Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: THE HON. W. L. MACKENZIE KING, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA]
CANADA
By SIR J. G. BOURINOT
K.C.M.G., LL.D., LIT.D.
SOMETIME CLERK OF THE CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS;
HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA;
DOCTEUR-ÈS-LETTRES OF LAVAL UNIVERSITY;
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
NEW AND REVISED EDITION, WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTER
BY WILLIAM H. INGRAM, B.A.
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE
[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. For its Index, a page number has been placed
only at the start of that section. In the HTML version of this book,
page numbers are placed in the left margin.]
First Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897
Second Impression . . . . . . . . . . . 1901
Second Edition (Third Impression) . . . 1908
Third Edition (Fourth Impression) . . . 1922
Copyright by T. Fisher Unwin, 1897
(for Great Britain)
Copyright by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897
(For the United States of America).
I DEDICATE THIS STORY OF CANADA
BY PERMISSION
TO
HER EXCELLENCY THE COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN
WHO HAS WON THE ESTEEM AND AFFECTION OF ALL CLASSES
OF THE CANADIAN PEOPLE BY THE EARNESTNESS WITH
WHICH SHE HAS IDENTIFIED HERSELF WITH
EVERY MOVEMENT AFFECTING THE SOCIAL
AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS OF
THE NEW DOMINION
{v}
PREFATORY NOTE
In writing this story of Canada I have not been able to do more, within
the limited space at my command, than briefly review those events which
have exercised the most influence on the national development of the
Dominion of Canada from the memorable days bold French adventurers made
their first attempts at settlement on the banks of the beautiful basin
of the Annapolis, and on the picturesque heights of Quebec, down to the
establishment of a Confederation which extends from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean. Whilst the narrative of the French régime, with its
many dramatic episodes, necessarily occupies a large part of this
story, I have not allowed myself to forget the importance that must be
attached to the development of institutions of government and their
effect on the social, intellectual, and material conditions of the
people since the beginning of the English régime. Though this story,
strictly speaking, ends with the successful accomplishment of the
federal union of all the provinces in 1873, when Prince Edward Island
became one of its members, I have deemed it necessary to refer briefly
to those events which have {vi} happened since that time--the second
half-breed rebellion of 1885, for instance--and have had much effect on
the national spirit of the people. I endeavour to interest my reader
in the public acts of those eminent men whose names stand out most
prominently on the pages of history, and have made the deepest impress
on the fortunes and institutions of the Dominion. In the performance
of this task I have always consulted original authorities, but have not
attempted to go into any historical details except those which are
absolutely necessary to the intelligent understanding of the great
events and men of Canadian annals. I have not entered into the
intrigues and conflicts which have been so bitter and frequent during
the operation of parliamentary government in a country where
politicians are so numerous, and statesmanship is so often hampered and
government injuriously affected by the selfish interests of party, but
have simply given the conspicuous and dominant results of political
action since the concession of representative institutions to the
provinces of British North America. A chapter is devoted, at the close
of the historical narrative, to a very brief review of the intellectual
and material development of the country, and of the nature of its
institutions of government. A survey is also given of the customs and
conditions of the French Canadian people, so that the reader outside of
the Dominion may have some conception of their institutions and of
their influence on the political, social, and intellectual life of a
Dominion, of whose population they form so important and influential an
element. {vii} The illustrations are numerous, and have been carefully
selected from various sources, not accessible to the majority of
students, with the object, not simply of pleasing the general reader,
but rather of elucidating the historical narrative. A bibliographical
note has also been added of those authorities which the author has
consulted in writing this story, and to which the reader, who wishes to
pursue the subject further, may most advantageously refer.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, OTTAWA,
_Dominion Day, 1896_.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE.
Owing to the passing of Sir John Bourinot, the revisions necessary to
bring this work up to date had to be entrusted to another hand.
Accordingly, Mr. William H. Ingram has kindly undertaken the task, and
has contributed the very judiciously selected information now embodied
in Chapter XXX. on the recent development of Canada. Chapter XXVIII.
by Mr. Edward Porritt, author of _Sixty Years of Protection in Canada_,
has also been included, as being indicative of the history of the time
he describes. Mr. Ingram has also made other revisions of considerable
value.
1, ADELPHI TERRACE.
_March, 1922_.
{ix}
CONTENTS
PAGE
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
I.
INTRODUCTION--THE CANADIAN DOMINION FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN 1
II.
THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN CANADA (1497-1525) . . . . . . . 19
III.
A BRETON SAILOR DISCOVERS CANADA AND ITS GREAT RIVER
(1534-1536) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
IV.
FROM CARTIER TO DE MONTS (1540-1603) . . . . . . . . . . . 44
V.
THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF ACADIA AND THE FOUNDATION
OF PORT ROYAL (1604-1614) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
VI.
SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE
(1608-1635) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
VII.
GENTLEMEN-ADVENTURERS IN ACADIA (1614-1677) . . . . . . . 92
{x}
VIII.
THE CANADIAN INDIANS AND THE IROQUOIS: THEIR
ORGANISATION, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS . . . . . . . . . . 110
IX.
CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS--VILLE-MARIE--MARTYRED
MISSIONARIES--VICTORIOUS IROQUOIS--HAPLESS HURONS
(1635-1652) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
X.
YEARS OF GLOOM--THE KING COMES TO THE RESCUE OF
CANADA--THE IROQUOIS HUMBLED (1652-1667) . . . . . . . . 146
XI.
CANADA AS A ROYAL PROVINCE--CHURCH AND STATE (1663-1759) 156
XII.
THE PERIOD OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY--PRIESTS,
FUR-TRADERS, AND _Coureurs de Bois_ IN THE WEST
(1634-1687) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
XIII.
THE PERIOD OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY--FRANCE IN
THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI (1672-1687) . . . . . . . 177
XIV.
CANADA AND ACADIA--FROM FRONTENAC TO THE TREATY
OF UTRECHT (1672-1713) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
XV.
ACADIA AND ÎLE ROYALE--FROM THE TREATY OF UTRECHT TO
THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1713-1748) . . . . . . . 210
XVI.
THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS OF
NORTH AMERICA--PRELUDE (1748-1756) . . . . . . . . . . . 221
{xi}
XVII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE GREAT VALLEYS OF NORTH
AMERICA--ENGLISH REVERSES AND FRENCH VICTORIES--FALL
OF LOUISBOURG AND FORT DUQUESNE (1756-1758) . . . . . . 237
XVIII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR DOMINION IN THE VALLEY OF THE
ST. LAWRENCE--CANADA IS WON BY WOLFE ON THE PLAINS
OF ABRAHAM (1759-1763) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
XIX.
A PERIOD OF TRANSITION--PONTIAC'S WAR--THE QUEBEC
ACT (1760-1774) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
XX.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION--INVASION OF CANADA--DEATH
OF MONTGOMERY--PEACE (1774-1783) . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
XXI.
COMING OF THE LOYALISTS (1783-1791) . . . . . . . . . . . 291
XXII.
FOUNDATION OF NEW PROVINCES--ESTABLISHMENT OF
REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS (1792-1812) . . . . . . . . 302
XXIII.
THE WAR OF 1812-1815--PATRIOTISM OF THE CANADIANS . . . . 316
XXIV.
POLITICAL STRIFE AND REBELLION (1815-1840) . . . . . . . . 338
XXV.
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT AND ITS RESULTS--FEDERAL
UNION--RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE UNITED
STATES (1839-1867) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
{xii}
XXVI.
END OF THE RULE OF FUR TRADERS--ACQUISITION OF THE
NORTHWEST--FORMATION OF MANITOBA--RIEL'S
REBELLIONS--THE INDIANS (1670-1885) . . . . . . . . . . 380
XXVII.
BRITISH COLUMBIA AND PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ENTER THE
UNION--NATIONAL EVENTS SINCE 1867--MAKERS OF THE
DOMINION (1867-1891) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
XXVIII.
CANADA AS A NATION--MATERIAL AND INTELLECTUAL
DEVELOPMENT--POLITICAL RIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
XXIX.
FRENCH CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
XXX.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
{xiii}
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[Transcriber's note: The page numbers below are those in the original
book. However, in this e-book, to avoid the splitting of paragraphs,
the illustrations may have been moved to preceding or following pages.]
PAGE
THE HON. W. L. MACKENZIE KING . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
_Courtesy "Canada."_
VIEW OF CAPE TRINITY ON THE LAURENTIAN RANGE . . . . . . . 9
_From a photograph by Topley, Ottawa._
ROCKY MOUNTAINS AT DONALD, BRITISH COLUMBIA . . . . . . . 13
_From Sir W. Van Horne's Collection of
B. C. photographs._
UPPER END OF FRASER CAÑON, BRITISH COLUMBIA . . . . . . . 15
_Ibid._
SKETCH OF JUAN DE LA COSA'S MAP, A.D. 1500 . . . . . . . . 25
_From Dr. S. E. Dawson's "Cabot Voyages," in
Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., 1894._
* To explain these dates it is necessary to note that Champlain lived
for years in one of the buildings of the Fort of Saint Louis which he
first erected, and the name château is often applied to that structure;
but the château, properly so-called, was not commenced until 1647, and
it as well as its successors was within the limits of the fort. It was
demolished in 1694 by Governor Frontenac, who rebuilt it on the
original foundations, and it was this castle which, in a remodelled and
enlarged form, under the English régime, lasted until 1834.
{xiv}
PORTRAIT OF JACQUES CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
_From B. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-Français"
(Montreal, 1882-'84)._
ANCIENT HOCHELAGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
_From Ramusio's "Navigationi e Viaggi" (Venice, 1565)._
THE "DAUPHIN MAP" OF CANADA, _circa_ 1543,
SHOWING CARTIER'S DISCOVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
_From collection of maps in Parliamentary Library at
Ottawa._
PLAN OF PORT ROYAL IN ACADIA IN 1605 . . . . . . . . . . . 57
_From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. of 1613._
CHAMPLAIN'S PORTRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
_From B. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-Français."_
HABITATION DE QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
_From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. of 1613._
CHAMPLAIN'S LOST ASTROLABE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
_From sketch by A. J. Russell, of Ottawa, 1879._
ONONDAGA FORT IN THE IROQUOIS COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . 83
_From Champlain's works, rare Paris ed. of 1613._
INDIAN COSTUMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
_From Lafitau's "Moeurs des Sauvages" (Paris, 1724)._
IROQUOIS LONG HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
_From Morgan's "Houses and Home Life of the
Aborigines" (Washington, 1881)._
PORTRAIT OF MARIE GUYARD (MÈRE MARIE DE L'INCARNATION) . . 131
_From S. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-Français."_
PORTRAIT OF MAISONNEUVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
_Ibid._
PORTRAIT OF LAVAL, FIRST CANADIAN BISHOP . . . . . . . . . 159
_Ibid._
{xv}
CARD ISSUE (PAPER MONEY) OF 1729, FOR 12 LIVRES . . . . . 162
_From Breton's "Illustrated History of Coins and
Tokens Relating to Canada" (Montreal, 1892)._
CANADIAN FIFTEEN SOL PIECE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
_Ibid._
CANADIAN TRAPPER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
_From La Pothérie's "Histoire de l'Amérique
Septentrionale" (Paris, 1753)._
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF CAVELIER DE LA SALLE . . . . . . 185
_B. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-Francais."_
FRONTENAC, FROM HÉBERT'S STATUE AT QUEBEC . . . . . . . . 193
_From Dr. Stewart's collection of Quebec photographs._
CAPTURE OF FORT NELSON IN HUDSON BAY, BY THE FRENCH . . . 205
_From La Pothérie's "Histoire de l'Amérique
Septentrionale."_
PORTRAIT OF CHEVALIER D'IBERVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
_From a portrait in Margry's "Découvertes et
établissements des François dans le Sud de l'Amérique
Septentrionale" (Paris, 1876-'83)._
VIEW OF LOUISBOURG IN 1731 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
_From a sketch in the Paris Archives._
MAP OF FRENCH FORTS IN AMERICA, 1750-60 . . . . . . . . . 221
_From Bourinot's "Cape Breton and its Memorials of
the French Régime" (Montreal, 1891)._
PORTRAIT OF MONTCALM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
_From B. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-Français."_
LOUISBOURG MEDALS OF 1758 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
_From Bourinot's "Cape Breton," etc._
{xvi}
PORTRAIT OF WOLFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
_From print in "A Complete History of the Late War,"
etc. (London and Dublin, 1774), by Wright._
PLAN OF OPERATIONS AT SIEGE OF QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . 251
_Made from a more extended plan in "The Universal
Magazine" (London, Dec., 1859)._
MONTCALM AND WOLFE MONUMENT AT QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . 261
_From Dr. Stewart's collection of Quebec photographs._
VIEW OF QUEBEC IN 1760 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
_From "The Universal Magazine" (London, 1760)._
VIEW OF MONTREAL IN 1760 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
_Ibid._
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOSEPH BRANT (THAYENDANEGEA) . . 299
_From Stone's "Life of Joseph Brant," original ed.
(New York, 1838)._
PRESCOTT GATE AND BISHOP'S PALACE IN 1800 . . . . . . . . 307
_From a sketch by A. J. Russell in Hawkins's
"Pictures of Quebec."_
PORTRAIT OF LIEUT.-GENERAL SIMCOE . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
_From Dr. Scadding's "Toronto of Old" (Toronto, 1873)._
PORTRAIT OF MAJ.-GENERAL BROCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
_From a picture in possession of J. A. Macdonell, Esq.,
of Alexandria, Ontario._
PORTRAIT OF COLONEL DE SALABERRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
_From Fennings Taylor's "Portraits of British
Americans" (W. Notman, Montreal, 1865-'67)._
MONUMENT AT LUNDY'S LANE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
_From a photograph through courtesy of Rev. Canon
Bull, Niagara South, Ont._
{xvii}
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS J. PAPINEAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
_From Fennings Taylor's "Portraits of British
Americans."_
PORTRAIT OF BISHOP STRACHAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
_Ibid._
PORTRAIT OF W. LYON MACKENZIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
_From C. Lindsey's "Life and Times of W. L. Mackenzie"
(Toronto, 1863)._
PORTRAIT OF JUDGE HALIBURTON, AUTHOR OF "THE CLOCK-MAKER" 359
_From a portrait given to author by Mr. F. Blake
Crofton of Legislative Library, Halifax, N. S._
PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH HOWE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
_From Fennings Taylor's "Portraits of British
Americans."_
PORTRAIT OF ROBERT BALDWIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
_Ibid._
PORTRAIT OF L. H. LAFONTAINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
_Ibid._
PORTRAIT OF L. A. WILMOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
_From Lathern's "Biographical Sketch of Judge Wilmot"
(Toronto, 1881)._
FORT GARRY AND A RED RIVER STEAMER IN 1870 . . . . . . . . 389
_From A. J. Russell's "Red River Country" (Montreal,
1870)._
PORTRAIT OF LIEUT.-COLONEL WILLIAMS . . . . . . . . . . . 399
_From a photograph by Topley, Ottawa._
INDIAN CARVED POSTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA . . . . . . . . . 401
_From photograph by Dr. Dawson, C.M.G., Director of
Geological Survey of Canada._
PORTRAIT OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
_From L. J. Taché's "Canadian Portrait Gallery"
(Montreal, 1890-'93)._
{xviii}
PORTRAIT OF HON. GEORGE BROWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
_From photograph._
PORTRAIT OF SIR GEORGE E. CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
_From B. Sulte's "Histoire des Canadiens-français."_
SIR WILFRID LAURIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
_From a photograph by Ernest H. Mills._
OLD PARLIAMENT BUILDING AT OTTAWA . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
_From a photograph by Topley, Ottawa._
QUEBEC IN 1896 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
_From Dr. Stewart's collection of Quebec photographs._
STREET SCENE IN A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE NEAR QUEBEC . . 437
_Ibid._
OLD CHURCH AT BONNE STE. ANNE, WHERE MIRACLES WERE . . . . 441
PERFORMED
_Ibid._
A CANADIAN CALECHE OF OLD TIMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
_From Weld's "Travels in North America" (London, 1799)._
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS FRECHETTE, THE FRENCH CANADIAN POET . . 449
_From L. J. Taché's "Canadian Portrait Gallery."_
A CHARACTERISTIC SNAPSHOT OF SIR ROBERT BORDEN . . . . . . 456
_Courtesy "Central News."_
SILVER MINES AT COBALT, ONTARIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
_Courtesy C.P.R._
NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, OTTAWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
_Courtesy C.P.R._
MAP OF CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . at end
[Transcriber's note: missing from book.]
{xix}
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Jacques Cartier's _Voyages_, in English, by Joseph Pope (Ottawa, 1889),
and H. B. Stephens (Montreal, 1891); in French, by N. E. Dionne
(Quebec, 1891); Toilon de Longrais (Rennes, France), H. Michelant and
E. Ramé (Paris, 1867). L'Escarbot's _New France_, in French, Tross's
ed. (Paris, 1866), which contains an account also of Cartier's first
voyage. Sagard's _History of Canada_, in French, Tross's ed. (Paris,
1866). Champlain's works, in French, Laverdiere's ed. (Quebec, 1870);
Prince Society's English ed. (Boston, 1878-80). Lafitau's _Customs of
the Savages_, in French (Paris, 1724). Charlevoix's _History of New
France_, in French (Paris, 1744); Shea's English version (New York,
1866). _Jesuit Relations_, in French (Quebec ed., 1858). Ferland's
_Course of Canadian History_, in French (Quebec, 1861-1865). Garneau's
_History of Canada_, in French (Montreal, 1882). Sulte's _French
Canadians_, in French (Montreal, 1882-84). F. Parkman's series of
histories of French Régime, viz.; _Pioneers of France in the New World;
The Jesuits in North America; The old Régime; Frontenac; The Discovery
of the Great West; A Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm and Wolfe;
Conspiracy of Pontiac_ (Boston, 1865-1884). Justin Winsor's _From
Cartier to Frontenac_ (Boston, 1894). Hannay's _Acadia_ (St. John, N.
B., 1870). W. Kingsford's _History of Canada_, 8 vols. so far (Toronto
and London, 1887-1896), the eighth volume on the war of 1812 being
especially valuable. Bourinot's "Cape Breton and its Memorials of the
French Régime," _Trans. Roy. Soc. Can._, vol. ix, and separate ed.
(Montreal, 1891). Casgrain's _Montcalm and Lévis_, in French (Quebec,
1891). Haliburton's _Nova Scotia_ (Halifax, 1829). Murdoch's _Nova
Scotia_ (Halifax, 1865-67). Campbell's _Nova Scotia_ (Halifax, 1873).
Campbell's _Prince Edward Island_ (Charlottetown, 1875). Lord Durham's
_Report_, 1839. Christie's _History of Lower Canada_ (Quebec,
1848-1855). Dent's _Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion_ (Toronto,
1855). Lindsey's _W. Lyon Mackenzie_ (Toronto, 1873). Dent's _Canada
Since the Union of 1841_ (Toronto, 1880-81). Turcotte's _Canada under
the Union_, in French (Quebec, 1871). Bourinot's _Manual of
Constitutional History_ (Montreal, 1888), "Federal Government in
Canada" (_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, {xx} Baltimore, 1889), and
_How Canada is Governed_ (Toronto, 1895). Withrow's _Popular History
of Canada_ (Toronto, 1888). MacMullen's _History of Canada_
(Brockville, 1892). Begg's _History of the Northwest_ (Toronto, 1804).
Canniff's _History of Ontario_ (Toronto, 1872). Egerton Ryerson's
_Loyalists of America_ (Toronto, 1880). Mrs. Edgar's _Ten Years of
Upper Canada in Peace and War_ (Toronto, 1890). Porritt's _Sixty Years
of Protection in Canada_ (London, 1907). H. E. Egerton and W. L.
Grant's _Canadian Constitutional Development_ (London, 1907). G. R.
Parkin's _Sir John A. Macdonald_ (London, 1909). B. Home's _Canada_
(London, 1911). W. Maxwell's _Canada of To-Day_ (London, 1911). C. L.
Thomson's _Short History of Canada_ (London, 1911). W. L. Griffith's
_The Dominion of Canada_ (London, 1911). A. G. Bradley's _Canada_
(London, 1912). Arthur G. Doughty's _History of Canada_ (_Year Book_)
(Ottawa, 1913). J. A. T. Lloyd's _The Real Canadian_ (London, 1913).
E. L. Marsh's _The Story of Canada_ (London, 1913). J. Munro's _Canada
1535 to Present Day_ (London, 1913). A. Shortland and A. G. Doughty's
_Canada and its Provinces_ (Toronto, 1913). W. L. Grant's _High School
History of Canada_ (Toronto, 1914). G. Bryce's _Short History of the
Canadian People_ (London, 1914). D. W. Oates's _Canada To-day and
Yesterday_ (London, 1914). F. Fairfield's _Canada_ (London, 1914).
Sir C. Tupper's _Political Reminiscences_ (London, 1914). Morang's
_Makers of Canada_ (Toronto, 1917). Sir Thomas White's _The Story of
Canada's War Finance_ (Montreal, 1921). Prof. Skelton's _Life of Sir
Wilfrid Laurier_ (Toronto, 1922). And _Review of Historical
Publications Relating to Canada_ by the University of Toronto.
For a full bibliography of archives, maps, essays, and books relating
to the periods covered by the Story of Canada, and used by the writer,
see appendix to his "Cape Breton and its Memorials," in which all
authorities bearing on the Norse, Cabot, and other early voyages are
cited. Also, appendix to same author's "Parliamentary Government in
Canada" (_Trans. Roy. Soc. Can._, vol. xi., and American Hist. Ass.
Report, Washington, 1891). Also his "Canada's Intellectual Strength
and Weakness" (_Trans. Roy. Soc. Can._, vol. xi, and separate volume,
Montreal, 1891). Also, Winsor's _Narrative_ and _Critical History of
America_ (Boston, 1886-89).
{1}
THE STORY OF CANADA.
I.
INTRODUCTION.
THE CANADIAN DOMINION FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN.
The view from the spacious terrace on the verge of the cliffs of
Quebec, the ancient capital of Canada, cannot fail to impress the
imagination of the statesman or student versed in the history of the
American continent, as well as delight the eye of the lover of the
picturesque. Below the heights, to whose rocks and buildings cling so
many memories of the past, flows the St. Lawrence, the great river of
Canada, bearing to the Atlantic the waters of the numerous lakes and
streams of the valley which was first discovered and explored by
France, and in which her statesmen saw the elements of empire. We see
the tinned roofs, spires and crosses of quaint churches, hospitals and
convents, narrow streets winding among the rocks, black-robed priests
and {2} sombre nuns, _habitans_ in homespun from the neighbouring
villages, modest gambrel-roofed houses of the past crowded almost out
of sight by obtrusive lofty structures of the present, the massive
buildings of the famous seminary and university which bear the name of
Laval, the first great bishop of that Church which has always dominated
French Canada. Not far from the edge of the terrace stands a monument
on which are inscribed the names of Montcalm and Wolfe, enemies in life
but united in death and fame. Directly below is the market which
recalls the name of Champlain, the founder of Quebec, and his first
Canadian home at the margin of the river. On the same historic ground
we see the high-peaked roof and antique spire of the curious old
church, Notre-Dame des Victoires, which was first built to commemorate
the repulse of an English fleet two centuries ago. Away beyond, to the
left, we catch a glimpse of the meadows and cottages of the beautiful
Isle of Orleans, and directly across the river are the rocky hills
covered with the buildings of the town, which recalls the services of
Lévis, whose fame as a soldier is hardly overshadowed by that of
Montcalm. The Union-jack floats on the tall staff of the citadel which
crowns the summit of Cape Diamond, but English voices are lost amid
those of a people who still speak the language of France.
As we recall the story of these heights, we can see passing before us a
picturesque procession: Sailors from the home of maritime enterprise on
the Breton and Biscayan coasts, Indian warriors in their paint and
savage finery, gentlemen-adventurers and pioneers, {3} rovers of the
forest and river, statesmen and soldiers of high ambition, gentle and
cultured women who gave up their lives to alleviate suffering and teach
the young, missionaries devoted to a faith for which many have died.
In the famous old castle of Saint Louis,[1] long since levelled to the
ground--whose foundations are beneath a part of this very
terrace--statesmen feasted and dreamt of a French Empire in North
America. Then the French dominion passed away with the fall of Quebec,
and the old English colonies were at last relieved from that pressure
which had confined them so long to the Atlantic coast, and enabled to
become free commonwealths with great possibilities of development
before them. Yet, while England lost so much in America by the War of
Independence, there still remained to her a vast northern territory,
stretching far to the east and west from Quebec, and containing all the
rudiments of national life--
"The raw materials of a State,
Its muscle and its mind."
A century later than that Treaty of Paris which was signed in the
palace of Versailles, and ceded Canada finally to England, the
statesmen of the provinces of this northern territory, which was still
a British possession,--statesmen of French as well as English
Canada--assembled in an old building of this same city, so rich in
memories of old France, {4} and took the first steps towards the
establishment of that Dominion, which, since then, has reached the
Pacific shores.
It is the story of this Canadian Dominion, of its founders, explorers,
missionaries, soldiers, and statesmen, that I shall attempt to relate
briefly in the following pages, from the day the Breton sailor ascended
the St. Lawrence to Hochelaga until the formation of the confederation,
which united the people of two distinct nationalities and extends over
so wide a region--so far beyond the Acadia and Canada which France once
called her own. But that the story may be more intelligible from the
beginning, it is necessary to give a bird's-eye view of the country,
whose history is contemporaneous with that of the United States, and
whose territorial area from Cape Breton to Vancouver--the sentinel
islands of the Atlantic and Pacific approaches--is hardly inferior to
that of the federal republic.
Although the population of Canada at present does not exceed nine
millions of souls, the country has, within a few years, made great
strides in the path of national development, and fairly takes a place
of considerable importance among those nations whose stories have been
already told; whose history goes back to centuries when the Laurentian
Hills, those rocks of primeval times, looked down on an unbroken
wilderness of forest and stretches of silent river. If we treat the
subject from a strictly historical point of view, the confederation of
provinces and territories comprised within the Dominion may be most
conveniently grouped into {5} several distinct divisions. Geographers
divide the whole country lying between the two oceans into three
well-defined regions: 1. The Eastern, extending from the Atlantic to
the head of Lake Superior. 2. The Central, stretching across the
prairies and plains to the base of the Rocky Mountains. 3. The
Western, comprising that sea of mountains which at last unites with the
waters of the Pacific. For the purposes of this narrative, however,
the Eastern and largest division--also the oldest historically--must be
separated into two distinct divisions, known as Acadia and Canada in
the early annals of America.
The first division of the Eastern region now comprises the provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, which, formerly,
with a large portion of the State of Maine, were best known as
Acadie,[2] a memorial of the Indian occupation before the French
régime. These provinces are indented by noble harbours and bays, and
many deep rivers connect the sea-board with the interior. They form
the western and southern boundaries of that great gulf or eastern
portal of Canada, which maritime adventurers explored from the earliest
period of which we have any record. Ridges of the Appalachian range
stretch from New England to {6} the east of these Acadian provinces,
giving picturesque features to a generally undulating surface, and find
their boldest expression in the northern region of the island of Cape
Breton. The peninsula of Nova Scotia is connected with the
neighbouring province of New Brunswick by a narrow isthmus, on one side
of which the great tides of the Bay of Fundy tumultuously beat, and is
separated by a very romantic strait from the island of Cape Breton.
Both this isthmus and island, we shall see in the course of this
narrative, played important parts in the struggle between France and
England for dominion in America. This Acadian division possesses large
tracts of fertile lands, and valuable mines of coal and other minerals.
In the richest district of the peninsula of Nova Scotia were the
thatch-roofed villages of those Acadian farmers whose sad story has
been told in matchless verse by a New England poet, and whose language
can still be heard throughout the land they loved, and to which some of
them returned after years of exile. The inexhaustible fisheries of the
Gulf, whose waters wash their shores, centuries ago attracted fleets of
adventurous sailors from the Atlantic coast of Europe, and led to the
discovery of Canada and the St. Lawrence. It was with the view of
protecting these fisheries, and guarding the great entrance to New
France, that the French raised on the southeastern shores of Cape
Breton the fortress of Louisbourg, the ruins of which now alone remain
to tell of their ambition and enterprise.
Leaving Acadia, we come to the provinces which {7} are watered by the
St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, extending from the Gulf to the head
of Lake Superior, and finding their northern limits in the waters of
Hudson's Bay. The name of Canada appears to be also a memorial of the
Indian nations that once occupied the region between the Ottawa and
Saguenay rivers. This name, meaning a large village or town in one of
the dialects of the Huron-Iroquois tongue, was applied, in the first
half of the sixteenth century, to a district in the neighbourhood of
the Indian town of Stadacona, which stood on the site of the present
city of Quebec. In the days of French occupation the name was more
generally used than New France, and sometimes extended to the country
now comprised in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, or, in other
words, to the whole region from the Gulf to the head of Lake Superior.
Finally, it was adopted as the most appropriate designation for the new
Dominion that made a step toward national life in 1867.
The most important feature of this historic country is the remarkable
natural highway which has given form and life to the growing nation by
its side--a river famous in the history of exploration and war--a river
which has never-failing reservoirs in those great lakes which occupy a
basin larger than Great Britain--a river noted for its long stretch of
navigable waters, its many rapids, and its unequalled Falls of Niagara,
around all of which man's enterprise and skill have constructed a
system of canals to give the west a continuous navigation from Lake
Superior to the ocean for over two thousand miles. {8} The Laurentian
Hills--"the nucleus of the North American continent"--reach from
inhospitable, rock-bound Labrador to the north of the St. Lawrence,
extend up the Ottawa valley, and pass eventually to the northwest of
Lakes Huron and Superior, as far as the "Divide" between the St.
Lawrence valley and Hudson's Bay, but display their boldest forms on
the north shore of the river below Quebec, where the names of Capes
Eternity and Trinity have been so aptly given to those noble precipices
which tower above the gloomy waters of the Saguenay, and have a history
which "dates back to the very dawn of geographical time, and is of hoar
antiquity in comparison with that of such youthful ranges as the Andes
and the Alps." [3]
From Gaspe, the southeastern promontory at the entrance of the Gulf,
the younger rocks of the Appalachian range, constituting the
breast-bone of the continent, and culminating at the north in the White
Mountains, describe a great curve southwesterly to the valley of the
Hudson; and it is between the ridge-like elevations of this range and
the older Laurentian Hills that we find the valley of the St. Lawrence,
in which lie the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
[Illustration: View of Cape Trinity on the Laurentian Range.]
The province of Quebec is famous in the song and story of Canada;
indeed, for a hundred and fifty years, it was Canada itself. More than
a million and a quarter of people, speaking the language and {10}
professing the religion of their forefathers, continue to occupy the
country which extends from the Gulf to the Ottawa, and have made
themselves a power in the intellectual and political life of Canada.
Everywhere do we meet names that recall the ancient régime--French
kings and princes, statesmen, soldiers, sailors, explorers, and
adventurers, compete in the national nomenclature with priests and
saints. This country possesses large tracts of arable land, especially
in the country stretching from the St. Lawrence to Lake Champlain, and
watered by the Richelieu, that noted highway in Canadian history. Even
yet, at the head-waters of its many rivers, it has abundance of timber
to attract the lumberman.
The province of Ontario was formerly known as Upper or Western Canada,
but at the time of the union it received its present name because it
largely lies by the side of the lake which the Hurons and more famous
Iroquois called "great." It extends from the river of the Ottawas--the
first route of the French adventurers to the western lakes as far as
the northwesterly limit of Lake Superior, and is the most populous and
prosperous province of the Dominion on account of its wealth of
agricultural land, and the energy of its population. Its history is
chiefly interesting for the illustrations it affords of Englishmen's
successful enterprise in a new country. The origin of the province
must be sought in the history of those "United Empire Loyalists," who
left the old colonies during and after the War of Independence and
founded new homes by the St. Lawrence and great lakes, as well as in
Nova Scotia {11} and New Brunswick, where, as in the West, their
descendants have had much influence in moulding institutions and
developing enterprise.
In the days when Ontario and Quebec were a wilderness, except on the
borders of the St. Lawrence from Montreal to the Quebec district, the
fur-trade of the forests that stretched away beyond the Laurentides,
was not only a source of gain to the trading companies and merchants of
Acadia and Canada, but was the sole occupation of many adventurers
whose lives were full of elements which assume a picturesque aspect at
this distance of time. It was the fur-trade that mainly led to the
discovery of the great West and to the opening up of the Mississippi
valley. But always by the side of the fur-trader and explorer we see
the Recollet or Jesuit missionary pressing forward with the cross in
his hands and offering his life that the savage might learn the lessons
of his Faith.
As soon as the Mississippi was discovered, and found navigable to the
Gulf of Mexico, French Canadian statesmen recognised the vantage-ground
that the command of the St. Lawrence valley gave them in their dreams
of conquest. Controlling the Richelieu, Lake Champlain, and the
approaches to the Hudson River, as well as the western lakes and rivers
which gave easy access to the Mississippi, France planned her bold
scheme of confining the old English colonies between the Appalachian
range of mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, and finally dominating the
whole continent.
So far we have been passing through a country {12} where the lakes and
rivers of a great natural basin or valley carry their tribute of waters
to the Eastern Atlantic; but now, when we leave Lake Superior and the
country known as Old Canada, we find ourselves on the northwestern
height of land and overlooking another region whose great
rivers--notably the Saskatchewan, Nelson, Mackenzie, Peace, Athabasca,
and Yukon--drain immense areas and find their way after many circuitous
wanderings to Arctic seas.
The Central region of Canada, long known as Rupert's Land and the
Northwestern Territory, gradually ascends from the Winnipeg system of
lakes, lying to the northwest of Lake Superior, as far as the foothills
of the Rocky Mountains, and comprises those plains and prairies which
have been opened up to civilisation within two decades of years, and
offer large possibilities of power and wealth in the future development
of the New Dominion. It is a region remarkable for its long rivers, in
places shallow and rapid, and extremely erratic in their courses
through the plains.
[Illustration: Rocky Mountains at Donald, B.C.]
Geologists tell us that at some remote period these great central
plains, now so rich in alluvial deposits, composed the bed of a sea
which extended from the Arctic region and the ancient Laurentian belt
as far as the Gulf of Mexico and made, in reality, of the continent, an
Atlantis--that mysterious island of the Greeks. The history of the
northwest is the history of Indians hunting the buffalo and fur-bearing
animals in a country for many years under the control of companies
holding royal charters of exclusive {14} trade and jealously guarding
their game preserves from the encroachments of settlement and attendant
civilisation. French Canadians were the first to travel over the wide
expanse of plain and reach the foothills of the Rockies a century and a
half ago, and we can still see in this country the Métis or half-breed
descendants of the French Canadian hunters and trappers who went there
in the days when trading companies were supreme, and married Indian
women. A cordon of villages, towns, and farms now stretches from the
city of Winnipeg, built on the site of the old headquarters of the
Hudson's Bay Company, as far as the Rocky Mountains. Fields of golden
grain brighten the prairies, where the tracks of herds of buffalo, once
so numerous but now extinct, still deeply indent the surface of the
rich soil, and lead to some creek or stream, on whose banks grows the
aspen or willow or poplar of a relatively treeless land, until we reach
the more picturesque and well-wooded and undulating country through
which the North Saskatchewan flows. As we travel over the wide expanse
of plain, only bounded by the deep blue of the distant horizon, we
become almost bewildered by the beauty and variety of the flora, which
flourish on the rich soil; crocuses, roses, bluebells, convolvuli,
anemones, asters, sunflowers, and other flowers too numerous to
mention, follow each other in rapid succession from May till September,
and mingle with
"The billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine."
[Illustration: Upper end of Fraser Cañon, B.C.]
Ascending the foothills that rise from the plains {16} to the Rocky
Mountains we come to the Western region, known as British Columbia,
comprising within a width varying from four to six hundred miles at the
widest part, several ranges of great mountains which lie, roughly
speaking, parallel to each other, and give sublimity and variety to the
most remarkable scenery of North America. These mountains are an
extension of the Cordilleran range, which forms the backbone of the
Pacific coast, and in Mexico rises to great volcanic ridges, of which
the loftiest are Popocatepétl and Iztaccíhuatl. Plateaus and valleys
of rich, gravelly soil lie within these stately ranges.
Here we find the highest mountains of Canada, some varying from ten to
fifteen thousand feet, and assuming a grandeur which we never see in
the far more ancient Laurentides, which, in the course of ages, have
been ground down by the forces of nature to their relatively diminutive
size. Within the recesses of these stupendous ranges there are rich
stores of gold and silver, while coal exists most abundantly on
Vancouver [Transcriber's note: Island?].
The Fraser, Columbia, and other rivers of this region run with great
swiftness among the cañons and gorges of the mountains, and find their
way at last to the Pacific. In the Rockies, properly so called, we see
stupendous masses of bare, rugged rock, crowned with snow and ice, and
assuming all the grand and curious forms which nature loves to take in
her most striking upheavals. Never can one forget the picturesque
beauty and impressive grandeur of the Selkirk range, and the ride by
the side of {17} the broad, rapid Fraser, over trestle-work, around
curves, and through tunnels, with the forest-clad mountains ever rising
as far as the eye can reach, with glimpses of precipices and cañons, of
cataracts and cascades that tumble down from the glaciers or snow-clad
peaks, and resemble so many drifts of snow amid the green foliage that
grows on the lowest slopes. The Fraser River valley, writes an
observer, "is one so singularly formed, that it would seem that some
superhuman sword had at a single stroke cut through a labyrinth of
mountains for three hundred miles, down deep into the bowels of the
land." [4] Further along the Fraser the Cascade Mountains lift their
rugged heads, and the river "flows at the bottom of a vast tangle cut
by nature through the heart of the mountains." The glaciers fully
equal in magnitude and grandeur those of Switzerland. On the coast and
in the rich valleys stand the giant pines and cedars, compared with
which the trees of the Eastern division seem mere saplings. The coast
is very mountainous and broken into innumerable inlets and islands, all
of them heavily timbered to the water's edge. The history of this
region offers little of picturesque interest except what may be found
in the adventures of daring sailors of various nationalities on the
Pacific coast, or in the story of the descent of the Fraser by the
Scotch fur-trader who first followed it to the sea, and gave it the
name which it still justly bears.
The history of the Western and Central regions of the Dominion is given
briefly towards the end of this {18} narrative, as it forms a national
sequence or supplement to that of the Eastern divisions, Acadia and
Canada, where France first established her dominion, and the
foundations were laid for the present Canadian confederation. It is
the story of the great Eastern country that I must now tell in the
following pages.
[1] The first terrace, named after Lord Durham, was built on the
foundations of the castle. In recent years the platform has been
extended and renamed Dufferin, in honour of a popular governor-general.
[2] _Akade_ means a place or district in the language of the Micmacs or
Souriquois, the most important Indian tribe in the Eastern provinces,
and is always united with another word, signifying some natural
characteristic of the locality. For instance, the well-known river in
Nova Scotia, _Shubenacadie_ (Segebun-akade), the place where the
ground-nut or Indian potato grows. [Transcriber's note: In the
original book, "Akade" and "Segebun-akade" contain Unicode characters.
In "Akade" the lower-case "a" is "a-breve", in "Segebun" the vowels are
"e-breve" and "u-breve", and in "akade" the first "a" is "a-macron" and
the second is "a-breve".]
[3] Sir J. W. Dawson, _Salient Points in the Science of the Earth_, p.
99.
[4] H. H. Bancroft, _British Columbia_, p. 38.
{19}
II.
THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY IN CANADA.
(1497-1525.)
On one of the noble avenues of the modern part of the city of Boston,
so famous in the political and intellectual life of America, stands a
monument of bronze which some Scandinavian and historical enthusiasts
have raised to the memory of Leif, son of Eric the Red, who, in the
first year of the eleventh century, sailed from Greenland where his
father, an Icelandic jarl or earl, had founded a settlement. This
statue represents the sturdy, well-proportioned figure of a Norse
sailor just discovering the new lands with which the Sagas or poetic
chronicles of the North connect his name. At the foot of the pedestal
the artist has placed the dragon's head which always stood on the prow
of the Norsemen's ships, and pictures of which can still be seen on the
famous Norman tapestry at Bayeux.
The Icelandic Sagas possess a basis of historical truth, and there is
reason to believe that Leif Ericson discovered three countries. The
first land he made after leaving Greenland he named Helluland on
account of its slaty rocks. Then he came to a {20} flat country with
white beaches of sand, which he called Markland because it was so well
wooded.
After a sail of some days the Northmen arrived on a coast where they
found vines laden with grapes, and very appropriately named Vinland.
The exact situation of Vinland and the other countries visited by Leif
Ericson and other Norsemen, who followed in later voyages and are
believed to have founded settlements in the land of vines, has been
always a subject of perplexity, since we have only the vague Sagas to
guide us. It may be fairly assumed, however, that the rocky land was
the coast of Labrador; the low-lying forest-clad shores which Ericson
called Markland was possibly the southeastern part of Cape Breton or
the southern coast of Nova Scotia; Vinland was very likely somewhere in
New England. Be that as it may, the world gained nothing from these
misty discoveries--if, indeed, we may so call the results of the
voyages of ten centuries ago. No such memorials of the Icelandic
pioneers have yet been found in America as they have left behind them
in Greenland. The old ivy-covered round tower at Newport in Rhode
Island is no longer claimed as a relic of the Norse settlers of
Vinland, since it has been proved beyond doubt to be nothing more than
a very substantial stone windmill of quite recent times, while the
writing on the once equally famous rock, found last century at Dighton,
by the side of a New England river, is now generally admitted to be
nothing more than a memorial of one of the Indian tribes who have
inhabited the country since the voyages of the Norsemen.
{21}
Leaving this domain of legend, we come to the last years of the
fifteenth century, when Columbus landed on the islands now often known
as the Antilles--a memorial of that mysterious Antillia, or Isle of the
Seven Cities, which was long supposed to exist in the mid-Atlantic, and
found a place in all the maps before, and even some time after, the
voyages of the illustrious Genoese. A part of the veil was at last
lifted from that mysterious western ocean--that Sea of Darkness, which
had perplexed philosophers, geographers, and sailors, from the days of
Aristotle, Plato, Strabo, and Ptolemy. As in the case of Scandinavia,
several countries have endeavoured to establish a claim for the
priority of discovery in America. Some sailors of that Biscayan coast,
which has given so many bold pilots and mariners to the world of
adventure and exploration--that Basque country to which belonged Juan
de la Cosa, the pilot who accompanied Columbus in his voyages--may have
found their way to the North Atlantic coast in search of cod or whales
at a very early time; and it is certainly an argument for such a claim
that John Cabot is said in 1497 to have heard the Indians of
northeastern America speak of Baccalaos, or Basque for cod--a name
afterwards applied for a century and longer to the islands and
countries around the Gulf. It is certainly not improbable that the
Normans, Bretons, or Basques, whose lives from times immemorial have
been passed on the sea, should have been driven by the winds or by some
accident to the shores of Newfoundland or Labrador or even Cape Breton,
but such theories are not {22} based upon sufficiently authentic data
to bring them under the consideration of the serious historian.