THE MARITIME PROVINCES.
On the outer margin of the great bay into which the waters of the St.
Lawrence discharge themselves, there lie certain British provinces
which had till now maintained their colonial existence apart from the
sister States of the interior. The oldest and most famous of these
was Nova Scotia--the Acadie of the French period--within whose limits
the Province of New Brunswick had been included. Northwards, across
the entrance to the bay, was the island of Newfoundland. The Gulf
Stream, moving northwards its vast currents of heated water, meets
here an ice-cold stream descending from the Arctic Sea, and is turned
eastward towards the coasts of Europe. The St. Lawrence deposits
here the accumulations of silt which its waters have disengaged in
their lengthened course, and forms great banks which stretch for many
hundreds of miles out into the ocean. These banks are the haunt of
icebergs escaping from the frozen North; perpetual fogs clothe them
in gloom. But they offer to man wealth such as he cannot elsewhere
win from the sea. The fisheries of the Newfoundland Banks were the
earliest inducement which led Europeans to frequent those seemingly
inhospitable shores. The Maritime Provinces were more easily accessible
than Canada, for they abounded in commodious inlets where ships could
enter and lie secure. They were placed at the difficult entrance to the
St. Lawrence valley, and their value was more immediately apparent.
Their possession was keenly contended for, at a time when England had
not made up her mind to seek, and France scarcely cared to retain, the
interior of the northern continent.
The Cabots were the first Europeans who looked upon the rugged shores
of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and England therefore claimed those
regions as her own. But France actually took possession of the Acadian
peninsula. Small settlements were founded here and there, and a
profitable trade in furs was carried on with the Indians, who came
from great distances on the mainland to acquire the attractive wares
which the white men offered. During its first century Acadie had
an unquiet life. England would allow the poor colonists no repose.
During those periods--and they constantly recurred--when the two
great European powers were at war, the roving ships of England were
sure to visit the feeble Acadian settlements, bringing ruin, sudden
and deep. The colonists of Massachusetts or of distant Virginia, now
grown strong, did not wait for the pretext of war, but freely invaded
Acadie even during the intervals of peace. The French incautiously
provoked the resentment of their Indian neighbours, and the treacherous
savages exacted bloody vengeance for their wrongs. And as if foreign
hostility were not sufficient, civil wars raged among the Acadians. At
one unhappy time there were rival governors in Acadie, with battles,
sieges, massacres of Frenchmen by French hands. But even these miseries
did not prevent some measure of growth. Before Acadie finally passed
away from France, there were twenty thousand Frenchmen engaged in its
fisheries and its fur trade.
[Sidenote: 1713 A.D.] A hundred years after the first French settlement
on the Acadian peninsula, there came to a close, in the reign of
Queen Anne, the desolating war against Louis XIV., which King William
had deemed essential to the welfare of Europe. England, as was her
practice at such seasons, had possessed herself of Acadie. Hitherto
she had been accustomed to restore Acadie at the close of each war.
Now she determined to retain it; and exhausted France submitted, by
the treaty of Utrecht, to the loss. Acadie became Nova Scotia; Port
Royal became Annapolis, in honour of the English Queen. Cape Breton,
an island adjoining Acadie on the north, was suffered to remain a
French possession; and here France hastened, at vast expense, to build
and fortify Louisburg, for the protection of her American trade.
Thirty years later, the English besieged and took Louisburg. France
strove hard, but vainly, to regain a fortress the loss of which shook
her hold of all her American possessions. A great fleet sailed from
France to achieve this conquest. But evil fortune attended it from
the outset. The English captured some of the ships; tempest wrecked
or scattered the others. Fresh efforts invited new disasters; the
attempt to repossess Louisburg was closed by the destruction or capture
of an entire French fleet. But France had fought more successfully
in India, and when the terms of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle came
to be adjusted, she received back Louisburg in exchange for Madras.
[Sidenote: 1748 A.D.] It remained in her possession for ten years more,
and then passed finally away from her, along with all the rest of her
American territory.
The first care of England, when Nova Scotia became decisively hers,
was to provide herself with a fortified harbour and naval station
adequate to the wants of her extended dominion. Her ships in large
numbers frequented those Western waters, intent upon the protection of
her own interests and the overthrow of the interests of France. Some
well-defended and easily-accessible position was required, where fleets
could rendezvous, where ships could refit, from which the possessions
of France in the north and of Spain in the south could be menaced. A
site was chosen on the eastern shore of the island, where a magnificent
natural harbour opens to the sea. Here, on a lofty slope, arose the
town of Halifax, the great centre of British naval influence on the
American coast. [Sidenote: 1749 A.D.] Four thousand adventurers arrived
from England, tempted by liberal offers of land. During the months of
one brief summer, houses were built, and defences were erected against
unfriendly neighbours. The forest trees of that lovely hill-side
disappeared, and in their place arose a busy English town.
The Indians of Nova Scotia did not look with approval upon the
occupation of their territory by the English. They lurked in the
woods around Halifax, or they stole silently along by night in their
light canoes, and as they found fitting opportunity they plundered
and slew. Once they burst upon the sleeping crews of two vessels
lying in the harbour, murdering some, and carrying away others to be
sold to the French at Louisburg. England held the Frenchmen of the
province responsible for these outrages. The Acadians were a simple,
light-hearted people, living contentedly in the rude comfort which
the harvest of sea and of land yielded to them. But they did not at
once assent to the revolution which handed them over to a foreign
power, and they refused to swear allegiance to the English King. The
Governor dealt very sternly with these reluctant subjects. [Sidenote:
1755 A.D.] He gathered up as many as he could find, and having crowded
them on board his ships, he scattered them among the southern English
colonies. He burned their houses, he confiscated their goods. Nearly
one-half of the Acadians were thus sent forcibly away from homes which
were rightfully their own. Of the others, some escaped into the woods,
and finally into Canada. Many perished under this cruel treatment,
and nearly all fell from comparative ease and comfort into extreme
wretchedness.
For some years Nova Scotia was without any semblance of representative
government, contenting herself with the mild despotism of the Governor.
At length, when this arrangement ceased to give satisfaction, an
Assembly chosen by the people met in Halifax. Henceforth Nova Scotia
enjoyed the privilege of self-government, and her political history
runs for the most part parallel with that of Canada. [Sidenote: 1758
A.D.] She had the same prolonged conflict with the Governor in regard
to control of the revenue, the same grievance of a despotic family
compact, the same determination that the advisers of the Governor
should be responsible to the Assembly. The population was mixed
and inharmonious. There were Germans and Dutchmen; there were some
remnants of the Acadians who had been permitted to return; there were
American loyalists fleeing before triumphant republicanism; there were
the English who founded Halifax. Soon, however, the preponderance of
the English element was decisive, and Nova Scotia was spared those
envenomed dissensions which difference of race originated in the
Canadian provinces. At the close of her separate existence Nova Scotia
did not embrace with entire cordiality the project of confederation. A
strong minority opposed union. But wiser counsels in the end prevailed,
and this province, although not without hesitation, cast in her lot
with the others.
Nova Scotia has an area equal to rather more than one-half that of
Scotland, with a population of four hundred thousand persons; and as
nearly all of these are natives of the province, it does not appear
that many strangers have recently sought homes upon her soil. The
country is beautifully diversified with valley and with hill, and
bright with river and with lake. Much of the land is abundantly
fertile, and a careful and intelligent system of cultivation is
practised. Near the sea-board are vast treasures of coal and iron, of
copper and tin. No equal length of coast in any part of the world has
been more abundantly supplied with convenient harbours. In a distance
of one hundred miles there are no fewer than twelve harbours capable of
receiving the largest vessels in the British navy. The salmon rivers of
Acadie are second only to those of Scotland. The ocean-fishings are so
productive that Nova Scotia exports products of the sea to the annual
value of one million sterling.
New Brunswick is the latest born of the American settlements. For many
years after the conquest her fertile soil lay almost uncultivated,
and her population was nothing more than a few hundred fishermen. It
was at the close of the American War of Independence that the era
of progress in New Brunswick began. Across the frontier, in the New
England States, were many persons who had fought in the British ranks,
to perpetuate a system of government which their neighbours had agreed
to reject as tyrannical and injurious. These men were now regarded with
aversion, as traitors to the great cause. Finding life intolerable
amid surroundings so uncongenial, they shook from their feet the dust
of the revolted provinces, and moved northwards with their families
in quest of lands which were still ruled by monarchy. Five thousand
came in one year. They came so hastily, and with so little provision
for their own wants, that they must have perished, but for the timely
aid of the Government. [Sidenote: 1785 A.D.] But their presence added
largely to the importance of New Brunswick, which was now dissociated
from Nova Scotia, and erected into a separate province. At this time,
when she attained the dignity of an administration specially her own,
her population was only six thousand, scattered over an area nearly
equal to that of Scotland. But her soil was fertile; she abounded in
coal and in timber; her fisheries were inexhaustibly productive. Her
progress was not unworthy of the advantages with which Nature had
endowed her. In twenty years her inhabitants had doubled. In half a
century the struggling six thousand had increased to one hundred and
fifty thousand. To-day the population of New Brunswick exceeds three
hundred thousand. This rate of increase, although the numbers dealt
with are not large, is greatly higher than that of the United States
themselves. In the treaty by which England recognized the independence
of her thirteen colonies, the boundary of New Brunswick and of Maine
was fixed carelessly and unskilfully. It was defined to be, on the
extreme east, a certain river St. Croix. Westward from the source of
that river it was a line drawn thence to the highlands, dividing the
waters which flow to the Atlantic from those which flow to the St.
Lawrence. The records even of diplomacy would be searched in vain for
an agreement more fertile in misunderstanding. The negotiators were
absolutely ignorant of the country whose limits they were appointed
to fix. Especially were they unaware that the devout Frenchmen who
first settled there were accustomed to set up numerous crosses along
the coast, and that the name La Croix was in consequence given to
many rivers. In a few years it was found that the contracting powers
differed as to the identity of the river St. Croix. The Americans
applied the name to one stream, the British to another. That portion of
the controversy was settled in favour of Britain. But a more serious
difficulty now rose to view. The powers differed as to the locality of
the “highlands” designated by the treaty, and a “disputed territory” of
twelve thousand square miles lay between the competing boundary-lines.
For sixty years angry debate raged over this territory, and the strife
at one period came to the perilous verge of actual war. The people of
New Brunswick exercised the privilege of felling timber on the disputed
territory. [Sidenote: 1839 A.D.] The Governor of Maine sent an armed
force to expel the intruders, and called out ten thousand militiamen
to assert the rights of America. The Governor of New Brunswick replied
by sending two regiments, with a competent artillery. Nova Scotia
voted money and troops. But the time had passed when it was possible
for England and America to fight in so light a quarrel as this. Lord
Ashburton was sent out by England; Daniel Webster, on the part of
America, was appointed to meet him. [Sidenote: 1842 A.D.] The dispute
was easily settled by assigning seven thousand square miles to America
and five thousand to New Brunswick.
Newfoundland was the earliest of the British settlements on the
northern shores of America, and it was also, down to a late period,
the most imperfectly known. Even from the time of its discovery by
Cabot the value of its fisheries was perceived. English fishing-vessels
followed their calling on the Newfoundland coast during the reign of
Henry VIII., and the trade then begun was never interrupted. England
had always asserted proprietary rights over the island; but she did
not at first attempt to enforce exclusive possession of its shores,
and the ships of all European nations were at liberty to fish without
obstruction. But the vast importance of those fisheries became more
and more apparent. It was not merely or chiefly the liberal gain which
the traffic yielded. Of yet greater account was the circumstance that
the fisheries were a nursery in which was trained a race of hardy and
enterprising sailors, capable of upholding the honour of the English
flag. A century after Cabot’s voyage, the sovereignty of Newfoundland
and the exclusive right to fish on its shores were claimed for England;
and the claim was enforced by the confiscation of certain foreign
ships, which were peacefully returning home, laden with the gains of a
successful season.
About the middle of the seventeenth century there were upon the island
three hundred and fifty families, scattered in fifteen or sixteen petty
settlements. By this time the persons who resorted to the fisheries had
become sensitively alive to the preservation of the trade, and looked
with disfavour upon the increase of a permanent population. They were
able to obtain from the reckless Government of Charles II. an order
that the settlers should depart from the island; and the barbarous
edict was enforced by burning down the houses and wasting the fields of
the inhabitants.
It was not England alone to which the fisheries of Newfoundland were
of value. France was equally in earnest in her desire to gain control
of the coveted territory. [Sidenote: 1696 A.D.] She had one or two
small settlements, and she had been able by one happy stroke to gain
possession of the whole island. The triumph, however, was not enduring,
for England speedily reclaimed all that she had lost. [Sidenote: 1713
A.D.] By the treaty of Utrecht, when Louis XIV. was reduced by the
victorious arms of Marlborough to the last extremity of exhaustion,
France ceded to England all her claims upon Newfoundland; preserving
still, however, her right to participate in the fisheries.
Down almost to the close of last century Newfoundland was without
any proper government or administration of justice. England would
not recognize the island as a colony, but persisted in regarding it
as a mere fishery. The substitute for government was probably the
rudest device which has ever been adopted by any civilized country.
[Sidenote: 1690 A.D.] The master of the fishing-vessel which arrived
first on the coast was the “Admiral” for the season, charged with
the duty of maintaining order among the crews of the other ships,
governing the island from the deck of his vessel. The great industry of
Newfoundland--her fisheries--was always prosperous, and yielded large
gains to the mother-country. But her infant settlements struggled up to
strength and importance in the face of many discouragements, which were
negligently or wilfully inflicted.
The area of Newfoundland is equal to two-thirds that of England and
Wales, and her population is one hundred and fifty thousand. For
three hundred and fifty years after Cabot’s discovery the interior
of the island had never been explored by Europeans, and was wholly
unknown, excepting to a few Indian hunters. Only so recently as 1822 an
adventurous traveller accomplished for the first time a journey across
the island. The enterprise was attended with much difficulty and some
danger. The country was found to be rugged and broken. Innumerable
lakes and marshes opposed the traveller’s progress, and imposed
tedious deviations from his course. The journey occupied two months,
during which the traveller and his Indian companions were obliged to
subsist by the chase. No traces of cultivation were discovered, and no
inhabitants. The natives of Newfoundland were the only race of American
savages who persistently refused to enter into relations with the white
men. They maintained to the end a hostile attitude, and were shot down
and finally exterminated as opportunity offered.
Newfoundland has on her western coast, and along the valleys through
which her rivers flow, some tracts of rich land on which grain might
be grown. She has, too, much good pasturage; and although her winters
are long and severe, her brief summer has heat enough to ripen many
varieties of fruit and vegetables. She has coal, iron, and limestone.
Her savage inhabitants fed on the flesh of deer, which wandered in
vast herds in the woods; and they clothed themselves in the rich
furs of bears, wolves, beavers, and other wild creatures. The first
settlers found the noble Newfoundland dog living in a very debased
condition--hunting in packs, and manifesting tendencies not superior
to those of the wolf. But his higher nature made him amenable to
civilizing influences, and he quickly rose to be the trusted companion
and friend of man.