a French Canadian lieutenant-governor and cardinal arch- A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA. 43 bishop, many ecclesiastical and civil dignitaries, assisted in the unveiling of a noble monument in memory of Jacques Cartier and his hardy com- panions of the voyage of 1535-36, and of Jean de Brebeuf, Ennemond Masse, and Charles Lalemant, the missionaries who built the first residence of the Jesuits nearJy a century later on the site of the old French fort, and one of whom after vards sacrificed his life for the faith to which they were all so devoted. On the return voyage Cartier sailed to the south- ward of the Gulf, saw the picturesque headlands of northern Cape Breton, remained a few days in some harbours of Newfoundland, and finally reached St. Malo on the sixteenth of July, with the joyful news that he had discovered a great country and a noble river for France. ^ I I IV. FROM CARTIER TO DE MONTS. (l 540-1603.) § The third voyage made by Cartier to the new world, in 1541, was relatively of little importance. Donnacona and the other Indians of Stadacona, whom the French carried away with them, never returned to their forest homes, but died in France. During the year Cartier remained in Canada he built a fortified post at Cap Rouge, about seven miles west of the heights of Quebec, and named it Charlesbourg in honour of one of the sons of Francis the First. He visited Hochelaga, and attempted to pass up the river beyond the village, but was stopped by the dangerous rapids now known as the St. Louis or Lachine. He returned to France in the spring of 1542, with a few specimens of worthless metal re- sembling gold which he found among the rocks of Cap Rouge, and some pieces of quartz crystal which he believed were diamonds, and which have given the name to the bold promontory on which stand the ancient fortifications of Quebec. 44 9^ ■tnt»a litm ^^' FRANC C deJkMneftkmHe Meguana {^ S't &s:. •poftuta S S P A I G N E CE ANE IS It •f t* t* i* 9* S9 ♦«- r* /♦ •t cr •r u tc St ir IV ir he n '9t it THE " DAUPHIN MAP " OF CANADA, circa I543, SHOWING CA 8| c A n|a a ■r-' TERRE OaS ?^ BRETONS * ^ Sf v^ ^• FRANC E ^4^:^'- de guana {^Z* 5*^/0 eitades S'* \J*eneorporttda MER DESPAIGNE (Sfc, ^ermu^a MER OCCEANE ^ £0 eatholifue 0* «r if IT ir IT IV ir fcr #f '«r| 1543, SHOWING CARTIER S DISCOVERIES. by FROM CARTIEK TO DE MOXTS. 45 Carticr is said to liavc returned on a fourth voy- age to Canada in 1543 — thougii no record exists — for the purpose of bringing back Monsieur Roberval, otherwise I )f the qualities of a coloniser, and on liis vovai/e back to England he was lost at sea, and it was left to the n.en (^f Devon and the West coast in later times t(^ make a pennanent settlement on the great island of the Gulf. The first years of the seventeenth century were propitious for important schemes of colonisation and trade in the western lands. The sovereign of France was Henry the Fourth, the intrepid Prince of l^earn, as l^rave a soldier as he was a sagacious statesman. Henry listened favourably— though his able minister. Sully, held different views — to the schemes for open- ing up Canada to commerce and settlement that were laid before him by an old veteran of the wars, and a staunch friend, Aymar de Chastcs, governor of Dieppe. Fontgrave, a rich l^reton merchant of St. Malo, had the charge of the two vessels which left France in the spring of 1603, but it is a fact that a great man, Samuel Champlain, ;.iccompanied the ex- FROM CAR TIER TO DE MO NTS, 49 pedition that gives the chief interest to the voyage. Champlain, who was destined tc- be the founder of New France, was a native of Brouage in the Bay of Biscay, and belonged to a family of fisiiermen. Dur- ing the war of the League he served in the army of Henry the Third, but when Henry of Navarre was l>roclaimed King of France on the assassination of his predecessor, and abjured the Protestant faith of which he had previously been the champion, Cham- plain, like other Frenchmen, who hail followed the Duke of Guise, became an ardent su[)porter of the new regime and eventually a favourite of the Bernese prince. He \ isited the West Indies in a Spanish ship and made himself well acquainted with Mexico and other countries bordering on the Gulf. He has (lescrib'cl all his vovaijes to the Indies and Canada in quainl c^aarto volumes, now very rare, and valu- able on account of their minute and truthful narra- tive — despite his lively and credulous imagination — and the drawings and maps which he made rudely of the olaces he saw. His accounts of the Indians of Canada are among the most valuable that have come to us from the early days of American history, lie had a fair knowledge of natural history for those times, though he believed in Mexican griffins, and was versed in geography and cartography. In 1603 Pontgrave and Champlain ascended the River St. Lawrence as far as the island of Montreal, where they found only a few wandering Algonquins of the Ottawa and its tributaries, in place of the peo- ple who had inhabited the town of Hochelagain the days of Cartier's visits. Champlain attempted to 50 TIJE STORY OF CAN^ADA. pass the Lachine rapids but was soon forced to give up the perilous and impossible venture. During this voyage he explored the Saguenay for a consider- able distance, and was able to atld larjjelv to the in- formation that Cartier had given of Canada and the country around the Gulf. When the expedition reached France, Aymar de Chastes was dead, but two months had hardly elapsed after Champlain's return when a new company was formed on the usual basis of trade and colonisation. At its head was Sieur de Monts, Pierre du (juast, the governor of Pons, a Calvinist and a friend of the King. After much deliberation it was decided to venture south of Canada and explore that ill-defined region, called "La Cadie " in the royal commission given to De Monts as the King's lieutenant in Canada and adja- cent countries, the first record we have «'f that Acadia where French and English were to contend during a century for the supremacy. For a few moments we must leave the valley of the St. Law- rence, where France was soon to enthrone herself on the lieights of Qiiehcc, and visit a beautiful bay on the western coast of Nova Scotia, where a slee{)y old town, full of historic associations, still stands to recall the efforts of gentlemen adventurers to es- tablish a permanent settlement on the shores of the Atlantic. P' V. THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA AND THE FOUNDATION OF PORT ROYAL. (1604-1614.) In the western valley of that part of French Acadia, now known as Nova Sc(^tia, not only do we tread on historic ground, but we see in these days a land- scape of more varied beauty than that which so delighted the gentlemen-adventurers of old France nearly three centuries ago. In this country, which the poem conceived by Longfellow amid the elms of Cambrit|ge has made so famous, we sec the rich lands reclaimed from the sea, which glistens a few miles to the north, and every day comes rushing up its estuaries. There to tlie north is dark, lofty Blomidon — whose name is i)robably a memorial of a Portuguese voyager — with its overhanging cliff under which the tumultuous tides struggle and foam. Here, in a meadow close by, is a long row of Lombardy poplars, pointing to another race and another country. There, on a slight acclivity, among the trees, is a pile ( f wliite college buildings, there a tall white spire 51 52 THE STORY OF CANADA, rises into the pure blue sky. We see cottages covered with honeysuckle and grapevine ; with their gardens of roses and lilies, and many old-fashioned flowers. In the spring, the country is one mass of pink and white blossoms, which load the passing breeze with delicate fragrance ; in autumn the trees bend beneath rosy and yellow apples. We drive through a fertile valley, where runs a placid river amid many meadows, gardens, and or- chards, until at last it empties into a picturesque basin, where the landscape shows a harmonious blending of mountain and water, of cultivated fields and ancient forest trees. Here we see a quiet old town, whose roofs are green with the moss of many years, where willows and grassy mounds tell of a historic past, where the bells of ox-teams tinkle in the streets, and commerce itself wears a look of reminiscence. For we have come to the banks of that basin where the French, in the first years of the seventeenth century, laid the foundations of a settle- ment which, despite all its early misfortunes, has lasted until the present time, though it is the English tongue that is now spoken and the Englishman who is now the occupant. Early in the leafy month of June, 1604, the French under De Monts sailed into this spacious basin, and saw for the first time its grassy meadows, its numer- ous streams, its cascades tumbling from the hills, its forest-clad mountains. "This," said Champlain, who called it Port Royal, " was the most commodi- ous and pleasant place that we had yet seen in this country." THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 53 It appears that the adventurers left France in the early part of April. When the King had been once won over to the project, he consented to give De Monts and his associates an entire monopoly of the iur-trade throughout the wide domain of which he was to be the viceroy. The expedition was chiefly supported by the merchants of the Protestant town of La Rochelle, and was regarded with much jeal- ousy by otlier commercial cities. Protestants were to enjoy in the new colony all the advantages they were then allowed in France. The Catholics were appea.sed by the condition that the conversion of the natives should be reserved especially for the priests of their own church. The man of most note, after De Monts and Cham- plain, was Jean de I^icricourt, a rich nobleman of Picardy, better known in Acadian history as the Baron de Poutrincourt, who had distinguished him- self as a soldier in the civil wars. A man of energy and enterprise, he was well fitted to assist in the establishment of a colony. De Monts and his associates reached without acci- dent the low fir-covered shores of Nova Scotia, visited several of its harbours, and finally sailed into the Bay of Fundy, which was named Baie Frangaise. The French explored the coast of the bay after leav- ing Port Royal, and discovered the river which the Indians called Ouigoudi, or highway, and De Monts renamed St. John, as he saw it first on the festival of that saint. Proceeding along the northern shores of the bay the expedition came to a river which falls into Passamaquoddy Bay, and now forms the boun- 54 THE STORY OF CANADA. darv between the United States and the eastern provinces of Canada. This river ever since has been called the river of the Holy Cross (Sainte-Croix) thouf^h the name was first <^iven by De Monts to an islet, well within the mouth of the stream, which he chose as the site of the first Frencii settlement on the northeast coast of America. Buildim^s were soon erected for the accommodation of some eighty persons, as well as a small fort for their protection on the rocky islet.* While the French settlement was preparing for the winter, Champlain explored the eastern coast from the St. Croix to the Penobscot, where he came to the conclusion that the story of a large city on its banks was evidently a mere invention of the imagi- native mind. Me also was the first of Europeans, so far as we know, to look on the mountains and cliffs of the island — so famous as a summer resort in these later times — which he very aptly named Monts- Deserts. During the three years Champlain re- mained in Acadia he made explorations and surveys of the southern coasts of Nova Scotia from Canseau to Port Royal, of the shores of the Bay of Fundy, and of the coast of New England from the St. Croix to Vineyard Sound. Poutrincourt, who had received from De Monts a grant of the country around Port Royal, left his companions in their dreary home in the latter part of August and sailed for F'rance, with the object of making arrangements for settling his new domain in * Now known as Douchet Island ; no relics remain of the French occupation. THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 55 Acadia. lie found t rit very little interest was taken in the new ci)l(~)ny nf which very unsatisfactory reports were bi()UL,dit i)ack to F ranee t)v his eoni- j)ani()ns thouL;h he himself gave a glowing account of its beautiful scener\' and resources. While Poutrincourt was still in 1^'rance, he was sur- prised to learn of the arrival of De Monts with very unsatisfactory accounts of the state of affairs in the infant colony. The adventurers h.ul very soon found St. Croix entirely unfitted for a perniament settlement, and after a most wretched winter had removed to the sunny banks of the Annapolis, which was then known as the Rquille,^'' and subsequently as the Dauph I^ nc IJaupnm. I'outrincourt and De Monts went energetically to work, and succeeded in obtaining the services of all the mechanics and labourers they required. The new ex[)edition was necessarily com- posed of very unruly characters, who sadly offended the staid folk of that orderly bulwark of Calvinism, the town of La Rochelle. At last on the 13th of May, 1606, the Jonas, with its utiruly crew all on board, left for the new world under the command of Poutrincourt. Among the passengers was L'Escar- bot, a Paris advocate, a poet, and an historian, to whom we are indebted for a very sprightly account of early French settlement in America. De Monts, however, was unable to leave with his friends. On the 27th Jul}', the Jonas entered the basin of Port Royal with the flood-tide. A peal from the rude bastion of the little fort bore testimony to the * Champlain says the river was named after a little fish caught there, de grandeur d'un esplan. 56 THE STONY OF CANADA, • { ! ii joy of the two solitary P'rciiclimcii, wlio, with a faithful old Indian chief, were the only inmates of the post at that time. These men, La 'J'aille and MiqucUct, explained that i'onti^Mave and Champlain, with the rest of the colony, had set sail for h^ance a few days previously, in two small vessels which they had built themselves. lint there was no time to spend in vain retjrets. Poutrincourt opened a hogshead of wine, and the fort was soon the scene of mirth and festivity. Poutrincourt set encr<^eti- cally to improve the condition of things, by making additions to the buildings, and clearing the sur- rounding land, which is exceedingly rich. The fort stood on the north bank of the river — on what is now the Granville side — opposite Goat Island, or about six miles from the present town of Annapolis. L'Escarbot appears to have been the very life of the little colony. If anything occurred to dampen their courage, his fertile mind soon devised s(Miie plan of chasing away forebodings of ill. When Poutrincourt and his party returned during the sum- mer of 1606 in ill spirits from Malebarre, now Cape Cod, where several men had been surprised and killed by the savages, they were met on their land- ing by a procession of Tritons, with Neptune at their head, who saluted the adventurers with merry songs. As they entered the arched gateway, they saw above their heads another happy device of L'Escarbot, the arms of France and the King's motto, " Duo protcgit unus'' encircled with laurels. Under this were the arms of De Monts and Poutrin- court, with their respective mottoes — " Dabit deus riiE FKENCir occr/'.nnhv of acadia. 57 his qiioijue fincni," ami " In lid virtuti }inlla est via," — also surrouiulccl with cvciLjrcciis. L'Kscarbot's ingenious niiiul diil not f.u'l liim, even in respect to the (l.iil)' supply of fresh provi- sions, for he created a new order for the especi.d benefit of the principal table, at which I'outrincourt, he himself, and thirteen others sat dail)-. These CUAMPLAIN'S plan of port ROYAl, IN ACADIA IN 1605. Key to illustration: A, Workmen's dwelling; R, Platform for cannon; C, Storehouse ; D, Residence for Chaniplain ami Ponturavc ; K, Hlacksniith's forge ; F, Palisade; G, Bakehouse; H, Kitchen; I, (iardt-ns; K, Burying eround ; L, St. Lawrence River ; M, Moat ; N, Dwelling of De Monts ; and O, Snips' store- house. fifteen gentlemen constituted themselves into rOnire dc Bon Tcuips, one of whom was grandmaster for a day, and bound to cater for the company. Each tried, of course, to excel the other in the quantity of game and fish they were able to gather from the IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I iiilllM 12.5 ,50 i" ilM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► vQ <^ /2 % '^T'^^ '> A V /A 7/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14S8U (716) 872-4503 ^^^ €^ ^ ^ ^ \ ^ 58 THE STORY OF CANADA. '¥- surrounding country, and the consequence was, Poutrincourt's table never wanted any of the luxu- ries that the river or forest could supply. At the dinner hour the grandmaster, with the insignia of his order, a costly collar around his neck, a staff in his hand, and a napkin on his shoulder, came into the hall at the head of his brethren, each of whom carried some dish. The Indians were frequent guests at their feasts, especially old Membertou, a famous Micmac or Souriquois chief, who always retained a warm attachment for the pale-faced strangers. Songs of La Belle France were sung; many a toast was drunk in some rare vintage, — the flames flew up the huge chimney, — the Indians squatted on the floor, laughing like the merry Frenchmen. When the pipe went around — with its lobster-like bowl and tube elaborately worked with porcupine quills — stories were toid, and none excelled the Indians themselves in this part of the entertainment. At last, when the tobacco was all exhausted, the grandmaster resigned his regalia of offlce to his successor, who lost no time in perform- ing his duties. Thus the long winter evenings passed in that lonely French fort at the verge of an untamed continent. Then came bad news from France. Late in the spring of 1607, a vessel sailed into the basin with letters from De Monts that the colony would have to be broken up, as his charter had been revoked, and the Company could no longer support Port Royal. The Breton and Basque merchants, who were very hostile to De Monts's monopoly, had sue- THE FRE^CIf OCCU PATIOS^ OF ACADIA. 59 spring. In the course of the summer he passed some days on the island of Mont Royal where he proposed establishing a post where the allied nations could meet for purposes of trade and consultation, as he told the Ottawa Indians at a later time when he was in their country. He made a clearing on a little point to which he gave the name of Place Roy- ale, now known as Pointe-a-Callieres, on a portion of which the hospital of the Grey Nuns was subse- quently built. It was not, however, until thirty years later that the first permanent settlement was made on the island, and the foundations laid of the great city which was first named V He-Marie. During the next twenty-four years Champlain passed some months in France at different times, according to the exigencies of the colony. One of the most important changes he brought about was the formation of a new commercial as^sociation, for the purpose of reconciling rival mercantile interests. To give strength and dignity to the enterprise, the Count de Soissons, Charles of Bourbon, one of the royal sons of France, was placed at the head, but he died suddenly, and was replaced by Prince de Cond^, Henry of Bourbon, also a royal prince, best known as the father of the victor of Rocroy, and the oppo- nent of Marie de' Medici during her intrigues with Spain. It was in this same year that he entered into an engagement with a rich Calvinist, Nicholas Boull^, to marry his daughter Helen, then a child. SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 77 when she had arrived at a suitable age, on the con- dition that tlic father would supply funds to help the French in their Canadian experiment. The marriage was not consummated until ten years later, and Champlain's wife, whose Christian name he gave to the pretty islet opposite Montreal harbour, spent four years in the settlement. The happiness of a domestic life was not possible in those early Cana- dian days, and a gentle French girl probably soon found herself a mere luxury amid the savagery of her surroundings. Helen Champlain has no place in this narrative, and we leave her with the remark that she was converted by her husband, and on his death retired to the seclusion of an Ursuline con vent in France. No child was born to bear the name and possibly increase the fame of Champlain. On his return to Canada, in the spring of 1613, Champlain decided to explore the western waters of Canada. L'Escarbot, who published his ** New France," soon after his return from Acadia, tells us that "Champlain promised never to cease his efforts until he has found there [in Canada] a western or northern sea opening up the route to China which so many have so far sought in vain." While at Paris, during the winter of 161 2, Champlain saw a map which gave him some idea of the great sea which Hudson had discovered. At the same time he heard from a Frenchman, Nicholas de Vignau, who had come to Paris direct from the Ottawa val- ley, that while among the Algonquin Indians he had gone with a party to the north where they had found a salt water sea, on whose shores were the remains iF w ;8 77/ E STOKY OF CANADA. I! . Ml of an English ship. The Indians had also, accord- ing to Vignau, brought back an English lad, whom they intended to present to Champlain when he made his promised visit to the Upper Ottawa. Champlain probably thought he was at last to realise the dream of his life. Accompanied by Vignau, four other Frenchmen, and an Indian guide, he ascended the great river, with its numerous lakes, cataracts, and islets. He saw the beautiful fall to which ever since has been given the name of Rideau — a name also extended to the river, whose waters make the descent at this point — on account of its striking resemblance to a white curtain. Next he looked into the deep chasm of mist, foam, and rag- ing waters, which the Indians called Asticou or Cauldron (Chaudiere), on whose sides and adjacent islets, then thickly wooded, now stand great mills where the electric light flashes amid the long steel saws as they cut into the huge pine logs which the forests of the Ottawa yearly contribute to the com- merce and wealth of Canada. At the Chaudiere the Indians evoked the spirits of the waters, and offered them gifts of tobacco if they would ward off misfor- tune. The expedition then passed up the noble expansion of the river known as the Chats, and saw other lakes and cataracts that gave variety and gran- deur to the scenery of the river of the Algonquins, as it was then called, and reached at last, after a difficult portage, the country around Allumette lake, where Nicholas de Vignau had passed the previous winter. Two hundred and fifty-four years later, on an August day, a farmer unearthed on this old por- .9.7 M UE I. CHA M PLAIN. 79 tage route in the district of North Renfrew, an old brass astrolabe of Paris make, dated 1603; the in- strument used in those distant days for taking astronomical observations and ascertaining the lati- tude. No doubt it had belonged to Champlain, who lost it on this very portage by way of Muskrat ill. CHAMPLAIN S LOST ASTROLABE. and Mud lakes, as from this place he ceases to give us the correct latitudes which he had previously been able to do. Among the Algonquin Indians of this district, who lived in rudely-built bark cabins or camps, and were hunters as well as cultivators of the soil, he soon found out that there was not a word of truth in the story which Nicholas de Vignau had told him II 8o THE STORY OF CANADA, iX m m'. of a journey to a northern sea, but that it was the invention of " the most impudent liar whom I have seen for a long time." Champlain did not punish him, though the Indians urged him to put him to death. Champlain remained a few days among the In- dians, making arrangements for future explorations, and studying the customs of the people. He was especially struck with theii method of burial. Posts supported a tablet or slab of wood on which was a rude carving supposed to represent the features of the dead. A plume decorated the head of a chief; his weapons meant a warrior ; a small bow and one arrow, a boy ; a kettle, a wooden spoon, an iron pot, and a paddle, a woman or girl. These figures were painted in red or yellow. The dead slept below, wrapped in furs and surrounded by hatchets, knives, or other treasures which they might like to have in the far-off country to which they had gone ; for, as Champlain says, " they believe in the immortality of the soul." Champlain made no attempt to proceed further up the river. Before leaving the Upper Ottawa, he made a cedar cross, showing the arms of France — a custom of the French explorers, as Cartier's narra- tive tells us — and fixed it on an elevation by the side of the lake. He also promised Tessouat to return in the following year and assist him against the Iroquois. The next event of moment in the history of the colony was the arrival in 1615 of Fathers Denis Jamay, Jean d'Olbeau, and Joseph Le Caron, and SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 8i le -a ;he nis ,nd the lay brother Pacifique du Plessis, who belonged to the mendicant order of the RecoUets, or reformed branch of the Franciscans, so named from their foun- der, St. Francis d' Assisi. They built near the French post at Quebec a little chapel which was placed in charge of Father Jamay and Brother Du Plessis, while Jean d'Olbeau went to live among the Mon- tagnais and Joseph Le Caron among the Hurons of the West. During the summer of 1615 Champlain fulfilled his pledge to accompany the allied tribes on an ex- pedition into the country of the Iroquois. This was the most important undertaking of Champlain *s life in Canada, not only on account of the length of the journey, and the knowledge he obtained of the lake region, but of the loss of prestige he must have sus- tained among both Iroquois and Canadian Indians who had previously thought the Frenchman invin- cible. The enemy were reached not by the usual route of the Richelieu and Lake Champlain, consid- ered too dangerous from their neighbourhood to the Iroquois, but by a long detour by way of the Ottawa valley, Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, and the port- ages, rivers, and lakes that lead into the River Trent, which falls into the pretty bay of Quinte, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, whence they could pass rapidly into the country of the Five Nations. Accompanied by Stephen Brule, a noted Indian interpreter, a servant, and eight Indians, Champlain left Montreal about the middle of July, ascended the Ottawa, and paddled down the Mattawa to the lake of the Nipissings, where he had interviews with S2 THE STORY OF CANADA. the Indians who were dreaded by other tribes as sorcerers. The canoes of the adventurous Frenchmen went down F^rench River, and at last reached the waters of the great Fresh Water Sea, the Mcr Donee of Cham- plain's maps, and now named Lake Huron in mem- ory of the hapless race that once made their home in that wild region. Passing by the western shore of the picturesque district of Muskoka, the party landed at the foot of the bay and found themselves before long among the villages of the Hurons, whose country lay then between Nottawasaga Bay and Lake Simcoe. Here Champlain saw the triple pali- sades, long houses, containing several households, and other distinctive features of those Indian vil- lages, one of which Cartier fcnind at the foot of Mont Royal. In the village of Carhagouaha, where the palisades were as high as thirty-five feet, Champlain met Father Le Caron, the pioneer of these intrepid mis- sionaries who led the way to the head-waters and tributaries of the great lakes. For the first time in that western region the great Roman Catholic cere- mony of the Mass was celebrated in the presence of Champlain and wondering Indian w^arriors. At the town of Cahiagu^, the Indian capital, comprising two hundred cabins, and situated within the modern township of Orillia, he was received with great re- joicings, and preparations immediately made for the expedition against the Iroquois. Stephen Brul6 undertook the dangerous mission of communicating with the Andastes, a friendly nation near the head- SAMLKI. CIIAMPIAIN. 83 waters of the Sus(iuchanna, who had promised to brin<^ five hundred warriors to the assistance of the Canachan aUied forces. The expedition reached the eastern end of Lake Ontario at the beginning of October by the circui- tous route I have already mentioned, crossed to the ONONDAGA FORT IN THE IROCJIMJIS COUNTRY* FROM CHAMPLAIN S SKf.rCH. other side somewhere near Sackett's harbour, and soon arrived in the neighbourhood of the Onondaga fort, which is placed by the best authorities a few miles to the south of Lake Oneida. It was on the afternoon of the loth of October, when the woods 84 THE STORY OF CANADA. i \ wear their brightest foliage, that the aUied Indians commenced the attack with all that impetuosity and imprudence peculiar to savages on such occa- sions. The fort was really a village protected by four concentric rows of palisades, made up of pieces of heavy timber, thirty feet in height, and support- ing an inside gallery or parapet where the defenders were relatively safe from guns and arrows. The fort was by the side of a pond from which water was a^nducted to gutters under the control of the besieged for the purpose of protecting the outer walls from fire. Champlain had nine Frenchmen under his direction — eight of them having accom- panied Father Le Caron to the Huron village. It was utterly imi)ossible to give anything like method to the Indian assaults on the strong works of the enemy. Champlain had a high wooden platform built, and placed on it several of his gunners who could fire into the village, but the Iroquois kept well under cover and very little harm was done. The atteiTipts to fire the palisades were fruitless on account of the want of method shown bv the attack- ing parties. At last the allied Indians became dis- heartened when they saw Champlain himself was wounded and no imi)ression was made on the fort. They returned to the cover of the woods, and awaited for a few days the arrixal of Stephen Hrule antl the expected reinforcements of Andastes. Hut when nearly a week had passetl, and the scouts brought no news of Indians from the Sus(iuehanna, the Ca- nadians determined to return home without making another attack on the village. And here, I may P* SAMUEL CIlAMri.AlN. 85 mention, that Stephen Brule was not seen at Queljec until three years later. It appeared then, from his account of his wanclerini^s, that lie succeeded after some vexatious delav in briniriu''; the Andastes to Oneida Lake only to find that they had left the country of the Iroquois, who tortured him for a while, and then, pleased with his spirit, desisted, and eventually i^ave him his liberty. He is reported to have reached in his waiiderini^s the neighbourhood of Lake Superior, where he found co[)per, but we have no satisfactory information on this [)oint.* On their return to Canada, the Indians carried Ciiami)lain and other wounded men in baskets made of withes. They reachetl the Huron villages on the 20th of December after a Ioiil;- ami wearisome jour- ney. Champlain remained in their country for four months, makin;^ himself accpiaintetl with their cus- toms and the nature of the rcLjion. of which he has i]jiven a i^raphic tlescrii)tion. Towards the last of April, Champlain left the Huron villaj^es, and arrived at Quebec near the end of June, to the great delii^ht of his little colony, who were in doubt of his ever coming back. Another important event in the history of those days was the coming into the country of several Jesuit missionaries in 1625, when the Duke of Ven- tadour, a staunch friend of the order, was made viceroy of the colony in place of the Duke of Mont- morency, who had purchased the rights of the Prince of Conde when he was imprisoned in the * Brule was murdered l)y the llurons in 1634 ^t Toanchc, an Indian village in the West. 86 THE STORY OF CANADA, Bastilc for having taken up arms against the King. These Jesuit missionaries, Charles Lalemant, who was the first superior in Canada, Jean de Brebeuf, Ennemond Masse, the priest who had t^een in Acadia, Francois Charton, and Gilbert Buret, the two latter lay brothers, were received verv coldly by the offi- cials of Quebec, whose business interests were at that time managed by the Huguenots, William and Emeric Caen. They were, however, received by the Recollets, \\\\o had removed to a convent, Notre-Dame des Anges, which they had built by the St. Charles, of sufficient strength to resist an attack which, it is reported on sufficiently good authority, the Iroquois made in 1622. T first Jesuit establishment was built in 1625 on the point at the meeting of the Lairet and St. Charles, where Cartier had made his little fort ninety years before. We come now to a critical point in the fortunes of the poor and struggling colony. The ruling spirit of France, Cardinal Richelieu, at last intervened in Canadian affairs, and formed the Company of New^ France, generally called the company of the Hun- dred Associates, who received a perpetual monopoly of the fur-trade, and a control of all other commerce for sixteen years, beside dominion over an immense territory extending from Florida to the Arctic Seas, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the great Fresh Water Sea, the extent of which was not vet known. Richelieu placed himself at the head of the enterprise. No Huguenot thenceforth was to be allowed to enter the colony under any conditions. The company was bound to send out immediately a SAMUEL CHAM PLAINT. 87 number of labourers and mechanics, with all their necessary tools, to the St. Lawrence, and four thousand other colonists in the course of fifteen years, and to support them for three years. Not only was the new association a great commercial corporation, but it was a feudal lord as well. Richelieu introduced in a modified form the old feudal tenure of France, with the object of creating a Canadian noblesse and encouraging men of good birth and means to emigrate and develop the resources of the country. This was the begin- ning of that seigniorial tenure which lasted for two centuries and a quarter. Champlain was re-appointed lieutenant-governor and had every reason to believe that at last a new spirit would be infused into the affairs of the colony. Fate, however, was preparing for him a cruel blow. In the spring of 1628, the half-starved men of Que- bec were anxiously looking for the provisions and men expected from France, when they were dis- mayed by the news that an English fleet was off the Saguenay. This disheartening report was immedi- ately followed by a message to surrender the fort of Quebec to the English admiral, David Kirk. War had been declared between England and France, through the scheming chiefly of Buckingham, the rash favourite of Charles the First, and an intense hater of the French King for whose queen, Anne of Austria, he had developed an ardent and unrequited passion. English settlements were by this time established on Massachusetts Bay and England was ambitious Qf extending her dominion over North 88 THE STORY OF CANADA. America, even in those countries where France had preceded her. Admiral Kirk, who was the son of a gentleman in Derbyshire, and one of the pioneers of the colonisa- tion of Newfoundland, did not attempt the taking of Quebec in 1628, as he was quite satisfied with the cai)ture off the Saguenay, of a French expedition, consisting of four armed vessels and eighteen trans- ports, under the command of Claude de Roquemont, who had been sent by the new company to relieve Quebec. • Next year, however, in July, he brought his fleet again to the Saguenay, and sent three ships to Quebec under his brothers, Lewis and Thomas. Champlain immediately surrendered, as his little garrison were half-starved and incapable of making any resistance, and the English flag floated for the first time on the fort of St. Louis. Champlain and his companions, excepting thirteen who remained with the Fnglish, went on board the English ships, and Lewis Kirk was left in charge of Quebec. On the way down the river, the iMiglish ships met a French vessel off Malbaie, under the command of Emeric Caen, and after a hot fight she became also an English prize. When the fleet arrived in the harbour of Ply- mouth, the English Admiral heard to his amazement that peace had been declared some time before, and that all conquests made by the fleets or armies of either France or England after 24th April, 1629, must be restored. The Kirks and Alexander used every possible exertion to prevent the restoration of Quebec and Port Royal, which was also in the pos- SAMUEL CHAM PLAIN. 89 session of the English. Three years elapsed before Champlain obtained a restitution of his property, vvliich had been illegally seized. The King of England, Charles I., had not only renewed a char- ter, which his father had given to a favourite, Sir William Alexander, of the present province of Nova Scotia, then a part of Acadia, but had also extended it to the " county and lordship of Canada." Under these circumstances Charles delayed the negotiations for peace by every possible subterfuge. At last the French King, whose sister was married to Charles, agreed to pay the large sum of money which was still owing to the latter as the balance of the dower of his queen. Charles had already commenced that fight with his Commons, which was not to end until his head fell on the block, and was most anxious to get money wherever and as soon as he could. The result was the treaty of St. Germain-cn-Laye, signed on March 29, 1632. Quebec as well as Port Royal — to whose history I shall refer in the following chapter — were restored to France, and Champlain was again in his fort on Cape Diamond in the last week of May, 1633. A number of Jesuits, who were favoured by Richelieu, accompanied him and hence- forth took the place of the Recollets in the mission work of the colony. In 1634, there were altogether eight Jesuit priests in the country. They appear to have even borrowed the name of the Recollet con- vent, Notre Dame des Angcs, and given it to their own establishment and seigniory by the St. Charles. During the last three years of Champlain's life in Canada no events of importance occurred. The go THE STORY OF CANADA. Company of the Hundred Associates had been most seriously crippled by the capture of the expediion in 1628, and were not able to do very much for the colony. The indefatigable lieutenant-governor, true to his trust, succeeded in building a little fort in 1634 at the mouth of the St. Maurice, and founded the present city of Three Rivers, as a bulwark against the Iroquois. It had, however, been for years a trading place, where Brother Du Plessis spent some time in instructing the Indian children and people in the Catholic religion, and was instrumental in pre- venting a rising of the Montagnais Indians who had become discontented and proposed to destroy the French settlements. On Christmas Day, 1635, Champlain died from a paralytic stroke in the fort, dominating the great river by whose banks he had toiled and struggled for so many years as a faithful servant of his king and country. Father Le Jeune pronounced the eulogy over his grave, the exact site of which is even now a matter of dispute. What had the patient and courageous Frenchman of Brouage accomplished during the years — nearly three decades — since he landed at the foot of Cape Diamond ? On the verge of the heights a little fort of logs and a chateau of masonry, a few clumsy and wretched buildings on the point below, a cottage and clearing of the first Canadian farmer Hebert, the ruins of the Recollet convent and the mission house of the Jesuits on the St. Charles, the chapel of Notre-Dame de Recouvrance, which he had built close to the fort to commemorate the restoration of SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 91 Oucbec to the F'rench, the stone manor-house of the first seignior of Canada, Robert Cjitfard of Beau- port, a post at Tadousac and another at Three Rivers, perhaps two hundred Frenclinien in the whole valley. These were the only visible signs of French dominion on the banks of the St. Lawrence, when the cold blasts of winter sighed Champlain's requiem on the heights whence his fancy had so often carried him to Cathay. The results look small when we think of the patience and energy shown by the great man whose aspirations took so ambitious and hopeful a range. It is evident by the last map he drew of the country, that he had some idea of the existence of a great lake beyond Lake Huron, and of the Niagara Falls, though he had seen neither. He died, however, ignorant of the magni- tude, number, and position of the western lakes, and still deluded by visions, as others after him, of a road to Asia. No one, however, will deny that he was made of the heroic mould from which come founders of states, and the Jesuit historian Charle- voix has, with poetic justice, called him the " Father of New France." VII. GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. (1614-1677.) We must now leave the lonely Canadian colonists on the snow-clad heiijhts of (.)uebec to mourn the death of their ^reat leader, and return to the shores of Acadia to follow the fortunes of Hiencourt and his companions whom we last saw near the smoking ruins of their homes on the banks of the Annai^olis. We have now come to a strange chapter of Canadian history, which has its picturesque aspect as well as its episodes of meanness, cupidity, and inhumanity. As we look back to those early years of Acadian history, we see rival chiefs with their bands of retainers engaged in deadly feuds, and storming each other's fortified posts as though they wx're the cas- tles of barons livincf in mediaeval times. Wc see savage Micmacs and Etchemins of Acadia, only too willing to aid in the quarrels and contests of the white men who hate each with a malignity that even the Indian cannot excel; closely shorn, ill-clad mendicant friars who see only good in those who 92 GEN TL hMEX..\ /) I 'EN TUKERS IN A CADI A. 93 s I a help their missitins; «^ravc and cautious Puritans try- iii5^ to find tlieir advantage in the rivalry of their i-'rencii neigiibours; a Sc(jtch nobleman and courtier who would be a king in Acadia as well as a poet in I'jigland ; r'renchnien who claim to have noble blood ill their veins, and wish to be lords of a wide Ameri- can domain; a courageous wife who lays aside the gentleness of a woman's nature and fights as bravely as any knight for the protection of her home and what she believes to be her husband's rights. These are among the figures that we see passing through the shadowy vista which opens before us as we look into the depths of the Acadian wilderness two cen- turies and a half ago. Among the French adventurers, whose names are intimately associated with the early history of Acadia, no one occupies a more prominent position than Charles de St. Etienne, the son of a Huguenot, Claude de la Tour, who claimed to be of noble birth. The La Tours had become so poor that they were forced, like so many other nobles of those times, to seek their fortune in the new world. Claude and his son, then probably fourteen years of age, came to Port Royal with Poutrincourt in 1610. In the vari- ous vicissitudes of the little settlement the father and his son participated, and after it had been de- stroyed by Argall, they remained with Hiencourt and his companions. In the course of time, the elder La Tour established a trading post on the peninsula at the mouth of the Penobscot — in Aca- dian history a prominent place, as often in posses- sion of the English as the French. 94 THE STORY OF CANADA. Biencourt and his companions appear to have had some accessions to their number during the years that followed the Virginian's visit. They built rude cabins on the banks of the Annapolis, and cultivated patches of ground after a fashion, beside raising a fort of logs and earth near Cape Sable, called in- differently Fort Louis or Lomeron. It has been generally believed that Biencourt died in Acadia about 1623, after making over all his rights to Charles La Tour, who was his personal friend and follower from his boyhood. Recently, however, the discovery of some old documents in Paris throws some doubt on the gen '.'rally accepted statement of the place of his death.* It is quite certain, however, whether Biencourt died in PVance or Acadia, young La Tour assumed after 1623 the control of Fort St. Louis and all other property previously held by the former. In 1626 the elder La Tour was driven from the Penobscot by English traders from Plymouth who took possession of the fort and held it for some years. He now rec- ognised the urgent necessity of having his position in Acadia ratified and strengthened by the French king, and consequently went on a mission to France in 1627. About this time the attention of prominent men in England was called to the fact that the French had settlements in Acadia. Sir William Alexander, afterwards the Earl of Stirling, a favourite of King James the Fourth of Scotland and First of England, and an author of several poetical tragedies, wished * See Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, voL x., sec. 2, p. 93. GEN TLRMRN- ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. 95 3 to follow the example of Sir Frederick Gorges, one of the promoters of the colonisation of New Kng- land. He had no difficulty in obtaining from James, as great a pedant as himself, a grant of Acadia, which he named Nova Scotia. When Charles the First became king, he renewed the patent, and also, at the persuasion of the ambitious poet, created an order of Nova Scotia baronets, who were obliged to assist in the settlement of the country, which was thereafter to be divided into " baronies." Sir Will- iam Alexander, however, did not succeed in making any settlement in Nova Scotia, and did not take any definite measures to drive the French from his princely, though savage, domain until about the time Claude de la Tour was engaged in advocating the claims of his son in Europe, where we must fol- low him. The elder La Tour arrived at an opportune time in F'rance. Cardinal Richelieu had just formed the Company of the Hundred Associates, and it was agreed that aid should at once be sent to Charles de la Tour, who was to be the King's lieutenant in Acadia. Men and supplies for the Acadian settle- ment were on board the squadron, commanded by Roquemont, who was captured by Kirk in the sum- mer of 1628. On board one of the prizes was Claude de la Tour, who was carried to London as prisoner. Then to make the position for Charles de la Tour still more hazardous, Sir William Alexander's son arrived at Port Royal in the same year, and estab- lished on the Granville side a small Scotch colony as the commencement of a larger settlement in the f 96 THt: STOKV OF C^W'ADA. future. Charles de la Tour does not appear to have remained in Tort Royal, but to have retired to the j)rotection of his own fort at Cape Sable, which the Kn^lish did not attempt to attack at that time. In the meantime the elder La Tour was in hi^h favour at London. He won the affections of (jne of the Queen's maids of honour, and was easily per- suaded by Alexander and others interested in American colonisation, to pled<^e his allei^iance to the English kin^. He and his son were made baro- nets of Nova Scotia, and received lar^e grants of land or " baronies " in the new province. As Alex- ander was sending an expedition in 1630 with addi- tional colonists and supplies for his colony in Nova Scotia, Claude de la Tour agreed to go there for the purpose of persuading his son to accept the honours and advantages which the King of England had con- ferred upon him. The ambitious Scotch poet, it was clear, still hoped that his arguments in favour of retaining Acadia, despite the treaty of Susa, made on the 24th of April, 1629, would prevail with the King. It was urged that as Port Royal was on soil belonging to England by right of Cabot's discovery, and the French had not formally claimed the sovereignty of Acadia since the destruction of their settlement i)y Argall, it did not fall within the actual pro isions of a treaty which referred only to conquests made after its ratification. Charles de la Tour would not yield to the appeals of his father to give up the fort at Cape Sable, and obliged the English vessels belonging to Alexander to retire to the Scotch settlement by the Annapolis 1 I I GEN TI. EM EX- A D VEX TUKEh'S IX A CA DIA . 97 basin. The elder La Tour went on to the same j)lacc, where he remained until his son persuaded him to join the h'rench at l'^)rt St. Louis, where the news had come that the Kin<^ of France was deter- mined on the restoration of Port Royal as well as (juebec. Tt was now decided to build a new fort on the River St. John, which would ;i»}swer tlie double purpose of stren<^thenin^ the I^'rench in Acadia, and driving the liritish out of Port Royal. Whilst this work was in course of construction, another vessel arrived from I*' ranee with the welcome news that the ioyalt)' of Charles de la Tour was appreciated by the KiiiL^, who had appf)inted him as his lieutenant- L,f()vernor over h'ort Louis, Port La Tour, and tiependencies. By the treaty of St. Gcrmain-en-Laye the French regained Acadia and were inclined to pay more attention to the work of colonisation. Richelieu sent out an expedition to take formal possession of New FVance, and Isaac de Launoy de Ra/.illy, a military man of distinction, a Knij^ht of Malta, and a friend of the <(reat minister, was app(Mnted gover- nor of all Acadia. lie brought with him a select colony, composed of artisans, farmers, several Capu- chin friars, and some gentlemen, among whom were two whose names occupy a prominent place in the annals of Acadia and Cape Hreton. One of them was Nicholas Denys, who became in later years the first governor of Cape Breton, where he made settle- ments at Saint Anne's and Saint Peter's, and also wrote an historical and descrii)tive account of the French Atlantic possessions. The most prominent 98 THE STORY OF CANADA. Frenchman after Razilly himself, was Charles de Menou, Chevalier d'Aunay and son of Ren6 de Menou, lord of Charnizay, who was of noble family, and became one of the members of the King's coun- cil of state at the time the disputes between his son and Charles de la Tour were at their height. Charles de Menou, or d'Aunay, as I shall generally name him, was made Razilly's deputy, and consequently at the outset of his career assumed a prominence in the country that must have deeply irritated young La Tour, who still remained one of the King's lieu- tenants and probably expected, until Razilly's arri- val, to be the head of the colony. Captain Forrester, in command of the Scotch colony at Port Royal, gave up the post to Razilly in accordance with the orders of the English king, who had acted with much duplicity throughout the nego- tiations. The fort was razed to the ground, and the majority of the Scotch, who had greatly suffered from disease and death, left Acadia, though several remained and married among the French colonists. This was the end of Alexander's experiment in col- onising Acadia and founding a colonial noblesse. Razilly made his settlement at La Heve, on the Atlantic shore of Nova Scotia, and Denys had a mill and trading establishment in the vicinity. Port Royal was improved and the post at Penobscot occupied. D'Aunay was given charge of the divi- sion west of the St. Croix, and during the summer of 1632 he came by sea to the Plymouth House on the Penobscot, and took forcible possession of the post with all its contents. A year later La Tour GENTLEMEN. A DVEiXrURl^RS IN AVADIA. 99 also seized the " trading wigwam " at Machias, in the present State of Maine, but not before two of the English occupants were killed. La Tour had by this time removed from Cape Sable to the mouth of the River St. John, where he had built a strong fort on, probably, Portland Point, on the east side of the harbour of the present city of St. John, and was engaged in a lucrative trade in furs until a quar- rel broke out between him and D'Aunay. Soon after Razilly's death in the autumn of 1635, D'Aunay asserted his right, as lieutenant-governor of Acadia and his late chief's deputy, to command in the colony. He obtained from Claude de Razilly, brother of the governor, all his rights in Acadia, and removed the seat of government from La H^ve to Port Royal, where he built a fort on the site of the present town of Annapolis. It was not long before he and La Tour became bitter enemies. La Tour considered, with much reason, that he had superior rights on account of his long services in the province that ought to have been acknowl- edged, and that D'Aunay was all the while working to injure him in France. D'Aunay had certainly a great advantage over his opponent, as he had power- ful influence at the French Court, while La Tour was not personally known and was regarded with some suspicion on account of his father being a Hugue- not, and friendly to England. As a matter of fact, the younger La Tour was no Protestant, but a luke- warm Catholic, who considered creed subservient to his personal interests. This fact explains why the Capuchin friars always had a good word to say for i! f- loO THE STORY OF CriJVADA. U :iSf' his rival who was a zealous Catholic and did much to promote their mission. The French Government attempted at first to decide between the two claimants and settle the dis- pute, but all in vain. La Tour made an attempt in 1640 to surprise D'Aunay at Port Royal, but the result was that he as well as his bride, who had just come from France, were themselves taken prisoners. The Capuchin friars induced D'Aunay.to set them all at liberty on condition that La Tour should keep the peace in future. The only result was an aggra- vation of the difficulty and the reference of the dis- putes to France, where D'Aunay won the day both in the courts and with the royal authorities. La Tour's commission was revoked and D'Aunay event- ually received an order to seize the property and person of his rival, when he proved contumacious and refused to obey the royal command, on the ground that it had been obtained by false represen- tations. He retired to his fort on the St. John, where, with his resolute wife and a number of faithful Frenchmen and Indians, he set D'Aunay at defiance. In this crisis La Tour resolved to appeal to the government of Massachusetts for assistance. In 1630, the town of Boston was commenced on the peninsula of Shawmut, and was already a place of considerable commercial importance. Harvard Col- lege was already open, schools were established, town meetings were frequent, and a system of rep- resentative government was in existence. Not only so, the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth had formed themselves into GENTLEMEN.ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. lOI a confederacy " for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare." Much sympathy was felt in Boston for La Tour, who was a man of very pleasing manners, and was believed to be a Huguenot at heart. He explained the affair at Machias and his relations with the French Government to the satisfaction of the Boston people, though apparently with little regard to truth. The desire to encourage a man, who prom- ised to be a good customer of their own, finally prevailed over their caution, and the cunning Puri- tans considered they got out of their quandary by the decision that, though the colony could not directly contribute assistance, yet it was lawful for private citizens to charter their vessels, and offer their services as volunteers to help La Tour. The New Englanders had not forgotten D'Aunay's action at Penobscot some years before, and evidently thought he was a more dangerous man than his rival. Some Massachusetts merchants, under these cir- cumstances, provided La Tour with four staunch armed vessels and seventy men, while he on his part gave them a lien over all his property. When D'Aunay had tidings of the expedition in the Bay of Fundy, he raised a blockade of Fort La Tour and escaped to the westward. La Tour, assisted by some of the New England volunteers, destroyed his rival's fortified mill, after a few lives were lost on either side. A pinnace, having on board a large quantity of D'Aunay's furs, was captured, and the I02 THE STORY OF CANADA. "#:-;■ ,#VWf :-:- i booty divided between the Massachusetts men and La Tour. From his wife, then in France, where she had gone to plead his cause, La Tour received the un- welcome news that his enemy was on his return to Acadia with an overwhelming force. Thereupon he presented himself again in Boston, and appealed to the authorities for further assistance, but they would not do more than send a remonstrance to D'Aunay and ask explanations of his conduct. At this critical moment. La Tour's wife appeared on the scene. Unable to do anything in France for her husband, she had found her way to London, where she took passage on a vessel bound for Boston ; but the master, instead of carrying her directly to Fort La Tour, as he had agreed, spent some months trading in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the coast of Nova Scotia. D'Aunay was cruising off Cape Sable, in the hope of intercepting her, and searched the vessel, but Madame La Tour was safely con- cealed in the hold, and the vessel was allowed to go on to Boston. On her arrival there, Madame La Tour brought an action against the master and con- signee for a breach of contract, and succeeded in obtaining a judgment in her favour for two thousand pounds. When she found it impossible to come to a settlement, she seized the goods in the ship, and on this security hired three vessels and sailed to rejoin her husband. In the meantime an envoy from D'Aunay, a Monsieur Marie, always supposed to be a Capuchin friar, presented himself to the Massachu- setts authorities, and after making a strong remon- GENTLEMEN.ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. IO3 strance against the course heretofcre pursued by the colony, proffered terms of amity in the future on the condition that no further aid was given to La Tour. After some consideration the colonial gov- ernment, of which Governor Endicott was now the head, agreed to a treaty of friendship, which was not ratified by D'Aunay for some time afterwards, when La Tour was a fugitive. Tlien the terms were sanc- tioned by the commissioners of the confederated colonies. Having succeeded in obtaining the neutrality of the English colonists through his agent Marie, D'Aunay then determined to attack La Tour's fort on the St. John, as he had now under his control a sufficient number of men and ships. In the spring of the same year, however, when La Tour was ab- sent, D'Aunay mustered all his vessels and men, and laid siege to the fort, but he met with most determined resistance from the garrison, nerved and stimulated by the voice and example of the heroic wife. The besiegers were almost disheartened, v.hen a traitor within the walls — a " mercenary Swiss," according to a contemporary writer — gave them information which determined them to renew the assault with still greater vigour. D'Aunay and his men again attempted to scale the walls, but were forced to retire with a considerable force. Then D'Aunay offered fair terms if the fort was immedi- ately given up. Madame La Tour, anxious to spare the lives of her brave garrison, which was rapidly thinning, agreed to the proposal, and surrendered the fort; and then D'Aunay is said to have broken 104 THE STORY OF CANADA. v.t 'i^ . his solemn pledge, and hanged all the defenders ex- cept one, whose life was spared on the condition of his acting as executioner. One would fain not believe what the contempo- rary historian adds, that D'Aunay forced Madame La Tour to remain with a rope round her own neck, and witness the execution of the brave men who had so nobly assisted her in defending the fort. The poor lady did not long survive this tragedy, as she died a prisoner a few weeks later. All the acts of her adventurous and tragic career prove her to have been a good woman and a courageous wife, and iiiay well be an inspiring theme for poetry and romance.* irAunay now reigned supreme in Acadia. He had burdened himself heavily with debt in his efforts to ruin his rival, but he had some compensation in * This story of the capture of Fort La Tour rests on the authority of Denys {Description Gcographiqiic et Ilistoriqiie de VAmi'rique Septentrionale, Paris, 1672), who was in Acadia at the time and must have had an account from eyewitnesses (jf the tragedy. The details which make D'Aunay so cruel and relentless are denied by a Mr. Moreau in his Ilistoirc de V Acadie Fnincaise (I'aris, 1873). This book is confessedly written at the dictation of living members of the D'Aunay family, and is, from the beginning to the end, an undis- criminating eulogy of D'Aunay and an uncompromising attack on the memory of La Tour and his wife. He attempts to deny that the fort was seized by treachery, when on another page he has gone so far as to accuse some Recollets of having made, at the instigation of D'Aunay himself, an attempt to win the garrison from Madame La Tour who was a Protestant and disliked by the priests. He also admits that a number of the defenders of the fort were executed, while others, probably the traitors, had their lives spared. The attacks on Madame La Tour's character are not warranted by impartial history, and clearly show the bias of the book. GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. I05 the booty he found at St. John. By the capture of his fort La Tour lost jewels, plate, furniture, and goods valued at ten thousand pounds, and was for a time a bankrupt. His debts in Boston were very heavy, and Major Gibbons, who had sent vessels to Fort La Tour in 1643, was never able to recover the mortgage he had taken on his estate. Bereft of wife and possessions, La Tour left Acadia and sought aid from Sir David Kirk, who was then governor of Newfoundland, but to no purpose. Various stories are told of his career for two years or longer, and it is even reported that he robbed a Boston vessel in his necessities, " whereby it appeared, as the Scrip- ture saith," mournfully exclaims Governor Win- throp, "that there is no confidence in any unfaithful or carnal man." Boston merchants and sailors had suffered a good deal from both D'Aunay and La Tour, and such a story would naturally obtain cre- dence among men who found they had made a bad investment in Fort La Tour and its appendages. D'Aunay continued his work of improving Port Royal and surrounding country, and the colony he founded was the parent of those large settlements that in the course of time stretched as far as the isthmus of Chignecto. He was accidentally drowned in the Annapolis River some time in 1650. French Canadian writers call him cruel, vindictive, rapacious, and arbitrary, but he has never been the favourite of historians. His plans of settlement had a sound basis and might have led to a prosperous and popu- lous Acadia, had he not wrecked them by the malig- nity with which he followed La Tour and his wife. T^ io6 THE STORY OF CANADA. I- \ i La Tour, in the y^ar 1648, visited Quebec, where he was leceived with the most gratifying demonstra- tions of respect by his countrymen, who admired his conduct in the Acadian struggle. Then D'Aunay died and La Tour immediately went to France, where the government acknowledged the injustice with which it had treated him in the past, and ap- pointed him governor of Acadia, with enlarged priv- ileges and powers. In 1653 he married D'Au nay's widow, Jeanne de Motin, in the hope — to quote the contract — " to secure the peace and tranquillity of the country, and concord and union between the two families." Peace then reigned for some months in Acadia ; many new settlers came into the coun- try, the forts were strengthened, and the people were hoping for an era of prosperity. But there was to be no peace or rest for the French in Acadia. One of D'Aunay's creditors in France, named Le Borgne, came to America in 1654 at the head of a large force, with the object of obtaining possession of D'Aunay's property, and possibly of his position in Acadia. He made a prisoner of Denys, who was at that time engaged in trade in Cape Breton, and treated him with great harshness. After a short imprisonment at Port Royal, which was occupied by Le Borgne, Denys was allowed to go to France, where he succeeded eventually in obtaining a redress of his grievances, and an appointment as governor of Cape Breton. Whilst Le Borgne was preparing to attack La Tour, the English appeared on the scene of action. By this time the civil war had been fought in Eng- GEN TLEMEM.AD VENTURERS IN ACADIA, lO/ land, the Kin^r beheaded, and Cromwell proclaimed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. In 1653 very strong representations were made to the latter by the colonists of New England with respect to the movements of the French in Acadia, and the neces- sity of reducing the country to the dominion of England. Peace then nominally prevailed between France and Great Britain, but we have seen, as the case of Argall proved, that matters in America were often arranged without much reference to inter- national obligations. A fleet, which had been sent out by Cromwell to operate against the Dutch col- ony at Manhattan, arrived at Boston in June, 1654, and the news came a few days later that peace had been proclaimed between the English and Dutch. Thereupon an expedition was organised against the French under the command of Major Robert Sedge- wick of Massachusetts. Le Borgne at Port Royal and La Tour on the St. John immediately surren- dered to this force, and in a few days all Acadia was once more in the hands of the English. Denys was almost ruined by these events and obliged to retire for a time from the country. La Tour was now far advanced in years, and did not attempt to resist the- evil destiny that seemed to follow all the efforts of France to establish herself in Nova Scotia. No doubt the injuries he had received from his own countrymen, together with the apathy which the F^rench Government always displayed in the affairs of Acadia, were strong arguments, if any were needed, to induce him to place himself under the protection of the English. The representations he io8 THE STORY OF CANADA. made to the Protector met with a favourable re- sponse, and obtained for him letters patent, dated August 9, 1656, granting to him, Sir Charles La Tour, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Temple and William Crowne, the whole territory of Acadia, the mines and minerals alone being reserved for the government. Sir Thomas Temple, a man of gener- ous disposition and remarkably free from religious prejudices, subsequently purchased La Tour's rights, and carried on a large trade in Acadia with much energy. La Tour now disappears from the scene, and is understood to have died in the country he loved in the year 1666, at the ripe age of seventy- four. He left several descendants, none of whom played a prominent part in Acadian history, though there are persons still in the maritime provinces of Canada who claim a connection with his family. His name clings to the little harbour near Cape Sable, where he built his post of Lomeron, and antiquaries now alone fight over the site of the more famous fort at the mouth of the St. John, where a large and enterprising city has grown up since the English oc- cupation. About the figure of this bold gentleman- adventurer the romance of history has cast a veil of interest and generous appreciation on account of the devotion of his wife and of the obstinate fight he waged under tremendous disadvantages against a wealthy rival, supported by the authority of France. He was made of the same material as those brave men of the west coast of England who fought and robbed the Spaniard in the Spanish Main, but as he plundered only Puritans by giving them worthless GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. IO9 mortgages, and fought only in the Acadian wilds, history has given him a relatively small space in its pages. Acadia remained in possession of England until the Treaty of Breda, which was concluded in July of 1667, between Charles II. and Louis XIV. Tem- l)lc, who had invested his fortune in the country, was nearly ruined, and never received any compen^ sation for his efforts to develop Acadia. In a later chapter, when we continue the chequered history of Acadia, we shall see that her fortunes from this time become more closely connected with those of the greater and more favoured colony of France in the valley of the St. Lawrence. VIII. THE CANADIAN INDIANS AND TITK IROQUOIS TIIKIR OROANISATION, CIIARACTKK, AND CUSTOMS. I ; At the time of Champlain's death wc sec gather- ing in America the forces that were to influence the fortunes of French Canada — the EngUsh colonic^ growing up by the side of the Atlant and the Iro- quois, those dangerous foes, already ated by the founder of Quebec. These Indians were able to buy firearms and ammunition from the Dutch traders at Fort Orange, now Albany, on the beautiful river which had been discovered by Hudson in 1609. From their warlike qualities and their strong natural position between the Hudson and Niagara rivers, they had now become most important factors in the early development of the French and English colo- nies, and it is consequently important to give some particulars of their character and organisation. In the first place, however, I shall refer to those Indian tribes who lived in Canada, and were closelv identified with the interests of the French settle- ments. These Indians also became possessed of no < < H o u < Q 5? B 112 77/A' STOA'V OF CANADA. firearms, sold to them from time to time by greedy traders, despite the interdict of the French authori- ties in the early days of the colonies. Champlain found no traces of the Indians of Car- tier's time at Stadacona and Hochelaga. The tribes which had frequented the St. Lawrence seventy years before had vanished, and in their place he saw bands of wandering Algonquins, It was only when he reached the shores of Georgian Bay that he came to Indian villages resembling that Hochelaga which had disappeared so mysteriously. The St. Lawrence in Cartier's day had been frequented by tribes speaking one or more of the dialects of the Huron- Iroquois family, one of the seven great families that then inhabited North America east of the Missis- sippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Hudson's Bay. The short and imperfect vocabulary of Indian words which Cartier left behind, his account of Hochelaga, the intimacy of the two Gasp6 Indians with the in- habitants of Stadacona — these and other facts go to show that the barbarous tribes he met were of the Iroquois stock. The Indians have never had anv written records, in the European sense, to perpetuate the doings of their nations or tribes. From generation to genera- tion, from century to century, however, tradition has told of the deeds of ancestors, and given us vague stories of the origin and history of the tribes. It is only in this folk-lore — proved often on patient investigation to be of historic value — that we can find some threads to guide us through the labyrinth of mystery to which we come in the prehistoric i CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 113 liincs of CiiiKida. Popular tradition tells us that the lliirons and Iroquois, branches of the same family, speakinij dialects of one common lan^ua<^e, were liv- ing at one time in villages not far from each other — the Hurons probably at Hochelaga and the Senc- cas on the opposite side of the mountain. It was against the law of tlie two comniunities for their men and women to intermarry, but the potent influ- ence of true love, so rare in an Indian's bosom, soon broke this command. A Huron girl entered the cabin of an Iroquois chief as his wife. It was an unhappy marriage, the husband killed the wife in an angry moment. This was a serious matter, requir- ing a council meeting of the two tribes. Murder must be avenged, or liberal compensation given to the friends of the dead. The council decided that the woman deserved death, but the verdict did not please all her relatives, one of whom went off secretly and killed an Iroquois warrior. Then both tribes took up the hatchet and went on the warpath against each other, with the result that the village of Ilochelaga, with all the women and children, was destroyed, and the Hurons, who were probably beaten, left the St. Lawrence, and eventually found a new home on Lake Huron.* Leaving this realm of tradition, which has prob- ably a basis of fact, we come to historic times. In Champlain's interesting narrative, and in the Jesuit lu'/ations, we find very few facts relating to Indian history, though we have very full information re- *See Horatio Halt's " I'all of Ilochelaga," in yournal of Ameri- can Folklore, Cambridge, Mass.. 1894. 8 114 7//E STORY OF CANADA. specting their customs, superstitions, and methods of living. The reports of :he missionaries, in fact, form the basis of all the knowledge we have of the Canadian tribes as well as of the Five Nations them- selves. It is only necessary that we should here take ac- count of the Algonquins and Huron-Iroquois, two great families separated from one another by radical differences of language, and not bv special racial or physical characteristics. The .skimo, Dacotah, Mandan, Pawnee, and Muskoki groups have no immediate connection with this Canadian story, al- though we shall meet representatives of these natural divisions in later chapters when wc find the French in the Northwest, and on the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi. The Algonquins and Huron- Iroquois occupied the country extending, roughly speaking, from Virginia to Hudson's Bay, and from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. The Algonquins were by far the most /. umerous and widely distrib- uted. Dialects of their common language were heard on the Atlantic coast all the way from Cape Fear to the Arctic region where the Eskimo hunted the seal or the walrus in his skin kayak. On the banks of the Kennebec and Penobscot in Acadia we find the Abenakis, who were firm friends of the French. They were hunters in the great forests of Maine, where even yet roam the deer and moose. The Etchemins or Canoemen, inhabited the country west and east of the St. Croix River, which had been named by De Monts. In Nova Scotia, Cape Bre- ton, and Prince Edward Island, we see the Micmacs CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 115 or Souriquois, a fierce, cruel race in early times, whose chief, Membertou, was the first convert of the Acadian missionaries. They were hunters and fishermen, and did not till the soil even in the lazy fashion of their Algonquin kindred in New England. The climate of Nova Scotia was not so congenial to the production of maize as that of the more southern countries. It was the culture of this very prolific plant, so easily sown, gathered, and dried, that largely modified and improved the savage conditions of Indian life elsewhere on the continent. It is where the maize was mc jt abundant, in the valley of the Ohio, that we find relics of Indian arts — such as we never find in Acadia or Canada. On the St. Lawrence, between the Gulf and Que- bec, there were wandering Algonquin tribes, gener- ally known as Montagnais or Mountaineers, living in rude camps covered with bark or brush, eking a precarious existence from the rivers and woods, and at times on the verge of starvation, when they did not hesitate at cannibalism. Between Quebec and the Upper Ottawa there were no village communi- ties of any importance ; for the Petite Nation of the river of that name was only a small band of Algon- quins, living some distance from the Ottawa. On the Upper Ottawa we meet with the nation of the Isle (Allumette) and the Nipissings, both Algon- (juin tribes, mentioned in a previous chapter. They were chiefly hunters and fishermen, although the former cultivated some patches of ground. On Georgian Bay we come to a nation speaking one of the dialects of a language quite distinct from that Ii6 THE STORY OF CANADA. of the Algonquins. These were Hurons, numbering in all some twenty thousand souls, of whom ten thousand or more were adults, living in thirty-two villages, comprising seven hundred dwellings of the same style as Cartier saw at Hochelaga. These vil- lages were protected by stockades or palisades, and by some natural features of their situation — a river, a lake, or a hill. Neither the long houses nor the fortifications were as strongly or as cleverly con- structed as those of the Iroquois, Maize, pumpkins, and tobacco were the principal plants cultivated. Sunflowers were also raised, chiefly for the oil with which they greased their hair and bodies. Their very name meant " Shock-heads " — a nickname originating from the exclamation of some French- men, when they first saw their grotesque way of wearing their hair, " Qucllcs liiircs ! " (What a head of hair!) Champlain speaks of a tribe whom he met after leaving Lake Nipissing, in 1615, and called the Chevcux Relcvi^s, or people with the stifl" hair, but they were wandering Algonqulns. Champlain called the Hurons, Attigouantans, though their true name was Ouendat, afterwards corrupted to Wyandot, which still clings to a remnant of the race in America. They were brave and warlike, with perhaps more amiable qualities than the more ferocious, robust Iroquois. The nation appears to have been a con- federacy of tribes, each of which was divided into clans or gcntcs on the Iroquois principle, which I shall shortly explain. Two chiefs, one for peace and one for war, assisted by a council of tribal chiefs, CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 117 constituted the general government. Each tribe had a system of local or self-government — to use a phrase applicable to modern federal conditions — consisting of chiefs and council. The federal organ- isation was not, however, so carefully framed and adjusted as that of their kin, the Iroquois. At council meetings all the principal men attended and votes were taken with the aid of reeds or sticks, the majority prevailing in all cases. The whole organi- sation was essentially a democracy, as the chiefs, although an oligarchy in appearance, were controlled by the voices and results of the councils. In this as in other American savage nations, the rule govern- ing the transmission of hereditary honours and pos- sessions was through the female line. Beyond the Huron villages, south of Nottawasaga Bay — so named probably from the Nottaways, a branch of the same family, driven by war to the south — w^e come to the Tionotates o: Tobacco tribe, who were kin in language and customs to their neighbours and afterwards joined their confederacy. The Neutral Nation, or Attiwandaronks of Iroquois stock, had their homes on the north shore of Lake Erie, and reached even as far as the Niagara. They were extremely cruel, and kept for a long while their position of neutrality between the Hurons and Five Nations. To the south of Lake Erie rose the smoke of the fires of the Eries, generally translated "Cats," but, properly speaking, the " Raccoons." Like the Andastes, near the Susquehanna, mentioned in a previous chapter, they were famous warriors, and for years held their own against the Iroquois, but ii8 THE STORY OF CANADA. eventually both these nations yielded to the fur) of the rek ntless confederacy. We have now come to the western door of the " long house " {Ho-de'-no-soie) of the Iroquois, who called themselves " the people of the long house * {Ho-dc-no-sau-nce), because they dwelt in a line of villages of " long houses," reaching from the Gene- see to the Mohawk, where the eastern door looked toward the Hudson and Lake Champlain. The name by which they have been best known is considered by Charlevoix and other writers to be originally French; derived from" Hiro " (I have spoken) — the conclusion of all their harangues — and Kou6, an exclamation of sorrow when it was pro- longed, and of joy when pronounced shortly. They comprised five nations, living by the lakes, that still bear their names in the State of New York, in the following order as we go east from Niagara: IROQUOIS NATIONS. Nundawaona ) Great hill people f Gue'ugwehono \ People of the marsh ) Onundagaono \ People of the hills \ Onayotekiiono ^ Granite people \ Ganeagaono Possessors of the flint ENGLISH NAMES. Seneca Cayuga Onondaga Oneida Mohawk FRENCH NAMES. Tsonnontouans Goyogouin Onnontague Onneyote Agnier Each tribe lived in a separate village of long houses, large enough to hold from five to twenty families. Each family was a clan or kin — resem- bling the ^r;w of the Roman, the ykvo^ of the Greek CANADIAiV AX/) Ih'OQUO/S hVDlANS. 119 — a group of males and females, whose kinshii) was reckoned only through females — the universal cus- tom in archaic times in America. As among these people the marriage tie was easily sundered and chastity was tiie exception, — remarkably so among the Hurons, their kindred — it is not strange that all rank, titles, and property should be based on the rights of the woman alone. The child belonged consequently to the clan, not of the father, but of IROQUOIS LONG HOUSK (FROM MORGAN). the mother. Each of these tenement houses, as they may well be called, was occupied by related families, the mothers and their children belonging to the same clan, while the husbands and the fathers of these children belonged to other clans ; consequently, the clan or kin of the mother easily predominated in the household.'!' Every clan had a name derived from the animal world, as a rule, and a rude picture * In this necessarily very imjieifect description of the organisation and customs of the Five Nations I depend mainly on those valuable and now rare books, 77u' League of the Iroquois, and Houses and Ifome Life of the Aborigines, by Lewis H. Morgan. The reader should also consult Horatio Hale's Iroquois Book of Rites. ! ; ii I20 THE STORY OF CANADA. of the same was the " totem " or coat-of-arms of the kin or gens, found over the door of a long house or tattooed on the arms or bodies of its members. The Tortoise, Bear, and Wolf, were for a long time the most conspicuous totems of the Iroquois. These people were originally a nation of one stock of eight clans, and when tlicy separated into five tribes or sections, each contained parts of the origi- nal clans. Consequently, " all the members of the same clan, whatever tribe they belonged to, were brothers or sisters to each other in virtue of their descent from the same common female ancestor, and they recognised each other as such with the fullest cordiality." Whatever was taken in the hunt, or raised in cul- tivation, by any member of the household — and the Iroquois were good cultivators of maize, beans, and squash — was used as a common stock for that par- ticular household. No woman could marry a mem- ber of her own clan or kin. The marriage might be severed at the will of either i)arty. Yet, while the Iroquois women had so much importance in the household and in the regulation of inheritance, she was almost as much a drudge as the s(|uaw of the savage Micmacs of Acadia and the Gulf. The tribe was simply a community of Indians of a particular family or stock, speaking one of the dialects of its language. Vov instance, the Five Nations or Tribes spoke different dialects of the Iroquoian stock language, but each could understand the other sufficiently for all purposes of deliberation and discussion. Each tribe was governed by its CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 121 by its own council of sachems and chiefs — the latter in- ferior in rank — elected by their respective clans, but invested with ofifice by the whole tribe. For all pur- poses of tribal government the tribes had separate territories and jurisdiction. For common purposes they united in a confederation in which each tribe occupied a position of complete equality — the ex- ception being the Tuscaroras — Dusgaoweh or " shirt- wearing people " — who came from the south at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and made up the " Six Nations." If a tribe made peace it would not bind the other tribes unless they had given their consent in formal council, or by the presence of their representatives. A general council of fifty sachems, equal in rank and authority, administered the affairs of the confederation. These sachems were created in perpetuity in certain clans of the several tribes and invested with oflFice by the gen- eral council. They were also sachems in their re- spective tribes, and with other clan-chiefs formed the council which was supreme over all matters apper- taining to the tribe exclusively. Women, too, had their clan and other councils, and could make their wishes known through the delegates they appointed to the council of the league. In the federal council the sachems voted by tribes, and unanimity was essential before action was taken or a conclusion arrived at. The general council was open to the whole community for the discussion of public ques- tions, but the council alone decided. The council of each tribe had power to convene the general council, but the latter could not convene itself. 122 THE SrOA'V OF CAiVADA. With the object of preventing tlie concentration of too much i)o\ver in one man's hands, the federal council appointed two war chiefs, equal in authority. The council fire or brand was always burning in the valley of the Onondagas, where the central council met as a rule in the autumn, or whenever a tribe might consider a special meeting necessary. The Onondagas had also the custody of the '* Wampum," or mnemonic record of their structure of government, and the Tadodii'ho, or most noble sachem of the league, was among the same tribe. The origin of the confederacy is attributed in legendary lore to Ha-yo- vvent'-ha, the Hiawatha of Longfellow's poem. These are the main features of that famous polity of the Iroquois which gave them so remarkable a power of concentration in war, and was one reason of their decided superiority over all the other nations of America. In council, where all common and tribal affairs were decided, the Iroquois showed great capacity for calm deliberation, and became quite eloquent at times. Their language was extremely figurative, though incapable of the expression of abstract thought, as is the case with Indian tongues generpjly. The Indian — essentially a materialist — could only find his similes, metaphors, and illustra- tions in the objects of nature, but these he used with great skill. The Iroquois had a very keen ap- preciation of their interests, and were well able to protect them in their bargains or contracts with the white men. In war they were a terrible foe, and a whisper of their neighbourhood brought consterna- tion to Indian camps and cabins from the Kennebec I ■A CAXAD/AiV A.VD /A'OQl'O/S IMUAXS. 12.^ to the Delaware, from the Siiscjueliantia to the lUi- nois. They liave been well described as "the scourge of God upon the aborigines of the continent." In their political organisation, their village life, their culture of the soil, their power of eloquence, their skill as politicians as *vell as warriors, they were superior to all the tribes in America as far as New Mexico, although in the making of pottery and other arts they were inferior to the mound-builders of the Ohio and the IVIississippi — probably the AUe- gewi who gave their names to the Alleghanies and are believed by some writers to have been either ex- terminated by a combination of Algonquin and Iro- quois or driven southward where they were absorbed in other nations. At no time could the Iroquois muster more than 3000 warriors ; and yet they were the scourge and dread of all the scattered tribes of Algonquins, numbering in the aggregate probably 90,000 souls, and eventually crushed the Hurons and those other tribes of their own nationality, who did not belong to their confederacy and had evoked their wrath. The Algonquin and Huron- Iroquois nations had many institutions and customs in common. Every clan had some such totem as I have described in the case of the Iroquois. Every tribe had its chiefs as military leaders and its councils for deliberation and decision. Consequently the democratic principle dominated the whole organisation. Eloquence was always prized and cultivated as a necessity of the system of government. Some tribes had their special orators among the chiefs. Though a general 124 THE STORY OF CANADA. war was dependent on the action of the council, yet any number of warriors might go on the warpath at any time against the enemies of the tribe. They had no written records, but their memories were aided in council or otherwise by reeds or sticks and rude pictures; strings of wampum — cleverly manu- factured from shells — served as annals, which the skilled men of a tribe could decipher and explain. The wampum belts performed an important part in the declaration of war or peace, and the pipe was equally effective in the deliberations of council and in the profession of amity. Murder might be expi- ated by presents to the family or relatives of the dead, and crime was rarely followed by death except there was a question of other nations, who would not be content unless the blood of their kinsman was washed away by blood. Charity and hospital- ity were among the virtues of the Indian race, espe- cially among the Iroquois, and while there was food in a village no one need starve. The purity of Icve was unknown to a savage nature, chiefly animated by animal passion. Prisoners were treated with great ferocity, but the Iroquois exceeded all nations in the ingenuity of torture. Stoicism and endurance, even heroic, were characteristics of Indians generally, when in the hands of their enemies, and the cruel- lest insult that a warrior could receive was to be called a woman. Sometimes priso' crs were spared and adopted into the tribe, a ' .ong mos*" nations the wife or mother or sister a dead chi^f might demand that he be replaced by a prisoner to whom they may have taken a fancy. After torture parts CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 125 of the bodies of the victim would be eaten as a sort of mystic ceremony, but this custom was pecuHar to the Hurons and Iroquois only. In their warlike expeditions they had no special discipline, and might be successfully met on the open field or under the protection of fortified works. Their favourite sys- tem was a surprise or furious onslaught. A siege soon exhausted their patience and resources. The)' were as treacherous as they were brave. In the shades of the forest, whose intricacies and secrets they understood so well, they were most to be feared. Behind every tree might lurk a warrior, when once a party was known to be on the warpath. To steal stealthily at night through the mazes of the woods, tomahawk their sleeping foes, and take many scalps, was the height of an Indian's bliss. Curious to say, the Indians took little precautions to guard against such surprises, but thought they were protected by their manitous or guardian spirits. A spirit of materialism prevailed in all their super- stitions. They had no conception of one all-pervad- ing, omniscient divine being, governing and watching over humanity, when the missionaries first came among them. It was only by making use of their belief in the existence of a supreme chief for every race of animals, that the priests could lead their converts to the idea of a Great Spirit who ruled all creation. In their original state of savagery or bar- barism, any conception an Indian might have of a supernatural being superior to himself was frittered away by his imagining that the whole material world was under the influence of innumerable mysterious 126 THE STOHY OF CANADA. powers. In the stirring of the leaves, in the glint of the sunbeam amid the foliage, in the shadow on his path, in the flash of the lightning, in the crash of the thunder, in the roar of the cataract, in the colours of the rainbow, in the very beat of his pulse, in the leap of the fish, in the flight of the birds, he saw some supernatural power to be evoked. The Indian companions of Champlain, we remember, threw tobacco to the genius or Manitou of the great fall of the Ottawa. The Manitou of the Algon- quins, and the Okies or Otkons of the Hurons and Iroquois were not always superior, mysterious beings endowed witii supernatural powers, like the Algon- quin Manabozho, the Great Hare, the king of all animals; or a deified hero, like Hiawatha, the foun- der of the Iroquois confederacy, and Glooscap, the favourite of Micmac legends. The Manitou or Oki might even be a stone, a fish-bone, a bird's feather, or a serpent's skin, or some other thing in the ani- mate or inanimate world, revealed to a young man in his dreams as his fetich or guardian through life. Dreams :/ere respected as revelations from the spirit world. As Champlain tells us, during his first ex- pedition to Lake Champlain, the Indians always questioned liim as to his dreams, and at last he was able to tell them that he had seen in a vision some Iroquois drowning in the lake, and wished to help them, l)Ut was not permitted to do so by the In- dians of his own party. This dream, in their opinion, was a portent in their favour. A fetich became at last even the object of an Indian's worship — to be thanked, flattered, expostu- CAJVADfAX A. YD IROQUOIS INDIANS. 12/ lated with, according to tlic cmcr|::jcncy. It can be easily seen that in tliis Indian land of mysterious agencies, of manitous and spirits, the medicine-man and conjuror exercised a ^reat power amon^ old and younj:^, chiefs and women. He had to be consulted in illness, in peace, in war, at every moment of im- portance to individual or nation. Even in case of illness and disease he found more value in secret communications with the supernatural world, and in working on the credulity of his tribesmen, than in the use of medicines made from platits. The y^ross- est superstition dominated every community. All sorts of mystic ceremonies, some most cruel and re- j)ujj^nant to every sense (jf decency, were usual on occasions when supernatural influences had to be called into action. Every respect was paid to the dead, who were supposed to have gone on a journey to a spirit land. Every one had such a separate scaffold or grave, generally speaking, as Champlain saw among the Ottawas, but it was the strange custom of the llurons to collect the bones of their dead every few years and immure them in great pits or ossuaries with weirdlike ceremonies very minutely described in the Relations, In a passage previously quoted Champlain gave credit to the Indians for believing in the immortality of the soul. The world to which the Indian's imagination accompanied the dead was not the Heaven or Hell of the Jew or Christian. Among some tribes there was an impression rather than a belief that a distinction was made in the land of the Ponemah or Hereafter between the great or ii ■ 0, 128 7WE STORY OF CANADA. useful, and the weak or useless ; but generally it was thought that all alike passed to the Spirit Land, and carried on their vocations as in life. It was a Land of Shades where trees, flowers, animals, men, and all things were spirits. " By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews In vestments for the chase arrayed » The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer a shade." h\ IX. CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS — VILLE-MARIE — MAR- TYRED MISSIONARIES — VICTORIOUS IROQUOIS— HAPLESS HURONS. (1635-1652.) A SCENE that was witnessed on the heights of Quebec on a fine June morning, two hundred and sixty years ago, illustrated the spirit that animated the founders of Canada. At the foot of a cross knelt the Governor, Charles Hault de Montmagny, Knight of Malta, who had come to take the place of his great predecessor, Samuel Champlain, whose remains were buried close by, if indeed this very cross did not dicate the spot. Jesuits in their black robes, soldiers in their gay uniforms, officials and inhabitants from the little town below, all fol- lowed the example of Montmagny, whose first words were, according to Father Le Jeune, the his- torian of those days : " Rchold the first cross that t have seen in this country, let us worship the crucified Saviour in his image." Then, this act of devotion accomplished, the procession entered the ' xaq I30 THE STOA'Y OF CANADA. little church dedicated by Champlain to Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, where the priests solemnly chanted the Te Deum and offered up prayers for the King of France. The Church was first, the State second. After the service the new governor entered the fort of St. Louis, only a few steps from the sacred building, received the keys amid salutes of cannon and mus- ketry, and was officially installed as head of the civil and military government of Canada, at this time controlled by the Company of the Hundred Associ- ates. Then he was called upon to act as god-father for a dying Indian who desired baptism. In the smoky cabin packed with Indians Montmagny stood by the earnest Jesuit and named the Algonquin Joseph. " I leave you to think," says Father Le Jeune, " how greatly astonished were these people to see so much crimson, so many handsomely dressed persons beneath their bark roofs." During the period of which I am now writing we see the beginnings of the most famous educational and religious institutions of the country. The Hotel Dieu was founded in 1639, by the Soeurs Hospitali^res from the convent of St. Augustine, in Dieppe, through the benefactions of the Duchess d'Aiguillon, the niece of Cardinal Richelieu. Rich, fascinating, and beautiful women contributed not only their fortunes but their lives to the service of the Church. Marie Madeleine de Chauvigny, who belonged to a noble family in Normandy, married at a very early age a M. de la Peltrie, who left her a young widow of twenty-two years of age, without MARIR GUYARD (MfeRE MAKIK DK L'INCARNATION). 131 132 THE STORY OF CANADA. any children. Deeply attached to her religion from her youth, she decided to devote her life and her wealth to the establishment of an institution for the instruction of girls in Canada. Her father and friends threw all possible obstacles in the way of what they believed was utter folly for a gentle cul- tured woman, but she succeeded by female wiles and strategy in carrying out her plans. On the first of August, 1639, she arrived at Quebec, in company with Marie Guyard, the daughter of a silk manufac- turer of Tours, best known to Canadians as Mere de r Incarnation, the mother superior of the Ursulines, whose spacious convent and grounds now cover seven acres of land on Garden Street in the an- cient capital. She had a vision of a companion who was to accompany her to a land of mists and moun- tains, to which the Virgin beckoned as the country of her future life-work. Canada was the land and Madame de la Peltrie the companion foreshadowed in that dream which gave Marie Guyard a vocation which she filled for thirty years with remarkable fidelity and ability. Madame de la Peltrie and Marie Guyard were ac- companied by Mdlle. de Savonniere de la Troche, who belonged to a distinguished family of Anjou, and was afterwards known in Canada as M^re de St. Joseph, and also by another nun, called Mere Cecile dc Sainte-Croix. A Jesuit, Father Vimont, afterwards superior, and author of one of the Relations, and the three Hospital sisters, arrived in the same ship. The company landed and " threw themselves on their knees, blessed the God of Heaven, and kissed §M CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS. 133 the earth of their near country, as they now called it." A Tc Dcum followed in the Jesuits' church which was now completed on the heights near their college, commenced as early as 1635 — one year before the building of Harvard College — through the generosity of Rene Rohault, eldest son of the Marquis de Gamache. The first visit of the nuns was to Sillery, four miles to the west of Quebec, on the north bank of the river, where an institution had been established for the instruction of the Algon- quin and other Indians, through the liberality of Noel Brulart de Sillery, a Knight of Malta, and a member of an influential French family, who had taken a deep interest in the settlement of Canada and proved it by his bounty. Madame de la Peltrie and her companions, the Jesuit historian tells us naively, embraced the little Indian girls " without taking heed whether they were clean or not." It was during Montmagny's term of office that the city of Montreal was founded by a number of religious enthusiasts. Jerome le Royer de la Dau- versiere, receiver of taxes at La Flcche in Anjou, a noble and devotee, consulted with Jean Jacques Olier, then a priest of St. Sulpice in Paris, as to the best means of establishing a mission in Canada. Both declared they had visions which pointed to the island of Mont Royal as the future scene of their labours. They formed a comi)any with large powers as seigniors as soon as they had obtained from M. de Lauzon, one of the members of the Company of Hundred Associates, a title to the island. They interested in the project Paul de Chomedey, Sieur m^: 134 r/z/t sroA'v of Canada. de Maisonneuvc, a devout AWiX brave soldier, an honest and chivalric gentleman, wlio was appointed the first governor by the new company. Mdlle. Jeanne Mance, daughter of the attorney-general of Nogent-le-Roi, among the vine-clad hills of Cham- pagne, who had bound herself to perpetual chastity from a remarkably early age, gladly joined in this religious undertaking. The company had in view the establishment of communities of secular priests, and of nuns to nurse the sick, and teach the children — the French as well as the savages. Madame de Bullion, the rich widow of a superintendent of finance, contributed largely towards the enterprise, and may be justly considered the founder of Hotel Dieu of Montreal. Maisonneuve and Mdlle. Mance, accompanied by forty men and four women, arrived at Quebec in August, 1641, when it was far too late to attempt an establishment on the island, (iovernor de Mont- magny and others at Quebec disapproved of the undertaking which had certainly elements of danger. The governor might well think it wisest to strengthen the colony by an establishment on the island of Or- leans or in the immediate vicinity of Quebec, instead of laying the foundations of a new town in the most exposed part of Canada. However, all these objec- tions availed nothing against the enthusiasm of devotees. In the spring of 1642, Maisonneuve and his company left Quebec. He was accompanied by Governor de Montmagny, Father Vimont, superior of the Jesuits, and Madame de la Peltrie, who left the Ursulines very abruptly and inconsiderately CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS, 135 under the conviction that she had a mission to fill at Mont Royal. On the 17th May, Maisonneuve and his compan- PORTRAIT OK MAISONNEUVE. ions landed on the little triangle of land, the Place Royale of Champlain, formed by the junction of a stream with the St. Lawrence. They fell immedi- ately on their knees and gave their thanks to the 136 THE STORY OF CANADA. Most High. After singing some hymns, they raised an altar which was decorated by Madame de hi Pel- trie and Mdlle. Mance, and celebrated the first great mass on the island. Father Vimont, as he performed this holy rite of his Church, addressed the new colo- nists with words which foreshadowed the success of the Roman Catholic Church in the greatest Canadian city, which was first named Ville-Marie. A picket enclosure, mounted with cannon, pro- tected the humble buildings erected for the use of the first settlers on what is now the Custom-house Square. The little stream — not much more than a rivulet except in spring — ;which for many years rip- pled between green, mossy banks, now struggles beneath the paved street. An obelisk of gray Canadian granite now stands on this historic ground. Madame de la Peltrie did not remain more than two years in Ville-Marie, but returned to the convent at Quebec which she had left in a moment of caprice. Mdlle. Mance, who was Madame de Bullion's friend, remained at the head of the Hotel Dieu. The Sulpicians eventually obtained control of the spiritual welfare, and in fact of the whole island, though from necessity and pol- icy the Jesuits were at first in charge. It was not until 1653 that one of the most admirable figures in the religious and educational history of Canada, Margaret Borrgeoys, a maiden of Troyes, came to Ville-Marie, and established the parent house in Canada of the Congregation de Notre-Dame, whose schools have extended in the progress of centuries from Sydney, on the island of Cape Breton, to the Pacific coast. CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS. m Yet during these years, while convents and hospi- tals were founded, while brave gentlemen and cul- tured women gave up their lives to their country and iheir faith, while the bells were ever calling their congregations to mass and vespers, the country was defended by a mere handful of inhabitants, huddled together at Quebec, at Three Rivers, and at the little settlement of Ville-Marie. The canoes of the Iroquois were constantly passing on the lakes and rivers of Canada, from Georgian Bay to the Riche- lieu, and bands of those terrible foes of the French and their Indian allies were ever lurking in the woods that came so dangerously close to the white settlements and the Indian villages. In 1642, Father Isaac Jogues was returning from the missions on Lake Huron, with Couture, an interpreter, and Goupil, a young medical attendant — both donnas or lay followers of the Jesuits. They were in the company of a number of Hurons who were bringing furs to the traders on the St. Law- rence, when the Iroquois surprised them at the western end of Lake St. Peter's. The prisoners were taken by the Richelieu to the Mohawk country and Father Jogues was the first Frenchman to pass through Lake George * — with its picturesque hills and islets — which in a subsequent journey he named Lac du Saint-Sacrament, because he reached it on the eve of Corpus Christi. The Frenchmen were carried from village to village of the Iroquois, and * It was so called in 1753, after the reigning sovereign of Eng- land by an amhilious and politic Irishman, Sir William Johnson, whose name is constantly occurring in the history of the wars between England and France. '38 THE STORY OF CANADA. tortured with all the cruel ingenuity usual in such cases. Goupil's thumb was cut off with a clam shell, as one way of prolonging pain. At night the pris- oners were stretched on their backs with their ankles and wrists bound to stakes. Couture was adopted into the tribe, and was found useful in later years as an intermediary between the French and Mohawks. Goupil was murdered and his body tossed into a stream rushing down a steep ravine. Despite his sufferings Father Jogues never desisted from his efforts to baptise children and administer the rites of his Church to the tortured prisoners. On one occasion he performed the sacred ofifice for a dying Huron with some rain or dewdrops which were still clinging to an ear of green corn which had been thrown to him for food. After indescribable mis- ery, he was taken to Fort Orange, where the Dutch helped him to escape to France, but he returned to Canada in the following year. Bands of Iroquois continued to wage war with relentless fury on all the Algonquin tribes from the Chaudiere Falls of the Ottawa to the upper waters of the Saguenay. Bressani, a highly cultured Italian priest, was taken prisoner on the St. Lawrence, while on his way to the Huron missions, and carried to the Mohawk villages, where he went through the cus- tomary ordeal of torture. He was eventually given to an old woman who had lost a member of her fam- ily, but when she saw his maimed hands — one split between the little finger and the ring-finger — she sent him to the Dutch, who ransomed and sent him to France, whence he came back like Jogues, a year later. MARTYRED MISSION A RIES. 139 In 1645 the Mohawks made peace with the French, but the other members of the Five Nations refused to be bound by the treaty. Father Isaac Jogues ven- tured into their country in 1646, and after a success- ful negotiation returned to consult the governor at Quebec; but unhappily for him he left behind a small box, filled with some necessaries of his simple liCc, with which he did not wish to encumber him- self on this flying visit. The medicine-men or sor- cerers, who always hated the missionaries as the enemies of their vile superstitious practices, made the Indians believe that this box contained an evil spirit which was the origin of disease, misfortune, and death. When Father Jogues came back, he found the village divided into two parties — one wishing his death, the other inclined to show him mercy, and after infinite wrangling between the fac- tions, he was suddenly killed by a blow from a toma- hawk as he was entering a long-house, to attend a feast to which he had been invited. His body was treated with contumely, and his head affixed to a l)ost of the palisades of the village. He was the first martyr who suffered death at the hands of the Iroquois. The " black robe " was now to be seen in every Indian community of Canada; among the Hurons and Algonquins as far as Lake Huron, among the White Fish tribe at the head-waters of the Sague- nay, and even among the Abenakis of the Kenne- bec. Father Gabriel Druilletes, who had served an apprenticeship among the Montagnais, was in charge of this Abenaki mission, and in the course of years wsssi^aamssssmm mmmmmmmmmmm 1 40 77//^ SVVA'V (U'' CAJVAP/I. visilod P»(>st(>n, Plyinoiitli, and Salem, in the intci osts of the Canailiaii P'rcncli, wlio wished to eiiti 1 into conniiorcial rclaiions with New ICnj^land, .ml also induce its p)vernnuMits to enter into an alli aiue against the Inxjuois, Tile authorities of tlir New JMiLjland confederacy eventu .llv' refused !< evoke tli(! hostilitv of the datiLTerous i'^ivc; Nation . I'ather Druilletes, however, won for Canada tli. endurini^ friendship of the Ahenakis, as Acadian history shows. It is inn)t)ssil)h; within the limited si)ac(; of tlii, ch;»()ter to year. b'athers Jean de l^rebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were tortured and murdered at St. IgUoCe. From villai^e after village the shric^ks of helpless women arid men and children, tied t< stakes in burning houses, ascended to a seemingly pitiless Heaven. Many persons were tortured on the sp(^t, but as many or more reserved for the sport of the Iroquois villages. Father Brebeuf was bound to a stake, and around his neck was thrown a necklace of red-hot tomahawks. They cut off his lower lip, and thrust a heated iron rod down his throat. It was doubtless their delight to force a groan or complaint from this stalwart priest, whose towering and noble figure had always been the admirati(^n of the Cana- dian Indians, but both he and Lalemant, a rela- tiVelv feeble man, showed themselves as brave as the most courageous Indian warriors under similar con- ditions. When a party from Ste. Marie came a few days later to the ruins of St. Ignace, they found the tor- i HA PLESS HURONS. 143 tured bodies of the de.id missionaries on the ground, and carrie(! tliem to tlie mission iiouse, where tliey were buried in sacred eartli. The skull of the i^enerous, whole-souled Brebeuf is still to be seen within a silver bust in the Hotel Dieu of Quebec. I'^ither Garnier was killed at the mission of St. Jean (Rtarita), in the raids which the Irocjuois made at a later time on the Tobacco Nation, the kindred of the riurons. i^'ather Chabanel, who was on his way from St. Jean to Ste. Marie, was never heard of, and it is generally believed that he was treacherously killed and robbed by a Huron. The llurons were still numerous despite the losses they had suffered — counting even then more families than the I^^ive Nations — but as they looked on the smoking ruins of their villages and thought of the undying hatred which had followed them for so many years they lost all courage and decitled to scatter and seek new homes elsewhere. Fathei Rague- neau, the superior of the Jesuits, after consultation with the Fathers and Frenchmen at Ste. Marie, some fifty persons altogether, felt they could no longer safely remain in tiieir isolated position when the llurons had left the country. They removed all their goods to the Isle of St. Joseph, nf)w one of the Christian Islands, near the entrance of Matche- dash Bay, where they erected a fortified post for the protection of several thousand Hurons who had sought refuge here. Before many months passed, the llurons believed that their position would be untenable when the Iroquois renewed their attacks, and determined to leave the island. Some ventured 144 THE STORY OF CANADA. even among the Iroquois and were formally received into the Senecas and other tribes. A remnant remained a few months longer on the island, but they soon left for Quebec after killing some thirty of the bravest Iroquois warriors, who had attempted to obtain possession of the fort by a base act of treachery. A number belonging to the Tobacco Nation eventually reached the upper waters of the Mississippi where they met the Sioux, or Dacotahs, a fierce nation belonging to a family quite distinct from the Algonquins and Iroquois, and generally found wandering between the head-waters of Lake Superior and the Falls of St. Anthony. After vari- ous vicissitudes these Hurons scattered, but some found their rest by the side of the Detroit River, where they have been always known as Wyandots. Some three hundred llurons, old and young, left St. Joseph for yuebct where they were most kindly received and given homes on the western end of the Isle of Orleans, where the Jesuits built a fort for their security ; but even here, as we shall see, the Iroquois followed them, and they were eventually forced to hide themselves under the guns of Quebec. War and disease soon thinned them out, while not a few cast in their lot with the Iroquois who were at last themselves seeking recruits. The Huron rem- nant finally found a resting-place at Lorette on the banks of the St. Charles, a few miles from the heights of the Capital. The only memorials now in Canada of a once powerful people, that numbered at least twenty thousand souls before the time of their ruin and dis- If- HAPLESS IWROiXS. H5 l)ersioii, are a remnant still retaining the language of their tribe on the banks of the Detroit; a larger settlement on the banks of the St. Charles, but without the distinguishing characteristics of their ancestors who came there from Isle St. Joseph; the foundations of the old mission house of Ste. Marie, and the remarkable graves and ossuaries which interest the student and antiquary as they wander in the summer-time through the picturesque country where the nation was once supreme. X. YEARS OF GT.OOM— THE KING COMES TO THE RESCUE OF CANADA— THE IROQUOIS HUMULED. (1652-1667.) It was noon on the 20th May, 1656, when the residents of Quebec were startled by the remarkable spectacle of a lon^ line of b-'»ik canoes drawn up on the river immediately in front of the town. They could hear the shouts of the Mohawk warriors making boast of the murder and capture of unhappy Hu- rons, whom they had surprised on the Isle of Orleans close by. The voices of Huron girls — " the very flower of the tribe," says the Jesuit narrator — were raised in plaintive chants at the rude command of their savage captors, who even forced them to dance in sight of the French, on whose protection they had relied. The governor, M. de Lauzon, a weak, incapable man, only noted for his greed, was per- fectly paralysed at a scene without example, even in those days of terror, when the Iroquois were virtually masters of the St. Lawrence valley from Huron to Gasp<6. 146 YEARS OF GLOOM. 147 At this very time a number of Frenchmen — probably fifty in all — were in the power of the Iroquois, and the governor had no nerve to make even an effort to save the llurons from their fate. !"() understand the situation of affairs, it is neces- sary to t^o back for a few years. After the dis- [)ersion of the Hurons, the Iroquois, principally the Mohawks, became bolder than ever on the St. Lawrence. M. du Plessis-Bochat, the governor of Three Rivers, lost his life in a courageous but ill- advised attempt to chastise a band of warriors that were in ambush not far from the fort. Father Buteux was killed on his way to his mission of the Attikamegs or White Fish tribe, at the head- waters of the St. Maurice. In 1653, Father Poucet was carried off to a Mohawk village, where he was tortured in the usual fashion, and thcii sent back to Canada with offers of peace. The Senecas and Cayugas were then busily engaged in exterminating the Erics, who had burned one of their most famous chiefs, whose last words at the stake were prophetic: " Eries, you burn in me an entire nation ! " A peace, or rather a truce, was declared formally ill the fall of 1653. Then, at the request of the ( )nondagas. Father Simon le Moyne, a missionary of great tact and courage, who was the first French- man to ascend the St. Lawrence as far as the Thou- sand Isles, ventured into the Iroquois country, where he soon became a favourite. As a result of the nego- tiations which followed this mission, Governor de Lauzon was persuaded to send a colony to the vil- lages of the Onondagas. This colony was composed 148 THE STORY OF CANADA. i of Captain Dupiiy, an ofliccr of the garrison, ten soldiers, and between tliiit}- and forty xolunteers. Father Dabh)n, wlio liad previously ^one with Father Chaumonot amon^ the Ononda^as, and had brought back the request for a coh)ny, accom[)anied the expedition, which left Quebec in the month of June, 1656. On the way up the river the Onon- dagas were attacked by a band of Mohawks, when the boats carrying the French had gone ahead and were not within sight. Some of the Onondagas were killed and wounded, and then the Mohawks found out that they had surprised and injured warriors belonging to a tribe of their own confederacy. They endeavoured to explain this very serious act of hostility against their own friends ant! allies by the excuse that they had mistaken theni for llurons, whom they were on the way to attack. There is little doubt that they well understood the character of the expedition, and attacked it through envy of the success of the Onondagas in obtaining the set- tlement of Frenchmen in their villages. When the Mohawks had made their explanations, they allowed the angry Onondagas to proceed on their journey, while they themselves went on to Quebec where, as we have already seen, they showed their contempt of the French by assailing the Hu- rons under the very guns of the fort of St. Louis. As soon as the French colony arrived at the Onon- daga villages, they took possession of the country in the name of Jesus. On an eminence overlooking the lake they erected the mission of St. Mary of Gannentaha, the correct Iroquois name for Onondaga, YEAh'S OF GLOOM. 149 ten i 'r. the vicinity of the present city of Syracuse. The Ononthij^as generally appearetl cleii<;lited at the pres- ence of the l''rench, thouj^h at tiiis very time the Mohawks continued to paddle up and down the St. Lawrence to the consternation of the I^'rencli and C.madian Inchans alike. The Jesuit priest Garreau was killed in one of these excursions while accom- pan}'in<; a party of Ottawas to Lake Superior. The colonists at (iannentaha at last found that their own lives were threatened by a conspiracy to destroy them, but they succeeded in deceiving the Indians and in escaping' to Canada in the month of March, after lix'ini; only two years amon<^ the ()nonda^L;as. Whilst the Lulians were sleei)in;4 away the effects of one of those mystic feasts, at which they invariably stuffed themselves to repletion, the Frenchmen es- caj/cd at nij^ht and reached the Oswe^^o River, which they successfully descended by the aid of flat-boats which they had secretly constructed after the dis- covery ')f the plot. 'I'he party reached the h'rench settlement with the loss of three men, drowned in the descent of the rapids of the St. Lawrence, probably the Cedars. The enterprise was most hazardous at this season when the ice had to be broken on the rivers before the boats could be used. JUit this very fact had its advanta<^e, since the bark canoes of the Indians vould have been useless had they followed the party. This exi)loit is one of the most remark- able ever performed by the h^rench in those early days, and shows of what excellent material those pioneers of French colonisation were made. In the spring of 1660 it was discovered that an I50 THE STOKY OF CANADA. >i": organised attack was to be made on all the settle- ments by a large force of over a thousand Iroquois, who were to assemble at the junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers. It is stated on credible authority that Montreal — Canada in fact — was saved at this critical juncture by the heroism of a few devoted Frenchmen. Among the officers of the little garrison that then protected Montreal, was Adam Daulac or DoUard, Sieur des Ormeaux, who obtained leave from Maisonneuve, the governor, to lead a party of volunteers against the Iroquois, who were wintering in large numbers on the upper Ot- tawa. Sixteen brave fellows, whose names are all recorded in the early records of Montreal, took a solemn oath to accept and give no quarter, and after settling their private affairs and receiving the sacra- ment, they set out on their mission of inevitable death. Dollard and his band soon reached the im- petuous rapids of the Long Sault of the Ottawa, destined to be their Thermopylae. There, among the woods, they found an old circular inclosure of logs, which had been built by some Indians for de- fensive purposes. This was only a wretched bulwark, but the Frenchmen were in a state of exalted enthu- siasm, and proceeded to strengthen it. Only two or three days after their arrival, they heard that the Iroquois were descending the river. The first attacks of the Iroquois were repulsed, and then they sent out scouts to bring up a large force of live hundred warriors who were at the mouth of the Richelieu. In the meantime they continued harassing the in- mates of the fort, who were suffering for food and YEARS OF GLOOM. 151 % M water. A band of Hurons who had joined the French just before the arrival of the Iroquois, now deserted them, with the exception of their chief, who as well as four Algonquins, remained faithful to the end. The forests soon resounded with the yells of the Iroquois, when reinforced. Still Dollard and his brave companions never faltered, but day after day beat back the astonished assailants, who knew the weakness of the defenders, and had anticipated an easy victory. At last a general assault was made, and in the struggle Dollard was killed. Even then the survivors kept up the fight, and when the Iro- quois stood within the inclosure there was no one to meet them. Four Frenchmen, still alive, were picked up from the pile of corpses. Three of these were instantly burned, while the fourth was reserved for continuous torture a day or so later. The faith- less Hurons gained nothing by their desertion, for they were put to death, with the exception of five who eluded their captors, and took an account of this remarkable episode to the French at Montreal. The Iroquois were obviously amazed at the courage of a few Frenchmen, and decided to give up, for the present, their project of attacking settlements defended by men so dauntless. Even the forces of nature seemed at this time to conspire against the unfortunate colony. A remark- able earthquake, the effects of which can still be seen on the St. Lawrence, — at picturesque Les Eboulements, which means " earth slips," for in- stance, — commenced in the month of February, 1663, and did not cease entirely until the following summer. - * IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) i^jf 1^ <° 1.0 I.I 11.25 l^lli Ki. Hi IM ^ i^ •^ n^ 1.4 ■ 1.6 -► <^ Va /a ^^ ^ »^^ ^ •V / Photographic Sciences Corporation ^ iV :\ \ 4 o^ 33 WEST MAIN STRUT VVIBSTM, N.Y. MStO (716) S73-4S03 152 THE STORY OF CANADA, I. ■ 1: Fervent appeals for assistance were made to the King by Pierre Boucher, the governor of Three Rivers, by Monseigneur Laval, the first bishop, by the Jesuit Fathers, and by the governors of New France, especially by M. d'Avaugour, who recom- mended that three thousand soldiers be sent to the colony, and allowed to become settlers after a cer- tain term of service. By 1663, the total population of Canada did not exceed two thousand souls, the large majority of whom were at Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. It was at the risk of their lives that men ventured beyond the guns of Montreal. The fur-trade was in the hands of monopolists. The people could not raise enough food to feed them- selves, but had to depend on the French ships to a large extent. The Company of the Hundred Asso- ciates had been found quite unequal to the work of settling and developing the country, or providing adequate means of defence. Under the advice of the great Colbert, the King, young Louis Quatorze, decided to assume the control of New France and make it a royal province. The immediate result of the new policy was the coming of the Marquis de Tracy, a veteran soldier, as lieutenant-general, with full powers to inquire into the state of Canada. He arrived at Quebec on the 30th June, 1665, attended by a brilliant retinue. The Carignan-Sali^res Regi- ment, which had distinguished itself against the Turks, was also sent as a proof of the intention of the King to defend his long-neglected colony. In a few weeks, more than two thousand persons, sol- diers and settlers, had come to Canada. Among RESCUE OF CANADA. 153 the number were M. de Courcelles, the first gover- nor, and M. Talon, the first intendant> under the new regime. Both were fond of state and ceremony, and the French taste of the Canadians was now gratified by a plentiful display of gold lace, ribbons, wigs, ornamented swords, and slouched hats. Prob- ably the most interesting feature of the immigration was the number of young women as, wives for the bachelors — as the future mothers of a Canadian people. The new authorit'es went energetically to work. The fortifications at Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal were strengthened, and four new forts erected from the mouth of the Richelieu to Isle La Mothe on Lake Champlain. The Iroquois saw the significance of this new condition of things. The Onondagas, leu by Garaconti6, a friend of the Jesu- its, made overtures of peace, which were favourably heard by " Onontio," as the governor of Canada had been called ever since the days of Montmagny, whose name, " Great Mountain," the Iroquois so translated. The Mohawks, the most dangerous tribe, sent no envoys, and Courcelles, in the inclement month of January, went into their country with a large force of regular soldiers and fur hunters, but missed the trail to their villages, and found himself at the Dutch settlements, where he learned, to his dismay, that the English had become the possessors of the New Netherlands. On its return, the expedi- tion suffered terribly from the severe cold, and lost a number of persons who were killed by the Indians, always hovering in the rear. The Mohawks then 154 THE STORY OF CANADA. W4 S- 5" . (' ' t '■i, . \ * i if thought it prudent to send a deputation to treat for peace, but the Marquis de Tracy and Governor de Courcelies were suspicious of their good faith, and sent a Jesuit priest to their country to ascertain the real sentiment of the tribe. He was recalled, while on the way, on account of the news that several French officers — one of them a relative of the lieutenant-general — had been murdered by the Mohawks. The lieutenant-general and governor at once organised a powerful expedition of the regular forces and Canadian inhabitants — some thirteen hundred in all — who left Quebec, with those two distinguished officers in command, on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, the 14th September, 1666, as every effort was made to give a religious aspect to an army, intended to avenge the death of martyred missionaries, as well as to afford Canada some guarantees of peace. It took the expedition nearly a month to reach the first village of the Mo- hawks, but only to find it deserted. It was the same result in three other villages visited by the French. The Mohawks had made preparations for defence, but their courage failed them as they heard of the formidable character of the force that had come into the country. They deserted their homes and great stores of provisions. Villages and provisions were burned, and the Iroquois saw only ashes when they returned after the departure of the French. It was a great blow to these formidable foes of the French. Peace was soon made between the Five Nations and the French. The Marquis de Tracy then returned to France, and for twenty years -■'- It THE IROQUOIS HUMBLED, 155 Canada had a respite from the raids which had so seriously disturbed her tranquillity, and was enabled at last to organise her new government, extend her settlements, and develop her strength for days of future trial. iif XI. CANADA AS A ROYAL rUOVINCK — CFIURCII AND STA'I'K. (1663-1759.) Wk have now conic to that period of Canadian history when tlie poHtical and social conditions of the people assumed those forms which they retained, with a few modifications from time to time, dun"ng the whole of the French regime. Four men now made a permanent impress on the struj^gling colony so lonj^ nejj^lected by the French Government. First, was the King, Louis Quatorze, then full of the arro- gance and confidence of a youthful prince, imbued with the most extravagant idea of his kingly at- tributes. By his side was the great successor of Mazarin, Jean Baptiste Colbert, whose knowledge of finance, earnest desire to foster the best resources of the kingdom, acknowledged rectitude, as well as admirable tact, gave him not only great influence in France, but enabled him to sway the mind of the autocratic king at most critical junctures. Happily for Colbert and Canada, Louis was a most industri- 156 CANADA AS A ROYAL Ph'OVINCE. 57 ous as well as pleasure-seeking sovereign, and studied the documents, which his various servants, from Colbert to the ir.tcndants in the colonies, sent him from time to time respecting their affairs. In Canada itself the great minister had the aid of the ablest intendant ever sent by the King to Can- ada. Thi'v was Jean Haptiste Talon, who was not inferior to Colbert for his knowledge of commerce and finance, and clearness of intellect. We see also in the picture of those times the j)iercing eyes and prominent nose of the ascetic face of the eminent divine who, even more than Colbert and Talon, has moulded the opinions of the Cana- dian people in certain important respects down to the present time. Monseigneut Laval was known in France as the Abb6 de Montigny, and when the Jesuits induced him to come to Canada he was ap- l)()inted grand vicar by the Pope, with the title of Bishop of Petrcea. Before the Canadian bishops and their agents in l'>ance decided on the Abbe de Montigny as a bishop they had made an experiment with the Abbe Queylus, one of the four Sulpician priests who came to Montreal in 1657, to look after the spiritual, and subsequently its temporal, interests. The Abb6 had been appointed vicar-general of Canada by the Archbishop of Rouen, who claimed a certain eccle- siastical jurisdiction in the country, and the Jesuits at Quebec were at first disposed to make him bishop had they found him sufficiently ductile. After some experience of his opinions and character, they came to the conclusion that he was not a friend of their 158 THE STORY OF CANADA. order, and used all their influence thenceforth to drive him from Canada. Then they chose the Abb^' de Monti{^ny, between whom and the Abbe Queylus there ensued a conflict of authority, which ended eventually in the defeat of the lattc, as well as of the Archbishop of Rouen. The Abbe, divested of his former dignity and pretensions, returned in later years to the island of Montreal, of which the Sulpi- cians had become the seigniorial proprietors, when the original company were too weak to carry out the objects of their formation. The same order remains in possession of their most valuable lands in the city and island, where their seminary for the education of priests and youth generally occupies a high position among the educational institutions of the province. Hishoj) Laval was endowed with an inflexible will, and eminently fitted to assert those ultramontane principles which would make all temporal power sub- ordinate to the Pope and his vicegerents on earth. His claim to take precedence even of the governor on certain public occasions indicates the extremes to which this resolute dignitary of the Church was prepared to go on behalf of its supremacy. No question can be raised as to Bishop Laval's charity and generosity. He accumulated no riches for himself — he si)ent nothing on the luxuries, hardly anything on the conveniences of life, but gave freely to the establishment of those famous seminaries at Quebec, which have been ever since identified with the religious and secular instruction of the French Canadians, and now form part of the noble university which bears his name. CANADA AS A ROYAL PKOVINCE. »59 With a man like Laval at the head of the Church in Canada at this early period, it necessarily exer- cised a powerful influence at the council board, and uries, , but imous since Liction f the ruklUAIl (>1- I.WAI., IIKM CANADIAN HISlIOl'. in the affairs of the country p^cnerally. If he was sometimes too arbitrary, too arrotvant in the asser- ti'>n of his ecclesiastical dignity, yet he was also rr^"^ i6o THE sroKY OF CAXADA. animated by very conscientious motives with respect to temporal questions. In the quarrel he had with the governor, Baron Dubois d'Avaugour, an old soldier, as to the sale of brandy to the Indians, he showed that his zeal in the discharge of what he believed to be a Christian and patriotic duty pre- dominated above all such mercenary and commercial considerations as animated the governor and officials, who believed that the trading interests of the coun- try were injured by prohibition. Laval saw that the very life-blood of the Indians was being poisoned by this traffic, and succeeded in obtaining the removal of D'Avaugour. But all the efforts of himself and his successor, Saint-Vallier, could not practically restrain the sale of spirituous liquors, as long as the fur-trade so largely depended on their consumption. At this time, and for a long time afterwards. Prot- estantism was unknown in Canada, for the King and Jesuits had decided to keep the colony entirely free from heresy. The French Protestants, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, gave to England anu the Netherlands the benefit of their great indus- try and manufacturing knowledge. Some of them even found their way to America, and stimulated the gathering strength of the southern colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas. The new regime under Colbert was essentially parental. All emigration was under the direction of the French authorities. Wives were sent by ship- loads for the settlers, newly-wedded couples received liberal presents suitable to their condition in a new country; early marriages and large families were CANADA AS A ROYAL P NOV IXC E. l6l ntially :ion of ship- ceived a new were encourai^a'd by bounties. Every possible care was taken by the officials and religious coni.nunities who had charge of such matters, that tlie women were of ^ood morals, and suitable for the struggles of a colonial existence. While State and Church were providing a popu- lation for the country, Colbert and Talon were devoting themselves to the encouragement of manu- factures and commerce. When the Company of the Hundred Associates, who appear to have been robbed by their agents in the colony, fell to pieces, they were replaced by a large organisation, known as the Company of the West, to which was given very important privileges throughout all the French colonies and dependencies. The company, how- ever, never prospered, and came to an end in 1674, after ten years' existence, during which it inflicted much injury on the countries where it was given so many privileges. The government hereafter con- trolled all commerce and finance. Various manufac- tures, Ijke shipbuilding, leather, hemp, and beer, were encouraged, but at no time did Canada show any manufacturing or commercial enterprise. Under the system of monopolies and bounties fostered by Colbert and his successors, a spirit of self-reliance was never stimulated. The whole system of govern- ment tended to peculation and jobbery — to the enrichment of worthless officials. The people were always extremely poor. Money was rarely seen in the shape of specie. The few coins that came to the colony soon found their way back to France, l^'rom 1685 down to 1759 the government issued a 1 62 THE STORY OF CANADA, paper currency, known as " card money," because common playing cards were used. This currency bore the crown and fleur-de-hs and signatures of officials, and gradually became depreciated and worthless. iS\a mm. CARD ISSUE OF I72g, FOR 12 LIVRES. While the townsfolk of Massachusetts were dis- cussing affairs in town-meetings, the French inhabi- tants of Canada were never allowed to take part in public assemblies but were taught to depend in the most trivial matters on a paternal government. Canada was governed as far as possible like a prov- ince of France. In the early days of the colony, when it was under the rule of the Company of the Hundred Associates, the governors practically exer- cised arbitrary power, with the assistance of a nomi- nal council chosen by themselves. When, however, C/IA'ADA AS A fiOYAL PROVINCE. 163 the Kin^ took the [government of the colony into his own hands, lu- appointed a governor, an intendant, and a supreme or — as it was subsequently called — a sovereign council, of which the bishop was a mem- ber, to administer under his own direction the affairs of the country. The governor, who was generally a soldier, was nominally at the head of affairs, and had the direction of the defences of the colony, but to all intents and purposes the intendant, who was a man of legal attainments, had the greater influence. He was the finance minister, and made FU'TEEN SOL PIECE. Special reports to the King on all Canadian matters. He had the power of issuing ordinances which had the effect of law, and showed the arbitrary nature of the government to which the people were subject. Every effort to assemble the people for public purposes was systematically crushed by the orders of the government. A public meeting of the parishioners to consider the cost of a new church could not be held without the special permission of the intendant. Count Frontenac, immediately after liis arrival, in 1672, attempted to assemble the different orders of the colony, the clergy, the noblesse 164 THE STORY OF CANADA. J* or seigneurs^ the judiciary, and the third estate, in imitation- of the old institutions of France. The French king promptly rebuked the haughty gover- nor for this attempt to establish a semblance of popular government. From that moment we hear no more of the assem- bling of " Canadian Estates," and an effort to elect a mayor and aldermen for Quebec also failed through the opposition of the authorities. An attempt was then made to elect a syndic — a representative of popular rights in towns — but M. de M^sy, then governor, could not obtain the consent of the bishop, who knew that his views were those of the King. The result of the difificultics that followed was the dismissal of the governor, who died soon afterwards, but not until he had confessed his error, and made his peace with the haughty bishop whom he had dared to oppose. The administration of local affairs throughout the province was exclusively under the control of the King's officers at Quebec. The ordinances of the intendant and of the council were the law. The country was eventually subdivided into the follow- ing divisions for purposes of government, settle- ment, and justice: I Districts. 2. Seigniories. 3. Parishes. The districts were simply established for judicial and legal purposes, and each of them bore the name of the principal town within its limits — viz., Quebec, also called the Pr^vot^ de Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. In each of these dis- tricts there was a judge, appointed by the king, to adjudicate on all civil and criminal matters. An appeal was allowed in the most trivial cases to the JH CANADA AS A KOVAL PROVINCE. 165 supreme or superior council, which also exercised original jurisdiction. The customary law of Paris, which is based on the civil law of Rome, was the fundamental law of Canada, and still governs the civil rights of the people. The greater part of Canada was divided into large estates or seigniories, with the view of creating a colonial noblesse, and of stimulating settlement in a wilderness. It was not necessary to be of noble birth to be a Canadian seigneur. Any trader with a few louis d'or and influence could obtain a patent for a Canadian lordship. The seignior on his acces- sion to his estate was required to pay homage to the King, or to his feudal superior in case the lands were granted by another than the King. The seign- ior received his land gratuitously from the crown, and granted them to his vassals, who were generally known as habitants, or cultivators of the soil, on condition of their making small annual payments in money or produce known as cens ct rente. The habitant was obliged to grind his corn at the seign- ior's mill (moulin banal), bake his bread in the seign- ior's oven, give his lord a tithe of the fish caught in his waters, and comply with other conditions at no time onerous or strictly enforced in the days of the French regime. This system had some advantages in a new country like Canada, where the govern- ment managed everything, and colonisation was not left to chance. The seignior was obliged to culti- vate his estate at a risk of forfeiture, consequently it was absolutely necessary that he should exert him- self to bring settlers upon his lands. The obligation of the habitant to grind his corn in the seignior's HBUHH i66 THE STORY OF CANADA. mill was clearly an advantage for the settlers. In the early days of the colony, however, the seigniors were generally too poor to fulfil this condition, and the habitants had to grind corn between stones, or in rude h\nd mills. The seigniors had the right of dispensing justice in certain cases, though it was one he very rarely exercised. As respects civil affairs, however, both lord and vassal were to all intents and purposes on the same footing, for they were equally ignored in matters of government. In the days of the French regime, the only towns for many years were Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. In remote and exposed places — like those on the Richelieu, where of^cers and soldiers of the Carignan-Salieres Regiment had been induced to settle — palisaded villages had been built. The principal settlements were, in course of time, estab- lished on the banks of the St. Lawrence, as affording in those days the easiest means of intercommunica- tion. As the lots of a seigniorial grant were limited in area — four arpents in front by forty in depth — the farms in the course of time assumed the appear- ance of a continuous settlement on the river. These various settlements became known in local phrase- ology as CSteSy apparently from their natural situa- tion on the banks of the river. This is the origin of Cote des Neiges, Cote St. Louis, Cote St. Paul, and of many picturesque villages in the neighbourhood of Montreal and Quebec. As the country became settled, parishes were established for ecclesiastical purposes and the administration of local affairs. Here the influential men were the cure, the seignior, and the captain of the militia. The seignior, from CANADA AS A HOYAL PROVINCE. 167 irase- iitua- jin of L and rhood Icame istical Fairs, jnior. from his social position, exercised a considerable weight in the community, but not to the degree that the representative of the Church enjoyed. The church in the parishes was kept up by tithes, regulated by ordinances, and first imposed by Bishop Laval for the support of the Quebec Seminary and the clergy. Next to the cure in importance was the captain of the militia. The whole province was formed into a militia district, so that, in times of war, the inhabi- tants might be obliged to perform military service under the French governor. In times of peace these militia offtcers in the parishes executed the orders of the governor and intendant in all matters affecting the King. In case it was considered necessary to. build a church or presbytery, the intendant author- ised the habitants to assemble for the purpose of choosing from among themselves four persons to make, with the cure, the seignior, and the captain of the militia, an estimate of the expense of the structure. It was the special care of the captain of the militia to look after the work, and see that each parishioner did his full share. It was only in church matters, in fact, that the people of a parish had a voice, and even in these, as we see, they did not take the initiative. The Quebec authorities must in all such cases first issue an ordinance. Under these circumstances it is quite intelligible that the people of Canada were obliged to seek iw the clearing of the forest, in the cultivation of the field, in the chase, and in adventure, the means of livelihood, and hardly ever busied themselves about public matters in which they were not allowed to take even a humble part. XII. THE PI:RI0D ok exploration and DISCOVERY: PRIESTS, FUR-TRADERS, AND COUREURS DE BOIS IN THE WEST. (1634-1687.) We have now come to that interesting period in the history of Canada, when the enterprise and cour- age of French adventurers gave France a claim to an immense domain, stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence indefinitely beyond the Great Lakes, and from the basin of those island seas as far as the Gulf of Mexico. The eminent intendant, Talon, appears to have immediately understood the im- portance of the discovery which had been made by the interpreter and trader, Jean Nicolet, of Three Rivers, who, before the death of Champlain, prob- ably in 1634, ventured into the region of the lakes, and heard of " a great water " — no doubt the Mis- sissippi — while among the Mascoutins, a branch of the Algonquin stock, whose villages were generally found in the valley of the Fox River. He is con- sidered to have been the first European who. reached Sault Ste. Marie — the strait between Superior and 168 EXPLOKATION AND DISCOVERY. 169 Huron — though there is no evidence that he ven- tured beyond the rapids, and saw the great expanse of lake which had been, in all probability, visited some years before by Etienne Brule, after his escape from the Iroquois. Nicolet also was the first Frenchman who passed through the straits of Macki- nac or Michillimackinac, though he did not realise the importance of its situation in relation to the lakes of the western country. It is told of him that he made his appearance among the Winnebagr)s in a robe of brilliant China damask, decorated with flowers and birds of varied colours, and holding a pistol in each hand. This theatrical display in the western forest is adduced as evidence of his belief in the story that he had heard among the Nipis- sings, at the head-waters of the Ottawa, that there were tribes in the west, without hair and beards, like the Chinese. No doubt, he thought he was coming to a country where, at last, he would find that short route to the Chinese seas which had been the drearn of many Frenchmen since the days of Cartier. We have no answer to give to the ques- tion that naturally suggests itself, whether Cham- j)lain ever saw Nicolet on his return, and heard from him the interesting story of his adventures. It was not until 1641, or five years after Champlain's death, that Father Vimont gave to the world an account of Nicolet's journey, which, no doubt, stimulated the interest that was felt in the mysterious region of the west. From year to year the Jesuit and the trader added something to the geographical knowledge of the western lakes, where the secret was soon to be I/O THE STORY OF CANADA. unlocked by means of the rivers which fed those remarkable reservoirs of the continent. In 1641 Fathers Raymbault and Jogues preached their Faith to a large concourse of Indians at the Sault between Huron and Superior, where, for the first time, they heard of the Sioux or Dacotah, those vagrants of the northwest, and where the former died without realising the hope he had cherished, of reaching China across the western wilderness. Then came those years of terror, when trade and enterprise were paralysed by those raids of the Iroquois, which cul- minated in the dispersion of the Hurons. For years the Ottawa valley was almost deserted, and very few traders or coiireurs dc bois ventured into the country around the western lakes. An enterprising trader of Three Rivers, Medard Chouart, Sieur de Grosseil- liers, is believed to have reached the shores of Lake Superior in 1658, and also to have visited La Pointe, now Ashland, at its western extremity, in the sum- mer of 1659, in company with Pierre d' Esprit, Sieur Radisson, whose sister he had married. Some critical historians do not altogether discredit the assumption that these two venturesome traders ascended the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and even reached the Mississippi, twelve years before JoUiet and Marquette. With the peace that followed the destruction of the Mohawk villages by Tracy and Courcelles, and the influx of a considerable population into Canada, the conditions became more favourable for explora- tion and the fur trade. The tame and steady life of the farm had little charm for many restless spirits, EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY, 171 who had fought for France in the Carignan Regi- ment. Not a few of them followed the roving Cana- dian youth into the forest, where they had learned to love the free life of the Indians. The priest, the gcntilhojuine, and the courcur de bois, each in his way, became explorers of the western wilderness. From the moment the French landed on the shores of Canada, they seemed to enter into the spirit of forest life. Men of noble birth and courtly associations adapted themselves immediately to the customs of the Indians, and found that charm in the forest and river which seemed wanting in the tamer life of the towns and settlements. The English col- onisers of New England were never able to win the affections of the Indian tribes, and adapt themselves so readily to the habits of forest life as the French Canadian adventurer. A very remarkable instance of the infatuation which led away so many young men into the forest, is to be found in the life of Haron de Saint-Castin, a native of the romantic Bernese country, who came to Canada with the Carignan Regiment during 1665, and established himself for a time on the Richelieu. But he soon became tired of his inactive life, and leaving his Canadian home, settled on a peninsula of Penobscot Bay (then Pentagoet), which still bears his name. Here he fraternised with the Abenaquis, and led the life of a forest chief, whose name was long the terror 01 the New England settlers. He married the daughter of Madocawando, the impla- cable enemy of the English, and so influential did he become that, at his summons, all the tribes on 172 TIIR STORY OF CANADA. the frontier between Acadia and New England would proceed on the warpath. He amassed a for- tune of three hundred thousand crowns in " good dry gold," but we are told he only used the greater part of it to buy presents for his Indian followers, who paid him back in beaver skins. His life at Pcn- tagoet, for years, was very active and adventurous, as the annals of New England show. In 1781 he returned to France, where he had an estate, and thenceforth disappeared from history. His son, by his Abenaqui Baroness, then took command of his fort and savage retainers, and after assisting in the defence of Port Royal, and making more than one onslaught on the English settlers of Massachusetts, he returned to Europe on the death of his father. The poet Longfellow has made use of this romantic episode in the early life of the Acadian settlements: " The warm winds blow on the hills of Spain, The birds are ])uilding and the leaves are green, The Haron Castiiie, of St. Castine, Hath come at last to his own again." Year after year saw the settlements almost de- nuded of their young men, who had been lured away by the fascinations of the fur trade in the forest fastnesses of the west. The government found all their plans for increasing the population and colonis- ing the country thwarted by the nomadic habits of a restless youth. The young man, whether son of the gcntilhomme, or of the humble Jiabitant^ was car- ried away by his love for forest life, and no enact- ments, however severe — not even the penalty of CANADIAN TRAPPER, I'ROM I.A I'OTIIKRIE. 173 wr^ \r 174 r//£ STORY OF CANADA. death — had the effect of restraining his restlessness. That the majority of the courcurs de bois were a reckless, dare-devil set of fellows, it is needless to say. On their return from their forest haunts, after months of savage liberty, they too often threw off all restraint, and indulged in the most furious orgies. Montreal was their favourite place of resort, for here were held the great fairs for the sale of furs. The Ottawas, Hurons, and other tribes came from dis- tant parts of the North and West, and camped on the shores in the immediate vicinity of the town. When the fair was in full operation, a scene was represented well worthy of the bold brush of a Dord'. The royal mountain, then as now, formed a back- ground of rare sylvan beauty. The old town was huddled together on the low lands near the river, and was for years a mere collection of low wooden houses and churches, all surrounded by palisades. On the fair ground were to be seen Indians tricked out in their savage finery ; courcurs dc bois in equally gorgeous apparel ; black-robed priests and busy mer- chants from all the towns, intent on wheedling the Indians and bush rangers out of their choicest furs. The principal rendezvous in the west was Macki- nac or Michillimackinac. Few places possessed a more interesting history than this :>ld headquarters of the Indian tribes and French voyageurs. Macki- nac may be considered, in some respects, the key of the upper lakes. Here the tribes from the north to the south could assemble at a very short notice and decide on questions of trade or war. It was long the metropolis of a large portion of the Huron EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY. 175 and Ottawa nations, and many a council, fraught with the peace of Canada, was held there in the olden times. It was on the north side of the straits that Father Marquette — whose name must ever live in the west — some time in 167 1 founded the mission of St. Ignace, where gradually grew up the most important settlement which the French had to the northwest of Fort Frontenac or Cataraqui. The French built a chapel and fort, and the Hurons and Ottawas lived in palisaded villages in the neighbour- hood. The coureurs dc bois were always to be seen at a point where they could be sure to find Indians in large numbers. Contemporary writers state that the presence of so many unruly elements at this dis- tant outpost frequently threw the whole settlement into a sad state of confusion and excitement, which the priests were at times entirely unable to restrain. Indians, soldiers, and traders became at last so demoralised, that one of the priests wrote, in his despair, that there seemed no course open except " deserting the missions and giving them up to the brandy-sellers as a domain of drunkenness and debauchery." But it would be a mistake to judge all the cotireurs dc bois by the behaviour of a majority, who were made up necessarily from the ruder elements of the Canadian population. Even tlie most reckless of their class had their work to do in the opening up of this continent. Despising danger in every form, they wandered over rivers and lakes and through virgin forests, and " blazed " a track, as it were, for the future pioneer. They were the first to lift the r 176 THE STORY OF CANADA. H veil of mystery that hung, until they came, on many a solitary river and forest. The posts they raised by the side of the western lakes and rivers, were so many videttes of that army of colonisers who have built up great commonwealths in that vast country, where the bushranger was the only European two centuries ago. The most famous amongst their leaders was the quick-witted Nicholas Perrot — the explorer of the interior of the continent. Another was Daniel Greysolon Duluth, who became a Cana- dian Robin Hood, and had his band of bushrangers like any forest chieftain. For years he wandered through the forests of the West, and founded vari- ous posts at important points, where the fur trade could be prosecuted to advantage. Posterity has been more generous to him than it has been to others equally famous as pioneers, for it has given his name to a city at the head of Lake Superior. Like many a forest which they first saw in its prime- val vastness, these pioneers have disappeared into the shadowy domain of an almost forgotten past, and their memory is only recalled as we pass by some storm-beat cape, or land-locked bay, or silent nver, to which may still cling the names they gave as they swept along in the days of the old regime. XIII. THE PERIOD OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY KRANCE IN THE VAI VKY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. (1672-1687.) Sault Ste. Marie was the scene of a memorable episode in the history of New France during the summer of 167 1. Simon PVan^ois Daumont, Sieur St. Lusson, received a commission from the gov- ernment of Quebec to proceed to Lake Superior to search for copper mines, and also to take formal pos- session of the basin of the lakes and its tributary- rivers. With him were two men, who became more famous than himself — Nicholas Perrot and Louis Jol- lict, the noted explorers and rangers of the West. On ;in elevation overlooking the rapids, around which iiKxlern enterprise has built two ship-canals, St. Lus- son erected a cross and post of cedar, with the arms of France, in the presence of priests in their black robes, Indians bedecked with tawdry finery, and bush- rangers in motley dress. In the name of the " most liigh, mighty, and redoubted monarch, Louis XIV. of that name, most Christian King of France and of 13 X77 178 THE STORY OF CANADA. Navarre," he declared France the owner of Sault Ste. Marie, Lakes Huron and Superior, and Isle of Mackinac, and " all of adjacent countries, rivers, and lakes, and contiguous streams." As far as boastful words and priestly blessings could go, France was mistress of an empire in the great West. Three names stand out in bold letters on the rec- ords of western discovery: Jolliet, the enterprising trader, Marquette, the faithful missionary, and La Salle, the bold explorer. The story of their adven- tures takes up many pages in the histories of this fascinating epoch. Talon may be fairly considered to have laid the foundations of western exploration, and it was left for Louis de Baude, Comte de Fron- tenac, who succeeded Courcelles as governor in 1672, to carry out the plans of the able intendant when he left the St. Lawrence. Jolliet, a Canadian by birth, was wisely chosen by Talon — and Frontenac approved of the choice — to explore the West and find the " great water," of which vague stories were constantly brought back by traders and bushrangers. Jolliet was one of the best specimens of a trader and pioneer that Cana- dian history gives us. His roving inclinations were qualified by a cool, collected brain, which carried him safely through many a perilous adventure. Hf had for his companion Father Marquette, who was then stationed at the mission of St. Ignace, and had gathered from the Indians at his western missions — especially at La Pointe on Lake Superior — valuable information respecting the "great water" then FRANCE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 1 79 called the " Missipi." Both had many sympathies in common. Jolliet had been educated by the Jesu- its in Canada, but unlike La Salle, he was in full accord with their objects. Marquette possessed those qualities of self-sacrifice and religious devotion which entitle him to rank with Lalemant, Jogues, and Brebeuf. While Jolliet was inspired by purely ambitious and trading instincts, the missionary had no other hope or desire than to bring a great region and its savage communities under the benign influ- ence of the divine being whose heavenly face seemed ever present, encouraging him to fresh efforts in her service. It was in the spring of 1673 that these two men started with five companions in two canoes on their journey through that wilderness, which stretched beyond Green Bay — an English corrup- tion of Grande Bale. Like Nicolet, they ascended the Fox River to the country of the Mascoutins, Foxes, and Kickapoos, where they obtained guides to lead them across the portage to the Wisconsin. The adventurers had now reached the low "divide " between the valleys of the Lakes and the Mississippi. The Fox River and its affluents flowed tranquilly to the great reservoirs of the St. Lawrence, while the Wisconsin, on which they now launched their canoes, carried them to a mighty river, which ended they knew not where. A month after leaving St. Ignace they found themselves " with a great and inexpressible joy " — to quote Marquette's words — on the rapid current of a river which they recognised as the Missipi. As they proceeded they saw the low-lying natural meadows and prairies where herds i8o THE STORY OF CANADA. of buffalo were grazing, marshes with a luxuriant growth of wild rice, the ruined castles which nature had in the course of many centuries formed out of the rocks of the western shores, and the hideous manitous which Indian ingenuity had pictured on the time-worn cliffs. They had pleasant interviews with the Indians that were hunting the roebuck and buffalo in this land of rich grasses. Their canoes struggled through the muddy current, which the Missouri gave as its tribute to the Missipi, passed the low marshy shores of the Ohio, and at last came near the mouth of the Arkansas, where they landed at an Indian village which the natives called Akamsea. Here they gathered sufficient informa- tion to enable them to form the conclusion that the great river before their eyes found its way, not to the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, but to the Gulf of Mexico. Then they decided not to pursue their expeditions further at that time, but to return home and relate the story of their discovery. When they came to the mouth of the Illinois River, they took that route in preference to the one by which they had come, followed the Des Plaines River, — where a hill still bears Jolliet's name — crossed the Chicago portage, and at last found themselves at the south- ern extremity of Lake Michigan. It was then the end of September, and Jolliet did not reach Canada until the following summer. When nearly at his journey's end. Fate dealt him a cruel blow, his canoe was capsized after running the Lachine Rapids just above Montreal, and he lost all the original notes of his journey. Frontenac, however, received from 1-; FRANCE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, l8l him a full account of his explorations, and sent it to France. Two centuries later than this memorable voyage of JoUiet, a French Canadian poet-laureate described it in verse fully worthy of the subject, as the follow- ing passage and equally spirited translation * go to show: LA DECOUVERTE MISSISSIPPI. DU Jolliet . . . Jolliet . . . quel spectacle feerique Dut frapper ton regard, quand ta nef historique andit sur les flots d'or du grand fleuve inconnu . . . Quel eclair triomphant, a cet in- stant de fievre, Dut resplendir sur ton front nu ? . . . THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. O, Jolliet, what splendid faery dream Met thy regard, when on that mighty stream. Bursting upon its lonely unknown flow. Thy keel historic cleft its golden tide:— Blossomed thy lip with what stern smile of pride? What conquering light shone on thy lofty brow ? Le voyez-vous 14-bas, debout comma un prophete, L'ceil tout illumine d'audace satisfaite. La main tendue au loin vers rOccident bronze. Prendre possession de ce domaine immense, Au nom du Dieu vivant, au nom roi de France, Et du monde civilise ? . . . Behold him there, a prophet, lifted high. Heart-satisfied, with bold, illu- mined eye. His hand outstretched toward the sunset furled, Taking possession of this domain immense. In the name of the living God, in the name of the King of France, And the mighty modern world. Puis, berce par la houle, et berce par ses reves, L'oreille ouverte aux bruits har- monieux des graves, Rocked by the tides, wrapt in his glorious moods. Breathing perfumes of lofty odor- ous woods, * Mr. W. Wilfrid Campbell, F.R.S.C, a well-known English- Canadian poet, has translated for " The Story of Canada " these verses of his French contemporary Fr^ghett?, l82 THE STORY OF CANADA. Humant I'acre parfum des grands hois odorants, Rasant les ilots verts et les dunes d'opale, De meandre en meandre, au fd I'onde pale, Suivre le cours des flots errants. A son aspect, dii sein des flottaii- tes ramures, Montait comme un concert de chants et de murmures ; Des vols d'oiseaux marins s'ele- vaient des roseaux, Et, pour montrer la route a la pirogue frele, S'enfuyaient eu avant, trainant leur ombre grele Dans le pli lumineux des eaux. Et, pendant qu'il allait voguant a la derive, On aurait dit qu'au loin, les arbres de la rive, En arceaux parfumes penches sur son chemin, Saluaient le hero.s dont I'ener- gique audace Venait d'inscrire encor le nom de not re race Aux fastes de I'esprit humain. Ears opened to the shores* har- monious tunes, Following in their dreams and voices mellow, To wander and wander in the thread of the pale billow. Past islands hushed and opales- cent dunes. Lo, as he comes, from out the waving boughs, A rising concert of murmurous song upflows, Of winging sea-fowl lifting from the reeds ; Pointing the route to his swift dripping blade, Then skimming before, tracing their slender shade In iuiiiinous foldings of the watery meads. And as he journeys, drifting with its flow. The forests lifting their glad roofs aglow, In perfumed arches o'er his keel's swift swell, Salute the hero, whose undaunted soul Had graved anew "LaFrance" on that proud scroll Of human genius, bright, im- perishable. Jolliet's companion, the Jesuit missionary, never realised his dream of many years of usefulness in new missions among the tribes of the immense region claimed by France. In the spring of 1675 he died by the side of a little stream which finds its outlet on the western shore of Lake Michigan, soon after his return from a painful journey he had taken, while in a feeble state of health, to the Indian com- munities of Kaskaskia between the Illinois and FRANCE m THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 183 Wabash rivers. A few months later his remains were removed by some Ottawas, who knew and loved him well, and carried to St. Ignace, where they were buried beneath the little mission chapel. His memory has been perpetuated in the nomencla- ture of the western region, and his statue stands in the rotunda of that marble capitol which represents, not the power and greatness of that France which he loved only less than his Church, but the national development of those English colonies which, in his time, were only a narrow fringe on the Atlantic coast, separated from the great West by mountain ranges which none of the most venturesome of their people had yet dared to cross. The work that was commenced by Jolliet and Marquette, of solving the mystery that had so long surrounded the Mississippi, was completed by R^n6 Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, a native of Rouen, who came to Canada when quite a young man, and obtained a grant of land from the Sulpi- cian proprietors of Montreal at the head of the rapids, then known as St. Louis. Like so many Canadians of those days he was soon carried away by a spirit of adventure. He had heard of the " great water" in the west, which he believed, in common with others, might lead to the Gulf of California. In the summer of 1669 he accompanied two Sulpician l)riests, of Montreal, Dollier de Casson and Gallinee, on an expedition they made, under the authority of Governor Courcelles, to the extreme western end of Ontario, where he met Jolliet, apparently for the first time, and probably had many conversations i84 THE STORY OF CANADA. with him respecting the west and south, and their unknown rivers. He decided to leave the party and attempt an exploration by a southerly route, while the priests went on to the upper lakes as far as the Sault. Of La Salle's movements for the next two years we are largely in the dark— in some respects entirely so. It has been claimed by some that he first discovered the Ohio, and even reached the Mississippi, but so careful an historian as Justin Winsor agrees with Shea's conclusion that La Salle " reached the Illinois or some other affluent of the Mississippi, but made no report and made no claim, having failed to reach the great river." It was on his return from these mysterious wanderings, that his seigniory is said to have received the name of La Chine as a derisive comment on his failure to find a road to China. In the course of years the name was very commonly given, not only to the lake but to the rapids of St. Louis. We now come to sure ground when we follow La Salle's later explorations, on which his fame entirely rests. Frontenac entered heartily into his plans of following the Mississippi to its mouth, and setting at rest the doubts that existed as to its course. He received from the King a grant of Fort Frontenac and its surrounding lands as a seigniory. This fort had been built by the governor in 1673 at Cataraqui, now Kingston, as an advanced trading and defensive ,'ost on Lake Ontario. La Salle considered it a "; ^^t advantageous position for carrying on his am- iV;•. ..'W)~^ ' -«^? i;;; cwi;. t&W ■.««(» .-a "Ss®: •4. -^** '^%. -/fc^ .^3f _* ^ * ^7r ^aawi' - „mji.^ * «^fe- ^ lUets' Parish Church. 5. The 6. Rc^y 7. G - '^w^'l'-'^^T •*^',^V»,i>'h •..'-,• ■'■ ' ,JS™s Vy i^ *-*i'«feV'1*'iS^>:, "v^ikk 1 v*^* ''-«►.. * »-• - . 'wou^-iiir;i?^ i;,-r«~- ^ * ^ .> ■»-, ■< -i-- ; f-g^^ — « ^;^^-~r.--w,— .... f:^^^^ ^^arr' .^*f :i? IN 1731. — From a Sketch in the Paris Archives. 9. Billiard Rooms. 10. Dauphin Bastion and Battery. 11. Dauphin Gate. 12. Suburb near Dauphin Gate. 13. Battery on Islet at Entrance. 14. Lighthouse. 15. itochefort Point. 16. Pond. \ Entrance. 17. Fish Stages. 18. Quay. 19. Black Point. ^ la.; ACAD/ A AND ILE ROY ALE. 211 construction of the fortifications of Louisbourg, which eventuall)' cost her over ten milhon dollars of modern money, and even then, they were never completed in accordance with the original design, on account of the enormous expense which far exceeded the original estimates. The fortifications were built on an oblong neck of land on the southern shore of the port, which lies only two leagues from that fa- mous cape from which the island takes its name. The fortress occupied an area of over one hundred acres, and was planned on the best system of Vauban and other great masters of engineering skill, who in- tended it should be, as indeed it was, despite some faulty details of construction, the most complete example of a strongly fortified city in America. The harbour was also defended by batteries on an island ai: the entrance, and at other important points, while there were fortified works and small garrisons at tort Toulouse (St. Peter's) and Port Dauphin (St. A.ine's). The government of the island was modelled OM that of Canada, to which it was subordinate, and the governor was generally a military man. During the years the fortress was in possession of the French, there were probably, on an average, nearly two thousand people living in the town and vicinity, but this number was increased in the time of war by the inhabitants of the adjacent ports and bays. During the thirty years that elapsed between the Treaty of Utrecht and the breaking out of war be- tween France and Great Britain, the people of New England found that the merely nominal possession of Acadia by the English was of little security to ^w 212 r//E STOHY OF CANADA. them, while the Frencli still held the island of Cape Breton and had the fealty of the Indians and Aca- dians, who were looking forward to the restoration of the country to its former owners. England sys- tematically nej^lected Nova Scotia, where, until the foundation of Halifax, her only sign of sovereignty was the dilapidated fort at Annai)olis, with an insig- nificant garrison, utterly unable to awe the Acadian French, and bring them completely under the au- thority of the British Crown. French emissaries, chiefly priests, — notably the treacherous Le Loutre ■ — were constantly at work among the Acadians, Micmacs, and Abenakis, telling them that France would soon regain her dominion in Acadia. For years the Abenakis tomahawked the helpless English colonists that had made their homes in the present State of Maine, in the vicinity of the Kennebec and the Penobscot. The insidious policy of Vaudreuil and other governors of Canada, acting under instruc- tions from France, was to keep alive the hostility of the Abenakis so as to prevent the settlement of that region known as Northern New England, one of whose rivers, the Kennebec, gave easy access to the St. Lawrence near Quebec. From Annapolis to < ^anseau the Micmacs destroyed life and property, and kept the English posts in constant fear. New England took a signal revenge at last on the cruel and treacherous Abenakis, and inflicted them a blow from which they never recovered, u Norridgewock perished the famous missionary, Se- bastian Rale, beneath whose black robe beat the heart of a dauntless soldier, whose highest aspira- I ACADfA AND ILE ROY ALE, 213 [ of Cape ind Aca- storation ;land sys- until the verci^nty \ an insi^- i Acadian -r the au- :nnissarics, Le Loutre Acadians, at France dia. For :ss English he present nebec and Vaudreuil or instruc- lostility of -nt of that d, one of :ess to the napolis to property, ^r. ast on the flicted ered. i nary, Se- beat the St aspira- tions were to establish his creed and promote the ambitious designs of France in Acadia. A peace was made in 1726 between the colonists and the Abenakis, but New ICngland felt she had no efficient security for its continuance while Acailian and Indian could see in the great fortress of Cape J^reton powerful evidence that l^Vance was not yet willing to give up the contest for dominion iti Acadia. Northern New Kngland became now of relatively little importance in view of the obvious designs of France to regain Nova Scotia. We have now come to an important period in the history of America as well as of Europe. In 1739 Walpole was forced to go to war with Spain, at the dictation of the commercial classes, who wished to obtain control of the Spanish Main. Then followed the War of the Austrian Succession, in which France broke her solemn pledge to Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, that she would support his daughter, Maria Tlieresa, in her rights to reign over his hered- itary dominions. But when the Emperor was dead, France and other Powers proceeded to promote their own ambitious and selfish designs. France wished to possess the rich Netherlands, and Spain, Milan ; Frederick of Prussia had no higher desire than lo seize Silesia, and to drive Austria from Ger- many. Bavaria claimed the Austrian duchy of Boheiiua. Maria Theresa was to have only Hun- gary and the duchy of Austria. The King of Eng- land was jealous of Prussia, and thought more of his Hanoverian throne than of his English crown. It became the interest of England to assist Austria and m. 214 r//£ STORY OF CANADA. prevent the success of France, now the ally of Spain, forced to defend her colonial possessions in America. The complications in Europe at last compelled France and England to fight at Dettingen in 1743, and George II. won a doubtful victory, but war was not actually declared between these two nations until some months later. England had no reason to con- gratulate herself on the results, either in Europe or America. Her fleet met only with disaster, and her commerce was destroyed on the Spanish Main. Four years later she won a victory over the Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean, but hardly had her peo- ple ceased celebrating the event, than they heard that the combined forces of Hanover, Holland, and England, under the Duke of Cumberland, had been badly beaten by Marshal Saxe at Fontenoy. It was at this time, when the prospects of Eng- land were so gloomy on the continent of Europe, that Englishmen heard, with surprise and gratifica- tion, that the strong fortress of Louisbourg in French America had surr ddered to the audacious attack of four thousand colonists of New England. A combination of events had aided the success of the brave enterprise. The news of the declaration of war reached Louisbourg at least two months before it was known in Boston, and the French Gov- ernor, M. Duquesnel, immediately sent out expedi- tions to capture the English posts in Nova Scotia. Canseau, at the entrance of the strait of that name, was easily taken, and the garrison carried to Louis- bourg, but Annapolis Royal was successfully de- fended by Colonel JMascarene, then governor of ACADIA AND ILE ROY ALE. 215 Nova Scotia. All these events had their direct influence on the expedition which New England sent in the spring of 1745 against Louisbourg. The prisoners who had been captured at Canseau had remained until the autumn in Louisbourg, and the accounts they brought back of its condition gave Shirley and others reason to believe that if an expe- dition was, without loss of time, sent against it, there would be a fair chance of success. Not only did they learn that the garrison was small, but that it was discontented, and a mutiny had actually broken out on account of the soldiers not having received the usual additions to their regular pay for work on the fortifications. The ramparts were stated to be defective in more than one place, while gales and other causes had delayed the arrival of the ships which arrived every year with provisions and reinforcements. These facts gave additional confi- dence to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, William Vaughan of New Hampshire, and many iiifluential men who had already conceived the idea of striking a blow at the French which would give the English control of the whole coast from Cape Sable to the entrance of the St. Lawrence. The expedition against Louisbourg consisted of over four thousand men, of whom Massachusetts, which then nicluded the present Mate of Maine, contributed nearly one-third. Colonel Pepperrell of Kittery on the Piscataqua, who had command, with the title of lieutenant-general, was a man of wealth and influence, though without any military experience. Hi^ excellent judgment and undaunted 2l6 THE STORY OF CANADA. courage, however, contributed largely to the success of this bold venture. Captain Edward Tyng, a capable colonial sailor, was the commodore of the little fleet of thirteen vessels, carrying in all about two hundred guns. The Puritan spirit of New Eng- land had much influence in organising an expedi- tion, and whose flag had a motto suggested by the Methodist revivalist, Whitfield: ^'^ Nil dcsperandiim Christo duccS' The story of the success of the New England troops, in conjunction with the small English fleet, under the command of Commodore Warren, has been often told, and we need not dwell on its details. M. Duchambon was at the time gov- ernor of Louisbourg, and maintained the defence for nearly forty days. The capitulation of the fortress was hastened by the fact that the English fleet cap- tured the French frigate Vigilante, on whose arrival the garrison had been depending for weeks. On the afternoon of June 17th, General Peppcrrell marched at the head of his army through the West or Dauphin gate into the town, and received the keys from the commandant, who, with his garrison drawn up in line, received him in the King's bastion. One hundred and fifty years later a granite column was raised on the same historic ground in honour of this famous victory, which caused such rejoicings throughout England and America. By the articles of capitulation, the garrison and residents of Louisbourg, probably two thousand per- sons in all, were transported to France. The set- tlement of Port Toulouse and Port Dauphin had been captured, the first before, and the other during ACADIA AND ILE ROYALS. 217 the siege. The leader of the New England expedi- tion was rewarded with a baronetcy, the first dis- tinction of the kind ever given to r colonist, while Warren was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue. If the English Government had fully understood the necessities of their American colonies, they would have immediately followed the advice of Governor Shirley, who was a man of statesmanlike views and bold conception, though he possessed no capacity as a leader of military operations, as his later career in America proved. He suggested that an expedition should attack Montreal by the usual route of Lake Champlain, while an English fleet ascended the St. Lawrence and besieged Quebec. All the colonies set to work with considerable energy to carry out this scheme, but it came to nought, in consequence of the failure of the Duke of New- castle, the most incapable statesman ever at the head of imperial affairs, to redeem his promise. It was then proposed to attack Fort Frederick at Crown Point, on the western side of Lake Cham- plain, where it contracts to a na'-'-ow river, but its progress was arrested by the starthiig news that the French were sending out a fleet to take Cape Breton and Acadia, and attack Boston and other places on the Atlantic sea-board. France had heard with dismay of the loss of Cape Breton, which she recognised as a key to the St. Lawrence, and made two efforts to recover it before the war closed in 1748. One of the noblest fleets that ever sailed from the shores of France left Ro- St H I 2l8 THE STORY OF CANADA. chelle in 1746 for Cape Breton, under the command of M. de la Rochefoucauld, the Duke d'Anville, an able, sensitive man, who, however, had had no naval experience. Storm and pestilence attacked the fleet, which found a refuge in the harbour of Chebouctou, afterwards Halifax, where the unfor- tunate Admiral died from an apopleptic seizure. His successor, M. d'Estournelle, committed suicide in a fit of despondency caused by the responsibility thrown upon him, when men were dying by hun- dreds every day on those lonely Acadian shores. The French lost between two and three thousand men by disease or casualties, and the remnant of the great fleet, which was to have restored the for- tunes of France in America, returned home under the command of M. de la Jonquiere without having even attempted to capture the half-ruined fort at Annapolis. Another fleet in 1747, under M, de St. George and the Marquis de la Jonquiere, the latter of whom became subsequently Governor of Canada, never reached its destination, but was defeated off Cape Finisterre by a more powerful fleet under Ad- mirals Anson and Warren. The Canadian Government, of which the Marquis de Beauharnois was then the head, had confidently expected to regain Acadia, when they heard of the arrival of the Duke d'Anville's fleet, and immedi- ately sent M. de Ramesay to excite the Acadians, now very numerous — probably ten thousand alto- gether — to rise in arms against the few Englishmen at Port Royal. He had with him a considerable force of Indians and Canadians, among the latter ACADIA AND ILE ROYALE. 219 such distinguished men as Bcaujeu, Saint-Ours, Boishebert, Lanaudicre, but the news of the disas- ters that had crippled the fleet, forced him to give up his plan of attacking AnnapoHs, and to withdraw to the isthmus of Chignecto, where he built a small fcit at Baic Verte. In the following year, 1747, he succeeded in surprising and capturing Colonel Arthur Noble and a considerable force of New England troops who had taken possession of the houses of the Acadian French at Grand Pre, one of the most fertile and beautiful districts of the province, after- wards still more famous in poetry and history. This exploit, however, did not materially change the aspect of things in Acadia, where the French Acadians had entirely disappointed the hopes of Ramesay and his government. Had they been as active or enterprising as their compatriots on the banks of the St. Lawrence, they might easily, at that time, have won back Acadia for France. As it was, however, Ramesay was not able to gain a firm foothold beyond the isthmus. Even the success he won was neutralised by the activity of Governor Shirley, who was ever alive to the importance of Nova Scotia, and immediately sent another force to occupy the meadows of Grand Pre. In 1748 English diplomacy, careless of colonial interests, restored the island of Cape Breton to France by the Treaty of Aix-la-Cliapellc, in return for the commercial post of Madras, which had been taken by the French in the East Indies where Eng- land and France were now rivak for the supremacy. It was the persistency of the French to regain pos- 220 THE STORY OF CANADA, session of so valuable a bulwark to their great dominion of Canada, that forced the English cabi- net to restore it at a time when the nation was threatened by a Catholic pretender, and disheart- ened at the results of the war on the continent. Weary of the struggle and anxious for a breathing space, England deserted Maria Theresa and made peace with France. PI r ^ m i 1 ri MAP OF FRENCH FC LP OF FRENCH FORTS IN AMERICA^ 1750-00^ XVI. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS OF NORTH AMERICA— PRELUDE. (i;48-i756.) The map that is placed at the beginning of this chapter outlines the ambitious designs conceived by French statesmen soon after the Treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle. We see the names of many posts and forts intended to keep up communications between Canada and Louisiana, and overawe the English colonies then confined to a relatively narrow strip of territory on the Atlantic coast. Conscious of the mistake that they had made in giving up Acadia, the French now claimed that its " ancient limits " did not extend beyond the isthmus of Chignecto — in other words, included only Nova Scotia. Ac- cordingly they proceeded to construct the forts of Gaspereau and Beausejour on that neck of land, and also one on the St. John River, so that they might control the land and sea approaches to Cape Breton from the St. Lawrence where Quebec, enthroned on her picturesque heights, and Montreal at the conflu- aat 222 THE STORY OF CANADA. ence of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, held the keys to Canada. The approaches by the way of Lake Champhiin and the RicheHeu were defended by the fort of St. John near the nortliern extremity of the hike, and by the more formidable works known as Fort Frederick or Crown Point — to give the better known EngHsli name — on a peninsida at the narrows towards the south. Tiie latter was the most advanced post of the French until they built Fort Ticonderoga or Carillon on a high, rocky prom- ontory at the head of Lake Sacrement, afterwards called Lake George by General Johnson — a sheet of water always famed for its picturesque charms. At the foot of this lake, associated with so many mem- orable episodes in American history, General John- son, a clever, ambitious Irishman, a nephew of Sir Peter Warren, in 1755, erected P^)rt William Henry, about fourteen miles from P'ort Edward or Lyman, at the great carrying place on the upper waters of the Hudson. Returning to the St. Lawrence and the lakes, we find Fort P'rontenac or Cataraqui at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the old city of Kingston now stands. Within the limits of the present city of Toronto, La Galissonniere built P'ort Rouilli^ as an attempt to control the trade of the Indians of the North, who were finding their way to the English fort at Choueguen (Oswego), which had been commenced with the consent of the Iroquois by Governor Burnet of New York and was now a menace to the French dominion of Lake Ontario. At the other extremity of this lake was Fort Niagara, the key to the West. I THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION, At Detroit, Mackinac, and Sault Ste. Marie the French continued to hold possession of the Great Lakes and the country to the west and south. Their communications, then, between the West and Que- bec were estabhshed, but between the great valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, over which they claimed exclusive rights, there was another valley which became of importance in the execution of their scheme of continental dominion. In the years succeeding the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle the English colonists awakened to the importance of the valley of the Ohio, and adventurous frontiersmen of Virginia and Pennsylvania were already forcing their way into its wilderness, when France's ambi- tion barred the way to their further progress. That astute Canadian, Governor La Galissonniere, in 1749, recognised the importance of the Ohio in relation to the Illinois and Mississippi, and sent C^loron, a cap- tain in the French service, to claim possession of the valley of the former river and its tributaries. This officer made a long and enterprising journey, in the course of which he affixed at different points the arms of France to trees, and buried leaden plates bearing the inscription, that they were memorials of the " renewal of the possession of the Ohio and all its affluents " originally established by arms and treaties, particularly those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix-la-Chapelle. Under the instructions of Gover- nor Duquesne, who possessed all the sagacity of La Galissonniere, forts were established at Presqu'ile (Erie) and on French Creek, a tributary of the Alle- ghany. Virginians saw with dismay the entrance 224 THE STORY or CANADA. of L.iic I'lctich into a region on which tlicy were now castini^ a l()n<;in<^ eye. Tlieir government liacl se- cured from the lro(|uois a doubtful (}nn::^\ whicli ^ave them, as they urged, a title to the (ireat West, ami a company was even formed to occupy the Uhit). \\\ 1754 the MnL;lish commenced the construction of a fort at the forks of the Ohio, but it was easily captured by ContreccL'ur, who completed and re- named it in honour of the Governor of Canada, Ducpiesne. WashinL;ton, who now first aj)pears in vXmerican histor)-, was tl' feated by Chevalier de V'il- liersat l^'ort Necessity, a mere intrenchment at (neat Meadows, and the I'rench held entire ])ossession of the Ohio valley, where no l"l,nglish trader or pioneer dared sho\v himself. \\\ 1755 the I*'rench dominion was complete from the Ohio to the Illinois, and from the Cireat Lakes to the (iulf of Mexico, so far as a slender line of communication by means of widely separated posts and settlements could make it so. On the St. Joseph, the Maumee, the Wabash, and the Illinois, there were small forts. I^'ort Chartres in the Illinois country was the only post of any thoroui;"h construction. At Cahokia, opi)ositc the modern city of St. Louis, and at Kaskaskia, at the junction of the river of that name with the Missis- sii)pi, there were small and relatively prosperous French villasres. In Lcniisiana the h'rench had the towns of Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, and a few other settlements, w^here the African blacks far out- numbered the whites. That colony had had many difficulties to surmount before it could be considered established. Wars w^th the Natchez and Chicka THE STKUGGI.E FOR DOMINION. 225 e now ad so- li j^avc ;t, and OhU). uction i easily nd le- an ad a, cars in dcVil- t (n-cat sion of pioneer minion id from ar as a widely : it so. h, and hartres f any tc the at the issis- perous lad the a few ir out- many idered hicka saws had been constant. Crozat's experiment iiad been followed by the estal)lishment of the Missis- sippi or Western ("(»nipany, which was to develop ^(•1(1 mines, that never existed except in the im;ij^i- nations of its reckless promoter, John I..i\v, a .Scotch- m m. When the Mississii)|)i bubbh- burst, and so niiiny thousands were ruined in i'laiice, Louisi.uia still continued under tlie control of the company, which was eventually obli^^cd to L,nve up its charter after heavy ixpcnditures which had pr<»(luccd very small results, and the colon}' became a myai jirov- ince. W ith its che(iuered future must be always associated the; name of the Canadian Hieii\ille, who was for some years its 'governor and justly earned the title of " l""ather of Louisiana." J nsi^fnificant as was its ])roL,n'ess, I'^rance prized its possession, and had she been alive to her opportunities she miL;ht have colonised it with i fu<^uenots and made it a j)()wer in the conflict between herself and I^ni,^- land in America. !'' ranee, busy with her ambitious desij^nis in Eu- rope, i;ave but a meairre and too often half-hearted sui)port to the men who had dreams of founding a miL^hty emi)ire in America. When I^'rance and ICn^r- l.ind met for the <;reat strui^i^le on that continent, tin: thirteen colonies hail reached a poi)ulation ^>'. nearly a million and a (piarter of souls, exclusive )T iIk; neL;roes in the South, while the total number of tlie peoi)U; in Canada and Louisiana did not exceed ei'^hty thousand. In wealth and comfort there was the same disproportion betwc-eii the P^'ench and I'jv^lish colonies. In fact at the time of the hist 15 226 THE STORY OF CANADA. war, Canadian commerce was entirely paralysed, farms ncj^lected, and the towns barely able to live. In 1757 food was so scarce in Quebec and Montreal that the soldiers and people had to use horse flesh. The combined forces of Canadian militia and regular troops were always much inferior in number to the British and colonial armies when united for the invasion of Canada, with the support of a powerful fleet ; but the great strength of the French colony lay in the natural barriers between the English col- onies and the keys to New France, Quebec, and Montreal, and in the skill with which the approaches by way of Fake Chanujlain had been defended by forts at every important point. If the French force was insignificant in number, it was, as a rule, skil- fully managed, and in the eirly part of the struggle the English had no comm.ander to compare with Montcalm for military genius. In some respects the French Canadians were more manageable in war than the English colonists. No legislative bodies existed in Canada to interfere with and thwart the plans and orders of military commanders, but the whole Canadian people acted as a unit to be moved and directed at the will of the King's officers. The Indian tribes from Acadia to the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Illinois, were, with the exception of the Five Nations, always friendly to the T^rench since the days of Champlain — the warm allies of a people who fraternised naturally with them; and it would have been an unhappy day for the English colonists had eighty or a hundred thousand Cana- dians been able to arm and, under the skilful 1.0 I.I ■ 50 ""^^ MHB 1.8 1.25 1 1.4 |i.6 ^ 6" ► ^. 75 5^ ^l. /^ ^>. '^ y Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WfST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. USSO (716) 872-4S03 &'*< ^ ? 236 THE STORY OF CANADA. ».' of Nova Scotia, and scattered them far and wide among the English colonies, where their treatment was rarely generous. Even those who reached Quebec were coldly received and were grudgingly supplied with miserable food. Poetry and senti- ment have not exaggerated the sorrow and misery of these hapless exiles, so ill-fitted to go out into the bitter world of hardship and destitution. ' i : Mr '\<: XVII. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS OF NORTH AMERICA: ENGLISH RE- VERSES AND FRENCH VICTORIES — FALL OF LOUISBOURG AND FORT DUQUESNE. (1756-1758.) In 1756 England was fully engaged in that famous war with France which was to end in driving her hereditary rival from the eastern and western hemi- spheres, and in the establishment of the German Empire by the military genius of Frederick the Great. For a while, however, the conflict in America was chiefly remarkable for the incapacity of English commanders on land and sea. Earl Loudoun, the sluggish commander-in-chief, of whom it was said, he is like St. George on the signs; always on horseback, but never rides on," arranged a campaign against the French on Lake Champlain and against Louisbourg which ended only in disaster and hu- miliation for England. The forts at Oswego, always regarded as a menace by tho French who occupied 237 ^ 238 THE STORY OF CANADA. Fort Frontenac on the opposite side of Lake Onta- rio, were successfully attacked and destroyed by Montcalm,* who was sent to Canada in 1756 to make a supreme effort for France. The energetic French general then proceeded a year later to storm Fort William Henry, and largely owing to the in- capacity or timidity of General Webb, who could have marched to the assistance of the besieged from Fort Edward, the brave Scotch officer, Lieutenant- Colonel Monro, then in command of this important defence of the northeastern frontier, was obliged to surrender. After the capitulation of this fort a large number of helpless men, women, and children were barbarously murdered by the body of Indians that accompanied the French — one of the saddest epi- sodes in American history, which must always dim the lustre of Montcalm's victory, though it is now generally admitted that the French general himself was not responsible for the treachery of his Indian allies, but used his most earnest efforts — even at the risk of his own life — to save the English when the savages were mad with lust for the blood of their enemies. At sea the results were equally discouraging for the English. Fifteen ships-of-the-line and three frigates, under the orders of Admiral Holbourne, and twelve thousand troops under the command of Earl Loudoun himself, assembled in the harbour of Hali- fax in the July of 1757; but, owing to the absence * His full name was Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon tie Saint-Veran, whose family seat was Candiac, near Nismes, in the south of France. ig for three le, and If Earl Hali- >sence lozon de in the cH^cntodtk.' XT» 29. »39 f i H '■' H h' 240 T'//^ STOh'V OF CANADA. of energy and celerity of movement from the very day the project was decided upon in England until after the arrival of the fleet in America, the French were able to get reinforcements of ships and men into Louisbourg, and the English admiral and general came to the resolve — so strange for English- men in time of war — to run no risk in attacking the fortress. Loudoun returned to New York, but too late to retrieve the injury he had done to the north- ern colonies by withdrawing so large a force from the frontier at a critical period, when Montcalm was marching on Fort William Henry with such unfor- tunate results for English interests. Holbourne sailed with his fleet for Louisbourg, and after a half-hearted attempt to draw the French fleet, then safely moored under the guns of the town, into an engagement, even the elements combined against him, and when he had lost a number of his vessels on the rocky Cape Breton coast, he returned to England to tell the story of his failure. It was at this critical period, when England so sadly needed a bold and wise statesman at the head of her government in the place of weak and incom- petent men like Newcastle, that the great Pitt, bet- ter known as Chatham at a later day, was called to office by the unanimous opinion of the English people outside, perhaps, of a small selfish clique of the aristocracy. It was his good fortune to be suc- cessful far beyond the hopes of the majority of statesmen suddenly called upon to retrieve national disaster. It was mainly through his inspiration — through the confidence with which he inspired all ti^, THE STRUGGLE FOK DOMINION. 241 id so head icom- bet- |ed to iglish |ue of suc- ly of lional )n — Id all those who served the country at this momentous epocli — that Enghuid became the centre of a vast colonial empire such as the world never saw, even in the days when Rome was mistress. When Pitt was recalled to office in July, 1757, it was too late to prevent the humiliation of England through the incompetency of Holbourne, Loudoun, and Webb, and the year 1757 closed with Montcalm triumphant in America. Jiut while France neglected to give adequate support to her brave sons in Can- ada, I'^ngland rallied to the support of Pitt, and the whole nation felt a confidence in the future which it had never had during the administration of his I^redecessors. On the continent of Plurope, Pitt contented himself with giving the largest possible subsidies of money to his great ally Frederick, and by entrusting the command of the English and Han- overian forces to the best of his generals, Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick, in place of the incompetent Duke of Cumberland. The victories of Rossbach, Leu then, and Minden were the answers that Fred- erick gave to the English minister for the confidence he reposed in his ability to cope with the four great Powers then combined with Saxony to destroy Prussia and bring England to the feet of F" ranee, by invading her territory and marching into her very capital. Hanover was saved by the memorable vic- tory on the Weser, and England was spared the humiliation and perils of an invasion by the destruc- tion of a P^rench fleet by Admiral Hawke in Qui- beron Bay. While the military genius of Frederick and the 16 Si' ii 11 !l M If 242 7W^ SrO/iY OF CANADA. inspiring statesmanship of Pitt were successfully thwarting the ambitious plans of France and her allies in Europe, the English minister had decided on a vigorous campaign in America. With that intuitive sagacity which he possessed above most men for recognising ability in others for the purpose in view, he chose General Amherst, Admiral Bosca- wen, and Brigadier-General Wolfe, not because of their aristocratic or political influence, but because of their military capacity, the want of which in Lou- doun and Hclbourne had brought disaster upon the English arms. Unhappily he was forced, for the time being, by strong influences around him to retain General Abercromby at the head of one of the expeditions in America, but he hoped that the co-operation of Lord Howe would keep up the cour- age of the army, and prevent any blunders on the part of the jlow and obtuse soldier in command. The plan of the campaign which opened in 1758 was to send three expeditions simultaneously against the three all-important French positions held by the French in the Ohio valley, on Lake Champlain, and at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Gen- eral Forbes, a resolute Scotch veteran, was to march on Fort Duquesne, General Abercromby was to lay siege to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and General Amherst, with Admiral Boscawen, was to attack the fortress of Louisbourg, which was acknowledged as the key of the St. Lawrence. The English fleet anchored in Gabarus Bay, to the southward of Louisbourg, on the 2nd of June, 1758. It was composed of over fifty ships, twenty- THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION, 243 isfully d her ,'cided I that most Lirpose Bosca- use of ecause 1 Lou- on the or the lirn to one of lat the e cour- lon the imand. 58 was nst the y the and Gen- march to lay eneral ckthe ged as [ay, to June, renty- m, two of which were " Hners," and carried eighteen hundred guns altogether. The army comprised between eleven and twelve thousand men, including a small force of provincial rangers. The fortress, which had been considerably strengthened since 1745, was defended by over three thousand regular troops, and a small number of Indians and inhabit- ants. A fleet of fourteen men-of-war, with a crew of nearly three thousand men, and five hundred and sixty-two guns, were in the harbour. Chevalier Dru- cour was governor of the island, and conducted the defences with skill and resolution, and had Admiral Desgouttes been as brave and capable as the former, Louisbourg would hardly have fallen so easily. On the morning of the 27th July, the English took pos- session of the West gate, and the cross of St. George was hoisted on the citadel of a fortress which was destined from that time to disappear from the pages of the world's history. In 1763 the fortress was levelled to the ground, and now a few mounds of turf alone represent the ambitions of France a cen- tury and a half ago. Nature has resumed dominion over the site of the once famous fortress, and the restless ocean, which stretches away beyond to the eastward without a break to Europe, brings no mes- sage of the fleets that came once, richly freighted, to this historic fort. Louisbourg is now only a place of memories — of associations which connect Cape Breton with most glorious episodes of England's history, with times when the genius of Pitt tri- umphed over France. After the taking of Louisbourg, the English occu- 244 THE STORY OF CANADA. ¥.- pied the island of St. John, now Prince Edward, where there were several prosperous settlements at Port La Joye (Charlottetown), St. Pierre, and other places on the bays of the low-lying coast. The population was composed chiefly of Acadians, who had commenced to cross from Nova Scotia after the Treaty of Utrecht, and probably numbered in 1758 four thousand souls, engaged in fishing and farming. These people were able to supply Louisbourg with provisions, as no agricultural operations of import- ance were carried on in Cape Breton. LOUISBOURG MEDALS OF 1 758. Wolfe destroyed the French settlements around the bays of Gasp^, Miramichi, and Chaleurs, while Colonel Monckton performed the same painful duty in the valley of the St. John River. Acadia, accord- ing to its " ancient limits," was at last completely in the possession of England. The news of the capture of Louisbourg was re- ceived in America and Europe with many rejoicings, and the eleven stands of colours won at this gateway of Canada were deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION, 245 round I while duty tcord- letely IS re- jings, jeway ledral amid the roar of cannon. This victory came at an opportune moment, since Abercromby had suffered a humiliating repulse on the banks of Lake Cham- plain. With a splendid force of regular and pro- vincial troops, from fourteen to fifteen thousand altogether, but entirely destitute of artillery, — an evidence of extraordinary incapacity, or of culpable negligence, — he had thrown himself upon most for- midable entrenchments of fallen trees, with their sharp ends pointing outwards, that the French had ingeniously constructed in front of Carillon, which was still incomplete, and defended by less than three thousand men under Montcalm and L^vis. The most unhappy incident of this disaster was the death of Lord Howe, described by Wolfe, who knew him well, " as the noblest Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the best soldier in the British army." Abercromby hurriedly retired to the head of Lake George, and was soon afterwards superseded by the cautious Amherst. Montcalm was greatly encouraged by the spirit of his soldiers throughout the attack, and erected a cross on the battle ground with the following inscriptions of his own — the latter his paraphrase of the first : Quid dux ? Quid miles ? Quid strata ingentia ligna ? En signum ! en victor ! Deus hie, Deus ipse triumphat. " Chretien ! ce ne fut point Montcalm et la prudence, Ces arbres renverses, ces heros, ces exploits, Qui des Anglais confus ont brise I'esperance, C'est le bras de ton Dieu, vainqueur sur cette croix.** ♦ Parkman gives the following paraphrase of the Latin inscription: ** Soldier and chief and ramparts' strength are nought ; Behold the conquering cross ! 'T is God the triuinph wrought." '• t if 246 Thl STORY OF CANADA. An important event of the year was the taking of Fort Frontenac by Coh)nel Bradstreet, who had as- sisted in the first siege of Louisbourg. The capture of this fort was regarded with every reason by the French as " of greater injury to the colony than the Iocs of a battle." P'ort Duquesne, which was the key to the Ohio country, was abandoned by Lig- neris on the approach of Brigadier Forbes, a very capable Scotch officer, but not until the F'rench had beaten with considerable loss an advance of the main forces commanded by Major Grant. Ligneris with- drew his troops to Fort Machault (Venango), where he remained until the following year. Fort Du- quesne was renamed in honour of Pitt, and a great manufacturing city has grown up on its site in the beautiful valley which, in 1758, passed away forever from the French who had only held possession of it for six short years. w XVIII. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE— CANADA IS WON BY WOLFE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. (759-1763.) When the campaign opened in 1759 the French had probably under arms in Canada not far from twenty thousand men, regulars, militia, and Indians — one-fifth only being French regiments. At De- troit there was a very insignificant garrison, as it was of minor importance compared with Niagara, which was the key to the Lakes and West. Here Pouchot, an able ofificer, who has given us an interesting memoir of the war, was stationed, with authority to call to his assistance the French forces at Presqu'ile, Le Boeuf, and Venango — some three thousand men altogether, made up mostly of colonial forces and Indian auxiliaries. At Fort Rouill^ (Toronto) there was no force worth mentioning, as it was a mere de- pendency of Niagara. Fort Frontenac had been destroyed by the English, and the French had no posts from that point as far as Montreal except at 247 #■ 248 THE STORY OF CANADA. Point-au-Baril (near Ogdensburgh), and lie Galops, by the side of the well-known rapids of that name. The security of Montreal depended mainly on the French continuing to hold control of Lake Cham- plain, and Ilc-aux-Noix which they now set to work to fortify. Bourlamaque, an able officer, was in command at the French forts of the lake with a force of over two thousand men, of whom one-half were Canadian, and had orders to abandon Carillon and Crown Point, if necessary, and advance to Ile-aux- Noix. At Quebec, probably fourteen thousand men, of whom four thousand were the pick of the French regiments in Canada, were under command of Montcalm, Levis, and Vaudreuil, and were en- trenched on a height of land stretching for nearly six miles from the St. Charles River, to the south- east of the fortress, as far as Montmorency River, where its current rushes wildly forward for its tre- mendous leap of over two hundred and fifty feet into a deep and rocky abyss, and forms that glistening sheet of billowy foam w^hich, seen from a distance, resembles a snowdrift suspended in air. The forti- fications of Quebec had been strengthened for some years back, and its defences were entrusted to Rame- say, who had led a force to Nova Scotia in the year of the Duke d'Anville's disastrous expedition. The citv was ill-provided with provisions for any sustained siege, despite the opportune arrival of some relief from France in the spring. The whole country had been impoverished by the continuous drain on the agricultural and labouring population during the war, and the Canadians themselves began THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION, 249 jalops, ; name, on the Cham- to work was in a force ilf were Ion and [le-aux- lousand : of the mm and ere en- r nearly \ so lit h- ' River, its tre- cct into stenin^ istance, le forti- ir some Rame- in the edition, jor any val of wliole liniious Illation began to lose courage, and assembled at the call of the authorities with less spirit than they had hitherto shown. Canada was literally on the brink of ruin, after so many years of war and privation. Cor- ruption had eaten into the very body of Canadian MAJOR-GENKRAT, JAMF.S WOI.FE. life and government. The Intendant Bigot had been for years amassing riches at the expense of the country, and had, in imitation of his lord and master at Versailles, his fair Canadian Pompadour to bedeck with jewels and favours from the proceeds .'r^:\ 250 THE STORY OF CANADA. of his ill-gotten gains. The names of Pean, Varin, Cadet, Estebe, and Clavcry are the most conspicu- ous amongst those officials who became rich on Canadian misery and misfortune, and are dishor^our- ably associated with the darkest hours of Canadian history. ** What a country," said Montcalm, where all the knaves grow rich, and honest men are ruined." Not the least discouraging feature of matters in Canada at this critical time, when unity and harmony were so necessary, was the jealousy that Governor de Vaudreuil, a weak, vain man, but honest and attached to his native province, enter- tained of Montcalm, who was himself imbued by the loftiest spirit that could animate a brave soldier and loyal Frenchman. It was decided that the army under General Wolfe, less than nine thousand men, and the fleet under Admiral Saunders, should attack Quebec ; that the Commander-in-Chief, Amherst, should advance against Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, and that Brigadier Prideaux and Sir William Johnson should lead a considerable force against Niagara. The English fleet arrived before Quebec on the 20th June, and no time was \ >st in commencing opera- tions against the fortress. Wolfe was well supported by such able soldiers as Monckton, Murray, and Carleton, the latter of whom became famous in later Canadian history as Lord Dorchester. Brigadier Townsend, however capable, was irritable and ego- tistic. The soldiers admired Wolfe for his soldierly qualities, and loved him for his thoughtfulness for everyone above or below him. Admiral Saunders 5 252 T//E STORY OF CANADA. was well aided by Holmes and Durell, and gave a loyal and ready response to the plans of Wolfe. The regiments had seen service at Louisbourg, and were fully animated by the courage and spirit of their general. The siege lasted for eleven weeks, and was then only ended by an act of boldness on the part of Wolfe, which took the French entirely by surprise. The principal events between the 26th June and the 1 2th September, when the last act in this great international drama was played, can be described in a few pages. One of the most important incidents was the occupation by the English of the heights of L^vis, whence the fortress was bombarded with an effectiveness that surprised the French, who, under the advice of Vaudreuil, and in opposition to that of Montcalm, had not taken adequate measures for the protection of so valuable a position. So destruc- tive was the bombardment that, when the English took possession of Quebec, they found all the churches and buildings of importance in ruins, and the Ursuline Convent alone was saved from complete destruction. The English sustained a severe repulse near the Montmorency end of the French lines. They had made an attack on an outwork at that point, and the grenadiers had been carried away by excitement and dashed up the slope of the heights, where from twelve to fourteen thousand French soldiers were strongly intrenched. A furious storm of bullets assailed the reckless and brave grenadiers, who could not even gain a firm footing on the slippery slope, THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 253 1 gave a Wolfe, jrg, and spirit of . weeks, Iness on entirely une and lis great :ribed in ncidents eights of with an 0, under to that iures for destruc- English all the ins, and Dmplete lear the ley had nt, and itement re from rs were bullets o could slope, while the rain came down in torrents, and their blood reddened the rivulets of water. This was, however, the only serious disaster that the English suffered throughout the siege. The fire ships of the French had been ill-managed, and failed to do any damage as they were sent down against the fleet. Montcalm, sure of his impregnable position, refused to be drawn from his intrenchments and to offer battle to Wolfe. He knew that delay was every- thing to him, for the autumn was drawing near. In a few weeks storm and frost would drive the Englishmen from the river. Wherever Montcalm looked, his position seemed unassailable. The high cliffs that stretched for miles above Quebec offered a guaranty of security in that direction, and to pre- vent any doubt, Bougainville, a capable officer — in later years famous as a navigator — was on the alert with a force of upwards of two thousand soldiers. He had double work to do, to guard these appar- ently impregnable cliffs, and to assure the arrival of provisions from the country by river and land. It was the expected arrival of a convoy of provisions that proved an important factor in the successful accomplishment of a plan that Wolfe had devised for the capture of the city. While the siege was in progress, the news from the west and from Lake Champlain was discourag- ing for the French. Niagara had been surrendered by Pouchot to Sir William Johnson, who had taken command on the death of Prideaux — killed at the beginning of operations — and a large force that was brought up by Ligneris from the Ohio valley to 254 THE STORY OF CANADA, succour the post had been severely defeated. Crown Point and Ticonderoga had been abandoned by Bourlamaque, and there was for a time some ex- pectation of the advance of Amherst to the St. Law- rence. Montcalm was obliged to weaken his army by sending his ablest general, L^vis, with a force of fifteen hundred men, to look after the defences of Montreal, but the sluggish English general wasted his time on the banks of Lake Champlain. It was quite clear to Wolfe and Saunders that Amherst was not to give them any assistance in the difficult work before them. It was on the night of the 1 2th of September that Wolfe carried out the project which had been for some time forming in his mind. He had managed to concentrate a force of four thousand men above the fortress without awak- ening the suspicions of the French, who were confi- dent that Bougainville was fully able to prevent any force from attempting so impossible and foolhardy an exploit as the ascent of the high cliffs. The vis- itor to the historic places around Quebec will be deeply interested in a cove, just above Sillery, now known as Wolfe's Cove, but in old times as the Anse-au-Fouion. A zig-zag and difficult path led from this cove to the top of the height, and Wolfe conceived the hope that it was possible to gain ac- cess in this way to the table-land where he could best give battle to Montcalm. He saw that the cliff at this point was defended by only a small guard, under the command, as it afterwards appeared, of Vergor, who had been tried and acquitted for his questionable surrender of Beaus^jour. When the run STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 255 Crown ned by me ex- t. Lavv- Is army a force efences wasted :rs that J in the light of Dut the g in his ;orce of t awak- e confi- jnt any )lhardy he vis- will be y, now as the ,th led Wolfe ain ac- could le cliff guard, •ed, of or his m the English boats dropped down the river with the tide at midnight, on the !2th of September, there was no moon, and the stars alone gave a faint light. Montcalm had no conception of the importance of the movement of troops which, it had been reported to him, was going on for some days above Quebec, and his attention was diverted by the constant bom- bardment on the town from Levis, and a fierce can- nonading that was kept up against Beauport by Saunders. Wolfe's thoughts on that memorable night as his boat passed under the shadow of the dark cliff, we can imagine from an incident that is related by one who was present. Hardly a dip of an oar was heard from the flotilla as it was borne down the river, but from Beauport and Levis came the constant roar of cannon. Every moment was carrying him to fame and death, and perhaps it was some foreboding of his fate that led him to repeat the words of Gray's Elegy, which from that hour has become more famous in English literature : " The boast of heraldy, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike th' inevitable hour ; The paths of glory lead but to the grave." As the boats came close to a point on the bank a sentinel challenged," Qui vivc .^ " ''La France ! ' ' re- plied an officer of Fmser's Highlanders who spoke French well. "-A quel regiment ^^ again challenged the suspicious soldier. " De la Reine,"' answered the same ofificer, who happily remembered that some companies of this regiment were with Bougainville. 256 THE STORY OF CANADA. \i Fate that eventful night was on the side of the bold Englishnrian. The French were expecting a convoy of provisions, and the sentinel called out, ** Passe ! " Another sentry, more suspicious, ran down to the water's edge, and asked, " Pour qiioi est -cc que voiis ne parlcr: pltis haut ? " The captain replied with won- derful coolness, " Tais-toi, nous serous cntcmius ! " — an answer which satisfied the guard. In this way the English boats were able to steal into the cove with- out being stopped. A few minutes later the heights were gained, the guard was overpowered, and the British regiments were climbing to the level land without hindrance. By six o'clock Wolfe was able to form his army of nearly four thousand men in line of battle on the Plains of Abraham.* " This is a serious business," exclaimed Montcalm, as he saw the red line of the English regiments on the table- land behind Quebec. He appears to have almost immediately come to the conclusion that it was nec- essary to fight the English before they received any accessions of strength, and not to wait for Bougain- ville, who would probably come up in time with his force of two thousand men. By ten o'clock the two armies — that of Montcalm outnumbering the Eng- lish probably by fifteen hundred — were advancing on each other. The French as they drew near poured a volley into the ranks of the British regi- ments, but the latter reserved their fire until they were within forty yards of their enemy, when they discharged their guns with most deadly effect. The * Named after Abraham Martin, a royal pilot, who, in early times, owned this now historic tract. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOM IN 10 S\ 257 French fell in heaps, and as the bullets crashed amongst their faltering ranks, they broke and re- treated. The battle was literally won in a few min- utes. Wolfe, who had been wounded in the wrist at the beginning of the fight, was leading a charge of the grenadiers, who had shown such fateful pre- cipitancy at Montmorency, when he was fatally wounded. He was removed to a redoubt in the rear and laid on the ground, where he remained for a few minutes in a swoon or stupour. " They run! See how they run!" exclaimed one of the men watching their wounded chief. " Who run ? " he called, as he attempted, to rise for an instant. " The enemy, sir; 'egad, they give place every- where ! " " Go, one of you, my lads," ordered the dying General, whose brain was still clear and active, " with all speed to Colonel Burton, and tell him to march Webb's regiment down to the St. Charles River, and cut off the fugitives to the bridge." He turned on his side and said : "God be praised, I now die in peace." Then, in a moment later, he passed into the great silent land. Mont- calm also received his death blow while he was endeavouring to give some order to his beaten army. He was borne along by the crowd of retreating sol- diers through the St. Louis gate into the town. A few hours later, on the 14th September, he breathed his last. His last words were in commendation of Chevalier de L^vis — a soldier in no way inferior to himself in military genius. Monckton, who was next to Wolfe in rank, had been also severely wounded in the battle, and con- »7 ■III 258 THE STORY OF CANADA. sequently by a strange irony of fate, Townshend, who had been unfriendly to Wolfe, and had doubted his military capacity, was called upon to take com- mand. L^vis was absent at Montreal, unfortunately for French interests at this very critical juncture, and Vaudreuil's opinion prevailed for a retreat to Jacques Cartier. When L^vis arrived and Vaudreuil consented to march to the support of Quebec it was too late. Ramesay had decided to capitulate, in view of the ruined condition of the city and walls, the scarcity of rations, and the unwillingness of the Canadian troops and citizens to continue the defence, when they found that the English were about to re- sume the attack. When the French army was mov- ing towards Quebec, the English were in possession, and \}^^ fleur-de-lis had given place to the red cross of England on the old fort of St. Louis. By the terms of capitulation the troops were to be allowed to march out with the honours of war, and to be landed in France ; the inhabitants were not to be disturbed ; the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion was allowed, and safeguards granted to houses of clergy and communities. All conditions were provisional until a treaty was arranged between the Powers. The body of Montcalm was buried beneath the floor of the Ursuline Convent, in a grave which had been already partly hollowed out by a bursting shell. Many years later an English governor-general. Lord Aylmer, placed in the chapel of the convent a plain marble slab, with the following graceful tribute to the memory of a great soldier of whom English and French Canadians are equally proud. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION, HONNEUR A Montcalm 259 Le destin en lui d^robant La Victoire L'A RliCOMPENSE PAR Une Mort Glorieuse ! Ih the had Ishell. iLord plain Ite to and Wolfe's remains were taken to England, where they were received with every demonstration of respect that a grateful nation could give. In Eu- rope and America the news of this victory had made the people wild with joy. " With a handful of men," said Pitt, in the House of Commons, " he has added an empire to English rule." A monu- ment in that Walhalla of great Englishmen, West- minster Abbey, records that he " was slain in a moment of victory." On the heights of Quebec, in the rear of its noble terrace, still stands the stately obelisk which was erected in 1828 under the inspira- tion of the Earl of Dalhousie in honour of Montcalm and Wolfe, and above all others attracts the interest of the historical student since it pays a just tribute to the virtue and valour of the two great com- manders in the following simple but well conceived language : Mortem. Virtus. Communem. Famam. Historia. Monumentum. Posteritas. Dedit. 26o THE STORY OF CANADA. Wolfe was only in his thirty-third year when he died on the field of Abraham. Montcalm was still in the prime of life, having just passed forty- seven years. Both were equally animated by the purest dictates of honour and truth, by a love for the noble profession of arms, and by an ardent desire to add to the glory of their respective countries. Montcalm was a member of the French nobility, and a man of high culture. His love for his mother, wife, and children is shown in his published letters, written while in Canada, and he was ever looking forward to the time when he could rejoin them in his beloved chateau of Candiac, and resume the studies he liked so well. Some Canadian writers have endeavoured to belittle Montcalm, that they may more easily ex[)lain away the failings of Vau- dreuil, a native Canadian, who thwarted constantly the plans of a greater man ; but an impartial his- torian can never place these two men on the same high level. Wolfe's family was of respectable ori- gin, and he inherited his military tastes from his father, who became a general in the English army. He had few advantages of education in his youth, thou"'h in later life he became studious, and had much love for mathematics. A soldier's life was his ambition, and fame was his dominating impulse. His indomitable spirit govei'ned his physical weak- ness. The natural kindness of his nature rose su- perior to the irritability sometimes caused by his ill-health, and made him always sympathise with the joys, sorrows, and feelings of all classes among whom he lived. He had that magnetic power of his- >ame ori- his •my. .nth, had was Lilse. icak- su- his Lvith [ong tr of MONTCALM ANDWOI.KK MoNUMKNT AT (QUEBEC. 26l 262 THE STORY OF CANADA. inspiring his soldiers and companions with his own confidence and courage which must sooner or later give them victory. He was a good son and made a confidant of his mother. He was fond of female companionship, and was looking forward hopefully to a woman's love, and to a home of his own, when Fate ruthlessly struck him down before the walls of Quebec at the moment of victory. It is impossible within the limited space of this story to dwell at any length on the events that fol- lowed from the taking of the Canadian capital until the cession of Canada three years later. General Murray, who was afterwards the first governor- general of Canada, had charge of the fortress during the winter of 1759-60, when the garrison and people suffered much from cold and disease — firewood be- ing scarce, and the greater number of the buildings in ruins. L6vis had decided to attack the town in the spring, as soon as the French ships were able to come down from near Sorel, where they had been laid up all the winter. Towards the last of April, Murray marched out of the fortress and gave battle at St. Foy to the French army, which largely outnum- bered his force. His object was to attack the French before they were able to place themselves thoroughly in position before Quebec, but he suf- fered a considerable loss, and was obliged to retire hurriedly within the walls of the town, which was then fjgularly invested by Levis and the French ships. The opportune arrival of the English fleet dashed the rising hopes of the French to the ground, W^ li *¥ -li u ■' " .1: 'V * ■ s ■Ji n > .■:ll /. '■% 264 77/A' STOA'Y OF CAXADA. and L6vis was obliged to retreat to Montreal. In the month of September of the same year General Amherst descended the St. Lawrence, after having captured the fort at lie Galops — afterwards Fort William Augustus. Brigadier Haviland left Lake Champlain, captured Ile-aux-Noix, and then marched on Montreal; Brigadier Murray came up from Que- bec. All these forces concentrated on the same day on the island of Montreal, and Vaudreuil had no alternative except to capitulate. By the terms of capitulation, which were drawn up, like those of Quebec, in French, Great Britain bound herself to allow the French Canadians the free exercise of their religion, and certain specified fraternities, and all communities of rcligicuscs were guaranteed the possession of their goods, constitutions, and privi- leges, but a similar favour was denied to the Jesuits, the Franciscans, or Recollets, and the Sulpicians, until the King should be consulted on the subject. The same reservation was made with respect to the parochial clergy's tithes. On the loth of February, 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded to Great Britain Canada, with all its dependencies, the island of Cape Breton, and the Laurentian Isles. By this treaty the King pledged himself '' to give the most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic sub- jects may profess the worship of their religion, ac- cording to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit." All the pretensions of France to Acadia were at last formally renounced. England also received all the country east of the River Mississippi, excei)t the city of New cct. the iry, rcat and this most siib- ilC- rch, the lally o I- u y 266 THE STORY OF CANADA, i Orleans and the neighbouring district, as well as Florida from Spain in return for Havana. Subse- quently France gave up New Orleans to Spain, as well as the great region of Louisiana westward of the Mississippi. France was allowed to retain the barren islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and certain fishing rights on the coasts of Newfound- land, which she had previously given by the Treaty of Utrecht. George II. had died during 1760, and George III. was now King of England. Pitt was forced to resign, and the King's favourite, the incapable Bute, who became premier, made peace without delay. Pitt opposed the fishery conces- sions to France, but Bute attached relatively little importance to them, and they have ever since re- mained to torment the people of Newfoundland, and create complications in case that island consents to enter the Canadian Dominion. Still, despite these concessions, England gained great advantages from the peace, and became the greatest colonial and maritime power of the world. Freedom won on the Plains of Abraham, and a great Frenchman and a great Englishman conse- crated by their deaths on the same battlefield the future political union of two races on the northern half of the continent, now known as the Dominion of Canada. XIX. A PERIOD OF TRANSITION— PONTIACS THE QUEBEC ACT. WAR — (l 760-1 774.) The Canadian people, long harassed and impov- erished by war, had at last a period of rest. They were allowed the ministrations of their religion with- out hindrance, and all that was required of the paro- chial clergy was that they should not take part in civil affairs, but should attend exclusively to their clerical duties. The seigniors and priests, no doubt, did not give up for some time the hope that Canada would be restored to France, but they, too, soon bowed to the necessity of things, and saw that their material and spiritual interests were quite secure under the new government. None of the habitants ever left Canada after the war. A few members of the seigniorial nobility, the ofificials and some mer- chants — perhaps three hundred in all — may have gone back to France. Men like Bigot and Varin on their return were severely punished, and forced to give up as much as possible of their ill-gotten 267 268 THE STORY OF CANADA. gains. Governor de Vaudreuil himself was cast into the Bastile, but it was ascertained after investigation that he had no connection with the crimes of the worthless parasites that had so long fattened on the necessities of the unhappy province. He died soon after his imprisonment ; the iron of humiliation had probably eaten into the heart of a man who, what- ever his faults, had many estimable qualities, and loved his native country. For several years Canada was under what has been generally called the military regime; that is to say, the province was divided into the three districts of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal, of which the government was administered by military chiefs; in the first place by General Murray, Colonel Burton, and General Gage respectively. These military au- thorities — notably General Murray — endeavoured to win the confidence of the people by an impartial and considerate conduct of affairs. Civil matters in the parishes were left practically under the control of the captains of militia, who had to receive new commis- sions from the British Crown. Appeal could be always made to the military chief at the headquarters of the district, but, as a matter of fact, the people generally managed their affairs among themselves, in accord- ance with their old usages and laws. Military coun- cils tried criminal cases according to English law. While the French Canadians were in the enjoy- men*^ ^f rest on the banks of the St. Lawrence and . •;, . ;.iry rivers, the Western Indians, who had . '^.M '.'.^ nllies of France during the war, suddenly ai\ ; c .. i. eized nearly all the forts and posts which A PERIOD OF TRANSIT/ON. 269 ii 1 and n the fthe mniis- ways of the e rally cord- coiin- ■ivv. njoy- e and had denly iiich had be n formerly built by the French on the Great Lakes, in the valley of the Ohio, and in the Illinois country. After the taking of Montreal, Captain Robert Rogers, the famous commander of the Colonial Rangers, whose name occurs frequently in the records of the war, was sent by General Amherst to take possession of the forts at Presqu'ile, De- troit, Michillimackinac, Green Bay, and other places in the West. In the course of a few months there were in all these western posts small garrisons of English soldiers. In the neighbourhood of Detroit and Michillimackinac there were French Canadian villages, conspicuous for their white cottages with overhanging bark roofs and little gardens, orchards, and meadows. Forts Chartres and Vincennes were still in the possession of the French, and there was a population of nearly two thousand French Cana- dians or Louisiana French living in the Illinois country, chiefly at Cahokia and Kaskaskia on the Mississippi. The Indian tribes that took part in the rising of 1763 were the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, Ojibways (Chippeways), Wyandots (Hurons), and Kickapoos, who lived in the vicinity of the upper lakes; the Delawares (Loups or Lenapes) and the Shawanoes, who had their villages on the Ohio and its tributary rivers, especially on the Muskingkum and the Scioto; the Sauks or Saks, who encamped on the Wisconsin ; the Senecas, who lived not far from the Niagara. All these Indians, except the Wyandots and Senecas, were members of the Algon- quin family. The Senecas were the only tribe of the Six Nations that took part in the alliance against \. 270 THE STORY OF CANADA. '"'m England ; the other tribes were, happily for English interests, under the influence of Sir William John- son. French emissaries from the settlements on the Mississippi made the Indians believe that they would be soon driven by the English from their forest homes and hunting grounds, and that their only hope was in assisting France to restore her power in America. Many of these Indian tribes, as well as French settlers, believed until the proclama- tion of the treaty of Paris that Canada would be restored to the French. Indian sympathy for France was intensified by the contumely and neglect with which they were treated by the English traders and authorities. The French, who thoroughly understood the Indian character, had never failed to administer to their vanity and pride — to treat them as allies and friends and not as a conquered and sub- ject race. By the judicious distribution of those gifts, on which the tribes had begun to depend and receive as a matter of right, the French cemented the attachment of the Indians. The English, on the other hand, soon ceased to make these presents, and neglected the Indians in other ways, which excited their indignation and wounded their pride. Among the Western chiefs was Pontiac, whose name is as prominent in the history of the past as the names of the Onondaga Garangula, the Huron Kondiaronk (Rat), the Mohawk Thayendenagea (Brant), and the Shawanoese Tecumsch. He was the son of an Ottawa chief and an Ojibway mother^ and had a high reputation and large influence among the A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 271 tribes of the upper lakes. He showed in his career all the strength and weaknesses of the Indian char- acter — great courage, treachery, vanity, and generos- ity, according to the impulses of the moment. The war in which he took so pronilnent a part is gener- ally called by his name; his is the central figure in the striking drama which was enacted in the West- ern aid Ohio country for two years and a half before peace generally reigned and Canada could be consid- ered secure from Indian attacks. At Detroit, where Major Gladwin was in com- mand, Pontiac hoped to seize the fort by a stratagem. The Ottawas and other Indians under that chief were to meet the English officers in council within the fort at an appointed time. They had filed off the tops of the barrels of their muskets so as to conceal them easily under their garments. While in council Pontiac was to give a signal which would tell the assembled warriors that the time had come for fall- ing on the garrison and taking possession of the fort.* Some writers give credence to the story that an Indian maiden, the mistress of Gladwin, warned him of the scheme of the Indian chief, who came to the council, in accordance with his intention, and found the garrison in arms and ready for any treach- erous movement on his part. He left the fort in anger, and soon afterwards attacked it with all his force, though to no purpose, as Gladwin was able to hold it for many months, until aid reached him from ♦ The siege of Detroit by Pontiac inspired one of the best historic novels ever written by a Canadian — Wacousta, or the Prophecy^ by Major Richardson, who was the author of several other books. ''J 272 THE STORY OF CANADA. the east. As one Indian woman's devotion saved Detroit, so the treachery of a Delaware girl gave Fort Miami and its little garrison to the Indians encamped on the Maumee. Holmes, the com- mandant, was her lover, and believed her when she told him that a squaw, who was seriously ill in one of the wigwams, wished to see him. He proceeded on his charitable mission, and was shot dead while about entering the place of his destination. At Michillimackinac Captain Etherington was surprised by a clever piece of strategy on the part of a body of Sacs and Ojibways, who invited him to witness a contest between them at their favourite sport of La- crosse, which in these modern times has been made the national game of Canadians. While the game was going on, the gate was left open while the offi- cers and soldiers stood in groups outside, close to the palisades, watching the Indians as they tossed the ball to and fro between the goals on the level ground opposite the fort. The squaws, wrapped in their blankets, passed in and out the fort, without attracting any attention from the interested specta- tors. Suddenly, when the game was most hotly contested, the ball was violently driven in the direc- tion of the pickets of the fort. A crowd of the sav- age players tumultuously followed the ball, and in a moment were inside the fort where they snatched weapons from the squaws. One officer and several soldiers were instantly killed, but Etherington and the remainder of the garrison were taken prisoners. Etherington and a well-known trader of the West, Alexander Henry, eventually escaped, after having ^ Period of Transition. 273 been on several occasions on the point of death. In six weeks' time from the first attack on Detroit, on the 9th of May, 1 763, all the forts in the West- ern and Ohio country had been seized and destroyed by the Indians, except Fort Pitt at the forks of the Ohio, the one at Green Bay which was abandoned, and another at Ligonicr. The garrisons were mas- sacred or made prisoners, and in many cases tortured and even eaten. The frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania were laid waste by hordes of savages, who burned the homes of the settlers, murdered a large number, and carried off many prisoners, men, women, and children, to their savage fastnesses in the western wilderness. The war never ended until Virginia and Pennsylvania — where the Quaker ele- ment still prevailed — were aroused from their apathy and gave the requisite aid to an expedition under the command of an able officer. Colonel Bouquet, who had been one of Brigadier Forbes's officers dur- ing the campaign of 1759 in the Ohio valley. He rescued P'ort Pitt, after administering to the Indians a severe defeat at Bushy Run. A year later he suc- ceeded in taking a large force into the very heart of a country where the Indians thought themselves safe from any attack of their white enemy. His un-expected appearance on the banks of the Mus- kingkum awed the Delawares, Shawanoes, and Min- goes, who gladly agreed to terms of peace, especially as they knew that Colonel Bradstreet was in their rear on the banks of Lake Erie. The prisoners, whom the Indians had taken during their raids on the frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsyl- s8 i:V 274 THE STORY OF CANADA. 4 \ S^ vania, were restored to their friends and relatives who had, in the majority of cases, never hoped to see them again. The annals of those days tell us strange stories of the infatuation which some young women felt for the savage warriors whom they had wedded in Indian fashion. Some children had for- gotten their mothers, and Parkman relates in his graphic narrative of those memorable times that one girl only recalled her childhood when she heard her distracted mother sing a song with which she had often lulled her daughter to sleep in happier days. Peace again reigned in the West. Detroit, after repulsing Pontiac so successfully, was at last relieved, and the red cross of England floated above the forts of Chartres and Vincennes, which were given up by the French. By the end of the autumn of 1765 France pos- sessed only a few acres of rock, constantly enveloped in fog, on the southern coast of Newfoundland, of all the great dominion she once claimed in North America. Pontiac now disappears from history, and is believed to have been killed by an Indian warrior of the Illinois nation, after a drunken bout at the village of Cahokia — an ignominious ending to the career of a great chief whose name was for so many months a menace to English authority in that wilderness region, which was declared in later years by an imperial statute, the Quebec Act, to be a part of Canada's illimitable domain. While this Indian war was going on, George III., in the autumn of 1763, issued a proclamation estab- lishing four new governments in North America: '#; A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 275 atives 3ed to tell us young :y had id for- in his at one ird her le had lays. , after lieved, e forts up by e pos- eloped ind, of North istory, Indian n bout ling to for so n that years a part III., estab- lerica : Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. The governors were empowered to summon general assemblies, and to make law.^ and ordinances for good government with the consent of the councils and the representatives of the pt ople, and to estab- lish courts of justice. Members elected to the pro- posed assemblies had to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the declaration against transub- stantiation. No assembly, however, ever met, as the I'Vench Canadian population were unwilling to take the test oath, and the government of the province was carried on solely by the Governor-General — Gen- eral Murray — with the assistance of an executive council, composed of certain officials and leading residents in the colony. From 1763 to 1774 the province remained in a very unsettled state, chiefly on account of the uncertainty that prevailed as to the laws actually in force. The "new subjects," or French Canadians, contended that justice, so far as they were concerned, should be administered in accordance with their ancient customs and usages. On the other hand, " the old," or English subjects, argued from the proclamation of 1763, that it was His Majesty's intention at once to abolish the old jurisprudence of the country, and to establish English law in its place. Not the least important part of the proclamation of 1763 was that relating to the Indians, who were not to be disturbed in the possession of their hunt- ing grounds. Lands could be alienated by the Indians only at some public meeting or assembly called for that special purpose by the Governor or m 276 rJ/E STORY OF CANADA. commander-in-chief where such lands were situated. This was the commencement of that just and honest pohcy towards the Indians which has ever since been followed by the government of Canada. One hun- dred and ten years later, an interesting spectacle was witnessed in the great Northwest Territory of Canada. The lieutenant-governor of the new pro- vince of Manitoba, constituted in 1870 out of the prairie lands of that rich region, met in council the representatives of the Indian tribes, and solemnly entered into treaties with them for the transfer to Canada of immense tracts of prairie lands where we now see wide stretches of fields of nodding grain. Governor Murray conducted his government on principles of justice and forbearance towards the French Canadians, and refused to listen to the unwise and arbitrary counsel of the four or five hundred " old subjects," who wished to rule the province. He succeeded in inspiring the old in- habitants of the province, or " new subjects," with confidence in his intentions. The majority of the " old subjects," who were desirous of ruling Canada, are described by the Governor in a letter to Lord Shelburne, as ** men of mean education, traders, mechanics, publicans, followers of the army," — a somewhat prejudiced statement. As a rule, how- ever, the judges, magistrates, and officials at that time were men of little or no knowledge. In 1774, Parliament intervened for the first time in Canadian affairs, and passed the Quebec Act, which greatly extended the boundaries of the pro- vince of Quebec, as defined by the proclamation of A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 277 uated. lionest c been e hun- sctacle ory of w pro- of the icil the lemnly isfer to ere we rain, ent on ds the to the 3r five le the old in- " with of the anada, Lord raders, r, -a how- it that t time : Act, e pro- ;ion of ) 1763. On one side, the province now extended to the frontiers of New England, Pennsylvania, New York province, the Ohio, and the left bank of the Mississippi; on the other, to the Hudson's Bay Territory. Labrador, Anticosti, and the Magdalen islands, annexed to Newfoundland by the proclama- tion of 1763, were made part of the province of Quebec. The Quebec Act created much debate in the House of Commons. The PLarl of Chatham, in the House of Lords, described it as "a most cruel, and odious measure." The opposition in the pro- vince was among the British inhabitants, who sent over a petition for its repeal or amendment. Their principal grievance was that it substituted the laws and usages of Canada for English law. The Act of 1774 was exceedingly unpopular in the Eng- lish-speaking colonies, then at the commencement of the revolution on account of the extension of the limits of the province so as to include the country long known as the old Northwest in American his- tory, and the consequent confinement of the Thir- teen Colonies between the Atlantic coast and the Alleghany Mountains, beyond which the hardy and bold frontiersmen of Virginia and Pennsylvania were already passing into the great valley of the Ohio. Parliament, however, appears to have been influ- enced by a desire to adjust the government of the province so as to conciliate the majority of the Canadian people at this critical time. The advice of Sir Guy Carleton. afterwards Lord Dorchester, who succeeded General Murray as Gov- 278 THE STORY OF CANADA, w4 \ ii 1 ernor-General, had much to do with the HberaHty of the Quebec Act towards the French Canadians. After a careful study of the country he came to the conclusion that the French civil law ought to be retained, although he was met by the earnest advice to the contrary of two able lawyers, Chief- Justice Hay and Attorney-General Maseres, who believed a code adopted from English and French principles was preferable. Maseres, who was of Huguenot descent and much prejudiced against Roman Cath- olics, was also an advocate of a legislative assembly to be exclusively Protestant — in other words, of giving all power practically into the hands of a small British minority. When the subject of a new Cana- dian constitution came to be discussed in England, Carleton crossed the Atlantic in 1769 and remained absent from Canada for four years. He returned to carry out the Quebec Act, which was the founda- tion of the large political and religious liberties which French Canada has ever since enjoyed. The new constitution came into force in October, 1774. It provided that Roman Catholics should be no longer obliged to take the test oath, but only the oath of allegiance. The government of the pro- vince was entrusted to a governor and a legislative council, appointed by the Crown, inasmuch as it was " inexpedient to call an assembly." This council had the power, with the consent of the Governor, to make ordinances for the good government of the province. In all matters of controversy, relative to property and civil rights, recourse should be had to the French civil procedure, whilst the law of Eng- 'i :. jr A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 279 land should obtain in criminal cases. Roman Cath- olics were permitted to observe their religion with perfect freedom, and their clergy were to enjoy their " accustomed dues and rights," with respect to such persons as professed that creed. Sir Guy Carleton nominated a legislative council or" twenty-three members, of whom eight were Ro- man Catholics. This body sat, as a rule, with closed doors ; both languages were employed in the debates, and the ordinances agreed to were drawn up in English and French. In 1776 the Governor-Gen- eral called to his assistance an advisory privy coun- cil of five members. When Canada came under the operation of the Quebec Act, the Thirteen Colonies were on the eve of that revolution which ended in the establishment of a federal republic, and had also most important influence on the fortunes of the country through which the St. Lawrence flows. ober, lid be ly the pro- lative ,t was uncil |or, to ,f the ive to lad to Eng- .% i St. XX. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION— INVASION OF CAN- ADA— DEATH OF MONTGOMERY— PEACE. I w li I. M i- ; - If 1', -.1 .'1 j i I f if (1774-1783.) The Canadian people had now entered on one of the most important periods of their history. Their country was invaded, and for a time seemed on the point of passing under the control of the congress of the old Thirteen Colonies, now in rebellion against England. The genius of an able English governor- general, however, saved the valley of the St. Law- rence for the English Crown, and the close of the war for American independence led to radical changes in the governments of British North Amer- ica. A large population, imbued with the loftiest principles of patriotism and self-sacrifice, came in and founded new provinces, and laid the basis of the present Dominion of Canada. During the revolution emphatic appeals were made to the Canadian French to join the English colonies in their rebellion against England. With a curious ignorance of the conditions of a people, 280 III i i THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 281 CAN- were iglish With :ople, (vho could not read and rarely saw a printed book, and never owned a printing-press * during the French regime, references were made by the con- gress that assembled at Philadelphia in September in 1774, to the writings of Beccaria and the spirit of the " immortal Montesquieu." The delegates attacked the Quebec Act as an exhibition of Roman Catholic tyranny at the very time they were asking the aid and sympathy of French Canadians in the struggle for independence. A few weeks later the same congress ignored the ill-advised address and appealed to the Canadians to join them on the broad grounds of continental freedom. The time, how- ever, was too short to convince the clergy and lead- ing men of the province that there was a change in the feeling of the majority in the congress with respect to the Roman Catholic religion. The mass of the French Canadians, especially in the rural dis- tricts, no doubt looked with great indifference on the progress of the conflict between the King of Eng- land and his former subjects, but in Quebec and Montreal, principally in the latter town, there were found English, as well as French-speaking persons quite ready to welcome and assist the forces of con- gress when they invaded Canada. On the other hand, the influences of the Quebec Act and of the judicious administrations of Murray and Carleton were obvious from the outset, and the bishop, Mon- seigneur Briand — who had been chosen with the silent acquiescence of the English Government — the * The first paper printed in French Canada waathe QuebucGautU which appeared in 1764. i ■ c. ft Wi If ! •^*'.' \\ s i '/ il 'W. 282 THE STORY OF CANADA. clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, and the lead- ing seigniors combined to maintain Canada under the dominion of a generous Power which had already given such undoubted guaranties for the preserva- tion of the civil and religious rights of the " new subjects." In fact, the enemies of England were to be found chiefly among the " old subjects," who had attempted to obtain an assembly in which the French Canadians would be ignored, and had been, and were still bitterly antagonistic to the Quebec Act, with its concessions to the French Canadian majority. Many of these disaffected oerscns were mere adventurers who were carrying en « ^-.ccret correspondence with the leaders of the American Revolution, and even went so far as to attempi o Cicate discontent among the French Canadians by making them believe that their liberties were in jeopardy, and that they would have to submit to forced military service, and all those exactions which had so grievously burdened them in the days of the French dominion. The habitants, ignorant and credulous, however, remained generally inert during the events which threatened ;he security of Canada. It was left to a few enlight- ened men, chiefly priests and officers of the old French service, to understand the exact nature of the emergency, and to show their appreciation of what England had done for them since the cession. When the first Continental Congress met at Phila- delphia, on September 5, 1774, the colonies were on the eve of independence as a result of the coercive measures forced on Parliament by the King's pliable ministers, led by Lord North. The " declaration," THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 283 hila- re on trcive liable however, was not finally proclaimed until nearly two years later — on July 4, 1776, — when the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves " free and independent States," absolved of their allegiance to the British Crown. But many months before this great epoch- making event, war had actually commenced on Lake Champlain. On an April day, in the now memor- able year, 1775, the " embattled farmers " had fired at Concord and Lexington, the shots " heard round the world," and a few weeks later the forts of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, then defended by very fee- ble garrisons, were in the possession of Colonial troops led by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, two of the " Green Mountain Boys," who organised this expedition. Canada was at this time in a very de- fenceless condition. Only eight hundred regular troops altogether were in the colony, very many of the English residents of Montreal and Quebec were of doubtful loyalty, the majority of the French Canadians were indifferent, and could not be in- duced to rally in any numbers to the defence of the province. Happily for the best interests of Canada at this crisis there was at the head of the administra- tion one of the ablest men who have ever been sent to Canada — a governor-general who may well be compared with Frontenac as a soldier and Lord Elgin as a statesman — and that was Sir Guy Carle- ton, the friend of Wolfe, with whom he had served at Quebec. His conciliatory attitude towards the French Canadian population, and his influence in moulding the Quebec Act, gave him great weight with the bishop and clergy 01 the Roman Catholic : rt Hu 284 THE STORY OF CANADA. W. M faith and leading men of the majority. The British Government, with culpable neglect of his warnings and appeals, left him unsupported until the very last moment, when the fate of Canada was literally trembling in the balance. In the autumn of 1775 General Montgomery, at the head of a considerable force of congress troops, captured the forts of Chambly and St. Johns on the Richelieu, and a few days later occupied Montreal, which had been hastily evacuated by Carleton, who at once recog- nised the impracticability of defending it with any chance of success, since he had an insufficient force, and could not even depend on the fealty of the inhabitants. Quebec, at this juncture, was the key to Canada, and there he determined to make his fight. He passed in the night-time the batteries which the congress troops had built at Sorel and the adjacent islands. The oars of his boat were muffled, and when in close proximity to the enemy the men used the palms of their hands. He reached Quebec safely, and at once inspired the garrison and loyal residents with his courageous spirit. He arrived not a moment too soon. General Benedict Arnold — a name discredited in history — had succeeded in reaching Quebec by the route of the Kennebec and Chaudiere rivers — a route which in early times had been followed by the Abenakis, those firm allies of the Canadians. Arnold was not able to commence any active operations against Quebec until the arriv^il of Montgomery from Montreal, with a force of fif- teen hundred men, of whom a very small number were French Canadians. At this time there were in ^' i THE AMERICAN REVOLUTlOtT, 285 Quebec only some eighteen hundred regular and militia troops, of whom over five hundred were French Canadians, under Colonel Voyer. No doubt the American commanders confidently expected to find in Quebec many active sympathisers who would sooner or later contrive to give the town into their hands, when these learned that all Canada ex- cept the capital was in the possession of the invad- ing forces. Many of their men were sick, and the artillery was insufficient for the siege of the fortress. It was decided then to attempt to seize the town by apiece of strategy, which was very simple though it had some chance of success. Arnold was well acquainted with the locality and entered heartily into the plan which was devised by Montgomery for a combined attack on Lower Town. Late at night on the 31st December, during a heavy snowstorm, Montgomery marched from Anse-au-Foulon along a rough and narrow road between the foot of Cape Diamond and the St. Lawrence, as far as Prfes-de-ville, or what is now Little Champlain Street. Arnold at the same time advanced from the direction of the St. Charles. It was arranged that the two parties should meet at the lower end of Mountain Street and force Prescott Gate, then only a rough structure of pickets. While the two bodies were carrying out this plan, attacks were made on the western side of the fortress to distract the attention of the defenders. Carleton, however, was not taken by surprise as he had had an intimation of what was likely to happen. Con- sequently the garrison was on the alert and Mont- h I 286 r//£ STORY OF CANADA. iSfi'M ! gomery's force was swept by a sudden discharge of cannon and musketry as they came to Pres-de-ville — a defile with a precipice towards the river on one side, and the scarped rock above him on the other — where all further approach to the lower town was intercepted by a battery. Montgomery, his two aides, and a considerable number of his soldiers were instantly killed. In the meantime Arnold had led his party from the St. Charles to the Sault-au-Mate- lot, where he captured the first barrier defended by two guns. Arnold was wounded in the knee, and his force was obliged to proceed without him under the command of Captain Morgan, to the attack of the second battery near the eastern end of the nar- row street, known as Sault-au-Matelot from the most early times. They succeeded in ^obtaining possession of some houses in the street, but it was not long before they were surrounded by Carleton's men and forced to surrender to the number of several hundreds. Arnold remained, during the winter, in command of the congress troops, who suffered severely from small-pox, the cold, and even want of sufficient provisions. In the spring he was superseded by General Wooster who brought with him a reinforcement, but the arrival of English frig- ates with troops and supplies, forced him to raise the siege and retire hastily to Montreal. A few weeks later General Burgoyne, with seven regi- ments, including a large German contingent under General Frederick Riedesel, arrived at Quebec, and arrangements were made for an active campaign against the rebellious colonists. Arnold found it ft' THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 287 prudent immediately to leave Montreal which was again occupied by English troops. The forts on the Richelieu were regained by the English, Carleton destroyed the congress fleet under the command of Arnold on Lake Champlain, and Crown Point was partly destroyed and abandoned by the retreating Americans. Soon after these occurrences in 1775, Carleton found to his chagrin that the command of the forces was given to Burgoyne, a much inferior man, who had influence with Lord Germain, better known in English history as that Lord George Sack- ville who had disgraced himself on the battlefield of Minden, but had subsequently found favour with the King, who made him one of his ministers, and gave him virtually the direction of the campaign in America. Carleton, however, remained Governor- General until 1778, when he was replaced at his own request by General Haldimand, a very energetic and capable man, to whom Canadian historians have, as a rule, never rendered adequate justice. During these years Carleton had his difficulties aris- ing out of the unsettled condition of things in the province, the prospects of invasion, and the antag- onism of Chief-Justice Livius, who replaced a far better man. Hey, and was himself superseded by the Governor-General on account of his efforts to weaken the authority of the government at a time when faction and rivalry should have ceased among those who wished to strengthen British interests in America. Livius appealed to the home authorities, and through the influence of Lord George Germain was reinstated, though he did not find even in this 288 THE srORV OF CANADA, '' 1 ift^^i '^ ' -Si^.^, ' ■ Hll quarter an approval in words of his own conduct, and never returned to fill his former position in Canada. It is not necessary to dwell here on the events of a war whose history is so familiar to every one. Burgoyne was defeated at Saratoga, and his army, from which so much was expected, made prisoners of war. This great misfortune of the British cause was followed by the alliance of France with the States. French money, men, and ships eventually assured the independence of the republic whose for- tunes were very low at times, despite the victory at Saratoga. England was not well served in this American war. She had no Washington to direct her campaign. Gage, Burgoyne, and Cornwallis were not equal to the responsibilities thrown upon them. Cornwallis's defeat at Yorktown on the 19th October, 1781, was the death-blow to the hopes of England in North America. This disaster led to the resignation of Lord North, whose heart was never in the war, and to the acknowledgment by England, a few months later, of tlie independence of her old colonies. Before this decisive victory in the south, the Ohio valley and the Illinois country were in the possession of the troops of congress. George Rogers Clark, the bold backwoodsman of Kentucky, captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, and gave the new States that valid claim to the west which was fully recognised in the treaty of peace. The definitive treaty of peace, which was signed in 1783, acknowledged the independence of the old English colonies, and fixed the boundaries of the u THE AMERICAN REVOLUriON. 2^9 new republic and of Canada, and laid the founda- tion of fruitful controversies in later times. The United States now controlled the territory extending in the east from Nova Scotia (which then included New Brunswick) to the head of the Lake of the Woods and to the Mississippi River in the west, and in the north from Canada to the Floridas in the south, the latter having again become Spanish possessions. The boundary between Nova Scotia and the R< public was so ill-defined that it took half a century to fix the .St. Croix and the Highlands which were by the treaty to divide the two coun- tries. In the far west the line of division was to be drawn through the Lake of the Woods " to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the River Mississippi " — a physical impossibility, since the head of the Missis- sippi, as was afterwards found, was a hundred miles or so to the south. \\\ later times this geographical error was corrected, and the curious distortion of the boundary line that now appears on the maps was necessary at the Lake of the Woods in order to strike the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, which was subsequently arranged as the boundary line as far as the Rocky Mountains. Of the difficulties that arose from the eastern boundary line I shall speak later. From 1778 until 1783 the government of Canada was under the direction of General Haldimand, who possessed that decision of character absolutely essen- tial at so critical a period of Canadian history. The Congress of the States had never despaired of obtain- ing the assistance of the French Canadians, and of 19 290 THE STORY OF CANADA, «r % bringing the country into the new republic. Haldi- mand had to arrest Du Calvet, Mesplet, and Jotard, as leaders in a seditious movement against England. Fleury Mesplet put up in Montreal the first printing- press, which gave him and his friends superior facil- ities for circulating dangerous appeals to the restless element of the population. Du Calvet was a French Protestant, in active sympathy with Congress, and had a violent controversy with Haldimand, who was, at last, forced to take severe measures against him. While on his way to England he was drowned, and the country spared more of his dangerous influence. Jotard. a French attorney, was a contributor to a paper owned by Mesplet, and a warm sympathiser with the efforts of Admiral D'Estaing and General Lafayette to win back the allegiance of the French Canadians. The appeals of these two distinguished men to the memories of the old subjects of France had no immediate effect except upon a very small class, although it might have been different had French troops made their appearance on the St. Lawrence. One Canadian priest. La Valini^re, who was connected with the seminary of St. Sulpice in Montreal, was sent to England with the approval of the bishop, for his openly expressed sympathy with France. Happily Monseigneur Briand and the great majority of the clergy stood always firm on the side of England. XXI, COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. (1783-179I.) It was during Governor Hiildimand's administra- tion that one of the most important events in the history of Canada occurred as a result of the Ameri- can war for independence. This event was the com- ing to the provinces of many thousand people, known as United Empire Loyalists, who, during the pro- gress of the war, but chiefly at its close, left their old homes in the thirteen colonies. When the Treaty of 1783 was under consideration, the British representatives made an effort to obtain some prac- tical consideration from the new nation for the claims of this unfortunate people who had been subject to so much loss and obloquy during the war. All that the English envoys could obtain was the insertion of a clause in the treaty to the effect that Congress would recommend to the legislatures of the several States measures of restitution — a provision which turned out, as Franklin intimated at the time, a per- fect nullity. The English Government subsequently 291 ■5 rf 292 THE STORY OF CANADA. 111' 1!! m 3! II ^^i indemnified these people in a measure for their self- sacrifice, and among other things gave a large num- ber of them valuable tracts of land in the provinces of British North America. Many of them settled in Nova Scotia, others founded New Brunswick and Upper Canada, now Ontario. Their influence on the political fortunes of Canada has been necessarily very considerable. For years they and their children were animated by a feeling of bitter animosity aga- i' , the United States, the effects of which could oe traced in later times when questions of difference arose between England and her former colonies. They have proved with the French Canadians a bar- rier to the growth of any annexation party, and as powerful an influence in national -and social life as the Puritan element itself in the Eastern and Western States. Among the sad stories of the past the one which tells of the exile of the Loyalists from their homes, of their trials and struggles in the valley of the St. Lawrence, then a wilderness, demands our deepest sympathy. In the history of this conti- nent it can be only compared with the melancholy chapter which relates the removal of the French population from their beloved Acadia. During the Revolution they comprised a very large, intelligent, and important body of people, in all the old colo- nies, especially, in New York and at the South, where they were in the majority until the peace. They were generally known as Tories, whilst their opponents, who supported independence, were called Whigs. Neighbour was arrayed against COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. 293 self, lum- nces :d in and e on jarily Idren Id oe rence Dnies. a bar- in d as il life n and which omes, f the s our conti- iicholy rench g the hgent, colo- outh, peace, t their were igainst neighbour, families were divided, the greatest cruel- ties were inflicted as the war went on upon men and women who believed it was their duty to be faithful to king and country. As soon as the contest was ended, their property was confiscated in several States. Many persons were banished and prohibited from returning to their homes. An American writer, Sabine, tells us that previous to the evacuation of New York, in the month of September, 1783, " up- wards of twelve thousand men, women, and children embarked at the city, at Long and Staten Islands, for Nova Scotia and the Bahamas." Very wrong impressions were held in those days of the climate and resources of the provinces to which these peo- ple fled. Time was to prove that the lot of many of the loyalists had actually fallen in pleasant places, in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Upper Can- ada; that the country, where most of them settled, was superior in many respects to the New England States, and equal to the State of New York from which so many of them came. It is estimated that between forty and fifty thou- sand people reached British North America by 1786. They commenced to leave their old homes soon after the breaking out of the war, but the great migration took place in 1783-84. Many sought the shores of Nova Scotia, and founded the town of Shelburne, which at one time held a population of ten or twelve thousand souls, the majority of whom were entirely unsuited to the conditions of the rough country around them, and soon sought homes else- where. Not a few settled in more favourable parts 294 THE STORY OF CANADA, of Nova Scotia, and even in Cape Breton. Consid- erable numbers found rest in the beautiful valley of the St. John River, and founded the province of New Brunswick. As many more laid the beginnings of Upper Canada, in the present county of Glen- garry, in the neighbourhood of Kingston and the Bay of Quinte, on the Niagara River, and near the French settlements on the Detroit. A few also set- tled in the country now known as the Eastern Town- ships of French Canada. A great proportion of the men were officers and soldiers of the regiments which were formed in several colonies out of the large loyal population. Among them were also men who had occupied positions of influence and responsibility in their respective communities, divines, judges, offi- cials, and landed proprietors, whose names were among the best in the old colonies, as they are cer- tainly in Canada. Many among them gave up valu- able estates which had been acquired by the energy of their ancestors. Unlike the Puritans who founded New England, they did not take away with them their valuable property in the shape of money and securities, or household goods. A rude log hut by the side of a river or lake, where poverty and wretchedness were their lot for months, and even years in some cases, was the refuge of thousands, all of whom had enjoyed every comfort in well-built houses, and not a few even luxury in stately man- sions, some of which have withstood the ravages of time and can still be pointed out in New England. Many of the loyalists were quite unfitted for the rude experiences of a pioneer life, and years passed Ik i: COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. 295 before they and their children conquered the wilder- ness and made a livelihood. The British Govern- ment was extremely liberal in its grants of lands to this class of persons in all the provinces. The government supplied these pioneers in the majority of cases with food, clothing, and necessary farming implements. For some years they suffered many privations; one was called " the year of fam- ine," when hundreds in Upper Canada had to live on roots, and even the buds of trees, or anything that might sustain life. Fortunately some lived in favoured localities, where pigeons and other birds, and fish of all kinds, were plentiful. In the sum- mer and fall there were quantities of wild fruit and nuts. Maple sugar was a great luxury, when the people once learned to make it from the noble tree, whose symmetrical leaf may well be made the Cana- dian national emblem. It took the people a long while to accustom themselves to the conditions of their primitive pioneer life, but now the results of the labours of these early settlers and their descend- ants can be seen far and wide in smiling fields, richly laden orchards, and gardens of old-fashioned flowers throughout the country which they first made to blossom like the rose. The rivers and lakes were the only means of communication in those early times, roads were unknown, and the wayfarer could find his way through the illimitable forests only by the help of the " blazed " trees and the course of streams. Social intercourse was infrequent except in autumn and winter, when the young managed to assemble as they always will. Love and courtship went on ■>--;ii S,i^ 296 THE STORY OF CANADA. '\n even in this wilderness, though marriage was uncer- tain, as the visits of clergymen were very rare in many places, and magistrates could alone tie the nuptial knot — a very unsatisfactory performance to the cooler lovers who loved their church, its cere- monies and traditions, as dearly as they loved their sovereign. The story of those days of trial has not yet been adequately written ; perhaps it never will be, for few of those pioneers have left records be- hind them. As we wander among the old burying grounds of those founders of Western Canada and New Brunswick, and stand by the gray, moss-cov- ered tablets, with names effaced by the ravages of years, the thought will come to us, what interesting stories could be told by those who are laid beneath the sod, of sorrows and struggles, of hearts sick with hope deferred, of expectations never realised, of memories of misfortune and disaster in another land where they bore so much for a stubborn and unwise king. Yet these grass-covered mounds are not simply memorials of suffering and privation; each could tell a story of fidelity to principle, of forgetfulness of self-interest, of devotion and self- sacrifice — the grandest story that human annals can tell — a story that should be ever held up to the ad- miration and emulation of the young men and women of the present times, who enjoy the fruits of the labours of those loyal pioneers. Although no noble monument has yet been raised to the meniory of these founders of new provinces — of English-speaking Canada ; although the majority lie forgotten in old graveyards where the grass has 11 \ ■ (■' 1 ■ COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. 297 uncer- are in ;ie the nee to s cere- d their las not -^er will rds be- >urying ,da and •ss-cov- ages of cresting )eneath 'ts sick alised, mother :)rn and ds are at ion ; )le, of d self- als can he ad- women of the 1 raised inces — ajority ass has grown rank, and common flowers alone nod over their resting-places, yet the names of all are written in imperishable letters in provincial annals. Those loyalists, including the children of both sexes, who joined the cause of Great Britain before the Treaty of Peace in 1783, were allowed the distinction of having after their name the letters U. E. to preserve the memory of their fidelity to a United Empire. A Canadian of these modern days, who traces his descent from such a source, is as proud of his line- age as if he were a Derby or a Talbot of Malahide, or inheritor of other noble names famous in the annals of the English peerage. The records of all the provinces show the great influence exercised on their material, political, and intellectual development by this devoted body of immigrants. For more than a century they and their descendants have been distinguished for the useful and important part they have taken in every matter deeply associated with the best interests of the country. In New Brunswick we find among those who did good service in their day and genera- tion the names of Wilmot, Allen, Robinson, Jarvis, Hazen, Burpee, Chandler, Tilley, Fisher, Bliss, Odell, Botsford; in Nova Scotia, Inglis (the first Anglican bishop in the colonies), Wcntworth, Bren- ton, Blowers (Chief Justice), Cunard, Cutler, Howe, Creighton, Chipman, Marshall, Halliburton, Wil- kins, Huntingdon, Jones; in Ontario, Cartwright, Robinson, Hagerman, Stuart (the first Anglican clergyman). Gamble, Van Alstine, Fisher, Grass, Butler, Macaulay, Wallbridge, Chrysler, Bethune, i ii Si •m vii) 298 THE STORY OF CANADA. Mcrritt, McNab, Crawford, Kirby, Tisdalc, and Rycrson. Among these names stand out promi- nently those of Wilmot, Howe, and Huntingdon, who were among the fathers of responsible govern- ment; those of Tilley, Tupper, Chandler, and Fisher, who were among the fathers of confederation ; of Ryerson, who exercised a most important influence on the system of free education which Ontario now enjoys. Among the eminent living descendants of U. E. Loyalists are Sir Charles Tupper, long a prominent figure in politics; Christopher Robin- son, a distinguished lawyer, who was counsel for Canada at the Bering Sea arbitration ; Sir Richard Cartwright, a liberal leader remarkable for his keen, incisive style of debate, and his knowledge of finan- cial questions ; Honourable George E. Foster, a former finance minister of Canada. We might ex- tend the list indefinitely did space permit. In all walks of life we see the descendants of the loyalists, exercising a decided influence over the fortunes of the Dominion. Conspicuous among the people who remained faithful to England during the American revolution, we see the famous Iroquois chief, Joseph Brant, best known by his Mohawk name of Thayendane- gea, who took part in the war, and was for many years wrongly accused of having participated in the massacre and destruction of Wyoming, that beaute- ous vale of the Susquehanna. It was he whom the poet Campbell would have consigned to eternal infamy in the verse : 299 p 300 THE STORY OF CANADA. " The mammoth comes — the foe, the monster, Brandt — With all his howling, desolating band ; These eyes hav% seen their blade and burning pine Awake at once, and silence half your land. Red is the cup they drink, but not with wine — Awake and watch to-night, or see no morning shine." Posterity has, however, recognised the fact that Joseph Brant was not present at this sad episode of the American war, and the poet in a note to a later edition admitted that the Indian chief in his poem was " a pure and declared character of fiction." He was a sincere friend of English interests, a man of large and statesmanlike views, who might have taken an important part in colonial affairs had he been educated in these later times. When the war was ended, he and his tribe moved into the valley of the St. Lawrence, and received from the government fine reserves of land on the Bay of Quintc, and on the Grand River in the western part of the province of Upper Canada, where the prosperous city and county of Brantford, and the township of Tyendi- naga — a corruption of Thayendanegea — illustrate the fame he has won in Canadian annals. The de- scendants of his nation live in comfortable homes, till fine farms in a bea'atiful section of Western Can- ada, and enjoy all the franchises of white men. It is an interesting fact that the first church built in Ontario was that of the Mohawks, who still preserve the communion service presented to the tribe in 1 7 10 by Queen Anne of England. General Haldimand's administration will always be noted in Canadian history for the coming of the COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. 301 t— ne." ict that isode of D a later is poem iction." ), a man ht have > had he the war /alley of :rnment and on )rovince ity and Tyendi- ustrate "he de- lomes, rn Can- en. It Duilt in preserve ribe in loyalists, and for the sympathetic interest he took in settling these people on the lands of Canada, and in alleviating their difficulties by all the means in the power of his government. In these and other matters of Canadian interest he proved conclusively that he was not the mere military martinet that some Canadian writers with inadequate information would make him. When he left Canada he was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, then elevated to the peerage as Lord Dorchester, who was called upon to take part in great changes in the constitution of Canada which must be left for review in the follow- ing chapter. always of the XXII. FOUNDATION OF NEW PROVINCES— ESTABLISH- MENT OF REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. (1792-1812.) The history of the Dominion of Canada as a self- governinij community commences with the conces- sion of representative institutions to the old provinces now comprised within its hmits. By 1792 there were provincial governments established in Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. From 17 13 to 1758 the gov- ernment of Nova Scotia consisted of a governor, or lieutenant-governor, a council possessing legislative, executive, and even judicial powers. In October, 1758, an assembly met for the first time in the town of Halifax, which had been the capital since 1749. New Brunswick had been separated from Nova Scotia in 1784, but a representative assembly did not assemble until 1786, when its form of g'^' ment was identical with that of the older prt ^e. Prince Edward Island was a part of Nova b^otia until 1769 when it was created a distinct province, 302 IS /VBLISH- ONS. s a self- conces- bvinces :re were ler and ck, and le gov- nor, or lative, ctober, e town 1749. Nova ly did 'f>' ci^')tia •vince, FOUXDAT/OX OF XFW FA'Ol'/XChS. 303 with a lieutenant-governor, a combined executive and legislative council, and also an assembly in 1773. The island of Cape Breton had a lieutenant-governor and executive council, and remained apart from Nova Scotia until 1820 when it was included in its government. In 1791 the province of Upper Can- ada was formally separated from the province of Quebec by an act of the imperial parliament, and was called Upper Canada, while the French section received the name of Lowef Canada. At that time the total population of British North America did not exceed a quarter of a million of souls, of whom at least a hundred and forty thousand lived on the banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams, and almost entirely represented the language, insti- tutions, and history of the French regime. In the French province there was also a small British pop- ulation, consisting of ofificials, commercial men, and loyalists who settled for the most part in the East- ern Townships. The population of Upper Canada, about twenty-five thousand, was almost exclusively of loyalist stock — a considerable number having migrated thither from the maritime provinces. Beyond the Detroit River, the limit of English set- tlement, extended a vast region of wilderness which was trodden only by trappers and Indians. The Constitutional Act of 1791, which created the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, caused much discussion in the British Parliament and in Canada, where the principal opposition came from the English inhabitants of the French province. These opponents of the act even sent Mr. Adam 304 THE STORY OF CANADA. ft^ff Lymburner, a Quebec merchant of high standing, to express their opinions at the bar of the Enghsh House of Commons. The advocates of the new scheme of government, however, beHeved that the division of Canada into two provinces would have the effect of creating harmony, since the French would be left in the majority in one section, and the British in the other. The Quebec Act, it was gen- erally admitted, had not promoted the prosperity or happiness of the people at large. Great uncertainty still existed as to the laws actually in force under the act. In not a few cases the judges were con- fessedly ignorant — Chief Justice Livius, for instance — of French Canadian jurisprudence. The increase of the English population was a strong argument for a grant of representative institutions. Accord- ingly the constitutional act provided for an assem- bly, elected by the people on a limited franchise, in each province, and for a legislative council, ap- pointed by the Crown. The sovereign might annex hereditary letters of honour to the right of summons to the legislative council, but no attempt was ever made to create a Canadian aristocracy, or distinct class, under the authority of this section of the act. The British Government reserved the right of impos- ing, levying, and collecting duties of customs, and of appointing or directing their payment, though it left the exclusive apportionment of all moneys levied in this way to legislature. The free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion was permanently guaran- teed. A ."seventh part of all uncleared Crown lands was reserved for the use of the Protestant clergy — a FOUNDATION OF NEW PROVINCES. 305 provision that caused much trouble in the future. The civil law of French Canada was to regulate prop- erty ,ind civil rights in that province. English crim- inal law was to prevail in both the Canadas. The Governor-General of Quebec and Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of Upper Canada were each assisted by an executive council chosen by those functionaries, and having a right to sit also in the legislative council. Lord Dorchester was the first governor-general, not only of Canada, but likewise of the other provinces by virtue of separate commissions to that effect. The heads of the executive in all the provinces except Quebec were called lieutenant-governors, but they became only directly subordinate to the gov- ernor-general when he was present in a province in his official capacity. The city where the first assembly of Lower Can- ada met in 1792 was one of great historic interest. The very buildings in which the government trans- acted its business had echoed to the tread of states- men, warriors, and priests of the old regime. The civil and military branches of the government then occupied ipartments in the old Chateau St. Louis, elevated on the brink of an inaccessible precipice. On a rocky eminence, in the vicinity of a battery close to Prescott Gate, erected in 1797, was an old stone building, generally known as the Bishop's Palace. L'ke all the ancient str.._tures of Quebec, this building had no claims to elegance of form, al- though much labour and expense had been bestowed on its construction. The chapel of this building, situated near the communication with the lower :4!-:i- 3o6 THE STORY OF CANADA. i §;■ % ill; -.'IS' town, was converted into a chamber, in which were held the first meetings of the representatives of Lower Canada. On the 17th of December, the two houses assem- bled in their respective chambers in the old palace, in obedience to the proclamation of Major-General Alured Clarke, who acted as lieutenant-governor in the absence of the governor-general. Lord Dorches- ter. Among the officers who surrounded the throne on that occasion, was probably his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, who was in command of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, then stationed in the old capital. On so momentous an occasion, the assemblage was large, and comprised all the notabilities of linglish and French society. In the legislature were not a few men whose families had long been associated with the fortunes of the colony. Chaussegros de L^ry, St. Ours, Longueuil, Lanaudiere, Rouville, Boucherville, Salaberry, and Lotbiniere, were among the names that told of the old regime, and gave a guaranty to the French Canadians that their race and institutions were at last protected in the legisla- tive halls of their country. M. Panet, a distin- guished French Canadian, was unanimously elected the speaker of the first assembly of French Canada. Now let us leave the Bishop's Palace, among the rocks of old Quebec, and visit the humble village of Newark, where Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe opened his first legislature under the new constitution in the autumn of 1792. Across the rapid river was the territory of the Republic, which was engaged in a grand experiment of government. The roar of the 1 were ves of asscm- palace, icncral rnor in Drchcs- throne ghness :he 7th :apital. ge was Lnglish ; not a ociatcd jros de )uville, among gave a ir race cgisla- distin- Iccted mad a. ng the age of pened in the the o in a f the c CO < < < C v. c C C O tn 308 THE STORY OF CANADA. jl'f mighty cataract of Niagara couid be heard in calm summer days. On the banks of this picturesque river was the residence of the lieutenant-governor, known as Navy Hall, where the legislators of Upper Canada probably met. This was but a mean par- liar., ent house, compared with the massive pile which was chosen for a similar purpose in Quebec ; and yet each was appropriate in its way. The Bishop's Palace illustrated an old community, which had aimed at the conquest of the larger part of America, and had actually laid the foundations of an empire ; the legislative cabin of Newark was a fir. type of the ruggedness and newness of western colonial life. The axe was whirring amid the for- ests, and only here and there, through a vast wil- derness, could be seen the humble clearings of the pioneers. The session was opened with the usual speech, which was duly reported to the house of assembly by the speaker, Mr. McDonnell of Glengarry, and immediately taken into consideration by the repre- sentatives of the yeomanry of the western province. It is said that on more than one occasion, the repre- sentatives were forced to leave their confined cham- ber and finish their work under the trees before the door. If the attendance was small on this occasion, it must be remembered that there were many diffi- culties to overcome before the two Houses could assemble in obedience to the governor's proclama- tion. The seven legislative councillors and sixteen members who represented a population of only 25,000 souls, were scattered at very remote points, REPRESENTA 71 FE INST/TU TIO^'S. 309 eech, lembly and repre- vince. repre- Icham- re the asion, diffi- could lama- xteen only loints, and could only find their way at times in canoes and slow sailing craft. Nor must it be forgotten that in those early days of colonisation men had the stern necessities of existence to consider before all things else. However urgent the call to public duty, the harvest must be gathered in before laws could be made. Such were the circumstances under which the legislatures were opened in the two provinces, repre- senting the two distinct races of the population. Humble as were the beginnings in the little parlia- ment house of Newark, yet we can see from their proceedings that the men, then called to do the public business, were of practical habits and fully alive to the value of time in a new country, as they sat for only five weeks and passed the same number of bills that it took seven months at Quebec to pass. The history of Canada, during the twenty years that elapsed between the inauguration of the consti- tution of 1792 and the war of 1812, does not require any extended space in this work. Lieutenant- Governor Simcoe, who had distinguished himself during the war for independence as a commander of the Queen's Rangers, was a skilful and able admin- istrator, who did his best to develop the country. It was during his regime that Toronto, under the name of York, was chosen, by the influence of Lord Dorchester, as the capital in place of Newark, which was too close to the American frontier, although the Lieutenant-Governor would have preferred the site of the present city of London, on the River 3IO THE STORY OF CANADA. ■ is i. ii f Thames, then known as La Tranche. Mainly- through his efforts a considerable immif^ration was attracted from the United States. Many of the new settlers were loyal and favourable to British institutions, but in the course of time there came into the country not a few discontented, restless persons, having radical and republican tendencies. Among the important measures of his administra- tion was an act preventing the future introduction of slaves, and providing for the freedom of children of slaves then in the province. Governor Simcoe devoted his energy not only to the peopling of the province, but to the opening up of arteries of com- munication, of which Yonge and Dundas Streets — still well-known names — were the most noted. The founder of an important settlement in the west, an eccentric Irishman of noble ancestry, Colonel Thomas Talbot, was a member of the Lieutenant- Governor's staff, and eventually made his home in the western part of the province, where he became a useful and influential pioneer. Among the most desirable immigrants were the Scotch Highlanders, who settled and named the county of Glengarry, and came to the country by the advice of the ener- getic and able priest, Macdonell, afterwards the first Roman Catholic bishop of Upper Canada. In Nova Scotia a number of Scotch settled in Pictou county as early as 1773, and were followed in later years by many others who found homes in the same district, in Antigonishe and Cape Breton, where their de- scendants are still greatly in the majority. In Prince Edward Island, Lord Selkirk, the founder of the #, JiEPKESENTA TIVE IX STI TU TIONS,, 311 Red River settlement, to whose history I shall refer in a later chapter, established a colony of thrifty Scotch in one of the deserted settlements of the nant- mc in came most ders, garry, ener- e first Nova Dunty rs by trict, r de- rince f the LIEUTKNANT-GENKkAL SIMCOE. French. Charlottetown was founded in those days on the bay first known as Port La Joye, and is now a pleasing example of the placid di^^nity and rural tranquillity that a capital may attain even in these restless modern times. In this island, the seeds of 312 THE STORY OF CAXADA. t|: discontent were planted at a very early time by the transfer of nearly all its lands in one day by ballot to a few English landlords, whose absenteeism long retarded its advancement, and whose claims of proprietorship were not settled until after the con- federation of the provinces. The political condition of the provinces from the beginning of the nineteenth century began to assume considerable importance according as the assemblies became discontented with their relatively small share in the government of the country. In all the prov- inces there was a persistent contest between the popular assemblies and prerogative, as represented by the governors, and upper houses appointed by the same authority. Charles the First, with all his arrogance, never treated his parliament with greater superciliousness than did Sir James Craig, when governor-general, on more than one occasion when the assembly had crossed his wishes. In the absence of a ministry responsible to the assembly, a conflict was always going on between that body and the representative of the Crown. The assembly began now to claim full control over the taxes and reve- nues which belonged to the people of the provinces. The presence of judges in the legislature was a just cause for public discontent for years, and although these high functionaries were eventually removed from the assembly they continued to sit in the upper house until 1840. The constant interference of the Imperial Government in matters of purely local concern also led to many unfortunate misun- derstandings. )V the ballot 1 long ms of e con- »iTi the .ssLune mblies 1 share : prov- en the sented ted by all his greater when when bsence onilict d the beL^an reve- inces. a just lough moved n the erence purely nisun- REPRESENTA Tl VE INS 71 TU TIONS, 313 In Lower Canada, where the population was the largest, and the racial distinctions strongly accentu- ated, the political conflict was, from the outset, more bitter than in other sections. The official class, a little oligarchy composed exclusively of per- sons brought from the British Isles, treated the French Canadians with a studied superciliousness, and arrogated to themselves all the important func- tions of government. This element dominated the executive and legislative councils, and practically the governors, who, generally speaking, had extreme views of their prerogative, and were cognisant of the fact that the colonial office in England had no desire to entrust the Canadian Government with much larger powers than those possessed by a municipal organisation. In the assembly the French Canadi- ans were largely in the majority — the English ele- ment had frequently not more than one-fifth of the total representation of fifty members. The assem- bly too often exhibited a very domineering spirit, and attempted to punish all those who ventured to criticise, however moderately, their proceedings. The editor of the Quebec Mercury, an organ of the British minority, was arrested on this ground. Le Canadien was established as an organ of the French Canadian majority with the motto, Nos institutions, notre langue, et nos his. By its constant attacks on the government and the English governing class it did much harm by creating and perpetuating racial antagonisms and by eventually precipitating civil strife. As a result of its attacks on the government, the paper was seized, and the printer, as well as M. 314 THE STORY OF CANADA. Bedard and several other members of the assembly who were understood to be contributors to its pages, or to control its opinions, were summarily arrested by the orders of Sir James Craig. Though some of these persons obtained their release by an expression of regret for their conduct, M. Bedard would not yield, and was not released until the Governor- General himself gave up the fight and retired to England where he died soon afterwards, with the consciousness that his conduct with respect to Bedard, and other members of the assembly, had not met with the approval of the Imperial authori- ties, although he had placed the whole case before them by the able agency of Mr. Ryland, who had been secretary for, years to successive governors- general, and represented the opinions of the ruling oflficial class. In Upper Canada there were no national or racial antipathies and rivalries to stimulate political differ- ences. In the course of time, however, antagonisms grew up between the Tories, chiefly old U. E. Loy- alists, the official class, and the restless, radical element, which had more recently come into the country, and now desired to exercise political influ- ence. Lieutenant-governors, like Sir Francis Gore, sympathised with the official class, and often with reason, as the so-called radical leaders were not always deserving of the sympathy of reasonable men. One of these leaders was Joseph Willcocks, for some time sheriff of the Home district — one of the four judicial divisions of the province — and also the proprietor and editor of the Upper Canada Giiar-^ h'F.rA'f':sK,\ ' T.I ri ve l\s ri tu t/ons. .^«5 racial differ- nisms Loy- adical o the influ- Gore, with not nable ocks, ne of also diatiy the second paper printed in Upper Canada — the first havin^r been the Upper Canada Gazette, or the Avwrican Oracle, which appeared at Newark on the i8th April, 1793. He was a dangerous agitator, not worthy of public confidence, but he was able to evoke some sympath}-, and pose as a political mar- tyr, on account of the ill-advised conduct of the majority of the assembly ordering his arrest for expressing some unfavourable opinion of their pro- ceedings in his paper. In the maritime provinces the conflict between the executive and the assemblies was less aggravated than in the St. Lawrence country, although Sir John Wentworth, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, who had been a governor of New Hampshire before the revolution, had a very exalted idea of the prerogative, and succeeded in having an acrimonious controversy with Mr. Cottnam Tonge, the leader of the popular party, and the predecessor of a far greater man, Joseph Howe, the father of responsible government. Such, briefly, was the political condition of the sev- eral provinces of British North America when events occurred to stifle discontent and develop a broader patriotism on all sides. The War of 1812 was to prove the fidelity of the Canadian people to the British Crown and stimulate a new spirit of self- reliance among French as well as English Canadians, who were to win victories which are among the most brilliant episodes of Canadian history. ^^ XXIII. THE WAR OF 1812-181 5— PATRIOTISM OF THE CANADIANS. At the outbreak of the unfortunate War of 1812 the United States embraced an immense territory extending from the St. Lawrence valley to Mexico, excepting Florida — which remained in the possession of Spain until 1819— and from the Atlantic indefi- nitely westward to the Spanish possessions on the Pacific coast, afterwards acquired by the United States. The total population of the Union was up- wards of eight million souls, of whom a million and a half were negro slaves in the south. Large wastes of wild land lay between the Canadian settlements and the thickly populated sections of New England, New York, and Ohio. It was only with great diffi- culty and expense that men, munitions of war, and provisions could be brought to the frontier during the contest. The principal causes of the war are quite intelli- gible to the historical student. Great Britain was engaged in a great conflict not only for her own national security but also for the integrity of Eu- ^x6 THE WAR OF 1812-1815, 317 THE rope, then dominated by the insatiable ambition of Bonaparte. It was on the sea that her strength mainly lay. To ensure her maritime supremacy, she found it necessary, in the course of events, to seize and condemn neutral American vessels whenever there was conclusive evidence that their cargoes were not the produce of the United States, but had been actually bought in an enemy's colony and were on their way to the mother country. Hut such an interruption of a commerce, which had been carried on for years at a great profit by American mer- chants, was by no means so serious an affair as the stoppage of American vessels on the high seas, and the forcible abduction and impressment, by British naval officers, of sailors who were claimed as British subjects, even when they had been naturalised in the United States. To such an extent did Great Britain assert her pretensions, that one of her frig- ates, the Leopard, actually fired into the American cruiser Chesapeake, off the coast of the bay of the same name, and made prisoners of several men who were claimed as deserters from an English man-of- war — a national outrage for which Great Britain subsequently made an apology and gave a measure of reparation. Then came the British orders in council which forbade American trade with any country from which the British flag was excluded, allowed direct trade from the United States to Swe- den only in American products, and permitted American trade with other parts of Europe only on condition of touching at English ports and paying duties. Napoleon retaliated with decrees which .va •/•///■; .S/V)A' )■ ('/ C.IX l/Kl. W' \\v\v |)i.u iii .ill\' fiililc wliilf l'-i^;liiii(l was vicloi ions OP I lie (K cm. hill wliiih lu \ /■ I Si.' iSii^. VO <.r at al)|, and of Ilarrison in I.Sii, when the Indian power was elleet ively hrokeii, t his bitter sent inieiit still existed in t he West: aMaiir.t. I'ji^^lish and Canadians, and liad nitu h influence with the politicians who favouretl the war. The Southern leaders, ( ;iay of Kentucky and ("al- lioun of Sfiiith ("arolina, were; most inimical to \'a\^[- lancl, and succc;eded in forcinj.^ Madison to a^ree to a declaration of war, as a c ondition to his re-election to the: presidency, Tlie coiisefpieiice of tills suc- cessful harj^ain was tiie passa^^e of a war measure l)y CoiiL^ress as soon as iVIadison issued his message, and the formal declaration of hostilities on tiur i.Stli of Juncr, lwcd, had that ion — from hi de- Mi led the mted not only sympathy but probably some active co-opera- tion in the western country as soon as the armies of the Republic appeared on Canadian soil and won, as they confidently expected, an easy victory over the small force which could be brought to check inva- sion and defend the province. General Hull's proc- lamation, when he crossed the Detroit River at the commencement of hostilities, was so much evidence of the belief that was entertained in the United States with regard to the fealty of the Canadians. Willcocks proved himself a disloyal man, for he eventually joined tiie American forces and fell fight- ing against the country which he and a very small disaffected class would willingly have handed to a foreign invader. Tlie forces at the disposal of ^\v^ Canadian authorities certainly appeared to be inadequate for the defence of a country with so long and exposed a frontier. In the provinces of Canada there were, in 1812, only four thousand five hundred regular troops, and of these hardly one-third were stationed above Montreal. The Canadian militia, nowever, rallied with extraordinary readiness to the call of the authorities. The majority of the loyal population that had come into the country had been engaged in military services, and even the old set- tlers, who were exempted from active duty, volun- tarily came forward, and exercised, as General Sheaffe, said, " a happy influence on the youth of the militia ranks." The legislative bodies of all the provinces responded liberally to the call of the exec- utive and placed at the ch'sposal of the government all their resources. Army bills were issued to a ai 322 THE STORY OF CANADA. large amount, and found a most valuable currency throughout the war. During the first year of the war, there was a con- tinuous record of success for Canada. The key to the upper lakes, Michillimackinac, was captured and held by a small force of English regulars and Cana- dian voyageurs. The immediate consequence of this victory was to win the confidence and alliance of the western Indians, then led by Tecumseh, the famous Shawanoese chief, who had been driven from Tippecanoe by General Harrison. Then followed the capitulation of General Hull and his army, who had invaded Canada and were afterwards forced to retreat to Detroit, where they surrendered to Gen- eral Brock with a mus.h inferior force. By this capitulation, which led to the disgrace and nearly to the execution of Hull on his return to his own coun- try, the whole territory of Michigan, over two thou- sand five hundred troops, and a large quantity of munitions of war and provisions fell into the posses- sion of the British. The next important event of this memorable year was the defeat of the attempt of Van Rensselaer to occupy Queenston Heights, with the object of establishing there a base of future operations against Upper Canada. The Americans were routed with great loss and many of the men threw themselves down the precipice and were drowned in the deep and rapid river. At the begin- ning of the battle, General Brock was unhappily slain while leading his men up the heights, and the same fate befell his chivalrous aide-de-camp. Colonel McDonell, the attorney-general of the province. It rency a con- cey to d and Cana- ice of lliance h, the n from Uowed y, who reed to o Gen- >y this larly to \ coun- ) thou- itity of posses- ent of tempt eights, future ericans e men were begin- appily nd the olonel ce. It MAJOR-flKNKRAI, URdcK. 3-i I I? « 324 THE STORY OF CANADA, was left for General Shcaffe to complete the victory, which gave many prisoners to the English force, and drove the remainder of the beaten American army across the beautiful river. General Smyth, a most incompetent man, who succeeded to the command of the American army on the resignation of Van Rensselaer, subsequently attempted to storm and carry Fort P2rie, but Colonel Bissho})p successfully held this important post, which controlled the outlet of Lake Erie into the Niai^ara River. When the campaign closed, in 18 12, Canada was free from the invader, chiefly through the energy and sagacity with which the gallant General Brock had made his preparations to repel invasion. In 181 3 the campaign commenced with a signal victory by General Procter, who was in command at Detroit, over a considerable American force at Frenchtown, on the Raisin River, under the com- mand of Brigadier Winchester. Then came a suc- cessful attack by Colonel McDonnell on Ogdensburgh (La Presentation of the French regime), in retalia- tion for raids on Gananoque and Elizabethtown, sub- sequently named Brockville — now a beautiful city near the Thousand Isles — in honour of the gallant soldier who perished on the heights of Queenston. Commodore Chauncey, in command of a small American fleet organised at Sackett's Harbour, an important base of naval and military operations for the Americans, attacked the little capital of York, now Toronto, which was evacuated by General Sheaffe, then administrator of the government, who retired to Kingston, the strongest position THE WAR OF 1812-1815. 325 to the west of Montreal. Tlic invaders burnt the legislative and other public buildings. The small library and public records were not even spared by the pillaging troops. No precautions had been taken by Sheaffe to improve defences which at the best were of little strength. During the sum- mer, the American army was so much superior to the English forces that they were able to occupy the whole Niagara frontier from Fort Erie to Fort George, both of which were captured by General Dearborn. Major-General Vincent, the English commander, was compelled to retire to Burling- ton Heights, overlooking the present city of Hamil- ton. Sir George Prevost, who proved himself a most irresolute and incapable commander-in-chief, retreated ignominiously from Sackett's Harbour, althouijh v.'ommodore Chauncev and his fleet were absent and the j)()st was defended by only a small garrison. This discreditable failure, which cannot be in any way excused, was soon forgotten when the news came of the success of Colonel Harvev, after- wards a lieutenant-governor of the maritime prov- inces, at Stoney Creek, quite close to l^urlington Bay. With an insignificant detachment from Vin- cent's main body, Harvey succeeded in surprising at night a large American force, commanded by Brigadiers Chandler and Winder, both of whom, as well as one hundred officers and men, were taken prisoners. This serious disaster and the approach of Admiral Yeo's fleet from the eastward forced the invading army to retire to Fort George, where they concentrated their strength, after abandoning Fort 326 r//£ STORY OF CANADA. Erie and other posts on the frontier. It was during the campaign of this year that Laura Secord, the courageous daughter of a sturdy loyaUst stock which has given the name of Ingersoll to a Canadian town, afforded a memorable example of the devotion which animated Canadian women in these years of trial. General Dearborn had ordered Colonel Boerstler to surprise and attack the Canadian outposts at Twelve Mile Creek, now St. Catharine's, and at DeCeu's farm, close to the present town of Thorold. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, with a picket of thirty men, was stationed at De Ceu's. A Canadian militiaman, James Secord, who lived at Queenston, heard of the proposed attack, but as he had been severely wounded in the attack on Queenston Heights in the previous Oc- tober, he was unable to warn Fitzgibbon. His wife, a woman of nearly forty years, volunteered for the hazardous duty, and started at dawn for a journey of twenty miles, through dense woods, where the paths were few and had to be avoided for fear of meeting American marauders or suspicious Indians who might take her for a spy. It took her all day to reach her destination, where she first disturbed an encampment of Indians who received her with yells, which dismayed her for the moment. How- ever, she was taken to the commanding of^cer, who made his arrangements immediately to surprise Boerstler, who soon made his appearance with five hundred men at least. The Americans were forced to surrender to what they believed was a vastly superior force, so cleverly had Fitzgibbon , ucceeded in deceiving them. In fact, he had only at first III' THE WAR OF 1 8l 2-1 8 I 5, 327 thirty soldiers, and two hundred and forty Indians, and when ;i captain and twenty troopers of the Chippewa cavalry came up Boerstler was quite ready to surrender. All the successes in the west, however, were now rendered worthless by the unfortunate defeat at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie of the English flotilla under Captain Barclay, by Commodore Perry, who had command of a large number of vessels, with a superior armament and equipment. The result of this victory was to give the control of Lake Erie and of the State of Michigan to the Americans. Proc- ter retreated from Detroit, and was defeated near Moraviantown, an Indian village, about sixty miles from Sandwich, by General Harrison, who had defeated Tecumseh in the northwest, and now added to his growing fame by his victory over the English army, who were badly generalled on this occasion. Tecumseh, the faithful ally of the Canadians, fell in the battle, and his body was treated with every indignity, his skin, according to report, having been carried off to Kentucky as a trophy. Procter fell into disgrace, and was subsequently replaced by Colonel de Rottenburg. On his return to England, Piocter was tried by court-martial, suspended from his rank for six months, and censured by the com- mander-in-chief. Passing by such relatively unimportant affairs as a successful attack on Black Rock, near Buffalo, by Colonel Bisshopp, and a second attack on York by Chauncey, who took some prisoners and a quantity of stores, we have now to state other facts in the 328 THE STORY OF CANADA. history of the campaign of 1813 whicli compensated Canada for Procter's disasters in the west. The Americans had decided to make an attack on Mon- treal by two forces — one coming by the St. Law- rence and the other by Lake Champhiin — which were to form a junction at Chateauguay on Lake St. Louis. General Wilkinson, with eight thousand men, descended the river from Sackett's Harbour, landed below Prescott, and then proceeded towards Cornwall. Some two thousand five hundred men, under Colonel Boyd, protected the rear of the main body, and was compelled to fight a much inferior force,, under Colonel Morrison, on Chrystler's farm, near what is now known as Cook's Point on the north bank of the St. Lawrence. The Americans gave way in all directions, and sustained a heavy loss. Boyd rejoined Wilkinson at the foot of the Long Sault rapids, in the neighbourhood of the present town of Cornwall, and here the news arrived that General Hampton had received a serious repulse. Hampton, leading an army of probably seven thousand men, had been routed near the junction of the Chateauguay and Outarde rivers by an insignificant force of Canadian Fencibles and Voltigeurs under Colonel de Salaberry, a French Canadian in the English military service, with the aid of Colonel McDonnell, in command of seven com- panies of Lower Canadian militia. These combined forces did not exceed nine hundred men, all French Canadians, with the exception of Colonel McDonnell and several other officers. Three hundi d French Canadian Voltigeurs and I^^encibles forir ,d the front TlfE WAR OF rSrj-iSi^^. 329 of tlic line, aiul when llic former ijjave way to the onshuight of the four thousaiul men who advanced against them Salaberry held his ground with a ably the by and nch the com- ined encli inell J nch ront COLONKL 1)K HAI.ABERRY. bugler, a mere lad, and made him sound lustily. Colonel McDonnell, with a remarkably keen under- standing of the situation, immediately ordered his buglers to play, and to continue doing so while they scattered in the woods. As the woods echoed IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ^ ilM IIIM •-" IIIM |||||Z2 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 4 6" ► vz tHE WAR OF 1 8l 2-1 8 IS- 337 the the services of the gallant soldiers, Brock and Mc- Doncll, whose remains rest beneath. A beautiful village, beyond which stretches historic Lundy's Lane, recalls the name and deeds of Drummond. As the steamer.^ pass up and down the St. Lawrence they see on the northern bank the obelisk which the Canadian Government has raised on the site of the battlefield where Morrison defeated Boyd. On the meadows of Chateauguay, another monument has been erected by the same national spirit in honour of the victory won by a famous representative of the French Canadian race, who proved how courage- ously French Canadians could fight for the new regime under which they were then, as now, so happy and prosperous. sa iteful such imen- iseh, and lames len, Ispic- Inent icalls m 0> m XXIV. POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. (1815-I84O.) 3 m *J. The history of the twenty-five years between the peace of 181 5 and the union of the Canadas in 1840, ilkistrates the folly and misery of faction, when in- tensified by racial antagonisms. In Lower Canada the difficulties arising from a constant contest for the supremacy between the executive and legislative authorities were aggravated by the fact that the French Canadian majority dominated the popular house, and the English-speaking minority controlled the government. " I found," wrote Lord Durham, in 1839, " t^^<^ nations warring in the bosom of a single state; I found a struggle not of principles but of races." It is true that some Englishmen were found fighting for popular liberties on the side of the French Canadian majority. Mr. John Neilson, who was for years editor of the Quebec Gazette, was a friend of the French Canadians, and in close sym- pathy with the movement for the extension of pub- lic rights, but he was never prepared to go beyond 338 I'Ol.ll'ICAI. STNlll: AX/) N EHhl.l.lON. 339 the Icj^itimatc limits of constitutional imitation and threaten Hritisii connexion. ( )n the other hand, Dr. Wolfrecl Nelson, descended from a loyalist stock, was one of the leaders of the majority that controlled the assembly (A Lower Canada, and did not hesitate to join in the rebellion to which his rash and impetuous chief, Louis Joseph Papineau, led him at last. lUit while undoubtedly there were many persons amonj^ the British people, who were distrusted with the arrogance of some of the j^overn- inj^ class, and discontented with the methods (jf government, they were <^nadually alienated by the tlema^o<.fisn) of the i'Vench Canadian majority, who ilid not hesitate to profi^ss their desire to make I'Vench Canada exclusivity a i'rench dominion. The tyranny of the majority was exhibited in the assembly by the attempt to impeach Chief Justices Sevvell and Monk, on charges which had no justifi- cation in law or justice. Mr. Robert Christie, the member for Gasp6, who subscc[uenlly wrote a useful history of Lower Canada, was ex[)elled several times because he was believed to have procured the dis- missal from the maj^istracy of some members of the assembly who were inimical to the executive gov- ernment. On the other hand, Lord iJalhousie, the ^overnor-<^cneral, in itainccl icd the jivc up rics of :onflict lot ap- iibly at c voted ' islativo . The w liich 1 i;riev- layin<,v onsible 1(1 ably m Re- M)vern- of the intro- parlia- ited a L,niev- them. head )ineau ten to In the I which Indred Rus- POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 343 sell carried in the English House of Commons a series of resolutions, rejecting the demand for an elective legislative council and other changes in the constitution, and empowering the executive govern- ment to defray the expenses of the public service out of the territorial and casual revenues. This action of the imperial government increased the public discontent, and gave an opportunity to Papi- neau and his followers to declare that no redress of grievances could be obtained except by a resort to arms. In this year the rebellion broke out, but before I refer to it, it is necessary to review briefly the condition of things in the other provinces. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the disputes between the executive and legislative authorities were characterised by much acrimony, but eventu- ally the public revenues were conceded to the as- semblies. In Prince Edward Island the political difficulties arose from the land monopoly, and the efforts of the lieutenant-governors to govern as much as possible without assemblies. In these provinces, as in Canada, we find — to cite Lord Dur- ham — " representative government coupled with an irresponsible executive, the same abuse of the powers of the representative bodies, and the same constant interference of the imperial administration in matters which should be left wholly to the pro- vincial governments. " In the maritime provinces, however, no disturbance occurred, and the leaders of the popular party were among the first to assist the authorities in their efforts to preserve the public tranquillity, and to express themselves emphatically in favour of the British connection, P'h i 344 TJ/E STORY OF CANADA. In Upper Canada an official class held within its control practically the gov^ermnent of the province. This class became known, in the parlance of those days, as the " family compact," not quite an accu- rate designation, since its members had hardly any family connection, but there was just enough ground for the term to tickle the taste of the people for an epigrammatic phrase. The bench, the pulpit, the banks, the public offices were all more or less under the influence of the '* C(^mpact." The public lands were lavishly parcelled out among themselves and their followers. Successive governors, notably Sir Francis Gore, Sir Peregrine Maitland, and Sir Fran- cis Bond Head, submitted first to its influence and allowed it to have the real direction of affairs. Among its most prominent members were John Beverly Robinson, for some years attorney-general, and eventually an able chief-justice, and the recipi- ent of a baronetage; William Dummer Powell, a chief-justice; John Henry Boulton, once attorney- general ; John Strachan, the first bishop of the Epis- copal Church in Upper Canada; Jonas Jones, the Sherwoods, and other well-known names of resi- dents of York, Niagara, Kingston, and Brockville. It was not until ivince. those \ accu- ly any rround for an it, the , under c lands OS and bly Sir r Fran- icc and affairs. z John encral, rccipi- vcU, a orncy- Epis- s, the for obtaining the notoriety that he coveted. In the course of some inquiries he made in connexion with a statistical work he pubHshed in later years, he touched on some points which exposed the land monopoly and other abuses. He was immediately declared by the "compact" to be a dangerous per- son, who must be curbed by some means or other. He was tried on two occasions for libelling the gov- ernment, but acquitted. Then his enemies conspired to accuse him most unjustly of being a seditious and dangerous person, who came under the terms of an alien act passed in 1804. He was arrested and kept in prison for seven months. When he was at last tried at Niagara, the home of Toryism, he was a broken-down man, hardly in full possession of his senses. A severe judge and prejudiced jury had no pity, and he was forced to leave the province, to which he did not return until happier times. The injustice which was meted out to a man who had thrown some light on public corruption, stimulated the opponents of the " family compact " to united action against methods so dangerous to individual liberty and so antagonistic to the redress of public grievances. The disputes between the reformers and the " family compact " were aggravated by the ** clergy reserves " question, which was largely one between the Episcopalians and the dissenting bodies. This question grew out of the grant to the Protestant Church in Canada of large tracts of land b/ the im- perial act of 1 791, and created much bitterness of feeling for a quarter of a century and more. The ^!-' ( Iff I h wy :i 346 r//£ STOHY OF CANADA. reformers found in this question abundant material for exciting the jealousies of all the Protestant sects who wished to see the Church of England and the Church of Scotland deprived of the advantages which they alone derived from this valuable source of revenue. The British Government for years were on the side of the " family compact," whose lead- ing adherents belonged to the Church of England, and who opposed every effort that was made to dis- pose of these lands for the support of education and other public purposes. The Methodists, who out- numbered the Church of England, had for years an additional grievance in the fact that their minis- ters were not allowed to solemnise marriages, and it was not until 1829 that this disability was removed by the legislature. Among the minds that dominated the " family compact " was the eminent divine, John Strachan, who was originally a Presbyterian, and came to the country as a teacher at the request of the Honour- able Richard Cartwright, a prominent U. E. Loyal- ist, but eventually joined the Episcopalian Church, and became its bishop. Like his countryman, John Knox, he had extraordinary tenacity of purpose and desire for rule. He considered the interests of the Church as paramount to all other considerations. He became both an executive and a legislative councillor, and largely moulded the opinions and acts of the governing classes. It was chiefly through his influence that Sir John Colborne established a number of rectories out of the clergy reserves, and thereby gave additional offence to those religious bell, M.L.C., commissioner of crown lands ; Hon. Jean C. Chapais, M.L.C, commissioner of public works ; Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee, M.P.P., minister of agriculture; Hon. Hector L. Langevin, M.P.P., solicitor-general for Lower FEDERAL UNION. 373 mbly. d rep- \an of I most ^oronto :treine Dsition r, once - of his ho had a Cou- nt of a , Chief- lit, and >e prov- t- of the laritime and iders of out this e repre- 1864 in wing posi- \ex \ Hon. Canada ; of Lower er.ecutive ter ; Hon. In lands ; lie works ; riicuUure ; tor Lower the historic city of Quebec, and after a deUberation of several \veelf scttlc- ucrative tl\c Red ilt lH)rt it city of Fort La iiitcrpris- who had Mdward on's Bay r a hun- Ivhich he he banks Id Scotch ompany of Lord uence in of the jDou'^las |n chart^e [he news hastened aid of [Canada, leded in brinj^ing to a trial at York several partners and per- sons in the service of tlie Northwest Company on the charges of " higii treason, murder, robbery, and conspiracy," but in all cases the accused were ac- quitted. The Northwest Company had great influ- ence at this time throughout Canada, and by their instigation actions were brought against Lord Sel- kirk for false imprisonment, and for consj)iring to ruin the trade of the comi)any, and he was mulcted in heavy damages. Two years later Lord Selkirk died in France, and then the two companic.-s, which had received great injury thrf)ugh their rivalry, were amalgamated, and the old Hudson's Hay Company reigned su[)reme in this region until 1870. The Ked River settlement became the headquarters of the company, who established in i 55 H ■< O « < H Q o < > oi -f, O H a: o SSBSSi^ ^ '■•\r . ' 390 T//fi: STOKY OF CANADA. associates soon found themselves at the head and front of the whole rebellious movement, as the Brit- ish settlers, while disapproving of the action of the Canadian Government, were not prepared to support the seditious designs of the French Canadian Mdtis. Ricl became president, and made prisoners of Dr. Schultz, in later times a lieutenant-governor of the new province, and of a number of other liritish set- tlers who were now anxious to restore order and come to terms with the Canadian Government, who were showing every disposition to arrange the diffi- culty. In the meantime Mr. McDougall issued a proclamation which was a mere brutuui fiibncii, and then went back to Ottawa, where he detailed his grievances and soon afterwards disappeared from public life. The Canadian authorities by this time recognised their mistake and entered into negotia- tions with Red River delegates, representing both the loyal and rebellious elements, and the result was most favourable for the immediate settlcmeait of the difficulties. At this critical juncture the Canadian Government had the advantage of the sage counsels of Sir Donald Smith, then a promi- nent official of the Hudson's Bay Company, who at a later time became a prominent figure in Canadian public life. Chiefly through the instrumentality of Archbishop Tach^, whose services to the land and race he loved can never be forgotten by its people, an amnesty was promised to those who had taken part in the insurrection, and the troubles would have come to an end had not Riel, in a moment of recklessness, characteristic of his real nature, tried KIEL'S REBELLIONS, 391 icad and the Brit- :)n of the ) support in MiUis. -s of Dr. lor of the ritish set- rdcr and lent, who the diffi- issued a bncn, and tailed his .red from this time ) negotia- ting both he result lettlemojit ture the e of the a promi- , who at Canadian ntality of land and s people, lad taken es would oment of lure, tried one Thomas Scott by the veriest mockery of a court-martial on account of some severe words he had uttered against the rebels' government, and had him mercilessly shot outside the fort. As Scott was a native of Ontario, and an Orangeman, his murder aroused a widespread feeling of indignation throughout his native province. The amnesty which was promised to Archbishop Tach^', it is now quite clear, never contemplated the pardon of a crime like this, which was committed subsequently. The Canadian Government were then fully alive to the sense of their responsibilities, and at once de- cided to act with resolution. In the spring of 1870 an expedition was organised, and sent to the North- west under the command of Colonel Garnet Wol- seley, now a peer, and commander-in-chief of the British army. This expedition consisted of five hundred regulars and seven hundred Canadian volunteers, who reached Winnipeg after a most wearisome journey of nearly three months, by the old fur-traders* route from Thunder Bay, through an entirely unsettled and rough country, where the portages were very numerous and laborious. Tow- ards the end of August the expedition reached their destination, but found that Riel had fled to the United States, and that they had won a blood- less victory. Law and order henceforth prevailed in the new territory, whose formal transfer to the Canadian Government had been completed some months before, and it was now formed into a new province, called Manitoba, with a complete system of local government, and including guaranties with 392 THE STONY OF CANADA. respect to education, as in the case of the old prov- The first lieutenant- Mr. Adj jovernor was Archibald, a Nova Scotian lawyer, who was one of the members of the Quebec conference, and a states- man of much discretion. Representation was also given immediately in the two houses of the Domin- ion parliament. Subsequently the vast territory outside of the new prairie province was divided into six districts for purposes of government : Alberta, Assiniboia, Athabasca, Keewatin, and Saskatche- wan. Keewatin is under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, but the other dis- tricts have an assembly and a lieutenant-governor whose seat of government is Regina, though the people do not yet enjoy responsible government. In 1896 four new provisional districts were marked out in the great northern unsettled district under the names of Franklin, Mackenzie, Yukon, and Ungava. In the course of a few years a handsome, well- built city arose on the site of old Fort Garry, and with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Rail- way — a national highway built with a rapidity remarkable even in these days of extraordinary commercial enterprise — and the connection of the Atlantic sea-board with the Pacific shores, villages and towns have extended at distant intervals across the continent, from Port Arthur to Vancouver, the latter place an instance of western phenomenal growth. Stone and brick buildings of fine architec- tural proportions, streets paved and lit by electricity, huge elevators, busy mills, are the characteristics of R/EL'S REBELLIONS. 393 d prov- Adams one of . statcs- ^as also Domin- crritory led into \lberta, jkatche- of the ;her dis- ^ovcrnor » ugh the rnment. marked ct under on, and le, well- ry, and nc Rail- rapidily rdinary of the villages s across yer, the omenal rchitec- tricity, sties of some towns where only yesterday brooded silence, and the great flowery stretches of prairie were only crushed by the feet of wandering Indians and voyageurs. Fourteen years after the formation of the prov- ince of Manitoba, whilst the Canadian Pacific Rail- way was in the course of construction, the peace of the territories was again disturbed by risings of half- breeds in the South Saskatchewan district, chiefly at Duck Lake, St. Laurent, and Batoche. Many of these men had migrated from Manitoba to a country where they could follow their occupation of hunting and fishing, and till little patches of ground in that shiftless manner characteristic of the M^tis, The total number of half-breeds in the Saskatchewan country were probably four thousand, of whom the majority lived in the settlements just named. These people had certain land grievances, the exact nature of which it is not easy even now to ascertain ; but there is no doubt that they laboured under the delusion that, because there was much red-tapeism and some indifference at Ottawa in dealing with their respective claims, there was a desire or intention to treat them with injustice. Conscious that they might be crowded out by the greater energy and enterprise of white settlers — that they could no longer depend on their means of live- lihood in the past, when the buffalo and other game were plentiful, these restless, impulsive, illiterate people were easily led to believe that their only chance of redressing their real or fancied wrongs was §uch a rising as had taken place on the Red River in 394 THE STORY OF CANADA, 'I ■ ■ 1869. It is believed that English settlers in the Prince Albert district secretly fomented the rising with the hope that it might also result in the estab- lishment of a province on the banks of the Saskatch- ewan, despite its small population. The agitators among the half-breeds succeeded in bringing Riel into the country to lead the insurrection. He had been an exile ever since 1870, and was at the time teaching school in Montana. After the rebellion he had been induced to remain out of the Northwest by the receipt of a considerable sum of money from the secret service fund of the Dominion Govern- ment, then led by Sir John Macdonald. In 1874 he had been elected to the House of Commons by the new constituency of Provencher in Manitoba; but as he had been proclaimed an outlaw, when a true bill for murder was found against him in the Mani- toba Court of Queen's Bench, and when he had failed to appear for trial, he was expelled from the house on the motion of Mr. Mackenzie Bowell, a prominent Orangeman, and, later, premier of the Canadian Government. Lepine, a member also of the so-called provisional government of Red River, had been tried and convicted for his share in the murder of Scott, but Lord Dufferin, when governor- general, exercised the prerogative of royal clemency, as an imperial officer, and commuted the punish- ment to two years* imprisonment. In this way the Mackenzie government was relieved — but only temporarily — of a serious responsibility which they were anxious to avoid, at a time when they were between the two fires: of the people of Ontario, RlEi:s REBELLIONS, 395 5 in the le rising le estab- askatch- igitators ing Riel He had the time ellion he orthvvest ney from Govern- \ 1874 he IS by the oba; but en a true he Mani- ti he had from the [Bowell, a r of the r also of d River, re in the overnor- |lemency, . punish- |this way but only ich they ey were Ontario, anxious to punish the murderers with every severity, and of the French Canadians, the great majority of whom showed a Hvcly sympathy for all those who had taken part in the rebellion of 1869. The influence of French Canada was also seen in the later action of the Mackenzie government in ob- taining a full amnesty for all concerned in the re- bellion except Riel, Lepine, and O'Donohue, who were banished for five years. The poptdarity en- joyed by Riel and his associates in French Canada, as well as the clemency shown to them, were doubtless facts considered by the leaders in the second rising on the Saskatchewan as showing that they had little to fear from the consequences of their acts. Riel and Dumont — the latter a half-breed trader near Batoche — were the leaders of the revolt which broke out at Duck Lake in the March of 1885 with a successful attack on the Mounted Police and the Prince Albert Volunteers, who were defeated with a small loss of life. This success had much effect on the Indian tribes in the Saskatchewan dis- trict, among whom Riel and his associates had been i/ltriguing for some time, and Poundmaker, Big Bear, and other chiefs of the Cree communities liv- ing on the Indian reserves, went on the warpath. Subsequently Battleford, then the cai)ital of the Territories, was threatened by Indians and Mdtis, and a force under Big Bear massacred at Frog Lake two Oblat missionaries, and some other persons, besides taking several prisoners, among whom were Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock, widows of two of the murdered men, who were released at the close (1^ 396 THE STORY OF CANADA. of the rising. Fort Pitt, on the North Saskatchewan, thirty miles from Frog Lake, was abandoned by Inspector Dickens — a son of the noveHst — and his detachment of the Mounted Police, on the approach of a large body of Indians under Big Bear. When the news of these outrages reached Ottawa, the gov- ernment acted with great promptitude. A French Canadian, now Sir Adolphe Caron. was then minis- ter of militia in Sir John Macdonald's ministry, and showed himself fully able to cope with this, happily, unusual, experience in Canadian Government. P'rom all parts of the Dominion — from P>ench as well as English Canada — the volunteers patriotically rallied to the call of duty, and Major-General Middleton, a regular officer in command of the Canadian militia, led a fine force of over four thousand men into the Northwest. The Canadian Pacific Railway was now built, with the exception of a few breaks of about seventy-two miles in all, as far as Qu'Appelle, which is sixteen hundred and twenty miles from Ottawa and about two hundred and thirty-five miles to the south of Batoche. The Canadian troops, including a fine body of men from Winnipeg, reached P^ish Creek, fifteen miles from Batoche, on the 24th of April, or less than a month after the ore' '- were given at Ottawa to march from tb .. Here the insurgents, led b}^ Dumont, wer nccaled h ifle- pits, ingeniously constructed anc. placed in a deep ravine. They checked Middleton, wl o does not appear to have taken sufficient precautions to ascer- tain the position of the enemy — thoroughly trained marksmen who were able to shoot down a consider- R/EL'S REBELLIONS, 397 atchewan, doncd by t — and his z approach ir. When a, the gov- A French hen minis- nistry, and is, happily, ent. From 1 as well as rally rallied iddleton, a ian militia, len into the ay was now s of about elle, which m Ottawa iles to the , including ached Fish he 24th of ' ■•■■ were Here the led ii ifle- in a deep does not Ins to ascer- |;hly trained a consider- able number of the volunteers. Later, at Batoche, the Canadian troops, led with great bravery by Col- onels Straubenzie, Williams, Mackeand, and Gras- sett, scattered the insurgents, who never made an attempt to rally. The gallantry of Colonel Williams of the Midlanders — an Ontario battalion — was espe- cially conspicuous, but he never returned from the Northwest to receive the plaudits of his countrymen, as he died of fever soon after the victory he did so much to win at Batoche. Colonel Otter, a distin- guished officer of Toronto, had an encounter with Poundmaker at Cut Knife Creek on Battle River, one of the tributaries of the North Saskatchewan, and prevented him from making any hostile demon- strations against Battleford and other places. Kiel's defeat at Batoche cowed these Indians, who gave up their arms and prisoners to Otter. Elsewhere in the Territories all trouble was prevented by the prompt transport of troops under Colonel Strange to Fort Edmonton, Calgary, and other points of importance. The Blackfeet, the most formidable body of natives in the Territories, never broke the peace, although they were more than once very restless. Their good behaviour was chiefly owing to the influence of Chief Crowfoot, always a friend of the Canadians. When the insurrection was over, an example was made of the leaders. Dumont succeeded in making his escape, but Kiel, who had been captured after the fight at Batoche, was executed at Regina after a most impartial trial, in which he had the assistance of very able counsel brought from French Canada. Insanity was pleaded even, in his defence, not only 39 ,Q THE STORY OF CAxWADA, in the court but subsequently in the Commons at Ottawa, when it was attempted to censare the Can- adian Gvjvernment for their stern resolution to vindicate the cause of order in the Territories. Poundmaker and Big Bear were sent for three years to the penitentiary, and several other Indians suf- fered the extreme penalty of the law for the mur- ders at Frog Lake. Sir John Macdonald was at the head of the Canadian Government, and every possi- ble effort was made to force him to obtain the par- don of Riel, but he felt that he could not afford to weaken the authority of law in the west, and his French Canadian colleagues, Sir Hector Langevin, then minister of public works, Sir Adolphe Chap- leau, then secretary of state, — now lieutenant-gov- ernor of Quebec — Sir Adolphe Caron, then minister of militia, exhibited commendable courage in resist- ing the passionate and even menacing appeals of their count vnnen, w^ho were carried away at this crisis by a false sentiment, rather thaii by a true sense of justice. Happily, in the course of no long time, the racial antagonisms raised by this unhappy episode in the early history of confederation disap- peared under the influence of wiser counsels, and the peace of this immense region has never since been threatened by Indians or half-breeds, who have now few, if any, grievances on which to brood. The patriotism shown by the Canadian people in this memorable contest of 1885 illustrated the desire ot all classes to consolidate the union, and make it secure from external and internal dangers, and had also an admirable Influence in foreign countries imons at the Can- .ition to rritories. rec years ians suf- the mur- :as at the 2ry possi- I the par- afford to , and his Langevin, )he Chap- :nant-gov- II minister t in resist- .ppeals of y at this by a true i)f no long unhappy on disap- iisels, and pver since ,vho have od. The le in this desire of make it and had [countries I COLONEL WILLIAMS. 399 400 THE STORY OF CANADA, which could now appreciate the growing national strength of the Dominion. In the cities of Ottawa, Toronto, and Winnipeg, monuments have been raised to recall the services of the volunteers who fought and died at Fish Creek and Batoche. On the banks of the Saskatchewan a high cairn and cross point to the burial place of the men who fell before the deadly shot of the half-breed sharpshoot- ers at Fish Creek : *' Not in the quiet churchyard, near those who loved them best; But hy the wild Saskatchewan, they laid them to their rest. A simple soldier's funeral in that lonely spot was theirs, Made consecrate and holy ])y a nation's tears and prayers. Their requiem — the music of the river's surginij tide ; Their funeral wreaths, the wild flowers that grow on every side ; Their monument — undying praise from each Canadian heart, That hears how, for their country's sake, they nobly bore their part." One of the finest bodies of troops in the world, the Mounted Police of Canada, nearly one thousand strong, now maintains law and order throughout a district upwards of three hundred thousand square miles in area, and annually cover a million and a half miles in the discharge of their onerous duties. The half-breeds now form but a very small minority of the population, and are likely to disappear as a dis- tinct class under the influence of civilisation. The Indians, who number about thirty thousand in Manitoba and the Northwest, find their interests carefully guarded by treaties and statutes of Canada, which recognise their rights as wards of the Canadian Government. They are placed on large reserves, national Ottawa, ^c been ers who lie. On lirn and who fell rpshoot- 1 best ; rest. ;rs. ery side ; heart, bore their e world, Ihousand ^hoLit a d square lid a half IS. The ority of .s a dis- II. The ;and in Interests anada, nadian L'serves, < 'r. H ■r C c y. o 4.02 THE STORY OF CANADA. where they can carry on farming and other indus- trial occupations for which the Canadian Govern- ment, with commendable HberaHty, provide means of instruction. Many of the Indians have shown an aptitude for agricultural pursuits which has surprised those who have supposed they could not be induced to make much progress in the arts of civilised life. The average attendance of Indian children at the industrial and other schools is remarkably large com- pared even with that of white children in the old provinces. The Indian population of Canada, even in the Northwest territory, appear to have reached the stationary stage, and hereafter a small increase is con6dently expected by those who closely watch the improvement in their methods of life. The high standard which has been reached by the Iroquois population on the Grand River of Ontario, is an indication of what we may even expect in the course of many years on the banks of the many rivers of the Northwest. The majority of the tribes in Mani- toba and the Northwest — the Crees and Blackfeet — belong to the Algonquin race, and the Assiniboines or Stonies, to the Dacotahs or Sioux, now only found on the other side of the frontier. The Tinneh or Athabaskan family occupy the Yukon and Mac- kenzie valleys, while in the Arctic region are the Eskimo or Innuits. In British Columbia* there are at least eight distinct stocks; in the interior, Tin- neh, Salish or Shuswap ; on the coast, Haida, Ishim- sian, Kwakiool (including Hailtzuk), Bilhoola, Aht, * Dr. Geo. M. Dawson, F.R.S., has given me this division of Indian tribes. THE INDIANS, 'h'-- C.ulf of Goorgi^r-ntt ,""^' ''■^'•"^— "d Cana.la, the Al^nnuin ,, S' ''"''"■^ "'^" '■"''••'bit a-.cotaI>, the Ti,Ch and H ' ""'""-^^q"-^. the ■•^" CoU„nb,-..., havfo"!;'" ""■■:' ■^'"^'^•^ °f «■•"- '■^ting study for schohrJ T c ' ^°™"'' •-"' '•"'^■■., ■'oa>cal lore. The tof.l , I ^''''-■"'°g'cal and ethno- "'i'.-'bit the whol Do™ ';•"""■ °' ''""'""' ''"" no- '"""l-cl thousand souTf ""^""^■•"^■^ "' over one 'he old province ' '"'""' ""^-'hird hVe in ;, now only this division of w fti •M ViS « > i: XXVII. COMPLETION OF THE FEDERAL UNION- OF THE DOMINION. -MAKERS (1871-189I.) Within three years after the formation of the new province of Manitoba in the Northwest, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia came into the confederation, and gave completeness to the federal structure. Cook and Vancouver were among the adventurous sailors who carried the British flag to the Pacific province, whose lofty, snow-clad moun- tains, deep bays, and many islands give beauty, grandeur, and variety to the most glorious scenery of the continent. Daring fur-traders passed down its swift and deep rivers and gave them the names they bear. The Hudson's Bay Company held sway for many years within the limits of an empire. The British Government, as late as T849, formed a Crown colony out of Vancouver, and in 1858, out of the mainland, previously known as New Caledonia. In 1866 the two provinces were united with a simple form of government, consisting of a lieutenant-gov- 104 I'll r^ -MAKERS on of the St, Prince e into the he federal iiong the h flag to id moun- bcauty, s scenery sed down he names leld sway ire. The a Crown Lit of the onia. In a simple nant-gov- 1 J y(;^:.^^^^^^^f:!r3 4 406 THE STORY OF CANADA. ernor, and a legislative council, partly appointed by the Crown and partly elected by the people ; but in 1 87 1, when it entered into the Canadian union, a complete system of responsible government was established as in the other provinces. Prince Edward Island was represented at the Quebec con- ference, but it remained out of confederation until 1873, when it came in as a distinct province; one of the conditions of admission was the advance of funds by the Dominion government for the purchase of the claims of the persons who had held the lands of the island for a century. The land question was always the disturbing element in the politics of the island, whose history otherwise is singularly uninter- esting to those who have not had the good fortune to be among its residents and to take a natural interest in local politics. The ablest advocate of confederation was Mr. Edward Whelan, a journalist and politician who took part in the Quebec confer- ence, but did not live to see it carried out by Mr. J. C. Pope, Mr. Laird, and others. With the successful establishment of a federal union which stretches from the Gulf of St. Law- rence to the Pacific Ocean, — whose two extremes of east and west are linked toerether by the Inter- colonial and Pacific Railways — the historical portion of this book properly closes. It is not proposed to enter into the conflicts of political parties, which have been too often carried to extremes in the Do- minion, or to review those dominion and provincial questions which make up the politics of Canada. The history of Canadian politics since 1867 has COMPLETION OF THE FEDERAL UNION. 407 nted by ; but in anion, a cnt was Prince bee con- ion until ; ; one of vance of purchase the lands stion was ics of the ^ uninter- )d fortune a natural Ivocate of journalist ec confer- by Mr. J. a federal St. Law- vernor. he two iiitral or idminis- nce of a sed of a ouse of se, prac- sLiffrage. ade and . naviga- ic works ers of a der the he rights spect to cted by LngUind ich Can- criminal Dminion. gcs, who ugh the ■nent the n to the lion are CAIVADA AS A NAT/ ON. 423 constantly arising between the general and local governments. Such questions, however, are being gradually settled by the decisions of the courts — the chief security of a written constitution — although at times the rivalry of parties and the antagonisms of distinct nationalities and creeds tend to give special importance to certain educational and other matters which arise in the operation of the constitution. All these are perils inseparable from a federal con- stitution governing two distinct races. The appointment of the governor-general by the Crown, the power of disallowing bills which may interfere with imperial obligations, and the right which Canadians still enjoy of appealing to the judicial committee of the Queen's Privy Council from the subordinate courts of the provinces, in- cluding the Supreme Court of Canada; the obliga- tion which rests upon England to assist the colony in the time of danger by all the power of her army and fleet, together with the fact that all treaties with foreign powers must be necessarily negotiated through the imperial authorities, will be considered as the most patent evidences of Canada being still a dependency of the Empire. Even the restraint im- posed upon Canada with respect to any matters involving negotiations with foreign powers has been modified to a great degree, by the fact that England has acknowledged for over thirty years that Canada should be not only consulted in every particular, but actually represented in all negotiations that may be carried on with foreign powders affecting her com- mercial or territorial interests. A notable example IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k /> ,% 4^ ^J "<" Q- y fe 1.0 I.I 1.25 IK m 1.8 U IIIIII.6 A" o z m. ?!> VI Hi /,. '/ /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY MS80 (716) 873-4503 C/j 424 THE STORY OF CANADA. '% ;^l •J*ii — -f i>)< of this new imperial policy was the Washington Convention of 1871, which settled the Alabama and other questions of difference between the United States and Canada. England recognised the direct interest of the Dominion in the subjects under dis- cussion, by the selection of the able premier of the Liberal-Conservative government, Sir John Mac- donald, as one of the commissioners. The most satisfactory result of this conference was the ap- pointment of a commission which, after full delibera- tion, gave Canada and Newfoundland a compensation of five millions and a half of dollars for certain con- cessions that were made to the United States on the valuable fishing grounds of British North America. In the diplomatic discussions between England and the United States as a sequence of the seizure of Canadian vessels engaged in catching seals in the open waters of Bering Sea, the English Governrr ent was largely influenced by the opinions of the Can- adian ministry in relation to a matter affecting Dominion interests. One of the members of the court of arbitration, which assembled at Paris in 1892, and decided the question at issue in accordance with the principles of international law, fought for by the British and Canadian governments, was Sir John Thompson, an able lawyer of Nova Scotia, who became premier of the Dominion soon after the death of Sir John Mac- donald, and was himself struck down only a few months after the settlement of the Bering Sea ques- tion, when summoned to Windsor Castle to take before the Queen the oath of a privy councillor of CANADA AS A NATION, 425 shington ama and ; United le direct nder dis- ;r of the hn Mac- he most i the ap- dcHbcra- Densation L •tain con- es on the America, jland and seizure of lis in the vernrr ent the Can- affecting latic close to a short though )rou^l England — a dram; tionally success! ul career. It was an imperial man-of-war remains of Sir John Thompson to the city of Hali- fax, where representatives of all parts of Canada buried them with honours which few statesmen have ever received. This tribute of respect was due to a Canadian statesman whose appointment on the Paris arbitration was a direct acknowledgment of the im- portance o^ Canada in imperial councils. With the national development of Canada the conditions of the relations between England and Canada are such as to ensure unity of policy so long as each govern- ment considers the interests of England and of the dependency as identical, and keeps ever in view the obligations, welfare, and unity of the Empire at large. bitration, cided the rinciples Iritish and pson, an rcmier of lohn Mac- iily a few ea ques- to take ncillor of msiasrsBBm XXIX. FRENCH CANADA. Ilif As this story commenced with a survey from the heights of Quebec of the Dominion of Canada from ocean to ocean, so now may it fitly close with a review of the condition of the French Canadian people who still inhabit the valley of the St. Law- rence, and whose history is contemporaneous with that of the ancient city whose picturesque walls and buildings recall the designs of French ambition on this continent. Though the fortifications of Louisbourg atid Ti- conderoga, of Niagara, Frontenac, and other historic places of the French regime in America have been razed to the ground, and the French flag is never seen in the valley of the St. Lawrence, except on some holiday in company with other national col- ours, nevertheless on the continent where she once thought to reign supreme, h^ ranee has been able to leave a permanent impress. Hut this impress is not in the valley of the Mississippi. It is true that a number of French still live on the banks of the great river, that many a little village where a French 426 1^ t\i from the lada from se with a Canadian St. Law- jous with walls and bition on \r and Ti- r historic iKivc been nr is never Ljxcept on lional col- she once bn able to •ess is not lue that a the great la French % aa 428 THE STORY OF C.tXADA. patois is spoken lies hidden in the sequestered bayous of the South, and that no part of the old city of New Orleans possesses so much interest for the European stranj^er as the French or Creole quar- ter, with its quaint balconied houses and luxuriant gardens; but despite all this, it is generally admitted that the time is not far distant when the French language will disappear from Louisiana, and few evidences will be found of the days of the French occupancy of that beautiful State of the Union. On the banks of the St. Lawrence, however, France has left behind her what seem likely to be more per- manent memorials of her occupation. The pictu- rescpie banks of the St. Lawrence, from the Atlantic to the great lakes of the West, are the home of a large and rapidly increasing population whose lan- guage and customs are so many memor'ils of the old regime whose history has taken up so many pages of this story. The tourist who travels through the province of Quebec sees on all sides the evidence that he is passing through a country of French origin. I fere and there in Quebec and Montreal, or in some quiet village sequestered in a valley or elevated on the Laurentian Hills, he sees houses and churches which remind him of many a hamlet or town he has visited in Ikittany or Normandy. The language is French from the Saguenay to the Ottawa, and in some remote communities even now English is never spoken, and is understood only by the curd or notary. Nor is the language so impure or degener- ated as many persons may naturally suppose. On it [uestered [ the old tcrcst for lole quar- luxuriant admitted c French and few c French c Union. ;r, France more per- hc pictu- e Atlantic liomc of a 'hose lan- iils of the so many rovincc of hat he is n. Here ime quiet d on the ics which -IS visited is French in some is never cuy€ or degener- ose. On o w n UJ o> oi < 'J •x; 5 < a o y. y. H r l|^ ¥■ %■ ■'.■A 430 77/>5 srOh'V OF CAN A J) A. the contrary, it is spoken by the educated classes with a purity not excelled in France itself. The better class of French Canadians take pride in study- ing the language of the country of their ancestors, and are rarely guilty of Anglicisms, though these have necessarily crept into the common parlance of mixed communities, where people are forced to speak both French and English. In some rural dis^ tricts, isolated from large towns, the people retain the language as it was spoken two centuries ago — though without the accent of the old provinces of their origin — and consequently many words and phrases which are rarely now heard in France, still exist among the peasantry of French Canada, just as we find in New England many expressions which are not pure Americanisms but really memorials of old English times. In French Canada the Angli- cisms are such as occur under the natural condition of things. The native of old France has no words for " clearing " the forest, making maple sugar, " blazing " a way through the woods or over the ice and snow of the rivers and lakes, and consequently the vocabulary of the French Canadian has been considerably enlarged by local circumstances. In the summer resorts of the lower St. Lawrence the influence of the English visitors, now very numerous, is becoming more evident every year, and French habits arc becoming modified and the young folks commence to speak English fairly well. Away from the St. Lawrence, however, and the path of the tourists, the French Canadians remain, relatively speaking, untouched by English customs. %■ u FA'/.Xa/ C,lNA/).L 43 • d classes If. The in study- ncestors, gh these irlancc of breed to rural dis- )le retain ies ago — )vinces of ords and ance, still lada, just 3ns which morials of |he Angli- condition no words le sugar, er the ice equently has been iices. In rence the umerous, French lung folks |way from h of the datively Nos institutions, notrc langiic, ct nos lois has been the key-note of French Canadian politics for over a century. At the present time the records and stat- utes of the Dominion are always given in the two languages, and the same is true of all motions put by the Speaker. Though the reports of the debates appear daily in French, English prevails in the House of Commons and in the Senate. The French Canadians are forced to speak the language of the majority, and it is some evidence of the culture of their leading public men, that many among them — notably Mr. Laurier, the eloquent leader of the Liberals, and first French Canadian i)remier since 1867 — are able to express themselves in English with a freedom and elegance which no English- speaking member can pretend to equal in French. In the legislature of the province of Quebec, French has almost excluded English, though the records are given in the two languages. In the supreme court of the Dominion the arguments may be in French, and the two Quebec judges give their deci- sions in their own tongue. The people of French Canada are very devout Roman Catholics. The numerous churches, col- leges, and convents of the country attest the power and wealth of the Church, and the desire of the French Canadians to glorify and perpetuate it by every means in their power. The whole land is practically parcelled out among the saints, as far as the nomenclature of the settlements and villages is concerned. The favourite saint appears to be Ste. Anne, whose name appears constantly on the banks 43-i '/'///■: s/oA- \- or ( ■.I.V.I/). I. of the St. Lawrence. We liave Ste. Anne tie la Pelade, Ste. Anne tie la Tocatiere, and many others. We all remember the verse of Moore's boat son^ . " Faintly as tolK tlie tVLMiiii}; chime, Our voices kei'p tune and our oars keep time, Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We Ml sinji ^^ ^^- Anne's our partin^j hymn." This village, situated at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, is (generally known as Ste. Anne de Hellevue, aiul still retains some of the characteristics of a I'^rench Canadian village, notwithstandin'. o CQ o Q O en en 434 THE STORY OF CAXAPA. 'Y-M ■ ■'■ ' I, gling street of wooden houses, with steep roofs and projecting caves, nearly all devoted to the entertain- ment of the large assemblage that annually resorts to this Canadian Mecca, probably some sixty thou- sand in the course of the summer. Here you will see on the fete of Ste. Anne, and at other fixrd times, a mass of people in every variety of cos- tume, Micmacs, Ilurons, and Ir()t|uois — representa- tives of the old Indian tribes of Canada — French Canadians, men, women, and children, from the val- leys of the Ottawa, and the St. Maurice, and all parts of Quebec, as well as tourists from the United States. The handsome grey stone church — now dignified as a " basilica " — which has been built of late years, attests the faith of many thousands who have offered their supplications at the shrine of La bonne St.-. Anne for centuries.* Piles of crutches of every description, of oak, of ash, of pine, are de- posited in every available corner as so many votive offerings from the countless cripples that claim to have been cured or relieved. The relic through which all the wonderful cures are said to be effected, consists of a part of the finger bone of Ste. Anne, which was sent in 1668 by the Chapter of Carcas- sonne to Monseigneur de Laval. The church also possesses several pictures of merit, one of them by Le Brun, presented by the Viceroy Tracy in 1666. The situation of many of the French Canadian * The illustration represents the ancient church which was built in 1658, but was taken down a few years ago on account of its danger- ous condition, and rebuilt on the old site near the basilica, in exactly the original forin with the same materials. ill FRENCH CANADA. 435 roofs and LMitcrtain- ly resorts xty thou- ; you will thcr fixed ty of cos- eprcsen ta- il — p>cnch m the val- :e, and all he United urch — now :en built of I sands who irinc of La A crutches ne, arc de- any votive t claim to c through e effected, te. Anne, of Carcas- Ihurch also f them by in 1666. Canadian Ih was built in ^{ its danger- lica, in exactly villages is exceedingly picturesque, when they nestle in some (juiet nook by the side of a river or bay, or overlook from some prominent hill a noble panorama of land and water. The sj)ire of the stone church rises generally from the midst of the houses, and the priest's residence or presbytcre is always the most comfortable in size and aj)i)earance. The houses are for the most part built of wood. The roofs are fre- quently curved, with projecting eaves, , In'ch afford a sort of verandah under which the family -it in sum- mer evenings. Some of the most pret-^ntious strnr- tures, especially the inns, have baLonies rruning directlv a.ross the upper story. Many of i he barns and outhouses have thatched roofs, which are never seen in any other part of Canada. The interiors are very plainly furnished, in many cases with chairs and tables of native manufacture. A high iron stove is the most important feature of every dwell- ing in a country where the cold of winter is so ex- treme. Whitewash is freely used inside and outside, aiTd there is on the whole an air of cleanliness and comfort in the humblest cottage. The loom is still kept busy in some villages, and a coarse, warm homespun is even yet made for every- day use. The habitant also wears in winter moccas- ins and a tuque blcuCy or woollen cap, in which he is always depicted by the painter of Canadian scenes. But with the growth of towns and the development of the railway system a steady change is occurring year by year in the dress of the inhabitants, and it is only in the very remote settlements that we can find the homely stuffs of former times. Old dresses ■IV f ~ t p.' 436 THE STORY OF CANADA. ii^ and old customs are gradually disappearing with the old-fashioned calcchc, in which tourists once strug- gled to admire French Canadian scenes. As a rule, however, the people live very economically, and extravagance in dress is rather the exception. On gala days the young wear many ribbons and colours, though arranged with little of the taste characteris- tic of tlie French people. Both old and young are very sociable in their habits, and love music and dancing. The violin is constantly played in the smallest village, and the young people dance old- fashioned cotillons or danscs ranch's. The priests, however, do not encourage reckless gaieties or extrav- agance in dress. Now and then the bishop issues a Pastoral in which the waltz and other fast dances, and certain fashionable modes < f dress, are expressly forbidden, and though his mandates are no doubt soon forgotten in the cities and towns, they are, on the whole, religiously observed in the rural commu- nities. The feasts of the Church are kept with great zeal, — especially the fetes d' obligation — and conse- quently the French Canadian has holidays without number. No class of the population of Canada is more orderly or less disposed to crime than the French Canadians. The standard of the morality of the people is high. Early marriages have been always encouraged by the priests, and large families — fifteen children being very common — are the rule in the villages. The habitant is naturally litigious, and the amount in dispute is, in his opinion, trifling com- pared with the honour of having a case in court, g with the nee strug- As a rule, :ally, and »tion. On \d colours, haracteris- young are music and ,'ed in the dance old- he priests, s or extrav- op issues a ast dances, e expressly b no doubt icy are, on al commu- with great and conse- ,ys without la is more he French ity of the een always es — fifteen ule in the is, and the ifling com- e in court, to o o H K o •< u < P ■< < 438 THE STORY OF CANADA .^n 'I which demands the attendance of the whole village. The temperate habits of the French Canadian make them necessarily valuable employes in mills and manufactories of all kinds. Indeed, they prefer this life to that of the farm, and until very recently there was a steady exodus of this class to the manufactur- ing towns of Lowell, Holyoke, and other places in New England. A large proportion of the men cm- ployed in the lumbering industry of Canada is drawn from the province of Quebec. As their forefathers were coureurs de bois in the days of the French regime, and hunted the beaver in the wilderness, even venturing into the illimitable Northwest region, so in these modern times the French Canadians seek the vast pine *voods which, despite axe and fire, still stretch over a large area watered by the Ottawa and other rivers. In commercial and financial enterprise, the French Canadians cannot compete with their fellow-citizens of British origin, who practically control the great commercial undertakings and banking institutions of Lower Canada, especially in Montreal. Gener- ally speaking, the French Canadians cannot com- pare with the English population as agriculturists. Their province is less favoured than Ontario with respect to climate and soil. The French system of sub-dividing farms among the members of a family has tended to cut up the land unprofitably, and it is a curious sight to see the number of extremely nar- row lots throughout the French settlements. It must be admitted, too, that the French population has less enterprise, and less disposition to adopt new FRENCH CANADA. 439 ole village, adian make mills and prefer this :ently there nanufactur- ;r places in le men cm- da is drawn forefathers :he French wilderness, vest region, adians seek nd fire, still 3ttawa and the French ow-citizens the great nstitutions Gener- nnot com- icidturists. tario with system of Qf a family y^, and it is cmely nar- ents. It opulation adopt new machines and improved agricultural implements, than the people of the other provinces. As a rule, the habitant lives contentedly on very little. Give him a pipe of native tobacco, a chance of discussing politics, a gossip with his fellows at the church door after service, a visit now and then to the county town, and he will be happy. It does not take much to amuse him, while he is quite satisfied that his spiritual safety is secured as long as he is within sound of the church bells, goes regularly to confession, and observes all the fi'tcs iV obligation. If he or one of his family can only get a little ofifice in the municipality, or in the ** government," then his happiness is nearly perfect. Indeed, if he were not a bureaucrat, he would very much belie his French origin. Take him all in all, however, Jean- Baptiste, as he is familiarly known, from the patron saint of French Canada, has many excellent quah- ties. He is naturally polite, steady in his habits, and conservative in his instincts. He is excitable and troublesome only when his political passions are thoroughly aroused, or his religious principles are at stake; and then it is impossible to say to what extreme he will go. Like the people from whom he is descended — many of whose characteristics he has never lost since his residence of centuries on the American continent — he is greatly influenced by matters of feeling and sentiment, and the skilful master of rhetoric has it constantly in his power to sway him o an extent which is not possible in the case of the stronger, less impulsive Saxon race, with whom reason and argument prevail to a large degree. RT wmmmm 440 r///-: SY'OA'V OF cax.uka. 1 ''4 In the present, as in the past, the Church makes every effort to supervise witii a zealous care the mental food that is offered ft)r the nourishment of the people in the rural districts, where it exercises the greatest influence. Agnosticism is a word prac- tically unknown in the vocabulary of the French Canadian habitant, who is ([uite ready to adhere without wavering to the old belief which his fore- fathers professed. Whilst the French Canadians doubtless lose little by refusing to listen to the teachings which would destroy all old-established and venerable institutions, and lead them into an unknown country of useless speculation, they do not, as a rule, allow their minds sufficient scope and expansion. It is true that a new generation is grow- ing up with a larger desire for philosophic inquiry and speculation. But whilst the priests continue to control the public school system of tlie province, they have a powerful means of maintaiiiing the cur- rent of popular thought in that conservative and too often narrow groove, in which they have always laboured to keep it since the days of Laval. It is obvious, however, to a careful observer of the recent history of the country that there is more independence of thought and action showing itself in the large centres of population — even in the rural communities — and that the people are beginning to understand that they should be left free to exercise their political rights without direct or undue inter- ference on the part of their spiritual advisers. Eng- lish ideas in this respect seem certainly to be gaining ground. ch makes care the hment of exercises ord prac- c French o adhere his fore- Zanadians n to the stablished n into an , they do scope and >n is grovv- ic inquiry )ntinue to province, 324 nadian jour- an, 372 ; po- 408-410 ; eration, 372, raph and por- loiuinient tc, River (1869), (iian interpre- founder of >ieu, 134 overs North cnt, 21-23 Canada, 437 n governor, ce with Iro* INDEX. 4S3 n Campbell, Sir Colin, governor of Nova Scotia, 362 Canipi)ell, W. Wilfred, Cana- dian poet, i8r Canada, divisions of, 1-18 ; name of, 7 ; discovery of, 34, 35 ; river of, 35 ; Quebec, an- cient cajjital of, 70 ; govern- ment of. under France, 156- 167; ceded to England, 263; military regime of, 2()8 ; polit- ical state from 1763-1867, 338-379 ; confederation of, 370-374. 39« . 392, 404 ; French population of, 414 ; popu- lation of, 415 ; resources of, 416; intellectual progress of, 417-420; government of, 420- 425 ; relations with England, 422-425; map of (1643), 44; (1745), 221 ; (1896), opposite p. I. .St-(' French Canadians Canadian Tacihc Railway, 392, 30 Canals of Canada, 358 Cape Breton, Fsland of ;^ discov- ered, 23-26 ; named lie Koy- ale, 210 ; ceded to England, 215 ; restored to France, 219 ; ceded again to England, 264 ; government of, under France, 210, 211 ; part of Nova Scotia, 303. See I,ouisbourg Card money of French Canada, 162 Carignan-Salieres regiment, IS2, 166 Carleton, Ceneral (Sir Cluy), at siege of Quebec, 250 ; Cana- dian governor, 277 ; saves Canada, 280, 283-2S7 ; be- comes l.ord Dorchester and again governor, 301 Carman, liliss, Canadian poet, 419 Caroline, burning of steamer, 354 Caron, Sir Adolphe, 396 Cartier, Sir George, Canadian statesman, 372 ; his character and services to Canada, 410- 413 ; autograph and portrait of, 411; monument to, 414 Cartier, Jaccpies, his voyages, 30-46 ; autograph and portrait of, 31 ; discovers Canada, 34 ; first map of his discoveries, 44 ; death of, 46 Cartwright, Sir Richard, Cana- dian statesman, 298 C!ascade Mountains, 17 Cataracjui (Kingston), 184 Cayugas, division of Iroquois Confederacy, 118. See Iro- (|uois Celoron, in the Ohio Valley, 223 C!haleur, Hay of, discovered, 32 Chami)lain, Helen, wife of Samuel Champlain, 77 C'hamplain, Fake, name of, 73 Champlain, .Samuel, 48 ; first visit to Canada, 49 ; autograjih and portrait of, ^9 ; founds Quebec, 70; battles with the Iroquois, 72-75, 81-85 ; hrst visit to the Ottawa region, 78- 80 ; his lost astrolabe, 79 ; discovers Lake Huron (mer douce), 82 ; surrenders (Quebec to Kirk, 88 ; returns to Cana- da, 89 ; death of, 90 ; his services to Canada, 91 Chansons of French Canada. See liallads Charlottetown, city of, founded, 311 Chartres, Fort, on the Illinois, 224 Chateau St. Louis, history of, destroyed by fire, see frontis- piece Chateauguay, battle of, 328 ; monument of, 337 Cheveux Rcleves, 116 Chrystler's Farm, Battle of. See War of 1 81 2 Clergy Reserves 346 ; settled, 3<''7 Colbert, Frevich Minister of State, 152-156 w 454 INDEX. Colborne, Sir John, Comman- der-in-Chief (luring Canadian rebellion of 1838-31}, 352-31^7 Commons. .SVr House of Com- mons Coiiipaguie des Cents Assode's, 8() ; charter revoked, 152 Confederation of Canada, 370- ^ 374. 380, 39'. 392, 404. 4<'f> Constitution of Dominion of Canada, 421-425 Constitution of Provinces of Canada, 421, 422 Coth^Ki'i^aliou de Notre Dauie, founded, 136 Constitutional Act of 1791, 303- 305; operation of, 3<>9-3'5> 338-358 Convents in Canada, founded, 1 30, et si(j. Cortereal, (iaspar and Miguel, I'ortu.guese voyat^ers, 24 Cosa, luandchi, Spanish jiilot, his nia]> of i5overnor 363 England and Canada, relations between, 423-425 Eries ("Racoons"), 117. Etchemins (Canoemen), 114 Falkland, Lord, Nova Scntian governor, 362 "Family Compact," 344 ; broken ^"P. 355 Fenian Raids, 378 Fish Creek, fight at (in 1885), 396 ; monument to dead, 400 Fisheries of Canada, 324, 335, Fitzgibbon. See War of 181 2 Five Nations. See Iroquois Forbes, General, 242 ; in Ohio Valley, 246 Foster, George E., Canadian statesman, 298 Fraser River, 16, 17, 383 Frechette, Louis, French Cana- dian poet, 181 ; his portrait, 441 Frederic (Crown Point), Fort 222 ' Free libraries, 420 French Canada. See French Canadians French Canadians, language of, 428-430 ; villages of, 431-434; attachment of, to Roman Cath- olic religion, 430-432, 439 1 habits of. 435-438 ; literature of, 442 ; feelings of, towards England, and confederation, 446-448 Frog Lake Massacre (in 1885), 395 Frontenac, Count, Canadian governor, 194-204 ; character of, 193; repulses F'hipr at Que- bec, 199-201 ; humbles Onon- dagas, 203 ; death, of, 204 ; autograph and statue of, 193 I-rontenac, Fort. 184, 195, U)b, 240 ; destroyed, 247 Galissonnicre, Canadian gover- nor, 222, 223 Gait, Sir Alexander, Canadian statesman, 372 Gannentaha, Onondaga French Mission, 148, 149 Garneau, F. X., French Cana- dian historian, 442 Garry, Fort, 385, 388, 391 ; view of, 389 Gaspc, Cape, 8, 33 Ceorge, Lake, 137 ; battle of 231 (iermain, Lord George (Sack- ville), 2S7 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 43 (iomez, Estevan, 27 Gosford, L(jrd, Canadian gover- "or, 342, 352 Gourlay, Robert, Canadian re- former, 344 ; his ill-treatment, 345 Government of Dominion of Canada, 420-425 Governor-General of Canada, 422, 423 Grasett, Colonel, in Riel's sec- ond rebellion (1885), 397 Griffin, Le Salle's vessel, 186 Grosseilliers, Sieur de, 170 Guerchcville, Mme. de, 6r Guyart, Marie (Mere de 1' Incar- nation), Superior of Ursulines, 132 ; portrait of, 131 H Habitants of French Canada „\63-i67, 434-439 Haldimand, General, Canadian governor, 2S7, 2(/3, 301 Hale, Horatio, on Indian le- gends, 113, 119 Haliburton, Judge ("Sam 456 INDEX, Sllv-K "), 360, 419 ; portrait of, 359 Halifax, City of, founded, 222 Hampton, (ieneral, defeated at Chateaujjuay, 32S Harvey, Colonel (Sir John), at Stoney Creek, 325 ; in Nova Scotia, 363 Head, Sir Francis Bond, 350- 353, 355 Hebert, French Canadian sculp- tor, 193, 441 Helluland of the Norsemen, ig Hincks, Sir Francis, Canadian statesman, 367 Hennepin, Father, his voyages, 187 Heve, l.a, in Acadia, 98 Hey, Chief Justice, 278 Historians of Canada, 418. See also Bibliographical note at beginning of volume Hochelaga (Montreal), Indian village of, 37-41 ; inhabitants of, 112 Holbourne, Admiral, 240 Hospitals in Canada, 130 Hotel Dieu of Montreal, 134 Hotel Dieu of Quebec, 130 House of Commons of Canada, 422 Howe, Joseph, Canadian states- man and father of responsible government, 362, 364 ; portrait of, 363 ; action of, with respect to union, 413, 414 Howe, Lord, death of, 245 Hudson's Bay, English trading posts at, attacked by French, 195, 203, 205 ; Company of, 381-3S8 Huron Indians, 115, habits of, 116; habitations of, 82, 116; conquered by Iroquois, 141- 143 ; dispersion of, 143-145 Iberville, Che%'alier d', 198, 203, 207, 208 ; portrait of, 209 lie Royale. See Cape Breton Indians of Canada, tribal divi- sions of, 114, 115; customs of, 115-117, 123-128 English policy towards, 275 ; present population and development of, 402, 403 Iroquois, or Five Nations, iir, 114 ; tribal divisions ami habi- tations of, 118, irg; habits and institutions of, 118-123; plan of long-houses of, 119; Canadian raids of, 137, 138, 146, 150; attacks of, on Hu- rons, 141-143 ; attacks on Western Indians, 195 ; French expeditions against, 74, 153, 154, 196, 203 ; joined by Tus- caroras and become Six Na- tions, 121 J Jesuits in Acadia, 61 ; in Can- ada, 85, 86, 89 ; Relations^ 113, 114, 127; first Canadian martyr, 139 ; their heroism 139-143^ Johnson, E. Pauline, Canadian poetess, 419 Jogues, Isaac, first Jesuit martyr, 139 Johnson, Sir W., 227 ; defeats French at Lake George, 231 Johnston, J.W., Canadian states- man, 362 Jolliet, Louis, discovers Missis- sippi, 179, 180 Jonquiere, Marquis de la, Cana- dian governor, 218 Judicial Committee of the Queen's Privy Council, 423 Judiciary of Canada, 422, 423 K King's College in Nova Scotia, 360 Kingsford, William, Canadian author, J!8. See also Biblio- pe Breton IN graphical Note at the begin- tribal divi- of this volume 5 ; customs Kirby, William, Canadian au- 28 English thor, 419 75 ; present Kirk, Admiral, captures Que- levelopuient bec, 88 ations, in, L nsanon temps, at I'ort Royal, 57 Lorette, Hurons of, 144 Lome, Marquis of, founder of Royal Society of Canada, 418 ; his interest in Canadian art, 420 Loudoun, Earl, 237 Louis XIV., his interest in Can- ada, 152, 156 Louisbourg, 211 ; taken by New England expedition, 215-217 ; by Amherst and Hoscawen, 242, 243 ; destroyed, 243 ; present aspect of, //'. / view of, in 1 73 1, 210 Louisiana, 208, 224-426 Lount, Samuel, Canadian re- former, 353, 3S5 Loyalists, United Empire, 297 ; their trials, 292-294 ; famous names among, 295 ; their influence on Canada, 292 296 Lundy's Lane, battle of, 331 ; monument at, 333, 337 458 INDEX. M Macdonald, Sir John Alexander, Canadian statesman and pre- mier, political career of, 372, 3(j4, 3g8, 4>o-4M : one of founders of Confederation, 372 ; autograph and jiortrait of, 405 ; his tenure, as premier, 410; character of, 411, 412; monuments to, 414 Macdonncll, Hishop, 310 Maciienzie, Alexander, Canadian premier, 410 Mackenzie River, 383 Mackenzie, W. Lyon, Can- adian reformer, 348 ; career "f, 348-351. 353-355, 3f>8; autograjih and portrait of, 349 Mackinac or Michillimackinac, 174, 175, 187, 203, 207. 223, 272 (I'ontiac's War) ; 322, 332 (War of 1812) McDonell, Colonel, attorney- general, killed at Queenston, 322 McDonnell, Colonel, captures Ogdensburgh, 324; at Chateau- guay, 328 McDougall, William, Canadian statesman, 373 ; in the North- west, 387-390 McLeod affair with the United States, 374, 375 McNab, Colonel (Sir Allan), 353. 354 Magdalen Islands, 32 Maisonneuve, Sieur de, founder of Ville- Marie (Montreal), 133-136; portrait of, 135 Mance, Jeanne, 134-136 Manitoba, province of, 391, 392. See Winnipeg Manufactures in Canada, 416 Markland, Norse discovery, 20 Marquette, Father, 178 ; dis- covers Mississippi, 179, 180; his death, 182, 183 Mascres, Attornev-General, 278 Mason and Slidell difficulty, 377 Masse, Father, Jesuit missionary, in Acadia, U\ ; in Canada, 80 Matagorda Hay, La Salle at, k/j Matthews, I'etcr, Canadian re- former, 355 Membertou, Micmac chief, 58, 59, 6<), 62 Membre, Father, French mis- sionary, 187, 188 Metcalfe, Lord, Canadian gov- ernor, 362 Mi'tis or half-breeds of Canada, II, 386; rebellions of (1869), 386-391 ; (1885), 393-400. See Kiel Micmacs (Souriquois), 1 14, T15 Middleton, Ceneral, con)mands Canadian forces in second Red River Rebellion ( 1885), 396 Mississippi, discovery of, I7(), 180, 181, 188 ; France in val- ley of, 224, 225, 426 Mohawks, division of Iroquois Confederation, 118; settle in Canada, 300, 402. See Iro- quois Monckton, General, 230 ; at siege of Quebec, 250, 257 Money in French Canada, 161, 162 Monongahela, battle of. See Braddock Montagnais Indians, 115 Montcalm, Marquis de, 238 ; vic- tories of, 237, 238 ; defeat of, by Wolfe, 256 ; death of, 257 ; character of, 260 ; monument to, 259, 261 Montgomery, General, in Cana- da, 284 ; death of, 285 Montgomery's Tavern, near To- ronto, Canadian rebels de- feated at (1836), 353 Montmagny, Charles Hault de, Canadian governor, 129, 133 ; called "Onontio," 153 Montreal, city of, founded as Ville- Marie, 134-136; view of, in 1760, 265 ; population of, 416 INDEX. t missionary, Canada, 80 Salle at, 190 Janadian re- : chief, 58, rench mis- nadian gov- of Canada, i of (1869). 3-400. See ►. IM, T15 commands second Red «85), yp i of, 17,,, nee in val- f Iroquois ; settle in See Iro- 230 ; at 0, 257 nada, 161, of. See , 238 ; vic- defeat of, :hof, 257; nonument in Cana- near To- ;bels de- fault de, 129, 133 ; 3 iinded as ; view of, ation of, 459 Monts, Sieur de, in Acadia, 50- 5<). ^>8, 75 Morjran, Lewis II,, on the Iro- «|uois. IK; M()rris(Hi, Colonel, defeats Amcricajisal Chrvbtler's Farm. 328 Mounted Police of the North- west, 401 Municipal Institutions in Canada, 3^)7, 368, 420 Murray, (Jencral, at siege of Quebec, 250 ; defeated by Levis, 262 ; Canadian gov- ernor, 275-277 ; character of, 276 N Necessity, Fort, 224 Neilson, John, Canadian journal- ist, 33«, 339 Nelson, Wulfred, Canadian re- former, 339, 352, 356, 357, 368 Neutral Nation (Attiwanda- ronks), 117 Newark (Niagara), 30O ; burned by American troops, 330 New Brunswick, province of, 5. 6; separated from Nova Scotia, 302 ; enters Confedera- ^ tion, 373, 374, 4t3 Niagara, falls of, 186 Niagara, Fort, 231, 247, 253, 426 Nicolet, Jean, 168, 169 Nipissing, Lake, 81, 82 ; Indians of, lb., 115 Norse voyages to America, ig, 20 Northwest Company, 382-385 Northwest of Canada, 10, 11 ; history of, 381-401 ; re- sources and progress of, ri, 392 ; mounted police of, 401 ; Indians of, rebellions in, 387- 402 ; monuments to victims of, 400 ; government of, 422 Norumbega, 28, 54 ; memorials of, ib. Nova Scotia, 5, 6 ; named, 96 ; first assembly of, 302 ; enters Confederation, 373, 374, 413 O Ocean steamships, 416. See Royal William Ohio, valley of the, contest for, 223, 229. 230, 242 ; Indian raids in (I'ontiac's war), 273 Oneidas, division of Irocpiois Confederation, ii8. .SW- Iro- quois Onondagas, division of Irorjuois Confederation, 118, .SW- Iro- quois Onontio. See Montmagny Ontario, province of, 10 ; name "f' ^f'-^ 374 ; first known as Up|)cr or Western Canada, 303; enters Confederation, 374 Oregon boundary question, 375 Orleans, Island of, 36 Oswego (Chouegutin), Fort, 222, 227 Ottawa River, 78 Otter, Colonel, 397 Ouigoudi (St. John's River, N. B.), 53 Papineau, Louis J., Canadian reformer, 339 ; career of, 339, 351, 352. 357, 36S ; portrait of, 341 Paris, Treaty of. 2(^4, 265 Parker, (iilbert, Canadian au- thor, 419 Parliameni ; House at Quebec, in 1792, 305 ; at Newark, 306, 307 ; burned at Montreal in 1849, 37" ; view of, at Ottawa, 421 ; constitution of Cana- dian, 422 Peltrie. Madame de la, 131, 132 Pemaquid, Fort, 213 Pepperrell, General, 215, 216 460 /XDKX. iVrrot, Nicholas, 17(1, 177 I'liips, Admiral, attacks (^)uebec, I'ilt (Chatham), 2.\o, 241 I'ot'ts of Kiiglisli Canada, 410 ; of I'rciu'li Canada, 441 ront};ravc. 43, 4() I'ontiac, ( )tta\va ciiicf, 270, 271; liis war against l'",ni;iisli, 271- 274 ; death of. 274 l'oi)ulalion of Canada ; (in 1757). 22s ; (i7')2), 303; (I -Si 2), 320; (iH3^). 35«;('H()0.3W):(i8.)f)). 415 ; I'rcnch population, 358, 415 I'ort Royal, founded, 52, 54 ; destroyed by Aryall, 64 ; re- stored. ()<); taken by Nicholson, 2()f) ; called Annapolis Koyal, i/>. : its present aspect. 52 I'ouchot, 247 Pound maker, Indian chief, 395, 3')« I'outrincourt, IJaron de. founds i'ort Koyal, 54 ; career of, in America, 53-bi ; death of, (>(> Trcscott (late, 305, 307 rres([u'isle (Krie), 223, 247 I'revost, deneral, Canadian gov- ernor, military incapacity of, 325, 332 Prince Kdward Island (St. Jean), 5, 243. 244 ; separated from Nova Scotia, 302 ; entt-is Con- federation, 403. .S'((' Charlotte- town Princess T,ouise, her interest in Canadian art, 420 Privy Council. ,S',<' Judicial Committee IVoclamation of 1763, 274, 275 Procter, Cicneral, 324, 237 Protection in Canada, 407 Q Quebec Act of 1774, 276-279 Quebec, city of, 1-3 ; named, 70; founded, 70; taken by Kirk, 88 ; besieged by Phips, 199-201 ; by Wolfe, 248-257 ; plan of siege of I7?i9, 251 ; surrender of, 25S ; besie^ged iiy l.t'vis. 2b2 ; l)y Arnold and Montgomery, 284-28(1 ; view of, in 17(H), 270; in 1896,42(1. S,f ( 'hatcau St. Louis (^)uebec Conference of 18(14, Confederation proposed, 372 (^)uebec. province of, H, 9 ; enters Conlederalion, 374 (,)ueylus, Abbe, 157, 158 Radisson, Sieur, 17 Rail\vav^ in Canada, 366, 367, 4'S Kale, Scltastian, missionary in Acadia, 212 Kamesay, M. de, in Acadia, 219; surrenders (^)uei)ec, 258 Ka/illy. Isaac de, in Acadia, «)7-'J<) Reade, John, Canadian author, 419 Rebellion I-osses, Riots of 1849, 369. 370 Kelu'llions in Canada ; of 1837- 38, in Lower Canada, 338-343, 35T, 353-357 ; i" UpP*-'*" *'''"- ada, 314-351. 352-355 ; i" the Northwest (1869), 387-392 ; ("_^^5)..3<>3-40o Reciprocity Treaty, 376 Kccolletsor Franciscans, 80, 8r, 89 Red River settlement (.'Xssini- boia), 384-3S7 ; insurrectioii at (1869-70), 387-392. See Riel Resjionsible Ciovernnient in Can- ada, 361-365 ; in Nova .^cotia, 362-364 ; in New Brunswick, 364 ; in P. K. Island, //'. ; in British Columbia, 405 ; fa- mous advocates of, 364, 365 Revolution, American. Sef American Revolution IXDF.X. i)Ife, 248-257 ; 'f '7f.9. 251 ; iS'S ; bcsi»;^f(l >y Arnold and i<-2.S() ; \'w\w ; in lSy6, 42(1, I oil is iL'f of 1864, ndposfd, 372 f, S, 9 ; i-nters 74 7, >5H 461 ''^. 3^>^>. 3^'7, iiissionaiy in Acadia, 219; V, 258 in Acadia, idian aiitlior, iots of i84(;, a ; of 1837- 'I'l. 338-343. Upper Can- -355 ; in the '. 387-392 ; 376 :ans, So, Br, ini (Assini- in.siirrectio|i -39-'. See lent in Can- lova Scotia, Brunswick, nd. ///. y in 405 ; fa- 364, 365 ican. Set 3n Kiclmrdson, Major, Canadian autlior, 271, 419 Kichclicu, Cardinal, 80 Richelieu River, 72, -]-> Ricl. I.oiiis, rchcis aj^ainst Can- da in i.S6<)-7(), 38,S; in iH,S<5, 3')3-4'"> ; execution of, ■^,^^) Roberts, C. ('.. I),, Canadian poet, 4i(j Roberval, Jean l''r;i,„,,is -3ii ; portrait of, 311 Six Nations. Sic Inxpiois Sniilli. Sir DunaM, at Rci-368 •pulation of, in lions of Canada I to 1867, 379 anada, princi- into, 347 ^''<' Ontario C,azettt\ first n ne\v.spaj)er, of, 131 208 's dc, Cana- 229 ; at siege 52, 256;capit- 1. 264 ; death ine de, her n the West, ies, 382 ; on Assiniboine i da, 26, 27 me des, at 37 . deceives ontreal >very, 20 'iiel, during 353, 354 463 W Walker, Admiral Ilovendcn, 207 War of 1812-15. causes of, 3,6 320; patriotism of Canadians fliiring,32o-322;ca|.iiulation.)f Hull. 322; nattleof (^iuecnston Heights, //;..• Procter's victory over Winchester. 324 ; taking of York ( 1 oronto), ih.; Ameri- can successes on Niagara fron- tierin 1813.325 ;Stoney Creek, *t'' ^11- '"Record's exploit. 326 : l;itzgibbon's success at" De Ceu\s.326; English defeat on Lake Lne, 327 ; Procter's de- 'eat at Morr.viantown, ib- Chrystler'sfarm, 328; Chateau- guay. 328; American out- rage at Niagara, 330 ; English retaliate. 330. 335; Riall's defeat 331; Lundy's Lane. tb • Frevost s defeat on Lake Champlain, and retreat from Hattsburg, 332; naval fights, 334 ; peace. 335 ; effect of. on Canada, 335, 336 ; conspicu- I ous Canadian actors during, 33^>, 337 ; monuments of. m* 336. 337 ''^' Washington, George, at Fort JVecessity, 224 Canadian Canadian Washington Treaty of 1871 r, VNetherald. Ethelwyn, Canadian I poetess. 419 ; Whflan, Kdvvaul, journ;ilist, 4of) Wilkocks, Joseph, agitator, 314, 320 William Henry, Kort, 222, 23S Williams, Colonel, his gal'lantry at Hatoche (1885). 3,^7; ^i^ath <>'. lb.; portrait of, 3(j() Wilmot. Lemuel A., Canadian statesman, 364 ; portrait of, 371 Winnipeg, city of, 14, 315, 333, Wolfe, General James, 242 ; at Louisbourg. 242 ; at Quebec. 250-256 ; wins Canada for England. 256, 257 ; death of, 257 ; character of 2fM) ; monu- ments to. 259, 201 ; portrait of, 249 Wolseley, Lord, leads Rritish forces against Kiel in 1870. 3QI Wyandots(nurons), 144 York. See Toronto 11 ■'!■' ^ Selection from the Catalogue of G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Complete Catalogues sent on application The Story of the Nations In the story form the current of each National life is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and note- worthy periods and episodes arc presented for the reader in their philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal history. It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with which the history of all lands begins, will not be overlooked, though these will be carefully distinguished from the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. The subjects of the different volumes have been planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in the great Story of the Nations; but it is, of course, not always practicable to issue the several volumes in their chronological order. For list of volumes see next page. w m m THE 5T0RY OF THE NATIONS .>|3 • GREECE. Prof. Jas, A. Harrison. ROME, Arthur Oilman. THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hos- mer. CHALDEA. GERMANY. NORWAY. Z. A. Ragozin. S. Baring-Gould. Hjalmar H. Boyesen, SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vdmb^ry. CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church. THE SARACENS. Arthur Gil- man. THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole. THE NORMANS. Sarah Ome Jewett. PERSIA. S, G. W. Benjamin. ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. Rawlinson. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. MEDIA. BABYLON, AND PER- SIA. Z. A. Ragozin. MEDIEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Gus- tave Masson. HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold Rogers. MEXICO. Susan Hale. PHOENICIA. George Rawlinson, THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen Zimmern. EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. Church. THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. Stanley Lane-Poole. RUSSIA. W.R. Morfill. THE JEWS UNDER ROME. W. D. Morrison. SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. SWITZERLAND. R. Stead and Mrs. A. Hug. PORTUGAL. H. Morse-Stephens. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. C. W, C. Oman. SICILY. E. A. Freeman. THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. Bella Duffy. POLAND. W. R. Morfill. PARTHIA. Geo. Rawlinson. JAPAN. David Murray. THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERS OF SPAIN. H.E. Watts. AUSTRALASIA. Greville Tregar- then. SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. M. Theal. VENICE, Alethea Weil. THE CRUSADES. T. S. Archer and C. L. Kingsford. VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. BOHEMIA. C. E, Maurice. CANADA. J. G. Bourinot, THE BALKAN STATES. William MiUer. V THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 3NS IS. Helen Prof. Alfred CORSAIRS, e. •fill. ROME. W. ickintosh. . Stead and se -Stephens, IPIRE. C. lan. Lies. Bella BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. W. Frazer. MODERN FRANCE. AndrdLeBon. THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Alfred T. Story. Two vols. THE FRANKS. Lewis Sergeant THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. Fiske. THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. Justin McCarthy, M.P. Two vols, AUSTRIA. Sidney Whitman. CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass;. MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin A. S. Hume. MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. Helen A. Smith. Two vols. WALES AND CORNWALL. Owen M. Edwards. Net $1.35. MEDIEVAL ROME.. Wm. MilUr. THE PAPAL MONARCHY. Wm. Barry. MEDIEVAL INDIA. Stanley Lane-Pooie. BUDDHIST INDIA. T. W. Rhys- Davids. THE SOUTH AMERICAN RE- PUBLICS. Thomas C. Daw- son. Two vols. PARLIAMENTARY ENGLAND. Edward Jenks. MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Mary Bateson. THE UNITED STATES. Edward Earle Sparks. Two vols. ENGLAND, THE COMING OF PARLIAMENT. L. Cecil Jane. GREECE— EARLIEST TIMES— A.D. 14. E. S. Shuckburgh. ROMAN EMPIRE, B.C. 29-A.D 476. N. Stuart Jones. ■fill, ^linson. y. ECOVERY Watts. ille Tregar- Geo. M, il. S. Archer Ragozin. irice. not. >. William ' Heroes of the Nations A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work "f r umber of representative historical char- acters about whom have gathered the great traditions of the iS[ji''ons *'> which they belonged, and who have been accepted, in many instances, as types of the several National ideals. With the life of each typical character will be presented a picture of the National conditions surrounding him during his career. The narratives are the work of writers who are recognized authorities on their several subjects, and, while thoroughly trustworthy as history, will present picturesque and dramatic "stories" of the Men and of the events connected with them. To the Life of each "Hero" will be given one duo- decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, provided with maps and adequately illustrated ac- cording to the special requirements of the several subjects. For full list of volumes see next page. ns e lives and )rical char- : traditions I who have pes of the a,ch typical e National 2er. ■s who are )jects, and, vill present e Men and n one duo- large type, strated ac- :he several le. HEROES OF THE NATIONS NELSON. By W. Clark Russell GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C. R. L. Fletcher. PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott THEODORIC THE GOTH. By Thomas Hodgkin SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. Fox -Bourne. JULIUS C^SAR. By W. Warde Fowler. WYCLIP. By Lewis Sergeant NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor Morris. HENRY OP NAVARRE. By P P. Willert. CICERO. By J. L. Strachan. Davidson. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Noah Brooks. PRINCE HENRY (OP PORTU- GAL) THE NAVIGATOR By C. R. Beazley. JULIAN THE PHILOSOPHER. By Alice Gardner LOUIS XIV. By Arthur Hassall. CHARLES XII. By R. Nisbet Bain. LORENZO DE- MEDICI. By Edward Armstrong JEANNE D'ARC. By Mrs. OU. phant. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By Washington Irving. ROBERT THE BRUCE. By Sir Herbert Maxwell HANNIBAL. By W. O'Connor Morris. ULYSSES S. GRANT. By William Conant Church. ROBERT E I FP TD T. ^. Ivlib. By Henry Alexander White. THE CID CAMPEADOR. By H Butler Clarke. SALADIN. By Stanley Lane Poole. BISMARCK. By J. w. Headlam. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By Benjamin I. Wheeler. CHARLEMAGNE. By H. W. C. r)avis. OLIVER CROMWELL. By Charles Firth RICHELIEU. ByJa„,,B.P„«„, DANIEL O'CONNELL. By R„b. ert Dunlop. SAINT LOUIS (Louis IX. of France). By Frederick Perry LORD CHATHAM. By Walford Davis Green. OWENGLYNDWR. By Arthur G. Bradley HENRY V By Charles L.Kings. ford. EDWARD T. By Edward Jenks. AUGUSTUS C^SAR. By J fi 5"irth. "TfT HEROES OF THE NATIONS FREDERICK THE GREAT. By W. F. Reddaway. WELLINGTON. By W . O'Connor Morris. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. By J. B. Firth. MOHAMMED. By D. S. Margoliouth. CHARLES THE BOLD. By Ruth Putnam. WASHINGTON. By J. A. Harrison. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. By F. M. Stenton. Other volumes in preparation are : By By Ber- WILLIAM THE SILENT. Ruth Putnam. BLUCHER. By Ernest F. Hen- derson. MARLBOROUGH. By C. T. At- kinson. MOLTKE. By James Wardell. New York— G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, Publishers— London ALFRED THE GREAT. tha Lees. GREGORY VII. By F. Urquhart. JUDAS MACCABiEUS. By Israel Abrahams. FREDERICK II. By A. L. Smith. s Margoliouth. LD. By A. Harrison. NQUEROR. T. By Ber- F. Urquhart. ). By Israel \. L. Smith. -London