noble-looking stream in other respects, is dark and dirty in comparison
with the St. Lawrence. The latter river seems not to relish the
alliance. A sudden change is perceivable in the colour of the water,
the line of junction being distinctly observable; and for scores of
miles down the St. Lawrence, its clearer waters confine themselves
to the eastern bank, while those on the western are discoloured by
the “Ottawa tide.” I afterwards ascended the Ottawa. We arrived at
La Chine, and proceeded by land to Montreal. The mountain behind it
was already in sight, but the city itself by this road, remained
hidden till we were within a very few miles of it. I passed through
it the same evening, intending to see it on my return. The Hercules,
a very fine steam-boat, carried me to Quebec in about twenty hours;
touching at “the Three Rivers,” eighty-four miles from Quebec, and
ninety-six from Montreal. Six miles from Quebec, we passed the mouth
of the Chaudiere river, celebrated for its falls, which are situated
about three or four miles from the spot where it empties itself into
the St. Lawrence, whose banks, every where interesting, become still
more so on approaching Quebec, being thickly lined with Canadian
villages. Every cottage is white; the churches are of the same colour,
with their spires covered with tin, and are frequently to be seen at
a great distance out-topping the neighbouring forest and glistening
in the sunbeam. In some places the river is two miles in width; but
at Quebec it is narrowed to about a mile, which adds to the beauty
of the view by making the lofty banks appear higher than they really
are. On the left are seen the fortifications on Cape Diamond, the
most elevated spot in the vicinity of the city. On the right is Point
Levi. At different distances down the river are Cape Tourment and the
Beaufort mountains, and the Isle of Orleans, dividing the river into
two channels—that on the left being dangerous for any but very small
vessels. The city itself was not visible till the boat was standing in
for the landing-place. Numerous merchant ships were lying at anchor in
different parts of the river; whilst rafts, ferry-boats, and smaller
craft, were moving in all directions. The Government-House, or Castle
of St. Louis, was the most prominent object: below it on the right,
is the old parliament house. The space which intervenes between these
buildings and the water, is occupied by the lower town, which like
all lower towns, is far more dirty and lively than the upper ones,
where some of the streets are dull and even gloomy. The only two
large steeples in Quebec, are those of the Protestant and Catholic
churches. The upper town is surrounded by a strong rampart, and cannon
are planted in every place where they could be used with advantage in
case of a siege. The whole city is commanded by the fortress on Cape
Diamond, which it is supposed, when finished, will be impregnable. The
interior works occupy a space of about six acres, and are advanced to
the edge of the precipice, where it is about three hundred and fifty
feet in height. In 1775, the American General Montgomery and his two
aides-de-camp were killed by the same cannon-shot at the water’s edge
beneath the fort.
I think I shall never forget the appearance of the view from the
ramparts. It is very beautiful and inexpressibly enlivening. In
looking down the river, the isle d’Orleans is on the right; in the
extreme distance is Cape Tourment; while on the left is a gently
sloping bank, exhibiting all the varied hues of extensive cultivation,
between thirty and forty miles in length, and from two to five and
six miles in width, and reaching from the margin of the water to the
foot of the Beaufort mountains. The most conspicuous villages are
Indian Lorette, Charleburg, Beaufort, and the Chateau Richer, easily
distinguished by their light steeples covered with tin. Beside these,
many hundreds of white cottages are scattered over the plain; and the
road to Montmorenci is entirely lined with them. I was reminded by the
prospect, of the highly cultivated garden that environs a city on the
eastern coast of Spain. Olive trees and vineyards, it is true, there
were none; but olive trees and vineyards are not missed at a great
distance, and the Charleburg country is backed by the fine range of the
Beaufort mountains, which although not of the highest elevation, can
yet boast of a very picturesque outline; and being thickly covered with
a noble forest, have at least one advantage over the barren rocks that
usually rear their heads in the vicinity of a Spanish “vega.”
On the south side of the city, at a distance of two miles, are the
plains of Abraham, and at their further extremity, is Wolfe’s cave. The
view from the bank above is scarcely less enchanting than that I had
so lately turned from. On the western horizon are seen the mountains
which by the late decision of the king of the Netherlands are to
form the boundary line between the Canadas and the United States. The
intermediate landscape is most delightful; large yellow patches of
cultivation rescued from the apparently endless forest, are espied
in different directions, each surrounding some thriving village in
the interior, whilst the opposite banks of the river are fringed with
Canadian cottages, as white as lime and brush can make them; and the
intervening and majestic waters of the St. Lawrence having at length
escaped from the turbulence of the rapids, are seen flowing beneath, as
calmly and as silently, as when, during the darkness of a night more
than seventy years ago, the gallant Wolfe was floated on the retiring
tide to his victory and his grave.
Till within a year or two, the stone close to which he breathed his
last, was remaining on the field; but the proprietor, a person of
infinite taste, has had it removed, part of it having been used for
the purposes of the builder, while other parts of it are constantly
undergoing a process of subdivision for the benefit of the curious.
A plain, but very elegant stone obelisk, worth a dozen such as
Washington’s monument at Baltimore, or General Brock’s at Queen’s Town
Heights, had been lately erected to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm.
The idea of paying this late tribute to the memory of those illustrious
soldiers, originated with Lord Dalhousie. A singularly chaste classical
inscription from the pen of Dr. Fisher, the editor of the Quebec
Gazette, will be engraved in front of the monument. It is as follows:
WOLFE——MONTCALM.
MORTEM. VIRTUS. COMMUNEM.
FAMAM. HISTORIA.
MONUMENTUM POSTERITAS.
DEDIT.
A. S. 1827.
A longer inscription will be placed on the other side of the monument.
An aged nun is now living in the Ursuline convent at Quebec, who
remembers having held a taper when the remains of the chivalrous
Frenchman were lowered to his grave in the chapel vault. I saw a small
oval slab of marble, which was shortly to be fixed in the wall near the
spot where he is buried. It bore the following inscription:—“Honheur á
Montcalm: ledest in en lui derobant la victoire, l’a recompensé par une
mort glorieuse.”
Quebec was taken from the French in the reign of Charles I., 130 years
before the death of Wolfe, but being thought of little value, was given
up in the same reign to Louis XIII., by the treaty of St. Germain.
At Lorette are to be purchased the best Indian moccassins, and other
leathern curiosities, at the house of Mere Paul. The three Huron chiefs
who visited England in 1825, and who were introduced in the first
circles in London, may now be seen, any hot day, sober or intoxicated,
just as it may happen, sitting perhaps in the dust, before the doors
of their cottages. They take great pleasure in showing the medals and
portraits they received in England, and the queen, or wife of the
principal chief—a short, dumpy, masculine woman—occasionally comes to
Quebec to sell moccassins, and has no aboriginal antipathy to a glass
of gin. She constantly wears in her bosom (and very close to it too) a
silver medal, presented to her husband by the Lord Mayor. There is some
good woodcock shooting at Lorette, and a very pretty waterfall,—the
foam spreading itself over the rocks, so as to resemble the finest
lacework.
On looking up the course of the St. Lawrence, from this very
interesting village, a wide opening is discerned in the distant bank,
once apparently the channel of the river, which at some time as is
supposed, by a junction with the mouth of the river St. Charles, made
an island of the promontory on which Quebec now stands.
The Canadian cottages are in general extremely neat, the windows,
in particular, being remarkably clean; and occasionally a tall pole
or flag staff, is placed in front of one of them, to indicate the
residence of an officer of militia.
Of the falls of Montmorenci, I will only remark, that they are well
worth the ride, or the walk, or the sail to them. The splendid view
of Quebec, the river, and the surrounding country, that is enjoyed
from the ground above them is a sufficient recompence; and no stranger
should leave Quebec without paying them a visit. The same may be said
of the falls of the Chaudière. They are in fact much finer than those
of Montmorenci, and within riding distance.
At Chateau Richer there is one of the best snipe grounds in the
Canadas. In October they may be shot in extraordinary numbers, but
should the sportsman be disappointed in finding his game, he may
proceed to the falls of St. Anne, distant twelve miles. I mention
this, supposing him to be a regular water-fall man. I had ceased to be
so since I had seen Niagara. The different accounts I heard of Lake
Charles prevented me from going there. Some told me it was full of
cat-fish, and large frogs, which eat the little ones; others called it
a beautiful lake, and that good trout-fishing was to be had there. I
certainly eat some small ones, which had been caught there, of a most
delicious flavour.
[Illustration:
G. T. Vigne, delṭ T. S. Engleheart, sculpṭ
JACQUES CARTIER, WITH SALMON FISHING.
_Published by Whittaker & C^o. April 10. 1832._]
The attractions of Jâques Cartier, twenty-seven miles from Quebec,
were not to be so trifled with. This is the finest place for salmon
fishing in the Canadas, and a very pretty spot into the bargain. All is
as it should be; there is a small, but clean and comfortable country
inn: the landlord throws a fly beautifully; his sister, a very pretty
Canadian girl, waits at table; and the mother broils the salmon _à
merveille_. The river, at all times a torrent, and now very much
swollen by two whole days’ rain, was rushing with the greatest fury
through the narrow channel it has worn for itself through the solid
rock. The bridge, which is close to the inn, is a very neat government
work. Under it is a hole, forty or fifty feet in depth; and when
the river is low and clear, salmon may be seen lying there in great
numbers. But the season was too far advanced, the weather too cold,
and the river too high; and my friend and I, seeing that we could not
expect sport, returned, having killed but one salmon a-piece in the
course of the afternoon. A fine open ledge of rocks extends along the
side of the river, affording some excellent fishing stations. The place
is named after Jâques Cartier, who first sailed up the St. Lawrence in
1535, and founded the city of Montreal. He is said to have wintered
there, at the mouth of the river which bears his name. On his return
to France, he was of course coolly received, as he brought no precious
metals. He sailed a second time, with orders to establish a colony on
the St. Lawrence, but having had the misfortune to quarrel with the
Indians, he returned to his native country to die of a broken heart.
The Canadian peasantry are of the middle size, or under it. Although
they breathe some of the purest air in America, their countenances are
worn, and unhealthy in appearance. They may be said to be smoke-dried,
being seldom without a pipe in their mouths, and in winter they shut
themselves up in their cottages, and breathe an atmosphere of tobacco
fumes. I am not of course speaking of the athletic progeny of British
settlers, when I affirm that a tall, fine hale-looking man is rarely
to be met with. Nevertheless, the French Canadians are a brave, hardy,
independent race, and happier, I should imagine, than any peasantry in
the world. They pay no taxes, or just sufficient to keep the roads
in repair. Most of them have small farms, and find a ready market
for the produce; and those who have no land of their own, can easily
find employment with those that have. They never give away money,
but are exceedingly hospitable in other respects; and the poor Irish
emigrant, who is travelling barefoot and pennyless to the place of his
destination, is sure of a meal at any cottage where they have one to
give. There still remains much of the French _naiveté_ in their
character, and at a few miles from Quebec, they know and care as little
about the proceedings of government, as the Irish peasant did, and does
now, about Catholic emancipation. Without meaning to detract from the
merit of their charity, it may be remarked, that there is something
like a spirit of conciliation, if not of apprehension, mixed up with
it, for they are afraid that the “_Bas de soie_,” as they call
the stockingless Irish, will finally drive them and their descendants
from house and home.
* * * * *
The population of Upper Canada, which I did not visit (my time being
occupied in the unexpected voyage on the Great Lakes), is about
250,000. That of Lower Canada may be estimated at 500,000; but the
amount in both provinces is rapidly increasing. Sixty thousand
emigrants had landed at Quebec in 1831, before the river was frozen up,
being more than double the number that arrived in 1830. Many of them
brought out considerable sums of money. One morning, during my stay at
Quebec, an old Scotchman, who had lived about fourteen years in the
Canadas, returned from Scotland with ninety of his countrymen, whom
he had persuaded to follow him: he himself bringing with him several
thousand pounds, and the others possessing one, two, or three hundred
pounds a-piece. Two thousand of the emigrants that arrived in Upper
Canada, were small farmers from the North of England.
The soil of Upper Canada is as productive as any in the world, so
that the emigrant has no occasion to pass into the United States, in
order to obtain a better, unless he proceed to particular spots where
he would be liable to catch a fever and ague, and where the excessive
heats together with the moisture and richness of the soil, render it
so hastily prolific, that it is often a matter of great uncertainty
whether a crop will arrive at perfection. The strong natural prejudice
in favour of the British flag; the fact that the British manufactures
can be purchased after payment of a very trifling duty of two per
cent., whereas they must have paid an average duty of 30 per cent., if
coming _viâ_ the United States: that lands of equal fertility,
and possessing equal advantages of situation, are sold at one half
the price that is paid in the United States: that the climate of the
Canadas is most decidedly the healthier of the two; are additional
and substantial inducements to a permanent residence in the British
colonies. Good land in the best situations is sold by the Canada land
company at from 10s. to 15s. the acre: their sales for the year 1831,
having amounted to 100,000 acres at an average price of 10s. per acre.
One-seventh of the lands in every township in the United States is
reserved for the payment of the clergy; and the agent for the clergy
reserves, is authorized to sell 100,000 acres a year at 15s. an acre.
The nature of uncleared land is known by the timber which grows upon
it. Where a great variety of timber abounds, the soil is generally a
black loam. A clayey soil is known by the great proportion of firs
intermixed with other trees, but when they grow alone, it is found that
sand usually predominates. This is also the case where there are none
but oaks and chestnut trees. Potatoes and turnips succeed better than
any other crop on newly cleared land.
Both in the United States, and the Canadas, great quantities of sugar
are made from the maple tree. The molasses are an excellent substitute
for sweatmeats. In the month of March, a notch is cut in the tree, and
a small pipe of wood is fastened into it, through which the sap runs
into a wooden trough that is placed to receive it, and in this manner
from five to seven pounds’ weight of sugar may be obtained annually
from one tree. The process of boiling and preparing the sugar takes
place in the forest.
The agents of the Canada Land Company, on the arrival of emigrants at
Quebec or Montreal, for the season of 1832, undertake to convey them
free of expense to York or the head of Lake Ontario, in the vicinity
of the choicest lands, provided the emigrants pay a first instalment
in London, Quebec, or Montreal, or two shillings an acre upon not
less than one hundred acres: and the Company’s agents in all parts
of the Upper Province, will give such emigrants every information
and assistance in their power. Should emigrants on their arrival at
York not settle on the Company’s lands, the money paid by them will
be returned, deducting the actual expense of conveyance. At York
there are large buildings expressly appropriated to the reception of
emigrant families previously to their finding employment; and both the
government and the Canada Land Company have waggons drawn up on the
wharfs, in order to convey them and their baggage from the place of
landing.
I cannot add any thing new to the particulars given in the printed
papers relating to emigration, which are issued both by government and
the Canada Land Company; to say nothing of the “Wiltshire Letters,”
or the “Hints to Emigrants,” published at Quebec. These may all be
purchased for a few pence, and the information they contain is, of
course, derived from the best sources. Their instructions and advice
on the subject of imposition, which might be practised upon emigrants
at their first arrival, will be found most useful.
Wheat at the Canadas, according to the distance from the place of
export, varies from 3_s._ to 5_s._ 6_d._ the bushel; beef (winter)
2½_d._ the pound, (summer) 3½_d._ to 4_d._; mutton in the winter is
2½_d._ the pound, in summer it is a little dearer; potatoes are from
1_s._ to 2_s._ the bushel; a goose or a turkey may be purchased for
2_s._ or 2_s._ 6_d._, and a couple of fowls for 1_s._ or 1_s._ 6_d._
Ship-carpenters can earn from 5_s._ to 7_s._ a-day; labourers 2_s._
6_d._ to 4_s._ a-day; handicraft tradesmen from 5_s._ to 7_s._ 6_d._
a-day; house-servants receive from 26_s._ to 36_s._ a-month, with
food; females from 15_s._ to 30_s._ a-month, with food. In Quebec and
Montreal, excellent board and lodging may be obtained in the principal
hotels and boarding-houses at 20_s._ to 30_s._ a-week. A labourer
or mechanic would pay 7_s._ to 9_s._ 6_d._ a-week, for which he
will get tea or coffee, with meat for breakfast, a good dinner, and
supper at night. An excellent private dwelling-house may be rented
at from 100_l._ to 150_l._ a-year unfurnished; shops according to
their situation at from 30_l._ to 100_l._ A farm of 100 acres with
20 or 30 acres clear, with a dwelling house, may be purchased in the
Canadas for 150_l._ to 300_l._ according to the situation. There are,
I believe, few persons who would not allow that emigration should be
encouraged, at all events as a temporary remedy, and the rage for
building discouraged, provided it can be done by just and legitimate
means. The British government have an emigrant agent at Quebec; it
encourages emigration, and finds co-operation and assistance in the
Canada Land Company and the Emigrant’s Hospital at Quebec. Yet if the
timber trade in the Canadas were suddenly destroyed by the measures
which are said to be in contemplation, the immediate consequence would
be, that the efforts of government in regard to one object would be
neutralized by its own acts with reference to another. At present,
there are from six hundred to eight hundred ships employed every summer
in the timber trade. They sometimes carry out a cargo of coals, or
salt, both paying a very insignificant freight (coals sell in Quebec at
26_s._ the chaldron) or more usually go out as it is termed in ballast,
and thus afford facilities of emigration at an exceedingly cheap rate,
to thousands whose absence from Great Britain is an advantage to both
countries, as far as population is concerned; and who otherwise benefit
the mother country by affording an additional market for her cotton and
other manufactures, which they soon find the means of purchasing. In
destroying the Canada timber trade by a sudden increase of duties, she
is depriving herself of all these advantages. She would bring sudden
ruin upon a numerous class of individuals who have large capitals
invested in saw mills, and other buildings connected with the trade;
she would deprive thousands of the means of buying and selling land; a
number of ships would be thrown out of employment; emigration would be
stopped, or at least greatly impeded for want of the facilities which
are now given; England would not gain in the affections of the Canadas;
she would lose a rapidly increasing market, and the benefit of a fine
race of British peasantry, who would be ever ready to fight in defence
of their newly adopted country.
The timber is cut in the winter, before the sap rises. Suppose then
that the new duties were imposed, that the trade had consequently
ceased, and that next year a war, by which the Baltic would be closed,
should break out about the month of March, no timber would have been
cut and prepared in the Canadas, and there can be no doubt that Great
Britain would be obliged either to purchase inferior timber, cut in
the summer, and prepared at a great additional expense, or remain
without a supply of timber for sixteen months. It is said, and with
truth, that clearing, for the sake of the timber only, rather impedes
than assists the progress of cultivation,—a few trees only being
selected on a given space, which are squared on the spot, while the
lumber and branches are left to present additional difficulty to the
farmer by becoming entangled in the underwood; and it has been also
remarked, that the annihilation of the trade would benefit the Canadas,
by augmenting the capital and labour that is annually expended in
agricultural purposes, and that the additional quantity of exported
wheat, would soon make amends for their temporary loss: but it should
also be considered, that the white-pine, which forms much the largest
proportion of the timber exported from the Canadas, is in many places
found on a rocky and sandy soil, which is not available for the
purposes of cultivation, and moreover that the quantity of wheat
exported, is already increasing with the tide of emigration to an
incalculable amount.
In a mercantile and political view, it would be better that the Canada
timber trade should not be interfered with; but if any increase of the
duties be resolved upon, it should certainly be gradual. One reason why
the Canada timber is not so much liked as that which comes from the
Baltic, is, that it is not so well squared and finished off for the
market. In the first year, a gradual increase of duties might remedy
this defect, by encouraging competition, while at the same time both
the British government, and the Canadian capitalist, would be enabled
to see their way more clearly.
A great proportion of the lands in Lower Canada is divided into
seignories, which were originally granted by the French crown, under
the feudal tenure. No seignory has been created since the conquest
in 1759: but when crown lands have been disposed of, they have been
granted in what is termed free and common soccage, and laid out
like the old seignories, of which there are about two hundred, in a
direction of N.N.W. by E.S.E., nearly at right angles with the banks
of the St. Lawrence. The seignor then made grants or “concessions” to
his under tenants, which by the old French custom were thirty acres in
length, by three, fronting the river. This measurement, however, is now
often departed from. The seignor receives from his tenants an annual
rent of a very trifling amount, which is not redeemable: he is, also,
entitled to a mutation fine, called “lods et vents,” being one-twelfth
part of the money paid by the purchaser of land within the seignory.
The old French law compels the tenants to bring their wheat to be
ground at the seignor’s mill. This custom has been sometimes objected
to, but no complaint can be reasonably made on the score of its being
an injury to the farmer. It imposes no burden, because he can have
his wheat ground at his own door, and if the seignor’s mill does not
perform the work properly, he may take it to another.