It will now be advisable to consider the state of the two great rival
races on the North American continent, before entering upon the relation
of the eventful campaign which was but the crisis of a surely
approaching fate. Although the decisive blow that forever crushed the
power of France was doubtless dealt by the immortal Wolfe upon the
Plains of Abraham, the slow but certain conquest of Canada had
progressed for many a previous year; with the wisdom and rectitude of
the counselor, with the ax and plow of the settler, with the thrift and
adventure of the merchant, with the sober industry of the mechanic, and
the daring hardihood of the fisherman, was the glorious battle won.
Against weapons such as these the chivalry of Montcalm and of his
splendid veteran regiments vainly strove. To them victory brought glory
without gain, inaction danger, and disaster ruin. Despite their courage,
activity, and skill, the rude but vigorous British population, like
surging waves, gained rapidly on every side, and at length burst the
opposing barriers of military organization, and poured in a broad flood
over the dreary level of an oppressed and spiritless land.
In the year 1759, the population of Canada had only reached to 60,000
souls, and it was found to have decreased during the last twenty years
of war and want; of these, 6700 dwelt under the protection of the
ramparts of Quebec, 4000 at Montreal, and 1500 at the little town of
Three Rivers. The greater part of the remainder led a rural life on the
fertile banks of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, while a few
wandered with gun and rod among Indian tribes scarcely more savage than
themselves, over the prairies, and on the shores of the great lakes and
rivers of the West. The settlements on both shores below Quebec were
then almost as advanced as now: small white houses, dainty in the
distance, stretched in rows for many miles along the level banks, or
dotted the hill side in picturesque irregularity. Here and there, neat
wooden churches, of a peculiarly quaint architecture, stood the centers
of hamlets and knots of farms. In their neighborhood this encumbering
forest was usually cleared away with careful industry, and each fertile
nook and valley, and the borders of each stream, were rich with waving
corn. Through these lower settlements a sort of rude track extended for
many miles by the water side. On the large and beautiful island of
Orleans many thousand acres of corn and pulse were sown, the farms
carefully separated by wooden paling, and intersected with tolerable
roads.
Between Quebec and Montreal, the banks of the Great River were hardly in
so advanced a state as those toward the sea; the churches were fewer and
more distant, the houses ruder and more scattered. There were many
miles, indeed, where no traces of human industry greeted the traveler's
eye. The shores of the great lakes, or, rather, expansions of the
stream, were dreary swamps and thickets, and the slopes of the distant
hills still bore the primeval forest. On the sandy flats of Three
Rivers, in a scattered village, dwelt a population more numerous than
that of the present day; a small surrounding district was cleared and
cultivated, but the main occupation and support of the inhabitants was
the fur trade with the Indians, who resorted thither from the unknown
north by the waters of the broad streams here uniting with the St.
Lawrence.
The rich and fertile island of Montreal was already generally cleared,
and extensively but thinly peopled. The city, at times called Ville
Marie in old maps, ranged somewhat irregularly for more than a mile
along the river side, and was even then remarkable for the superiority
of its public buildings over those of its colonial neighbors.
The Fathers of the Sulpician Order, by virtue of a grant in the year
1663, were proprietors of the whole of this rich district. They had
established three courts of justice in the city, and erected a stately
church of cut stone at a great expense. The Knights Hospitallers also
possessed a very handsome building. A large, solid rampart of heavy
beams, with eleven separate redoubts, protected the landward face of
Montreal, and two platform batteries commanded the streets from end to
end.
Here was the great depot of the northwestern fur trade, and here, also,
the best market for the plentiful crops of the adjoining island, of the
prairie, and of the Richelieu district.
In the month of June the savages came hither in canoes from places even
at 500 miles' distance, to exchange their peltries for guns, ammunition,
clothes, weapons, and utensils of iron and brass. The meeting or fair
lasted for nearly three months, and during that time the town presented
a strange and sometimes fearful spectacle; motley groups of fierce and
hostile Indians occupied the streets, now engaged in bloody strife,
again sunk in brutal intoxication. The French used every effort to
prevent the sale of ardent spirits, but in vain, although sentinels were
posted night and day to forbid the supply of the maddening liquor, and
to preserve something of order in the wild gathering: all precautions
proved ineffectual, and the drunkard frequently became also a murderer.
At one time the little town of Chambly rivaled Montreal in the gainful
but dangerous traffic; however, in 1759, there only remained a fort to
prevent the English from enjoying the doubtful advantage of this trade.
At Sorel, the entrance of the Richelieu River, an agricultural village
had also arisen, rather beyond the neighboring settlements in extent and
population.
Southwest of Montreal there was no town of any consideration. Near where
the modern Kingston stands, a few poor hamlets were indeed grouped round
Fort Frontenac, but on the shores of the sheltered Bay of Toronto, where
20,000 British subjects now ply their prosperous industry, myriads of
wild fowl then found undisturbed refuge from the stormy waters of the
lake. At Niagara there was a small village round the fort; there were
trading posts at Detroit, Michillimackinac, and elsewhere; but the
splendid tract of country lying between the northern shores of Erie and
Ontario was almost unknown, save to the wandering Indian.
At this period, the first in importance, as well as population, among
the settlements of New France, unquestionably was Quebec, the seat of
government and of the supreme tribunals of justice. From its lofty
headland the successors of the wise Champlain looked down upon the
subject stream of the St. Lawrence, and held the great highway of Canada
as if by a gate. No doubtful or hostile vessel could elude their
vigilance; more than one powerful fleet had already recoiled shamed and
crippled from before their embattled city. Here were deposited the
public records, with most of the arms, ammunition, and resources of the
colony; here, too, the principal establishments of religion, law, and
learning were first founded and best sustained. The citizens and
neighboring peasantry were less lowered by Indian intercourse than their
other countrymen, and among them the refreshing immigration from the
fatherland produced its most invigorating effect.
On the summit of the rocky height, a number of large and somewhat
imposing public buildings, grouped irregularly together, with the
well-built private dwellings of the wealthier inhabitants, formed the
upper town. The lofty spires of no less than nine large ecclesiastical
edifices arose within this comparatively limited space.
There were the bishop's palace, the courts of judicature, and the house
of the Knights Hospitallers, the latter built of stone, extensive,
handsome, and adorned with two stately pavilions. There, also, in a
commanding situation, stood the Jesuits' college and their church, which
was almost magnificent in the interior decorations. The governor's
palace, however, erected in 1639, was the proudest ornament of the
colonial capital.
Southwest of the Upper Town, on the crest of the headland, was the
citadel, a large, imperfectly quadrangular fort, with flanking defenses
at each corner, only protected, however, by a wall on the inner side.
Further on, a large work of great design, but not yet finished, crowned
the height of Cape Diamond:[150] from the northern angle of this work,
an irregular line of bastioned defenses ran across the whole promontory
to the River St. Charles. Some rude and imperfect field-works, with
redoubts, strengthened the front toward the Plains of Abraham.
The Lower Town covered the beach of the Great River under the cliffs of
the promontory: the dwellings, stores, and offices of the merchants,
many of them handsome and solid, filled up this narrow space. The only
edifice of note, however, was the church of Notre Dame de Victoire,
built to commemorate Phipps's defeat in 1690. The defense of this part
of the city was a large platform battery on the most salient point of
the shore, placed scarcely above the level of the waters. The access
from the Lower to the Upper Town was steep, narrow, and difficult, and
protected by flanking loop-holed walls.
There was also a considerable suburb called St. Roch's, on the side of
the River St. Charles, where dwelt the chief part of the laboring
population, in irregular streets of mean and temporary houses. A large
portion of the now valuable space was unoccupied, and here and there the
rocky hill side remained as nature had made it. A few of the primeval
forest trees still ornamented the gardens and terraces of the city, and
clothed the neighboring cliffs.
In the wide plain lying by the banks of the River St. Charles, many
handsome country houses and pleasant seats, with well-cultivated gardens
and rich orchards, met the eye, and, on the slopes beyond, the trim
villages of Charlesburg, Lorette, and Beauport; the distant mountain
range, with its forest covering, formed, as now, the background of the
broad and beautiful picture.
From the Falls of Montmorency[151] to Quebec, a continuous chain of
intrenchments defended the northern bank of the St. Lawrence. A large
boom lay across the mouth of the River St. Charles, and the bridge,
about a quarter of a mile high up the stream, was protected by a "tete
du pont." All these various works and fortifications were, however, rude
and imperfect; the strength, as well as the beauty, of this magnificent
position, was chiefly due to the bountiful hand of Nature.
The cultivation of the fertile Canadian soil was of a very rude
description; but even the feeble industry of the "habitan" was generally
repaid by rich and plentiful crops. The animals of the chase, and the
inexhaustible supplies of fish in their lakes and rivers, were resources
that better suited the thriftless and scanty population than the
toilsome produce of the field. Tillage was neglected; they cared not to
raise more grain than their own immediate wants demanded. The
unparalleled monopolies of the colonial government deprived labor of the
best stimulant--the certain enjoyment of its fruits. The farmer hardly
cared to store up his superabundant harvest, when his haggard was
exposed to the licensed plunder of cruel and avaricious officials, or
served but as a sign where the domineering soldiery of Old France might
find free quarters. He that sowed the seed knew not who might reap the
crop. Often, when the golden fields were almost ripe for the sickle, the
war-summons sounded in the Canadian hamlets, and the whole male
population were hurried away to stem some distant Indian onslaught, or
to inflict on some British settlement a ruin scarcely more complete than
their own. In the early wars with the fierce Iroquois, this rude militia
had ever answered their leaders' call with ready zeal, and fought with
worthy courage; when the haughty savage was subdued and humbled, and a
new and more dangerous foe arose in the hereditary enemies of their
fatherland, the Canadians again took the field, strong in the spirit of
national hatred. But as, year after year, the vain strife continued,
and, despite their valor and even success, the British power hemmed them
more closely in, their hearts sickened at the hopeless quarrel, and they
longed for peace even under a stranger's sway. Their fields desolate,
their villages deserted, their ships driven from the seas, what cared
they for the pride of France, when its fruit to them was ruin,
oppression, and contempt![152] What cared they for the Bourbon lily,
when known but as the symbol of avarice and wrong!
The manufactures of this neglected though splendid colony scarcely merit
even a passing notice. Flax and hemp were worked only sufficiently to
show how much was lost in their neglect, and the clothing of this simple
peasantry was chiefly of a coarse gray woollen stuff, the produce of
their own wheels and looms. At the forges of St. Maurice, near Three
Rivers, indeed, iron works were carried on with some skill, and profit
to the employed, if not to the employers.
The commercial spirit of the French, such as it was, the fur trade
almost wholly engrossed; the fisheries were never carried on with any
vigor by the colonists; some adventurers, indeed, from the home ports,
bore the produce of the northern waters, with Canadian timber and
provisions, to the tropical islands, but even this limited trade was
monopolized by a privileged few, through the corrupt connivance of the
authorities. In the official returns of the colonial customs, there
appears every year an enormous surplus of imports over exports, which
can only be accounted for by the clandestine shipment of great
quantities of furs and other goods, to restore in some measure the
necessary balance of exchange. The sole view of the local officials was
rapidly to accumulate wealth at the expense of the state or of their
Canadian fellow-subjects; such of their books and accounts as fell into
the hands of the English were so confused and irregular that it was
difficult or impossible to discover the exact nature of their undoubted
dishonesty.
The French East India company enjoyed the exclusive privilege of
exporting the valuable furs of the beaver; they had therefore an agent,
director, and controller in each separate government of Montreal, Three
Rivers, and Quebec. A stated price was fixed for each skin, and on the
hunter presenting it at the store, he received a receipt which became
current in the colony as money, and was held to the last in higher
estimation than the notes of the royal treasury. It has already been
stated that bills of exchange to an immense amount on the government of
France were afloat in the colony at a considerable depreciation; in the
emergency of the year 1759, they ceased to be negotiable at any price.
Although the Canadian population was at this time poor, rude, and
dispersed, it presented in some respects features usually characteristic
of older and more prosperous communities. The emigration from whence it
mainly sprung contained within itself the embryo forms of organization;
nobility, clergy, merchants, and peasants were sent out from the
fatherland, and commissioned especially for their several offices. No
voluntary influx of ambitious, truculent, but energetic men swelled the
population or disturbed the fatal repose of the young nation; no free
development was permitted to its infant form, but, clothed in the
elaborate garments of maturer years, the limbs were cramped, and the
goodly proportions of nature dwarfed into a feeble frame. No
safety-valve offered itself to the quick spirit of the young Canadian;
military rank was limited to the favorites of the powers at home;
mercantile success was debarred by vile and stupid monopolies;
territorial possessions were unattainable but by interest or wealth:
here the proud man, for a time, chafed and murmured, and at length
strode away to the Far West, and sought the irresistible attractions of
free and savage life.
No colony was ever governed by a succession of more able and excellent
men than that of New France, perhaps none (except Algiers) has been
apparently so much indebted to the mother country in tender infancy;
none ever exhibited more thorough failure. A fertile soil, invigorating
climate, and unsurpassed geographical advantages also offered themselves
to the men of France; royal liberality and power lent them every aid;
but, clogged by the ruinous conditions of their ecclesiastic and feudal
organization, healthy action was impeded, and the seed, thus freely sown
and carefully tended, grew up into a weak and sickly exotic. Experience
has amply proved, as wisdom might have suggested, that in colonies,
certainly, "the best government is that which governs least." When bold
and vigorous men struggle forth from among the crowded thousands of the
old communities, let them start in a fair race in the land of their
adoption; the difficulties are great, let high hope cheer them; Nature
there only opens her rich stores and bestows her treasures to brave and
patient industry; the uncertain seasons, the Indian, and the wolf, are
check and tax sufficient. The fatal error of despotic restraint cost
France Canada by conquest, and cost us the noblest land God ever gave to
man, by the deeper disgrace of a deserved and violent divorce.
The Canadian nobility, or rather gentry, were descended from the civil
and military officers who from time to time settled in the country;
through their own influence or that of their ancestors, this privileged
class was altogether supported by royal patronage. Some enjoyed grants
of extensive seigneuries;[153] others were speedily enriched by an
appointment to the command of a distant post, where ample opportunities
of dishonest aggrandizement were afforded and improved. Even the largest
and least fortunate class were provided for by the less profitable favor
of commissions in the colonial corps.
These favorites of power were generally vain and indolent men; they
disdained trade and agriculture alike as beneath their high-born
dignity; but they did not scruple to grasp at every convenient
opportunity of easy profit, whether lawful or contraband; and they
exacted, frequently with unequal justice, a large portion of the fruits
of the earth from their peasant vassals. The feeble complaints of
poverty against oppression were seldom loud enough to awake the
attention of judges who were themselves often as guilty as the accused.
From the especial favor enjoyed by the Canadian gentry under the rule of
France, they were stanch to the last to her and to their own interests,
and, as far as they went, were the most effective garrison in the
colony: to them the prospect of British conquest was hateful and
ruinous; with it must end their reign of corruption and monopoly.
At the time of the first settlement of Canada, the feudal system existed
in the mother country in all its Gothic rigor, and thus it was naturally
established in spirit and in letter as the basis of the new society.
Every territorial possession in New France was originally held by grants
under the strictest form of these iron laws; but, as the country became
more populous and of increasing importance, a variety of modifications
was gradually introduced, tending to curb the exorbitant power of the
seigneurs, and proportionally to elevate the condition of their vassals.
By degrees, many of the more obnoxious features of feudalism were
effaced; and the nature of the tenure became to a certain extent adapted
to the peculiar circumstances of the colony. The independent holdings by
"free and common soccage" were not, however, effectually introduced till
thirty years after the conquest.
The favored classes of the Canadians were devoted to social amusements;
excursions by day, parties for gaming, and the dance at night, occupied
their summer; and in winter, sleighing, skating, snow-shoeing, and
evening reunion, turned that dreary time into a season of enjoyment.
Lively, free, and graceful in manners, their vanity and want of
education were little noticeable in the intercourse of daily life.[154]
They were inclined to ostentation and extravagance;[155] the means,
often unscrupulously procured, were squandered with careless profusion,
and they generally endeavored to keep up an appearance of wealth beyond
that which they really possessed. Henri de Pont Brian, bishop of Quebec,
in his remarkable address to the Canadian people immediately before the
conquest, draws a dark picture of the religious and moral condition of
the inhabitants at the time, and attributes the threatened danger to the
"especial wrath of Heaven for the absence of pious zeal--for the profane
diversions--the insufferable excesses of games of chance--the contempt
of religious ordinances--open robberies--heinous acts of
injustice--shameful rapines. The contagion is nearly universal." Making
every allowance for the worthy ecclesiastic's probable exaggeration of
the causes which excited his indignation, the evidence of their own
spiritual pastor must bear heavily against the reputation of the French
colonists.
The clergy were usually classed in the second rank of Canadian
precedence; in actual importance, however, they had no superior. Those
holding the higher offices of the Church were chiefly or exclusively of
French origin, and some among them were men of high talents and
attainments; the parochial ministers and curates were generally
colonists, sprung from the humble orders of society, locally educated,
and limited in their ideas. Nevertheless, their influence over the still
simpler parishioners was very great. These inferior clergy were placed
under the absolute control of their bishops, by them promoted, removed,
or dispossessed at pleasure; a certain degree of jealousy, therefore,
not unnaturally mingled itself with the curate's reverend awe of his
alien prelate, whose lessons of humility were often less strongly
inculcated by example than by precept. Although many of the country
priests exerted themselves zealously against the English, under the
impression that a heretic conquest would be the ruin of their Church,
they were not altogether contented with the intimacy of the connection
that bound them to France. The idea had arisen, increased, and ripened
among them, that from their own body a discriminating government could
have selected wise and holy men upon whose heads the apostolic miter
might have been judiciously placed. The arrival of a new bishop or other
ecclesiastical dignitary from France was no more a matter of rejoicing
to the reverend fathers of Canada than that of a Parisian collector or
intendant to the provincial merchant and farmer. In the year 1759,
however, the Bishop of Quebec, the Abbe de la Corne, was of Canadian
origin; notwithstanding which, he was at that critical time in France.
When the Bishopric of Quebec was erected by Louis XIV. in 1664, he
endowed the new see with the revenues of the two abbacies, Benevent and
l'Estrie; subsequently these were resigned to a general fund for the
increase of small livings, from which a yearly income of 8000 livres was
allowed instead for the colonial bishopric. The chapter was also
enriched by a royal pension and an abbey in France, together valued at
12,000 livres annually.
Besides some liberal allowances from the French crown, the Hotel de
Ville, and other external sources, no less than one fourth of all the
granted lands was bestowed upon the Church establishment, and the
several religious, educational, and charitable institutions of the
colony, and a tithe of a twenty-sixth part of all the produce of the
fields was also appropriated to the support of the parochial clergy.
First in establishment, and beyond all compare foremost in importance
among the religious orders in the colony, was that of the Jesuits: to
their particular care were intrusted the education of youth and the
Indian missions. Here, as in all other countries where that mysterious
and once terrible brotherhood had taken root, the traces of their
vampire energy were plainly and painfully visible. We can not, however,
but regard with admiration the courage and unquenchable zeal of these
extraordinary men; their union of strange and contradictory qualities
astounds us: the strong will of the tyrant, the enterprise of the
freeman, and the discipline of the slave. With variety and versatility
of power, but singleness of purpose, they pursued their appointed
course; whether warping the minds of their civilized pupils in the chill
tranquillity of the cloister, or denouncing idols among the fiercest of
the heathen, ever devoted and unwearied.
The mission of the Jesuit priests was to bring the savage, on any terms,
within the pale of the visible Church; not to advance him in
civilization, but to tame him to the utmost possible docility. They
overleaped the tedious difficulties of conversion, and proselyted whole
tribes in a single day. At times they even adapted the forms of
Catholicism to the ferocious customs of the Indians. On one occasion,
when the Christian Hurons were about to torture and slay some heathen
Iroquois taken in battle, the missionary, by bribes and prayers, gained
permission to baptize the victims, but made no intercession to save them
from an agonizing death: while under the torments of the fire and the
knife, they recited their new creed instead of chanting the last
war-song. The Jesuit historian of this dreadful scene calls on his
readers to rejoice in the providential mercy that brought the captured
Iroquois within the blessed fold of the Church. In the triumph of
Christianizing the heathen, he despised the task of humanizing the
Christian.
Even the wise and benevolent Charlevoix seemed to have forgotten that
Christianity is "the religion of civilized man," and that its doctrine
and practice are utterly incompatible with the habits of savage life.
He, in common with his Jesuit brethren, ever exhibited a jealous
hesitation and dislike to the enlightenment of the Indians by secular
instruction, or to the improvement of their physical condition; any
effort made by others with this object caused them deep uneasiness.
When, in 1667, M. de Talon, the intendant, urged by the far-sighted
Colbert, endeavored to introduce the language and civilization of Europe
among the savages, he was defeated by the determined opposition of the
missionaries, who alone at that time exercised influence over the red
children of the forest. Nearly twenty years afterward the same policy
was pressed upon M. de Denonville, and by him attempted; but, as
Charlevoix complacently says, when the French were brought into contact
with the Indians for this purpose, "the French became savages instead of
the savages becoming French." This readiness in adapting themselves to
the habits of the natives, which for a time gained them great power and
popularity,[156] was ultimately fatal to their success as colonists. The
Anglo-Americans, on the other hand, despising their Indian neighbors,
and, in return, hated and feared by them, were seldom or never infected
by the contagion of savage indolence.
M. de Frontenac writes, in the year 1691, that "the experience of twelve
years' residence in Canada has convinced me that the Jesuit missions
ought not to be separated as they are from the settlements of the
French, but that free intercourse should be encouraged between the
Indians and Europeans; thus they might become '_francise_' at the same
time that they are Christianized, otherwise more harm than good will
accrue to the king's service."
But on this question of the improvement of the Indians, the civil and
the military authorities of the colony were at perpetual issue with the
formidable brotherhood; the Canadian people generally concurred with
their temporal rulers on this point, hence it resulted that in later
years the Jesuits were little loved or esteemed in the colony.
More than a century after the missionaries first penetrated the Indian's
country, their writers describe his condition as disgusting and
degraded, rather with contentment than with regret. From their
observations we may learn the views of the Jesuits, and in a measure see
the result of their practice. "It must nevertheless be confessed that
things have somewhat changed on this point (native civilization) since
our arrival in this country; some of the Indians already begin to
provide for future wants in case of the failure of the chase, but it is
to be feared that this may go too far, and by creating superfluous
wants, render them more unhappy than they now are in their greatest
poverty. The missionaries, however, can not be blamed for causing this
danger; they well know that it is morally impossible to keep the 'juste
milieu,' and provide the proper restraint; they have rather desired to
share with the Indian the hardships of his lot, than to open his eyes to
the dangerous means of its amelioration."
When at one time the Christianized Iroquois had remained at peace for
the unusual period of six months, they almost forgot the neighborhood of
deadly and implacable enemies; the missionaries could not prevail upon
their careless disciples to take the necessary precautions for defense;
they therefore redoubled their endeavors to sanctify, and prepare for
the worst fate, those whom they could not preserve from it. In this
respect the Indian proved perfectly docile, and became readily imbued
with the sentiments suitable to his perilous position: he was, in
consequence, soon reduced to a degree of indolence and indifference
which has perhaps no parallel in history. Enthusiasts in the cause, the
Jesuits, Charlevoix says, regarded "every simple Indian who perished as
an additional intercessor above for them and their labor of charity."
Almost the only civilization, and permanent religious faith and
practice, was established among the Indians by the labors of Protestant
missionaries. They, from the beginning, sought to cherish habits of
industry and forethought, and to give their converts a taste for the
comforts of life. In every instance of successful effort in the cause of
civilization, from the earliest time to the present day, the native
population has increased in numbers, and become gradually exempt from
that mysterious curse of decay which seems to cling to all the rest of
their savage brethren.[157]
The descendants of the now neglected Jesuit converts are in no wise
distinguishable from other savages. By the labors of the brotherhood no
permanent impression was stamped upon the Indians; they yielded
themselves up in a great measure to the guidance of their missionary,
who, in return, taught them the outward form and ceremony of his faith,
but nothing more. He was the mind and the soul of the community; he
alone exercised forethought, guarded against danger, and measured out
enjoyment; to a certain extent he improved the temporary circumstances
of his disciples, but he robbed them of their native energy, and crushed
all freedom of thought and of individual action: he being removed, the
body remained deprived of all directing intellect: the condition of the
Christianized but uninstructed savage soon became almost the lowest of
human existence, till weakness, hardship, and famine swept him away from
the scene of earthly suffering.
A very able writer on colonization ascribes the rapid decay in numbers
of all Jesuit congregations, whether in the snows of Canada, or the
burning sunshine of Paraguay, to the unnatural restraint in which they
live. No vigilant superintendence, moral instruction, and physical
well-being can compensate for the loss of freedom of action and the
habit of self-guidance. The necessity of taking thought for himself, and
living by the sweat of his brow, seems indispensable to the healthy
action of man's nature. It can not be denied that many of these
communities have held together for generations free from the corroding
cares and corrupting vices of civilization; amply supplied (superstition
apart) with religious instruction, and free from crime and punishment;
and many may be tempted favorably to contrast the feeble innocence of
this theocracy with the turbulent passions and vices which deform more
advanced societies, and to forget that the man whose mind is thus
enslaved is sunk below the level of his kind: his contentment and
simplicity are apathy and ignorance, and his obedience is degradation.
Although the evident aim of the brotherhood is to paralyze intellectual
life in others, nothing is left undone to give vitality to their own.
The Jesuit regards his society as the soul or citadel of Catholic
theocracy, and sacrifices to it every social tie, his free will, and his
life: fired with its gigantic ambition and its pride, they become his
faith and morals; his constant idea is the hope of his order's universal
sway; in darkness and secrecy, with patience and invincible
perseverance, he works on at the labor of centuries, devoted to the one
great purpose, the fulfillment of which his dilating eye sees through
the vista of unborn generations. Yet this wonderful organization holds
the eternal passion of its deep heart riveted upon an object ever
unattainable; for the Jesuit seeks not to rear the supremacy of his
Church upon the firm foundations of virtue, truth, and reason; his
earnest toil is wasted on the shifting quicksands of ignorance and
superstition; the loftier the building, the more complete and extensive
must be the ruin. Nevertheless, through failure and success alike, his
faith's somber fire burns unceasingly upon the inward altar of his soul.
The merchants of Canada were chiefly of French, the retail dealers of
native birth. From the nature of the colonial system, trade conferred
neither wealth nor respect, except to the favored few enjoying
monopolies. Every one in business was deeply involved by the depreciated
bills of exchange upon the home government, and their only hope of
ultimate payment rested upon the maintenance of the connection with the
parent state. The trading classes may therefore be counted as generally
hostile to the British power, but their importance was very small; like
all the French race, they were more inclined to small trading
transactions than those on a larger scale, and preferred enterprise to
industry. It has been seen that one of the leading objects in the
establishment of the colony was the trade in fur, especially that of the
beaver; but the very abundance of this commodity ultimately proved of
great detriment: the long and frequent journeys for the purpose of
obtaining it gave the Canadians idle and wandering habits, which they
could not shake off even when the low value of the now over-plentiful
fur rendered their enterprises almost unprofitable.
The Canadian peasantry, or "habitans," were generally a healthy, simple,
and virtuous race, but they were also extremely ignorant; indeed, the
jealousy of their rulers would never suffer a printing-press to be
erected in the country; few could read or write, and they were
remarkably credulous of even the grossest fabrications which emanated
from their superiors. Chiefly of Norman origin, they inherit many
ancestral characteristics: litigious, yet impetuous and thoughtless;
brave and adventurous, but with little constancy of purpose. The
resemblance of the interior of a peasant's dwelling in Normandy, and on
the banks of the St. Lawrence, was remarkable to a practiced eye: with
the exception of the flooring--which in Canada is always of wood, and
in France of stone--every thing is nearly the same; the chimney always
in the center of the building, and the partitions shutting off the
sleeping apartments at each end of the large room where the inhabitants
dwell by day.
The French minister, Colbert,[158] in his instructions to M. de Talon
and the Sieur de Courcelles, dwelt much on the dangerous practice of the
early Canadian colonists building their residences without rule or
order, wherever convenience suited, and neglecting the important point
of settling near together for mutual assistance and defense. This system
being obviously a serious obstacle to successful colonization, an edict
was issued by the king that henceforth there should be no clearing of
lands except in close neighborhood, and that the dwellings should all be
built according to rule: this ordinance proved useless, as it would have
been necessary for the habitans to commence the toilsome task of new
clearing, and to abandon the lands where their fathers had dwelt. In
1685, however, the French government again renewed the attempt to alter
this pernicious system, but Charlevoix says that "every one agreed that
their neighbor was in danger, but no one could be got to fear for
himself in particular." Even those who had been the victims of this
imprudence were not rendered wiser by experience;[159] any losses that
could be repaired were repaired as soon as possible, and those that
were irreparable were speedily forgotten. The sight of a little present
advantage blinded all the habitans to the future. This is the true
savage instinct, and it appears to be inspired by the air of the
country. In the present day an evil of exactly the opposite description
exists; as population became denser, the settlements became continuous,
and the holdings smaller. The habitans, who are social to a vice, can
not be induced to separate and clear new lands on a fresher but remoter
soil.
In 1689 the King of France was urgently entreated by Comte de Frontenac
to make a great effort against the English at New York. His answer was
that he could spare no forces from Europe for America, and that the
Canadians, by settling in closer neighborhood, would be fully capable of
defending themselves. Thus, while the king could not understand the
difficulty of the habitans giving up their old and cherished homes to
seek others closer together, on the other hand they could not be
convinced of his inability to send supplies; and, indeed, the system
advocated by the crown would have been more costly in property than the
most vigorous aggressive campaign could have proved.
Before the continuous wars with the English colonies, and internal
corruption, had exhausted the sap of Canada, no people in the world
enjoyed a happier lot than the simple habitans; they were blessed in a
healthy climate, in the absence of all endemic diseases, in a fertile
soil and an unlimited domain. These advantages might at least have
retained in the colony those to whom it gave birth, and who could not be
ignorant of its advantages; but love of change, hatred of steady labor,
and impatience of restraint, have always urged many of the young and
energetic, the life-blood of the population, to seek the irresistible
allurements of the distant prairie and of the forest.
The Canadians were accused of an excessive greed of gain even by their
greatest panegyrists; no enterprise was too difficult or dangerous that
offered a rich reward. They were, however, far from miserly, and often
dissipated their hardly-won treasures without restraint or
consideration. Like all people in isolated communities, they had a high
opinion of their own merits: this was not without some advantages, as
it strengthened self-reliance, and gave spirit to overcome difficulties.
The form and stature of the Canadian ranked high in the scale of
mankind, but his vitality, though great, was not lasting; at a
comparatively early age his frame exhibited symptoms of decline, and the
snows of time descended upon his head.
Father Charlevoix simply remarks upon the intellectual powers of the
Canadians, that "they are supposed to be incapable of any great
scientific acquirements, or of patient study and application: I can not,
however, answer for the justice of this remark, for we have never yet
seen any one attempting to follow such pursuits." He gives them credit,
however, for a rare taste for mechanics, and states that they frequently
arrive at great perfection in trades to which they have never been
apprenticed.
To reduce this volatile people to rules of military discipline was
always found extremely difficult, but, in many respects, their own
peculiar manner of waging war, at least against the Indians, was far
more efficient in the wild scenes of savage contest: they were more to
be depended upon for a sudden effort than for the continuous operations
of a campaign, and in a time of excitement and under a commander whom
they could trust, they have shown themselves capable of deeds of real
daring. They were not commendable for filial affection, but elicited the
warmest eulogiums from the reverend father (Charlevoix) on their piety
and zeal. The sum of their virtues and vices denoted the promise more of
a good than of a great people.
The Provincial revenue, produced by custom dues on imports and exports,
charges on the sales of land, duties on spirituous liquors, rights on
intestate deaths, shipwrecks, and miscellaneous sources, amounted to
something under L14,000 sterling the year of the conquest, and the aid
from the coffers of France to the ecclesiastical, civil, and military
establishments was nearly L4760. These resources could not provide
liberal salaries for the numerous colonial officials; as before stated,
however, they made up for the deficiency by shameless and enormous
peculations.
All the male inhabitants of the colony, from ten to sixty years of age,
were enrolled by companies in a Provincial militia, except those who by
birth or occupation enjoyed the privileges of nobility. The captains
were usually the most respectable men in the country parishes, and were
held in great respect. When the services of the militia were required,
their colonels, or the town majors, transmitted the order of levy to the
captains, who chose the required numbers, and conducted them under
escort to the town; there each man received a gun, ammunition, and a
rude sort of uniform: they were then marched to their destination. This
force was generally reviewed once or twice a year for the inspection of
their arms; that of Quebec was frequently exercised, and had attached
thereto an efficient company of artillery. Many duties of law, police,
and the superintendence of roads in the country districts were also
imposed on the captains of militia: the governor-general was every year
accustomed to bestow a quantity of powder and ball by way of
gratification upon these useful officials.
Besides this numerous but somewhat uncertain militia force, there were
in Canada ten veteran battalions of French infantry. These, however,
were much reduced from their original strength by desertion, fatigue,
and the casualties of war. The peculiar nature of the service, and the
necessity of quartering the troops abroad in small detachments, had
relaxed the rigor of European discipline, but the loss in this respect
was more than counterbalanced by the knowledge of the country, and the
habit of braving the severity of the climate. Their high military virtue
was still well worthy of men who had fought under Marshal Saxe. The
proud carriage and domineering conduct of these soldiers of Old France
rendered them little loved by the Canadian people, and, as their
pretensions were invariably supported by the government, it shared in
the general unpopularity.
The one hundred and fifty years that had elapsed since Champlain first
planted the banner of France upon the headland of Quebec told with
terrible effect upon the Red Men: already among the Canadian hamlets on
the banks of the Great River they were well-nigh forgotten. Whole
tribes had sunk into the earth, and left not a trace behind; others had
wandered away, and were absorbed among those more fortunate races as yet
undisturbed by the white man's neighborhood; while some, in attempting a
feeble and fatal imitation of civilized life, had dwindled to a few
wretched families, who had cast away the virtues of savage life, and
adopted instead only the vices of Europe. The Hurons of Jeune Lorette,
near Quebec, were, however, as yet, a happy exception to this general
demoralization. Many years before, they had been driven from the fertile
countries between Lakes Huron and Erie, and found refuge upon the Jesuit
lands: they lived much in the same manner as the Canadian peasantry,
tilled the soil with equal success, and dwelt in comfortable houses. But
in one respect they had not escaped the mysterious curse which has ever
hung upon the red race in their contact with their European brethren;
from year to year their numbers diminished in an unchecked decay.
[Footnote 150: See Appendix, No. LXVII.]
[Footnote 151: "Cette cascade a ete nommee le Sault de Montmorenci et le
pointe porte le nom de Levi. C'est que la Nouvelle France a en
successivement pour Vice-Rois l'Amiral de Montmorenci et Henri de Levi,
le Duc de Ventadour, son neveu."--Charlevoix.]
[Footnote 152: "Pour les natifs du pays, laissons les a leur vie errante
et laborieuse dans le bois avec les sauvages, a leurs exercices
militaires; ils en seront moins opulents, mais plus robustes, plus
braves, plus vertueux, c'est a dire, plus propre a servir l'etat, et
plus fideles a le vouloir."--_Lettre de M. le Marquis de Montcalm a M.
de Berryer_, Montreal, April 4, 1757.]
[Footnote 153: The better part of the regiment de Carignan Salieres had
remained in Canada, and at the end of the war against the Iroquois, they
became habitans, having obtained their dismissal on this condition. Many
of their officers had obtained lands with all the rights of seigneurs:
they established themselves in the country, married there, and their
posterity are still there. The greatest part were gentlemen, and thus
Canada has more of the "ancienne noblesse" than any of the other
colonies, perhaps than all the others together.--Charlevoix.]
[Footnote 154: "Les Canadiens, c'est a dire, les Creoles du Canada,
respirent en naissant un air de liberte qui les rend fort agreables dans
le commerce de la vie, et nulle part ailleurs on ne parle plus purement
notre langue. On ne remarque meme ici aucun accent."--Charlevoix. tom.
v., p. 117.
"I confess I have a strong sympathy for the French Canadians; they are
'si bons enfans.' I remember, canvassing at Boston with an American
gentleman, the expression used with regard to French Canada by a late
English traveler, 'that it was a province of Old France, without its
brilliancy or its vices.' My friend's remark was, 'What remains after so
large a subtraction?' But I thought, and still think, the expression
graphic and just."--Godley's _Letters from America_, vol. i., p. 89.]
[Footnote 155: "The Frenchmen who considered things in their true light
complained very much that a great part of the ladies in Canada had got
into the pernicious custom of taking too much care of their dress, and
squandering all their fortunes, and more, upon it, instead of sparing
something for future times."--Professor Kalm, 1747.]
[Footnote 156: "Of all the Europeans, my countrymen are most beloved by
the Indians. This is owing to the gayety of the French, to their
brilliant valor, to their fondness for the chase, and, indeed, for the
savage life, as if the highest degree of civilization approximated to
the state of nature."--Chateaubriand's _Travels in America_, &c., vol.
i., p. 173.]
[Footnote 157: "Mr. N. (a missionary among the Mohawk Indians[160] in
Canada) has been for a long time among the Indians, and knows them well:
he has a better opinion of them, and of their capacity for acquiring
domestic and industrious habits, than most white men to whom I have
spoken.... Mr. N. is by no means without hopes that, in a generation or
two, these Indians may become quite civilized: they are giving up their
wandering habits, and settling rapidly upon farms throughout their
territory; and in consequence, probably, of this change in their mode of
life, the decrease in their numbers, which threatened a total extinction
of the tribe, has ceased of late years. If it turns out as he expects,
this will form an exception to the general law which affects their
people."--Godley's _Letters from America_, vol. i., p. 163. See
Appendix, No. LXX.]
[Footnote 158: "The great Colbert introduced order into the French
finances in the reign of Louis XIV.; he encouraged the arts, promoted
manufactures with extraordinary success (only arrested by the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes), and may be said to have created the French
navy. 'Je vous dois tout, sire,' said the dying Mazarin to Louis XIV.,
'mais je crois m'acquitter en quelque sorte avec votre Majeste en vous
donnant Colbert.'"--_Biographie Universelle_, art. Colbert.]
[Footnote 159: "Unlike their Anglo-American neighbors ... and now they
founded schools and courts of justice (in Virginia), and the plantation
was extended 140 miles up the river on both sides. But now, when the
English were secure, and thought of nothing but peace, the savages came
suddenly upon them, and slew of them 347 men, women, and children....
This massacre happened by reason they had built their plantations remote
from one another in above thirty several places, which made them now,
upon consultation, to reduce them all to five or six places, whereby
they may better assist each other, since which time they have always
lived in good security."--Baker's _Chronicle_, p. 447. 1674.]
[Footnote 160: These Indians lost their possessions in the States by
adhering to Great Britain in the Revolutionary war, and received in
compensation a settlement in Canada of 160,000 acres. Since that time
they have decreased considerably, and now consist of not more than 2200
souls.]