CANADA DURING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
The Quebec Act roused much indignation among the American colonists.
From Pennsylvania and Virginia twenty thousand persons had already
settled in the valley of the Ohio. These suddenly found themselves
disjoined from the colonies of which they regarded themselves members,
and subjected to the despotic rule which was imposed upon Canada.
The American patriots enrolled the new arrangements among their
grievances, and hoped that their fellow-sufferers the Canadians would
be of the same opinion. [Sidenote: 1774 A.D.] The Congress which met
at Philadelphia opened communication with the Canadians, to whom they
addressed a forcible exposition of their mutual wrongs, coupled with
the proposal that their neighbours should take some part in the steps
which they were meditating in order to obtain redress. The handful of
English Canadians sympathized with the complaints of their countrymen,
and were not reluctant to have given help had that been possible; but
they were an inconsiderable number, living among a population which
did not share their views. The French settlers were unaccustomed to
self-government, which they did not understand and did not desire.
Their own laws had been restored to them, the Government was not
oppressive, they were suffered to cultivate their fields in peace, and
they were without motive to enter upon that stormy path to which their
more heroic neighbours invited them. The American proposals did not
disturb for one moment the profound political apathy which reigned in
the valley of the St. Lawrence.
[Sidenote: 1775 A.D.] When the war began, the Americans lost no time in
taking hostile measures against Canada. They were able, by the superior
energy of their movements, to possess themselves of the fortresses
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which had not yet been prepared to
offer resistance. Governor Carleton was taken at a disadvantage by
this spirited invasion, for he had been left without an army. For the
defence of the vast territory over which his sway extended, he had no
more than eight hundred soldiers. He fell back upon the privileges
of the feudal law, and summoned the colonists to render to the King
that military service which they owed. But the colonists, from whose
minds there had not yet passed the memory of the disastrous war which
preceded the conquest, decisively repudiated feudal obligations, and
maintained that the various seignorial dues which they paid were the
full equivalent of the advantages which they enjoyed. The embarrassed
Governor invoked the help of the clergy, who exhorted the people
to take up arms in defence of their country. But neither could the
authority of the priests rouse those unwarlike spirits. The Frenchmen
would fight when their own homes were invaded. Meanwhile they had no
quarrel with any one, and they would not incur the miseries of war so
long as it was possible for them to remain at peace.
The Americans still believed that there existed among the Canadians a
feeling of sympathy with their cause. To embolden their secret allies,
and give opportunity for the avowal of friendly sentiment, they now
despatched two expeditions, one of which was to seize Montreal, and
then descend upon Quebec, where it would be joined by the other,
approaching by way of the river Kennebec. One wing of the expedition
was successful. Montreal fell; the larger portion of the British
troops became prisoners; the Governor escaped with some difficulty,
and fled to Quebec. In the east the fortune of war was against the
invaders. They besieged Quebec, maintaining their attack under severe
hardships, imperfectly supplied with food, and cruelly wasted by
epidemic disease. After months of this vain suffering, a British
frigate appeared one morning at Quebec, and proceeded to land a body
of troops. The siege was quickly raised, and the assailants, in much
distress, effected a disorderly retreat. Reinforcements soon began to
arrive from England, and the continued occupation of Montreal by the
Americans was found to be impossible. The invasion of Canada served
no good purpose. It was obvious that no help was to be afforded to
the party of revolution by the uncomplaining people of Canada. It was
possible to hold certain positions on Lake Champlain and elsewhere. But
that could be of no service to the American cause; on the contrary,
it withdrew useful men from the work for which they were urgently
required--the defence of New York and Pennsylvania against the
overwhelming strength of the English attack. The invasion of Canada
ceased, leaving the Canadians better contented with the Government
under which they lived, and less disposed to form relationships with
the colonists by whom the authority of that Government had been cast
off.