^ 'STOlfy o ^ y NAt lQi . .- . ^ ^i^-mni^m » II : I [TUX. chup'liltoaa, lIii\'K. u^^ y d^*- a i) a. Cfte ©torj? of the jQations CANADA THE STORY OF THE NATIONS. Large Crown Svj, Cloth, Illiislratcil, 5s. Tlic ]'oliinies may also be had in Half Pcrshiii, iloth suits, gilt top. Price on application. EOME. Bv Akthur Gilmax, MA THE JEWS. By Prof. J. K. GEEMANY. By Rev. S. B.4RING- (iotLi). M.A. CARTHAGE. By Prof. Aliked 1 Lin lan, ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Bv Prof. I P ^PaH,\I1V THE SACORS ;iN-iSPAIN. By St.am.f.v Laxk-Poole. ANCIENT EGYPT. By Prof. (;i,(iK(,i', '?^\\vI.I^•so^". HUNGARY. P>y Prof. AR.MIXirs VA.MI'.KkV. THE SARACENS. By Artiuk (;ii.:\iA\, M.A. IRELAND. By tlic Hon. Emily I. \\\ I less. CHALDEA By Zenaide A. Kac.ozix. THE GOTHS. By Hexky Bkad- LEV. ASSYRIA. By ZiixAlDE A. Ka- COZIX TURKEY. PoOI.E. HOLLAND 'I HOKOI.; By Stanley Laxe- J. E. By Prof. ROC.ERS. MEDLffiVAL FRANCE. By l.rsTAVE Massux. PERSIA. By S. G. W Ben- .lAMIX. PHOENICIA. By Prof. Geo. Raw i.ixsox. MEDIA. By Zkxaihe A. Ra- THE HANSA TOWNS. By Hei.kx Zimme:^x. EARLY BRITAIN. Bv Prof. .Alfred J. Church. THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. i;v siAXLEv Laxk Poole. RUSSIA, P.V W. R MciRFlLL, MA. THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMANS. Bv W. D. Morrison. SCOTLAND. Bv JoHX Mackin- tosh, IJ^.D. SWITZERLAND, Bv Mrs. Lina Hrc .iiid R, Sifau' MEXICO. l!v ,S! SAX Hale. PORTUGAL. By H. MoRSF SiKrnKXs THE NORMANS. Bv Safah Orxp; Iewtcit. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Bv C. W. C. Omw SICILY : Phoenician, Gree:c and Roman. By tlie Lite I'roi. E. .A. Fl.'l-KMAX THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. P.v Bella Ijiffv POLAND. By W. R. Mori ill, MA PARTHIA. Bv Prof. George Rawlixsox. AUSTRALIAN COMMON- WEALTH. P,y GREvn.LE Tricoarthen. SPAIN. Bv H. E. W.A.TTf. JAPAN. By David Murray, Ph.D SOUTH AFRICA. By George M, Thkal. VENICE. Bv Alethea Wiel. THE CRUSADES. B,- T. A. Archer ;uk1 C. L. Kixgsford. VEDIC INDIA. P,y Z. A. Ra- (ioZIX. WEST INDIES and the SPANISH MAIN. liv .LXMliS RODWAY. Bohemia: By c. edmuxd Mairilf. [M.A. THE BALKANS. Bv W.Miller, London : T. FISHER UNWIN, Paternoster Square, E.C CANADA BY J. G. BOURINOT, C.M.G., LL.D., D.C.L. CLERK OF THE CANADIAN HOUSE OK COMMON'S ; HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA ; DOCTEUR-ES-LETTRES OF LAVAL UNIVERSITY HONORARY MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 3Lon&on T . FISHER U N W I N PATERNOSTER SQUARE NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS MDCCCXCVII Copyright by T. Fisher Uxwi\, 1S97 (For Great Britain) Copyright by G. P. Putn-am's Soxs, 1897 (For the United States of America) I Dedicate this Story of Canada BY PERMISSION TO HER EXCELLENCY THE COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN WHO HAS WON THE ESTEEM AND AFFECTION OF ALL CLASSES OF THE CANADIAN PEOPLE BY THE EARNESTNESS WITH WHICH SHE HAS IDENTIFIED HERSELF WITH EVERY MOVEMENT AFFECTING THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS OF THE NEW DOMINION PREFATORY NOTE. In writing this story of Canada I have not been able to do more, within the hmited 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 banks 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 Vi PREFA TOR Y NO TE. happened since that time — the second half-breed re- beUion of i885, 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 whose 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. PKEFA TOR Y NOTE. Vl! 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. Housi-: OF Commons, Ottawa, Dominion Day, i8g6. CONTENTS. Bibliographical Note PAGE xix Introduction — The Canadian Dominion from Ocean to Ocean i II. The Dawn of Discovery in Canada (1497-1525) III. "9 A Breton Sailor Discovers Canada and its Great River (1534-1536) 29 IV. From Cartier to De Monts (i 540-1603) V. 44 The French Occupation of Acadia and thl Foundation of Port Royal (1604-1614) 51 VL Samuel Champlain in the Valley of the St. Lawrence (1608-1635) 67 vn. Gentlemen-Adventurers lv Acadl\ (1614-1677) 92 X CONTENTS. VIII. PAGE The Canadian Indians and the Iroquois : their Organ- isation, Character, and Customs . . . .110 IX. Convents and Hospitals — Ville-Marie — Martyred Mis- sionaries — Victorious Iroquois — Hapless Hurons (1635-1652) [29 X. Years of Gloom — The King Comes to the Rescue of Canada — The Iroquois Humbled (1652-1667) . . 146 XL Canada as a Royal Province — Church and State (1663- 1759) 156 XII. Tin. Period uf Exi'LOkation and Dlscovery — Priests, Fur-Traders, and Courczirs dc Bois in the West (1634- 1687) 16S XIII. The Period of Exploration and Discovery — France in THE Valley of the Mississippi (1672-16S7) . . .177 XIV. Canada and Acadia — From Frontenac to the Treaty of Utrecht (1672-1713) 192 XV. Acadia and Ile Roy ale — From the Treaty of Utrecht to 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. PAGE Thb Struggle for Dominion in tiik Great Valleys ok North America— Enci.isii Reverses and French Vic- tories — Fall of LoiisiioruG and Fort Duquesne (1756-1758) 237 XVIII. The Struggle for Dominion in i he Valley of ihe St. Lawrence — Canada is Won i:y Wolfe on the Plains OF Abraham ( 1 75Q-1763) 247 XIX. A Period of Transition — Pontiac's War — The Quebec Act (i 760-1 774) 267 XX. The American Revolution — Invasion of Canada — Death OF Montgomery — Peace (1774-1783) .... 2S0 XXI. Coming OF THE Loyalists (1 7S3-1 791) . .... 291 XXII. Foundation of New Provinces — Estahlishmen-l of Repre- sentative Institutions (1792-1812) .... 302 XXIII. The War of 1812-1815 — Patriotism ok ihe Canadians 316 XXIV. Political Strife and Rebellion (1815-1840) 338 XXV. Responsible Government and its Results — Federal Union — Relations between Canada and the United States (1839-1S67) 361 xn CONl^ENTS. XXVI. End of the Rule of Fur-Traders — Acquisition of the Northwest — Formation of Manitoba— Kiel's Rebel- lions — The Indians (1670-1885) XXVII. British Columbia and Prince Edward Island Enter the Union — National Events since 1867 — Makers of the Dominion (1867-1891) ....... XXVIII. 380 404 Canada as a Nation — Material and Intellectual De- velopment — Political Rights 415 XXIX. French Canada Index 426 45' ^^V^ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. CHATEAU OF ST. LOUIS ( 1694-1834) ^' DF.STROYF.n BY FIRE IN 1834 . . . Frontispiece. From a drawiiio- f>y W. J. St'Tcr// in //(J7i'/:ifis's "■ Picturi's of Quebec" {Queb,'i\ 1S34). MAP OF CANADA ....... I Revised to date by Surveyor-General Dcinlle , F.R.S.C. VIEW OF CAPE TRINITY ON THE LAURENTIAN RANGE . . . . . . • . . 9 From a photograph by Topley^ Ottrnva. ROCKY MOUNTAINS AT DONALD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, From Sir J I". J "an Homes Collection of B. C. photo- graphs. UPPER END OF ERASER CA5J0N, BRITISH COLUMBIA . Ibid. 13 15 -5 SKETCH OF JUAN DE LA COSA S MAP, A.D. T50O 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 castjfe which, in a remodelled and enlarged form, under the English regime, lasted until 1S34. xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE PORTRAIT OF JACQUES C ARTIER . . . • jl From B. Suite's "' Jlisioire des Cauadiens-Francais" {Montreal, i8S2-'84) ANCIENT HOCHELAGA ...... 39 From Ramtisio" s ''' A'avigationi e Viaggi" {J'enice, 1565). THE "dauphin map" OF CANADA, cirCil 1543, ■ SHOWING CARTIER's DISCOVERIES ... 44 From collection of maps in Parliamentary Library at Ottawa. PLAN OF PORT ROYAL IN ACADIA IN 1605 . . 57 F'rom Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. 0/ iti'^. CHAMPLAIN's PORTRAIT ...... 69 From B. Suite's '' Ilistoire des Canadiens-Francais." HAP.ITATION DE QUEBEC . . . . -71 From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. c/' 1613. champlain's lost ASTROLABE .... 79 From sketch by A. y. Russell, of Ottawa, 1879. ONONDAGA FORT IN THE IROQUOIS COUNTRY . ^ 83 From Champlain's 'works, rare Paris ed. of i(i\2>- INDIAN COSTUMES . . ... . . .Ill From Lafitaii s " Maurs des Sauvages" {Paris, 1724). IROQUOIS LONG HOUSE . . . . . . IT9 From Morgans " Houses and Home Life of the Aborigines" {Washington, 1881). PORTRAIT OF MARIE GUVARD (mERE MARIE DE l'incarnation) ....... 131 From B. Suite's '" Ilistoire des Canadiens-Francais." portrait OF MAISONNEUVE . . . '35 Ibid. PORTRAIT OF LAVAL, FIRST CANADIAN BISHOP . 1 59 Jbid. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV PAGE CARD ISSUE (I'APER MONEv) OF 1729, FOR I 2 LIVRES ........ 162 From Breton s ' ' Illustrated History of Coins and Tokens Relating to Canada" {Montreal, 1892). CANADIAN FIFTEEN SOL PIECE .... 163 Ibid. CANADIAN TRAPPER . . . . -173 From La Potherie's ''Ilistoirc de r Amerique Septen- trionalc" {Paris, 1753). PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF CAVELIER DE LA SALLE 185 B. Suite's " Ilistoire des Canadiens-Fram^ais." FONTENAC, FROM HEBERT's STATUE AT QUEBEC . 1 93 From Dr. Steivart's collection of Qtiebec photographs. CAPTURE OF FORT NELSON IN HUDSON BAY, BY THE FRENCH ....... 205 From La Potherie's " Ilistoire de l' Amerique Septen- trional e." PORTRAIT (JF CHEVALIER d'iBERVILLE . . . 209 From a portrait in Alargry' s " Decouvertes et etahlisse- ments des Francais dans le Stid de P Amerique Septentrionale" {Paris, i876-'83). VIEW OF LOUISBOURG IN 1731 .... 2IO From a sketch in the Pa7-is A rchives. MAP OF FRENCH FORTS IN AMERICA, 1750-60 . 22 1 From Bourittofs " Cape Breton and its Memorials of the French Regime" {Montreal, 1891). PORTRAIT OF MONTCALM ..... 239 From B. Suite's "' Ilistoire des Canadiens-Francais." LOUISBOURG MEDALS OF 1 758 .... 244 From Bourinot's " Cape Breton," etc. xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE PORTRAIT OF WOLFF. ...... 249 From print in "A Complete Historv of the Late War," etc. {London and Dublin, 1774), by Wright. PLAN OF OPERATIONS AT SIKGK jP>''^^I1 (^ /^^^^K?^^J)r?)l^ H'^^iy^^'y^?^^^^^ iiif^^vj^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^m- 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 his 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 passage to Cathay and give a new dominion to France. At the time of the departure of Cartier in 1534 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 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 cither 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 America 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. cr::;^^^c^?u/^^ 31 32 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 v/ere 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 named because he entered it on a very hot July day. 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 the 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 Gaspe — an Indian name having probably reference to a split rock, which has long been a curiosity of the coast — Cartier raised a cross, thirty feet in height, on the middle of which there was a shield or escutcheon with three fleurs-de-lis, and the inscription, Vive le Roy dc 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 3 34 THE STORY OF CANADA. when he stood on the hills of Gaspe or passed around the shores of desolate Anticosti. Cartier brought back with him two sons of the Indian chief of a tribe he saw at Gaspe, 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 suf^ciently 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 Hcrniine, the Petite Hermine, and the Emc'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 Cartier'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 (Coudrieres) over fifty miles below Quebec, where mass was celebrated for the first time on the river of Canada, and which he named on account of the hazel-nuts he found " as large and better tasting than those of France, though a little harder." Car- tier then followed the north shore, with its lofty, well-wooded mountains stretching away to the north- ward, and came at last to an anchorage not far from Stadacona, somewhere between the present Isle of 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 Gaspe 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." Subsequently 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 to 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 the great quantities of vines " such as we had never before seen." Cartier 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. It was now the middle of September, and Cartier determined, since his men had fully 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 by inventing stones of the dangers 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 Frencli 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 superstitions of the French, endeavoured to influence them by appeals to "Jesus" and "Jesus Maria." Cartier, however, only laughed at the tricks of the Indians, 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 Enie'rillon and two large boats, but neither Taignoagny 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 Hochelaga pleased the French on account of the springs of excellent water, the beauti- ful trees, and vines heavily laden with grapes, and the quantities of W'ild 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 Enierillon, 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 Enierillon 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. Am^m 39 40 THE STORY OF CANADA. The P'rench 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 two 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 also on hot rocks. This tribe lived, Cartier tells us, " by ploughing and fishing alone," and Avere " not no- madic like the natives of Canada and the Saguenay." A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA. 4I Cartier 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 where 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 manj^ domes and towers of churches, convents, and colleges, on the stately mansions of the rich, on the tall chimneys of huge factories and blocks upon blocks of massive stores and warehouses, on the ocean steamers on their way to Europe by that very river which Cartier would not ascend with the Emc'rillon ; 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 Cartier's return to Stadacona he found that his of^cers had become suspicious of the intentions of the Indians and had raised a rude fort near the junction of the river of 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 J. 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-ijovernor and cardinal arch- J 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 nearly a century later on the site of the old French fort, and one of whom afterwards 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. -^^^ IV. FROM CARTIER TO DE MONTS. (1540- 1 603.) 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 OCHELAGA LE SAGNAY ' 't '^ tJ) ^•^^%*° ' "^Ln, L A aj8 THE ■' UAUPHIN MAP " OF CANADA, cmv? C A NJA D A "^is.. '^^^hy^y^^^u:t<^^'^^^. rfn Ajsi!i<'.ptioii c , a, =;r^°=' Q t^St.-fitmi M ™;v \- /■ FERRE O^S BRETO NS / , % ME R 4 . D E FRANCE Q, ^ '^-T,' "^ y '' rfe JftaH efiicnnc Zi]^y^dubreton \y eiicorporada Sefe citades ^Q 0''* \_fencorporacfa ER DESPAIGNE Ida €'> deguarca <^ ^'' oiine ^^ «r er &! MER OCCEANE (/ calholique , SHOWING CARTIEr's DISCOVERIES. FROM CARTIER TO DE MO NTS. 45 Cartier is said to have returned on a fourth voy- age to Canada in 1543 — though no record exists — for the purpose of bringing back Monsieur Roberval, otherwise known to the history of those times as Jean Francois de la Roque, who had been appointed by Francis his lieutenant in Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belle Isle, Carpunt, Lab- rador, the Great Bay (St. Lawrence), and Baccalaos, as well as lord of the mysterious region of Norum- bega — an example of the lavish use of titles and the assumption of royal dominion in an unknown wilder- ness. Roberval and Cartier were to have sailed in company to Canada in 1541, but the former could not complete his arrangements and the latter sailed alone, as we have just read. On his return in 1542 Cartier is said to have met Roberval at a port of the Gulf, and to have secretly stolen away in the night and left his chief to go on to the St. Lawrence alone. But these are among historic questions in dispute, and it is useless to dwell on them here. What we do know to a certainty is that Roberval spent some months on the banks of the St. Law- rence, — probably from the spring of 1542 to late in the autumn of 1543, — and built a commodious fort at Charlesbourg, which he renamed France-Roy. He passed a miserable winter, as many of the colo- nists he had brought with him had been picked up amongst the lowest classes of France, and he had to govern his ill-assorted company with a rigid and even cruel hand. Roberval is said to have visited the Saguenay and explored its waters and surrounding country for a considerable distance, evidently hoping 46 THE STORY OF CANADA. to verify the fables of Donnacona and other Indians that gold and precious stones were to be found somewhere in that region. His name has been given to a little village at Lake St. John, on the assump- tion that he actually went so far on his Saguenay expedition, while romantic tradition points to an isle in the Gulf, the Isle de la Demoiselle, where he is said to have abandoned his niece Marguerite, — who had loved not wisely but too well— her lover, and an old nurse. This rocky spot appears to have become in the story an isle of Demons who tormented the poor wretches, exposed to all the rigours of Canadian win- ters, and to starvation except when they could catch fish or snare wild fowl. The nurse and lover as well as the infant died, but Marguerite is said to have remained much longer on that lonely island until at last Fate brought to her rescue a passing vessel and carried her to France, where she is said to have told the story of her adventures. After this voyage Roberval disappeared from the history of Canada. Cartier is supposed to have died about 1577 in his old manor house of Limoilou, now in ruins, in the neighbourhood of St. Malo. He was allowed by the King to bear always the name of " Captain "—an appropriate title for a hardy sailor who represented so well the heroism and enter- prise of the men of St. Malo and the Breton coast. The results of the voyages of Cartier, Roberval, and the sailors and fishermen who frequented the waters of the Great Bay, as the French long called it, can be seen in the old maps that have come down to us, and show the increasing geographical knowledge. FROM CAR TIER TO DE MONTS. 47 To this knowledge, a famous pilot, Captain Jchan Alfonce, a native of the little village of Saintongc in the grape district of Charente, made valuable contri- butions. He accompanied Roberval to Canada, and afterwards made voyages to the Saguenay, and appears to have explored the Gulf and the coasts of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and even Maine as far as the Penobscot, where he believed was the city of Norumbega. After the death of Francis there came dark days for France, whose people were torn asunder by civil war and religious strife. With the return of peace in France the Marquis de la Roche received a com- mission from Henry the Fourth, as lieutenant- general of the King, to colonise Canada, but his ill-fated expedition of 1597 never got beyond the dangerous sandbanks of Sable Island. French fur- traders had now found their way to Anticosti and even Tadousac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, where the Indians were wont to assemble in large numbers from the great fur-region to which that melancholy river and its tributary lakes and rivers give access, but these traders like the fishermen made no attempt to settle the country. From a very early date in the sixteenth century bold sailors from the west country of Devon were fishing in the Gulf and eventually made the safe and commodious port of St. John's, in Newfoundland, their headquarters. Some adventurous Englishmen even made a search for the land of Norumbega, and probably reached the bay of Penobscot. Near the close of the century, Frobisher attempted to open up 48 THE STORY OF CANADA. the secrets of the Arctic seas and find that passage to the north which remained closed to venturesome explorers until Sir Robert McClure, in 1850, success- fully passed the icebergs and ice-floes that barred his way from Bering Sea to Davis Strait. In the reign of the great Elizabeth, when Englishmen were at last showing that ability for maritime enterprise which was eventually to develop such remarkable results, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the half-brother of Sir Walter Ralegh, the founder of Virginia, the Old Dominion, took possession of Newfoundland with much ceremony in the harbour of St. John's, and erected a pillar on which were inscribed the Queen's arms. Gilbert had none of the qualities of a coloniser, and on his voyage back to England he was lost at sea, and it was left to the men of Devon and the West coast in later times to make a permanent 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 Beam, as brave 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, Ay mar de Chastes, governor of Dieppe. Pontgrave, a rich Breton 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, accompanied the ex- FROM CARTIER TO DE MO NTS. 49 pedition that gives the chief interest to the voyage. Champlain, who was destined to be the founder of New France, was a native of Brouage in the Bay of Biscay, and belonged to a family of fishermen. Dur- ing the war of the League he served in the army of Henry the Third, but when Henry of Navarre was proclaimed 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 had followed the Duke of Guise, became an ardent supporter of the new regime and eventually a favourite of the Bernese prince. He visited the West Indies in a Spanish ship and made himself well acquainted with Mexico and other countries bordering on the Gulf. He has described all his voyages to the Indies and Canada in quaint quarto 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 places 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. He had a fair knowledge of natural history for those times, though he believed in Mexican grifBns, 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 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 add largely 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 Guast, 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 of 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 heights of Quebec, and visit a beautiful bay on the western coast of Nova Scotia, where a sleepy 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. , 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 Scotia, 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 Cambridge has made so famous, we see 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 the north is dark, lofty Blomidon — whose name is probably 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 of white college buildings, there a tall white spire 5i 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 fur-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 other commercial cities. Protestants were to enjoy in the new colony all the advantages they were then allowed in France. The Catholics were appeased 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 Biencourt, 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 Fran^aise. 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. dary 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) though the name was first given by De Monts to an islet, well within the mouth of the stream, which he chose as the site of the first French settlement on the northeast coast of America. Buildings 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. He 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- D^serts. 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 France, 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. He found that very little interest was taken in the new colony of which very unsatisfactory reports were brought back to France by his com- panions though he himself gave a glowing account of its beautiful scenery and resources. While Poutrincourt was still in France, 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 had very soon found St. Croix entirely unfitted for a permament settlement, and after a most wretched winter had removed to the sunny banks of the Annapolis, which was then known as the Equille,* and subsequently as the Dauphin. Poutrincourt and De Monts went energetically to work, and succeeded in obtaining the services of all the mechanics and labourers they required. The new expedition 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 unruly 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 July, 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 gi-avdeuf' d'un esplan. 56 THE STORY OF CANADA. joy of the two solitary Frenchmen, who, with a faithful old Indian chief, were the only inmates of the post at that time. These men, La Taille and Miquellet, explained that Pontgrave and Champlain, with the rest of the colony, had set sail for France a few days previously, in two small vessels which they had built themselves. But there was no time to spend in vain regrets. Poutrincourt opened a hogshead of wine, and the fort was soon the scene of mirth and festivity. Poutrincourt set energeti- 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 some 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 wins," encircled with laurels. Under this were the arms of De Monts and Poutrin- court, with their respective mottoes — " Dabit dens THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 57 Jiis quoque fincvi,'' and " In via virtuti 7uilla est via,"' — also surrounded with evergreens. L'Escarbot's ingenious mind did not fail him, even in respect to the daily supply of fresh provi- sions, for he created a new order for the especial benefit of the principal table, at which Poutrincourt, he himself, and thirteen others sat daily. These CHAMPLAIN'S plan of port royal in ACADIA IN 1605. Key to illustration : A, Workmen's dwelling ; B, Platform for cannon ; C, Storehouse ; D, Residence for Champlain and Pontgrave ; E, Blacksmith's forge ; F, Palisade ; G, Bakehouse ; H, Kitchen ; I, Gardens ; K, Burying ground ; L, St. Lawrence River; M, Moat; N, Dwelling of De Monts ; and O, Ships' store- house. fifteen gentlemen constituted themselves into rjJrdre de Bon Temps, 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 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 told, 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 ofifice 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 FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 59 ceeded in influencing the government to withdraw its patronage from him and his associates. Soon afterwards the Httle colony regretfully left Port Royal, which never looked so lovely in their eyes as they passed on to the Bay of Fundy, and saw the whole country in the glory of mid-summer. The Indians, especially Membertou, watched the depart- ure of their new friends with unfeigned regret, and promised to look carefully after the safety of the fort and its contents. As soon as Poutrincourt reached his native coun- try he did his best to make friends at the Court, as he was resolved on returning to Acadia, while Champlain decided to venture to the St. Lawrence, where I shall take up his memorable story later. Poutrincourt's prospects, for a time, were exceed- ingly gloomy. De Monts was able to assist him but very little, and the adventurous Baron himself was involved in debt and litigations, but he eventually succeeded in obtaining a renewal of his grant from the King, and interesting some wealthy traders in the enterprise. Then some dif^culties of a religious character threatened to interfere with the success of the expedition. The society of Jesuits was, at this time, exceedingly influential at court, and, in conse- quence of their representations, the King ordered that Pierre Biard, professor of theology at Lyons, should accompany the expedition. Though Poutrin- court was a good Catholic, he mistrusted this reli- gious order, and succeeded in deceiving Father Biard, who was waiting for him at Bordeaux, by taking his departure from Dieppe in company with 6o THE STORY OF CANADA. Father F16che, who was not a member of the Jesuits. The ship entered Port Royal basin in the begin- ning of June, 1610. Here they were agreeably surprised to find the buildings and their contents perfectly safe, and their old friend Membertou, now a centenarian, looking as hale as ever, and over- whelmed with joy at the return of the friendly pale- faces. Among the first things that Poutrincourt did, after his arrival, was to make converts of the Indians. Father Fleche soon convinced Membertou and all his tribe of the truths of Christianity. Mem- bertou was named Henri, after the king; his chief squaw Marie, after the queen. The Pope, the Dau- phin, Marguerite de Valois, and other ladies and gentlemen famous in the history of their times, became sponsors for the Micmac converts who were gathered into mother church on St. John's day, with the most imposing ceremonies that the French could arrange in that wild country. Conscious of the influence of the Jesuits at Court, and desirous of counteracting any prejudice that might have been created against him, Poutrincourt decided to send his son, a fine youth of eighteen years, in the ship returning to France, with a state- ment showing his zeal in converting the natives of the new colony. When this youthful ambassador reached France, Henry of Navarre had perished by the knife of Ravaillac, and Marie de' Medici, that wily, cruel, and false Italian, was regent during the minority of her son, Louis XIII. The Jesuits were now all- THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 6l poweriul at the Louvre, and it was decided that Fathers Biard and Ennemond Masse should accom- pany Biencourt to Acadia. The ladies of the Court, especially Madame de Guercheville, wife of Duke de la Rochefoucauld de Liancourt, whose reputation could not be assailed by the tongue of scandal, even in a state of society when virtue was too often the exception, interested themselves in the work of con- verting the savages of Acadia. The business of the Protestant traders of Dieppe was purchased and made over to the Jesuits. Thus did these indefati- gable priests, for the first time, engage in the work of converting the savage in the American wilderness. The vessel which took Biencourt and his friends back to Port Royal arrived on the 22nd of July, 161 1, off the fort, where Poutrincourt and his col- onists were exceedingly short of supplies. His very first act was to appoint his son as vice-admiral, while he himself went on to France with the hope of ob- taining further aid about the middle of July. The total number of persons in the colony was only twenty-two, including the two Jesuits, who immediately commenced to learn Micmac, as the first step necessary to the success of the work they had in hand. The two priests suffered many hard- ships, but they bore their troubles with a patience and resignation which gained them even the admira- tion of those who were not prepossessed in their favour. Masse, who had gone to live among the Indians, was nearly starved and smoked to death in their rude camps ; but still he appears to have perse- vered in that course of life as long as he possibly 62 THE STORY OF CANADA. could. About this time the priests had the consola- tion of performing the last offices for the veteran Membertou, the staunch friend of the French colo- nists. On his death-bed he expressed a strong desire to be buried with his forefathers, but the arguments of his priestly advisers overcame his superstition, and his remains were finally laid in consecrated ground. Matters looked very gloomy by the end of Febru- ary, when a ship arrived very opportunely from France with a small store of supplies. The news from Poutrincourt was most discouraging. Unable to raise further funds on his own responsibility, he had accepted the proffer of assistance from Mme. de Guercheville, who, in her zeal, had also bought from De Monts all his claims over the colony, with the exception of Port Royal, which belonged to Pou- trincourt. The King not only consented to the transfer but gave her a grant of the territory extend- ing from Florida to Canada. The society of Jesuits was therefore virtually in possession of North Amer- ica as far as a French deed could give it away. But the French king forgot when he was making this lav- ish gift of a continent, that the British laid claims to the same region and had already established a col- ony in Virginia, which was then an undefined terri- tory, extending from Florida to New France. Both France and England were now face to face on the new continent, and a daring English adventurer was about to strike in Acadia the first blow for English supremacy. Such was the position of affairs at the time of the THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 63 arrival of the new vessel and cargo, which were under the control of Simon Imbert, who had for- merly been a servant to Poutrincourt. Among the passengers was another Jesuit father, Gilbert Du Thet, who came out in the interests of Mme. de Guercheville and his own order. The two agents quarrelled from the very day they set out until they arrived at Port Royal, and then the colony took the matter up. At last the difificulties were settled by Du Thet receiving permission to return to France. A few months later, at the end of May, 161 3, an- other French ship anchored off Port Royal. She had been sent out with a fine supply of stores, not by Poutrincourt, but by Mme. de Guercheville, and was under the orders of M. Saussaye, a gentleman by birth and a man of ability. On board were two Jesuits, Fathers Quentin and Gilbert Du Thet and a number of colonists, Poutrincourt, it appeared, was in prison and ill, unable to do anything whatever for his friends across the ocean. This was, indeed, sad news for Biencourt and his faithful allies, who had been anxiously expecting assistance from France. At Port Royal the new vessel took on board the two priests Biard and Masse, and sailed towards the coast of New England; for Saussaye's instructions were to found a new colony in the vicinity of Pen- tagoet (Penobscot). In consequence of the prevalent sea-fogs, however, they were driven to the island of Monts-D^serts, where they found a harbour which, it was decided, would answer all their purposes on the western side of Soames's Sound. Saussaye and 64 THE STORY OF CANADA. his party had commenced to erect buildings for the new colony, when an event occurred which placed a very different complexion on matters. A man-of-war came sailing into the harbour, and from her masthead floated, not the fleur-de-lis, but the blood-red flag of England. This new-comer was Samuel Argall, a young English sea captain, a coarse, passionate, and daring man, who had been some time associated with the fortunes of Virginia. In the spring of 161 3 he set sail in a stout vessel of 130 tons, carrying 14 guns and 60 men, for a cruise to the coast of Maine for a supply of cod-fish, and whilst becalmed off Monts-Deserts, some Indians came on board and informed him of the presence of the French in the vicinity of that island. He looked upon the French as encroaching upon British terri- tory, and in a few hours had destroyed the infant settlement of St. Sauveur. Saussaye was perfectly paralysed, and attempted no defence when he saw that Argall had hostile intentions; but the Jesuit Du Thet did his utmost to rally the men to arms, and was the first to fall a victim. Fifteen of the prisoners, including Saussaye and Masse, were turned adrift in an open boat ; but fortunately, they managed to cross the bay and reach the coast of Nova Scotia, where they met with some trading vessels belonging to St. Malo. Father Biard and the others were taken to Virginia by Argall Biard subsequently reached England, and was allowed to return home. All the rest of the prisoners taken at St. Sauveur also found their way to France. But how prospered the fortunes of Poutrincourt THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA. 65 whilst the fate of Port Royal was hanging in the scale ? As we have previously stated, he had been put into prison by his creditors, and had there lain ill for some months. When he was at last liberated, and appeared once more among his friends he suc- ceeded in obtaining some assistance, and fitting out a small vessel, with a limited supply of stores for his colony. In the spring of 1614 he entered the basin of Annapolis for the last time, to find his son and followers wanderers in the woods, and only piles of ashes marking the site of the buildings on which he and his friends had expended so much time and money. The fate of Port Royal may be very briefly told. The Governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale, was exceedingly irate when he heard of the encroach- ments of France on what he considered to be British territory by right of prior discovery — that of John Cabot — and immediately sent Argall, after his return from St. Sauveur, on an expedition to the north- ward. Argall first touched at St. Sauveur, and com- pleted the work of destruction, and next stopped at St. Croix, where he also destroyed the deserted buildings. To such an extent did he show his enmity, that he even erased the f^eur-de-lis and the initial of De Monts and others from the massive stone on which they had been carved. Biencourt and nearly all the inmates of the fort were absent some distance in the country, and returned to see the English in complete possession. The destruction of Port Royal by Argall ends the first period in the history of Acacfia as a French col- ony. Poutrincourt bowed to the relentless fate that 66 THE STORY OF CANADA. drove him from the shores he loved so well, and returned to France, where he took employment in the service of the king. Two years later he was killed at the siege of Meri on the upper Seine, dur- ing the civil war which followed the successful in- trigues of Marie de' Medici with Spain, to marry the boy king, Louis XIII., to Anne of Austria, and his sister, the Princess Elisabeth, to a Spanish prince. On his tomb at St. Just, in Champagne, there was inscribed an elaborate Latin epitaph, of which the following is a translation : "Ye people so dear to God, inhabitants of New France, whom I brought over to the Faith of Christ. I am Poutrincourt, your great chief, in whom was once your hope. If envy deceived you, mourn for me. My courage destroyed me. I could not hand to another the glory that I won among you. Cease not to mourn for me. Port Royal, in later years, arose from its ashes, and the fleur-de-lis, or the red cross, floated from its walls, according as the French or the English were the victors in the long struggle that ensued for the possession of Acadia. But before we continue the story of its varying fortunes in later times, we must proceed to the banks of the St. Lawrence, where the French had laid the foundation of Quebec and New France in the great valley, w^hile Poutrincourt was struggling vainly to make a new home for himself and family by the side of the river of Port Royal. VI. SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. (1608-1635.) When Samuel Champlain entered the St. Law- rence River for the second time, in 1608, after his three years' explorations in Acadia, and laid the foundation of the present city of Quebec, the only Europeans on the Atlantic coast of America were a few Spaniards at St. Augustine, and a few English- men at Jamestown. The first attempt of the En- glish, under the inspiration of the great Ralegh, to establish a colony in the fine country to the north of Spanish Florida, then known as Virginia, is only remembered for the mystery which must always surround the fate of Virginia Dare and the little band of colonists who were left on the island of Roanoke. Adventurous Englishmen, Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth, had even explored the coast of the present United States as far as the Kennebec before the voyages of Champlain and Poutrincourt, and the first is said to have given the name of Cape 67 68 THE STORY OF CANADA. Cod to the point named Malebarre by the French. It was not, however, until 1607 that Captain New- port, representing the great company of Virginia, to whom King James II. gave a charter covering the territory of an empire, brought the first permanent Enghsh colony of one hundred persons up the James River in Chesapeake Bay. From this time forward France and England be- came rivals in America. In the first years of the seventeenth century were laid the foundations not only of the Old Dominion of Virginia, which was in later times to form so important a state among the American commonwealths, but also of the New Dominion whose history may be said to commence on the shores of Port Royal. But Acadia was not destined to be the great colony of France — the cen- tre of her imperial aspirations in America. The story of the French in Acadia, from the days of De Monts and Poutrincourt, until the beginning of the eighteenth century when it became an English pos- session, is at most only a series of relatively unim- portant episodes in the history of that scheme of conquest which was planned in the eighteenth century in the palace of Versailles and in the old castle of St. Louis on the heights of Quebec, whose interesting story I must now tell. When Champlain returned to France in 1607 De Monts obtained from Henry the Fourth a monop- oly of the Canadian fur-trade for a year, and imme- diately fitted out two vessels, one of which was given to Pontgrav^, who had taken part in previous expe- ditions to the new world. Champlain was appointed 6y 70 THE STORY OF CANADA. by De Monts as his representative, and practically held the position of lieutenant-governor under dif- ferent viceroys, with all necessary executive and judicial powers, from this time until his death, twenty-seven years later. Champlain arrived on the 3rd of July off the promontory of Quebec, which has ever since borne the name given to it by the Algonquin tribes, in whose language Kebcc means such a strait or narrow- ing of a river as actually occurs at this part of the St. Lawrence. The French pioneers began at once to clear away the trees and dig cellars on an accessi- ble point of land which is now the site of Champlain market in what is called " the lower town " of the modern city. Champlain has left us a sketch of the buildings he erected — habitation as he calls them — and my readers will get from the illustration oppo- site an idea of the plan he followed. Champlain made one of the buildings his headquarters for twelve years, until he built a fort on the heights, which was the beginning of that famous Fort and Castle of St. Louis to which reference is so con- stantly made in the histories of New France. Champlain was obliged immediately after his arrival at Quebec to punish some conspirators who had agreed to murder him and hand over the prop- erty of the post to the Basque fishermen frequenting Tadousac. The leader, Jean du Val, was hanged after a fair trial and three of his accomplices sent to France, where they expiated their crime in the gal- leys. Great explorers had in those days to run such risks among their followers and crews, not affected SAMUEL CHAM PLAIN. 71 by their own enthusiasm. Only three years later a famous sailor and discoverer of new seas and lands, was left to die among the waste of waters which ever since have recalled the name of Henry Hudson. HABITATION DE QUEbEC, FROM CHAMPLAIn's SKETCH. Key to illustration : A, Storehouse ; B, Dovecote ; C, Workmen's lodgings and armoury ; D, Lodgings for mechanics ; E, Dial ; F, Blacksmith's shop and work- men's lodgings; G, Galleries; H, Champlain's residence; I, Gate and draw- bridge ; L, 'VValk ; M, Moat; N, Platform for cannon ; O. Garden ; P, Kitchen ; P, Vacant space ; R, St. Lawrence. During the summer of 1609 Champlain decided to join an expedition of the Algonquin and Huron Indians of Canada against the Iroquois, whose coun- try lay between the Hudson and Genesee rivers and westward of a beautiful lake which he found could be reached by the river, then known as the River of 72 THE STORY OF CANADA. the Iroquois — because it was their highway to the St. Lawrence — and now called the Richelieu. Canada was to pay most dearly in later years, as these pages will show, for the alliance Champlain made with the inveterate enemies of the ablest and bravest Indians of North America. Nowhere in his own narrative of his doings in the colony does he give us an inkling of the motives that influenced him. We may, however, fairly believe that he underrated the strength and warlike qualities of the Iroquois, and believed that the allied nations of Canada would sooner or later, with his assistance, win the victory. If he had shown any hesitation to ally himself with the Indians of Canada, he might have hazarded the fortunes, and even ruined the fur- trade which was the sole basis of the little colony's existence for many years. The dominating purpose of his life in Canada, it is necessary to remember, was the exploration of the unknown region to which the rivers and lakes of Canada led, and that could never have been attempted, had he by any cold or unsympathetic conduct alienated the Indians who guarded the waterways over which he had to pass before he could unveil the mysteries of the western wilderness. In the month of June Champlain and several Frenchmen commenced their ascent of the Richelieu in a large boat, in company with several bark canoes filled with sixty Canadian Indians. When they reached the rapids near the lovely basin of Chambly — named after a French officer and seignior in later times — the French boat could not be taken any fur- SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 73 then It was sent back to Quebec while Champlain and two others, armed with the arquebus, a short gun with a matchlock, followed the Indians through the woods to avoid this dangerous part of the river. The party soon reached the safe waters of the Rich- elieu and embarked once more in their canoes. For the first time Champlain had abundant opportunities to note the customs of the Indians on a war-path, their appeals to evil spirits to help them against their enemies, their faith in dreams, and their methods of marching in a hostile country. The party passed into the beautiful lake which has ever since that day borne the great Frenchman's name; they saw its numerous islets, the Adirondacks in the west, and the Green Mountains in the east. Paddling cau- tiously for some nights along the western shore, they reached at last on the evening of the 29th of July a point of land, identified in later days as the site of Ticonderoga, so celebrated in the military annals of America. Here they found a party of Iroquois, who received them with shouts of defiance, but retreated to the woods for the night with the understanding on both sides that the fight would take place as soon as the sun rose next morning. The allies re- mained in their canoes, dancing, singing, and hurling insults at their foes, who did not fail to respond with similar demonstrations. Next morning, two hundred stalwart Iroquois warriors, led by three chiefs with conspicuous plumes, marched from their barricade of logs and were met by the Canadian Indians. Champlain immediately fired on the chiefs with such success that two of 74 ^^^^ STORY OF CANADA. them fell dead and the other was wounded and died later. " Our Indians," writes Champlain, "shouted triumphantly, and then the arrows began to fly furi- ously from both parties. The Iroquois were clearly amazed that two chiefs should have been so suddenly killed although they were protected from arrows by a sort of armour made of strong twigs and filled with cotton. While I was reloading, one of my men, who was not seen by the enemy, fired a shot from the woods and so frightened the Iroquois, no longer led by their chiefs, that they lost courage and fled precipitately into the forest, where we followed and succeeded in killing a number and taking ten or twelve prisoners. On our side only ten or fifteen were wounded, and they very soon recovered." On their return to the St. Lawrence, the Indians gave Champlain an illustration of their cruelty towards their captives. When they had harangued the Iroquois and narrated some of the tortures that his nation had inflicted on the Canadians in previous times, he was told to sing, and when he did so, as Champlain naively says, " the song was sad to hear. " A fire was lit, and when it was very hot, the In- dians seized a burning brand and applied it to the naked body of their victim, who was tied to a tree. Sometimes they poured water on his wounds, tore off his nails, and poured hot gum on his head from which they had cut the scalp. They opened his arm near the wrists, and pulled at his tendons and when they would not come off, they used their knives. The poor wretch was forced to cry out now and then in his agony, and it made Champlain heart- SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 75 sick to see him so maltreated, but generally he ex- hibited so much courage and stoicism that he seemed as if he were not suffering at all. Champlain remon- strated with them, and was at last allowed to put a speedy end to the sufferings of the unhappy warrior. But even when he was dead, they cut the body into pieces and attempted to make the brother of the victim swallow his heart. Champlain might well say that it was better for an Indian to die on the battle- field or kill himself when wounded, than fall into the hands of such merciless enemies. Soon after this memorable episode in the history of Canada, Champlain crossed the ocean to consult De Monts, who could not persuade the king and his minister to grant him a renewal of his charter. The merchants of the seaboard had combined to repre- sent the injury the trade of the kingdom w^ould sus- tain by continuing a monopoly of Canadian furs. De Monts, however, made the best arrangements he could under such unfavourable conditions, and Champlain returned to the St. Lawrence in the spring of i6io. During the summer he assisted the Canadian allies in a successful assault on a large body of the Iroquois who had raised a fortification at the mouth of the Richelieu, and all of whom were killed. It was on this occasion, when a large num- ber of Canadian nations were assembled, that he commenced the useful experiment of sending Frenchmen into the Ottawa valley to learn the cus- toms and language of the natives, and act as inter- preters afterwards. The French at Quebec heard of the assassination 76 THE STORY OF CANADA. of Henry the Fourth who had been a friend of the colony. Champlain went to France in the autumn of i6io, and returned to Canada in the foUowing 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 Ville-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 association, 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 Conde, 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 BouUe, to marry his daughter Helen, then a child, SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. yj when she had arrived at a suitable age, on the con- dition that the 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 78 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 difificult 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- SAMUEL CFIAMPLAIN. 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 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 8o THE STORY OF CANADA. of a journey to a northern sea, but that it was the invention of " the most impudent har 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 their 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 w^eapons 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 w^iich 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. 8 1 the lay brother Pacifique du Plessis, who belonged to the mendicant order of the Recollets, 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 Ouinte, 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 6 82 THE STORY OF CANADA. the Indians who were dreaded by other tribes as sorcerers. The canoes of the adventurous Frenchmen went down French River, and at last reached the waters of the great Fresh Water Sea, the Mer Douce 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 found 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 warriors. At the town of Cahiague, 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- SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 83 waters of the Susquehanna, who had promised to bring five hundred warriors to the assistance of the Canadian alHed 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 IROQUOIS COUNTRY ; FROM CHAMPLAIN S SKETCH. 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. wear their brightest foliage, that the alHcd 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 conducted 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 impossible 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 attempts to fire the palisades were fruitless on account of the want of method shown by the attack- ing parties. At last the allied Indians became dis- heartened when they saw Champlain himself was wounded and no impression was made on the fort. They returned to the cover of the woods, and awaited for a few days the arrival of Stephen Brule and the expected reinforcements of Andastes. But when nearly a week had passed, and the scouts brought no news of Indians from the Susquehanna, the Ca- nadians determined to return home without making another attack on the village. And here, I may SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 8$ mention, that Stephen Brule was not seen at Quebec until three years later. It appeared then, from his account of his wanderings, that he succeeded after some vexatious delay in bringing 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 gave him his liberty. He is reported to have reached in his wanderings the neighbourhood of Lake Superior, where he found copper, but we have no satisfactory information on this point.* On their return to Canada, the Indians carried Champlain and other wounded men in baskets made of withes. They reached the Huron villages on the 20th of December after a long and wearisome jour- ney. Champlain remained in their country for four months, making himself acquainted with their cus- toms and the nature of the region, of which he has given a graphic description. Towards the last of April, Champlain left the Huron villages, and arrived at Quebec near the end of June, to the great delight 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 by the Hurons in 1634 at Toanche, an Indian village in the West. 86 THE STORY OF CANADA. Bastile for having taken up arms against the King. These Jesuit missionaries, Charles Lalemant, who was the first superior in Canada, Jean de Brebeuf, Ennemond Mass6, the priest who had been in Acadia, Francois Charton, and Gilbert Buret, the two latter lay brothers, were received very 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, who 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. The 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 yet 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 CHAMPLAIN. 8/ 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 of 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 capture 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 English, went on board the English ships, and Lewis Kirk was left in charge of Quebec. On the way down the river, the English 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 CHAMPLAIN. 89 session of the English. Three years elapsed before Champlain obtained a restitution of his property, which had been illegally seized. The King of England, Charles L, 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-en-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 Anges, 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 90 THE STORY OF CANADA. Company of the Hundred Associates had been most seriously crippled by the capture of the expedition 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 CHAM PLAIN. 9I Quebec to the French, the stone manor-house of the first seignior of Canada, Robert Giffard of Beau- port, a post at Tadousac and another at Three Rivers, perhaps two hundred Frenchmen 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 w^e 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 w^iich 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 heights of Quebec to mourn the death of their great leader, and return to the shores of Acadia to follow the fortunes of Biencourt and hlTcompanions whom we last saw near the smoking ruins of their homes on the banks of the Annapolis. 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 were the cas- tles of barons living in mediaeval times. We 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 GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. 93 help their missions; grave and cautious Puritans try- ing to find their advantage in the rivalry of their French neighbours ; a Scotch nobleman and courtier who would be a king in Acadia as well as a poet in England ; Frenchmen who claim to have noble blood in 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 i6io. 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 Biencourt 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 '^'liE SrORY 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 generally accepted statement of the place of his death.* It is quite certain, however, whether Biencourt died in France 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. GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. 95 to follow the example of Sir Frederick Gorges, one of the promoters of the colonisation of New Eng- 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 France. 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 96 THE STORY OF CANADA. future. Charles de la Tour does not appear to have remained in Port Royal, but to have retired to the protection of his own fort at Cape Sable, which the English did not attempt to attack at that time. In the meantime the elder La Tour was in high favour at London. He won the affections of one of the Queen's maids of honour, and was easily per- suaded by Alexander and others interested in American colonisation, to pledge his allegiance to the English king. He and his son were made baro- nets of Nova Scotia, and received large 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 by Argall, it did not fall within the actual provisions 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 Annapohs GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA. 97 basin. The elder La Tour went on to the same place, where he remained until his son persuaded him to join the French at Fort St. Louis, where the news had come that the King of France was deter- mined on the restoration of Port Royal as well as Quebec. It was now decided to build a new fort on the River St. John, which would answer the double purpose of strengthening the French in Acadia, and driving the British out of Port Royal. Whilst this work was in course of construction, another vessel arrived from France with the welcome news that the loyalty of Charles de la Tour was appreciated by the King, who had appointed him as his lieutenant- governor over Fort Louis, Port La Tour, and dependencies. By the treaty of St. Germain-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 France, and Isaac de Launoy de Razilly, a military man of distinction, a Knight of Malta, and a friend of the great minister, was appointed gover- nor of all Acadia. He 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 Breton. 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 descriptive 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 Rene 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 GENTLEMEM-ADVENTURERS IM ACADIA. 99 also seized the " trading wigwam " at Machias, in the present State of Maine, but not before two of the EngHsh 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 lOO THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 GEN TLEMEN-AD VENTURERS IN ACADIA. lOI a confederacy " for preserving and propagating the truth and hberties 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 P\indy, 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. 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, \\\ 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-AD VENTURERS IN ACADIA. IO3 strancc against the course heretofore 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. Then 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 wifeT The besiegers were almost disheartened, when 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. 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 th^ 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 may well be an inspiring theme for poetry and romance.* D'Aunay 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 Ge'ographique et Historique de I'Am/riquc Septentrionale, Paris, 1672), who was in Acadia at the time and must have had an account from eyewitnesses of the tragedy. The details which make D'Aunay so cruel and relentless are denied by a Mr. Moreau in his Histoire de V Acadie Francaise (Paris, 1S73). 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. 105 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 Avrecked them by the malig- nity with which he followed La Tour and his wife. I06 THE STORY OF CANADA. La Tour, in the year 1648, visited Quebec, where he was received 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'Aunay'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 w^as 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 TLEMEN-AD VENTURERS IN ACADIA. lO/ land, the King 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^eet, 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 imiiiediately 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 French 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 I08 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-AD VENTURERS 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- ple, 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 THE IROQUOIS : THEIR ORGANISATION, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS. At the time of Champlain's death we see gather- ing in America the forces that were to influence the fortunes of French Canada — the English colonies growing up by the side of the Atlantic and the Iro- quois, those dangerous foes, already irritated 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 closely identified with the interests of the French settle- ments. These Indians also became possessed of no 112 THE STORY 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 any 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 CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. II3 times of Canada. Popular tradition tells us that the Hurons and Iroquois, branches of the same family, speaking dialects of one common language, were liv- ing at one time in villages not far from each other — the Hurons probably at Hochelaga and the Sene- cas on the opposite side of the mountain. It was against the law of the two communities 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 Hochelaga, 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 Relations, we find very few facts relating to Indian history, though we have very full information re- * See Horatio Hale's " Fall of Hochelaga," in Journal of Ameri- can Folklore, Cambridge, Mass., 1S94. 114 THE STORY OF CANADA. specting their customs, superstitions, and methods of Hving. The reports of the 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 by special racial or physical characteristics. The Eskimo, 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 we 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 numerous 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. 11$ 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 most 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- quin 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 Il6 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, " Qncllcs Jiurcs ! " (What a head of hair !) Champlain speaks of a tribe whom he met after leaving Lake Nipissing, in 1615, and called the CJicvcux Releves, or people with the stiff hair, but they were wandering Algonquins. 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 gentcs 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. WJ 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 — we come to the Tionotates or 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 fury of the relentless confederacy. We have now come to the western door of the " long house " {Ho-de-no-sote) of the Iroquois, who called themselves " the people of the long house " {Ho-(h'-no-sa7i-7icc), 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 Koue, 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 ) Gueugwehono / People of the marsh ji" Onundagaono / People of the hills ) Onayotekaono / Granite people \ Ganeagaono ) Possessors of the flint \ ENGLISH NAMES. FRENCH NAMES. Seneca Tsonnontouans Cayuga Goyogouin Onondaga Onnontague Oneida Onneyote Mohawk 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;/j- of the Roman, the ysvog of the Greek CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 119 — a group of males and females, whose kinship 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 the 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 lippi I. IROQUOIS LONG HOUSE (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 imperfect description of the organisation and customs of the Five Nations I depend mainly on those valuable and now rare books, The League of the Iroqnois, and Houses and Home Life of the Aborigines^ by Lewis H. Morgan. The reader should also consult Horatio Hale's Iroquois Book of Rites. I20 THE STORY OF CANADA. of the same was the " totem '' or coat-of-arms of the kin ov gois, 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 they 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 party. 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 squaw 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. For instance, the Five Nations or Tribes spoke different dialects of the Iroquoian stock language, but each could understand the other suf^ciently for all purposes of deliberation and discussion. Each tribe was governed by its MAP OF FRENCH FO: IN AMERICA, 1750-60. CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 121 own council of sachems and chiefs — the latter in- ferior in rank— elected by their respective clans, but invested with office 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 office 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 STORY OF CANADA. With the object of preventing the concentration of too much power 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 Tadoda'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- went'-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 generally. 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 CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. I 23 to the Delaware, from the Susquehanna to the IHi- nois. They have been well described as ' ' the scourge of God upon the aborigines of the continent." In their i)olitical organisation, their village life, their culture of the soil, their power of eloquence, their skill as politicians as well 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 Mississippi — probably the Alle- 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 ^^^^ 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 love 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 prisoners were spared and adopted into the tribe, and among most nations the wife or mother or sister of a dead chief might demand that he be replaced by a prisoner to whom they may have taken a fancy. After torture parts CANADIAN AND IROQUOIS INDIANS. 1 25 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. They 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 STORY 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 with 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 were respected as revelations from the spirit world. As Champlain tells us, during his first ex- pedition to Lake Champlain, the Indians always questioned him 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, but 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- CANADTAX AXD IROQUOIS INDIANS. 12/ lated with, according to the emergency. It can be easily seen that in this Indian land of mysterious agencies, of manitous and spirits, the medicine-man and conjuror exercised a great power among old and young, 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 plants. The gross- est superstition dominated every community. All sorts of mystic ceremonies, some most cruel and re- pugnant to every sense of 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 Hurons to collect the bones of their dead every few years and imniure 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 128 THE 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 tlie chase arrayed The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer a shade." '^m^ IX. CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS— VI LLE-MARIE — MAR- TYRED MISSIONARIES — VICTORIOUS IROOUOIS — HAPLESS IIURONS. (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 indicate 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 : " Behold the first cross that I have seen in this country, let us worship) the crucified Saviour in his image." Then, this act of devotion accomplished, the procession entered the * 129 130 THE STORY OF CANADA. little church dedicated by Champlain to Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, where the priests solemnly chanted the Tc Dciivi 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 Hospitalieres 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 MARIE GUYARD (MERK MARIE DE 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 ITncarnation, 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 Mere de St. Joseph, and also by another nun, called Mere Cecile de 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 CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS. I 33 the earth of their near country, as they now caHed 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 M_ontreal a\^s founded by a number of religious enthusiasts. Jerome le Royer de la Dau- versiere, receiver of taxes at La Fleche 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 company 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 134 THE STORY OF CANADA. de Maisonneuve, a devout and brave soldier, an honest and chivalric gentleman, who 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, 1 64 1, when it was far too late to attempt an establishment on the island. Governor 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- rORTRAIT OF MAISONNEUVE. ions landed on the Httle 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 g^ive 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 la 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 Cluirch 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 Ikillion's friend, remained at the head of the Hotel Dicu. The Sulj)icians eventually obtained control of tlie spiritual Avelfare, and in fact of the whole island, thougli 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 Bourgeoys, 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. 1 3/ 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 their 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 donnes 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 ambitious and politic Irishman, Sir William Johnson, whose name is constantly occurring in the history of the wars between England and France. 138 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 Avrists 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 of^ce 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 MISSIONARIES. I 39 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 life, 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 post 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 I40 THE STORY OF CANADA. visited Boston, Plymouth, and Salem, in the inter- ests of the Canadian French, who wished to enter into commercial relations with New England, and also induce its governments to enter into an alli- ance against the Iroquois. The authorities of the New England confederacy eventually refused to evoke the hostility of the dangerous Five Nations. Father Druilletes, however, won for Canada the enduring friendship of the Abenakis, as Acadian history shows. It is impossible within the limited space of this chapter to give any accurate idea of the spirit of patience, zeal, and self-sacrifice which the Jesuit Fathers exhibited in their missions among the hap- less Hurons. For years they found these Indians very suspicious of their efforts to teach the lessons of their faith. It was only with difficulty the mis- sionaries could baptise little children. They would give sugared water to a child, and, apparently by accident, drop some on its head, and at the same time pronounce the sacramental words. Some Indians believed for a long time that the books and strings of beads were the embodiment of witchcraft. But the persistency of the priests was at last re- warded by the conversion, or at all events the sem- blance of conversion, of large numbers of Hurons. It would seem, according as their fears of the Iro- quois increased, the Hurons gave greater confidence to the French, and became more dependent on their counsel. In fact, in some respects, they lost their spirit of self-reliance. In some villages the converts at last exceeded the number of unbelievers. By MARTYRED MISSIOXARIES. I4I 1647 there were eighteen priests engaged in the work of eleven missions, chiefly in the Huron country, but also among the Algonquin tribes on the cast and northeast of Lake Huron or at the outlet of Lake Superior. Each mission had its little chapel, and a bell, generally hanging on a tree. One central mis- sion house had been built at Ste. Marie close to a little river, now known as the Wye, which falls into Thunder Bay, an inlet of Matchedash Bay. This was a fortified station in the form of a parallel- ogram, constructed partly of masonry, and partly of wooden palisades, strengthened by two bastions containing magazines. The chapel and its pictures attracted the special admiration of the Indians, whose imagination was at last reached by the em- bellished ceremonies of the Jesuits' church. The priests, thoroughly understanding the superstitious character of the Indians, made a lavish use of pic- torial representations of pain and sufferings and rewards, allotted to bad and good. Father Le Jeune tells us that " such holy pictures are most useful object-lessons for the Indians." On one occasion he made a special request for " three, four, or five devils, tormenting a soul with a variety of punishments — one using fire, another serpents, and another pincers. " The mission house was also con- stantly full of Indians, not simply enjoying these pictures, but participating also in the generous hos- pitality of the Fathers. It was in 1648 that the first blow descended on this unhappy people who were in three years' time to be blotted out as a warlike, united nation in 142 THE STORY Of CANADA. America. In that year the Iroquois attacked the mission of St. Joseph (Teanaustaye), fifteen miles from Ste. Marie, where in 1638 a famous Iroquois, Ononkwaya, had been tortured. All the people had been massacred or taken prisoners in the absence of the warriors who were mostly in pursuit of a band of Iroquois. Father Daniel, arrayed in the vest- ments of his vocation, was among the first to fall a victim to the furious savages, who instantly cast his body into the flames of his burning chapel,- — a fitting pyre for the brave soldier of the Cross. St. Ignace, St. Louis, and other missions were attacked early in the following year. Fathers Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were tortured and murdered at St. Ignace. From village after village the shrieks of helpless women and men and children, tied to stakes in burning houses, ascended to a seemingly pitiless Heaven. Many persons were tortured on the spot, 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 admiration of the Cana- dian Indians, but both he and Lalemant, a rela- tively 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- HAPLESS IIUROXS. 143 tured bodies of the dead missionaries on the ground, and carried them to the mission house, where they were buried in sacred earth. The skull of . the generous, whole-souled Brebeuf is still to be seen within a silver bust in the Hotel Dieu of Quebec. Father Garnier was killed at the mission of St. Jean (Etarita), in the raids which the Iroquois made at a later time on the Tobacco Nation, the kindred of the Hurons. Father 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 Hurons were still numerous despite the losses they had suffered — counting even then more families than the Five 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 decided to scatter and seek new homes elsewhere. Father 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 their isolated position when the Hurons had left the country. They removed all their goods to the Isle of St. Joseph, now 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 Hurons believed that their position would be untenable when the Iroquois renewed their attacks, and determined to leave the island. Some ventured 144 ^^^^ STOJiY 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 "VVyandots. Some three hundred Hurons, old and young, left St. Joseph for Quebec, 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- HAPLESS HURONS. 145 persion, 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 GLOOM— THE KING COMES TO THE RESCUE OF CANADA— THE nsj9»/ CARD ISSUE OF 1 729, 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, CANADA AS A ROYAL PROVINCE. 163 the King took the government of the colony into his own hands, he 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 FIFTEEN 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 his arrival, in 1672, attempted to assemble the different orders of the colony, the clergy, the noblesse 164 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 Mesy, then governor, could not obtain the consent of the bishop, who knew that his views were those of the King. The result of the difificulties 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 ofificers 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 Prc'vot^ de Quebee, 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 CANADA AS A ROYAL PROVINCE. 1 65 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 ecus ct rente. The habitant was obliged to grind his corn at the seign- ior's mill (niouliii 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 Jiabitant to erind his corn in the sei""nior's 1 66 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 hand 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, w^here officers 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 Cotes, 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 ASA ROYAL PROVINCE. 1 67 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 officers 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 Jiabitants 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 in 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 PERIOD OF 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 EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY. 1 69 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 Winnebagos 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 dream of many Frenchmen since the days of Cartier. We have no answer to give to the ques- tion that naturally suggests itself, whether Cham- plain 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 170 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 courciirs dc /;t?/jr 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 Jolliet 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. ^yi 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 gentilhoimnc, and the courciir dc 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 Baron 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 Abenacpiis, and led the life of a forest chief, whose name was long the terror of 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 THE 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 Pen- 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 Abcnaqui 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 building and the leaves are green, The Baron Castine, 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 gentilhommc, 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 liiftuf ,'ri K.ruTU£^U' u, -l- O fO <5 206 THE STORY OF CANADA. the Spanish Succession. The reckless ambition of Louis XIV., then in the plenitude of his power, had coveted the throne of Spain for his own family, and brought him into conflict with England when he recognised the Pretender as the rightful heir to the English Crown. Queen Anne, the daughter of James II. and sister of Mary, queen of William III., had succeeded to the throne, and the war which was declared on the 15th May, 1702, was thereafter known in America by her name. The Abenakis, who had promised peace, broke their pledges, and joined the French Canadian bands in attacking Wells, Saco, and Haverhill, and the annals of New England tell many a sad story of burning homes, of murdered men and women. The people of New England retaliated on Acadia, and several ineffective attempts were made to take Port Royal by Colonels Church and Wainwright, who proved their inca- pacity. A movement was then made for the con- quest of Canada by the English colonists, but it failed in consequence of an European emergency having diverted the British squadron intended for America to the shores of Portugal. An expedition was next organised in 17 10, under the command of Colonel Nicholson, a man of much sagacity and audacity, though of little or no military experience, for the capture of Port Royal, which was surrendered by the governor, Subercase, and from that day this historic place has been known as Annapolis Royal, in honour of the reigning sovereign. It was not until the following year that the British Government yielded to the urgent representations of the colonies. CA/VADA AND ACADIA. 20/ and sent to America a powerful armament to attempt the conquest of Canada. The fleet was under the orders of Sir Hovenden Walker, whose incapacity was only equalled by that of the com- mander of the troops, Colonel Hill. After the loss of eight transports and nearly nine hundred men in a storm near the Isle aux CEufs, at the entrance of the St. Lawrence, the incapable admiral decided to give up the project of besieging Quebec, and with- out even venturing to attack the little French post of Plaisance, he returned to Englan.d, where he was received with marks of disfavour on all sides, and forced soon afterwards to retire to South Carolina. While New England was sadly disappointed by this second failure to take Quebec, the French of Canada considered it a providential interposition in their behalf, and the church, which had been first named after the defeat of Phips, was now dedicated to Notre Dame dcs Victoircs. All this while the French dominion was slowly and surely extending into the great valleys of the West and South. A fort had been built opposite to the Jesuit mission of St. Ignace, on the other side of the Strait of Michillimackinac, and it was now also proposed to make the French headquarters at Detroit, which had been founded by Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac, despite the opposition of the Jesu- its, who wished to have the mission field of the West in their own hands, and resented the intention to establish Recollets and other priests at the new post. As soon as the French established themselves per- manently at this key to the Lakes and West, the 208 THE STORY OF CAiVADA. English practically gave up for fifty years the hope of acquiring the Northwest, and controlling the Indian trade. French pioneers were pushing their way into the valleys of the Illinois and the Wabash. Perrot and Le Sueur had taken possession of the region watered by the upper Mississippi and its affluents. Iberville and Bienville had made small settlements at Biloxi, Mobile, and on the banks of the Mississippi, and with them was associated one of the most admirable figures of Canadian history, Henry de Tonty, who had left his fort on the Illi- nois. In 171 1 Louisiana was made a separate gov- ernment, with Mobile as the capital, and included the whole region from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains. By the time of the Treaty of Utrecht the Indian tribes of the West were, for the most part, in the interest of the French, with the exception of the Sioux, Sauks, and Foxes, whose hostility was for a long time an impediment to their progress on the upper reaches of the Mississippi. Louis XIV. was humbled by Marlborough on the battlefields of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde, and obliged to agree to the Treaty of Utrecht, which was a triumph for England, since it gave her possession of Acadia, Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland (subject to the rights of France in the fisheries), and made the important concession that France should never molest the Five Nations under the dominion of Great Britain. Such questions as the limits of Acadia, and the bounds of the territory of the Iro- quois, were to be among the subjects of fruitful controversy for half a century. CHEVALIER u'iBERVILLE. 2og XV. ACADIA AND ILE ROYALE, FROM THE TREATY OF UTRECHT TO THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. (1713-1748.) The attention of Louis XIV. and his ministers was now naturally directed to Cape Breton, which, like the greater island of Newfoundland, guards the eastern approaches to the valley of the St. Lawrence. Cape Breton had been neglected since the days of Denys, though its harbours had been for over two centuries frequented by sailors of all nationalities. Plaisance, the Placentia of the Portuguese, had been for years the headquarters of the Lrench fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but when Newfoundland was ceded to the English, all the French officials and fishermen removed to English Harbour, on the eastern coast of Cape Breton, ever since known as Louisbourg. The island itself was called lie Roy- ale, and its first governor was M. de Costabelle, who had held a similar position at Plaisance. It was not, however, until 1720, that F" ranee commenced the 210 ACADIA AND ILE KOYALE. 211 construction of the fortifications of Louisbourg, which eventually cost her over ten million 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 at the entrance, and at other important points, while there were fortified works and small garrisons at Port Toulouse (St. Peter's) and Port Dauphin (St. Anne's). The government of the island was modelled on 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 P'rench, 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 212 THE SrORY OF CANADA. them, while the French 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 neglected Nova Scotia, where, until the foundation of Halifax, her only sign of sovereignty was the dilapidated fort at Annapolis, 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. F'rom Annapolis to Canseau 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 on them a blow from which they never recovered. At Norridgewock perished the famous missionary, Se- bastian Rale, beneath whose black robe beat the heart of a dauntless soldier, whose highest aspira- A CAD/ A AND ILE ROYALE. 21 3 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 England felt she had no efficient security for its continuance while Acadian and Indian could see in the great fortress of Cape Breton powerful evidence that France was not yet willing to give up the contest for dominion in Acadia, Northern New England 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 Theresa, 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 to seize Silesia, and to drive Austria from Ger- many. Bavaria claimed the Austrian duchy of Bohemia. 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 214 THE 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 P" ranee and England to fight at Dettingcn 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 surrendered 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 Mascarene, then governor of ACADIA AND ILE ROY ALE. 21 5 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 influential 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 included the present State 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. His 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 Httle 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 dcspc7'andum CJiristo ducc.'^ 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 i/th, General Pepperrell 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 ROY ALE. 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 a 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 narrow river, but its progress was arrested by the startling 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- 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 ROY ALE. 219 such distinguished men as Beaujcu, Saint-Ours, Boishebert, Lanaudiere, but the news of the disas- ters that had crippled the fleet, forced him to give up his plan of attacking Annapolis, and to withdraw to the isthmus of Chignecto, where he built a small fort at Bale 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-Chapelle, 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 rivals 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. XVI. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOxMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS OF NORTH AMERICA— PRELUDE. (1748-1756.) The map that is placed at the beginning of this chapter outHnes 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 EngHsh 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- 221 222 THE STORY OF CANADA. ence of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, held the keys to Canada. The approaches by the way of Lake Champlain and the Richeheu were defended by tlie fort of St. John near the northern extremity of the lake, and by the more formidable works known as Fort Frederick or Crown Point — to give the better known English name — on a peninsula at the narrows towards the south. The 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 Fort William Henry, about fourteen miles from Fort 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 Frontenac 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 Rouille 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. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 223 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. \\\ 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 Celoron, a cap- tain in the French service, to claim possession of the valley of the former river and its tributaries. This ofificer 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 OF CANADA. of the French into a region on which they were now casting a longing eye. Their government had se- cured from the Iroquois a doubtful deed which gave them, as they urged, a title to the Great West, and a company was even formed to occupy the Ohio. In 1/54 the English commenced the construction of a fort at the forks of the Ohio, but it was easily captured by Contrecreur, who completed and re- named it in honour of the Governor of Canada, Duquesne. Washington, who now first appears in American history, was defeated by Chevalier de Vil- liers at Fort Necessity, a mere intrenchment at Great Meadows, and the French held entire possession of the Ohio valley, where no English trader or pioneer dared show himself. By 1755 the French dominion was complete from the Ohio to the Illinois, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf 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. Fort Chartres in the Illinois country was the only post of any thorough construction. At Cahokia, opposite the modern city of St. Louis, and at Kaskaskia, at the junction of the river of that name with the Missis- sippi, there were small and relatively prosperous French villages. In Louisiana the French had the towns of Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, and a few other settlements, where the African blacks far out- numbered the whites. That colony had had many difficulties to surmount before it could be considered established. Wars with the Natchez and Chicka- THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 225 saws had been constant. Crozat's experiment had been followed by the establishment of the Missis- sippi or Western Company, which was to develop gold mines, that never existed except in the imagi- nations of its reckless promoter, John Law, a Scotch- man. When the Mississippi bubble burst, and so many thousands were ruined in France, Louisiana still continued under the control of the company, which was eventually obliged to give up its charter after heavy expenditures which had produced very small results, and the colony became a royal prov- ince. With its chequered future must be always associated the name of the Canadian Bienville, who was for some years its governor and justly earned the title of " Father of Louisiana." Lisignificant as was its progress, France prized its possession, and had she been alive to her opportunities she might have colonised it with Huguenots and made it a power in the conflict between herself and Eng- land in America. France, busy with her ambitious designs in Eu- rope, gave but a meagre and too often half-hearted support to the men who had dreams of founding a mighty empire in America. When France and Eng- land met for the great struggle on that continent, the thirteen colonies had reached a population of nearly a million and a quarter of souls, exclusive of the negroes in the South, while the total number of the people in Canada and Louisiana did not exceed eighty thousandT' In wealth and comfort there was the same disproportion between the French and English colonies. In fact at the time of the last 226 THE STORY OF CANADA. war, Canadian commerce was entirely paralysed, farms neglected, 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 Lake Champlain 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 early part of the struggle the English had no commander to compare with Montcalni 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 French 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 gen- THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 22/ eralship of Montcalm, swoop down with their savage aUies on the Enghsh colonial settlements. But the French of Canada were never able, as a rule, to do more than harass by sudden raids and skirmishes — by a system of petite giicrrc, or petty warfare — the English of America, and at no time in colonial his- tory was the capture of Boston or of New York actually attempted by a land force from Canada, though it was suggested more than once. At the outbreak of the war the Mohawks were the only Indian tribe on whom the English could place much dependence, and that was largely owing to the energy and discretion of Sir William Johnson, who had long lived in their country and gained not only their con- fidence but even their affection. The tribes in the Ohio valley had been won by the success of the French in driving out the Virginians, while in the further west the Foxes and other communities who had been unfriendly to the French had been beaten into submission — the Foxes in fact almost destroyed — by the raids of the French and their Indian allies. The great current of active thought and enterprise which develops a nation was always with the English colonies, and though large schemes of ambition stim- ulated the energies of the bold and adventurous men to whom the destinies of France w^ere entrusted from the days of La Salle to those of Montcalm, their ability to found a new empire in America under the hlies of France was ever hindered by the slow development of the French settlements, by the incapacity of the King and his ministers in France to grasp the importance of the situation on this conti- 228 THE STOKY OF CANADA. nent, and by their refusal to carry out the projects of men hke La Galissonniere, who at once recognised the consequences of such neglect and indifference, but found no one ready to favour his scheme of es- tablishing large settlements of French peasantry in Canada and Louisiana. France, we see now, had her great opportunity in America, and lost it forever at Quebec in 1759. Before we proceed to the record of the events which led to the conquest of Canada, it is necessary that we should briefly review the history of the period which elapsed between the Treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle and the commencement of the Seven Years' War, When English statesmen were informed of the mistake they had made in restoring Cape Breton to France with such reckless haste, they began to reflect on the best means of retrieving it as far as possible ; and at the suggestion of Shirley and other colonists they set to work to bring an English pop- ulation into Nova Scotia, and to make it a source of strength instead of weakness to the New England communities. In 1749, the year of the formal sur- render of Louisbourg, the city of Halifax was founded on the west side of the admirable harbour, long known in Acadian history as Chebouctou. Here, under the direction of Governor Cornwallis, a man of great ability, a town slowly grew up at the foot and on the slopes of the hill which was in later times crowned by a noble citadel, above which has always floated the flag of Great Britain. Then fol- lowed the erection of a fort at Chignecto, known as Fort Lawrence in honour of the Enszlish officer who THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 229 built it — afterwards governor of Nova Scotia — and intended to be a protection to the province, con- stantly threatened by the French and Indians, who were always numerous at the French posts and set- tlements on the isthmus. The French constructed on the northern bank of the Missiquash a fort of five bastions known as Beausejour, and a smaller one at Bay Verte, with the object, as previously stated, of keeping up communication with Louisbourg, which they were strengthening in some measure. At Fort Beausejour the treacherous priest Le Loutre contin- ued to pursue his insidious designs of creating dissat- isfaction among the French Acadians and pressing on them the necessity of driving the English from the former possessions of France. Though war was not formally proclaimed between France and England until many months later, the year 1755 was distinguished in America by conflicts between the English and French — a prelude to the great struggle that was only to end in the fall of New France. The French frigates Alcide and Lys were captured on the coast of Newfoundland by ves- sels of a fleet under Admiral Boscawen, who had been sent by the English Government to intercept a French fleet which had left France under Admiral de la Mothe, having on board troops under Baron Dieskau and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the succes- sor of Duquesne in the government of Canada. In Acadia, in the valley of the Ohio, and at Lake George, the opposing forces of England and France also met in conflict. In the spring an English force of regular and colonial troops, chiefly the latter. 230 THE STORY OF CANADA. under the command of Colonel Monckton, who has given his name to a prosperous city on the isthmus of Chignecto, and of Colonels Winslow and Scott, captured the two French forts and took a good many prisoners, among whom were a considerable number of French Acadians, forced by the French to assist in the defence of Beausejour. Le Loutre succeeded during the confusion on the surrender of the fort, in evading capture, but only to find himself eventually taken prisoner by an English ship while on his way to France, and sent to the island of Jersey, where he was kept in confinement until the end of the war, and from that time disappears from American history. In the same year General Braddock, an arrogant though experienced soldier, was sent in command of a large force of regular and colonial troops into the valley of the Ohio to attack Fort Duquesne and drive the French from that region, but chiefly through his want of caution and his ignorance of Indian methods of warfare in the American wilder- ness, he was surprised on the Monongahela by a small force of Indians and French under the Canadian Beaujeu, who were concealed in ravines, from which they were able in perfect security to prevent the advance of the English, and literally riddle them with bullets until they fled in dismay and confusion, leaving behind them a great store of munitions and provisions besides a large sum of money in specie. Braddock died from the wounds he received, and the remnant of his beaten regiments retired precipi- tately beyond the Alleghanies. This unhappy dis- THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 2^1 aster was followed by a succession of Indian raids along hundreds of miles of frontier, and the petite guerre of the Abenakis and French in Acadia and New England, with all its horrors, was repeated by the Indians of the West. The southern colonies were paralysed for the moment, and the authorities of Pennsylvania gave evidences of indifference, if not of cowardice, that are discreditable features of its early history. General Johnson, of the Mohawk country, at the head of a large colonial force, defeated Baron Dies- kau at the foot of Lake George, which then received its present name in honour of the King of England, and the French general himself was taken prisoner. It was for his services on this occasion that Johnson was made a baronet, though he had not succeeded in the original object of his expedition, the capture of Crown Point. General Shirley, however, was not so fortunate as Johnson, for he abandoned the project of attacking Fort Niagara when he heard that it had received reinforcements. The most memorable event of this time, which has been the subject of warm controversy between French and English historians and the theme of a most affecting poem, was the expulsion of the Aca- dian P'rench from Nova Scotia. When Halifax was founded it was decided, as a matter of necessity, to bring the Acadians more entirely under the control of the English authorities. They had probably in- creased since the Treaty of Utrecht to at least twelve thousand souls, living for the most part in the An- napolis valley, by the Gaspereaux and Avon rivers, 232 THE STORY OF CANADA. at Grand Pr6, at Mines, and at Chignecto. When they were asked to take the oath of allegiance by Governor Lawrence, they refused to do so unless it was qualified by the condition that they should not be obliged at any time to take up arms. Many years before a considerable number, if not the ma- jority, of the same people had taken this qualified oath, although it is also claimed that no one had legal authority to make such a condition with them. Under the treaty of 171 3 the Acadian French had a year to choose between leaving the country or giving their submission to the British Government and be- coming its subjects. It was natural that they should have hesitated to leave the humble though comfort- able homes which their own industry had made on the most fertile lands of Nova Scotia, but it is also quite certain that every obstacle was thrown in the way of their removal by the English governors. Had the British authorities adopted from the very commencement a firm and decided policy towards them, they might have given an unreserved alle- giance to the British Crown and eventually be- come peaceable and contented inhabitants. As it was, the British Government systematically neg- lected the country, and left the little garrison at Annapolis for many years practically at the mercy of the Acadians, who could have often half starved them, and even captured the only English post of the least importance in the province, had they been led at any time by a man of courage and determina- tion. It was only the watchfulness of the govern- ment of Massachusetts, who fully recognised the THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 233 importance of Nova Scotia in relation to New Eng- land, that retained the province in English hands during the time when English statesmen like New- castle were even ignorant of the existence or situa- tion of Annapolis. If French emissaries were often able to make these credulous and ignorant people believe that France would soon regain her dominion in Acadia, it was largely owing to the fact that the English showed such weakness in all their relations with the Acadians, and made no earnest or sus- tained effort to assert their sovereignty. At last when England decided to settle and strengthen Nova Scotia, a feeling of uneasiness was naturally created by the presence of a large and increasing population who were naturally in sympathy with the French, and had assumed an attitude quite irreconcilable with the security of English interests on the Atlantic coast of eastern America. It must be admitted that the position of the Acadians was one deserving of sympathy, tossed about as they were for many years between French and English. They were considered by the French of Canada and Cape Breton as mere tools to carry out the designs of French ambition. England, however, had at some time or other to assert her sovereignty in Nova Scotia, and to assure its security, seemingly threatened by the presence of people who would not formally declare themselves British subjects. The position of Nova Scotia between Cape Breton and Canada gave reason for constant alarm, and when Halifax was founded some decisive step was felt to be necessary by Cornwallis and his successors. 234 THE STORY OF CANADA. No doubt the feeling that had been created against the Acadians, by their refusal to take an uncondi- tional oath of allegiance to Great Britain — the only- oath that could be possibly offered to them by a self-respecting and strong government— was intensi- fied by the notorious fact that a number of them had been actually captured at Fort Beausejour with arms in their hands, though in this case they ap- pear to have been really the mere tools of Le Loutre and French emissaries who grossly misled them. The people of New England were much prejudiced against them and asserted that they could never enjoy any security while the Acadians continued to maintain their attitude of neutral- ity. They had always supplied Louisbourg with provisions and helped to build the French forts on the isthmus, and it was difficult for Lawrence and his officers to obtain any assistance from them in the same way. When the Indians harassed the English settlers in Nova Scotia, the government of that province recalled the raids of the Abenakis and French Canadians, and believed with some reason there was to be the same condition of things in the peninsula. The war between the French and Eng- lish had never really ceased in America, and it was well known that the hollow truce in Europe would be broken at any moment ; and in the presence of the great danger that threatened the English colo- nies, they had some ground for fearing the presence of a large body of people who claimed to be neu- trals in a country which was England's by conquest and treaty, and where they could and did enjoy an THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 235 amount of political and religious liberty which no Protestant enjoyed in Catholic Europe. Then came the defeat of .Braddock in the Ohio country, and the knowledge that France was preparing for a deter- mined effort to strengthen and even increase her dominions in America. It was under these circumstances that Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia — a determined and harsh military man — no doubt at the instigation of Shirley and the authorities of New England, determined to secure the peace and safety of the province by the most cruel of all possible measures, the expulsion of the whole body of French Acadians. It must be admitted, however, that all the circumstances, when reviewed in these later times, do not seem suf^cient to justify the stern action of the men v/ho took the leading part in this sad tragedy. The responsibility must mainly rest on Governor Lawrence, and not on the imperial government, who never formally authorised the expatriation. Be that as it may, the Acadians were driven from their settlements, and the no6le qualities of Lawrence, Monckton, and Winslow, who carried out the measures of expulsion, will be always obscured in the minds of that great majority of people who think only of the deed and its consequences, and are influ- enced by the dictates of the heart. It is a matter for deep regret that the men who represented Eng- land in those days had not run a risk on the side of humanity, rather than have driven thousands of men, women, and children from their pleasant homes by the sides of the beautiful bays and rivers 236 THE STORY OF CANADA. of Nova Scotia, and scattered them far and wide among the EngHsh 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. ^^ 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 the 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 WiUiam 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 of^cer, 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 de Saint-Veran, whose family seat was Candiac, near Nismes, in the south of France. cfCOTt^Jtllf^ ' iET. 29. 239 240 THE Sl^ORV 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 THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 24 1 those who served the country at this momentous epoch — that England 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, But while France neglected to give adequate support to her brave sons in Can- ada, England 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 predecessors. On the continent of Europe, 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, Leuthen, 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 France, 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 French fleet by Admiral Hawke in Qui- beron Bay. While the military genius of Frederick and the 242 THE STORY 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 Holbourne 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 slow 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 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 I758. Wolfe destroyed the French settlements around the bays of Gaspe, 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 amid the roar of cannon. This victory came at an opportune moment, since Abercromby had suffered a humihating repulse on the banks of Lake Cham- plain. With a splendid force of regular and ]jro- 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 Levis. The ; P 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 ? Quill miles ? Quid strata ingentia ligna ? En signum ! en victor ! Deus hic, 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." * * Parknian gives the following paraphrase of the Latin inscription: " Soldier and chief and ramparts' strength are nought ; Behold the conquering cross ! 'T is God the triumph wrought." 246 THE STORY OF CANADA. An important event of the year was the taking of Fort Frontenac by Colonel 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 loss of a battle." Fort 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 French 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 renarned 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. ^; XVIII. THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE — CANADA IS WON BY WOLFE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. (1759-I763.) 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 officer, 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 Rouill6 (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 SrORY 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 Ile-aux-Noix which they now set to work to fortify. Bourlamaque, an able oflficer, 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 which, 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 city w^as 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 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-GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. 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 250 THE STORY OF CANADA. of his ill-gotten gains. The names of Pean, Varin, Cadet, Estebe, and Clavery are the most conspicu- ous amongst those officials who became rich on Canadian misery and misfortune, and are dishonour- 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 lost 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 252 THE 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 I2th 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 Levis, 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 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 drawm 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 l;Jiese 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 STOKY 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. Montcahn was obhged to weaken his army by sending his ablest general, Levis, 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 Ansc-au-Foitlon. 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 Beausejour. When the THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION. 255 English boats dropped down the river with the tide at midnight, on the 12th 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 herakly, 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," Qiiivive f" " La France ! " re- plied an officer of Eraser's Highlanders who spoke French well. '^A quel regiment?'' again challenged the suspicious soldier. " Z>r la Reine,'"' answered the same officer, who happily remembered that some companies of this regiment were with Bougainville. 256 THE STORY OF CANADA. Fate that eventful night was on the side of the bold Englishman. 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, " Pourqiioi est-ce que voiis ne parlez plus haut / " The captain replied with won- derful coolness, " Tais-toi, nous serons oitendiis ! "— 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 DOMINION. 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 giv^e 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 Levis — 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- 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, Levis 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 Levis 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 \\\& flcur-dc-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 ye'ars 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. 259 HONNEUR A Montcalm Le destin en lui derobant La Victoire L'a recompense par Une Mort Glorieuse ! 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- sev^en years, l^oth 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 explain 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, though 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 governed 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 MONTCALM AND WOLKE MONUMENT AT QUEBEC. 261 262 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. Levis 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 regularly 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; M 264 THE STORY OF CANADA. and Levis 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 Ilaviland left Lake Champlain, captured lle-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 Ih-itain bound herself to allow the French Canadians the free exercise of their religion, and certain specified fraternities, and all communities of rcligicnscs were guaranteed the possession of their goods, constitutions, and privi- leges, but a si milarjavou r was denied to thejesuits, t he Fra nciscans, 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, I763^_by^he Treaty of Paris, France ceded to Great Britain Canada, with all its dependencies, the island of Cape Breton, and the Laurentian Lsles. By this treaty the King pledged himself " to give_ the most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic jsub- 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, except the city of New 266 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 w^as 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 inland consents to enter the Canadian Dominion. Still, despite the'se 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 habitattts ever left Canada after the war. A few members of the seigniorial nobility, the ofificiaTs^and some mer- chants — pefliaps 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^ast into tlTe_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 afTairs. 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- ment of rest on the banks of the St. La\\rence and its tributary rivers, the Western Indians, who had been the allies of France during the war, suddenly arose and seized nearly all the forts and posts which A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 269 had been 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 w^ere 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 aear]^^_two^housand .F/ench jCana- dians or Louisiana French living in the Iljinois 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 2/0 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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__J;rciich^_who thoroughly understood the Indian character, had never failed to administer to their vanity and pride — tQ_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 Tecumseh. 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. 2"/ 1 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 prominent 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 and 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 — IVacoiista, or the Prophecy, by Major Richardson, who was the author of several other books. 2/2 THE STORY OF CAjVADA. 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 ofB- 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 ofificer 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 A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 273 been on several occasions on the point of death. \\\ six weeks' time from the first attack on Detroit, on the 9th of May, 1763, 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 Ligonier. 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 ga\e the requisite aid to an expedition under the command of an able officer, Colonel Bouquet, who had been one of Brigadier F"orbes's ofificers dur- ing the campaign of 1759 in the Ohio valley. He rescued Fort 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 unexpected 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 settlemen.ts of Virginia and Pennsyl- iS 274 'r^^ STORY OF CANADA. 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 i nfat uation which sopie^young women felt for the savage warriors whom they ha d 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 Prance 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, wliich 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. 2/5 Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. The governors were empowered to summon general assemblies, and to make laws and ordinances for good government with the consent of the councils and the representatives of the people, 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 French 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 2/6 THE STORY Of CANADA. coniniander-in-chicf where such lands were situated. I'his 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 tow'ards 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, whicli greatly extended the boundaries of the pro- vince of Quebec, as defined by the proclamation of A PERIOD OF TRAiYSITION. 277 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 Quj^bec Act created much debate in the House of Commons. The Earl 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 amendmer.t. 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 antl 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- 2/8 THE STOKY OF CANADA. ernor-Gcneral, had much to do with the Hbcrahty of the Quebec Act towards the French Canadians. After a careful stud}' of the country he came to the conclusion that the 1 ixnch ci\iJ law qught 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 Quebeq 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 onl}- 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- 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 wQre to enjoy their " accustomed dues and rights," with respect to such persons as professed that creed. Sir Guy Carleton nominated a legislative council of 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. XX. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION — INVASION OF CAN- ADA—DEATH OF MONTGOMERV — PEACE. (1774-1783.) The Canadian people had now entered on one of tlie 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 EngHsh governor- general, however, saved the- valley of the St. Law- rence for the English _ Crown, atid 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 h^-ench to join the English colonies in their rebellion against- England. With a curious ignorance of the conditions of a people, 280 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 28 I who cou ld nojt read^nd rarely saw a printed. book, and never owned a priijting-press * during the FT'ench regime, references were made by the con- gress that assembled at Philadclj^hia 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 majorit}' 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 Fng- 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 i'Vench Canada was the Quebec Geize/te, which appeared in 1764. 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 persons were mere adventurers who were carrying on a secret correspondence with the leaders of the American Revolution, and even went so far as to attempt to create discontent among the 1^^-ench 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 generall}' inert during the events which threatened the security of Canada. It was left to a few enlight- ened men, chiefly priests and ofificers of the old French service, to understand the exact nature of the emergenc}', 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 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 of the Roman Catholic 284 THE STORY OF CANADA. faith and leading men of the majority. The British Governm.ent, 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 an3 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 fealt\' 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 earh' 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 arri^-al 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 THF. AMERICAN R l-.VOLUTION. 2S5 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 a piece 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 Ansc-au-Foulon along a rough and narrow road between the foot of Cape Diamond and the St. Lawrence, as far as Pres-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- 286 THE STORY OF CANADA. gomcry'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 suf^cient 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 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 dif^culties 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 liaxe ceased among those who wished to strengthen l^ritish interests in America. Lixius 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 SIOKY OF CANADA, qiuii'tcr ;lii approval in weirds 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 famihar to every one. Bur<;oyne 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 the 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 \-alid 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 TFIE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 289 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 andlhe Republic was so ill-defined that it took half a cent ury 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 oi] 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 290 THE STORY OF CANADA. bringing the country into the new repubhc. 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 w^ith 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'Es.taing 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 Valiniere, 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 Eng-land. XXI. COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. (1783-179I.) It was during Governor Haldimand'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 tJiTited 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 intiniated at the time, a per- fect nullity. The English (jovernment subsequently 291 292 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 Caii.ada, riow Ojitario. 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 against the United States, the effects of which could be 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 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 \\'as 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 1 786. They commenced to leave their old homes soon after the breaking out of the war, but tjie 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 ^reat 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 responsibilit}- 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 \\\\o 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 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 tliat 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 296 THE STORY OF CANADA. even in this wilderness, though marriage was uncer- tain, as the visits of clergymen were very rare in many places, and magistrates could alone tic 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 burj-ing 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 memory of these founders of new provinces — of English-speaking Canada; although the majority lie forgotten in old graveyards where the grass has COMING OF THE LOYALISTS. 297 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, Avere 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), Wentworth, 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, 298 THE STORY OF CANADA. Merritt, McNab, Crawford, Kirby, Tisdalc, and Ryerson. Among these names stand out promi- nently those of Wihnot, Howe, and Huntingdon, who were among the fathers of responsible govern- ment ; those of Tilley, Tupper, Chandler, and Fisher, w^ho 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 wTongly 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: 299 300 THE STORY OF CANADA. " The mammoth comes — the foe, the monster, Brandt— With all his howling, desolating band ; These eyes have 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 Quinte, 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 beautiful 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 1710 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 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. XXII. FOUNDATION OF NEW PROVINCES — ESTABLISH- MENT OF REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. (1792-1812.) The history of the Dominion of Canada as a self- governing community commences with the conces- sion of representative institutions to the old provinces now comprised within its limits. By 1792 there were provincial governments established in Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. From 1713 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 govern- ment was identical with that of the older province. Prince PIdward Island was a part of Nova Scotia until 1769 when it was created a distinct province, 302 FOUNDATION OF NEW PROVINCES. 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 Lower 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 officials, 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 mar'time 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. 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, believed 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 w^as 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 FKOVINCES. 305 provision that caused much trouble in the future. The civil law of French Canada was to regulate prop- erty and 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 apartments 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. Like all the ancient structures 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 3o6 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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 English and French society. \\\ the legislature were not a few men whose families had long been associated with the fortunes of the colony. Chaussegros de Lery, 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 Canadiai;!, 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 308 THE STORY OF CANADA. mighty cataract of Niagara could 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- liament 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 fit 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 diflfi- 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, REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. 309 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. Thames, then known as La Tranche. Mainly through his efforts a considerable immigration 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 REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. 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 LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 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 dignity and rural tranquillity that a capital may attain even in these restless modern times. In this island, the seeds of 312 THE STORY OF CANADA. 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. REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. 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 Aferairy, an organ of the British minority, was arrested on this ground. Le Canadicn was established as an organ of the French Canadian majority with the motto, Nos institutions, notre langiie, et nos lois. 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 official 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 Guar- REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. 315 dian, the second paper printed in Upper Canada— the first having been the Upper Canada Gazette, or the American Oracle, which appeared at Newark on the i8th April, 1793. He was a dangerous agitator, not worthy of pubhc confidence, but he was able to evoke some sympathy, 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 181 2 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 1812-1815 — PATRIOTISM OF THE CANADIANS. At the outbreak of the unfortunate War of 181 2 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 18 19 — 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- 316 THE WAR OF l8l2-l8lj. 317 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. But 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 3l8 THE STORY OF CANADA. were practically futile while England was victorious on the ocean, but which nevertheless threw addi- tional difficulties in the way of the commerce of a country like the United States, which possessed such exceptional facilities for its development from its position as a neutral nation, and its great mari- time and mercantile enterprise. The British meas- ures meant the ruin of an American commerce which had become very profitable, and the Washington government attempted to retaliate by declaring an embargo in their own ports, which had only the result of still further embarrassing American trade. In place of this injudicious measure a system of non-intercourse with both England and France was substituted as long as either should continue its restrictive measures against the United States. The Democratic governing party practically fell under the influence of France, and believed, or at least professed to believe, that Napoleon had aban- doned his repressive system, when, as a matter of fact, as the English ministry declared, it still existed to all intents and purposes. The Democratic lead- ers, anxious to keep in power, fanned the flame against England, whose naval superiority enabled her to inflict an injury on American commercial inter- ests, which France was entirely powerless to do. The Democrats looked to the South and West for their principal support in holding power. In these sections the interests were exclusively agricultural, while in New England, where the Federalists — the peace party— were in the majority — and the war was very unpopular — the commercial and maritime ele- THE WAR OF 1812-1815. 3I9 ment largely prevailed. In the West there had been for years an intense feeling against England on account of the fact that after the definitive treaty of peace in 1783, the English Government continued to occupy the Western posts and dependent terri- tory for thirteen years, nominally on the ground of the harsh treatment meted out to the loyalists in violation of its terms, and of the non-payment of debts due to English creditors, but probably also with the view of keeping control of the fur trade. The feeling prevailed among the western frontiers- men that the English secretly instigated Indian attacks on the new settlements, a belief proved by recent investigations to be groundless. Even after the victories of Mayne in 1794, and of Harrison in 181 1, when the Indian power was effectively broken, this bitter sentiment still existed in the West against English and Canadians, and had much influence with the politicians who favoured the war. The Southern leaders. Clay of Kentucky and Cal- houn of South Carolina, were most inimical to Eng- land, and succeeded in forcing Madison to agree to a declaration of war, as a condition to his re-election to the presidency. The consequence of this suc- cessful bargain was the passage of a war measure by Congress as soon as Madison issued his message, and the formal declaration of hostilities on the iSth of June, 18 1 2. On the previous day, England had actually repealed the obnoxious orders in council, but it was too late to induce the war party in the United States to recede and stop the progress of the forces, which were already near the western 320 THE STORY OF CANADA. Canadian frontier when the governor-general of Canada, Sir George Prevost, a miHtary man, heard the news of the actual declaration of hostilities. With the causes of the War of 1812 the Canadian people had nothing whatever to do ; it was quite sufficient for them to know that it was their duty to assist England with all their might and submit to any sacrifices which the fortunes of war might necessarily bring to a country which became the principal scene of conflict. Ontario, then Upper Canada, with a population of about eighty thousand souls, was the only province that really suffered from the war. From the beginning to the end its soil was the scene of the principal battles, and a great amount of valuable property destroyed by the in- vading forces. " On to Canada " had been the cry of the war party in the United States for years; and there was a general feeling that the upper province could be easily taken and held until the close of the struggle, when it could be used as a lever to bring England to satisfactory terms or else be united to the Federal Union. The result of the war showed, however, that the people of the United States had entirely mistaken the spirit of Canadians, and that the small population scattered over a large region — not more than four hundred thousand souls from Sydney to Sandwich — was animated by a stern de- termination to remain faithful to England. No doubt the American Government had been led to believe from the utterances of Willcocks in the Guardian, as the representative of the discontented element in Upper Canada, that they would find not THE WAR OF 1812-1815. 32 1 only sympathy but probably some active co-opera- tion in the western country as soon as the armies of the RepubHc 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 the 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. The forces at the disposal of the 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 181 2, only four thousand five hundred regular troops, and of these hardly one-third were stationed above Montreal. The Canadian militia, however, 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 disposal of the government all their resources. Army bills were issued to a 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 much 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 Oueenston 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 rajjid river. At the begin- ning of the battle. General Brock was unhappily slain while leading hjs men up the heights, and the same fate befell his chivalrous aide-de-camp, Colonel McDonell, the attorne\'-general of the province. It MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK. 323 324 THE STORY OF CANADA. was left for General Sheaffe 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 Erie, but Colonel Bisshopp successfully held this important post, which controlled the outlet of Lake Erie into the Niagara River. When the campaign closed, in 181 2, 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 l8l2~l8l^. 325 to the west of Montreal. The 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, although Commodore Chauncey and his fleet were absent and the post 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 Harvey, after- wards a lieutenant-governor of the maritime prov- inces, at Stoney Creek, quite close to Burlington 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 THE STORY OF CANADA. Eric and other posts on the frontier. It was during the campaign of this year that Laura Sccord, the courageous daughter of a sturdy loyalist 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, nowSt. Catharine's, and at De Ceu'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 Oueenston, 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 officer, 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 succeeded in deceiving them. In fact, he had only at first THE WAR OF l8l2-l8lj. 327 thirty soldiers, and two hundred and forty Indians, and when a 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 Lidian 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, Procter 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 SrOKY OF CANADA. history of the campaign of 1813 which 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 Champlain — 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 hundred French Canadian Voltigeurs and Fencibles formed the front THE WAR OF 1812-181S. 329 of the line, and when the former gave way to the onslaught of the four thousand men who advanced against them Salaberry held his ground with a COLONEL DE SALABERRY. 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 330 THE STORY OF CANADA. to the call of the bugles, to the shouts of the sol- diers, and to the yells of the Indians, the American force halted as if they were paralysed. Then, believ- ing from the noises that filled the forest in every direction that they were to be attacked in front and rear by an overwhelming force, they broke and fled tumultuously. Salaberry and the Canadians had won a \ictory that has only a few parallels in warlike annals. Hampton retreated as rapidly as possible to Plattsburg, while Wilkinson found his way to Salmon River. These two victories of Chrystler's farm and Chateauguay were won almost entirely by Canadian prowess and skill, and must be always mentioned among the glorious episodes of Canadian history. Before the end of the year, General McClure, in command of the American troops on the Niagara frontier, evacuated Fort George, when he heard of the advance of the English forces under General Murray. McClure committed the cowardly outrage of destroying the town of Newark. All the houses except one were burned, and no pity was shown even to the weak and helpless women, all of whom were driven from their comfortable houses and forced to stand on the snow-clad earth, while they saw the flames ascend from their homes and house- hold treasures. As an act of retribution the British troops destroyed all the posts and settlements from Fort Niagara to Buffalo. When the campaign of 1 813 closed, Lake Erie was still in the possession of the Americans, but the Niagara district on both sides of the river had been freed from the American THE WAR OF 1 8l 2-1 Si 5. 33 I forces, and not an inch of Canadian territory except Amherstburg was in possession of the enemy. In the following year the campaign commenced by the advance of a large force of American troops under General Wilkinson into Lower Canada, but they did not get beyond Lacolle Mill, not far from Isle aux Noix on the Richelieu, where they met with a most determined resistance from the little garrison under Colonel Handcock. Wilkinson re- treated to Plattsburg, and did not again venture upon Canadian territory. Sir Gordon Drummond took Oswego, and succeeded in destroying a large amount of public property, including the barracks. The greatest success of the year was won in the Niagara countr}-, where the PLnglish troops under Drummond and Riall had been concentrated with the view' of opposing the advance of an American army into Upper Canada. The Americans occupied Fort Erie, and Riall sustained a repulse at Street's Creek — ^now known as Usher's — near Chippewa, although General Brow^n, who was in command of a much superior force, did not attempt to follow up his advantage, but allowed the English to retreat to Fort George. Then followed, on the 25th of July, the famous battle of Lundy's Lane, where the Eng- lish regulars and Canadian militia, led by General Drummond, fought from six in the evening until midnight, a formidable force of American troops, commanded by General Brown and Brigadiers Rip- ley, Porter, and Scott — the latter the future hero of the Mexican war. The darkness through this hotly contested engagement was intense, and the English 332 THE STORY OF CAMADA. more than once seemed on the point of yielding to sheer exhaustion as they contested every foot of ground against overpowering numbers of well han- dled troops. The undaunted courage and persist- ence of the British and Canadian soldiery won the battle, as the Americans retired from the field, though with a remarkable perversion of the facts this memorable event is even claimed by some American writers as a success on their side. This was the last great fight of the war, and will be always cited by Canadians as illustrating the mettle of their own militia in old times. Drummond did not win other successes, and even failed to capture Fort Erie. The American army, however, did not make another advance into the country while he kept it so well guarded. Erie was eventually evacuated, while the Americans concen- trated their strength at Buffalo. Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi was captured in this same summer by the English, and the Americans were repulsed in an attempt to seize the fort at Michillimackinac. In eastern Canada there was no such record of victory to show as Drummond and his ofificers had made in the west. Prevost again gave a signal proof of his incapacity. His fleet sustained a complete defeat on Lake Champlain, and so great was his dismay that he ordered the retreat to Montreal of a splendid force of over ten thousand troops, largely composed of peninsula veterans, though Plattsburg and its garrison must have fallen easily into his hands had he been possessed of the most ordinary resolution. This retreat was confessedly a disgrace to the Eng- MONUMENT AT LUNOV'S LANE. 333 334 THE STORY OF CANADA. lish army, which Canadian and Enghsh writers must always record with a fcchng' of contempt for Prcvost. It is not necessary to dwell at any length on other features of this war. The American navy, small though it was, won several successes mainly through the superiority of their vessels in tonnage, crew, and armament. The memorable fight between the Brit- ish frigate Shafnion, under Captain Broke, and the United States frigate Chesapeake, under Captain Lawrence, off Massachusetts Bay, illustrates equally the courage of British and American sailors — of men belonging to the same great stock which has won so many victories on the sea. The two ships were equally matched, and after a sharp contest of a quarter of an hour the Chesapeake was beaten, but not until Captain Lawrence was fatally wounded and his victorious adversary also severely injured. During the war Nova Scotia and the other maritime provinces were somewhat harassed at times by American privateers, but the presence of a large fleet constantly on their coasts — Halifax being the rendezvous of the British navy in American waters — and the hostility of New England to the war saved these sections of British America from invasion. On the other hand, all the important positions on the coast of Maine from the Penobscot to the St. Croix, were attacked and occupied by the English. The whole American coast during the last year of the war was blockaded by the English fleet with the exception of New England ports, which were open to neutral vessels. The public buildings of Wash- THE WAR OF I Si 2-1 8l 5. 335 ington, the federal capital, were destroyed by an English army, in retaliation for the burning of York, Newark, and Moraviantown. The attempt to take Baltimore failed, and a bold man from Tennessee, Andrew Jackson — in later years President — drove Pakenham from New Orleans. The taking of Mo- bile by British ships was the closing incident of the war on the Atlantic coast. In fact peace was hap- pily declared by the Treaty of Ghent on the 24th December, 18 14, or a fortnight before the defeat of the English at New Orleans. The two nations gladly came to terms. It is questionable if the heart of either was ever deeply enlisted in this unhappy war which should never have been fought between peoples so closely connected by language and race. It was mainly a war of Western and Southern poli- ticians, and when it ended New England, whose interests had been so seriously affected, was showing signs of serious restlessness which had broken out in the Hartford convention, and might have even threatened the integrity of the Union. Although the w^ar ended without any definite decision on the questions at issue between the United States and Great Britain, the privileges of neutrals were practically admitted, and the extreme pretensions of Great Britain as to the right of search can never again be asserted. One important result of the war, as respects the interests of Canada, was the re-opening of the question of the British Ameri- can fisheries. Certain privileges extended by the Treaty of 1783 to American fishermen on the coasts of British North America were not again conceded. 33^ THE STORY OF CANADA. and the convention of i8i8, which followed the peace of 1815, is the basis of the rit^hts which Cana- dians have always maintained in disputes between themselves and the United States as to the fisheries on their coasts. Looking, however, to its general results, the war gave no special advantages to the Canadian people. When peace was proclaimed not an inch of Canadian territory, except the village of Amherstburg, was held by the American forces. On the other hand. Great Britain occupied the greater part of the sea-board of Maine, and her flag flew over Michillimackinac, the key to the North- west. Had British statesmen seized this oppor- tunity of settling finally the western boundary of New Brunswick, Canada would have obtained a ter- ritory most useful to the commercial development of the present Dominion. England, however, was very desirous of ending the war — ^perhaps the humil- iating affair at Plattsburg had some effect on the peace — and it was fortunate for the provinces that they were allowed in the end to control their most valuable fisheries. The people of Canada will always hold in grateful recollection the names of those men who did such good service for their country during these momen- tous years from 1812 to 181 5. Brock, Tecumseh, Morrison, Salaberry, McDonnell, Fitzgibbon, and Drummond are among the most honourable names in Canadian history. Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Canadians, Indians, were equally conspic- uous in brilliant achievement. A stately monument overlooks the noble river of the Niagara, and recalls THE WAR OF l8l2-I$I^. 337 the services of the gallant soldiers, Brock and Mc- Donell, whose remains rest beneath. A beautiful village, beyond which stretches historic Lundy's Lane, recalls the name and deeds of Drummond. As the steamers 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. XXIV. POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. (1815-1840.) The history of the twenty-five years between the peace of 181 5 and the union of the Canadas in 1840, iHustrates the fohy 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 w^ere aggravated by the fact that the French Canadian majorit}' 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 POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 339 the legitimate limits of constitutional agitation and threaten British connexion. On the other hand, Dr. Wolfred Nelson, descended from a loyalist stock, was one of the leaders of the majority that controlled the assembly of 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. But while undoubtedly there were many persons among the British people, who were disgusted with the arrogance of some of the govern- ing class, and discontented with the methods of government, they were gradually alienated by the demagogism of the French Canadian majority, who did not hesitate to profess their desire to make French Canada exclusively a French dominion. The tyranny of the majority was exhibited in the assembly by the attempt to impeach Chief Justices Sewell and Monk, on charges which had no justifi- cation in law or justice. Mr. Robert Christie, the member for Gasp^, who subsequently wrote a useful history of Lower Canada, was expelled several times because he was believed to have procured the dis- missal from the magistracy of some members of the assembly who were inimical to the executive gov- ernment. On the other hand, Lord Dalhousie, the governor-general, in 1827, refused to approve of the election of Mr. Papineau as speaker of the assem- bly, because he had reflected in strong terms in a manifesto on the public conduct of the former. Mr. Louis J. Papineau, the future leader of the rebellion in 1837, was a man of fine presence, gifted with remarkable powers of rhetoric and persuasion, but 340 THE STORY OF CANADA. he was entirely wanting in discretion, and in the quaHties which make a great statesman. When the assembly refused to reconsider its action and elect another speaker, Lord Dalhousie prorogued the leg- islature, which did not again meet until he was recalled and sent to India as commander-in-chief. Like other governors, Lord Dalhousie attempted to govern to the best of his ability, and what mistakes he committed arose from the contradictory and per- plexing instructions he received from the ofBcials in Downing Street, who w^ere quite incapable at times of understanding the real condition of affairs in the province. The disputes at last between the contending par- ties in Lower Canada prevented the working of the constitution. The assembly fought for years for the independence of Parliament and the exclusive control of the civil list and supply. When at last the assembly refused to vote a civil list and other necessary expenditures, the government were obliged to use the casual and territorial revenues — such as the proceeds of the sales and leases of Crown lands — and these funds were inadequate for the purpose. So carelessly were these funds managed that one receiver-general, engaged in business, became a heavy defaulter. The governors dissolved the leg- islatures with a frequency unparalleled in political history, and were personally drawn into the conflict. Public officials, including the judges, were harassed by impeachments. Bills were constantly rejected by the legislative council on various pretexts — some of them constitutionally correct — and the disputes POLITICAL STRIFE AXD REBELLION. 34 1 between the two branches of the legislature eventu- ally made it impossible to pass even absolutely nec- essary measures. Appeals to the home government were very common, and concessions were made time LOUIS J. FAPINEALI, ,-ET. 70. and again to the assembly. In fact, the contest as to the revenues and expenditures ought to have closed, in a great measure, with the abandonment, in 1832, by the government of every portion of the 342 THE STORY OF CANADA. previously reserved revenue, but, as Lord Durham pointed out, the assembly, " even when it obtained entire control over the public revenues," refused the civil list because it was determined " not to give up its only means of subjecting the functionaries of government to any responsibility." The conflict was carried on to the bitter end. It does not ap- pear, however, that the majority in the assembly at all understood the crucial dif^culty. They devoted their whole strength to attacks on the legislative council, and to demands for an elective body. The famous ninety-two resolutions of 1834, in which Papineau's party set forth their real or fancied griev- ances, did not contain a single paragraph laying down the principles of parliamentary or responsible government as worked out in England, and ably supported by the moderate Upper Canadian Re- formers like Robert Baldwin. The home govern- ment ought to have appreciated the gravity of the situation, but they were not yet prepared to intro- duce into these colonies the principles of parlia- mentary government. In 1835 they appointed a commission to inquire into the nature of the griev- ances and the best method of remedying them. The governor-general, Lord Gosford, was the head of this commission, but it failed because Papineau and his party were not now prepared to listen to moderate and conciliatory counsels. When in 1837 the assembly continued to refuse supply for the payment of public ofificials, and of the arrears, which up to that time amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, Lord John Rus- POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLLON. 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. 344 ^^-^ STORY OF CANADA. In Upper Canada an official class held within its control practically the government 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 " compact." 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 afTairs. 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 1820 that a strong opposition was organised in the assembly against the ruling bureau- cracy. The cruel treatment of Robert Gourlay, an erratic Scotch land-agent, by the ruling class who feared his exposure of public abuses, had much to do with creating a reform party in the legislature. Gourlay was a mere adventurer, who found plenty of material in the political condition of the province POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 345 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 by the im- perial act of 1 791, and created much bitterness of feeling for a quarter of a century and more. The 346 THE STORY 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 POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 347 bodies who had no share in these lands. He hoped to create a state church, and the estabh'shment of King's College, afterwards secularised, was a part of his ecclesiastical system. Eventually when King's BISHOP STRACHAN. College became a provincial institution, open to all denominations — the foundation of Toronto Univer- sity — he devoted all his energies to the estab- lishment of Trinity College, which is the noblest monument of the zealous prelate. 348 THE STORY OF CANADA. Another Scotchman, who came to the country some years later than the bishop, was William Lyon Mackenzie, who was always remarkable for his im- pulsiveness and rashness, which led him at last into difficulties and wrecked his whole career. He had a deep sense of public wrongs, and placed himself im- mediately in the front rank of those who were fight- ing for a redress of undoubted griev^ances. He was thoroughly imbued with the ideas of English radi- calism, and had an intense hatred of Toryism in every form. He possessed little of that strong com- mon sense and power of acquisitiveness which make his countrymen, as a rule, so successful in every walk of life. When he felt he was being crushed by the intriguing and corrupting influences of the governing class, aided by the lieutenant-governor, he forgot all the dictates of reason and prudence, and was carried away by a current of passion which ended in rebellion. His journal. The Colonial Ad- I'ocatc, showed in its articles and its very make-up the erratic character of the man. He was a pungent writer, who attacked adversaries with great reckless- ness of epithet and accusation. So obnoxious did he become to the governing class that a number of young men, connected with the best families, wrecked his office, but the damages he recovered in a court of law enabled him to give it a new lease of existence. When the " family compact " had a majority in the assembly, elected in 1830, he was expelled five times for libellous reflections on the government and house, but he was re-elected by the people, who resented the wrongs to which he was 349 350 THE STORY OF CANADA. subject, and became the first mayor of Toronto, as York was now called. He carried his grievances to England, where he received much sympathy, even in conservative circles. In a new legislature, where the " compact" were in a minority, he obtained a committee to consider the condition of provincial affairs. The result was a famous report on grievances which set forth in a conclusive and able manner the constitutional difficulties under which the country laboured, and laid down clearly the necessity for responsible government. It would have been fortunate both for Upper Canada and Mackenzie himself at this juncture, had he and his followers confined themselves to a constitutional agitation on the lines set forth in this report. By this time Robert Baldwin and Egerton Ryerson, discreet and promi- nent reformers, had much influence, and were quite unwilling to follow Mackenzie in the extreme course on which he had clearly entered. He lost ground rapidly from the time of his indiscreet publication of a letter from Joseph Hume, the English radical, who had expressed the opinion that the improper proceedings of the legislature, especially in expelling Mackenzie, " must hasten the crisis that was fast approaching in the affairs of Canada, and which would terminate in indLpendencc and freedom from the baneful domination of the mother-country." Probably even Mackenzie and his friends might have been conciliated and satisfied at the last moment had the imperial government been served by an able and discreet lieutenant-governor. But never did the imperial authorities make a greater mistake than POLITICAL STRIFE A AD REBELLION. 35 I when they sent out Sir Francis Bond Head, who had no pohtical experience whatever. From the be<^inning to the end of his administra- tion he did nothing but blunder. He ahenated even the confidence of the moderate element of the Reformers, and literally threw himself into the arms of the " family compact," and assisted them at the elections of the spring of 1836, which rejected all the leading men of the extreme wing of the Re- form party. Mackenzie was deeply mortified at the result, and determined from that moment to rebel against the government which, in his opinion, had no intention of remedying public grievances. At the same time Papineau, with whom he was in com- munication, had made up his mind to establish a republic, iDic nation Caiiadioiiic, on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The disloyal intentions of Papineau and his fol- lowers were made very clear by the various meetings which were held in the Montreal and Richelieu dis- tricts, by the riots which followed public assem- blages in the city of Montreal, by the names of Sons of Liberty " and " Patriots " they adopted in all their proceedings, b}' the planting of " trees," and raising of " caps " of liberty. Happily for the best interests of Canada the number of F'rench Canadians ready to revolt were relatively insignifi- cant, and the British population were almost exclu- sively on the side of the government. Bishop Lartigue and the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church now asserted themselves very determinedly against the dangerous and seditious utterances of 352 THE STORY OF CAXADA. the leaders of the " Patriots." Fortunately a reso- lute, able soldier, Sir John Colborne, was called from Upper Canada to command the troops in the critical situation of affairs, and crushed the rebellion in its very inception. A body of insurgents, led by Dr. Wolfred Nelson, showed some courage at St. Denis, but Papineau took the earliest opportunity to find refuge across the frontier. Thomas Storrow Brown, an American by birth, also made a stand at St. Charles, but both he and Nelson were easily beaten by the regulars. A most unfortunate episode was the murder of Lieutenant Weir, who had been cap- tured by Nelson while carrying despatches from General Colborne, and was butchered by some in- surgent liabitants, in whose custody he had been placed. At St. Eustache the rebels were severely punished by Colborne himself, and a number burned to death in the steeple of a church where they had made a stand. Many prisoners were taken in the course of the rebellious outbreak. The village of St. Benoit and isolated houses elsewhere were destroyed by the angry loyalists, and much misery inflicted on all actual or supposed sympathisers with Papineau and Nelson. Lord Gosford now left the country, and Colborne was appointed administrator. Al- though the insurrection practically ended at St. Denis and St. Charles, bodies of rebels and Ameri- can marauders harassed the frontier settlements for some time, until at last the authorities of the United States arrested some of the leaders and forced them to surrender their arms and munitions of war. In Upper Canada the folly of Sir P'rancis Head POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 353 would have led to serious consequences had Mac- kenzie and Rolph been capable of managing a rebcl- hous movement. The Lieutenant-Governor allowed all the troops to go to Lower Canada, and the capi- tal was entirely at the mercy of the rebels, had they acted with any spirit or energy. Dr. Rolph, a clever intriguer — who was to be the president of the new republic — was playing a fast and loose game, and temporised until the loyal forces from Hamilton were able to advance to the assistance of Head. Had the rebels, who were concentrating at Mont- gomery's tavern on Yonge Street, marched imme- diately on the capital, it could have been easily captured, in consequence of the neglect of Head to take the most ordinary precautions against surprise. Toronto was mainly saved by the men of the Gore district, led by Allan MacNab, an ardent loyalist, afterwards a baronet and premier of Canada. The insurgents, who at no time exceeded eight hundred in all, were routed at their headquarters. Rolph had previously thought it prudent to fly, and Mac- kenzie soon followed. Several lives were lost during this c'niciitc, for it was hardly more, and a consider- able number of prisoners taken. Among the latter were Samuel Lount, an ardent reformer, the first to arm for the rebellion, and Colonel Von Egmond, one of Napoleon's soldiers, the leader of the " pa- triot army." Marshall Spring Bidwell, an able and moderate leader of the Reformers, for some years speaker, does not appear to have taken any active part in the rebellious movement, but he availed him- self of a warning given him by Head, who wished 23 354 77/i^ STOKY OF CANADA. to get rid of him as quietly as possible, and hurried to the United States, where he remained for the remainder of his life. Mackenzie also fled to the Republic, and industriously set to work to violate the neutrality of the country by inciting bands of rufifians to invade Canada. As in the case of the Fenian invasion many years later, the authorities of the United States were open to some censure for negligence in winking at these suspicious gatherings avowedly to attack a friendly country. The raiders seized an island just above Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side, as a base of operations, and a steamer, called the Caroline, was freely allowed to ply between the island and the mainland with supplies. It became necessary to stop this bold attempt to provide the freebooters on Navy Island with the munitions of war, and a Cana- dian expedition was accordingly sent, under the command of Colonel MacNab, to seize the Caroline. As it happened, however, she was found on the American side ; but at such a time of excitement men were not likely to consider consequences from the point of view of international law. She was cut from her moorings on the American side, her crew taken prisoners, one man killed, and the vessel set on fire and sent over the Falls of Niagara. Until the month of December, 1838, Upper Can- ada was disturbed from time to time by bands of marauders, instigated by Mackenzie and others, but they were easily beaten back by the bravery of loyal .Canadian volunteers commanded by Colonels Prince, MacNab, Cameron, Fitzgibbon, and other patriotic POLITIC A I. STRIFE AND REBELLION. 355 defenders of the country. Whatever sympathy may have been felt for Mackenzie by some persons at the outset of the insurrection, was aHenated from him by his conduct after he crossed the border. He suffered much misery himself while he remained in the United States, and was a prisoner for some months when the American Government awoke to the necessity of punishing a man who had so nearly embroiled them with England by his violation of the municipal law of a friendly territory, and of the obligations that rest upon political refugees. When Sir Francis Bond Head was very properly recalled from the province whose affairs he had so badly ad- ministered, he was succeeded by Sir George Arthur, who had been governor of Van Diemen's Land. Both Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews suffered death. Von Shoultz, and a number of Americans who had invaded the country in 1838, were also ex- ecuted,- and some persons in both provinces were transported to New Holland or sent to the peniten- tiary, but in the majority of cases the Crown showed clemency. The outbreak was an unfortunate epi- sode in the history of Canada, but it caused the family compact " to break up, and brought about a better system of government. The immediate result of the rebellion in Lov/er Canada was the intervention of the imperial author- ities by the suspension of the constitution of that province, and the formation of a special council for purposes of temporary government. Lord Durham, a nobleman of great ability, who had won distinc- tion in imperial politics as a Reformer, was sent out 356 THE STORY OF CANADA. to Canada as governor-general and high commis- sioner to inquire into and adjust provincial difficul- ties. This distinguished statesman remained at the head of affairs in the province from the last of May, 1838, until the 3d of November in the same year, when he returned to England, where his ordinance of the 28th of June, sentencing certain British sub- jects in custody to transportation without a form of trial, and subjecting them and others not in prison to death in case of their return to the country, without permission of the authorities, had been most severely censured in England as quite unwar- ranted by law. By this ordinance Wolfred Nelson, couchette, Viger, and five others, then in prison, were banished to Bermuda, while Papineau, Cartier, O'Callaghan, Robert Nelson, and others beyond Canadian jurisdiction, were threatened with death if they returned to the province. Lord Durham's action was certainly in conflict with the principles of English law, but it was an error of judgment on the side of clemency. He was unwilling to resort to a court-martial — the only tribunal open to the au- thorities. A trial in the courts of justice was im- practicable under existing conditions, as it was shown later. Lord Durham left Canada in deep indignation at the manner in which his acts had been criticised in England, largely through the influ- ence of Lord Brougham, his personal enemy. The most important result of his mission was a report which was probably written by Charles Buller, his secretary, and an exceptionally able man, although there is no doubt that it embodied Lord Durham's own opinions and conclusions. POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 357 Soon after the departure of Lord Durham, who died a few months later, Sir John Colborne became governor-general. He was called upon to jput down another rebellious movement led by Robert Nelson, brother of Wolfred Nelson, then in exile. At Caughnawaga, Montarville Mountain, Beauharnois, and Odelltown the insurgents made a stand from time to time, but were soon scattered. Bands of marauders inflicted some injury upon loyal inhabi- tants near the frontier, but in a few months these criminal attempts to disturb the peace of the prov- ince ceased entirely. The government now decided to make an example of men who had not appre- ciated the clemency previously shown their friends. Twelve men were executed, but it was not possible to obtain a verdict from a jury against the murderers of Weir and Chartrand — the latter a French Cana- dian volunteer murdered under circumstances of great brutality while a prisoner.- The rebellion opened the eyes of the imperial government to the gravity of the situation in Can- ada, and the result of Lord Durham's report was the passage of an imperial act reuniting the prov- inces into one, with a legislature of two houses. The constitutional act of 1791, which had separated French and English, as far as possible, into two sec- tions, was clearly a failure. An effort was now to be made to amalgamate, if possible, the two races. The two provinces were given an equal representa- tion in one legislature, and the French language was placed in a position of inferiority, compared with English in parliamentary and official proceed- 358 THE STORY OF CANADA. ings and documents. At the same time the British Government recognised the necessity of giving a larger expansion of local self-government. During the period of which I am writing Canada had given evidences of material, social, and intellec- tual progress. With the close of the War of 1812, and the downfall of Napoleon, large bodies of immigrants came into the province and settled some of the finest districts of Upper and Lower Canada. Scotch from the highlands and islands of Scotland continued until 1820 to flock into Nova Scotia and other maritime provinces. Although the immigra- tion had been naturally stopped by the troubles of 1836 and 1838, the population of Canada had in- creased to over a million of souls, of whom at least four hundred and fifty thousand were French Cana- dians. The Rideau, Lachine, and Welland Canals date from this period, and were the commencement of that noble system of artificial waterways that have, in the course of time, enabled large steamers to come all the way from Lake Superior to tide- water.* In 1833 the Royal William, entirely pro- pelled by steam, crossed the ocean — the pioneer in ocean steam navigation. A few years later Samuel Cunard, a native Nova Scotian, established the line that has become so famous in the world's maritime history. \\\ Lower Canada the higher education was confined to the Quebec Seminary, and a few colleges and institutions, under the direction of the * Governor Haklimand first established several small canals be- tween Lakes Saint Louis and Saint Francis, which were used for some years. POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION. 359 Roman Catholic clergy and communities. Among the habitants generally there were no schools, and the great majority could neither read nor write. In JUDGE HALIBURTON (" SAM SLICK "). Upper Canada high schools for the education of the upper classes were established at a very early day, and the Cornwall Grammar School, under the super- intendence of Dr. John Strahan, for some years was 360 THE STORY OF CANADA. the resort of the provincial aristocracy. Upper Canada College dates from these early times. But in 1838 there were only twenty-four thousand chil- dren at school out of a total population of four hun- dred thousand. In the maritime provinces things were not much better, but in Nova Scotia the foun- dation of King's, — the oldest university in Canada — Dalhousie, and Acadia Colleges, as well as Pictou Academy, shows the deep interest that was taken in higher education. In all the provinces there was an active and even able newspaper press, although its columns were too much disfigured by invective and personalities. In 1836 there were at least forty papers printed in Upper Canada alone. The names of Cary, Neilson, Mackenzie, Parent, Howe, and Young are among the names of eminent journalists. It was only in the press, in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the legislature that we can look for evidences of intellectual development. The only original literary works of importance were those of Judge Haliburton, who had already given us the clever, humorous creation of " Sam Slick," and also writ- ten an excellent history of Nova Scotia. In the happy and more prosperous times that followed the union of 1840, and the establishment of political liberty, intellectual development kept pace with the progress of the country in wealth and population. XXV. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT AND ITS RESULTS- FEDERAL UNION — RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. (1839-1867.) The passage of the Union Act of 1840 was the commencement of a new era in the constitutional history of Canada as well as of the other provinces. The most valuable result was the admission of the all-important principle that the ministry advising the governor should possess the confidence of the rep- resentatives of the people assembled in parliament. Lord Durham, in his report, had pointed out most forcibly the injurious consequences of the very oppo- site system which had so long prevailed in the prov- inces. His views had such influence on the minds of the statesmen then at the head of imperial affairs, that Mr. Poulett Thomson, when appointed gover- nor-general, received her Majesty's commands to administer the government of the united provinces " in accordance with the well-understood wishes and interests of the people," and to employ in the pub- 361 362 THE STORY OF CANADA. lie service only " those persons who, by their posi- tion and character, have obtained the general confidence and esteem of the inhabitants of the province. " During the first session of the Canadian legislature the assembly passed certain resolutions which authoritatively expressed the views of the supporters of responsible government. Nevertheless, during the six years that elapsed after the passage of this formal expression of the views of the large majority of the legislature, " Re- sponsible Government " did not always obtain in the fullest sense of the phrase, and not a few mis- understandings arose between the governors and the supporters of the principle as to the manner in which it should be worked out. In Canada Lord Metcalfe, who succeeded Baron Sydenham— the title of Mr. Poulett Thomson — on his sudden death at Kingston in 1 841, brought about a political crisis in conse- quence of his contention for the privilege — utterly inconsistent with the principles of responsible gov- ernment — of making appointments to office without the advice of his council. In Nova Scotia Sir Colin Campbell, who was more suited to the military camp than to the political arena, endeavoured to throw obstacles in the way of the new system, but he was soon recalled. His successor. Lord Falk- land, a vain nobleman, was an unhappy choice of the colonial office. He became the mere creature of the Tory party, led by James W. Johnston, a very able lawyer and eloquent speaker, and the open enemy of the liberals led by Joseph Howe, William Young, James Boyle Uniacke, and Herbert RESJ^OI^S/BLE GOVERNMENT. 363 Huntington. The imperial government recognised their mistake, and replaced Lord Falkland by Sir John Harvey, the hero of Stoney Creek in 181 3, who had done much to establish parliamentary JOSEPH HOWE IN 1865. government in New Brunswick. In 1847 Lord Elgin — the son-in-law of Lord Durham — was ap- pointed governor-general, and received positive instructions " to act generally upon the advice of 364 THE STORY Of CAiVADA. his executive council, and to receive as members of that body those persons who might be pointed out to him as entitled to do so by their possessing the confidence of the assembly." No act of parliament was necessary to effect this important change; the insertion and alteration of a few paragraphs in the Governor's instructions were sufficient. By 1848 the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Bruns- wick, and by 185 1 Prince Edward Island, were in the full enjoyment of a system of self-government, which had been so long advocated by their ablest public men ; and the results have proved, on the whole, despite the excesses and mistakes of party, eminently favourable to political as well as material development. In the historic annals of the great contest that was fought for responsible government, some names stand out most prominently. Foremost is that of Joseph Howe, the eminent Liberal, whose eloquence charmed the people of Nova Scotia for many years. In his early life he was a printer and an editor, but he became a leader of his party soon after he entered the legislature, and died a lieutenant-governor of his native province. In New Brunswick, Lemuel A. Wilmot, afterwards a judge and lieutenant- governor, was a man of much energy, persuasive eloquence, and varied learning. Robert Baldwin, of Upper Canada, was a statesman of great discretion, who showed the people how their liberties could be best promoted by wise and constitutional agitation. Louis Hyppolite Lafontaine was one of the most dis- tinguished and capable men that French Canada has RESrOiVSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 365 ever given to the legislature and the bench. By his political alliance with Mr. Baldwin, the principles of responsible government were placed on a durable basis. In the parent state the names of Lord John ROBERT BALDWIN. Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and Earl Grey — colonial secretaries from 1839 ^^ ^852 — are especially asso- ciated with the concession of those great principles which have enlarged the sphere of self-government in the colonies of the English Crown. 366 THE STORY OF CANADA. During the quarter of a century that elapsed from 1842 to 1867 — the crucial period of national develop- ment — an industrious population flowed steadily into the country, the original population became more self-reliant and pursued their vocations with renewed energy, and confidence increased on all sides in the ability of the provinces to hold their own against the competition of a wonderfully enterprising neighbour. Cities, towns, and villages were built up with a rapidity not exceeded even on the other side of the border. In those days Ontario became the noble province that she now is by virtue of the capacity of her people for self-government, the energy of her industrial classes, the fertility of her soil, and the superiority of her climate. The maritime indus- try of the lower provinces was developed most en- couragingly, and Nova Scotia built up a commercial marine not equalled by that of any New England State. The total population of the provinces of British North America, now comprised within the confederation of 1867, had increased from a million and a half in 1840 to three millions and a quarter in 1 86 1 — the ratio of increase in those years having been greater than at any previous or later period of Canadian history. It was during this period that the Grand Trunk Railway, which has done so much to assist the material progress of the old province of Canada, w^as constructed. In 1850 there were only fifty miles of railway in operation throughout Can- ada, but by 1867 there were nearly three thousand miles, and that magnificent example of engineering skill, the Victoria Bridge, carried passengers across RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 367 the St. Lawrence at Montreal, and connected Can- ada with the great railway system of the United States. With railway development must always be associated the name of Sir Francis Hincks, an able statesman of the Liberal party, who recognised the necessities of a new country. So far from the act of 1840, which united the Canadas, acting unfavourably to the French Cana- dian people it gave them eventually a predominance in the councils of the country. French soon again became the official language by an amendment to the union act, and the claims providing for equality of representation proved a security when the upper province increased more largely in population than the French Canadian section. The particular meas- ure which the French Canadians had pressed for so many years on the British Government, an elective legislative council, was conceded. When a few years had passed the Canadian legislature was given full control of taxation, supply, and expenditure, in accordance with English constitutional principles. The clergy reserves difficulty was settled and the land sold for public or municipal purposes, the in- terest of existing rectors and incumbents being guarded. The great land question of Canada, the seigniorial tenure of Lower Canada, was disposed of by buying off the claims of the seigniors, and the people of Lower Canada were freed from exactions which had become not so much onerous as vexatious. Municipal institutions of a liberal nature were estab- lished, and the people of the two Canadian provinces exercised that control of their local affairs in the 368 THE STORY OF CANADA. counties, townships, cities, and parishes which is necessary to carry out pubHc works indispensable to the comfort, health, and convenience of the commu- nity, and to supplement the efforts made by the legislature, from time to time, to provide for the general education of the country. With the mag- nificent system of public schools now possessed by Ontario must always be associated the name of Dr. Egerton Ryerson, a famous Methodist, the oppo- nent of Mackenzie's seditious action, and for many years the superintendent of education. In Nova Scotia it was chiefly through the foresight of Sir Charles Tupper, when premier, that the foundations were laid of the present admirable system. During the same period the schools of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were also placed on an excel- lent basis. In the maritime provinces no express legal provision was made for separate or denomina- tional schools, as in Upper and Lower Canada — schools now protected by the terms of the federal union of 1867. The civil service, which necessarily plays so important a part in the administration of government, was placed on a permanent basis. The anxiety of the British Government to bury in oblivion the unfortunate events of 1837-38 was proved by an amnesty that was granted soon after the union of 1841, to the banished offenders against the public peace and the Crown. William Lyon Mac- kenzie, Louis Joseph Papineau, and Wolfred Nelson came back and were elected to Parliament, though the two first never exercised any influence in the future. RESPONSIBL E GO VERNMEN T. 369 Then occurred an event which had its origin in the rebellion, and in the racial antagonism which was still slumbering" in the bosom of the State. In I:- \ \\\k. \iii ^jjtKlSt(t«ii»»*«H SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE. the first session of the Union Parliament, compensa- tion was granted to those loyalists of Upper Canada, whose property had been unnecessarily or wantonly 370 THE STORY OF CANADA. destroyed during the outbreak. The claim was then raised on behalf of persons similarly situated in Lower Canada. The Conservative Draper govern- ment of 1845 agreed to pay a small amount of rebellion losses as a sequence of a report made by commissioners appointed to inquire into the subject. At a later time, when Lord Elgin was governor- general, the Baldwin-Lafontaine ministry brought down a measure to indemnify all those persons who had not taken part in the rebellion, but were justly entitled to compensation for actual losses. The Tory opposition raised the cry," No pay to rebels," and some of them in their anger even issued a man- ifesto in favour of annexation. The parliament house at Montreal was burned down, a great num- ber of books and records destroyed, and Lord Elgin grossly insulted for having assented to the bill. This very discreditable episode in the political his- tory of Canada proved the extremes to which even men, professing extreme loyalty, can be carried at times of political passion and racial difficulty. The union of 1841 did its work, and the political conditions of Canada again demanded another rad- ical change commensurate with the material and political development of the country, and capable of removing the difficulties that had arisen in the operation of the act of 1840. The claims of Upper Canada to larger representation, equal to its in- creased population since 1840, owing to the great immigration which had naturally sought a rich and fertile province, were steadily resisted by the French Canadians as an unwarrantable interference with the RESPONSIBLE GO VERNMEN T. 371 security guaranteed to them under the act. This resistance gave rise to great irritation in Upper Can- L. A. WILMOT. ada, where a powerful party made representation by population their platform, and gov-ernment at last became practically impossible on account of the 37- THE STORY OF CANADA. close political divisions for years in the assembly. At the head of the party demanding increased rep- resentation was Mr. George Brown, an able man of Scotch birth, who became the conductor of a most influential organ of public opinion, 17ic Toronto Globe, and the leader of the " Grits," or extreme wing of the Reformers or Liberals. In opposition to him were allied Mr. George Etienne Cartier, once a follower of Papineau, but now a loyal leader of his race, and Mr. John Alexander Macdonald, who had occupied a prominent position for years as a Con- servative leader. The time had come for the accomplishment of a great change foreshadowed by Lord Durham, Chief- Justice Sewell, Mr. Howe, Sir Alexander Gait, and other public men of Canada: the union of the prov- inces of British North America. The leaders of the different governments in Canada, and the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island combined with the leaders of the opposition with the object of carrying out this great measure. A convention of thirty-three repre- sentative men -'^ was held in the autumn of 1864 in * Tlie delegates to the Quebec conference, held the following posi- tions in their respective provinces : Canada: Hon. Sir Etienne P. Tache, M.L.C., premier; Hon. John A. Macdonald, M.P.P., attorney-general of Upper Canada; Hon. George Etienne Cartier, M.P. P. , attorney-general of Lower Canada; Hon. George Brown, M.P. P., president of the executive council; Hon. Alexander T. Gait, M.P.P., finance minister; Hon. Alexander Campl)ell, 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 the historic city of Quebec, and after a dehberation of several weeks the result was the unanimous adop- tion of a set of seventy-two resolutions ernbodying the terms and conditions on which the provinces through their delegates agreed to a federal union. These resolutions had to be laid before the various legislatures and adopted in the shape of addresses to the Queen, whose sanction was necessary to embody the wishes of the provinces in an imperial statute. The consent of the legislature was considered suf^cient by the governments of all the provinces except one, though the c[uestion had never been dis- cussed at the polls. In New Brunswick alone was the legislature dissolved on the issue, and it was only after a second general election that the legisla- Canada ; Hon. William McDougall, M. P.P.. provincial secretary; Hon. James Cockburn, M.P.P., solicitor-general for Upper Canada ; Hon. Oliver Mowat, M.P.P., postmaster-general. Nova Scotia : Hon. Charles Tupiier, M.P.P., provincial secretary and premier; Hon. William A. Henry, M.P.P., attorney-general ; Hon. Robert B. Dickey, M.L.C. ; Hon. Adams G. Archibald, M.P.P. ; Hon. Jonathan McCully, M.KC. New Brunswick : Hon. Samuel L. Tilley, M.P.P. , provincial secretary and premier ; Hon. Peter Mitchell, M.L.C. ; Hon. Charles Fisher, M.P.P. ; Hon. William H. Steeves, M.L.C. ; Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P. ; Hon. Edward B. Chandler, M.L.C. ; Hon. John M. Johnson, M.P.P., attorney-general. Prince Edward Island : Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.I'., premier ; Hon. George Coles, M.P.P. ; Hon. Thomas Heath Havi- land, M.P.P.; Hon. Edward I'almer, M.P.P., attorney-general; Hon. Andrew Archibald Macdonald, M.L.C. ; Hon. Edward Whelan, M.L.C. ; Hon. William H. Pope, M.P.P., provincial secretary. Newfotindland : Hon. Frederick B. T. Carter, M.P.P., speaker of the House of Assembly ; Hon. Ambrose Shea, M.P.P. 374 THE STORY OF CANADA. ture agreed to the union. In Nova Scotia, after much discussion and feehng, the legislature passed a resolution in favour of the measure, though a pop- ular sentiment continued to exist against the union for several years. In the December of 1866 a sec- ond conference of delegates from the governments of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, was held at the Westminster Palace Hotel in London, and some modifications were made in the Quebec resolutions, chiefly with a view of meeting objec- tions from the maritime provinces. In the early part of 1867 the imperial parliament, without a division, passed the statute known as the " British North America Act, 1867," which united in the first instance the province of Canada, now divided into Ontario and Quebec, with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and made provisions for the coming in of the other provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, British Columbia, and the admission of Rupert's Land and the great Northwest. From 1840 to 1867 the relations of Canada and the United States became much closer, and more than once assumed a dangerous phase. In 1840 the authorities of New^ York arrested one Mac- leod on the charge of having murdered a man cm- ployed in the Caroline, when she was seized by the loyalists during the outbreak of 1837. The matter gave rise to much correspondence between the gov- ernments of Great Britain and the United States, and to a great deal of irritation in Canada, but hap- pily for the peace of the two countries the courts acquitted Macleod, as the evidence was clear he had RELATIONS VVITII UNITED STATES. 375 nothing to do with the seizure of the vessel. In 1842 the question of the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick was settled by what is generally known in Canada as " the Ashburton Capitulation," As a result of the settlement made by Mr. Daniel Webster on the part of the United States, and of Mr. Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton, on behalf of Great Britain, the State of Maine now presses like a huge wedge into the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec, and a Canadian railway is obliged to pass over American territory, which many Canadians still believe ought to be a part of the Canadian Dominion. In 1846 Great Britain yielded to the persistency of American statesmen, and agreed to accept the line 49° to the Pacific coast, and the whole of Vancouver Island, which, for a while, seemed on the point of following the fate of Oregon, and becoming exclusively American terri- tory. But the question of boundary was not even then settled, as the Island of San Juan, which lies in the channel between Vancouver and the main- land, and is mainly valuable as a base of offensive and defensive operations in times of war, was, in later years, handed over to the Republic as a result of its successful diplomacy. During this period the fishery question again assumed considerable importance. American ves- sels were shut out from the waters of certain colonial bays, in accordance with the convention of 18 18, and a number of them captured from time to tinie for the infringement of the law. The United States Government attempted to raise issues which would 376 THE SrORY OF CANADA. limit Canadian rights, but all these questions were placed in abeyance for twelve years by the Reci- procity Treaty of 1854, which opened up the pro- vincial fisheries to the people of the United States, on condition of free trade between the provinces and that country in certain natural products of the mines, fisheries, and farms of the two peoples. This measure was in itself an acknowledgment of the growing importance of the provinces, and of the larger measure of self-government now accorded them. The treaty only became law with the con- sent of the provincial legislatures; and, although the Canadian governments were not directly repre- sented by any of their members, the governor- general, Lord Elgin, who personally conducted the negotiations on the part of England at Washington, in this, as in all other matters touching colonial interests, was assisted by the advice of his respon- sible ministers. The treaty lasted until 1866, when it was repealed by the action of the United States in accordance with the provision bringing it to a conclusion after one year's notice from one of the parties interested. The commercial classes in the Eastern and West- ern States were, on the whole, favourable to an enlargement of the treaty, so as to bring in British Columbia and Vancouver Island, now colonies of the Crown, and to include certain other articles the produce of both countries, but the real cause of its repeal was the prejudice in the North against the provinces for their supposed sympathy for the Con- federate States during the War of the Rebellion. A RELATIONS WITH UNITED STATES. 377 lar<^e body of men in the North had brought them- selves foohshly to believe that the repeal of the treaty would, sooner or later, force the provinces into annexation. A raid made by a few rash Con- federates who had found refuge in Canada, on the St. Albans Bank, in the State of Vermont, deeply incensed the people of the North, though at no time could it be proved that the Canadian author- ities had the least suspicion of the proposed expedi- tion. On the contrary, they brought the culprits to trial, placed companies of volunteers along the frontier, and even paid a large sum of money in acknowledgment of an alleged responsibility when some of the stolen money was returned to the rob- bers on their release by a Montreal magistrate. When we review the history of those times and consider the difficult position in which Canada was necessarily placed, it is remarkable how honourably her government discharged its duties of a neutral between the belligerents. No doubt the position of Canada was made more difficult at that critical time by the fact that she was a colony of Great Britain, against whom both North and South entertained bitter feelings by the close of the war; the former mainly on account of the escape of Confederate cruisers from English ports, and the latter because she did not receive active support from England. The North had also been much excited by the promptness with which Lord Palmerston had sent troops to Canada when Mason and Slidell were seized on an English packet on the high seas, and the bold tone held by some Canadian 378 THE STORY OF CANADA. papers when it was doubtful if the prisoners would be released. Contemporaneously with the repeal of the Reci- procity Treaty came the raids of the Fenians — bands of men who did dishonour to the cause of Ireland, under the pretence of striking a blow at England through Canada, where their countrymen have always found happy homes, free government, and honourable positions. For months before the invasion American newspapers were full of accounts of the assembling and arming of these bands on the frontiers of Canada. They invaded the Dominion in 1866, property was destroyed, and a number of Canadian youth lost their lives near Ridgeway, in the Niagara district, but one O'Neil and his collec- tion of disbanded soldiers and fugitives from justice were forced back by the Canadian forces to the country whose neutrality they had outraged. The United States authorities had calmly looked on while all the preparations for these raids were in progress. Proclamations were at last issued by the government when the damage had been done, and a few raiders were arrested ; but the House of Repre- sentatives immediately sent a resolution to the Presi- dent, requesting him " to cause the prosecutions, instituted in the United States courts against the Fenians, to be discontinued if compatible with the public interest " — a request which was complied with. In 1870 another raid* was attempted on the * In the autumn of 1871, a body of Fenians were prevented from raiding the new province of Manitoba by the prompt action of the troops of the United States stationed on the frontier. RELATIONS WITH UNITED STATES. 379 Lower Canadian frontier, but it was easily repulsed, and the authorities of the United States did their duty with promptitude. For all the losses, how- ever, that Canada sustained through these invasions of her territory, she has never received any compen- sation whatever. Out of the very circumstances which were appar- ently calculated to do much injury to Canada, her people learned lessons of wisdom and self-reliance, and were stimulated to go vigorously to work to carry out that scheme of national development which had its commencement in the Quebec confer- ence of 1864, and was constitutionally inaugurated in 1867 when the provinces entered on the new era of federal union. XXVI. END OF THE RULE OF FUR-TRADERS — ACQUISI- TION OF THE NORTHWEST — FORMATION OF MANITOBA— RIEL'S REBELLIONS — THE INDIANS. (1670-1885.) In 1867 the Dominion of Canada comprised only the four provinces, formerly contained in the ancient historical divisions of Acadia and Canada, and it became the immediate duty of its public men to complete the union by the admission of Prince Ed- ward Island and British Columbia, and by the acquisition of the vast region which had been so long under the rule of a company of fur-traders. In the language of the eloquent Irishman, Lord Dufferin, when governor-general. " the historical territories of the Canadas — the eastern sea-boards of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Labrador — the Laurentian lakes and valleys, corn lands and pastures, though themselves more extensive than half a dozen European kingdoms, were but the ves- tibules and antechambers to that, till then, undreamt 380 END OF THE RVI.E OF THE FUR-TRADERS. 38 1 of dominion whose illimitable dimensions alike con- found the arithmetic of the surveyor and the verifi- cation of the explorer." The history of this northwest, whose rolling; prai- ries now constitute so large a proportion of the wealth of Canada was, until 1867, entirely the his- tory of the fur trade. Two centuries and a half ago a company of traders, known as the " honourable company of adventurers from England trading into Hudson's Bay," received from Charles IL a royal licence in what was long known as Rupert's Land, and first raised its forts on the inhospitable shores of the great bay, only accessible to European vessels during the summer months. Among the prominent members of this company was the cousin of the King, Prince Rupert, that gallant cavalier. The French in the valley of the St. Lawrence looked with jealousy on these efforts of the English to establish themselves at the north, and Le Moyne d' Iberville, that daring Canadian, had destroyed their trading-posts. Still the Hudson's Bay Com- pany persevered in their enterprise, and rebuilt their forts where they carried on a very lucrative trade with the Lidians who came from all parts of that northern region to barter their rich furs for the ex- cellent goods which the company always supplied to the natives. \x\ the meantime, while the English were established at the north, French adventurers, the Sieur de La Verendrye, a native of Three Rivers, and his two sons, reached the interior of the north- west by the way of Lake Superior and that chain of lakes and rivers which extends from Thunder Bay 382 THE STORY OF CANADA. to Lake Winnipeg. These adventurous Frenchmen raised rude posts by the lakes and rivers of this region, and Verendrye's sons are said to have ex- tended their explorations in January, 1743, to what was probably the Bighorn Range, an outlying but- tress of the Rocky Mountains, running athwart the sources of the Yellowstone. The wars between France and England, however, stopped French trade in that northwestern region, and the Hudson's Bay Company's posts at the north were the only signs of European occupation when Wolfe and Montcalm fell on the Plains of Abraham, and the fleur-de-lis was struck on the old fort of the Canadian capital. Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, the merchants of Canada, who were individually dealing in furs, formed an association which, under the title of the Northwest Company, was long the rival of the Hudson's Bay adventurers. Both these companies were composed of Englishmen and Scotchmen, but they were nevertheless bitter ene- mies, engaged as they were in the same business in the wilderness. The employes of the Hudson's Bay Company were chiefly Scotch, while the Canadian Company found in the French Canadian population that class of men whom it believed to be most suit- able to a forest life. The differences in the nation- ality and religion of the servants of the companies only tended to intensify the bitterness of the com- petition, and at last led to scenes of tumult and bloodshed. The Northwest Company found their way to the interior of Rupert's Land by the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes. Their posts were seen END OF THE RULE OF THE FUR-TRADERS. 3S3 by the Assiniboinc and Red rivers, even in the Saskatchewan and Athabascan districts, and in the valley of the Columbia among the mountains of the great province which bears the name of that noble stream. The Mackenzie River was discovered and followed to the Arctic Sea by one of the members of the Northwest Company, whose name it has always borne. At a later time a trader, Simon Fraser, first ventured on the river whose name now recalls his famous journey, and David Thompson, a surveyor of the Northwest Company, discovered the river of the same name. Previous, however, to these perilous voyages, the Hudson's Bay Company had been forced by the enterprise of its rival to reach the interior and compete for the fur traffic which was being so largely controlled by the Canadian Company. In 1771, Samuel Hearne, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's employes, discovered the Coppermine River, and three years later established a fort on the Saskatchewan, still known as Cumber- land House. In later years, Sir Jolm Franklin, George Back, and Thomas Simpson added largely to the geographical knowledge of the northern parts of the great region watered by the Coppermine, the Great Fish — also called the Back, — and other streams which fall into the Arctic Seas. As we glance at the map of this vast region, we still see the names of the numerous posts where the servants of the fur companies passed their solitary lives, only relieved by the periodical visits of Indian trappers, and the arrival of the " trains " of dogs with supplies from Hudson's Bay. Forts Enterprise, Providence, Good 384 THE STORY OF CANADA. Hope, and Resolution are among the names of posts which tell in eloquent terms the story of the cour- age, endurance, and hope that first planted them throughout that solitary land. It was on the banks of Red River, where it forms a junction with the Assiniboine, that civilisation made the first effort to establish itself in the illimit- able domain of fur-traders, always jealous of settle- ment which might interfere with their lucrative gains. The first person to erect a post on the Red River was the elder Verendryc, who built Fort Rouge about 1735 on the site of the present city of Winnipeg. The same adventurer also built Fort La Reine at Portage La Prairie. In 181 1 an enterpris- ing Scotch nobleman, the Earl of Selkirk, who had previously made a settlement in Prince Edward Island, became a large proprietor of Hudson's Bay stock, and purchased from the company over a hun- dred thousand square miles of territory, which he named Assiniboia. In 181 2 he made on the banks of the Red River a settlement of Highland Scotch and a few Irishmen. The Northwest Company looked with suspicion on this movement of Lord Selkirk, especially as he had such large influence in the rival company. In 18 16, the employes of the former, chiefly half-breeds, destroyed Fort Douglas and murdered Governor Semple, who was in charge of the new Scotch settlement. As soon as the news of this outrage reached Lord Selkirk, he hastened to the succour of his settlement, and by the aid of some disbanded soldiers, whom he hired in Canada, he restored order. Subsequently he succeeded in END OF rilE RULE OF THE FUR-TKADERS. 385 bringing to a trial at York several partners and per- sons in the service of the Northwest Company on the charges of " high 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 conspiring to ruin the trade of the company, and he was mulcted in heavy damages. Two years later Lord Selkirk died in France, and then the two companies, which had received great injury through their rivalry, were amalgamated, and the old Hudson's Bay Company reigned supreme in this region until 1870. The Red River settlement became the headquarters of the company, who established in 1835 ^ system of local government — a president and council and a court of law — and built Fort Garry on the site of a fort also bearing the same name — that of a director of the company. The new fort was a stone structure, hav- ing walls from ten to twelve feet high, and flanked by bastions defended by cannon and musketry. Li 1867 the houses of the settlers occupied the banks of the Red River at short intervals for twenty-four miles. Many evidences of prosperity and thrift were seen throughout the settlement ; the churches and school-houses proved that religion and educa- tion were highly valued by the people. The most conspicuous structure was the Roman Catholic Church of St. Boniface, whose bells at matins and vespers were so often a welcome sound to the wan- derers on the plains. 25 386 THE STORY OF CANADA. " Is it the clang of wild-geese, Is it the Indians' yell That lends to the voice of the North wind The tone of a far-off bell ? " The voyageur smiles as he listens To the sound that grows apace : Well he knows the vesper ringing Of the bells of Saint Boniface. " The bells of the Roman mission That call from their turrets twain. To the boatmen on the river, To the hunters on the plain." On all sides there were evidences of comfort in this little oasis of civilisation amid the prairies. The descendants of the two nationalities dwelt apart in French and British parishes, each of which had their separate schools and churches. The houses and plantations of the British settlers, and of a few French Canadians, indicated thrift, but the majority of the French half-breeds, or Metis, the descendants of French Canadian fathers and Indian mothers, continued to live almost entirely on the fur trade, as voyageurs, trappers, and hunters. They exhib- ited all the characteristics of those hardy and ad- venturous men who were the pioneers of the west. Skilful hunters but poor cultivators of the soil, fond of amusement, rash and passionate, spending their gains as soon as made, too often in dissipation, many of them were true representatives of the cou- rcnrs dc bois of the days of Frontenac. This class was numerous in 1869 when the government of Can- ada first presented itself to claim the territory of the ACQUISITION OF THE NORTHWEST. 387 Northwest as a part of the Dominion. After years of negotiation the Hudson's Bay Company had rec- ognised the necessity of allowing the army of civiH- sation to advance into the region which it had so long kept as a fur preserve. The British Govern- ment obtained favourable terms for the Dominion, and the whole country from line 49° to the Arctic region, and from Lake Superior to the Rocky Moun- tains became a portion of the Canadian domain, with the exception of small tracts of land in the vicinity of the company's posts, which they still continue to maintain wherever the fur trade can be profitably carried on. In 1869 the Canadian ministry, of which Sir John Macdonald was premier, took meas- ures to assume possession of the country, where they proposed to establish a provisional govern- ment. Mr. William McDougall, a prominent Cana- dian Liberal, one of the founders of confederation, always an earnest advocate of the acquisition of the Northwest, was appointed to act as lieutenant- governor as soon as the formal transfer was made. This transfer, however, was not completed until a few months later than it was at first expected, and the government of Canada appears to have acted with some precipitancy in sending surveyors into the country, and in allowing Mr. McDougall to pro- ceed at once to the scene of his proposed govern- ment. It would have been wise had the Canadian authorities taken measures to ascertain the wishes of the small but independent population with respect to the future government of their own country. The British as well as French settlers resented the 388 THE STORY OF CANADA. hasty action of the Canadian authorities. The half- breeds, httle acquainted with questions of govern- ment, saw in the appearance of surveying parties an insidious attempt to dispossess them eventually of their lands, to which many of them had not a sound title. The British settlers, the best educated and most intelligent portion of the population, believed that a popular form of government should have been immediately established in the old limits of Assiniboia, as soon as it became a part of Canada. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's employes were not in their hearts pleased at the transfer, and the probable change in their position in a country where they had been so long masters. Although these men stood aloof from the insurrection, yet their influence was not exercised at the commence- ment of the troubles, in favour of peace and order, or in exposing the plans of the insurgents, of whicli* some of them must have had an idea. The appear- ance of Mr. McDougall on the frontier of the settle- ment, was the signal for an outbreak which has been dignified by the name of rebellion. The insurgents seized Fort Garry, and established a provisional government with Mr. John Bruce, a Scotch settler, as nominal president, and Mr. Louis Riel, the ac- tual leader, as secretary of state. The latter was a French half-breed, who had been superficially edu- cated in French Canada. His temperament was that of a race not inclined to steady occupation, loving the life of the river and plain, ready to put law at defiance when their rights and privileges were in dantjer. This restless man and his half-breed ' f «^ I ■;*T 390 THE STORY OF CANADA. associates soon found themseh^cs at the head and front of the whole rebelhous 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 Metis. Riel became president, and made prisoners of Dr. Schultz, in later times a lieutenant-governor of the new province, and of a number of other British 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 brutiim fuluicn, 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 settlement 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 Tache, 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 RIEUS REBELLIONS. 39 1 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 Tache, 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 STORY OF CANADA. respect to education, as in the case of the old prov- inces. The first lieutenant-governor was Mr. Adams Archibald, a Nova Scotian lawyer, who was pne 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 RIF.rS RF.BF.LrJONS. 393 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 Mentis. 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 such a rising as had taken place on the Red River in 394 ^^^^ STORY OF CANADA. 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 popidation. 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 Bowcll, 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, R/EL'S REBELLIONS. 395 anxious to punish the murderers with every severity, and of the French Canadians, the great majority of whom showed a lively 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 popularity 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 i885 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 intriguing 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 capital of the Territories, was threatened by Indians and Mentis, 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, wido\\'s of two of the murdered men, who were released at the close 39^ 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 PVench 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. From all parts of the Dominion — from French 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 Fish Creek, fifteen miles from Batoche, on the 24th of April, or less than a month after the orders were given at Ottawa to march from the east. Here the insurgents, led by Dumont, were concealed in rifle- pits, ingeniously constructed and placed in a deep ravine. They checked Middleton, who 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- KIEL'S REBELLIONS. 397 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 ofificer 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. Riel'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 398 rilE STORY OF CANADA. ill the court but subsequently in the Commons at Ottawa, when it was attempted to censure the Can- adian Government 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 countrymen, who were carried away at this crisis by a false sentiment, rather than 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 of all classes to consolidate the union, and make it secure from external and internal dangers, and had also an admirable influence in foreign countries COLONEL WILLIAMS. 399 400 THE STORY OF CANADA. which could now api)rcciatc 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 by the wild Saskatchewan, they laid them to their rest. A simple soldier's funeral in that lonely spot was theirs, Made consecrate and holy by a nation's tears and prayers. Their requiem — the music of the river's surging 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 countrj''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. ..^M.k^ zb 402 7^ HE STORY OF CANADA. where they can carry on farmuig 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 confidently 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. 403 or Nootka, and Kavvitshin, the latter including sev- eral names, probably of Salish affinity, living around the Gulf of Georgia. The several races that inhabit Canada, the Algonquins, the Huron-Iroquois, the Dacotah, the Tinneh, and the several stocks of Brit- ish Columbia, have for some time formed an inter- esting study for scholars, who find in their languages and customs much valuable archaeological and ethno- logical lore. The total number of Indians that now inhabit the whole Dominion is estimated at over one nunared thousand souls, of whom one-third live in the old provinces. XXVII. COMPLETION OF THE FEDERAL UNION — MAKERS OF THE DOMINION. (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 1849, fonned 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- 404 405 406 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 together 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 been mainly a record of conflict between Conserva- tives and Liberals for the supremacy ; of differences of opinion with respect to the advantages of the system of protection, established by the Conserva- < j. » ' .I II L ■ 1 ■ ■ I ■ y QUEBEC. NEW BRLNSWICK. NOVA SCOTIA. MANITOBA. BRITISH COLl'MBIA. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. ARMS OF THE PROVINCES. tive government in 1879, compared with a mere revenue tariff; of questions arising out of the inter- pretation of the federal constitution ; of issues deeply affecting the provincial, racial, or religious interests of the various communities that compose the Do- 408 THE STORY OF CANADA. minion. Such issues cannot form any part of a story which has only to deal with those epoch- making events which, for nearly three centuries, have had most influence on the development of the Canadian people as a nation. Many names occur to the student as he reviews the past history of confederation, but there are a few who, beyond all others, deserve the meed of praise for their readiness to rise above the narrow claims of provincialism and recognise the necessity of a broad and generous patriotism. As I have already shown, when confederation was forced on the attention of Canadian statesmen from Halifax to Toronto, the situation had become most critical from the point of view of provincial government, as well as from the point of view of national security. The destinies of old Canada were virtually in the hands of three men — the Honourable George Brown, Sir George Cartier, and Sir John Macdonald, to give the two latter the titles they received at a later time. Mr. Brown was mainly responsible for the difficulties that had made the conduct of government practi- cally impossible, through his persistent and even rude assertion of the claims of Upper Canada to larger representation and more consideration in the public administration. No one will deny his con- summate ability, his inflexibility of purpose, his impetuous oratory, and his financial knowledge, but his earnestness carried him frequently beyond the limits of political prudence, and it was with reason that he was called " a governmental impossibility," as long as French and English Canada continued 409 4IO THE STORY OF CAA\4DA. pitted against each other, previous to the union of 1867. The journal which he conducted with so much force, attacked French Canada and its insti- tutions with great violence, and the result was the increase of racial antagonisms. Opposed to him was Sir George Etienne Cartier, who had found in the Liberal-Conservative party, and in the principles of responsible government, the means of strength- ening the French Canadian race and making it a real power in the affairs of the country. Running throughout his character there was a current of sound sense and excellent judgment which came to the surface at national crises. A solution of diffi- culties, he learned, was to be found not in the violent assertion of national claims, but in the prin- ciples of compromise and conciliation. With him was associated Sir John Macdonald, the most suc- cessful statesman that Canada has yet produced, on account of his long tenure of office and of the im- portance of the measures that he was able to carry in his remarkable career. He was premier of the Dominion from 1867 until his death in 1891, with the exception of the four years of the administration of the Liberals (i 873-1 878), led by the late Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, who had raised himself from the humble position of stonemason to the highest place in the councils of the country, by dint of his Scotch shrewdness, his tenacity of purpose, his pub- lic honesty, and his thorough comprehension of Canadian questions, though he was wanting in breadth of statesmanship. Many generations must pass away before the personal and political merits of -^- 411 412 THE STORY OF CANADA. Sir John Macdonald can be advantageously and im- partially reviewed. A lawyer by profession, but a politician by choice, not remarkable for originality of conception, but possessing an unusual capacity for estimating the exact conditions of public senti- ment, and for moulding his policy so as to satisfy that opinion, having a perfect understanding of the ambitions and weaknesses of human nature, believ- ing that party success was often as desirable as the triumph of any great principle, ready to forget his friends and purchase his opponents when political danger was imminent, possessing a fascinating man- ner, which he found very useful at times when he had to pacify his friends and disarm his opponents, fully comprehending the use of compromise in a country of diverse nationalities, having a firm con- viction that in the principles of the British constitu- tion there was the best guaranty for sound political progress, having a patriotic confidence in the ability of Canada to hold her own on this continent, and become, to use his own words, a " nation within a nation," — that is to say, within the British Empire — Sir John Macdonald offers to the political student an example of a remarkable combination of strength and weakness, of qualities which make up a great statesman and a mere party politician, according to the governing circumstances. Happily for the best interests of Canada, in the case of confederation the statesman prevailed. But his ambition at this crisis would have been futile had not Mr. I^rown con- sented to unite with him and Cartier. This triple alliance made a confederation possible on terms MAKERS OF THE DOMINION. 413 acceptable to both Englisli and French Canadians. These three men were the representatives of the antagonistic elements that had to be reconciled and cemented. The readiness with which Sir Charles Tupper and Sir Leonard Tilley, the premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, co-operated with the statesmen of the upper provinces, was a most opportune feature of the movement, which ended in the successful formation of a confeder- ation in 1867. Although the Liberal leaders in Nova Scotia, Mr., afterwards Sir, Adams Archi- bald, and Mr. Jonathan McCuIly, like Brown, Rowland, Mowat, and McDougall in old Canada, supported the movement with great loyalty, the people of the province were aroused to a passionate opposition mainly through the vigorous action of the popular leader, Mr. Joseph Howe, who had been an eloquent advocate of colonial union before it assumed a practical shape, but now took the strong ground that the question should not be forced on the country by a legislature which had no mandate whatever to deal with it, that it should be determined only by the people at the polls, and that the terms arranged at Quebec were unfair to the maritime provinces. Mr. Howe subsequently obtained " better terms " for Nova Scotia by every available means of constitutional agitation — beyond which he was never willing to go, however great might be public grievances — and then he yielded to the inevitable logic of circumstances, and entered the Dominion government, where he remained until he became lieutenant-governor of his native prov- 414 THE STORY OF CANADA. ince. The feelings, however, he aroused against confederation lasted with some intensity for years, although the cry for repeal died away, according as a new generation grew up in place of the one which remembered with bitterness the struggles of 1 867. Mr. George Brown died from the wound he received at the hands of a reckless printer, who had been in his employ, and Canadians have erected to his memory a noble monument in the beautiful Queen's Park of the city where he laboured so long and earnestly as a statesman and a journalist. Sir George Cartier died in 1873, but Sir John Macdon- ald survived his firm friend for eighteen years, and both received State funerals. Statues of Sir John Macdonald have been erected in the cities of Mon- treal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Kingston. In Ottawa on one side of the Parliament building we see also a statue of the same distinguished statesman, and on the other that of his great colleague. Sir George Cartier. It was but fitting that the statues of these most famous representatives of the two distinct ele- ments of the Canadian people should have been placed alongside of the national legislature. They are national sentinels to warn Canadian people of the dangers of racial or religious conflict, and to illustrate the advantages of those principles of com- promise and justice on which both Cartier and Mac- donald, as far as they could, raised the edifice of confederation. XXVIII. CANADA AS A NATION : MATERIAL AND INTEL- LECTUAL DEVELOPMENT — POLITICAL RIGHTS. The population of the whole Dominion — still chiefly confined to the St. Lawrence valley and the Atlantic provinces — does not yet exceed 5,000,000 souls, though it has increased nearly five times since 1837. Of this population, 1,300,000 are French Canadians; the majority are English, Scotch, and Irish. At least 2,000,000 profess the Roman Cath- olic religion. The immigration of late years has been very insignificant, and has been practically nullified by the constant movement of Canadians into the United States — a movement which has been somewhat decreasing since the opening up of the Northwest and the greater facilities offered by the Dominion to energy and enterprise. Under these conditions the natural-born population amounts to about 85 per cent, of the whole. The people of Canada have already won for themselves a large amount of wealth from the riches of the land, forest, and seas, and an aggregate of the imports and ex- 415 41 6 THE STOKY OF CANADA. ports now reaches $255,000,000 a year, or an increase of $145,000,000 within half a century. The North- west ah'eady raises upward of 36,000,000 bushels of wheat, or an increase of 18,000,000 in five years. Nearly $360,000,000 are invested in manufactures, chiefly of cotton and woollen goods. Some fourteen lines of ocean steamers call at the port of Montreal, which has now a population of over 250,000 souls. Toronto comes next in population, about 190,000, whilst the other cities, like Quebec, Halifax, St. John, Ottawa, Hamilton, and London, range from 70,000 to 30,000. The total revenue of the Domin- ion, apart from the local and provincial revenues, is about $36,000,000 a year — against only $300,000 in 1837 — raised mainly from customs and excise duties, which are high, owing to the " national " or protec- tive policy, although lower than those on similar goods in the United States. The expenditures of Canada, very heavy of late years for a small popula- tion, have been mainly caused by the development of the Dominion, and by the necessity of providing rapid means of intercommunication for trade and population in a country extending between two oceans. Canals, lighthouses, the acquisition and opening of the Northwest railways, government buildings, have absorbed at least $240,000,000 since 1867, and it is not remarkable, under these circum- stances, that a gross debt has been accumulated within half a century of about $315,000,000, against which must be set valuable assets in the shape of buildings and public works necessary to the progress of a new country. The public buildings, churches. CANADA AS A NATION. 417 and universities display within a quarter of a century a great improvement in architectural beauty, whilst the homes of the people show, both in the interior and exterior, decided evidences of comfort, con- venience, and culture. Instead of the fourteen miles of railway which existed in 1837, there arc about 15,000 miles in actual operation, affording facilities for trade and commerce not exceeded by any country in the world. The mental outfit of the Dominion compares favourably even with that of older countries. The Universities of Canada — McGill in Montreal, Laval in Quebec, Queen's in Kingston, Dalhousie in Hal- ifax, and Trinity and Toronto Universities in Toronto — stand deservedly high in the opinion of men of learning in the Old World and the United States, whilst the grammar and common school sys- tem, especially of Ontario, is creditable to the keen sagacity and public spirit of the people. We have already seen the low condition of education of fifty years ago, only one in fifteen at school ; but now there are 1,000,000 pupils in the educational institu- tions of the country, or one in five, at a cost to the people of upwards of $12,000,000, contributed for the most part by the taxpayers of the different mu- nicipalities in connection with which the educational system is worked out. In Ontario the class of school-houses is exceptionally good, and the appa- ratus excellent, though there is an injurious ten- dency to burden pupils with too many subjects, and in that way encourage superficiality. In French Canada, to whose progress I devote a special 418 THE STOKY OF CANADA. chapter in view of its exceptional character and influence in the confederation, there is an essentially literary activity. The intellectual work of the English-speaking people has been chiefly in the di- rection of scientific, constitutional, and historical literature, in which departments they have shown an amount of knowledge and research which has won for many of them laurels outside of their own country. The working out of a system of government adapted to the necessities of countries with distinct interests and nationalities, has developed in Canada a class of statesmen and writers with broad national views and a large breadth of knowledge. On all occasions when men have risen beyond the passion and narrowness of party, the debates of the legisla- ture have been distinguished by a keenness of argu- ment and by a grace of oratory — especially in the case of some French Canadians — w^hich would be creditable to the Senate of the United States in its palmy days. Any one who reviews the twelve vol- umes already published by the Royal Society of Canada, founded by the Marquis of Lome, when governor-general, will see how much scholarship and ability the writers of Canada bring to the study of scientific, antiquarian, and historical subjects. The names of Todd, Kingsford, Scadding, Read, Pope, Stewart, Patterson, and Withrow will be recognised by Canadians as those of conscientious workers in history and constitutional learning. In science the names of Sir William Dawson, Dr. George M. Dawson, and of other native Canadians CANADA AS A NATION. 419 on the list of the EngHsh and Canadian Royal Societies are well known in the parent state and wherever science has its votaries and followers. The poets, William Kirby, Archbishop O'Brien, John Reade, Charles Roberts, Bliss Carman, Frederick J. Scott, Pauline Johnson, Ethelwyn Wetherald, Archi- bald Lampman, Duncan Campbell Scott, James David Edgar, and Wilfred Campbell have won recog- nition even in a country like Canada, where still is wanting the inspiration of a wide field of culture, and of that generous encouragement which can hardly be expected in a country of prosaic needs. Miss Pauline Johnson is the child of an English mother and a head-chief of the Mohawks at Brant- ford. The historical novels of Major Richardson, W^illiam Kirby, and Gilbert Parker, show the rich materials our past annals offer for romance. Mr. Parker's enthusiasm for his theme is sustained by his bright, attractive" style. Sam Slick's Sayings a)id Doings is still the only noteworthy evidence we have of the existence of humour among a practical people, and his " wise saws " and " sayings " were uttered more than half a century ago. Yet, on the whole, if great works are wanting nowadays, the intellectual movement is in the right direction, and according as the intellectual soil of Canada becomes enriched with the progress of culture, we may eventually look for a more generous fruition. Canadian art has hitherto been imitative, rather than creative, though of late years, as the Chicago Exposition proved, Canadian artists have produced several pictures which show an individuality of 420 THE STORY OF CANADA. expression, colour, feeling, and a knowledge of tech- nique which illustrate the influence of study and experience in the best European schools, especially of Paris. The names of L. R. O'Brien, George Reid, Bell-Smith, Robert Harris, J. W. L. Forster, W. Brymner, and Miss Bell are among the most notable names of English Canadian artists. The Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louise, during their residence in Canada, did much to stimulate a wider taste for art by the establishment of a Canadian academy, and the holding of annual exhibitions. Self-government exists in the full sense of the term. At the base of the political structure lie those municipal institutions which, for complete- ness, are not excelled in any other country. It is in the enterprising province of Ontario that the system has attained its greatest development. The machin- ery of these municipalities is used in Ontario to raise the taxes necessary for the support of public schools. Free libraries can be provided in every municipality whenever the majority of the taxpayers choose. Then we go up higher to the provincial organisa- tions governed by a lieutenant-governor, nominated and removable by the government of the Dominion, and advised by a council responsible to the people's representatives, with a legislature composed, in only two of the provinces, of two houses — a council ap- pointed by the Crown, and an elective assembly; in all the other provinces, there is simply an assembly chosen by the people on a very liberal franchise, manhood suffrage in the majority of cases. The 423 THE STORY OF CANADA. fundamental law, or the British North America Act of 1867, gives jurisdiction to the provincial govern- ments over administration of justice (except in crim- inal matters), municipal, and all purely local affairs. In the Territories, not yet constituted into pro\-inces, there is a small elective body or house who select a financial committee to assist the lieutenant-governor. These Territories are also represented in the two houses of the Dominion Parliament. The central or general government of the Dominion is adminis- tered by a governor-general, with the assistance of a ministry responsible to a Parliament, composed of a Senate appointed by the Crown, and a House of Commons elected under an electoral franchise, ])rac- tically on the very threshold of universal suffrage. This government has jurisdiction o\'er trade and commerce, post-office, militia and defence, naviga- tion and shipping, fisheries, railways and public works of a Dominion character, and all other matters of a general or national import. Education is under the control of the provincial governments, but the rights and privileges of a religious minorit}' with respect to separate or denominational schools are protected by the constitution. The common law of England prevails in all the provinces except in French Can- ada, where the civil law still exists. The criminal law of England obtains throughout the Dominion. The central government appoints all the judges, who are irremovable except for cause. Although the constitution places in the central go\'ernment the residue of all powers, not expressly given to the provincial authorities, conflicts of jurisdiction are CAIVADA AS A NAT/OI^. 423 constantly arising between the gcneial and local governments. Such questions, however, arc 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 f^eet, 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 powers affecting her com- mercial or territorial interests. A notable example 424 THE STORY OF CAA'ADA. 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 Government 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 England — a dramatic close to a short though excep- tionally successful career. It was an imperial man-of-war that brought the 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 v*'as due to a Canadian statesman whose appointment on the Paris arbitration was a direct acknowledgment of the im- portance of 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 larg-e. XXIX. FRENCH CANADA. 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 and 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, France has been able to leave a permanent impress. But this impress is not in the \'alley 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 I^'rench 426 428 THE STORY OF CAXADA. 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 stranger 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- resque 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 memorials 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. Here 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 Brittany 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 thp cure or notary. Nor is the language so impure or degener- ated as many persons may naturally suppose. On 43^) THE STORY OF CANADA. the contrary, it is spc^kcn by the educated classes with a purity not excelled in France itself. The better class of French Canadians take pride in study- \\v^ 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 consecjuently 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 are 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. FRENCH CANADA. 431 Xos institntio)is, notrc laiiguc, ct iios lois lias been the key-note of French Canadian poHtics 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, P^nglish 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 premier 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 Cliurch, 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 432 THE STORY OF CANADA. of the St. Lawrence. We have Ste. Anne de la Perade, Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere, and many others. We all remember the verse of Moore's boat song : " Faintly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time, Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We '11 .sing at St. Anne's our parting hymn." This village, situated at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, is generally known as Ste. Anne de Bellevue, and still retains some of the characteristics of a French Canadian village, notwithstanding its close neighbourhood to the Eng- lish-speaking settlements of Ontario. Jesuits, Sulpi- cians, and Recollets have done much to mould the thought and control the political destiny of the people under their spiritual care. The universities, colleges, and schools are mainly directed by the religious orders. The priests, as this story has shown, have been very active and conscientious workers from the earliest days of Canadian history. Canada, too, has her Notre Dame de Lourdes, to whose shrine the faithful flock by thousands. Some twenty miles east of Quebec, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, is the church of Ste. Anne de Beau- pre, or, as the Saint is more particularly known. La bonne Ste. Anne, who has won fame in Canada for miraculous cures for two centuries at least. This historic place rests under the shelter of a lofty mountain of the Laurentides. on a little pla- teau which has given it the name of the " beautiful meadow." The village itself consists of a strag- 434 'r^^ STORY OF CANADA. gling street of wooden houses, with steep roofs and projecting eaves, 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 \\\\\ see on the fete of Ste. Anne, and at other fixed times, a mass of people in every variety of cos- tume, Micmacs, Hurons, and Iroquois — representa- tives of the old Indian tribes of Canada — French Canadians, men, women, and children, from the \al- 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 Ste. 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 v^otive 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 form with the same materials. FRENCH CANADA. 435 villages is exceedingly picturesque, when they nestle in some quiet nook by the side of a river or bay, or overlook from some prominent hill a noble panorama of land and water. The spire of the stone church rises generall}- from the midst of the houses, and the priest's residence or presbytere is always the most comfortable in size and appearance. The houses are for the most part built of wood. The roofs are fre- quently curved, with projecting eaves, Avhich afford a sort of verandah under which the family sit in sum- mer evenings. Some of the most pretentious struc- tures, especially the inns, have balconies running directly across the upper story. Many of the 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, and 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 blaic\ 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 homelv^ stuffs of former times. Old dresses 436 THE STORY OF CANADA. and old customs are gradually disappearing with the old-fashioned caleche, 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 the 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- fasiiioned cotillons or daiiscs ro)idcs. 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 of 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 cV 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. 438 THE STORY OF CANADA which demands the attendance of the whole village. The temperate habits of the French Canadian make them necessarily \'aluable 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 em- ployed in the lumbering industry of Canada is drawn from the province of Quebec. As their forefathers were courcurs dc 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 woods 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 I'ellow-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 machines and improved ay^ricultural implements, than the people of the other provinces. As a rule, the Juxbitant 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 fetes eV obligation. If he or one of his family can only get a little office 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 quali- 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 to 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. 440 THE STORY GF CANADA. In the present, as in the past, the Church makes every effort to supervise with a zealous care the mental food that is offered for 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 quite 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 the province, they have a powerful means of maintaining 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. LOUIS FRECHETTE. 441 442 THE STORY OF CANADA. In the days of the French regime there was nec- essarily no native hterature, and httle general cul- ture except in small select circles at Quebec and Montreal. But during the past half century, with the increase of wealth, the dissemination of liberal education, and the development of self-government, the French Canadians have created for themselves a literature which shows that they inherit much of the spirituality and brilliancy of their race. Their histories and poems have attracted much attention in literary circles in France, and one poet, Mr. Louis Frechette, has won the highest prize of the French Institute for the best poem of the year. In history we have the names of Garneau, Ferland, Suite, Tasse, Casgrain ; in poetry, Crcmazie, Chauveau, Frechette, Poisson, Lemay; in science, Hamel, La- flamme, De Foville ; besides many others famed as savants and litterateurs. In art some progress has been made, and several young men go to the Paris schools from time to time. The only sculptor of original merit that Canada has yet produced is Hebert, a French Canadian, whose monuments of eminent Canadians stand in several public places. Science has not made so much progress as belles- lettres and history, though Laval University — the principal educational institution of the highest class — has among its professors men who show some cred- itable work in mathematics, geology, and ph3'sics. In romance, however, very little has been done. The French Canadians have a natural love for poetry and music. Indeed it is a French Canadian by birth and early education — Madame Albani — who FRENCH CANADA. 443 has of late years won a high distinction on the op- eratic stage. No writer of this nationality, however, has yet produced an opera or a drama which. has won fame for its author. The priesthood, indeed, has been a persistent enemy of the theatre, which con- sequently has never attained a successful foothold in French Canada. Sacred music, so essential a feature of a Roman Catholic service, has been always culti- vated with success. The chansons populaircs, which have been so long in vogue among the people of all classes in the prov- ince of Quebec are the same in spirit, and very fre- quently in words, as those which their ancestors brought over with them from Brittany, Normandy, Saintonge, and Franche-Comte. Some have been adapted to Canadian scenery and associations, but most of them are essentially European in allusion and spirit. The Canadian lumberer among the pines of the Ottawa and its tributaries, the Metis or half- breeds of what was once the great Lone Land, still sing snatches of the songs which the courcurs dc bois, who followed Duluth and other French explorers, were wont to sing as they paddled over the rivers of the West or camped beneath the pines and the maples of the great forests. It is impossible to set the words of all of them to the music of the drawing- room, where they seem tame and meaningless ; but when they mingle with " the solemn sough of the forest," or with the roar of rushing waters, the air seems imbued with the spirit of the surroundings. It has been well observed by M. Gagnon, a French Canadian, that " many of them have no beauty 444 THE STORY OF CANADA. except on the lips of the peasantry." There is something sad and soft in the voices that imparts a pecuHar charm to these monotonous airs, in which their whole existence seems to be reflected." I give below the most popular and poetical of all the Canadian ballads, and at the same time a trans- lation by a Canadian writer : -■- A L.\ CLAIRE FONTAINE. TRANSLATION. A la claire fontaiiie M'en allant promener, J'ai trouve I'eau si belle Que je m'y suis baigne. Lui ya longtemps que je t'aiiue, Jamais je ne t'oublierai. Down to the crystal streamlet I strayed at close of day ; Into its limpid waters I plunged without delay. I 've loved thee long and dearly, I '11 love thee, sweet, for aye. J'ai trouve I'eau si belle Que je m'y suis baigne, Et c'est au pied d'un chene Que je m'suis repose. Into its limpid waters I plunged without delay ; Then 'mid the flowers springing At the oak-tree's foot I lay. Et c'est au pied d'un chene Que je m'suis repose ; Sur la plus haute hranche Le rossisnol chantait. Then 'mid the flowers springing At the oak-tree's foot I lay ; Sweet the nightingale was singinj High on the topmost spray. Sur la plus haute liranche Le rossignol chantait ; Chante, rossignol, chante, Toi qui as le cceur gai. Sweet tlie nightingale was singing High on the topmost spray ; Sweet bird ! keep ever singing Thy song with heart so gay. Chante, rossignol, chante, Toi qui as le cceur gai ; Tu as le coeur a rire, Moi je I'ai-t a pleurer. Sweet bird ! keep ever singing Tliy song with heart so gay ; Thy heart was made for laughter, My heart 's in tears to-day. * Songs of Old Canada. Translated by \V. McLennan. FREXCH CAKADA. AA\ Tu as le cceur a rire, Moi je I'ai-t a pleurer ; J'ai perdu ma maitresse Sans pouvoir la trouver. J'ai perdu ma maitresse Sans pouvoir la trouver ; Pour un bouquet de roses Que je lui refusai ; Pour un bouquet de roses Que je lui refusai ; Je voudrais que la rose Fut encore au rosier. Thy heart was made for laughter, My heart 's in tears to-day ; Tears for a fickle mistress, Flown from its love away. Tears for a fickle mistress, Flown from its love away. All for these faded roses Which I refused in play. All for these faded roses Which I refused in play — Would that each rose were growing Still on the rose-tree ijav. Je voudrais que la rose Flit encore au rosier, Et que le rosier meme Fut dans la mer jete. Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime, Jamais je ne t'oublierai. Would that eacli rose were growing Still on the rose-tree gay, And that the fated rose-tree Deep in the ocean lay. I 've loved thee long and dearly, I '11 love thee, sweet, for aye. A la Claire Fontaine has been claimed for Franche- Comte, Brittany, and Normandy, but the best authorities have come to the conclusion, from a comparison of the different versions, that it is Nor- man. In Malbronek s" en va-t-en-gucrrc, we have a song which was sung in the time of the G?'and Moiiarquc. Of its popularity with the French Ca- nadians, we have an example in General Strange's reply to the 65th, a French Canadian regiment, during the second Northwest rebellion. One morn- ing, after weeks of tedious and toilsome marching, just as the men were about to fall in, the General 44^ THE STORY OF CANADA. overhead the remark — " Ah ! when will we get home?" "Ah, mes gar^ons," laughed the General — ' Malbronck s'en va-t-en guerre Mais quand reviendra-t-il ? " Malbrouck has gone a-fighting, But when will he return ? " and with their characteristic light-heartedness the men caught up the famous old air and the march was resumed without a murmur. These cha)isons populaircsoi French Canada afford some evidence of the tenacity with which the people cling to the customs, traditions, and associations of the land of their origin. Indeed, a love for Old France lies still deep in the hearts of the people, and both young and old study her best literature, and find their greatest pride in her recognition of their poets and writers. But while there exists among the more influential and cultured class a sentimental attachment to Old France, there is a still deeper feeling, strengthened by the political freedom and material progress of the past forty years, that the connection with the British Empire gives the best guaranty for the preservation of their liberties and rights. This feeling has found frequent expression in the forcible utterances of Mr. Laurier, the present Premier of the Dominion. No doubt the influence of the Roman Catholic priesthood has had much to do with perpetuating the connexion with England. Thev feel that it is ^-t^^^^^^l^ 447 448 THE STORY OF CAh^ADA. not b\' n connexion with France or the United States that their rehgious and civil institutions can be best conserved. All classes now agree as to the necessity of pre- serving the federal system in its entirety, since it ensures better than any other system of government the rights and interests of the French Canadian population in all those matters most deeply affecting a people speaking a language, professing a religion, and retaining certain institutions different from those of the majority of the people of the Do- minion. No French Canadian writer or politician of weight in the country now urges so impossible or suicidal a scheme as the foundation of an independent French nationality on the banks of the' St. Law- rence. The history of the fifty years that have elapsed since the dark days of Canada, when Papi- neau wished to establish a " Nation Canadienne," goes to show that the governing classes of the Eng- lish and French nationalities have ceased to feel towards each other that intense spirit of jealousy which was likely at one time to develop itself into a dangerous hatred. The spirit of conciliation and justice, which has happily influenced the action of leading English and French Canadian statesmen in the administration of public affairs, has been so far successful in repressing the spirit of passion and demagogism which has exhibited itself at certain political crises, and in bringing the two nationalities into harmony with each other. As long as the same wise counsels continue to prevail in Canada that FRENCH CANADA. 449 have heretofore governed her, and carried her suc- cessfully through critical periods, the integrity of the confederation is assured, and the two races will ever work harmoniously together, united by the ties of a common interest, — always the strongest bond of union — and a common allegiance to the Empire to whose fostering care they already owe so much. ^^^^^^ INDEX. Abenakis, 1 14 ; allies uf French, 212 Abercromby, General, defeated by Montcalm, 245 Acadians, expulsion of, 231-236 Acadia, meaning of, 5 ; its mod- ern divisions, 5 ; occupied by De Monts, 50-54 ; history of, as French possession, 92- 109, 203, 206-20S ; ceded to England, 208 ; French inhab- itants of, 218 ; their unhappy fate, 231-236 Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of, 219 A la claire fontainc, French Canadian ballad, 444 Alcide and Lys, French frigates captured by English, 229 Alexander, Sii W. (Lord Stirling), receives rights in Acadia, and names Nova Scotia, 89 Alfonce, Captain Jehan, French pilot, 47 Algonquin Indians, 114 ; tribal divisions of, 114, 115 ; cus- toms of, 123-128 ; illustration of, III American Revolution, War of, attitude of French Canadians during, 282 ; Canada invaded, 283, 284 : Montreal taken, 283 ; Quebec besieged, 2S5- 287 : death of Montgomery, 285 ; American troops retire from Canada, 286, 2S7 ; de- feat of Cornwallis, 288 ; peace, ih. Amherst, General, 242, 245 Andastes, 82, S3 Annapolis (Port Royal), valley of, 51, 52 ; old capital of Nova .Scotia, 206. See Port Royal Ansc-au-Foulon (Wolfe's Cove), Wolfe ascends Quebec heights from, 254-256 ; Montgomery's march from, 285 Antillia, 21 Archibald, Adams, first (Governor of Manitoba, 392 Argall, Samuel, destroys St. Sauveur and Port Royal in Acadia, 64, 65 Arms of the Dominion. Sec cover of this volume Arms of the Provinces, 407 Arnold, General Benetlicl, his expedition against (Quebec, 2S4-286 ; raises siege, 2S6 Art in Canada, 419 Arthur, Sir George, Canadian Governor, 355 Ashburton Treaty, 375 Assembly, Legislative, first at Halifax, 302 ; at Quebec, 306 ; in other provinces, 302, 303. Sec Legislatures, House of Commons Assiniboia. Sec Red River Astrolabe, lost by Champlain, 79 Atlantis, island of, 12 451 452 INDEX. B Baie Verte, Fort at, 22g, 230 Baldwin, Kobert, Canadian re- former, 3^2, 350, 364 ; ])ortrait of, 3(J5 Ballads of French Canada, 4-12- 445 Barre, La, Canadian Governor, 195 Batoche, figlit at (in 1SS5), 3g7 Beaujeu, Captain de, defeats Braddock, 230 Beausejour, Fort, 229 ; captured by English, 230 Bedard, French Canadian jour- nalist, 313, 314 Bering Sea question, 324 Biard, Father, Jesuit missionary, 61, 64 Biencourt, son of Baron de Poutrincourt, 60 ; his Acadian career, 60-65, 94 ; death of, 94 Bienville, father of Louisiana, _225 Big Bear, Indian chief, 395, 398 Bigot, Canadian Intendant, his crimes, 249 ; punishment of, 267 Bishop's Palace, 305, 307 Boston, City of, founded, 100 Bourgeoys, Margaret, founder uf Congregation de Notre-Dame in Canada, 136 Bougainville, at siege of Queljec, 253, 254, 256 ; his later career, '-^53 Boundaries of Canada, under Quebec Act, 266, 277 ; treaty of ]>eate of 1783,289; in 1842 (Ashburton treaty), 375 ; in 1856 (Oregon), 375 ; after confederation, in 1867, 380; in 1896, 4, 5 Bourgoyne, General, defeated at Saratoga, 28S Bourlamaque, General. 24S, 254 Bowell, Mackenzie, Canadian premier, 394 Braddock, General, defeated at Monongahela, 230 Brant, Joseph (" Thayendane- gea "), Mohawk chief, 298- 300 ; autograph and jiortrait of, 299 Brantford, named after Indian chief, 300. See Brant Brebeuf, Jeande, Jesuit Mission- ary, 86 ; his heroism and death, 142 ; relic of, 143 Bressani, Jesuit Missionary, 138 Brion, Seigneur de, French Ad- miral, 32 British Columbia, scenery of, 16, 17 ; history of, 404, 405 ; en- ters Canadian confederation, 406 ; Indians of, 402 British North America Act of 1867, unites Canadian jirovin- ces, 374, 422 Brock, Major-General, during war of 1812 ; defeats Hull, 322 ; dies at battle of Queens- ton Heights, il>. ; portrait of, 323 ; monument to, 336 Brockville, city of, 324 Brown, George, Canadian jour- nalist and statesman, 372 ; po- litical career, 372, 408-410 ; his part in confederation, 372, 412, 413 ; autograph and por- trait of, 409 ; monument to, 414 Bruce, John, at Red River(i869), 388 Brule, Etienne, Indian interpre- ter, 81, 84, 85 Bullion, Madam de, founder of Montreal Hotel de Dieu, 134 Cabot, John, discovers North American Continent, 21-23 Caleche in French Canada, 435 Callieres, Canadian governor, 204 ; makes peace with Iro- quois, il>. INDEX. 453 Campbell, Sir Colin, Governor of Nova Scotia, 362 Campbell, W. Wilfred, Cana- dian poet, 181 Canada, divisions of, 1-18 ; name of, 7 ; discovery of, 34, 35 ; river of, 35 ; Quebec, an- cient capital of, 70 ; govern- ment of, under France, 156- 167 ; ceded to England, 263 ; military regime of, 268; polit- ical state from 1763-1867, 338-379 ; confederation of, 370-374,391, 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. Si-c French Canadians Canadian Pacific Railway, 392, 396 Canals of Canada, 35S Cape Breton, Island of ;^ discov- ered, 23-26 ; named lie Roy- 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 Louisbourg Card money of F'rench Canada, 162 Carignan-Salieres regiment, 152, 166 Carleton, General (Sir Guy), at siege of Quebec, 250 ; Cana- dian Governor, 277 ; saves Canada, 280, 283-2S7 ; be- comes Lord Dorchester and again Governor, 301 Carman, Bliss, 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, Jacques, 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, 29S Cascade Mountains, 17 Cataraqui (Kingston), 184 Cayugas, division of Iroquois Confederacy, 118. See Iro- quois Celeron, in the Ohio Valley, 223 Chaleur, Bay of, discovered, 32 Champlain, Helen, wife of Samuel Champlain, 77 Champlain, Lake, name of, 73 Champlain, Samuel, 48 ; first autograph and portrait of, 69 ; founds Quebec, 70 ; battles with the Iroquois, 72-75, 81- 85 ; first visit to the Ottawa region, 78-So ; his lost astro- labe, 79 ; discovers Lake Hu- ron ^mer douce), 82 ; surren- ders Quebec to Kirk, 88 ; returns to Canada, 89 ; death of, 90 ; his services to Canada, gi ; visit to Canada, 149 Chansons of French Canada. See Ballads Charlottetown, city of, founded, 311 Chartres, Fort, on the Illinois, 224 Chateau St. Louis, history of, destroyed by fire, see frontis- piece Ciiateauguny, l)attle of, 32S ; monument of, 337 Clieveiix Releves, 116 Chrystler's Farm, Battle of. See War of 1812 Clergy Reserves, 346 ; settled, ^ 367 Colbert, French Minister of State, 152-156 454 INDEX. Colborne, Sir John, Comman- der-in-Chief during Canadian rebellion of 1838-39, 352-357 Commons. See House of Com- mons Coiupagiiie des Cents Associe's, 86; charter revoked, 152 Confederation of Canada, 370- 374, 380, 391, 392, 404, 406 Constitution of Dominion of Canada, 421-425 Constitution of Provinces of Canada, 421, 422 Congregation de Notre Dame, founded, 136 Constitutional Act of 1791,303- 305 ; operation of, 309-315, 338-358^ Convents in Canada, founded, I 30, et seq. Cortereal, Caspar and Miguel, Portuguese voyagers, 24 Cosa, Juan de la, Spanish pilot, his map of 1500, 23, 25 Costabelle, M. de, first governor of Cape Breton, 210 Cotes, 166 Coudres, Isle de, named 35 Courcelles, M. de, Canadian governor, 153 Cotirettrs-de-bois, 170-176 Craig, Sir James, Canadian governor, 312—314 Crevecoeur, Fort, on the Illinois, 186 Crowfoot, Indian chief, 397 Cut-Knife Creek, fight at (in 1885), 397 D Daniel, Father, Jesuit mission- ary and martyr, 142 D'Anville, Duke, 217, 21S D'Auiiay, Chevalier, 98 ; his feud with Charles de la Tour, 99-105 ; death of 105 ; mar- riage of his widow, 106 Dauphin map (i543) 44^ D'Avaugour, Baron, Canadian governor, 160 Dawson, Dr. G. M., Canadian scientist 401, 418 Dawson, Sir J. W., Canadian scientist, 418 " Decouverte, La Nouvelle," by Father Hennepin, 1S7 Demons, Isle of, 46 Denonville, Macquis de, Cana- dian governor, 195 Denys, Nicholas, in Acadia, 97, 106 Deserts, Isle of, 54, 64 Detroit, history of, 207, 223, 270-272, 274 Diamond, Cape, 44 Dieskau, Baron, defeated by Johnson, 231 Dollard, Sieur des Ormeaux, his heroism, 151 Dominion of Canada. See Canada Donnacona, Indian King of Stadacona, 36, 42, 43 Dorchester. See Carleton Druilletes, Gabriel, Jesuit mis- sionary, 139, 140 Drummond, General, wins battle of Lundy's Lane, 331 Dufferin, Lord, Canadian gov- ernor, 380, 394 Duhaut, La Salle's murderer, 190 Duluth, Daniel Grevsolon, 176, 187 Dumont, Gabriel, half-breed leader in second Red River Rebellion, 395, 397 Duquesne, Canadian governor, 223 Duquesne, Fort, 224, 246 Durham, Lord, Canadian gov- ernor, 355 ; his report on Cana- dian affairs, 340, 356, 361 Earthquake of 1663 in Canada, 151 Eboulements, Les, 151 Edgar, James David, Canadian author, 419 IXDEX. 455 Education in Canada, 35S, 3=9, 368, 417,422 Edward (Lyman) Fort, 222 Elgin, Lord, Canadian Governor, 363 England and Canada, relations between, 423-425 Eries ("Racoons"), i.\~. Etchemins ("Canoemen"), 114 V Falkland, Lord, Nova Scotian Governor, 362 "Family Compact," 344 ; broken up, 355 Fenian Raids, 378 Fish Creek, fight at (in 1885), 396 ; monument to dead, 400 Fisheries of Canada, 324, 335, 375 Fitzgibbon. Sec War of 1S12 Five Nations. See Iroquois Forbes, General, 242 ; in Ohio Valley, 246 Foster, George A., Canadian statesman, 298 Fraser River, 16, 17, 3S3 Frechette, Louis, French Cana- dian poet, 181 ; his portrait, 441 Frederic (Crown Point), F'ort, 222 Free libraries, 420 French Canada. See French Canadians French Canadians, language of, 427-430 ; villages of, 431-434; attachment of, to Roman Cath- olic religion, 430-432, 439 ; habits of, 424-43S ; literature of, 440 ; feelings of, towards England, and confederation, 44()-44S Frog Lake Massacre (in 1885), 395 Frontenac, Count, Canadian Governor, 194-204 ; character of, 193; repulses I'hips at Que- bec, 199-201 ; humbles Onon- dagas, 203 ; death, of, 204 ; autograph and statue of, 193 Frontenac, Fort, 184, 195, 196, 246 ; destroyed, 247 G Galissonniere, Canadian Gover- nor, 222, 223 Gait, Sir Alexander, Canadian statesman, 372 Gannentaha, Onandaga French Mission, 148, 149 Garmeau, F. X., French Cana- dian historian, 441 Garry, Fort, 3S5, 388, 391 ; view of, 389 Gaspe, Cape, 8, 33 George, Lake, 137 ; batde of, 231 Germain, Lord George (Sack- ville), 287 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 43 Gomez, Estevan, 27 Gosford, Lord, Canadian gover- nor, 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 Kiel's sec- ond rebellion (1SS5), 397 Griffin, Le Salle's vessel, 186 Grosseilliers, Sieur de, 170 Guercheville. Mme. de, 61 Guyart, Marie (Mere de I'lncar- nation), Superior of Ursulines, 132 ; portrait of, 131 II Habitants of French Canada, 163-167, 434-439 Ilaldimand, General, Canadian governor, 287, 290, 301 Haliburton, judge ("Sam Slick "), 360, 419 ; portrait of, 359 456 IXDEX. Hale, Horatio, on Indian le- gends, 113, 119 Plalifax, City of, founded, 222 Hampton, General, defeated at Chateauguay, 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 HeJluland of the Norsemen, 20 Hincks, Sir Francis, Canadian statesman, 367 Hennepin, Father, his voyages, 187 Heve, La, in Acadia, gS Hey, Chief Justice, 27S Historians of Canada, 41 S. Srr 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, 3S1-3SS _ Huron Indians, 115 , habits of, 116; habitations of, 82, 116; conquered by Iroquois, 141- 143 ; dispersion of, 143-145 I Iberville, Chevalier d', 19S, 203, 207, 20S ; portrait of, 2og //(• Roy ale. See Cape Breton Indians of Canada, tribal divi- j:ions of, 114, 115; customs of, 115-117, 123-128 ; English policy towards, 275 ; present population and development of, 402, 403 Iroquois, or Five Nations, in, 114; tribal divisions and habi- tations of, 118, 119; habits and institutions of, 1 18-123 i 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, ig6, 203 ; joined by Tus- caroras and become Six Na- tions, 121 J Jesuits in Acadia, 61 ; in Can- ada, 85, 86, 89 ; first Canadian martyr, 139 ; their heroism 139-143 ; Relations, 113, 114, 127 Johnson, E. Pauline, Canadian poetess, 419 Johnson, Sir W., 227 ; defeats French at Lake George, 231 Johnston, J.W., Canadian states- man, 362 Jogues, Isaac, first Jesuit martyr, 139 Jolliet, Louis, discovers Missis- sippi, 179, 180 Jonquiere, Marquis de la, Cana- dian governor, 21 S Judicial Committee of the Queen's Privy Council, 423 Judiciary of Canada, 422, 423 King's College in Nova Scotia, 360 Kingsford, William. Canadian author, 418. See also Biblio- INDEX. 457 graphical Note at the begin- of this vohinie Kirby, William, Canadian au- thor. 419 Kirk, Admiral, captures Que- bec, S8 La Chine, origin of name, 184 ; massacre at, ig6 Lacolle Mill, American defeat at. 331 Lafontaine, Sir L. H., Canadian statesman, 364 ; portrait of, 369 La Hontan, 195 Lalemant, Charles, Jesuit supe- rior, 86 Lalemant, Gabriel, Jesuit mis- sionai-y, his heroic death, 142 La Motlie-Cadillac, founder of Detroit, 207 Lampman, Archibald, Canadian poet, 4[g La Tour, Charles de, in Acadia, 93-109 La Tour, Claude de, in Acadia, 93-97 La Tour, Madame de, her liero- ism, 102-104 Laurentides, 6 ; their antiquity, ib. See View of Cape Trinity, g Laurier, Wilfrid, Canadian statesman and premier, 430, 445 ; autograph and portrait of, 447 Laval, Mgr., first Canadian bishop, 157 ; character of, 158-160 ; portrait of, 159 Lawrence, Fort, 228 Lawrence, Governor, his part in expulsion of Acadians, 235 Law, systems of, in Canada, 422, 423 Le Borgne, in Acadia, 106 Le Caron, Father, first western missionary, 82 Le Moyne, Simon, Jesuit mis- sionary, 147 Legislative Council, made elec- tive in Canada, 367 Legislatures, Provincial, consti- tution of; (in 1774), 278; (1792), 302-304 ; (1840), 357 ; (1S67), 420 Leif Ericson, Norse voyager in America, 19, 20 L'Escarbot, in Acadia, 55, 56 Le Loutre, French priest in Acadia, 229, 230 Levis, Chevalier de, 248 ; Can- adian town named after, 2 ; at battle of St. Foy, 262 Liquors, sale of, 160 Liotot, murderer of La Salle, I go Livius, Chief Justice, 304 Local government in French Canada, 164 ; in English Canada. See Municipal In- stitutions Long Sault, heroic incident at, 150 Lorette, Hurons of, 144 L'Ordre de bon temps, at Port Royal, 57 Lome, Marquis of, founder of Royal Society of Canada, 418 ; his interest in Canadian art, 420 Loudoun, Earl, 237 Louisbourg, 211 ; taken by New Englanil expedition, 215-217 ; by Amherst and Boscawen, 242, 243 ; destroyed, 243 ; present aspect of, //'. ; view of, in 1731, 210 Louis XIV., his interest in Can- ada, 152, 156 Louisiana, 208, 224, 225, 426 Lount, Samuel, Canadian Re- former, 353, 355 Loyalists, United Empire, 297 ; their trials, 292, 293, 294 ; famous names among, 295 ; their influence on Canada, 292, 2g') 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, 394, 3g8, 410-414 ; one of founders of Confederation, 372 ; autograph and portrait of, 405 ; his tenure, as premier, 410; character of, 411, 412; monuments to, 414 Macdonnell, Bishop, 310 Mackenzie, Alexander, Canadian premier, 410 Mackenzie River, 383 Mackenzie, W. Lyon, Can- adian Reformer, 348 ; career of, 348-351, 353-355, 3^'8 ; autograph and portrait of, 349 Mackinac or Michillimackinac, 174, 175, 187, 203, 207, 223, 272 (Pontiac's War) ; 322, 332 1 (Warofi8i2) | McDonell, Colonel, attorney- | general, killed at Queenston, 1 322 I McDonnell, Colonel, captures Ogdenshurgh, 324; at Chateau- guay, 328 McDougall, William, Canadian statesman, 373 ; in the North- west, 3S7-390 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. Sec Winnipeg Manufactures in Canada, 416 Markland, Norse discovery, 20 Marquette, Father, 17S ; dis- covers Mississippi, 179, 180; his death, 182, 183 Mascres, Attorney-General, 278 Mason and Slidell difficulty, 377 Masse, Father, Jesuit missionary, in Acadia, 61 ; in Canada, 80 Matagorda Bay, La Salle at, igo Matthews, Peter, Canadian Re- former, 355 Membertou, Micmac chief, 58, 59, 60, 62 Membre, Father, P'rench mis- sionary, 187, 188 Metcalfe, Lord, Canadian Cov- ernor, 362 Metis or half-breeds of Canada, II, 386 ; rebellions of (1869), 386-391 ; (1885), 393-400. See Riel Micmacs (Souriquois), 114, 115 Middleton, General, commands Canadian forces in second Red River Rebellion ( 1885), 396 Mississippi, discovery of, 179, 180, 181, 188 ; France in val- ley of, 224, 225, 426 Mohawks, division of Iroquois Confederation, iiS ; settle in Canada, 300, 402. See Iro- quois Montcalm, Marquis de, 23S ; vic- tories of, 237, 238 ; defeat of, by Wolfe, 256 ; death of, 257 ; character of, 260 ; monument to, 259, 261 Monckton, General, 230 ; at siege of Quebec, 250, 257 Money in French Canada, 161, 162 Monongahela, battle of. See Braddock Montagnais Indians, 115 Montgomery, General, in Cana- da, 284 ; death of, 285 Montgomery's Tavern, near To- ronto, Canadian rebels de- feated at (1836), 353 Montmagny, Charles Ilault 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. 459 Monts, Sieur de, in Acadia, 50- 59, (^8, 75 Morgan, Lewis H., on the Iro- quois, 1 19 Morrison, Colonel, defeats Americans at Chrystler's Farm, 328 Mounted Police of the North- west, 401 Municipal Institutions in Canada, 367, 36S, 420 Murray, General, at siege of Queljec, 250 ; defeated by Levis, 262 ; Canadian gov- ernor, 275-277 ; character of, 276 N Necessity, Fort, 224 Neilson, John, Canadian journal- ist, 33S, 339 Nelson, Wolfred, ("anadian re- former, 339, 352, 356, 357, 36S Neutral Nation (Attiwanda- ronks), 1 17 Newark (Niagara), 306 ; burned by American troops, 330 New Brunswick, ])rovince of, 5, 6 ; separated from Nova Scotia, 302 ; enters Confedera- tion, 373, 374, 413 Niagara, falls of, 1S6 Niagara, Fort, 231, 247, 253, 426 Nicolet, Jean, 16S, 169 Nipissing, Lake, 81, 82 ; Indians of, ib. ,115 Norse voyages to America, 19, iO Northwest Company, 382-385 Northwest of Canada, 10, 11 ; history of, 381-401 ; re- sources and progress of, 11, 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, q6 ; 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 (Pontiac's war), 273 Oneidas, division of Iroquois Confederation, 118. See Iro- quois Onondagas, division of Iroquois Confederation, 118. See Iro- quois Onontio. See Montmagny Ontario, province of, 10 ; name of, ib., 374 ; first known as Upper or Western Canada, 303 ; enters Confederation, 374 Oregon boundary question, 375 Orleans, Island of, 36 Oswego (Choueguen), 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- 3f>S : por- trait of, 341 Paris, Treaty of, 264, 265 Parker, Gilbert, Canadian au- thor, 419 Parliament, House at Quebec, in 1792, 305 ; at Newark, 306, 307 ; burned at Montreal in 1849, 370 ; view of, at Ottawa, 421 ; constitution of Cana- dian, 422 Peltrie, Madame de la, 131, 132 Pemaquid, Fort, 213 Pepperrell, General, 215, 216 46o L\DEX. Perrot, Nicholas, i]C>, Cj j Phips, Admiral, attacks (Quebec, i(jg-2oi Pitt (Chatham), 240, 241 Poets of English Canada, 4IQ ; of French Canada, 441 Pontgrave, 43, 49 Pontiac, Ottawa chief, 270, 271; his war against English, 27X- 274 ; death of, 274 Population of Canada ; (in 1757), 225 ; (1792), 303 ; (1S12), 320; (183S), 358; (1S61), 366; (1896), 415 ; French population, 358, 415 Port Royal, founded, 52, 54 ; destroyed by Argall, 64 ; re- stored, 99; taken by Nicholson, 206 ; called Annapolis Royal ib. ; its present aspect, 52 Pouchot, 247 Poundniaker, Indian chief, 395, 3g8 Poutrincourt, Baron de, founds Port Royal, 54 ; career of, in America, 53-6 r ; death of, 66 Prescott Gate, 305, 307 Presqu'isle (Erie), 223, 247 Prevost, General, Canadian gov- ernor, military incapacity of, 325, 332 Prince Edward Island (St. Jean), 5, 243, 244 ; separated from Nova Scotia, 302 ; enters Con- federation, 403. ^ir Charlotte- town Princess Louise, her interest in Canadian art, 420 Privy Council. See Judicial Committee Proclamation of 1763, 274, 275 Procter, General, 324, 237 Protection in Canada, 407 Quebec Act of 1774, 276-279 Quebec, city of, 1-3 ; named, 70; founded, 70; taken by Kirk, 88 ; besieged by Phips, i9.>-20i ; by Wolfe, 248-257 ; plan of siege of 1759, 251; surrender of, 25S ; besieged by Levis, 262 ; by Arnold and Montgomery, 284-286 ; view of, in 1760, 270 ; in 1896, 426. See Chateau St. Louis Quebec Conference of 1864, Confederation proposed, 372 Quebec, nrovince of, 8, 9 ; enters Confederation, 374 Queylus, Abbe, 157, 158 R Radisson, Sieur, 17 Railways in Canada, 366, 367, 418 Rale, Sebastian, missionary in Acadia, 212 Kamesay, M. de, in Acadia, 219; surrenders Quebec, 258 Razilly, Isaac de, in Acadia, 97-99 Reade, John, Canadian author, 419 Rebellion Losses, Riots of 1849, 369, 370 Rebellions in Canada ; of 1837- 38, in Lower Canada, 33S-343, 351, 353-357 ; in Upper Can- ada, 344-351, 352-355 ; in the Northwest (1869), 387-392 ; (1885), 393-400 Reciprocity Treaty, 376 RecoUets or Franciscans, So, 81, 89 Red River settlement (Assini- l^ioia), 384-3S7 ; insurrection at (1869-70), 387-392. .SVr Riel Responsible Government in Can- ada, 36 [-365 ; in Nova Scotia, 362-364 ; in New Brunswick, 364 ; in P. ¥.. Island, //'. / in British Columbia, 405 ; fa- mous advocates of, 364, 365 Revolution, American. See American Revolution INDEX. 461 Richardson, Major, Canadian authiir, 271, 419 Kiclielicu, Cardinal, 86 Richelieu River, 72, 73 Riel, Louis, rebels against Can- da in 1869-70, 3SS ; in 1885, 393-400 ; execution of, 379 Roberts, C. G. D., Canadian poet, 419 Roberval, Jean Franijuis de la Ro(|ue, 45, 46 Robinson, Chief Justice, 344 Robinson, Christopher, 29S Roche, Marquis de la, 47 Rolph, Dr. John, Canadian Re- former, 353 Rogers, Major Robert, 269 Roman Catholics of Canada, freed from civil disabilities, 278 ; number of (1S96), 415 Royal Society of Canada, 41 8 Royal IVilliain, first steamship to cross Atlantic, 358 Rupert's Land, 381 ; history of, under fur traders, 381-386 ; part of Dominion, 3S7. See Northwest of Canada Ryerson.Egerton, 350, 36S Ryswick, Treaty of, 204 St. Alban's Bank, raid on, 377 Saint-Castin, Baron de, in Acadia, 171, 172 St. Croix, Island of, in Acadia, 53, 54 St. Croix River, 36 St. Foy, Battle of, 262 St. Ignace, mission of, attacked by Iroquois, 142 St. John River, 53 ; La Tour's fort on, 99, 103 St. Joseph, mission of, attacked by Iroquois, 142 St. Lawrence River, discovery of 34, 35 ; valley of, 8 ; moun- tains of, //'. St. Louis, Chateau. See Chateau St. Louis Saint-Lusson, Sieur, in the West, 177 St. Pierre antl Miquelon, Isles of, 266 St. Sacrcment, Lac du (Lake George), 137 Ste. Anne de Beauprc, Canadian Lourdes, 431, 432 ; view of church at, 433 Ste. Marie, Jesuit mission, 141, 143, 145 .Sagucnay River, 35 Salaberry, Colonel de, at Cha- teauguay, 328 ; portrait of, 329 ^ Salle, Sicur de la, in the West, 183-188 ; on the Mississippi, 188, i8g ; assassination of, 190 ; autograph and portrait of, 185 " Sam Slick." Sec Ilaliburton San Juan difficulty, 375 Saskatchewan River, Riel's re- bellion in district of, 393-400; monument on, 400 Sault-au-Matelot, 286 Sault Ste. Marie, 177, 223 Schools. ^('6* Education. Schultz, Dr., at Red River, 390 Science in Canada, eminent writers, 418, 419 Scott, Duncan Campbell, Cana- dian i:>oet, 419 Scott, Ci. Frederick, Jr., Cana- dian poet, 419 Scott, Thomas, murdered liy Riel, 390, 391 Secord, Laura, her courage, 326 Seigniorial Tenure, 87, 163 ; abolition of, 367 Selkirk, Lord, on the Red River, 3S4 ; death of, 3S5 Selkirk Range, 16, 17 Senecas, division of the Iroquois Confederation, 118. See Iro- quois, Senate of Canada, 422 Shirley, General, 231 Sillery, 133 Simcoe, General, lieutenant- 462 INDEX. governor of Upper Canada, 306, 309-311 ; portrait of, 311 Six Nations. Sec Iroquois Smith, Sir Donald, at Red River, 390 Souriquois. Sec Micmacs Stadacona (Quebec), 36 "Starved Rock" on the Illinois, 189 Stoney Creek, battle of, 325 Strachan, Bishop, 342, 347 ; por- trait of, ib. Strange, Colonel, 397 Sulpicians in Canada, 133, 136, 157, 158 Suite, Benjamin, French Cana- dian author, 440 Sydenham, Lord. See Thom- son, Poulett Tache, Archbishop, 390, 291 Talbot, Thomas, 310 Talon, J. Baptiste, Canadian In- tendant, 157, 168 Tecuniseh, Indian Chief, 322, 327 Temple, Sir Thomas, in Acadia, 108 Thayendanegea. Sec Brant, Joseph Thompson, Sir John, Canadian premier, 324 Thomson, Poulett (Lord Syden- ham), Canadian governor, 361, 362 Ticonderoga (Carillon), Fort, 222, 24S, 426 Tilley, Sir Leonard, Canadian statesman, a founder of con- federation, 413 Tobacco Nation (Tionotates), 117, 144 Tonty, Henry de (of the copper hand), 186, 18S, 208 Toronto (Fort Rouillc), 222, 247 ; first known as York, 309 ; Uni- versity of, 347 ; population of, 416 Tracy, Marquis de, Canadian viceroy, 152, 155 Trapper, Canadian, 173 Trinity, Cape, g Trinity College at Toronto, founded, 347 Tupper, Sir Charles, (Canadian statesman, 298, 36S ; a founder of confederation, 373, 413 Tuscaroras. See Iroquois U Union Act of 1S40, 361-368 United States, population of, in 1812,316; relations of Canada with, from 1840 to 1867, 379 Universities of Canada, princi- pal, 417 University of Toronto, 347 Upper Canada. Sec Ontario Upper Canada Gazette, first Upper Canadian newspaper, 315. Ursulines, convent of, 131 Utrecht, Treaty of. 208 Varennes, 202 Vaudreuil, Marquis de, Cana- dian governor, 229 ; at siege of Quebec, 248, 252, 256; capit- ulates at Montreal, 264 ; death of, 268 Vercheres, Madelaine de, her heroism, 202 Verendryes, the, in the West, 381 ; reach Rockies, 382 ; on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, 384 Verrazano, Giovanni da, 26, 27 Victoria Bridge, 367 Victories, A'otre-Danic des, at Quebec, 2, 201, 207 Vignau, Nicholas, deceives Champlain, 77, 98 Villc-Marie. Sec Montreal Vinland, Norse discovery, 20 Von Egmond, Colonel, during rebellion of 1836, 353, 354 IXDKX. 463 W Walker, Admiral Hovenden, 207 War of 1812-15, causes of, 316, 320 ; patriotism of Canadians during, 320-322; capitulation of Hull, 322 ; Battle of Queenston Heights, ih.; Procter's victory over Winchester, 324 ; taking of York (Toronto), ib.; Ameri- can successes on Niagara fron- tierin 1813,325 ; Stoney Creek, //'. ,• Mis. Secord's exploit, 326 : Fitzgibhon's success at De Ceu's, 326 ; English defeat on Lake Erie, 327 ; Procter's de- feat at Moravian town, ib.; Chrystler'sfarm, 328; Chatcau- guay, 32s ; American out- rage at Niagara, 330 ; English retaliate, 330, 335 ; Riall's defeat, 331 ; Lundy's Lane, //'. ,• Prevost's defeat on Lake Cliamplain, and retreat from Plattsburg, 332 ; naval fights, 334 ; peace, 335 ; effect of, on Canada, 335, 336 ; conspicu- ous Canadian actors during, 33^^ 337 ; nionuments of, 333, 33''', 337 Washington, George, at Fort Necessity, 224 Washington Treaty of 1871, 324 Wetherald, Ethelwyn, Canadian poetess, 419 Whelan, Edward, Canadian journnlist, 406 Willcocks, Joseph, Canadian agitator, 314, 320 W^illiam Henry, Fort, 222, 23S Williams, Colonel, his gallantry at Batoche (1885), 397 ; death of, ib,; portrait of, 399 Wilmot, Lemuel A., Canadian statesman, 364 ; j)ortrait of, 371 Winnipeg, city of, 14, 315, 382, 392 Wolfe, General James, 242 ; at Louisbourg, 242 ; at Quebec, 250-256 ; wins Canada for England, 256, 257 ; death of, 257 ; character of 260 ; monu- ments to, 259, 261 ; portrait of, 249 Wolseley, Lord, leads British forces against Kiel in 1870, 391 Wyandots (Hurons), 144 Y York. 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