Lower Canada and Ancient France--Soldiers in Garrison at
Quebec--Canadian Volunteers--The Governor-General Viscount
Monck--Uniform in the United States--A Sleighing Party--Dinner
and Calico Ball.
I am afraid that in this Lower Canada just now we do but occupy the
position of a garrison. The aspect and the habit of the popular
mind are foreign, but they are not French any more--at least modern
French; rather are they of an Old-World France--of a France when
there was an ancient faith and a son of St. Louis; when there was a
white flag blazoned with fleur-de-lys, and a priesthood dominant--a
France loyal, chivalrous, and bigoted, without knowledge and
without railways, content to stand on ancient paths, and hating
reform and active mutation. What a change has occurred since the
old Bourbon struck the medal with its inscription, “Francia in Novo
Orbe Victrix, Kebeca Liberata. 1690.” There may be many in Canada
who cannot forget their origin and their race, kept alive in their
memories by a common tongue, ancient traditions, and antipathy
to a foreign rule exercised from a far-off land, and sometimes
manifested by rude, rough instruments, and by a mechanism of force;
but it would be well for them to remember that, whilst France
has passed through many convulsions, Canada has been saved from
external and internal foes, with the exception of the American
invasion in 1812, and the troubles caused by her own disaffected
people at a later period, whilst as an appanage of France she must
have undergone incessant anxieties and assaults. She has been
spared the agonies of the Revolution, the exhaustive glories and
collapse of the Empire, the reaction of the “Desired one”--the
consequences of the convulsions of 1830, of 1848, of 1852. Great
Britain, too, is bound to remember that she is dealing with a
brave and ancient race, delivered to her rule under treaty, who
have, on the whole, resisted many temptations, and preserved a
firm attachment to her government in the face of an aggressive and
prosperous Republic. Our soldiers must be taught to respect the
people of Canada as their equals and fellow-subjects--a hard lesson
perhaps for imperious islanders, but not the less necessary to
learn, if we would preserve their attachment and our territories.
In justice to them I must say that the 60th Rifles gave no occasion
to the people to complain, though Quebec is not destitute of its
“rough” fellows, and of provocations; and that during my stay in
Canada I only heard of one instance in which officers or men could
be accused of indiscretion or want of respect for the people.
Whiskey is shockingly cheap and atrociously bad, and public-houses
are only too numerous, so that the base upon which the evils which
afflict the soldier rest is not wanting here any more than at home.
A garrison rule must be very galling unless the officers and men
are minded to behave themselves, and it would cause me regret if
my observations of some regrettable circumstances in that relation
were confirmed by larger experience. Of course the peasants
are provoking; they are heavy and coarse, relying on their _vis
inertiæ_, and aggressively passive. The other day, for instance,
when Lord Monck was leading his sleigh party, several country
carts came down from the opposite direction in the deep track,
and it was with the utmost difficulty the driver of our party
avoided collision with them, as the habitans would not get out of
the way. Still one does not like to see young Greenhorn of the
Invincibles flicking up the bourgeoisie with his whip as he whisks
round a corner, for not getting out of the way. A gallant captain
of volunteer artillery complained greatly of matters of this kind,
but he also expressed very unreasonable jealousy respecting the
appointment of English officers to superintend, and organise, and
command the force.
_February 11th._--Still more snow falling, and the cold sharper
than ever. Visited the Parliament Houses and Library, of which
more hereafter; saw the Ursuline Chapel; called on Mr. Cartier,
Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Cauchon, and Mr. Galt, members of the Ministry,
to whom I had introductions. In the evening dined with the
Governor-General and Lady Monck at Government House. Although His
Excellency has been but a short time in the country, and succeeded
an able, energetic man, he has already gained the confidence of
men difficult to win, and gives fair promise of administering the
affairs of the provinces with sagacity and vigour. It occurred to
me, considering the position of Canada, that, to escape from the
consequences of divided views and command, it would be desirable to
have the military and civil administration in one hand at critical
junctures, or to send out a soldier as Governor-General. To be a
good soldier one must be gifted with the faculties which constitute
a good ruler, and the civilian can only possess those same
qualities minus the special knowledge of the professional military
man. Lord Monck, however, has applied himself with ability and zeal
to the consideration of the provincial defences.
The table of the Canadian Viceroy was elegant and hospitable;
and it was a relief to the eye to catch such semblance of state
as was afforded by the scarlet uniforms and gold lace of the
aides-de-camp, military secretary, and others of His Excellency’s
household, who were at dinner, after the long monotony of American
black. Not but that now and then uniform was creeping in at private
dinner-tables in the States also, principally on the persons of
foreign-born officers. But it is, or rather it was, opposed to the
custom of the country.
I remember Mr. Seward telling me one day, when we met in
Washington, that it was contrary to etiquette for a foreigner to
wear the livery of his royal master or mistress in the United
States. Soon afterwards I saw at table a colonel in full uniform
of the French infantry; but, on inquiry, I learned he was in
command of a New York regiment composed of his exiled compatriots;
and a very gallant regiment--in spite of its Anglophobia, loudly
expressed during the Trent affair--it proved itself. Even here let
me tell a story. When the colonel in question, who had been for
many years a journalist in New York, appeared in Washington, after
getting his commission, he repaired to the house of an astute and
witty diplomatist, with whom he had an ancient intimacy. “Ah! my
dear colonel,” exclaimed the Minister, “by accepting the command
of your regiment, you have cut short the friendship of ten years.”
“How is that, Excellence?” “Why, how can we ever meet again as of
yore? I cannot dine with you; for how dare I present myself in your
camp?” “Why not, Excellence?” “Why, my dear friend, do you think
I could ever get my hair dressed well enough to please the five
hundred French coiffeurs in your regiment?” “But, at all events,
my dear Minister, I can come and dine with you!” “Impossible, my
friend! How could I venture to ask a man to dinner who has under
his orders five hundred French cooks!”
More snow. The landlord is rather impressed with the news that
the Union army is positively about to march on Richmond at once;
and, indeed, it is only the sceptical mind, with some knowledge
of facts, that can resist the effect of the constant iteration of
falsehoods in the American papers, which never loses its influence
on the American mind.
_February 12th._--Notwithstanding a slight fall of white rain, Lord
Monck had a sleighing party to Lorette, an Indian village, where we
repaired in great force, ladies and gentlemen, furred and muffed,
and enjoyed ourselves greatly, lunching in a very pleasant rustic
sort of auberge, half-buried in the snow. These sleighing parties
render a Canadian winter tolerable, and there is a certain degree
of “chance of being lost” which commends them to the adventurous
and forms a theme for many small stories. On our coming home, we
had nigh experienced one of these mild adventures, for the snow
fell again and obscured the face of the country--a very white and
well-washed face indeed, with no remarkable features in it,--and it
was by chance we got on the track at a certain turn in the road,
which was only marked out by the summits of the submerged fences
and hedges peering over the drift, and looking uncommonly like each
other all over the country. This little experience of travel rather
dispelled notions I had of the great practicability of a winter
campaign, for it would be quite impossible to move guns and troops
with _certainty_ in a country where all movements depended on the
snow not falling, in opposition to the probability that it would do
so.
The officers of the 60th Rifles entertained His Excellency at
dinner in the evening, and I had the honour of being invited to
meet him. The entertainment took place in the mess-room of the
citadel. Little more than a century ago, M. de Montcalm may have
been dining on the same spot with the regiment of Musketeers of
Guienne. Who may dine there in 1962? The evening was ended at
a “calico” ball for the benefit of the poor of the city, which
was attended by the townspeople only, the ladies being dressed
in calico, which was afterwards, I believe, with the receipts,
distributed to the indigent.
_February 13th._--Accompanied Mr. Bernard, who kindly placed his
knowledge and good offices at my disposal, to see some of the lions
of the city; and, thus ably conducted, I visited the Parliament
Houses, the Library, the Ursuline Convent, the Rink, and many other
places; I dined in the evening with Mr. Galt, the Finance Minister,
whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Washington some time before.
Mr. Cartier, the head of the Administration, and nearly all the
Ministers, were present. Afterwards attended a ball at Mr.
Cauchon’s, one of Mr. Galt’s colleagues, which was an assemblage of
the _élite_ of the old French society of the place. My companions
left me to-day for England, where one was anxious to take his
seat on the opening of Parliament, and the other went with him, I
suppose, for companionship’s sake.